Eve
“The mother of all
living.” ~Genesis 3:20
“Were it not for our
transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good
and evil, and the joy of our redemption” ~Moses
5:11
Before being
blessed with the gospel of Jesus Christ, my knowledge of Eve was limited to these
general facts, according to the world:
First: She was the first woman on the
earth.
Second: She was tempted of Satan and
partook of the forbidden fruit.
Third: She gave the fruit to Adam and
he ate.
Forth: They were then made mortal,
cursed, and expelled from the garden.
Now, sadly, the world’s view of this whole scene is
one-sided. Eve is blamed for everything. She is considered the weak link in the
chain so to speak, because while Adam refused Satan, Eve was deceived and ate,
and in turn, gave the fruit to Adam, causing his downfall, as well as the
downfall of the coming human race. Does that sound about right? It is sad, but
this is the way many in the world think, and they blame Eve for bringing
opposition and hardship into the world.
While some cultures rank women as second-class
citizens to be ruled over by men because of Eve’s transgression, true students
of the gospel of Jesus Christ know that Eve was wiser than her years, and Adam
and Eve’s choice–according to God’s plan–righteously perpetuated the peopling
of a world, a world created for the sole purpose of man one day returning to
God through their love of Him and their wise exercising of agency.
Eve’s place in this world was foreordained. She was
chosen by Heavenly Father to be “the mother of all living,” and our very
existence hinged on Adam and Eve’s choice in the garden. Because of their
choice to enter mortality, to learn by experience and grow in knowledge and
understanding, we were able to enter
mortality, that we may learn by experience and grow in knowledge and
understanding.
I love Mother Eve just as I love Father Adam, and I
revere them both, just as the righteous hosts of heaven do. They were one in
purpose in all things. Partaking of the fruit wasn’t just her choice, it was their
choice. They shared the consequences of that choice, as well as the joys. And
the eternal blessings they will receive for the righteous lives they lived are
endless.
The world also teaches that because Adam and Eve
partook of the fruit, they were cursed, which was not the case. The serpent was
cursed and the ground was cursed for their sake. Nothing would be easy for them,
and they would need to learn to lean on the Lord–something they could not have
learned any other way, and neither could we. And what was their first lesson?
That there was no apron of fig leaves big enough to cover their nakedness–their
sin. Only Christ could do that. They learned that man is nothing without the
Lord. As He strengthened them in their trials, so, too, does He strengthen us.
We must understand that their choice wasn’t just about them, it was about all
of us.
Adam and Eve were eternally bound, and together they
created life. Nothing could come between them, including Satan and his assured
multiple attempts. They were righteous, a royal son and daughter of a Heavenly
King, and through them each of us shares in that lineage. They were created in
the image of God, and so were we.
Eve was full of faith and intelligence, and striving
to acquire her attributes is a glorious goal that will most-assuredly lead to
the ultimate goal of becoming like the Savior.
Behind every righteous man is a righteous woman–a
royal daughter of Eve, a woman who exemplified righteousness.
How we should love her for it!
