This is an excerpt from my notes on Atlas Shrugged pertaining to the Fall of Adam. I summarize Rand’s message, and add my commentary after it in notes:

 

 

 

 

Don’t start your philosophy by saying that man is evil; that’s setting us up to fail. We come from a standard of good, not a standard of evil.

 

Note: Brigham Young taught that Adam and Eve were two of the greatest people that ever lived. Hugh Nibley teaches that the first humans on earth were like the founders of a great university – the university starts with brilliant people, setting the example for the students to follow. The beginning mankind was not by idiots in caves, but by brilliant and righteous minds. Many atheists bash Christians for stating that mankind fell in Eden, and that mankind are fallen. But this is an obvious fact. Though innocent, children haven’t learned to overcome evil, and must learn that. The evil they must overcome is in themselves. But it is a hopeful prospect. We don’t look upon mankind with disgust, but with hope. The truly dreadful outlook is that of evolution theory – that we came from nothing with no purpose and are mere immoral animals. End note.

 

The idea of original sin is to say that you are bad to start off with, without even doing anything wrong – this is a slap in the face of morality; this is not logical because if man is evil by birth, he has no power or will to change it.

 

Note: But it should be recognized that human nature is such that most people are corrupted by power, so we should not trust a single person with too much power. There are many simple ways we can see that our nature is fallen. This is why free trade is the ideal – we set basic ground rules like honesty, and then we can work well together. Many people cheat and lie, and we have checks on that. Checks on power, a court system, and so forth, because we always have to keep our fallen natures in check. Just because we recognize the need to hold each other accountable doesn’t mean we need a pessimistic outlook on life and humanity. Rand writes entire books, including this one, about how people have a tendency to try and be lazy and steal from others while wearing masks of legality. These are the realities we face. End note.

 

Note: Modern prophets teach that the doctrine of original sin is, on many levels, false. Adam transgressed the law and did fall, but it was part of the plan, part of forward progress. The fall was not sinful. If people become evil, it’s because they choose to be evil. Cain is the time when evil really came into the world, Adam and Eve were righteous, and evil only came into the world when someone deliberately chose it.

 

Note: Babies do not need baptism because they are not evil. Babies are innocent and wonderful, and not yet in the realm of the battle between good and evil. But when we grow, evil grows in the heart, and must be stopped. Babies must begin to learn how to control themselves, but the moral weight of those choices isn’t fully in effect until a later age, like 8, and more fully by a young adult age, like another 8 years, being 16. End note.

 

To hate the human race because of its nature is to hate nature. And to judge someone for something they did before they were born is to negate justice.

 

Note: This is one way that the restoration clarifies the doctrine of the fall. As the second latter-day saint article of faith states, “we believe that man will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression.” We have fallen natures, but it’s because we are learning to grow. It’s part of how life was meant to be, part of the test. When it comes to sin/crime and punishment, each person is accountable for their actions, not the actions of their parents. One point to clarify here is that a person’s choices will impact those around him, even if those around him are innocent. In this sense, a family can be ‘punished for four generations’ because of something their parents did. But these things are part of the learning and growing process. Nothing we suffer is in vain, it all contributes to build us into stronger characters. One person can have a great impact on others for good or ill. That’s natural. Religion and God are not about hating people, but about recognizing the natural state we are in, and making the best of it. End note.

 

The code of the socialist who takes things from others and considers people evil, this is a man who apparently believes that both justice and nature are evil.

 

To say that we have original sin is like playing a game with weighted dice; no matter what we choose, the outcomes are going to be determined and this would not be fair. Never delete the importance of our reasoning power; our minds are our ability to create and the vitality of our life in general.

 

Note: We all have weaknesses, but they can be overcome, particularly by the grace of God, and most particularly by the grace of Jesus Christ. People can change. Life is a challenge. Will we make excuses, or take on the challenges and rise above? End note.

 

Reason, morality, creativeness and joy – these were all the things that happened to Adam and Eve when they ate the fruit of the tree, and yet (mainstream) society says that they became evil when they ate the fruit of the tree. What we call the fall of man in the Garden of Eden is where they really learned things of morality, judgment, creation, and these were all good things that enabled them to live life and made them human; someone who doesn’t have these things is not really human, so when they gained the power to know right and wrong and to create and have joy; that’s when they really became fully human, which is a step forward not a step backward.

 

Note: Oh, how the latter-day saints agree with this! The fall of Adam was a step forward, not backward! That’s when they became able to have children and know sorrow so that they could know joy! We call it a fall since they came from God and moved from immortality to mortality, but that step was a necessary part of our training. So when understood in its full context, the doctrine of the fall teaches us about the inherent dignity of mankind, and of their potential for greatness. We must recognize our origins as being from God above, not animal kind below. End note.

 

Many say the body of the human is the evil thing, the bad thing, but it’s the body of the human that is the good thing; it’s how he works; it’s how he has joy; it’s how he exercises judgment and moral reason, both of the mind and the body.

 

Note: Absolutely. The restored church of Jesus Christ teaches that even God himself has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s, and that the human race is destined to retain their bodies forever when the resurrection occurs. Our scripture even says that the sprit separated from the body cannot have a fullness of joy. (D&C 92). Fallen views have creeped into Christianity over the ages, but the gladsome restoration which began in the 1800s brings back many plain and precious truths. End note.

 

Some have split man into half saying the spirit is good and the body is bad. In reality, the whole man is good. You can’t cut him in half. It all works together, you need all of it. Those who claim that God is some incomprehensible thing somewhere are denying reason and are utterly contemptible.

 

Note: Indeed, Satan wants us to not understand God; the God fitting in your heart and being everywhere at once notion is false; God has a body and can be only in one place at a time, though His influence can be felt in many places, and His ability to know all things from information transmitted from all of His creations is a reality. God can be comprehended. Life eternal is to know God and the Christ He sent. Both body and spirit together form the eternal soul, and neither should be treated contemptibly. End note.