Sometimes I wonder if I am going about all of this all wrong.
Take Adam, for instance. He is told to sacrifice animals, so he does. He doesn’t bother to ask why; He doesn’t care to ask for how long. He just sacrifices animals.
For that matter, Adam doesn’t really seem to bother with trying to work things out on his own at all. He just humbly does what he is told and operates on the belief that at some point he will get an explanation. And then, at some point, he does.
Are we going about this whole thing in the wrong way? Should we really be trying to figure anything out on our lonesome? How does Adam’s example work with D&C 9:7-9? Is there anyway to avoid producing the philosophies of men, mingled with scripture, while pondering the scriptures on our own?
I think we must also consider who it was that told Adam to do the sacrifice. I imagine that I would be a little less cerebral if I had a comparable experience. Posted by J. Stapley
My reading of the Adam story is very different. After many days an angel appears, why? To answer his QUESTIONS! He tells Adam why he is sacrificing as a response to Adam’s prayer. Surely he must have been speculating at least a little bit, why else would God have waited many days before answering? Of course his questioning didn’t stop him from obeying, but why should it? There is nothing wrong with wanting to know why, praying about it and even trying to figure it out on our own. Posted by Jeffrey Giliam
Jeff, I don’t know. The feeling I get from the temple version of events is that Adam is explicitly not questioning or searching in the way everyone else is. Specifically, he is waiting for God to tell him what to do. I don’t see anything in the various scriptural versions to counter that understanding.”There is nothing wrong with wanting to know why, praying about it and even trying to figure it out on our own.”I’m not saying that this isn’t the case (obviously). I just am wondering if God is pointing us to a better way by this story.
True, he isn’t waiting for the why to accept the what, but since when does God gives answers to questions that haven’t been asked? Especially in sending angels? Posted by Jeffrey Giliam
Alma the younger? Paul? Posted by John C.
Alma the younger came as a response to his father’s asking. As to Paul we simply don’t know enough. We must also confess that these two were certain exceptions to quite a few rules. Posted by Jeffrey Giliam