The Creation, Fall, and Long Journey

1. The Creation, Fall, and Long Journey World Foundations 101

2. Anti quiz Which are elements of, or aspects of, “myths” (a) False stories told by cultures or civilizations (b) Stories that cultures and civilizations believe to be true (c) Stories that give moral guidance to cultures or civilizations (d) Stories that give spiritual guidance to cultures or civilizations Which apply to “allegory?” (a) A moral story told through symbolism (b) Like the parables of Jesus (c) False fables (d) Traces a “parabola” from the visible world, to the invisible, and back to the “mundane” world.

3. Temple Pattern/Pattern of Redemption • 1. Creation • 2. Garden • 3. Fall • 4. Long Journey • 5. Final Judgment & triumphal return to the Presence of God

4. Augustine on scriptural interpretation • Texts may have multiple levels of meaning. • We get into trouble when we interpret literal expressions figuratively and figurative expressions literally. • Ambiguity may arise from the punctuation, the pronunciation, or the doubtful signification of the words. It may be resolved by attention to the context, a comparison of translations, or a reference to the original tongue. • Augustine’s rules: • “Whatever can be shown to be in its literal sense inconsistent either with purity of life [natural explanation] or correctness of doctrine [God’s law] must be taken figuratively.” • “No figurative interpretation can be true which does not promote the love of god and the love of man.”

5. Literal and symbolic • 1. When the scriptural text declares doctrine, it is intended to be understood literally. • 2. Whenever the scriptural text presents a narrative, (particularly if it is not historical) it may be understood figuratively (symbolically, and allegorically)

6. Re: The Creation & Fall • The details of the Creation in Genesis and The Pearl of Great Price were not intended as scientific treatments of the facts. If it were a scientific treatment describing the actual mechanisms of the creation, it would treat the subject matter scientifically, look like a scientific treatment, and read like one. Because it does not have these characteristics, it is not a scientific treatment and should not be read as one. • Similarly, regarding The Fall, we are really reading a lesson on our mortal condition and our need for the atonement. • It is the insights on the mortal condition taught in a figurative way that must hold our attention. • Should we read it otherwise, we may not grasp the great symbolic insights available to us, and we may make errant assumptions about the literal story because of the lack of sufficient information.

7. For example, note how Elder Bruce R. McConkie treats the fruit figuratively, not literally: "As to the Fall itself we are told that the Lord planted 'the tree of knowledge of good and evil' in the midst of the garden (Moses 3:9). To Adam and Eve the command came: 'Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat, But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, nevertheless, thou mayest choose for thyself, for it is given unto thee; but, remember that I forbid it, for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die' (Moses 3:16-17). Again the account is speaking figuratively. What is meant by partaking of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil is that our first parents complied with whatever laws were involved so that their bodies would change from their state of paradisiacal immortality to a state of natural mortality." (Bruce R. McConkie, "Christ and the Creation," Studies in Scripture: The Pearl of Great Price, Vol 2, p. 88.) (Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry, The Garden of Eden, the Musée Condé, Chantilly)

8. Elder McConkie's figurative reading of the fruit should not come as a big surprise to anyone who has read the New Testament. Many of Christ's teachings were meant figuratively and often confused his listeners because they saw only the literal meaning.

9. The figures of Adam and Eve The Anglicized name “Adam” is transliterated from the Hebrew “Adama,” which can mean variously “man,” “mankind,” or “earth,” as in “soil” or “dust” (not the planet “Earth”), out of which the text says man was formed. The Anglicized name “Eve” is transliterated from the Hebrew “Hava,” “Havah,” “Chava,” or “Chavah,” which primarily means “life,” but can variously mean “woman” or “mother” and, as we are given in the text “mother of all living.” The Anglicized name “Michael” is transliterated from the Hebrew “Mihail” (i.e., “Mi-ha-el”) which means “[one] who is like unto God.”

10. Figuratively, then, Adam and Eve—”Man and Woman”—represent each of us. They and we inevitably transgress/sin, fall from grace, require the Savior’s atonement, and can eventually be permitted to partake of the tree of [eternal] life——but only if we use our agency to seek to have our nature changed. [Sueno (Dream): Eve Before Adam), Alfredo Arreguin, 1992]

11. In Conclusion • The main point of the discussion of The Fall in this class has not been to expose you to doctrinal elements that you may or may not already have known. • Rather, you should view this lesson as a treatment of the wealth of symbolic meaning inherent in the narrative: to limit your reading of the narrative to a literal one means overlooking or losing that rich symbolic interpretation. • Particularly, you should have gained an appreciation of The Fall as one of the earliest (and, hence, most pervasive, widely and deeply held) archetypal instances of The Long Journey and The Temple Pattern.