The damsel in distress thing validates Adam frustration

[Bgood]

Satan used on Eve the very same approach that he used on Adam, directly tempting her with the wisdom and knowledge that the fruit offered as benefits. Instead of Eve acting like the unyielding Adam, though, she acquiesced and partook of the fruit.

Why did Adam refuse? Because it was his nature to stick to the decision he had made to obey God and not to yield to temptations.

Why did Eve partake? Because it was her nature to yield to persuasive arguments. It was her nature to vacillate.

Why did Satan wait for Eve to be alone? Because if Adam had been around, he would have offered counter arguments to Satan’s temptations and Eve might have drawn strength from Adam’s unyielding nature and resisted the temptation.

[natasha]

I've been reading a book that I downloaded on my Kindle entitled "The Infinite Atonement" by Tad R. Callister that gives a different look at Adam and Eve in the Garden, including a statement by Joseph Smith that the couple were in the garden for 1,000 years...in fact, he said six months short of 1,000 years. He starts his book there because he said that in order to understand completely the "infinite" atonement, it was important to know things from the beginning. So far, it's a wonderful read. I don't recall if it was a free download to my kindle or if I got it reasonably as a download. Anyway, I recommend it. In other words....there is much more to the story of Adam and Eve....in the garden for 1,000 years where they were taught by the Lord.

[Fiannan]

Satan used on Eve the very same approach that he used on Adam, directly tempting her with the wisdom and knowledge that the fruit offered as benefits. Instead of Eve acting like the unyielding Adam, though, she acquiesced and partook of the fruit.

Why did Adam refuse? Because it was his nature to stick to the decision he had made to obey God and not to yield to temptations.

Why did Eve partake? Because it was her nature to yield to persuasive arguments. It was her nature to vacillate.

Why did Satan wait for Eve to be alone? Because if Adam had been around, he would have offered counter arguments to Satan’s temptations and Eve might have drawn strength from Adam’s unyielding nature and resisted the temptation.

Adam was the typical stubborn red-head.

This is the Hebrew word for "man". It could be ultimately derived from Hebrew אדם ('adam) meaning "to be red", referring to the ruddy colour of human skin, or from Akkadian adamu meaning "to make".

http://www.behindthename.com/name/adam" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

From Hebrew folklore he did make his wife Lilith mad at his insistence on being in charge so she left him. I know this is speculation but there is a lot of symbolism in those passages. For instance, why does God make a point of making it clear that Satan's sperm and Eve's eggs could not create a child?

15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed it shall bruise thy. head and thou shalt bruise his heel.

[natasha]

I have read that Eve's seed in this scripture is referring to the Savior.

[Fiannan]

I have read that Eve's seed in this scripture is referring to the Savior.

Perhaps, but pretty much everywhere else in the Bible the word "seed" is in reference to making babies. We could take it a stretch and say that it is in reference to Jesus -- tens of thousands of years into the future (note the Flood probably was around 12 thousand years ago) but it also mentions Satan's seed. That would have to be in reference to his sperm or his offspring. Of course there are those who believe Eve and Satan had sexual relations, but I have not studied that theory in detail.

[Shimdidly]

Eve's decision was purposeful. She knew that we could not progress without the fall.

[log]

How could she have?

[Bgood]

Satan used on Eve the very same approach that he used on Adam, directly tempting her with the wisdom and knowledge that the fruit offered as benefits. Instead of Eve acting like the unyielding Adam, though, she acquiesced and partook of the fruit.

Why did Adam refuse? Because it was his nature to stick to the decision he had made to obey God and not to yield to temptations.

Why did Eve partake? Because it was her nature to yield to persuasive arguments. It was her nature to vacillate.

Why did Satan wait for Eve to be alone? Because if Adam had been around, he would have offered counter arguments to Satan’s temptations and Eve might have drawn strength from Adam’s unyielding nature and resisted the temptation.

Adam was the typical stubborn red-head.

This is the Hebrew word for "man". It could be ultimately derived from Hebrew אדם ('adam) meaning "to be red", referring to the ruddy colour of human skin, or from Akkadian adamu meaning "to make".

http://www.behindthename.com/name/adam" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

From Hebrew folklore he did make his wife Lilith mad at his insistence on being in charge so she left him. I know this is speculation but there is a lot of symbolism in those passages. For instance, why does God make a point of making it clear that Satan's sperm and Eve's eggs could not create a child?

15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed it shall bruise thy. head and thou shalt bruise his heel.

There were three reasons that Eve gave Adam to get him to partake of the fruit. The first was

“It is delicious to the taste and very desirable.”

But that wasn’t enough to get Adam to budge on Father’s commandments. So Eve tried a strategy which appealed to Adam’s desire to obey the commandments. Her reasoning was that since “God commanded them to multiply and replenish the earth,” that required that they remain together, but since now Eve had “partaken of this fruit and by so doing [would] be cast out,” Adam would “be left a lone man in the garden of Eden.”

That got Adam to partake and the standard interpretation is that Adam chose to obey one commandment over another, that he was placed in a situation in which the two commandments conflicted and he chose to obey “the greater commandment” of staying together and having children over “the lesser commandment” of partaking of the fruit. We often take the view that obeying God’s commandment to have children was Adam’s prime motivator.

[KCCraft]

I have found a lot of insight by thinking of the Adam and Eve story as a parable. Not to say that they weren't real people, but rather that the way in which the Lord has chosen to describe their story was done in a deliberately symbolic way.

In this symbolism Adam and Eve represent us. Not as in "Adam represents men and Eve represents women," but Adam and Eve together symbolize us individually. In this symbolism Adam represents our spirit and Eve our body.

As I've pondered this a few things have stood out from the way the scriptural and Temple narratives play out.

For instance, Adam (our spirit) was created first, and Eve (the body) after. Perhaps this was done to bear witness that all things are created spiritually before they are created physically.

Eve succumbed to temptation, which led to the transgression of Adam. Perhaps this is to illustrate that if we succumb to physical temptations our spirits will succumb as well.

Likewise, Eve promises to obey Adam as Adam obeys the Lord. Similarly, we must learn to temper our physical bodies to be subservient to our spirits, and of course our spirit must communicate and perceive the things of the Lord.

During a portion of the Endowment when men and women join together to pray, the women veil their faces. Is this to suggest that our physical minds are behind the veil of forgetfulness but our spirits are not, and that spirit and body must be unified in prayer?

Perhaps what we can learn about Eve is not as important as what her story can teach us about ourselves. It's given me a lot to think about anyway.

[pollibird]

In the video, Adam and Eve are present together when they are told not to partake of the fruit, but in the Book of Abraham chpt.5 it gives us a different version.
So in the video instance both are told not to partake and in the Pearl of Great Price just Adam is told.
What do you think about that?


11 And the Gods took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden, to dress it and to keep it.
12 And the Gods commanded the man, saying: Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat,
13 But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the time that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Now I, Abraham, saw that it was after the Lord’s time, which was after the time of Kolob; for as yet the Gods had not appointed unto Adam his reckoning.
14 And the Gods said: Let us make an help meet for the man, for it is not good that the man should be alone, therefore we will form an help meet for him.
15 And the Gods caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam; and he slept, and they took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in the stead thereof;
16 And of the rib which the Gods had taken from man, formed they a woman, and brought her unto the man.



.

[natasha]

Interesting observation, pollibird. And since Joseph Smith said that they were in the garden just six months short of one thousand years...and while there walked and talked with God and were taught by him...perhaps over time they came to know more about the choice they would have to make. I know that I noticed in the new endowment film, they seemed sad...indicating that it might have been a choice that they had to ponder and decide regarding what they were going to do.
And by the way...the reference somewhere above about Satan's "seed"...I didn't think that Satan was able to procreate. I read elsewhere that THAT seed would be those who followed him or chose evil ways here in mortality...and that Eve's seed referred to her offspring which eventually brought forth the Savior....and that there would always be emnity between his followers and the Lord's. BUT, as Satan was able to "bruise the heel"...the Savior's followers would be able to "crush his head" (forgot the exact wording) through the power of the atonement. At any rate, it's an interesting study...but not one I have given a whole bunch of attention to....so just a few thoughts.

[pollibird]

Yes Natasha. The destroyer was liked as a serpent and if he bumped his head into our heel, he could bruise it(our heel). Likewise with our heel, we could crush his head.

[pollibird]

B good wrote.
"Why did Satan wait for Eve to be alone? Because if Adam had been around, he would have offered counter arguments to Satan’s temptations and Eve might have drawn strength from Adam’s unyielding nature and resisted the temptation."




I agree with this. I see this example plenty of times in my own experience with my wife. Two heads are usually better at making decisions of importance than one.
Satan is a slippery one.

[natasha]

Yes, but....don't you think that after 1,000 years in the garden of walking and talking with God...even in their innocence they would come to a clearer understanding of the choice they had to make? I know dealing with my grandchildren at this point in my life...they are quite innocent and yet...they can comprehend some interesting things that I have presented to them.

[gclayjr]

BGood,

While I don't agree with your premise. but just for argument let's assume you are right. Are you implying that the character traits you identify for Adam applies to all men and the character traits you identify with Eve applies to all women?

Regards,

George Clay

[Bgood]

BGood,

While I don't agree with your premise. but just for argument let's assume you are right. Are you implying that the character traits you identify for Adam applies to all men and the character traits you identify with Eve applies to all women?

Regards,

George Clay

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/artic ... -ago-.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Women are manipulators, they are not empathizers.

(Statistically speaking, and compared to men, of course!)

Indeed, it is precisely because men are so good at empathizing compared to these scheming ne'er-do-wells that men bend over backwards to give women a hand up in life while the women themselves make no attempt at all to reciprocate any of the favors but, instead, grab all the goodies.

+ Women Are Children Women are directly fitted for acting as the nurses and teachers of our early childhood by the fact that they are themselves childish, frivolous and short-sighted; in a word, they are big children all their life long--a kind of intermediate stage between the child and the full-grown man, who is man in the strict sense of the word. Arthur Schopenhauer - writing about 150 years ago - 20 min - not the easiest of reads - especially the second half of the text.

A man reaches the maturity of his reasoning powers and mental faculties hardly before the age of twenty-eight; a woman at eighteen. And then, too, in the case of woman, it is only reason of a sort - very niggard in its dimensions. That is why women remain children their whole life long; never seeing anything but what is quite close to them, cleaving to the present moment, taking appearance for reality, and preferring trifles to matters of the first importance.

They are dependent, not upon strength, but upon craft; and hence their instinctive capacity for cunning, and their ineradicable tendency to say what is not true. For as lions are provided with claws and teeth, and elephants and boars with tusks, bulls with horns, and cuttle fish with its clouds of inky fluid, so Nature has equipped woman, for her defense and protection, with the arts of dissimulation.