New Witnesses for God (Volume 3 of 3)Roberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry)
Religion
New Witnesses for God (Volume 3 of 3)
Roberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry)
Book of Mormon; Smith, Joseph, Jr., 1805-1844
The effect of this doctrine upon the ideas of men concerning the great
Patriarch of our race will be revolutionary. It seems to be the fashion
of those who assume to teach the Christian religion to denounce Adam
in unmeasured terms; as if the fall of man had surprised, if, indeed,
it did altogether thwart, the original plan of God respecting the
existence of man in the earth. The creeds of the churches generally
fail to consider the "fall" as part of God's purpose regarding this
world, and, in its way, as essential to the accomplishment of that
purpose as the "redemption" through Jesus Christ. Certainly there would
have been no occasion for the "redemption" had there been no "fall;"
and hence no occasion for the display of all that wealth of grace and
mercy and justice and love--all that richness of experience involved
in the gospel of Jesus Christ, had there been no "fall." It cannot be
but that it was part of God's purpose to display these qualities in
their true relation, for the benefit and blessing and experience and
enlargement and ultimate uplifting of man; and since there would have
been no occasion for displaying them but for the "fall," it logically
follows that the "fall," no less than the "redemption," must have been
part of God's original plan respecting the earth-probation of man. The
"fall," undoubtedly was a fact as much present to the fore-knowledge
of God as was the "redemption;" and the act which encompassed it must
be regarded as more praise-worthy than blame-worthy, since it was
essential to the accomplishment of the divine purpose. Yet, as I say,
those who assume to teach Christianity roundly denounce Adam for his
transgression. An accepted teacher of Catholic doctrine says:
The Catholic Church teaches that Adam, by his sin, has not only
caused harm to himself, but to the whole human race; that by it
he lost the supernatural justice and holiness which he received
gratuitously from God, and lost it, not only for himself, but also
for all of us; and that he, having stained himself with the sin of
disobedience, has transmitted not only death and other bodily pains
and infirmities to the whole human race, but also sin, which is the
death of the soul. [11]
And again:
Unhappily, Adam, by his sin of disobedience, which was also a sin
of pride, disbelief, and ambition, forfeited, or, more properly
speaking, rejected that original justice; and we, as members of the
human family, of which he was the head, are also implicated in that
guilt of self-spoliation, or rejection and deprivation of those
supernatural gifts; not, indeed, on account of our having willed
it with our personal will, but by having willed it with the will
of our first parent, to whom we are linked by nature as members to
their head. [12]
Still again, and this from the Catholic Douay Catechism:
Q. How did we lose original justice?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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