Moses 3:8-11

"And the woman said unto the serpent:  We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden;
But of the fruit of the tree which thou beholdest in the midst of the garden, God hath said--Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
And the serpent said unto the woman: Ye shall not surely die;
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."
Moses 3:8-11


This is a really interesting insight into the nature of our test on this earth.  In order to forward the cause of man, God had to set up a real test, with opposing enticements.  I think one of the most clear evidences of this is just the fact that there WAS a tree in the garden that they couldn't eat from.  The serpent hissed out some half-truths... blatantly lying about death, and promising her the knowledge of good and evil... and she knew at that point that she needed more knowledge than she had... but how could she know, in her innocent state... really what she was in for?  Thus death was brought into the world... and Christ died, not only to save us from that physical death... but from the spiritual death that we experience as well when we choose evil over good.  By the same choice, a lot of good came (including ourselves hopefully), and is all around us in our everyday lives... but so is a lot of evil.  The choice was made, and both came into the world.  I guess our challenge, as Eve's descendants, is to choose the good that she made possible for us by her choice, and to reject the evil which she also made possible.  We know that both are all around us... and to build Zion communities, and to become like God... we need to choose the good.  Instead of letting the evil in this world corrupt us, and living in fear... or becoming evil ourselves... We need to do the sometimes difficult things that Christ taught us.  We need to forgive, and love, and pray ...even for our enemies.  We need to uphold the principles of God, no matter what it means to our immediate lives.  Adam and Eve triumphed, with the help of Christ's atonement and instruction from God, despite their transgression.  They talked to God about it, and he helped them choose good.  We can do the same things, and triumph despite the scary choices that we make.  Today, let's talk to God, and hold onto good wherever we can find it.