The Journey
The fall was necessary, or all progression would have stopped. Living forever in the Garden of Eden may, in our tempestuous world, sound like a paradise, but it was a kind of prison.
Adam and Eve wanted freedom. They wanted knowledge of good and evil so that they could have agency. Furthermore, they wanted children.
They knew that we, as spirits, were waiting to come to this world through their lineage; therefore, they chose to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They made an informed decision. They knew that unless they left the Garden of Eden, there would be no progression, no mortal family, no knowledge of good and evil, no joy, no misery, and no purpose to life. The journey was necessary.
Have you ever wondered what you would have done if you had been Adam or Eve?
I know what we all would have done because, in effect, by leaving paradise and coming to the earth, we made the same decision. Everyone born on this earth came to this earth by choice. Furthermore, we chose to leave heaven and come to earth through the lineage of Adam and Eve. In Job, it is recorded:
“4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. 5 Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? 6 Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; 7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” (Job 38:4-7)
We were those “morning stars,” and we were “all the sons of God.” We sang together because, like Adam and Eve, we wanted to leave paradise and come to earth. We rejoiced when Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. In fact, we “shouted for joy.” We knew then that we would also get a chance to come to the earth and gain a body through their lineage. They did it not only for themselves but for all their posterity.
They chose to leave the Garden of Eden and suffer opposition, knowing that they and all their children could be saved. No one was sent to earth who did not want to come and who, in the spirit world, did not accept Christ as their Savior.
Living in paradise forever was a dead end. Imagine the same thing forever and forever, not knowing joy because one didn’t understand misery. But there was an even greater reason for leaving heaven and coming to earth. Paul compares the least degree of heaven with the light of the stars.
It would be better to live in glory, shining as bright as a star, than to live forever in paradise, without glory, without agency, without joy, and without a whole lot to do but tend the garden.
By eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they knew that they would fall, but through the fall, they would have freedom; however, they also knew that through death they would leave the mortal body behind, be resurrected, and live with their Savior again. Only by embarking on the journey into mortality could Adam and Eve and their posterity become perfect even as our Father which is in heaven is perfect. Like Adam and Eve, we also left heaven because we wanted to be like the Father.
