Mormonism and traditional Christianity view the acts of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden very differently.
According to Mormonism:
To the first man and woman on earth, the Lord said, “Be fruitful, and multiply” (Moses 2:28; see also Gen. 1:28; Abr. 4:28). This commandment was first in sequence and first in importance. It was essential that God’s spirit children have mortal birth and an opportunity to progress toward eternal life. Consequently, all things related to procreation are prime targets for the adversary’s efforts to thwart the plan of God.
When Adam and Eve received the first commandment, they were in a transitional state, no longer in the spirit world but with physical bodies not yet subject to death and not yet capable of procreation. They could not fulfill the Father’s first commandment without transgressing the barrier between the bliss of the Garden of Eden and the terrible trials and wonderful opportunities of mortal life.
For reasons that have not been revealed, this transition, or “fall,” could not happen without a transgression—an exercise of moral agency amounting to a willful breaking of a law (see Moses 6:59). This would be a planned offense, a formality to serve an eternal purpose…
It was Eve who first transgressed the limits of Eden in order to initiate the conditions of mortality. Her act, whatever its nature, was formally a transgression but eternally a glorious necessity to open the doorway toward eternal life. Adam showed his wisdom by doing the same. And thus Eve and “Adam fell that men might be” (2 Ne. 2:25).
…Informed by revelation, we celebrate Eve’s act and honor her wisdom and courage in the great episode called the Fall (see Bruce R. McConkie, “Eve and the Fall,” Woman, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1979, pp. 67–68)…
Note the different perspective and the special wisdom of Eve, who focused on the purpose and effect of the great plan of happiness: “Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient” (Moses 5:11). (Apostle Dallin H. Oaks, “‘The Great Plan of Happiness’,” Ensign, 11/1993, pages 72-73)
Contrast Mormonism’s “celebration” of the “glorious necessity” of the Fall with the event as understood according to traditional Christianity:
Genesis 1:26-7 introduces us to the original divine pattern for man’s life. He was the image-bearer of God… God originally made man to reflect his holy character and his position as bearing rightful rule over all his creatures. In that respect he is like God.
It is an amazing thing to think of man set in the world in order to be God’s personal representative upon the earth. The opening chapters of Genesis breathe something of this quiet spirit of wonder. Man is given creative powers (Gen. 1:28); he exercises dominion (Gen. 1:26); like God he is a creative workman (Gen. 2:15).
But in Genesis 3 something happens in each of these areas to distort God’s gracious plan. A virulent disease begins to spread through the whole of man’s life from the first moment of his sin. He hides from God in the garden (Gen. 3:8-10); his relationship with his wife, and hers with him, is distorted into one of ugly, back-biting recrimination (Gen. 3:13-17); the ground is cursed and man’s daily labour becomes a burden rather than a pleasure (Gen. 3:17-19). All this is sad enough, but it is accompanied by a change in the image of God.
…We might well be justified in thinking that there could be no greater disaster than that the likeness of God should be exterminated. But in fact there is. What if the image of God, in which his greatness and glory are reflected, becomes a distortion of his character? What if, instead of reflecting his glory, man begins to reflect the very antithesis of God? What if God’s image becomes an anti-god? This, essentially, is the affront which fallen man is to God. He takes all that God has lavished upon him to enable him to live in free and joyful obedience, and he transforms it into a weapon by which he can oppose his Maker. The very breath which God gives him thousands of times each day he abuses by his sin. The magnitude of his sin is also the measure of his need of salvation. The wonder of God’s saving purpose lies in the fact that he longs more than we imagine to restore what has been lost. But the old creation must pass away, and a new one be established; what was lost in Adam must be restored in Christ… (Sinclair B. Ferguson, The Christian Life, pages 11-13)
Summarized, according to these two views, the Fall was either:
• a glorious necessity that opened the door to eternal life (i.e., Godhood); or
• a sin that opened the door to a virulent disease distorting the image-bearers of God into ugly anti-gods.
In the Mormon view the disobedience of Eve and Adam is described as courageous “wisdom” deserving of “honor” for the transgressors.
In the biblical view, the disobedience is recognized as “sin” resulting in a broken relationship with God, marital discord, and discontent with what was once satisfying daily labor. As Christian theologian R.C. Sproul put it,
“Because of their disobedience, Adam and Eve became fugitives from even the gaze of God. We have been running ever since.”
Conversely, in the Mormon view the Fall was a positive disobedience. Yes, it brought about “pain, suffering, sin, evil and death” on earth, but “without the Fall…the whole plan of salvation would have been frustrated.”
An LDS author wrote,
“In contrast to most readers of the Bible, we believe that Adam and Eve both should be commended for what they did to bring about the Fall.” (Robert J. Woodford, “‘In the Beginning’: A Latter-day Perspective,” Ensign, January 1998)
And 10th LDS Prophet Joseph Fielding Smith explained,
“When Adam was driven out of the Garden of Eden, the Lord passed a sentence upon him. Some people have looked upon that sentence as being a dreadful thing. It was not; it was a blessing. I do not know that it can truthfully be considered even as a punishment in disguise.” (Doctrines of Salvation 1:113)
When considering the Mormon view of the Fall in light of the biblical view, I can’t help but think of God’s Word through Isaiah:
Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter!