Sunday Post (Part 2)

More misunderstood than the symbol of the Adam’s rib in the Christian world is Eve’s decision to partake of the forbidden fruit. When Satan tempted Eve to partake of the forbidden fruit (which is another symbol that has not yet been revealed), she realized that she was not fulfilling her role to multiply and replenish the earth with Adam. She knew she needed the knowledge of good and evil in order to truly become like God and to create children. In the words of Jeffrey R. Holland, “The Fall was an essential part of Heavenly Father’s divine plan. Without it no mortal children would have been born to Adam and Eve, and there would have been no human family to experience opposition and growth, moral agency, and the joy of resurrection, redemption, and eternal life.” Eve, then, was a critical role in bringing not only children into the world, but knowledge that would give each of us the ability to become as God. Without the knowledge given to us by the fall of Adam and Eve, no atonement would be necessary, and none of us could ever hope for eternal life.

Eve’s crucial role in the Plan of Salvation proves not only her importance to God but also the importance of all women on earth. In the words of President Gordon B. Hinckley, “Eve became God’s final creation, the grand summation of all of the marvelous work that had gone before.” Eve was not the only woman whose role was misinterpreted or changed during the Great Apostasy. The bible clearly shows God’s love for His daughters. We can see it in the story of Esther, who married the king to rescue the Jews. We can see His love of women in the stories of Ruth, Judith and Naomi, who were anything but weak or inferior to men. We can certainly find that the only person God could trust to bear and raise His Only Begotten Son on this earth was a woman: Mary. Christ even begged his disciple to care for Mary as He was hanging on the cross. Ironically, while windows in medieval cathedrals depicted these remarkable women in stained glass glory, the so-called everyday woman “has been put down. She has been degraded. She has been enslaved. She has been abused,” This lie could have only been crafted by the devil, “the father of all lies, who intends to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will.”