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Latter-day Saints see the Fall of Adam and Eve as a necessary and even hopeful step in God’s plan, not a tragic accident. By leaving the Garden, they could learn good from evil, have children, and grow. God gave all of us agency, the freedom to choose, and He holds each person accountable for their own sins, not for Adam’s. Because Jesus Christ is our Redeemer, the Fall opened the way forward.
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16And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
God gives Adam a choice and explains the consequence. Agency was part of the plan from the very beginning.
4And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 6And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
Eve and Adam partake, their eyes are opened, and they begin to understand good and evil.
22And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: 23Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
God says, “Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil.” Gaining that knowledge was a step toward becoming like God.
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Right after the Fall, God promises that the woman’s seed will bruise the serpent’s head. The Savior was part of the plan from the start.
And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
The Lamb was “slain from the foundation of the world.” God had already prepared a Redeemer.
12Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: 18Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. 19For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
Death came through Adam, and life and righteousness come through Christ.
21For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”
The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
“The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father.” We answer for our own sins, not Adam’s.
The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.
Children are not to be put to death for their fathers’ sins. “Every man shall be put to death for his own sin.”
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
“I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life.”
And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.
“Choose you this day whom ye will serve... as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
“Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”
Many Christian traditions, following Augustine, teach original sin, the belief that all people inherit the guilt or corrupted nature of Adam’s sin, and they usually describe the Fall as a great tragedy. Eastern Orthodox Christians emphasize that we inherit mortality rather than guilt, which is closer to the Latter-day Saint view.
Includes the key verses above, the Church's Topical Guide, and every King James verse that uses these words: choose life, choose you this day. Key verses are highlighted. Tap a book to open it.