In October 1994 General Conference, President Gordon B. Hinckley reiterated what the prophets have taught from the days of Joseph Smith regarding the potential of man:

As an essential part of the plan to attain godhood, it was necessary for man to leave the presence of God and come to earth in order to experience a mortal probation. Though we are not told all the reasons for our coming to mortality (see D&C 101:32-33), the scriptures and prophets have taught that we have come here to receive a physical body in order to (1) experience the knowledge of good and evil, (2) prove our obedience to God in he face of good and evil, and (3) prove ourselves worthy of godhood through righteous parenthood.(2)

Adam and the Fall (3)

Joseph Smith taught, "Adam was made to open the way of the world."(4) This was accomplished through the Fall of Adam. After creating the earth, God created Adam and Eve. He then created a garden for Adam and Eve to live in. Lehi explained that in their initial creation, Adam and Eve were "in a state of innocence" where they knew "no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin." In this existence, Adam and Eve could have no children. Further, death did not exist. If there had been no fall, "all things which were created must have remained in the same state in which they were after they were created; and they must have remained forever, and had no end" (2 Nephi 2:22-23).(5)

Lehi stated that "to bring about his eternal purposes," God placed among the fruit trees in the garden of Eden two opposing trees, the tree of life opposite the tree of knowledge of good and evil (2 Nephi 2:15). This opposition was indispensable to the "eternal purposes" of God’s plan. Lehi explained: "For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things" (2 Nephi 2:11). Opposition is essential in order to have genuine and accurate knowledge.(6) The Lord stated that "if [men] never should have bitter they could not know the sweet" (D&C 29:39). Only by experiencing opposites can we comprehend for opposition gives definition. Elder Orson Pratt explained: "The tree of knowledge of good and evil was placed there that man might gain certain information he never could have gained otherwise; by partaking of the forbidden fruit he experienced misery, then he knew that he was once happy, previously he could not comprehend what happiness meant, what good was; but now he knows it by contrast, now he is filled with sorrow and wretchedness, now he sees the difference between his former and present condition…."(7) As stated already, one of the purposes of the creation of this earth was to provide a place where opposites not only exist but are experienced. Brigham Young observed: "Facts are made apparent to the human mind by their opposites. We find ourselves surrounded in this mortality by an almost endless combination of opposites, through which we must pass to gain experience and information to fit us for an eternal progression."(8) Lehi concluded that if opposites did not exist, the earth would "have been created for a thing of naught; wherefore there would have been no purpose in the end of its creation" (2 Nephi 2:12). With no opposites there could be "no joy" for there would be "no misery" (2 Nephi 2:23). The earth was created, therefore, that man "might have joy" (2 Nephi 2:25) and joy can only come by experiencing misery.

Though it was forbidden by God, it was necessary for Adam and Eve to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. By eating the fruit, the Fall was brought about. And the Fall initiated mortality.

It seems the reason the fruit was forbidden is a matter of responsibility. If God would have commanded Adam and Eve to partake of the fruit, then God would have been responsible for their fall. Therefore God would not be in a position to save His posterity. The consequences of the Fall —which will be discussed momentarily—must come by man’s agency rather than God imposing fallen conditions upon his children. When Adam and Eve chose to eat the fruit by their own volition, God was free to implement a plan that would help them overcome the consequences.

Though the Fall was a necessary part of God’s plan, from a human perspective the Fall brought both positive and negative results. The positive results of eating the fruit were twofold. First, Adam and Eve could have children. As a result, God's children could continue their progression by coming from premortality to mortality (2 Nephi 2:20-25). Second, because of the mortal experience, Adam, Eve, and their posterity could "be as God, knowing good and evil" (2 Nephi 2:18). After the Fall, Eve recognized with joy the importance of their decision to eat the fruit in these words: "Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil" (Moses 5:11).

Acquiring a knowledge of good and evil is vital for God's children. Without it they could not become as He is. Elder James E. Talmage wrote: "A knowledge of good and evil is essential to the advancement that God has made possible for His children to achieve; and this knowledge can be best gained by actual experience, with the contrasts of good and its opposite plainly discernible."(9) Mortality is necessary to the acquisition of the knowledge of good and evil. Elder Talmage said: "A knowledge of good and evil is essential to progress, and the school of experience in mortality has been provided for the acquirement of such knowledge."(10) President George Q. Cannon declared: "It is for this purpose that we are here. God has given unto us this probation for the express purpose of obtaining a knowledge of good and evil--of understanding evil and being able to overcome the evil--and by overcoming it receive the exaltation and glory that He has in store for us."(11) In light of this, at the beginning of World War I, the First Presidency gave the following instruction to the Church:

God, doubtless, could avert war, prevent crime, destroy poverty, chase away darkness, overcome error, and make all things bright, beautiful and joyful. But this would involve the destruction of a vital and fundamental attribute in man -- the right of agency. It is for the benefit of His sons and daughters that they become acquainted with evil as well as good, with darkness as well as light, with error as well as truth, and with the results of the infraction of eternal laws. Therefore he has permitted the evils which have been brought about by the acts of His creatures, but will control their ultimate results for His own glory and the progress and exaltation of His sons and daughters, when they have learned obedience by the things they suffer. The contrasts experienced in this world of mingled sorrow and joy are educational in their nature, and will be the means of raising humanity to a full appreciation of all that is right and true and good.(12)

The negative side of all this is that the acquisition of knowledge of good and evil brings dire consequences both in mortality and in eternity. The Book of Mormon reveals that the Fall of Adam brought upon Adam, Eve, and "all mankind a spiritual death as well as a temporal, that is, they were cut off from the presence of the Lord" (Alma 42:7,9; see also 2 Nephi 2:21; 9:6; Mosiah 16:3; Alma 12:22; 22:12; Helaman 14:16; Mormon 9:12). This was dramatically symbolized by Adam and Eve’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden. After leaving the garden, "cherubim and a flaming sword" were placed at the entrance of the garden (Moses 4:31) to physically stop Adam and Eve (and their posterity) from coming into the presence of God and partaking of the tree of life (Moses 5:4) and thus living forever with the consequences (Alma 12:26-27; 42:3-5). The cherubim represent the justice of God that will not allow unworthy beings to come into his presence (the same as the river of filthy water in Lehi’s dream of the tree of life—1 Nephi 8:13-26; 12:18). They are what Brigham Young taught, "the angels who stand as sentinels" guarding the way "to the presence of the Father."(13)

The Need for the Atonement

The scriptural account records that after Adam and Eve were driven from the garden, they "began to till the earth, and to have dominion over all the beasts of the field, and to eat [their] bread by the sweat of [their] brow." Further, "Adam knew his wife, and she bare unto him sons and daughters, and they began to multiply and to replenish the earth. And from that time forth, the sons and daughters of Adam began to divide two and two in the land, and to till the land, and to tend flocks, and they also begat sons and daughters" (Moses 5:1-3).

Though much time and energy were spent in eking out a life for themselves and their children in that virgin world, Adam and Eve had not forgotten God. They must have felt the pangs of their fallen condition. Being expelled from the presence of God must have at times been overwhelming. They must have wondered what they could do to return back into God's presence. We are told that "Adam and Eve, his wife, called upon the name of the Lord, and they heard the voice of the Lord from the way toward the Garden of Eden, speaking unto them, and they saw him not; for they were shut out from his presence" (Moses 5:4). In response to their prayer, God sent angels from His presence (Moses 5:6, 58). Alma explained: God "saw that it was expedient that man should know concerning the things whereof he had appointed unto them; Therefore he sent angels to converse with them" (Alma 12:28-29; see also Moses 5:58; D&C 29:42). Adam and Eve were taught that acceptance back into the presence of God would be possible only through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ (Moses 5:5-8).

The Book of Mormon teaches, "since man had fallen he could not merit anything of himself " (Alma 22:14). In essence, "man [has] fallen into a pit, and [is] unable to scale the sides thereof [to] emerge upon the plane above."(14) That is to say, man cannot deliver himself from his fallen condition and is in desperate need of help. That help comes through the atonement of Jesus Christ. Amulek taught, "according to the great plan of the Eternal God there must be an atonement made, or else all mankind must unavoidably perish" (Alma 34:9). Again, Jacob said, "if there should be no atonement made all mankind must be lost" (Jacob 7:12). The atonement of Jesus Christ will rectify each effect of man's fallen condition.

The things taught Adam were accompanied by the witness of the Holy Ghost: "And in that day the Holy Ghost fell upon Adam, which beareth record of the Father and the Son, saying: I am the Only Begotten of the Father from the beginning, henceforth and forever, that as thou hast fallen thou mayest be redeemed, and all mankind, even as many as will" (Moses 5:6-9).

Adam and the Ordinances of the Priesthood

Adam was taught that the atonement would be made effective for each person through the exercise of "faith and repentance and their holy works" (Alma 12:30; cf. Moses 6:52-61). Moses 6:64-67 reveals that part of the "holy works" included the individual to participate in sacred ordinances: first, baptism, followed by reception of the Holy Ghost, and then entrance into the order of God.

Adam was confused. The only way to initiate mortality was by eating the forbidden fruit. Why must there be an atonement made for something that he was supposed to do? So he asked, "Why is it that men must repent and be baptized in water? (Moses 6:53) In response the Lord first said: "Behold I have forgiven thee thy transgression in the Garden of Eden" (Moses 6:51-53). Adam and Eve had acted appropriately in the garden by eating the fruit thus opening the way for God's children to come to mortality. However, there still were mortal and eternal consequences upon Adam, Eve, and all mankind. An atonement must be made in order to free man from these consequences. Orson Pratt stated clearly the role of the Christ’s atonement in freeing man from the consequences of Adam’s fall:

We believe that through the sufferings, death, and atonement of Jesus Christ all mankind, without one exception, are to be completely and fully redeemed, both body and spirit, from the endless banishment and curse to which they were consigned by Adam's transgression; and that this universal salvation and redemption of the whole human family from the endless penalty of the original sin, is effected without any conditions whatever on their part; that is, they are not required to believe or repent, or be baptized, or do anything else, in order to be redeemed from that penalty; for whether they believe or disbelieve, whether they repent or remain impenitent, whether they are baptized or unbaptized, whether they keep the commandments or break them, whether they are righteous or unrighteous, it will make no difference in relation to their redemption, both soul and body, from the penalty of Adam’s transgression.(15)

Because of Christ’s atonement for Adam’s transgression, the Lord forgave them unconditionally for their transgression in the garden: Adam and Eve did not need to repent of their eating of the forbidden fruit. "Hence came the saying abroad among the people, that the Son of God hath atoned for original guilt [Adam’s transgression in the garden]" (Moses 6:54).

The Lord then explained why men have need of repentance and baptism: "Inasmuch as thy children are conceived in sin, even so when they begin to grow up, sin conceiveth in their hearts, and they taste the bitter, that they may know to prize the good" (Moses 6:55). The meaning of this statement is clear when the following is understood. Though Adam’s transgression in the garden was unconditionally forgiven, the consequences of his transgression would have lasting effects upon all mankind. With the Fall, the physical nature of Adam and Eve changed. They became mortal or natural, subject to all the ills of mortality including the capacity to sin. This mortal condition would be passed on to their posterity. Of this, Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote: "The natural birth creates a natural man, and the natural man is an enemy to God. In his fallen state he is carnal, sensual, and devilish by nature. Appetites and passions govern his life and he is alive—acutely so—to all that is evil and wicked in the world."(16) Further, the world into which Adam’s posterity would be born is a sinful world where men have become "carnal sensual and devilish" (Moses 5:13). Therefore, the enticement of sin will be continually before Adam’s posterity. Being born in a natural body and into a sinful world, Adam’s posterity would thus be "conceived in sin." In such a condition, when children "begin to grow up, sin conceiveth in their hearts, and they taste the bitter, that they may know to prize the good." When this happens, each person suffers a personal fall, doomed to endure the eternal consequences of their own actions.

Though man is not responsible for Adam’s fall, they will be accountable for their own actions while in mortality.(17) Orson Pratt taught that the "universal redemption from the effects of original sin, has nothing to do with redemption from our personal sins; for the original sin of Adam, and the personal sins of his children, are two different things."(18) The atonement for the fall of Adam will not save each man from his personal sins. An individual atonement is required. Thus a modern revelation states that the mission of Christ was to redeem "mankind from the fall, and from individual sins" (D&C 138:19).

Adam learned that the atonement for personal sin is conditional! He was taught that Christ's atonement for personal sin would become effective only after an individual exercises faith in Christ, repents of his sins, and enters into the priesthood ordinances outlined by the Lord (see Moses 6:58-68).

Desiring to overcome his personal spiritual fall, Adam entered into the ordinances prescribed by the Lord. The scriptural account gives this description of the ordinances: "He was baptized, and the Spirit of God descended upon him, and thus he was born of the Spirit, and became quickened in the inner man." After being baptized and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, he entered into "the order of him who was without beginning of days or end of years, from all eternity to all eternity" (Moses 6:64-67).

What was the "order" that Adam entered into? President Ezra Taft Benson explained: "When our Heavenly Father placed Adam and Eve on this earth, He did so with the purpose in mind of teaching them how to regain His presence. Our Father promised a Savior to redeem them from their fallen condition. He gave them the plan of salvation and told them to teach their children faith in Jesus Christ and repentance. Further, Adam and his posterity were commanded by God to be baptized, to receive the Holy Ghost, and to enter into the order of the Son of God. (See Moses 6.) To enter into the order of the Son of God is the equivalent today of entering into the fulness of the Melchizedek Priesthood, which is only received in the house of the Lord."(19)

Becoming Sons of God

Because Adam had received the temple ordinances, the Lord said: "thou art after the order of him who was without beginning of days or end of years, from all eternity to all eternity." He then said something interesting: "Behold, thou art one in me, a son of God; and thus may all become my sons." (Moses 6:67-68). This statement teaches that having passed through the ordinances of the priesthood, Adam was called a son of God! Further, all could become sons of God in the same way. But are we not taught that we are already sons and daughters of God? Why would we have to go through priesthood ordinances to become what we already are?

The answer. When one is called "a son of God," it means he or she is entitled to inherit all the Father has. But because of the Fall of Adam, each person born into the world has inherited a fallen mortal condition. As such, they have lost their inheritance as a child of God and are subject instead to inherit the misery of their fallen condition. In order to escape this fate and receive the fulness of the Kingdom of God, each person must be reinherited by becoming a "son of God" again.(20) The Lord declared: "I say unto you, that as many as receive me, to them will I give power to become the sons of God" (D&C 11:30; see also, 3 Ne. 9:17; Moroni 7:26, 48; D&C 34:3; 35:2; 45:8; Moses 7:1). The power to become sons of God is obtained by receiving all the priesthood ordinances of the gospel by which men become adopted into the family of God.(21)

Adam’s Posterity and the Holy Order

Having learned of the gospel plan, the Lord commanded Adam and Eve to "teach these things freely unto [their] children" (Moses 6:58). Obediently, "Adam and Eve blessed the name of God, and they made all things known unto their sons and their daughters." However, "Satan came among them, saying: I am also a son of God; and he commanded them, saying: Believe it [the gospel taught by Adam and Eve] not; and they believed it not, and they loved Satan more than God. And men began from that time forth to be carnal, sensual, and devilish" (Moses 5:12-13).

Though many of the posterity of Adam and Eve went astray, many also believed and received the gospel through the ordinances of the holy priesthood. "The order of this priesthood which was established in the beginning was patriarchal. The authority descended from father to son, and those who held it were high priests."(22) Doctrine and Covenants 107:41 states: "This order was instituted in the days of Adam, and came down by lineage in the following manner . . ." Then follows a list of the line of authority through which the priesthood was made available to the posterity of Adam. We are then told: "Three years previous to the death of Adam, he called Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, and Methuselah, who were all high priests, with the residue of his posterity who were righteous, into the valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman, and there bestowed upon them his last blessing." After receiving this last blessing, " the Lord appeared unto them" (D&C 107:42-54).

Of this event, Joseph Smith stated: "This is why Adam blessed his posterity; he wanted to bring them into the presence of God."(23) Commenting on this, President Ezra Taft Benson taught: "How did Adam bring his descendants into the presence of the Lord? The answer: Adam and his descendants entered into the priesthood order of God. Today we would say they went to the house of the Lord and received their blessings." Continuing, President Benson said: "If a couple are true to their covenants, they are entitled to the blessing of the highest degree of the celestial kingdom. These covenants today can only be entered into by going to the house of the Lord. Adam followed this order and brought his posterity into the presence of God. He is the great example to follow. When our children obey the Lord and go to the temple to receive their blessings and enter into the marriage covenant, they enter into the same order of the priesthood that God instituted in the beginning with father Adam."(24)

Enoch and the Holy Order

Wickedness prevailed over the earth at the time of the meeting at Adam-ondi-Ahman. After Adam’s death, Enoch, seventh from Adam, apparently became the head of the holy order. Enoch was twenty five years old when he was ordained to the priesthood, and sixty-five when he received the fulness of the priesthood from Adam at the meeting at Adam-ondi-Ahman three years previous to Adam’s death (D&C 107:48, 53). That same year, Enoch "begat Methuselah" (Moses 6:25).

About that time, he was given a gospel dispensation to administer to the inhabitants of the earth with the command to preach repentance to the people of his day (Moses 6:26-33). Upon his call, the Lord said: "Behold my Spirit is upon you, wherefore all thy words will I justify; and the mountains shall flee before you, and the rivers shall turn from their course; and thou shalt abide in me, and I in you; therefore walk with me" (Moses 6:34). This was a reaffirmation of an oath made by God to Enoch as well all those who enter into the holy order of God. The Joseph Smith Translation reveals this oath in these words:

For God having sworn unto Enoch and unto his seed with an oath by himself; that every one being ordained after this order and calling should have power, by faith, to break mountains, to divide the seas, to dry up waters, to turn them out of their course;

To put at defiance the armies of nations, to divide the earth, to break every band, to stand in the presence of God; to do all things according to his will, according to his command, subdue principalities and powers; and this by the will of the Son of God which was before the foundation of the world. (JST Genesis 14:30-31; emphasis added)

It is in this oath that we are told the purpose and power of the order of God. The purpose of the priesthood is to bring God’s children back into His presence (as in the meeting at Adam-ondi-Ahman) and become even as God. The power of the priesthood is to make that aim possible. The oath of God to those who enter into the order of God obtained by making covenants with God in holy temples is that he will give them power to overcome all things that stand in the way of their progress of coming into His presence and becoming as He is. Of this, Elder Bruce R. McConkie stated: "Those who abide by the conditions of the holy covenant of the priesthood shall have power, by faith, to govern and control all things upon the earth, and they shall ‘stand in the presence of God,’ being as he is and living the kind of life he lives. And to show the immutability of his word, he swears with an oath by himself and in his own name, that all these things shall surely come to pass."(25)

We are told that "men having this faith, coming up unto this order of God, were translated and taken up into heaven" (JST Genesis 14:32). This was not meant to mean that they were taken literally into the presence of God in the celestial kingdom, the final resting place for the righteous.(26) However, the context seems to imply that those who were translated were placed in a realm where they were free from the evil effects of this world while being promised the future celestial resurrection which would bring them into the presence of God. At the same time they did not experience the pangs of longing for their physical bodies that apparently annoy disembodied spirits waiting the resurrection (see D&C 45:17; 138:14-15).

It was through the power and authority of this order that Enoch preached the gospel.(27) Many repented and followed him. Through the power and authority of this order "he led the people of God, and their enemies came to battle against them; and he spake the word of the Lord, and the earth trembled, and the mountains fled, even according to his command; and the rivers of water were turned out of their course; and the roar of the lions was heard out of the wilderness; and all nations feared greatly, so powerful was the word of Enoch, and so great was the power of the language which God had given him. There also came up a land out of the depth of the sea, and so great was the fear of the enemies of the people of God, that they fled and stood afar off and went upon the land which came up out of the depth of the sea" (Moses 7:13-14).

Through the power and authority of this order, Enoch established a city called, "the City of Holiness," even "Zion" (Moses 7:19). Through the power and authority of this order, Enoch led his people in living the law of consecration (Moses 7:18), the law that governs the celestial kingdom.(28) And eventually, "in process of time," it was through the power of this order that Enoch and his people were translated and taken up into heaven (Moses 7:21).(29)

Noah and the Renewal Opportunity

In a vision, the Lord showed Enoch that after his city was translated, the world would be filled with wickedness. Then Enoch saw "Noah, and his family; that the posterity of all the sons of Noah should be saved with a temporal salvation" (Moses 7:41-42). This "temporal salvation" would require the power of the priesthood. Therefore, "it came to pass that Methuselah, the son of Enoch, was not taken [i.e., translated with the city of Enoch], that the covenants of the Lord might be fulfilled, which he made to Enoch; for he truly covenanted with Enoch that Noah should be of the fruit of his loins" (Moses 8:1). Methusaleh begat Lamech and Lamech begat Noah. Noah was prepared at a young age to carry the responsibility he was foreordained to bear for we are told that "Noah was ten years old when he was ordained under the hand of Methuselah" (D&C 107:52).

Noah had three sons: Japeth, Shem, and Ham. The scriptures teach that "Noah and his sons hearkened unto the Lord, and gave heed, and they were called the sons of God" (Moses 8:13). Being called "the sons of God" means that they had entered into the holy order of God.

The world into which Noah and his sons lived was extremely wicked. The Mosaic account states: "the wickedness of men had become great in the earth; and every man was lifted up in the imagination of the thoughts of his heart, being only evil continually" (Moses 8:22). Sadly, the daughters born to Noah’s sons were adversely affected by the wickedness of the world. The account reads: "And when these men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, the sons of men [i.e., those outside of the covenant] saw that those daughters were fair, and they took them wives, even as they chose [i.e., the daughters married outside the temple]. And the Lord said unto Noah: The daughters of thy sons have sold themselves; for behold mine anger is kindled against the sons of men, for they will not hearken to my voice" (Moses 8:14-15).

Noah was called to preach repentance to the people of his day: "And the Lord ordained Noah after his own order, and commanded him that he should go forth and declare his Gospel unto the children of men, even as it was given unto Enoch" (Moses 8:19). Along with his grandfather, Methuselah, and father, Lamech, Noah cried repentance unto the people.(30) Unfortunately, the people did not listen. In fact, they became worse: "The earth was corrupt before God, and it was filled with violence" (Moses 8:28). Therefore the Lord decided to "destroy all flesh from off the earth" (Moses 8:30). He would destroy the earth with a flood.

The flood was to be the earth’s baptism to cleanse it from all wickedness.(31) Orson Pratt taught: "The first ordinance instituted for the cleansing of the earth, was that of immersion in water; it was buried in the liquid element, and all things sinful upon the face of the earth were washed away. As it came forth from the ocean floor, like the new-born child, it was innocent; it rose to newness of life. It was its second birth from the womb of mighty waters—a new world issuing from the ruins of the old, clothed with all the innocence of this first creation."(32)

Joseph Smith taught, "Noah was born to save seed of everything, when the earth was washed of its wickedness by the flood."(33) This was the "temporal salvation" spoken of by the Lord to Enoch. The Lord designed to accomplish this salvation through the construction of a large boat - the ark - into which Noah, his righteous family members, and selected representatives of every kind of animal would live during the time the floods ruled the earth. Noah received instructions on how to build the ark (Genesis 6:14-16). Noah was obedient to the Lord. When the floods came upon the earth, Noah, his family, and the chosen animals went into the ark where they found refuge from the flood (see Genesis 7).

After the flood waters began to recede, the ark rested "upon the mountains of Ararat" (Genesis 8:4). "And God spake unto Noah, saying, Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons’ wives with thee. Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth" (Genesis 8:15-17). They did so.

After the flood, the Lord promised Noah that He would never destroy the earth by flood again. A bow would be set in heaven as a token of this promise. The Lord then said: "And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant, which I made unto thy father Enoch; that, when men should keep all my commandments, Zion should again come on the earth, the city of Enoch which I have caught up unto myself. And this is mine everlasting covenant, that when thy posterity shall embrace the truth, and look upward, then shall Zion look downward, and all the heavens shall shake with gladness, and the earth shall tremble with joy; and the general assembly of the church of the firstborn shall come down out of heaven, and possess the earth, and shall have place until the end come. And this is mine everlasting covenant, which I made with thy father Enoch" (JST Genesis 9:15-25).

Noah, like Adam, began making a life for him and his family in a virgin world. It was an age of renewal—an opportunity to begin a new world set squarely on the gospel path.

Tower of Babel and Apostasy Renewed

The time of renewal did not last. Within a few generations, Noah’s descendants began to go astray. Eventually, the majority of the world had apostatized from the gospel taught by Noah and his sons. This is portrayed in the story of the building of the tower.

The scriptural account speaks of the descendants of Noah as being of "of the same language, and of the same speech" (Genesis 11:1). This statement seems to imply that all the world was of the same mind and thought. Unfortunately, this unity of thought seems to be more or less like the people in the days of Noah, of whom it was said that "every man was lifted up in the imagination of the thoughts of his heart, being only evil continually" (Moses 8:22). Many moved from the mountains to the plain of Shinar (Mesopotamia) where Satan put into their hearts to "to build a tower sufficiently high that they might get to heaven" (Genesis 11:2-4 and Helaman 6:28).

The tower may have been the prototype of the ziggurats or temple towers found in ancient Mesopotamia. These were high towers built with slopping, stepped sides that led to a temple built on top. The names given to these towers indicate that they were thought of as conduits between earth and heaven: "The House of the Link between Heaven and Earth," "The House of the Seven Guides to Heaven," "The House of the Foundation-Platform of Heaven and Earth."

The building of the tower was an egotistical attempt by man to get to heaven by virtue of his own power. That is to say, they began to establish their own religion(s). The same could be said of them as was said of the people in the days of Joseph Smith: "they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof" (Joseph Smith History 1:19). Again: "They seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol, which waxeth old and shall perish in Babylon, even Babylon the great, which shall fall" (D&C 1:16).

This last statement is fitting, for the place where the tower was built became known as Babylon. The account reads: "And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth" (Genesis 11:5-9).

The Akkadian word Babylon means "gateway to a god." The Hebrew word for Babylon is Balal which sounds much like the Hebrew word babel, meaning confused. This word play in Hebrew suggests that the beginning of man's apostasy, and thus his confusion, began in Babylon where the tower was built. By confounding and scattering the people, the Lord attempted to thwart man's apostasy. It was in those days that the Jaredites were driven from the place of the tower to the promised land (Ether 1-4).

From Shem to Abraham

It is in this apostate setting that Abraham was born. The biblical account lists Abraham as ten generations removed from Noah through Shem. Though Shem, who is called "the great high priest" (D&C 138:41), was righteous, his direct line descendants became wicked. We are told in the Book of Abraham that Abraham’s fathers had "turned from their righteousness, and from the holy commandments which the Lord their God had given unto them, unto the worshiping of the gods of the heathen" (Abraham 1:5). Abraham was born in Ur, a Mesopotamian city whose exact location is disputed. The Book of Abraham gives us the clear picture that it was a city of abominable religious practices (Abraham 1). These descendants of Shem (Semites) had become corrupted.

But not all of Noah’s descendants had apostatized from the truth. Living also in the days of Abraham was a descendant of Noah whose righteousness is renowned: Melchizedek. Melchizedek was evidently a prince by birth, for he became king of Salem (later Jerusalem—Gen. 14:18; Ps. 76:2), where he reigned "under his father" (Alma 13:18). "Melchizedek was a man of faith, who wrought righteousness; and when a child he feared God, and stopped the mouths of lions, and quenched the violence of fire" (JST Gen. 14:26). Yet the people among whom he lived "waxed strong in iniquity and abomination; yea, they had all gone astray; they were full of all manner of wickedness" (Alma 13:17).

Though living among a wicked people, Melchizedek "exercised mighty faith, and received the office of the high priesthood according to the holy order of God" (Alma 13:18). This priesthood was after the order of the covenant that God had made with Enoch (JST Gen. 14:27), and Melchizedek ruled both as king and priest over his people.

As high priest, some of his functions were keeping "the storehouse of God" where the "tithes for the poor" were held (JST Gen. 14:37-38), preaching repentance (Alma 13:18; cf. 5:49), and administering ordinances "after this manner, that thereby the people might look forward on the Son of God . . . for a remission of their sins, that they might enter into the rest of the Lord" (Alma 13:16; JST Gen. 14:17). With extraordinary goodness and power, Melchizedek diligently administered in the office of high priest and "did preach repentance unto his people. And behold, they did repent; and Melchizedek did establish peace in the land in his days" (Alma 13:18). Consequently, Melchizedek became known as "the prince of peace" (JST Gen. 14:33; Heb. 7:1-2; Alma 13:18). "His people wrought righteousness, and obtained heaven" (JST Gen. 14:34), apparently through the doctrine of translation.

As a king and high priest of the Most High God (Gen. 14:18), Melchizedek holds a place of great honor and respect among Latter-day Saints. An example of righteousness and the namesake of the higher priesthood, he represents the scriptural ideal of one who obtains the power of God through faith, repentance, and sacred ordinances, for the purpose of inspiring and blessing his fellow beings. Consequently, the name of the holy order was renamed in his honor. The Doctrine and Covenants states that Melchizedek was "such a great high priest" that the higher priesthood was called after his name. "Before his day it was called the Holy Priesthood, after the Order of the Son of God. But out of respect or reverence to the name of the Supreme Being, to avoid the too-frequent repetition of his name, they, the church, in the ancient days, called that priesthood after Melchizedek, or the Melchizedek Priesthood" (D&C 107:2-4; italics in original).

Melchizedek received the priesthood "through the lineage of his fathers, even till Noah" (D&C 84:14). And it was from Melchizedek that Abraham received the priesthood (D&C 84:14).

References

1. Gordon B. Hinckley, in October 1994 General Conference, Ensign, November 1994, p. 48; also Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1988.), p. 179.

2. For an excellent summary of these four reasons, see The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1988), pp. 27-28.

3. In order to understand the need for the atonement of Jesus Christ, an understanding of the Fall is essential. President Ezra Taft Benson taught: "Just as a man does not really desire food until he is hungry, so he does not desire the salvation of Christ until he knows why he needs Christ. No one adequately and properly knows why he needs Christ until he understands and accepts the doctrine of the Fall and its effect upon all mankind." {In Conference Report, Apr. 1987, 106-107; or Ensign, May 1987, 85)

4. Joseph Fielding Smith, ed. Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Press, 1938), p. 12.

5. This is confirmed by President Joseph Fielding Smith in these words: "We find, then, Adam’s status before the fall was: 1. He was not subject to death. 2. He was in the presence of God. He saw him just as you see your fathers; was in his presence, and learned his language. Now if any of you are professors from our schools of language, and have an idea that language came as these theorists say, I am going to tell you that Adam had a perfect language, for he was taught the language of God. That was the first language upon this earth. So much for those theories. 3. He had no posterity. 4. He was without knowledge of good and evil. He had knowledge, of course. He could speak. He could converse. There were many things he could be taught and was taught; but under the conditions in which he was living at that time it was impossible for him to visualize or understand the power of good and evil. He did not know what pain was. He did not know what sorrow was; and a thousand other things that have come to us in this life that Adam did not know in the Garden of Eden and could not understand and would not have known had he remained there. That was his status before the fall." (Doctrines of Salvation: Sermons and Writings of Joseph Fielding Smith. 3 vols. Edited by Bruce R. McConkie [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1954-1956], 1:107-108.)

6. See Kay P. Edwards, "Opposition," Encyclopedia of Mormonism 4 Vols., ed. Daniel H. Ludlow (New York: Macmillan, 1992), 3:1031-1032.

7. Orson Pratt, in Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. (London: Latter-day Saint's Book Depot, 1854-86), 1:285-286.

8. Brigham Young, in Journal of Discourses, 11:42.

9. James E. Talmage, A Study of the Articles of Faith. 12th ed., rev. (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1978), 54; emphasis added.

10. James E. Talmage, The Vitality of Mormonism (Boston: The Gorham Press, 1919), 46.

11. George Q. Cannon, Journal of Discourses, 26:190-191.

12. Joseph F. Smith, Anthon H. Lund, Charles W. Penrose, Messages of the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (1833-1951). 6 vols., ed. James R. Clark (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1965-1975), 4:325-326.

13. Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 2:31; also Discourses of Brigham Young, Compiled by John A. Widtsoe,. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1978) p. 416; Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young (Published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1997), p. 302.

14. Orson F. Whitney, Conference Report, April 1908, 87.

15. Orson Pratt, Remarkable Visions (n.p., n.d.), 12.

16. Bruce R. McConkie, A New Witness for the Articles of Faith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1985), p. 282.

17. This is the meaning of the second Articles of Faith: "We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression." See Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 2:49.

18. Orson Pratt, in Journal of Discourses, 1:329.

19. Ezra Taft Benson, "What I Hope You Will Teach Your Children About the Temple," Temples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, pp. 42-43; also, Ensign, Aug. 1985, p. 8; emphasis added.

20. This is known as the law of adoption. The law of adoption is completed when a child is sealed to his or her’s parents. Adopting children to parents began during the administration of Wilford Woodruff. Prior to his administration, people were being adopted to anyone. However, President Woodruff received a revelation clarifying the order of this ordinance. In April General Conference of 1984, he said: "When I went before the Lord to know who I should be adopted to (we were then being adopted to prophets and apostles), the Spirit of God said to me, ‘Have you not a father, who begot you?’ ‘Yes, I have.’ ‘Then why not honor him? Why not be adopted to him?’ ‘Yes,’ says I, ‘that is right.’ I was adopted to my father, and should have had my father sealed to his father, and so on back; and the duty that I want every man who presides over a temple to see performed from this day henceforth and forever, unless the Lord Almighty commands otherwise, is, let every man be adopted to his father. When a man receives the endowments, adopt him to his father; not to Wilford Woodruff, nor to any other man outside the lineage of his fathers. That is the will of God to this people." (Collected Discourses, Vol.4)

Children born to parents who are already married for time and all eternity are "born in the covenant," meaning they are automatically sealed to their parents and are thus born legal heirs to the kingdom. In other words, they are automatically adopted into the family of God at birth! Elder James E. Talmage declared: "Children born to parents thus married under the celestial law are heirs to the Priesthood; ‘children of the covenant’ they are called; no ordinance of adoption or sealing is required to give them place in the blessed posterity of promise." (The House of the Lord: A Study of Holy Sanctuaries, Ancient and Modern. 1912 ed., reprint. [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1962]., p.88.)

However, children born to parents who are not married in the temple must receive the sealing or adoption ordinance (See Wilford Woodruff, The Discourses of Wilford Woodruff [Compiled by G. Homer Durham. Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1946], pp.154-156; Messages of the First Presidency, 2: 278-279; 5:112.). President George Q. Cannon, then a member of the First Presidency, stated: "It is not necessary, where parents are thus sealed together by the authority of the Holy Priesthood for time and for eternity, that their children should be adopted or be sealed to them. They are legitimate heirs of the Priesthood and of the blessings of the new and everlasting covenant. But not so with those who have been born outside of this covenant. There has to be some ordinance performed in order to make them legitimate; and that ordinance, the Prophet Joseph revealed, was the ordinance of adoption; that is, that which covers the ordinance or law, although we do not use the word adoption when we seal children to parents; we call that sealing." (Collected Discourses, Vol.4, George Q. Cannon, April 8, 1894).

21. See Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 2nd ed., rev. (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1966), p. 394.

22. Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 3:160.

23. Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.159.

24. Ezra Taft Benson, "What I Hope You Will Teach Your Children About the Temple," Temples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, pp. 43-44; also, Ensign, Aug. 1985, p. 9; also, Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p.257.

25. Bruce R. McConkie, A New Witness for the Articles of Faith, p.314.

26. Joseph Smith taught, "Many have supposed that the doctrine of translation was a doctrine whereby men were taken immediately into the presence of God, and into an eternal fullness, but his is a mistaken idea." One must be resurrected to come into the presence of God and obtain eternal fullness. "This distinction is made between the doctrine of the actual resurrection and translation: translation obtains deliverance from the tortures and sufferings of the body, but their existence will prolong as to the labors and toils of the ministry, before they can enter into so great a rest and glory" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.170). Eventually, translated beings obtain a celestial resurrection and receive the fullness of joy (see 3 Nephi 28).

27. Alma 13:6 and D&C 42:11 teach the necessity of the priesthood or the holy order in order to preach the gospel.

28. Joseph Fielding Smith stated: "We read in the Pearl of Great Price how Enoch was called to cry repentance, and through his diligent labors be gathered together those who were willing to make covenant to serve the Lord. These made covenant to obey the celestial law, or the law of consecration, for this is a celestial law, and the celestial kingdom is governed by it. They were willing to give all that they had, even their lives to the kingdom of God. The result was that they became so righteous that they walked with God, and "he dwelt in the midst of Zion; and it came to pass that Zion was not, for God received it up into his own bosom; and from thence went forth the saying, Zion is fled."—Moses 7:69." (The Way to Perfection: Short Discourses on Gospel Themes. 9^th ed. [Salt Lake City: Genealogical Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1951], pp. 273-274)

29. Joseph Smith taught "Now the doctrine of translation is a power which belongs to this Priesthood." (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.170.)

30. Of this, Joseph Fielding Smith said: "It is generally thought that the Lord called Noah, when he had determined to cleanse the earth with the flood, and sent him out alone to preach to the wicked inhabitants. It is sometimes said, without basis in fact, that Noah preached 120 years; and nothing is said of the preaching of other witnesses. Let me call your attention to the fact that Noah was not alone in bearing witness. It is recorded in the Pearl of Great Price that: ‘It came to pass that Methuselah, the son of Enoch, was not taken, that the covenants of the Lord might be fulfilled, which he made to Enoch; for he truly covenanted with Enoch that Noah should be of the fruit of his loins. And it came to pass that Methuselah prophesied that from his loins should spring all the kingdoms of the earth (through Noah), and he took glory unto himself.’ Now Methuselah, grandfather of Noah, was a righteous man and a prophet. He knew by the spirit of revelation that the flood would come in the days of Noah. Moreover, he lived until the year of the flood when he died. Do you not think that this righteous man was also declaring repentance to the perverse world, and warning them of the flood which was to come? Again, Lamech, father of Noah, was also a righteous man and he lived until five years before the flood. It is reasonable to suppose that he, too, was preaching to the people, as well as his father and his son." (Joseph Fielding Smith Jr., Doctrines of Salvation, 1:204).

31. See Joseph Fielding Smith Jr., Doctrines of Salvation, 2:320; Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 1:274; Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p.289; Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses, 1:291-292; John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, 26:74-75; George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1922, p.50.

32. Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses, 1:331.

33. Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.12.