Adam was among the intelligences spoken of by the Lord to Abraham who were appointed to be rulers on this earth. He was Michael, a prince, and son of God chosen to come to this earth and stand at the head of his posterity, holding the "keys of salvation under the counsel and direction of the Holy One, who is without beginning of days or end of life." This Holy One is Jesus Christ. On the earth Michael was known as Adam. In the pre-existent state he was a spirit like the others of our Father's children. In the Book of Genesis we are told that Adam obtained his body from the dust of the earth, and that he was not subject to death is inferred in the commandment the Lord gave him, that if he transgressed the divine commandment and ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he should surely die. In the Book of Mormon we are positively informed that Adam would have lived forever in the garden if he had not partaken of the forbidden fruit. So Adam was in no sense mortal until after his transgression. That his immortal spirit came from another world is verily true, just as it is true of each one of us, for we all lived in the spirit existence before we came into this world and obtained bodies which inherited mortality through the fall of Adam.
We are also informed in the scriptures that before Adam and Eve transgressed they were without children, and the fall was essential to the peopling of the earth with their offspring. When the truth in relation to the consequences of the fall were made known to Adam and Eve, they rejoiced, and Eve said:
"...Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient. ....
Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions, Vol 1, Chapter 2.
So much to address here!
First: There was and is no such thing as pre-existing intelligences or spirits waiting to be created/born. 1 Cor. 15:46: However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, then the spiritual. Adam was created out of the dust of the ground and did not exist spiritually prior to that.
Second: Adam was NOT “Michael, a prince.” Michael was/is an archangel (Jude 1:9, Rev.12:7) who is referred to in Daniel as a “prince” (Dan. 10, 12). Angels were never humans, nor will humans ever be angels; they were created before humans (Job 8:37). Adam was created after the angels.
Third: Adam never had any “keys of salvation.” There are no such things ever mentioned in Scripture, and Adam was not responsible for salvation in any way, shape, or form.
Fourth: Referring to the Book of Mormon is only teaching lies about lies, since the BOM is a fraudulent document.
Fifth: Adam and Eve were able to have children before the Fall; after all, God told them to “be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it” (Gen. 1:28); if they were unable to have children before the Fall, then God is lying to them here. The fact that they had no children prior to the fall only means that the Fall came before a child was born, for there is no reason Eve couldn’t have, or wouldn’t have been with child.
This whole ideology is based on the NEED for Adam & Eve to sin so that they could procreate. This is utter unbiblical nonsense, as anyone actually reading the Bible should understand.
(For some humor about Smith’s grammar, I’d like to point out that the phrase, “that he was not subject to death is inferred in the commandment…”, should read “implied” vs “inferred.” We infer what is implied. This is a very common mistake nowadays, but you’d think a “prophet of God” would know better.)
What about Brigham Young’s teaching that Adam was God? Mormon teachers seem to be quite mixed up as to just who Adam was. Of course they are also mixed up about Jesus and God; perhaps they should read the Bible once in a while.
4 comments:
Mormonism is based on 2 things. Sex and godhood. Their use of biblical terms is employed for the sole purpose of luring people into their web of lies. We pray daily for Jesus to open their eyes and set them free!
Michelle,
You certainly hit the nail on the head there!!
I respectfully disagree. Having been an evangelical Christian before my conversion to the LDS faith, I believed as you state here: namely that there was no such thing as premortal spirits and that Adam was not Michael, the Prince, and so forth. After converting to the church, however, it made perfect sense. True, the Bible doesn't teach it -- but it nowhere contradicts it. It makes complete sense, and I'd never want to go back to believing as you see it. Angels and people being the same was not something I'd ever considered, but it seemed completely rational. The angel's statement to John: "...for I am thy fellowservant and of thy brethren the prophets suddenly made perfect sense! Why should angels be created with the proverbial silver spoons in their mouths while we mortals, through no fault of our own, be forced to spend a hellish (and risky) period of time slaving away with no apparent purpose?
Before you guys break your a arms patting yourselves on the back for not being Mormons, consider a few issues:
* Would God really respect our free agency if HE forced us to be born into mortality without our prior authorization? What if we chose not live in mortality? What gives God the right to force mortality on us?
* God, knowing all things from the beginning, must have known that Adam and Eve would have partake of the fruit, no? So why the commandment? And if the couple did not know good from evil, then why did God punish them for the deed? It seems that God wanted them to partake, did it not?
* Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15, tells us that not all people will be resurrected to the same glory and, in fact, that there would be three distinct glories which man could obtain, likened to the Sun, Moon, and Stars. And the apostle John tells those who attain eternal life that it does not yet appear what we shall be, but that when we SEE God, that we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. (See 1 John 3:2) This being the case, we can assume the immortal states Adam and Eve had in the garden were significantly inferior to the bodies we, the "saved" (to eternal life) will have in the eternities. Right?
* Given the above, can we assume that those who gain eternal life will have an inheritance greater than running around naked in some crummy garden? If so, doesn't it seem as though some sort of planning went into the fall and redemption? If all three glories in the resurrection will be superior to what Adam had prior to the fall, then Adam's transgression seems to be fortuitous, right?
There's still the issue of man's free agency, which the Bible doesn't address. Man is said in Jewish literature to be God's crowning achievement, but wouldn't angels be a better achievement than a couple of naked simpletons in a garden (if we're to believe your take)? Angels have intelligence, like man; they have free agency, like man; and they have moral understanding, unlike man in his pre-fallen state. So what makes man God's crowning achievement, and not angels?
If I have free agency, I'd rather not be here. But if LDS theology is right, I've already given it and I've consented to being here. Thus, having given my consent, suicide is not a viable option. On the other hand, if you guys are right, suicide is not an option because those who do opt for it face an eternity suffering in Hell. And if you don't live to the gospel's exacting standards, even if you stick it out, you might still be damned to an eternity in Hell! In short, there are so many things here that aren't just. But the LDS doctrine, OTOH, is brimming over with fairness!
And if Joseph Smith sat down and created this doctrine out of thin air, it's one of the most brilliant aspects of the religion. Also, I'm aware of nothing in the Bible that would even begin to contradict it.
Do you?
--
John Roberts,
First, I wonder if you even read this article or anything else on my blog, since answers to your statements/questions are found on this blog. You can disagree with what I write all you want, but truth is still truth whether or not you like it or agree with it. You obviously were not a true Christian before becoming a Mormon or you’d never have become a Mormon.
I demonstrated from Scripture that the is no such thing as pre-mortal spirits, and you will find no mention of such anywhere in the Bible. Angels were created before humans and are a separate species. They watched the rest of creation. (Job 38:7). It is totally unbiblical and nonsensical to think they are the same as humans or are humans who died.
You have decided that God’s ideas are illogical, and you make yourself the arbiter of what is right or wrong for Him to do.
There is only ONE “guy” writing this blog, and I am an ex-Mormon — I am a REAL Christian.
Since we have no pre-existence as a spirit, God does not force us to be born and have mortality. We are born from biological processes He set in motion at the beginning. From then on it is our choices as to how we want to live our lives and whether we want to obey God.
Yes, God knew that Adam would eat the fruit and bring sin into the world, which is why he had a plan of salvation. Adam knew it was wrong because he had just one command — don’t eat that fruit or you will die.
Paul did NOT say there were three glories in resurrection, and Joseph Smith made that up as he developed his religion--and it is gross eisegesis to force Smith’s ideology into Paul’s text. Everyone will be resurrected - those who are saved to eternal life with God, those who denied God/Christ to eternal damnation separated from God/Christ. No one will be a god.
The only “simpletons” are Mormons like you who demonstrate your abject ignorance of what the Bible actually says and would rather listen to the ravings of a false prophet like Joseph Smith. There is nothing “fair” about LDS theology. There is nothing true about it. Smith did indeed create his theology out of thin air and there is nothing “brilliant’ about it.
Spend some time on this blog and you will see how I demonstrate the mass contradictions of the LDS theology vs the Bible, and the mass of contradictions between LDS theology and itself! The Book of Mormon is contradicted by the Bible and by the Doctrine & covenants!
https://watchmanvlds.blogspot.com/2014/11/contradictions-book-of-mormon-and.html
Start reading my articles beginning in 2014 and stop being willfully ignorant. You will never become a god and as long as you are a Mormon your eternal life will be in damnation.
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