Jan 19–25, 2026
The Fall Wasn't the End of the Story
Genesis 3–4; Moses 4–5: The Fall Wasn't the Disaster People Think It Was
If you grew up in most Christian traditions, the Fall sounds like the biggest mistake in history. Adam and Eve broke the rules, God got angry, paradise got wrecked, and now the rest of us suffer for it.
Latter-day Saint theology sees it differently. Like, fundamentally differently.
What Actually Happened
Adam and Eve were in the garden. Two commandments: multiply and replenish the earth, and don't eat the forbidden fruit. The problem? In the garden, they couldn't fulfill both. They couldn't have children in their immortal state. Something had to change.
Moses 4:6 tells us Satan wanted to "destroy the agency of man." He wasn't offering freedom. He was offering a shortcut—knowledge without growth, change without process.
When Eve partook and then Adam did too, it wasn't a moment of stupidity. It was a moment of choosing. And that choice opened the entire rest of human history.
Here's what Eve said afterward, in Moses 5:11: "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, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient."
She's not mourning. She's testifying. The Fall made redemption possible. And redemption—through Christ—was always the plan.
The First Covering
After Adam and Eve realized they were vulnerable, they sewed fig leaves together for covering. Then God showed up and gave them something better—coats of skins (Moses 4:27). That required an animal sacrifice.
Bible scholars across many traditions have noticed what this implies: a sacrifice was made to clothe them. God provided what they couldn't provide for themselves. Their covering was inadequate; God's was sufficient.
That's a pattern that runs through all of scripture, straight to the Atonement. We bring what we have. He provides what we actually need.
Cain's Two Choices
Moses 5 introduces Cain and Abel. Cain's offering gets rejected; Abel's doesn't. Cain gets angry.
Then God comes to Cain—while Cain is still angry—and says: "Why art thou wroth? ... If thou doest well, thou shalt be accepted" (Moses 5:22–23). God is still speaking to him. Still reaching. He's not written off yet.
Cain ignores the questions. He kills Abel instead.
There's a moment here worth sitting with. When you're angry, resentful, or embarrassed—does your response pull you closer to the truth of your situation, or further from it? Cain had a chance to turn it around. He chose differently.
The Fall shows us that choices have consequences. Cain shows us that resentment can close a door that God is still trying to keep open.
🎮 What two commandments were given to Adam and Eve in the garden?
🎮 According to Moses 5:11, what was Eve's view of the Fall?
🎮 What did God give Adam and Eve to replace their fig-leaf covering?
🎮 What did God say to Cain after his offering was rejected?
🎮 What did Satan actually want to do in the garden, according to Moses 4:6?
🎮 What does Cain's story teach about resentment?
Open Your Come Follow Me Manual
Find the section on Adam and Eve and the doctrine of the Fall. Read what it says about agency. Ask yourself: where in my life am I treating a choice as something that happened to me—instead of something I'm choosing?