To the Book of Mormon prophets and
writers, the Fall was a necessary part of the Great Plan. Adam and Eve were, in
the beginning, immortal beings, and were not subject to death. But, “Subject to
death they must become, however, if their posterity should inherit corruptible
bodies. The Fall, then, was a deliberate use of law, by which act Adam and Eve
became mortal, and could beget mortal children.” (John A. Widtsoe, Rational
Theology, p. 47) The story of the Fall is not a myth. It is a record, in
poetic, highly-figurative language, of an actual occurrence. It is a
record of the transition of man from a state of innocent, childlike purity, to
that of a more mature age, when, the immediate divine tutelage having been
completed, Adam and Eve were prepared to begin for themselves the struggle for
existence and progress. And so, “Adam fell that man might be.” (George Reynolds
and Janne M. Sjodahl, Commentary on the Book of Mormon, 7 vols. [Salt
Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1976], 2:68, emphasis in bold added)
