The Fall of Adam & Eve

Readings:

President Brigham Young
Teachings on the Symmetry Between Reduction and Exaltation
Journal of Discourses, 6:284-285; 10:175

"I say, all revelations of God teach simply this--Son, Daughter, you are the workmanship of mine hands: walk and live before me in righteousness; . . . I have, in my wisdom, reduced you; I have caused that you should drink of the dregs of the bitter cup. I have placed you in the depths of ignorance, and have surrounded you with weakness, to prove you. I have subjected you to all misery that can be endured. I have caused you to come upon this earth, where misery, and darkness, and every species of unbelief and wickedness reign, to prove you, that you may understand and know the good from the evil, and be capable of judging between these with a righteous judgment. ...

"We are inhabitants of a world of sin and sorrow; pain and anguish, every ill that can be heaped upon intelligent beings in a probation we are heirs to. I suppose that God never organized an earth and peopled it that was ever reduced to a lower state of darkness, sin and ignorance than this. I suppose this is one of the lowest kingdoms that ever the Lord Almighty created, and on that account is capable of becoming exalted to be one of the highest kingdoms that has ever had an exaltation in all the eternities. In proportion as it has been reduced so it will be exalted, with that portion of its inhabitants who in their humiliation have cleaved to righteousness and acknowledged God in all things. In proportion to our fall through sin, so shall we be exalted in the presence of our Father and God, through Jesus Christ and by living the righteousness of his Gospel."

• Earth and its occupants were in the presence of God, the Father, and were sustained by his almighty powers of life
• There was no blood, and no death
• There were no changes, and no advancement
• Somehow, Adam and Eve could not have children
• There was no reckoning of time specific for the earth

A Few "Unknowns" About the Garden of Eden

• The nature and quality of life in the garden
• The meaning of "nakedness"
• The duration of Adam and Eve's stay in the garden
• The nature of the trees of life and of knowledge of good & evil (i.e. whether they were literal trees or symbolic elements)

Dictionary Definitions for the Word "Naked"

• Inadequately or partially clothed, being socially unacceptable
• Freed from or not provided with a protective enclosure
• Unprovided with needful or adequate clothing or other necessities of life
• Devoid of anything that strengthens, supports, or confirms; having nothing to validate, confirm, or support
• Lacking evident or proven authority or authoritativeness
• Lacking estimable qualities, as of worth, dignity, or adequacy