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Question???
When Adam and Eve were in the garden and partook of the fruit did they sin or did they transgress? I would be interested in knowing what your thoughts are on this subject. Just click on the "comment" button to leave your thoughts. When I read yours I'll respond with my thoughts.
3 comments:
"Elder Dallin H. Oaks said that the "contrast between a sin and a transgression reminds us of teh careful wording in the second A of F: 'We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression.' It also echoes a familiar distinction in the las. Some acts, like murder, are crimes because they are inherently wron. Other acts, like operating without a license, are crimes only because they are legally prohibited. Under these distinctions, the act that produced the Fall was NOT a sin-inherently wrong, but a transgression-wrong because it was formally prohibited. These words are not always used to denote something different, but this distinction seems meaningful in the circumstances of the Fall."
I (maria) believe that this sums up that what occurred in the garden was not simply a sin but greater a transgression. Another definiton used for transgress is to go beyond established limits and I think we all see that Adam and Eve did this.
Looking up either word you find the other in the definition. They did both. They sinned by transgressing the law that was given to them by the Father.
Well, as promised I want to comment on the question I posed. I was surprise to see that only two answered...maybe it doesn't matter if Adam and Eve sinned or transgressed.
I believe however that they transgressed the law given to them and did not sin. I know that in the dictionary that the words refer back to each other however we need to look at it as Heavenly Father gave it. To transgress a law doesn't always mean that one commits sin.
The following are quotes from Bruce R. McConkie:
It is proper and according to the scriptural pattern to speak of the transgression of Adam, but not the sin of Adam. (D. & C. 20:20; 29:40; Job 31:33; Rom. 5:14; 1 Tim. 2:14; Alma 12:31; Second Article of Faith.) Lehi says, for instance, "If Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen." Then he explains that while in their state of innocence in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve "knew no sin." (2 Ne. 2:22-23.)
Knowledge of good and evil is an essential element in the commission of sin, and our first parents did not have this knowledge until after they had partaken of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Sin cannot be committed unless laws are ordained (Alma 42:17) and unless people have knowledge of those laws so that they can violate them. Adam and Eve could not commit sin while in the Garden of Eden, although laws of conduct had already been established, because the knowledge of good and evil had not yet been given them. Unless they had partaken of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil "they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin." (2 Ne. 2:23.)
In a general sense and in most instances the terms sin and transgression are synonymous, although the use of the term transgression lays emphasis on the violation of the law or rule involved whereas the term sin points up the willful nature of the disobedience. There are situations, however, in which it is possible to transgress a law without committing a sin, as in the case of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. (2 Ne. 2:22-23.)
And so because they knew no sin they transgressed the law bringing into the world death but also the opportunity for us to come to earth and for the Atonement to take place.
Thanks for reading my thoughts.
Love, Mom
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