Commenting on Samuel W. Richards’ article, “Adam, The Father and God of the Human Family,” Van Hale offers the following commentary:
Although
the article defends the idea that Adam is God, it does not address the most significant
issues, namely, Who is the Father of spirits? and, Who is the Father of Christ?
Richards asked a number of rhetorical questions one of which was,
Did
he [Adam] not prove himself as worthy of that high appellation [God] as any
other being that ever lived upon the earth?
The
idea that Adam proved himself worthy upon this earth misses Young’s point that
Adam came to this as a celestial being, not to prove himself. Concerning the
fall of Adam and Eve, Richards stated:
Without
it they could not have known good and evil here, and without knowing good and
evil they could not become Gods, neither could their children.
This
places Adam’s becoming a God after the fall, which is at odds with Young. Richards’
point is that “Michael is established as Father, Patriarch, God” because, “He
is the first, the Father of all the human family,” not because he was
the pre-mortal Father of the spirits of mankind.
The
main point of President Young’s sermon was that Adam, not Eloheim or the Holy Ghost,
was the literal Father of Christ in the flesh, a point totally ignored by Richards.
(Van Hale, Mormon Miscellaneous Note Cards, 3 vols. [Sandy, Utah: Mormon
Miscellaneous, 1985], 1:44)
