Mormonism teaches that mankind is of the same species as God. Our origin is supposed to have been as procreated children of God, born as spirits in some other realm. In this spirit world existence we progressed as far as was possible. But to become truly like our Heavenly Father we needed to obtain physical bodies. We also needed to learn the difference between good and evil, truth and error, and to love and choose the former over the latter. Since our Heavenly Father has progressed so far that He cannot allow evil into His presence, it was necessary for us to leave Him for some place where we could encounter and overcome evil ourselves.

The Book of Mormon (BM) says the same: "...if Adam had not transgressed.... they would have had no children; wherefore 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....Adam fell that men might be;" (BM, 2 Nephi 2:22-23).

A Fall in the Right Direction?

From the foregoing one can see how important it was for man to "fall" - why, in Mormonism, "the Fall" is seen as a good thing, a great blessing. This has led some Mormon leaders to say things which may sound a little odd or even bizarre to Christians familiar with the Bible. For example:

Under the heading, "'TRANSGRESSION' NOT 'SIN' OF ADAM," Mormon apostle and prophet Joseph Fielding Smith, Jr. wrote, "I never speak of the part Eve took in this fall as a sin, nor do I accuse Adam of a sin" (Doctrines of Salvation, (DS), vol. 1, p. 114).

Mormons refer to "God the Father," they mean a resurrected man who became a God, who is married to many women and who begat the spirit of every person to live on this earth through physical relations with His wives. By the phrase, "His Son, Jesus Christ" Mormons refer to the first-born of those spirits, a spirit brother of Lucifer, who was born physically in Bethlehem as a result of a sexual relation between Heavenly Father and His own daughter, Mary. This Jesus was supposedly married to several women while He walked the earth. His atoning sacrifice is insufficient by itself to pay for all mankind's sins.

"The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit"