Thursday, June 24, 2021

An Example of the Difficulty of Adam's Death and Jesus being Adam’s Savior Poses for Adam-God Apologists

  

 

Adam dies as the Father said he would through partaking of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam’s spirit and body were separated, and he did not get the resurrection of Jesus Christ. (Doctrines of Salvation 1:105)

 

Joseph Fielding Smith uses Adam’s “death” as proof that he was subject to the atonement and resurrection of Jesus Christ the same as all mankind. This thinking is based upon assumptions which cannot be supported from the scriptures. Firstly, it is more than likely that Adam and Eve possessed the keys of resurrection since they had already been resurrected in a prior estate. And Jesus said the Father has power to “take up his body again.” The Bible says that Moses died too, but we learn from The Book of Mormon that Moses, and possibly Alma, were translated:

 

Behold, this we know that he [Alma] was a righteous man; and the saying went abroad in the church that he was taken up by the Spirit, or buried by the hand of the Lord, even as Moses. But behold, the scriptures saith the Lord took Moses unto himself; and we suppose that he has also received Alma in the spirit, unto himself; therefore, for this case we know nothing concerning his death and burial. (Alma 45:19)

 

Perhaps Adam’s “death” was also different than we are accustomed to.

 

Some cannot accept that Adam is our Heavenly Father because Jesus would have been Adam’s Savior. They say it would run contrary to the entire plan of salvation. Many people assume that Adam’s need for a Savior is demeaning. Could a son save a father and redeem Him? This author will ask only one question: what better example could be set for us than for our Father to descend below His exaltation and fall, thus showing us the way? We do not know whether our Father had need of a Savior after he left this estate. But even if He did, it would not take away from the truthfulness and splendor of the doctrine of Adam-God. (Craig L. Tholson, Adam-God [Doctrines of the Restoration volume 1; Payton, Utah: Publishment, 1991], 308-9)