One Result of the Fall Is That We as Mortals Can Learn to Recognize Good and Evil
Moses 4:28–30
28 And I, the Lord God, said unto mine Only Begotten: Behold, the man is become as one of us to know good and evil; and now lest he put forth his hand and partake also of the tree of life, and eat and live forever,
29 Therefore I, the Lord God, will send him forth from the Garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken;
30 For as I, the Lord God, liveth, even so my words cannot return void, for as they go forth out of my mouth they must be fulfilled.
Elder Sterling W. Sill said:
“The most sound principles are the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. However, before we can live by them very effectively, we must know what they are.
“The first question that Adam and Eve were asked to decide when they were placed in the Garden of Eden was whether or not they would eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And after they had eaten, God said, ‘. . . the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil’ (Genesis 3:22).
“I would just like to point out in passing that the right kind of knowledge still tends to have that effect upon people. It still tends to make men and women become as God. A flaming sword was placed in the Garden of Eden to guard the tree of life, but fortunately for us there is no flaming sword guarding the tree of knowledge, and each one of us may eat to his heart’s content. And maybe you can think of something more exciting than that, but I don’t know what it would be. In this great age of restoration and enlightenment we can know about as much as we want to know about any subject, including God and His program for our eternal exaltation.”
(“Hold Up Your Hands,” Ensign, July 1973, 103–4.)
