In book,
copyrighted by Heber J. Grant, then-president of the Church, for the Education
Department of the Church, Ezra Dalby wrote the following about the Fall. Note
how, unlike many modern commentators on this topic, he recognises that the Fall
was not purely positive; instead, there were many unfortunate, negative consequences
as a result:
But now the scene changed. Sin came to
destroy the close companionship between God and man. Disobedience was the cause
of the separation. Adam and Eve had been warned not to partake of the fruit of
the tree of knowledge. Eve was the first to break this commandment. The tempter
came, and he told her that it would be to their advantage to eat of the
forbidden fruit. He denied that she would die, as the Lord had said; and he
suggested that if she eat the fruit her eyes would be open and she would be as
the gods, knowing good and evil. This appealed to her curiosity, and she
yielded to the tempter’s promptings by eating the fruit. And so Eve fell. Adam
might have been able to resist the wiles of the serpent; but when his wife
urged him to join her in eating the fruit, he also broke the commandment which
God had given them. Next, instead of making a frank confession when God
questioned them and asking his forgiveness, each tried to shift the responsibility
upon someone else. As a consequence they were driven from the garden, and from
the presence of God. Henceforth, they were compelled to learn in the sad school
of experience and suffering the hard lessons of life. They were to walk by
faith, not by sight. This was not without its compensations, however, for the
innocence of man in the garden could never have become virtue. Moral strength
must be attained by slow self-conquest and constant striving toward perfection.
And through this struggle and achievement comes the joy of final victory. (Ezra
C. Dalby, Land and Leaders of Israel:
Lessons in the Old Testament [2d ed.; Salt Lake City: Department of
Education of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1933], xvi-xvii)
