[Teachldsseminary] TEACH: Eve and the creation - great talk

[Linda Harper]

Here's a great talk by Pres. Kimball on woman hood that has a lot about the
creation and Eve that I have used with my lessons.

 

Spencer W. Kimball, "The Blessings and Responsibilities of Womanhood,"
Ensign, Mar 1976,  70

	

My beloved sisters and the few brethren who are here, it is a real pleasure
to stand before you today and discuss with you some important matters
pertaining to our lives. It has been many years since we began to hold these
Relief Society conferences on an annual basis. Perhaps this will be the last
of that exact pattern. We know your board will produce and present to you a
program that will be fulfilling and interesting to you and that you will
carry on. We do not intend to reduce the interest in this great work but
rather to multiply it. 

So long as the body of the Church was in Utah or even in the Intermountain
West, it was not an impossible thing to call to headquarters the women of
the Church for their delightful period of fellowship, learning, and
training. But now conditions are different. Great changes have come. In the
old days perhaps a few representatives could come for the messages and relay
them to the scattered membership, but now the church of the Lord is in a
different age and we have different conditions. We now have some 707 stakes,
133 missions, and 3 1/2 million people and we have to approach our problems
a little differently than when we had one-tenth of that number. This we have
found in the total Church; so as you know, for the past four years, we have
been taking to the people in their own homelands area conferences where the
General Authorities give the gospel directly to them. For four years we have
held these conferences-in Manchester, England; Mexico City; Munich, Germany;
and Stockholm, Sweden; and last year down in South America, and just
recently over in the Orient. We were well received. We estimate that we
talked to 114,000 people in those conferences; the most we would get here
would be a small fraction of that number. 

Accordingly, we feel that what has happened in area conferences can also
happen in the rank and file with the auxiliary organizations. We believe you
will be happy with this new program that will be given to you. 

We are deeply grateful for the Relief Society presidency, Sister Smith and
her counselors and associates, for the devoted and efficient leadership they
are giving. We also remember with gratitude the many years of great service
and leadership given by Sister Spafford and her associates, and we are
grateful to all good women everywhere who serve in this important work. I
would like to comment on the excellent statements made by these sisters
today. 

We shall now move forward on a newly arranged program and shall hope that
all the women of the Church may profit from this rich program, and we hope
that there will be a great increase in the attendance of the sisters in this
important work. 

The themes will be the same. The standards will continue at the same height
as at present, and we expect that children and families everywhere may
profit from the change that is now in full swing. 

The basic program is still the same, and we call upon all women to gear
their lives and train their children as in the past, only more so. We give
to you the admonition of the great apostle Paul as he spoke to the Ephesian
converts: 

"Finally, my brethren [and that means sisters too], be strong in the Lord,
and in the power of his might. 

"Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the
wiles of the devil. 

"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against
spiritual wickedness in high places." (
<http://scriptures.lds.org/eph/6/10-12#10> Eph. 6:10-12.) 

Our women are among the best educated and best trained. We encourage all of
you to keep abreast of the times, to be familiar with current events, to be
able to read the signs of the times, to be prepared to direct your children
in the proper paths to guarantee to them a purposeful and eventful life.
Paul says to put on the whole armor of God, as we have read. All of you who
are students of the scriptures know of Satan, the father of lies. You know
how he turns the truth into a lie. He garnishes evil to make it appear
beautiful, pleasing, easy, and even good. He told the prophet, Moses,
"Worship me." Moses was alert enough to ask, "Where is thy glory? Who art
thou?" Moses had already gone through an experience with his Lord who had
told him, "No man can behold all my glory and afterwards remain in the flesh
on the earth." Moses had been given a great vision by God who had protected
him so that he could see and hear and not be consumed. He beheld God with
his spiritual eyes. Moses said, "I would have withered and died in the
bright presence of the Lord but for his protection." Moses, then, in
questioning Satan, said, "I could not look upon God except he strengthen me
with his glory, but you Satan, where is your glory? For I can look upon you
with my natural eyes. God said unto me, Worship God for him only shalt thou
serve." 

Moses again said, "I will not cease to call upon God." Satan then resorted
to his last chance. He said, "I am the Only Begotten, worship me." In his
great fear, Moses said again, "Depart from me, Satan, for this one God only
will I worship. In the name of the Only Begotten, depart hence, Satan." (See
<http://scriptures.lds.org/moses/1/1-24#1> Moses 1:1-24.) And that is a good
statement to be used by every soul who is besieged by this father of lies. 

When he is challenged, Satan is angry, as he was with Moses. He cried with a
loud voice, trembled, and shook, and he departed from Moses who was
resolute. There was weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth as he departed
from Moses. There was nothing else for him to do. He has to leave when you
say, "Depart from me, Satan." Every soul who has mortality is stronger than
Satan, if that soul is determined. 

Temptations are great. Satan tells us that black is white. He lies to us;
therefore, we must be prepared to make a bold stand before Satan, who is
without flesh and blood, and against principalities and powers and the
rulers of darkness. We need the whole armor of God that we may withstand. We
must quench the fiery darts of the wicked with the shield of faith. 

You read the papers, you watch television, you hear the radio, you read
books and magazines, and much that comes to your consciousness is designed
to lead you astray. 

Much of what you read is scurrilous. It is to tempt you. You are intelligent
women. You have learned from your infancy what is right. You know what you
want for your children. You must make your own decisions in determining if
it is right or wrong. 

Some of those who write for the public have already gone after the far
afield. They have chosen already to subvert the right way. Some of the
things they are telling you these days are: it is not necessary to marry; it
is not necessary to marry to have children; it is not necessary to have
children; you may have all the worldly pleasures without these obligations
and responsibilities. There is the pill. There is abortion. There are other
ways to give you this loosely held, so-called freedom. They are telling you
that you are manacled to your homes, to your husbands, to your children, to
your housework. They are talking and writing to you about a freedom they
know nothing about. 

Only she is free who knows no master, either Satan or his emissaries. Our
only master should be the Savior. It was the apostle Paul who said, "Ye are
the servant of whom ye choose to obey." (See
<http://scriptures.lds.org/rom/6/16#16> Rom. 6:16.) 

And the Lord said: 

"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. 

"They answered [the Savior], We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage
to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? 

"Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth
sin is the servant of sin. ." And that is true in a very literal way. 

"If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. .  

"Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.
He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because
there is no truth in him." He is still a murderer. He will always be a
murderer. "When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar,
and the father of it." That is one of the principal things before us these
days, this murder that he talks about. 

"And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not," the Savior said. (
<http://scriptures.lds.org/john/8/32-34,36,44-45#32> John 8:32-34, 36,
44-45.) 

The role of woman was fixed even before she was created, and God is the same
yesterday, today, and forever. It is written: 

"And I, God, created man in mine own image, in the image of mine Only
Begotten created I him; male and female created I them. [The story of the
rib, of course, is figurative.] 

"And I, God, blessed them [Man here is always in the plural. It was plural
from the beginning.] and said unto them: Be fruitful, and multiply, and
replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over [it]." (
<http://scriptures.lds.org/moses/2/27-28#27> Moses 2:27-28.) 

And the scripture says, 

"And I, God said unto mine Only Begotten, which was with me from the
beginning: Let us make man [not a separate man, but a complete man, which is
husband and wife] in our image, after our likeness; and it was so." (
<http://scriptures.lds.org/moses/2/26#26> Moses 2:26.) What a beautiful
partnership! Adam and Eve were married for eternity by the Lord. Such a
marriage extends beyond the grave. All peoples should call for this kind of
marriage. 

"And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I
have gotten a man from the Lord." ( <http://scriptures.lds.org/gen/4/1#1>
Gen. 4:1.) 

"This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created
man, in the likeness of God made he him; 

"Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name
Adam [Mr. and Mrs. Adam, I suppose, or Brother and Sister Adam], in the day
when they were created." ( <http://scriptures.lds.org/gen/5/1-2#1> Gen.
5:1-2.) 

This is a partnership. Then when they had created them in the image of God,
to them was given the eternal command, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and
replenish the earth, and subdue it" (
<http://scriptures.lds.org/gen/1/28#28> Gen. 1:28), and as they completed
this magnificent creation, they looked it over and pronounced it "good, very
good" something that isn't to be improved upon by our modern intellectuals;
the male to till the ground, support the family, to give proper leadership;
the woman to cooperate, to bear the children, and to rear and teach them. It
was "good, very good." 

And that's the way the Lord organized it. This wasn't an experiment. He knew
what he was doing. Those things that endanger a happy marriage are
infidelity, slothfulness, selfishness, abortion, unwarranted birth control,
leaving the home to others, and sin in all of its many manifestations. 

Eve, so recently from the eternal throne, seemed to understand the way of
life, for she was happy-happy!-that they had eaten the forbidden fruit. Adam
blessed God and began to prophesy because his eyes were opened and he
realized that in this life there should be joy for them and in the course of
events they should again see God in the flesh. And Eve was glad, and she
said, "Otherwise we never would have had children." (
<http://scriptures.lds.org/moses/5/11#11> Moses 5:11.) She, like other
normal women, wanted children. They rejoiced in their confirmed status. And
Nephi wrote, 

"All things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things."
There were no guesses here, no trial and error. 

"Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy." (
<http://scriptures.lds.org/2_ne/2/24-25#24> 2 Ne. 2:24-25.) 

So our beloved mother Eve began the human race with gladness, wanting
children, glad for the joy that they would bring to her, willing to assume
the problems connected with a family, but also the joys. 

Since infancy we have been singing the beloved song "O My Father," its
meaning only partly understood by many people. Sister Eliza R. Snow gave us
these words and I think they are magnificent. In every funeral of the
Kimball family so long as I can remember, "O My Father" was the principal
song. 

O My Father 

O my Father, thou that dwellest 
In the high and glorious place, 
When shall I regain thy presence, 
And again behold thy face? 
In thy holy habitation, 
Did my spirit once reside? 
In my first primeval childhood, 
Was I nurtured near thy side? 

For a wise and glorious purpose 
Thou hast placed me here on earth, 
And withheld the recollection 
Of my former friends and birth. 
Yet oft-times a secret something 
Whispered, "You're a stranger here;" 
And I felt that I had wandered 
>From a more exalted sphere. 

I had learned to call thee Father, 
Through thy Spirit from on high, 
But until the key of knowledge 
Was restored, I knew not why. 
In the heavens are parents single? 
No; the thought makes reason stare! 
Truth is reason, truth eternal 
Tells me I've a mother there. 

When I leave this frail existence, 
When I lay this mortal by, 
Father, Mother, may I meet you 
In your royal courts on high? 
Then, at length, when I've completed 
All you sent me forth to do, 
With your mutual approbation 
Let me come and dwell with you. 
(Hymns, no. 138) 

That speaks to the whole gospel program, doesn't it? 

Man became a living soul-mankind, male and female. The Creators breathed
into their nostrils the breath of life and man and woman became living
souls. We don't know exactly how their coming into this world happened, and
when we're able to understand it the Lord will tell us. 

As an indication of the importance the gods gave to women, the Lord said, 

"Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave
unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." (
<http://scriptures.lds.org/gen/2/24#24> Gen. 2:24.) 

Do you note that? She, the woman, occupies the first place. She is
preeminent, even above the parents who are so dear to all of us. Even the
children must take their proper but significant place. 

I have seen some women who give their children that spot, that preeminence,
in their affection and crowd out the father. That is a serious mistake. Many
marriages have gone "on the rocks" for this very cause. 

They were partners, each given a part of the work of life to do. The fact
that some women and men disregard their work and their opportunities does
not change the program. 

The Lord said to the woman: ". in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children." I
wonder if those who translated the Bible might have used the term distress
instead of sorrow. It would mean much the same, except I think there is
great gladness in most Latter-day Saint homes when there is to be a child
there. As He concludes this statement he says, "and thy desire shall be to
thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." (
<http://scriptures.lds.org/gen/3/16#16> Gen. 3:16.) I have a question about
the word rule. It gives the wrong impression. I would prefer to use the word
preside because that's what he does. A righteous husband presides over his
wife and family. 

I have attended missionary meetings all over the world. I have heard
thousands of missionaries tell about their families back home in Utah or
California or Arizona or elsewhere. I have heard the testimonies of these
fine young men. What do they talk about? Why, you know, when they speak of
home, they talk about their mothers. Almost invariably they speak of the
faithfulness of their mothers, the devotion of their mothers to them, her
training of them, her deep appreciation for them. Once in a while the father
comes in for just a tiny word or two. As a father, I have felt a little
twinge of jealousy sometimes when my missionary sons have thus expressed
themselves; yet I know what these missionaries say is true and wholly
justified. How happy the mothers must be with this adoration and love! Is it
not worth all the "sorrow" and suffering and sacrifice? 

"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not
depart from it." ( <http://scriptures.lds.org/prov/22/6#6> Prov. 22:6.)
Those are the words of a very wise, inspired man. What a joy this must be to
the mothers as they see the fruits of their labors: their children showing
the impress of a righteous mother assisted by a righteous father. 

To be a wise mother and a good wife is the ideal that Korean women have
followed for thousands of years. We heard it many times in Korea recently. 

We are happy to see Paul's exhortation to women. He instructed Titus to
teach the women "to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to
their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed." (See
<http://scriptures.lds.org/titus/2/4-5#4> Titus 2:4-5.) 

No woman has ever been asked by the Church authorities to follow her husband
into an evil pit. She is to follow him as he follows and obeys the Savior of
the world, but in deciding this, she should always be sure she is fair. 

One woman said, "My home and husband come first in my life. I took care of
my children myself when they were little and trained them all. I taught them
all to read at home." Here is a mother who is interested in more than just
giving the child food and shelter. 

Mothers have a sacred role. They are partners with God, as well as with
their own husbands, first in giving birth to the Lord's spirit children and
then in rearing those children so they will serve the Lord and keep his
commandments. Could there be a more sacred trust than to be a trustee for
honorable, well-born, well-developed children? We affirm the Church's
strong, unalterable stand against innovations or any unchastity or breaking
of the laws that could possibly reflect in the lives of the children. 

Motherhood is a holy calling, a sacred dedication for carrying out the
Lord's work, a consecration and devotion to the rearing and fostering, the
nurturing of body, mind, and spirit of those who kept their first estate and
who came to this earth for their second estate to learn and be tested and to
work toward godhood. 

The role of mother, then, is to help those children to keep their second
estate, so that they might have glory added upon their heads forever and
ever. 

We have often said, "This divine service of motherhood can be rendered only
by mothers. It may not be passed to others. Nurses cannot do it; public
nurseries cannot do it. Hired help cannot do it; kind relatives cannot do
it. Only by mother, aided as much as may be by a loving father, brothers and
sisters, and other relatives, can the full needed measure of watchful care
be given." 

The mother who entrusts her child to the care of others that she may do
nonmotherly work, whether for gold, for fame, for civic service should
remember that in Proverbs we read, "A child left to himself bringeth his
mother to shame." ( <http://scriptures.lds.org/prov/29/15#15> Prov. 29:15.) 

And we remember that in the modern revelations we learn that if parents do
not teach their children to pray and walk uprightly before the Lord, "the
sin be upon the heads of the parents." (
<http://scriptures.lds.org/dc/68/25#25> D&C 68:25.) 

My beloved brothers and sisters, it is a great joy to be with you and to
find you in such excellent circumstances, under such wonderful leadership,
coming so far to get instructions from the Lord. I hope that all your lives
will be brightened and blessed by your having come to this conference. 

May God bless you sisters, bless you in your homes and in your families, and
especially with your husbands that they may recognize in you a great power
so that they might better fulfill their responsibilities in life. Your
Heavenly Father will smile upon you as you live the commandments and teach
them to your children. This is the work of the Lord. God Almighty is
responsible for it. It is a great experience to put one's life in the hands
of his Heavenly Father so that he may give the service that is required. 

We leave our blessings with you. God be with you as you return to your
homes, that you may be protected and blessed and take back a new spirit,
increased fidelity, and interest. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.