Sunday, March 8, 2009

Did Adam and Eve Repent of Their Sin?

I was speaking to two local Mormon missionaries recently who told me that after the Fall of Adam and Eve, they repented, were forgiven, baptized, and Adam became a priest. When I asked for a Biblical reference for this they said that it wasn't in the Bible. However, they pointed to their Scripture The Pearl of Great Price, book of Moses 5:5-12; 6:55-65.

Does the Bible support this?

After doing research, I realized that first, if an event this important had actually occurred, the Bible would have definitely spoken of it. Second, if Adam had been forgiven the Bible would not continually speak of him negatively. Third, the Bible record actually disproves this! How?

At Genesis 5:21-24 the Bible says, "And Enoch lived on for sixty-five years. Then he became father to Methuselah. And after his fathering Methuselah Enoch went on walking with the true God three hundred years

. Meanwhile he became father to sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch amounted to three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch kept walking with the true God. Then he was no more, for God took him."

How does this disprove this particular belief? First, no one else is said to walk with the true God until Noah. Second, this was such an important thing that the Bible mentions it twice in the same area! Third, Adam was alive when Enoch was alive! Just consider.

Adam died at 930 years of age. (Genesis 5:5) He had Seth at 130 years. Seth had his son, Enosh, at 105. This would make Adam 235 years old. Enosh had his son, Kenan, at 90. Adam would be 325. Kenan had Mahalalel at 70. Adam would be 395. Mahalalel had Jared at 65. Adam would be 460. Finally, Jared had Enoch 162. Adam would 622. Enoch died at the age of 325. This would put Adam at 947, if he had not died 17 years earlier. In fact, Adam was still alive when Noah's father was Lamech was still alive. Obviously, Lamech was not serving God. (Genesis 4:23-24; 5:6-27) The only person that was said to worship the true God in all that period was Enoch.

Some may object and say that Genesis 4:26 proves that people were worshiping the true God. This verse says, "And to Seth also there was born a son and he proceeded to call his name Enosh. At that time a start was made of calling on the name of Jehovah."

"Obviously," some may object, "Either Seth or Enosh started to worship the true God, and that goes together perfectly with what the Pearl of Great Price says of Enosh in Moses 6:13." That seems like a valid objection. But when you do extra research, you find that it really isn't. In fact, it shows that the author of the book of Moses read the Bible, misinterpreted that Scripture in the exact manner in which I just explained it (I can't really judge, until I did the research a couple of months ago, I was under the same impression). How is this a misinterpretation?

This verse does not mean what it appears to mean. Leading scholars of Biblical Hebrew show us that the original words in that verse carry a bad connotation. When it says that a "start was made of calling on the name of Jehovah" the Hebrew says that they called on this Name profanely. In fact, translators should really translate it "began profanely calling on the name of Jehovah" or "then profanation began in calling on the name of Jehovah." In fact, the Jewish Targum says of this verse that they began making idols and called the idols Jehovah. The Insight on the Scriptures says that they may have even started claiming that they were Jehovah or that they called other men Jehovah and approached those to worship Him. They also could have used His name on their idols.

Even if this verse did not indicate a beginning of false worship and did mean that people began to worship Jehovah it still contradicts the fifth and sixth chapters of the book of Moses. These chapters say that Adam and Eve repented before the days of Seth and Enosh and continued to worship Jehovah for the rest of their lives. However, Genesis 4:26 says that it wasn't until the days of Enosh that a start was made of calling on the Name of Jehovah. Either way it is presented, we can see that Adam and Eve did not repent, or if they tried, Jehovah did not accept that. If they had of and their repentance had been accepted, the Bible would surely indicate that.