LDS Old Testament Slideshow 04: The fall; Cain & Abel

7/27/2019 LDS Old Testament Slideshow 04: The fall; Cain & Abel

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Old Testament

Hurricane Utah

Adult Religion Class

Week 4: The Fall, the telestial world,Cain and Abel



The Fall in LDS belief

—Encyclopedia of Mormonism 2:485 2



Dilemma in the garden

3

—2 Nephi 2:15–16



4



Closing the sale

• Three claims (Genesis 3:4–5):

“Ye shall not surely die.” — half-truth

“God doth know…ye shall be as gods”— appeal to mistrust/jealousy

“Your eyes shall be opened…knowing goodand evil.” — truth

5



Three cursings

• The serpent/Satan (Genesis 3:14–15).

Belly.

Enmity.

Bruise (crush).

• The woman (Genesis 3:16). Painful childbirth.

Men will try to dominate.

• The man (Genesis 3:17–19). Ground cursed.

Toil and hard work. 6



The tree of life

7Neo-Assyrian Tree of Life stele, c. 870 B.C., British Museum



Cherubim

8



Death before the Fall?

9

—2 Nephi 2:22




10

LDS Bible Dictionary, “Fall of Adam”

1979 2013




11

—Alma 12:22–24




12

—Moses 6:45, 48, 58–59




—Encyclopedia of Mormonism 2:486

13



The telestial world

• Adam and Eve work and have children

(Moses 5:1–2).

• Adam offers sacrifices unto the Lord

(Moses 5:5–8).

• Adam and Eve rejoice in the results of

their actions in the Garden

(Moses 5:10–

11).

14



Adam & Eve’s poetic refrain

Because of my transgression:Amy eyes are opened, and

Bin this life I shall have joy, andC

again in the flesh I shall see God.Were it not for our transgression:Dwe never should have had seed, and

A1never should have known good and evil, and

B1the joy of our redemption, andC1the eternal life which God giveth

unto all the obedient.

15



The telestial world

• Some of their children go astray

(Moses 5:12–13).

16



Cain & Abel

• Primogeniture: Right of the firstborn.

• Cain = Hebrew sound play:

קניחי (qaniti, “I have created”)

sounds like . (qayin)קין

• Abel = , (hevelחבל “breath” or “vapor”).

• Cain‟s offering rejected (Moses 5:18–

21).

17



Cain’s offering rejected

“It must be shedding the blood of theOnly Begotten to atone for man;…to offera sacrifice contrary to that, no faithcould be exercised, because redemptionwas not purchased in that way, nor thepower of atonement instituted after that order;consequently Cain could have no faith; andwhatsoever is not of faith, is sin.”

—Joseph Smith, January 1834(History of the Church 2:15)

18



Secret combinations

• Cain entered into a secret combination

with Satan and became Master Mahan

(Moses 5:28–31).

Helaman 7:21.

Ether 8:14.

19



Secret combinations

“The Book of Mormon teaches that secretcombinations engaged in crime present aserious challenge, not just to individualsand families but to entire civilizations.Among today‟s secret combinations aregangs, drug cartels, and organized crimefamilies…. Among their purposes are to „murder,and plunder, and steal, and commit whoredomsand all manner of wickedness, contrary to thelaws of their country and also the laws of theirGod‟ (Helaman 6:23).

20



Secret combinations

“If we are not careful, today‟s secretcombinations can obtain power andinfluence just as quickly and just ascompletely as they did in Book of Mormontimes. Do you remember the pattern? Thesecret combinations began among the „morewicked part‟ of society, but eventually „seducedthe more part of the righteous‟ until the wholesociety was polluted (Helaman 6:38).”

—Elder M. Russell Ballard, October 1997

21



Secret combinations

“From the international drug and armstraffic to the sneaky chemical additionsin the supermarket, the principle applies:life in exchange for profits. One exampleshould suffice. This month a headlineannounces that „Radiation Dump Could Bring Cashto County.‟ Some counties actually clamor toconvert the land Bountiful into the landDesolation for a quick buck.”

—Hugh Nibley, May 1987

22



Secret combinations

• Secret combinations vs.

sacred covenants.

• Mahan = (maha), “toמהח destroy” + -n =noun mahan, “destroyer.”

Perdition = άπωθέω (apoleia), “destruction”(Moses 5:24).

23



“I am free…”

“Cain‟s observation of a newfoundfreedom was false doctrine straight fromthe adversary. In reality he enslavedhimself to a life of deceit and a life „shutout from the presence of the Lord….‟(Moses 5:41.) Cain brought this tragedy to his ownlife by disregarding priesthood principles. Herefused to be his „brother‟s keeper,‟ and in sodoing he sold his soul to the father of lies andmurder.”

—Bishop Robert L. Simpson, October 1968

24



Curse of Cain, mark of Cain

The curse (Moses 5:23–25, 37):

1. Cain delivered up to

Satan.

2. Unto Cain according to

Satan‟s desire. 3. Cain rule over Satan.

4. Cain father of Satan‟slies.

5. Cain called Perdition.

6. “These abominationswere had from Cain.”

7. Ground would not

produce for Cain.

8. Cain a fugitive and a

vagabond.

The mark (Moses 5:40):

• Set to protect Cain

from those who would

kill him.• אות (’owth), “sign” or

“token.”

25



Cain & the priesthood ban

• Joseph Smith ordained black men to the

priesthood.

• Priesthood ban began between 1847 and

1852.

• Revelation, or interpretation?

• Theories behind the ban not scriptural,

not revealed.

“Folk doctrine.”

26



Priesthood ban & Mormon folklore

“One clear-cut position is that thefolklore [about the priesthood ban] mustnever be perpetuated…. I have toconcede to my earlier colleagues…. They,I‟m sure, in their own way, were doingthe best they knew to give shape to [the policy],to give context for it, to give even history to it.All I can say is however well-intended theexplanations were, I think almost all of themwere inadequate and/or wrong….

27




“It probably would have beenadvantageous to say nothing, to say wejust don‟t know…but some explanationswere given and had been given for a lotof years…. At the very least, there shouldbe no effort to perpetuate those efforts toexplain why that doctrine existed. I think, to theextent that I know anything about it, as one of the newer and younger [apostles] to comealong,…we simply do not know why that practice,that policy, that doctrine was in place.”

—Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, March 2006 28




“It‟s not the pattern of the Lord to givereasons. We can put reasons tocommandments. When we do we‟re onour own. Some people put reasons to[the priesthood ban] and they turned outto be spectacularly wrong. There is a lesson inthat…. The lesson I‟ve drawn from that, I decideda long time ago that I had faith in the commandand I had no faith in the reasons that had beensuggested for it.

29






“There are statements in our literature by theearly brethren which we have interpreted tomean that the Negroes would not receive thepriesthood in mortality. I have said the samethings, and people write me letters and say,

„You said such and such, and how is it now thatwe do such and such?‟ And all I can say to that isthat it is time disbelieving people repented and got in lineand believed in a living, modern prophet. Forgeteverything that I have said, or what President BrighamYoung or President George Q. Cannon or whomsoever hassaid in days past that is contrary to the presentrevelation. We spoke with a limited understanding andwithout the light and knowledge that now has come into

the world. 31




“We get our truth and our light line upon lineand precept upon precept. We have now hadadded a new flood of intelligence and light onthis particular subject, and it erases all thedarkness and all the views and all the thoughtsof the past. They don‟t matter any more. “It doesn‟t make a particle of difference whatanybody ever said about the Negro matter before the firstday of June of this year [1978]. It is a new day and a new

arrangement, and the Lord has now given the revelationthat sheds light out into the world on this subject. As toany slivers of light or any particles of darkness of thepast, we forget about them.”

—Elder Bruce R. McConkie, August 1978

32




33

• “Blacks are descendants of Cain” notscriptural, not revealed.

• We don‟t know why the priesthood banwas instituted.

• We do know the ban has been reversed.

• The Lord “denieth none that come unto

him, black and white, bond and free,

male and female…and all are alike untoGod” (2 Nephi 26:33).



Next week:Enoch

Moses 6:25–7:69

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LDS Old Testament Slideshow 04: The fall; Cain & Abel

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