“Because of My Transgression My Eyes Are Opened”
This portion of the episode discusses the Adam and Eve narrative in historical and literary context, proposes theories of the Fall across the belief spectrum, and brings in insights from psychology to the question of human nature and improvement.
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Class Member Reading:Moses 4; 5:1-15; 6:48-62; 2 Nephi 2:22–23; 9:6-10; Genesis 3:16–23
Additional Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:20–22; 2 Nephi 2:5–30; Helaman 14:15–18; D&C 19:15–19; 29:34–44; Articles of Faith 1:2; “Fall of Adam,” Bible Dictionary
Heidi and Justin continue the discussion.
You can access the Annotated Reading here (or PDF)
You can access the Lesson Notes here (or PDF)
Timeline
Lesson Part 2
0:00 Overview
1:07 Genesis 2-3 (JPS)
3:53 1st Tim 2
Study Notes
7:06 Adam and Eve Historical and Literary Perspective
12:30 Different Interpretations of the Fall
16:58 Science and Philosophy of Human Nature
Discussion Part 2
31:41 Biblical Narratives
43:57 Flaming Sword and Cherubim
Discussion Part 3
47:35 Adam and Eve Down the Rabbit Hole: Eden in a Bubble
56:31 Adam and Eve Down the Rabbit Hole: Great Leap Forward
1:04:12 Adam and Eve Down the Rabbit Hole: Born Fallen
1:11:58 Adam and Eve Down the Rabbit Hole: Symbolic Fall and Atonement
1:16:03 All Interpretations are (equally) Sacred
Resources
The Fall
- Elder McConkie’s talk on the Pillars of Eternity
- “The Fall” in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism
- Adam, Eve, and the Plan of Happiness by Elder Scott
- Discovering the Old Testament on the Fall
- Mormon Matters on the Fall
Human Nature, Morality, and Free Will
- The Moral Mind, Jonathan Haidt
- Common Ground, Jonathan Haidt
- Our Buggy Moral Code, Dan Ariely
- Lying, Dan Ariely
- Bonobo and the Atheist, Frans de Waal
- Yale Course on Philosophy and Science of Human Nature
- Morality I, RadioLab
- Morality II, RadioLab
- Free Will Worth Having, Dan Dennett
- Documentary on Happiness
Change
- Phil McLemore on change through meditation from a Mormon perspective
- Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt
- Mindsight, by Daniel Goleman (introductory video) and website
- Mindsight (the book)
Thanks to William Newman for content editing and James Estrada for audio editing, and to to Steven Nelson for the beautiful bumper music.
Engaging Gospel Doctrine 
I personally like to think of the fall as a theological construct that teaches of man’s relationship with God. However I do have another theory for how a literal fall can coincide with science: The Earth was in a telestial state during the creation process. During this state, death reproduction, and evololution were taking place. Then when the earth was ready, the earth was transformed in the same manner that it will be transformed at the millennium into a paradise state. Then it fell back to telestial after the fall.
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I haven’t finished the podcast yet, so perhaps you covered this, but I never noticed before that in Moses 4, 5-7, Satan is a separate and distinct being from the serpent. Satan puts it into the heart of the serpent, a separate being, to speak the words of temptation:
“And Satan put it into the heart of the serpent, (for he had drawn away many after him,) and he sought also to beguile Eve, for he knew not the mind of God, wherefore he sought to destroy the world. And he said unto the woman: Yea, hath God said—Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? (And he spake by the mouth of the serpent.)”
This narrative tugs a bit at our traditional construct of the narrative. The first to fall to Satan’s temptation was not Eve, but the serpent. I note also the past-tense reference that Satan “had drawn away many after him” of which the serpent was only one. Combine that with the giants and others who are not Adam and Eve’s children running around and it gets easier to understand that Adam and Eve’s “fall” was not the first introduction to temptation, sin or death.
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I was wondering if it would be a good time to comment on the theology of Brigham Young. I often ponder the ideas he had and why he did… I am referring to the Adam/God doctrine he taught for 30+ Years.
Jared I was wondering if it would be ok to address this doctrine and perhaps some of ideas and how they impacted the belief of those he had direct contact with.
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