Sun, Feb 2, 2014, 3:41 PM

Why this whole thing about Satan speaking by the mouth of the serpent?  I’ve never really got that.  Is that real?  And why did the serpent get punished for Satan’s deeds?  That’s always seemed a bit unfair.

If I were take a moment though to think about it, I guess Satan had to have a mouth piece to speak to them.  The scriptures are making it clear that he is an un-embodied spirit.

And it came to pass that Adam, being tempted of the devil—for, behold, the devil was before Adam, for he rebelled against me, saying, Give me thine honor, which is my power; and also a third part of the hosts of heaven turned he away from me because of their agency;

And they were thrust down, and thus came the devil and his angels;

Doctrine and Covenants 29:36- 37

Yet, does it mean the Serpent followed Satan?  Can Satan (or could he) tempt animals?

Was there communication between animals and man in the garden?

Why would the serpent follow Satan?

6 And Satan put it into the heart of the serpent, (for he had drawn away many after him,) and he sought also to beguile Eve, for he knew not the mind of God, wherefore he sought to destroy the world.

7 And he said unto the woman: Yea, hath God said—Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?  (And he spake by the mouth of the serpent.)
Pearl of Great Price 4:6 – 7

It probably isn’t that the serpent sought to beguile Eve, or knew not the mind of God; rather he refers likely to Satan, the subject of the sentence.  Why would the serpent go along?  That’s something I don’t understand.

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Sun, Feb 2, 2014, 9:42 AM

Interesting that the first matter of wisdom after partaking of the fruit was that they were naked. Why would that be first?  What does that say about who we are?

Is it a form of shame, that we have these feelings, and we are scared by them. The power of the feelings is a bit overwhelming.

It’s not because God says something that it is true. It’s because God chooses to only speak the truth.

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.  (Moses 4:30)

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January 31, 2014 at 8:08:09 AM CST

Interesting that Eve takes the Lord’s commands farther than perhaps the Lord had said it; “Neither shall yet touch it”.  This shows a significant difference between men and women perhaps; men are interested in doing exactly  what they are told (and perhaps no more), and women at times have a sense of what might be good going beyond that.

It makes me wonder how, though, that fact played into her interaction with Satan.

9  But of the fruit of the tree which thou beholdest in the midst of the garden, God hath said—Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. (Moses 4:9)