Where did we come from?

The Creation

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1) The Old Testament describes six days or creation periods in which God created the earth. On the sixth day he created man and placed him on the earth. “And God saw every thing that he made, and, behold, it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31) “And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.” (Genesis 2:2)

Every thing that God creates has a purpose and a plan. For instance, the Old Testament prophet Isaiah said, “For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.” (Isaiah 45: 18)

God is our Heavenly Father. He is the father of our spirits. We are His spirit children and we are created to look just like he does with a body of flesh and bones. “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
So God created in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female create he them.” (Genesis 1:26-27)


Agency and the Fall

God placed Adam and Eve on the earth in the Garden of Eden. They were in a state of innocence.They were given two very important commandments while in the garden. The first commandment they were given was to have children. “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” (Genesis 1:28)

God also commands that, “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat.
But 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.”(Genesis 2:16-17)

Satan sought to cripple God’s plan for His children to send them all to the earth to get bodies and sought to trick Adam and Eve in order to do that. He tempted Eve to partake of the fruit.

“For 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.” (Genesis 3:5)

Eve was able to see the wisdom of having her eyes opened. Partaking of this fruit would bless her with the agency, or ability, to make decisions and act for herself. I would expand her ability to understand and learn about the things around her. “And 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.
And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.” (Genesis 3:6-7)

The crossroads of Agency

Partaking of the fruit was an act of disobedience and Adam and Eve were now in a lost and fallen state. They could no longer be in the presence of the Lord. “And 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:
Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.” (Genesis 3:22-23)

Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden. They became subject to pain, hunger, hard work and suffering but with that pain and suffering come good as well. They were also able to love, learn, find joy in each other and their children and feel the happiness that comes with being a family.

We are like Adam and Eve. We are in a fallen state as well, inherited from those first mortal parents. The agency that comes with our fallen state is a blessing from God. He does not obligate anyone to do exactly as he says. We are free to choose what we want to do with our lives. We must still suffer the consequences of our actions. But our actions are ours to choose. “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.” (Joshua 24: 15)

It was not bad nor evil what Adam and Eve choose to do. If they had not partaken of the fruit they would still be just the two of them in the garden and we would be watching from heaven waiting for our turn to come to the earth to receive a mortal body and experience. As Isaiah said, the earth was created to be inhabited by God’s children. It is part of his plan that we be here. But the obstacle still remains that we are in a lost and fallen state unable to return to the presence of God.