God prepared this earth as a home for His children. Adam and Eve were chosen to be the first people to live on the earth. Their part in our Father's plan was to bring mortality into the world. they were to be our first parents.
The Lord promised Adam great blessings: "I have set thee to be at the head; a multitude of nations shall come of thee, and thou art a prince over them forever."
Eve was "the mother of all living". God brought Adam and Ever together in marriage. We can look to Adam and Eve as a great example of marriage relationships. They were united in all things. They worked together in the garden and they worked side by side in their separate but equal responsibilities to their family and, therefore, to all of us.
Life in the garden seems to us to be quite idilic with no death, no work, no pain, no suffering. But "they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin." (2 Nephi 2:23) They had to leave the garden to have the opportunity to choose between good and evil, experience pain and suffering so they can also appreciate the peace and joy that comes with choosing the good. They had to leave the presence of God to learn to walk by faith.
We are here on this earth because of the choice Adam and Eve made in the garden. Through the urging of Lucifer they began to see that to accomplish their mission on this earth they would have to leave the garden in order to receive physical bodies and bring children into the world. In the garden they had physical life and spiritual life but not mortal life. Mortality was brought about by reason of the fall.
Three great blessings resulted from Adam and Eve's transgression in partaking of the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Because of the Fall, we are blessed with physical bodies, the right to choose between good and evil, and the opportunity to gain eternal life. None of these privileges would have been ours had Adam and Eve remained in the garden.
"Adam fell that man might be; and men are that they might have joy." (2 Nephi 2:-25)
NEXT WEEK: Gospel Principles lesson 7 The Holy Ghost. page 31
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