Hey there, everybody. Welcome out to another episode of Redeemed Through His Blood, season four. Scott Durfey here, joined as always by my better half. That's debatable. What's up, Deb? Hi, everyone. Hi, my friends. It's good to have you, Deb. How's the week been? Everything good? Oh, I had a fabulous Mother's Day. That's right. It was fantastic. Just past this past week. In fact, before I came down here, I had a busy day at work. Yeah. And I was like, how
am I going to just calm down? And I read through a couple of my Mother's Day cards and just remembered the day and being surrounded by my kids and friends and loved loved loved loved loved ones yeah yeah warms my heart yeah you definitely had a blessed day on mother's day you know what though uh it's not the case for everybody i know and i'm so sorry for that please come over and i'll feed you and hug you yeah not everybody mother's day is not a wonderful day for everybody out there
and we're aware of that we did We've received a couple of emails encouraging you, Deb, to continue on and say, hey, don't be nervous. You're doing a great job. Thank you for that, everyone. And all of that, yeah. I just wanted to read parts of this one. I don't know where this person's from or anything like that, but I thought it was really cool. I haven't listened to all of it yet, but I was listening to a recent one that Deb has joined as a co -host, and I really appreciate
both your openness and vulnerability. This is what I thought was great. Sharing your experience is helping me deepen my understanding of the Savior's grace and atoning sacrifice. Hearing you continually praise and express gratitude is exactly what I've needed to hear. Thanks for all you do. And I think that there's something to be said about that. not just us, but everybody, there's something to be said about praising God, praising Jesus, praising the Lord, where we should
be praising him. And we wrapped up last week and we actually did our first Institute class, I did, you weren't there. I was busy doing other things. Yeah. Well, honestly, you were to you had a temple walk and things that you had to do for your bridal shower. That's true. I forgot about that. And there was a wedding. Yeah. So there were four horses to ride for one person. I had to pick my horse. Well, I picked I picked the other horse and did make it is to it was
great. We talked about who we are like we talked about last week in the episode, you know, in our first in our. last episode prior to this when we talked about who we are, whose we are. I've been thinking a lot about that of you. Absolutely. What have you been thinking? Well, it puts things in perspective really quickly for me. Yeah. Because. So talking about who who I am. Yes. Yeah. Who we are. Because I have a lot of distractions. I have a very busy work that I I a job that I
work at. and it is I think that's where I exercise the most that I just I literally have to push pause and I take a big deep breath and I'm like think celestial dad this is just a job literally yeah I literally do because there's pressures and stresses and personalities that are very very difficult for me that I literally just have to take a deep breath and go they're a son or a daughter of God too and we this is this is not who they really are this is so I there's
perspective a lot of perspective that I have to just kind of push pause and you know you really can't find you know positive in a day in a situation if you look for it yeah if if Oftentimes in the podcast, we talk about Doctrine and Covenants, section six, where it says, look unto me in every thought. I always wondered, so I think that's important, but I often wonder if we looked unto him in every thought, knowing who we are, and if that was part of our process of looking to
him. Hey, I'm a son of God, and I'm a spiritual son of... We didn't talk much about that. We talked about being sons and daughters of heavenly parents, but we learned in Mosiah that we become spiritual sons and daughters through our covenant relationship with Jesus Christ too. I think it's important for me also to remember that not only am I a daughter of God, but those that I'm surrounded
with. I mean, Bi are also sons and daughters of God, because this is where I forget it the most too, not just to work, but when I'm driving. Because sometimes people cut me off or sometimes people do things that I'm like super irritated with. Well, and this is the little story I have to tell myself. Oh, they're probably hurrying to the hospital because their wife's in labor or oh, they probably just found out that their parent passed away. I literally have to play
this little story in my head. to remember the eternal perspective of these are sons and daughters of Heavenly Father and I am a daughter of Heavenly Father. It's a game I have to play with myself. It's that sounds absurd. You can edit that if you want. I'm not going to edit that. That's out there for the whole world, sweetie. But,
you know, for those of us who know you. We know this so it's okay that I play a little game when I'm well when I have road rage Yeah, we're just you know, I and nobody's different than you I'm certainly no different than you in that regard for sure, but I wonder if you know at some point We when we have those situations and we see ourselves as who we are and we see others as who they are.
I think that, you know, as we progress along this path that we're progressing along, or we're making an attempt to progress along in healing from all of the effects of the fallen world, which we're going to talk about tonight. Which I'm excited about. Yeah, which we're going to talk about today. But understanding who I am, and that I really have a royal birthright that I really am. by way of heirship entitled to all that my Heavenly Father has. And in this life,
that's so incomprehensible to me. In this life, I'm just trying to keep my head above water, it seems like most of the time. And so most of the time, what that really means to me then is that I can just have peace. Peace in the trial, peace in the affliction, peace in the mess, you know, like we've talked about so much. will be joint heirs with Jesus Christ. I mean, that is overwhelming. Yeah, me too. Yeah, it's like, I don't even know what that means. So let's just
back it up a little bit. Pause. Actually, I do kind of have a feeling that I know what that means, but I think let's just back it up a little
bit and talk about. You know, some of the things that we talked about, just to wrap up from last week, some of the things that we talked about in class this past week about who we are, some of the comments were, you know, if I really constantly remembered, and that's the word that you like to talk about so often is the remembering, but if I really remembered who I am, then my life would be completely different a lot of the time. I wouldn't have the insecurities or feelings
of inadequacies that I have. I would accept the trials that come my way, maybe with a little bit of a different approach and so much more. But we talked about last week the pre -existence, we talked about the council and heaven and all that took place there. And then, What we really didn't get into yet was what happened next, right? So we know we have these pillars of eternity. We know we have the creation. We know we have
the fall of Adam and Eve. We know we have the atonement of Jesus Christ and the resurrection and all these things are what we call the pillars of eternity. So the first pillar of eternity, or the next pillar of eternity that we're gonna be talking about, rather, is actually the fall of Adam and Eve. And that's an interesting conversation. People will sometimes say, well, okay, but aren't
we gonna talk about healing? Aren't we gonna talk about how do we let Jesus's power into our lives to heal us from all of the stuff that... that really stinks in our lives and those kinds of things. And so, you know, it's important that we understand who we are and it's important that we understand why we're in the condition that we're in today so that we can approach that fallenness in a different way, a way with more grace, a way with more ease, a way with more whatever
adjective that you're looking for. That reminds me of the second article of faith that says, we believe that men will be punished for their own sins and not for Adam's transgression. And I think, I think just remembering that, you know, we think of the fall and we think of transgression, but I think understanding the fall has, and really studying the fall has changed my entire perspective. of what Adam and Eve did in that Garden of Eden. Yeah, right, yeah. Okay, well let's do this.
Why would it be important for us to talk about the fall? Well, I think understanding the fall has helped me realize that the things, the experiences and the challenges and the mistakes and things that I experience in mortality, that it is literally one of those things that helps me remember that there is a purpose for all the challenges, trials, temptations, even on days that I have those. moments that it's like a why me moment. Why is this happening? What am I supposed to learn from
this? But it helps me understanding the fall helps me know that everything has its purpose and it's all a part of God's plan. There is no mistakes. There is no accidents. And so everything that we're here experiencing feeling our life experiences are part of why we are here, literally. When we talk about the fall of Adam and Eve, this is literally our advent into mortality. And without this advent into mortality, our progression
would have just been stifled, right? There's just so much that we would not have been able to do to progress, et cetera. But here's the problem, there comes, because of the fall, Deb, there comes two big problems. Spiritual death and physical death. Physical death, so let's read about them. So let's go to the first one is we're gonna talk about physical death. Let's go to Moses chapter six, verse 48. So, Moses
chapter six, verse 48. And he said unto them, because that Adam fell, we are, and by his fall came death, and we are made partakers of misery and woe. Yay. Hooray. Partakers of misery and woe. So, you know, because of the physical death, we become partakers of what? Misery and woe. Okay, physical death. Alright, let's go to Alma 42, chapter nine. We're not gonna do a ton of this tonight, but just a little bit we need to.
Let's go to Alma chapter 42, verse nine. Therefore, as the soul could never die, and the fall had brought upon all mankind a spiritual death, as well as a temporal, that is, they were cut off from the presence of the Lord. It was expedient that mankind should be reclaimed from this spiritual death. Okay, I love that. And let's not forget that. We'll put a pin in that and come back to that in weeks down the road. But where it says it is expedient that mankind should be reclaimed
from this spiritual. Okay, so we're reclaimed from the spiritual death. We're reclaimed from also the physical death, right? And those are some of the blessings that come by way of Christ's atonement. But before we get to by way of Christ's atonement, we really need to dive into, okay, so what's this fall of Adam and Eve all about? So number one, was it part of the plan or was it a mistake? It was definitely part of the plan.
I love Elder Anderson's book, The Divine Gift of Forgiveness, and there's so many nuggets in here that talks about the fall. And it says, before the fall of Adam, this is chapter six, far from our heavenly home, page 64, in The Divine Gift of Forgiveness. And I'm in the third paragraph, a little bit down. Two of the Father's choices spirits, Adam and Eve, were selected to begin the human family. before the fall of Adam, there were no children, no death, and no sin upon the
earth. I can't even imagine that. No children? No children. No sin? No sin. No death? No death. I can't even imagine that. And then when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, all the living elements of the earth became mortal, requiring work to live and survive. and bringing death, sin, temptation, injustice, physical and spiritual trials, and all the difficulties of mortality. That really pushes pause in my brain for a minute.
Yeah. Why? Yeah. Why? Well, like I said, I cannot imagine no children, no death, and no sin, which means to me, I mean, I'm reading into this, but did they really know joy with no sorrow? No. Okay. The answer to that is found, right? You're gonna tell me a scripture, I know it. Exactly, we're gonna go to Moses, chapter five. So the question was what again? Did they know joy or could they know joy? Well, there was no sin, no death upon the earth, so how would they know
joy? Yep, let's go to chapter five of Moses. Hang on, you're faster than me. And we're gonna start in Moses chapter five verse eight. Wherefore, thou shalt do all thou doest in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent and call upon God in the name of the Son forevermore. So obviously Adam and Eve are being commanded here, taught here, what they need to be doing. And they're, right, the very first, one of the very first things that they're taught is we need to call
upon the name of the Son. That means something more than just calling upon the Son. They call upon the name of the Son. We'll get to that in a few weeks when we talk about faith in the name of Jesus Christ. So just kind of put that in
the back of your head for a minute. And then in nine, and in that day the Holy Ghost fell upon Adam, which beareth record of the Father and the Son, saying, I am the only begotten of the Father, from the beginning henceforth and forever, that thou hast fallen, thou mayest be. So because they were fallen, now they can be redeemed and all mankind, even as many will. So let's just stop right there. Can you have
joy without redemption? Without the redemption that comes at all mankind, even as many as will. So it seems like we have a big choice here. I mean, it's just a choice as many will. Right. And in that day, Adam blessed God and was filled and began to prophesy concerning the families of the earth saying, blessed be the name of God for because of my transgression, my eyes are opened. And in this life, I shall have joy. There it is. and in this life I shall have joy and
again in the flesh I shall see God." And now Eve, his wife heard all these things and was glad saying, were it not for our transgression, we would have never had seed. So there's one of the four things, okay? So we would have never had seed and never should have known good and evil. So they would have never had, I mean, think of that. If you don't know the difference between good and evil, that's just flat. There's no up, there's no down, it's just flat. So that's the
second one. They know good from evil. And the joy of our redemption. And the joy of our redemption. You know, that's another name of Jesus. The joy of our redemption. I love that. Yeah. And eternal life, which God giveth unto all the obedient. So would we have had joy without the fall of Adam and Eve? No. It would have been that flat.
You know, and it used to be that, you know, and I don't care to compare and contrast that much, but it used to be that when we would talk about this on the podcast, that we would talk about how that, you know, our faith is really one of the only faiths that really understand the fall of Adam and Eve the way we do. But today I was listening to a Christian radio station and I
heard a preacher on there. I'm not gonna say his name or even the radio station or anything like that, but this is a evangelical preacher on there, praising Adam and Eve for the fall of Adam and Eve. Yeah, first time I've ever, ever heard anything like that. Yeah, I think so too. So, okay, here we are, we're talking about the fall of Adam and Eve, and again, I'm gonna pose the question one more time, why do we care? Why does this matter to you and me,
Doug? Well, I think it helps us understand why we're here and I mean understanding who we are and Why we're here. I mean it we gotta learn from our experience. We got to learn from being mortal We didn't know what it was like to to bleed to have an owie You know what? I mean learn to walk learn to eat That's funny that you'd go there because if I didn't have the fall of Adam and Eve I wouldn't have had an owie I know.
Yeah, and I go too, if it wouldn't have been for the fall of Adam and Eve, alcoholism would have never become part of my life. Well, we think different. Well, and I love that. It just, you know, speaks to your own purity. Well, and I'm going also back to the book because it says, first, mortal life would not be easy. Choices and decisions would constantly be before us, and our challenge would be to choose good and reject evil. Yeah. I mean, Literally. I mean,
we face stuff. I don't think there's a human on this planet that is not going through hard, hard, hard things right now. Experiencing hard things, seeing hard things, enduring hard things, and in all aspects, physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, I think there's just so much, like President Nelson said, tumultuous times, tumultuous things. We live in a world that is so hard. But you know what? The thing that's interesting is
This isn't new news. By understanding the fall, it's like this is not, I mean, we read anywhere in scripture, nobody had it easy. Whether you were born 2 ,000 years ago or you were born in 2 ,000 years, I mean, it's part of the plan. And we are here to learn good from evil. And because of the fall, we get to experience good and evil. If you were to ask me the same question, if you were to ask me, Scott, why do you think it's important that we understand the fall of
Adam and Eve? I can talk about it from a collective perspective for all of us. So I think it's good that we all understand the fall of Adam and Eve because of this. I think it's important that we understand the fall of Adam and Eve as a group so that we can know this. But then I take this
and I make it personal. So for me, Scott Durfee, how does understanding the fall of Adam and Eve help my relationship with deity, help my approach to overcoming the things that are on me, be all over me because of the fall of Adam and Eve, right? So understanding the fall of Adam and Eve really helps me understand a couple of things. Number one, it helps me understand that I'm not broken. I've fallen, but I'm not broken. It helps
me understand that I'm not evil. I have propensities and tendencies and those types of things that may not necessarily be 100 % in alignment with my Heavenly Father's will for me, but that does not make me evil. It doesn't make me subject to the devil. and a few other things, but I think about if it hadn't have been for the fall of Adam and Eve, number one, I wouldn't have forgotten who I am. I mean, that's the very veil. That's one of the effects of the fall of Adam and Eve
is we have that veil. And then the other effects of the fall of Adam and Eve would also not mean as much to me if I really have that deep understanding. So for example, I'm a recovering alcoholic. I have 26 years sober, but I still have alcoholic type of thinking and attributes, and people that don't understand that are shaking their heads right now. And you get thirsty. And I do. And people who do understand that are saying, yeah, no kidding, me too. Yeah. Yeah, no kidding, me
too. Because, you know, I've told the story before, even on the podcast, but I was... So this would have been maybe 12 years ago. So I would have probably been 15 years or 14 years sober somewhere in that neighborhood. And I was in St. Louis, Missouri, speaking. I was on a work trip and I was getting ready to walk across the street to Bush Stadium to a baseball game. And as I was walking by myself, I had to walk through the bar area and all of a sudden I wanted to
drink just out of nowhere. Right? It just hit me. And it wasn't one of those things like, oh, that sure sounds good. It was a drive. It was a pull. It was a, it felt so familiar. That temptation. Yeah. And it was ugly. And it scared me. I called my sponsor who at the time, who was not a member of the church, but understand life, understood life. He understood the church too. Big time. But I called him and I said, He's no longer with us, he's passed, and I owe my life, a great deal
of my life to that man. Anyway, I called him and I said, hey, I got a little problem. And he goes, what's the problem? And I go, I'm walking through this bar on my way to the baseball game, and I want a drink. And I was expecting him to say, oh man, I'm so sorry, that's probably so hard, blah, blah, blah, you know. You know what he said? You know what he said. I do know what he said. You know what he said. And he says, yeah, well, no kidding. Dummy, that's not exactly
how we put it. But he said, yeah, no kidding, dummy, you're an alcoholic, you're supposed to want to drink. That was a big aha for me. And it's the same way with the fall, Deb. Yeah, no kidding you have inappropriate emotions. No kidding you have inappropriate thoughts. No kidding that you're responding in ways that are inappropriate to this. situation. Yeah. And everything else. Well, he had no kidding. No kidding. You're in a fallen world. You're fallen, bro. You're, you're
a mortal. Yeah. In a fallen world. And you know, As soon as I say that though, then there's that part in the back of my head that are like, okay, you're just trying to justify it. Okay, you're just trying to justify it. Okay, you're just trying. That's not the case at all. We are in a fallen world and because we deal with and have to respond to the effects of spiritual and physical death, we forget who we are sometimes. Yeah. And you know what? We are all tempted. No man's
free from temptation. Yeah. Yeah. The adversary will use every means possible to deceive us. And when we make mistakes, Heavenly Father's not surprised. Heavenly Father's not mad at us. He's not up there wringing his hands thinking, oh, this fallen people. There's a plan put in place for us to heal from all of the effects of the fall of Adam and Eve. In this book, there's a quote from President M. Russell Ballard, page
65. He says, Satan will seek to tempt us at all times and in ways that exploit our greatest weaknesses. He knows them too. He didn't say that. Or destroy our strengths. But his promise of pleasure are short -lived deceptions. His evil design is to tempt us into sinning, knowing that when we sin, we separate ourselves from our Heavenly Father and the Savior Jesus Christ. There he is. He's the dismemberment. He's trying to dismember us
when we're trying to remember. His desire would be to destroy us spiritually and keep us from returning to our Heavenly Father. Why would Heavenly Father allow Satan to continue to fight against righteousness and to tempt all of us coming into mortality? The scriptures answer, and it must needs be that if the devil should tempt the children of men, or they could not be agents unto themselves, for if they never should have bitter, they could
not know the sweet. I think, Deb, there's a couple of things that we just really wanna drive home here in context with the spirit of what we're trying to accomplish here. So let's just re -establish what it is that we're trying to accomplish with this podcast. In this podcast, it's our wish and desire, our objective, to help others to heal from whatever it is that they need to heal from using the atonement of Jesus Christ to do
it. Heal from what? Heal from addiction. Heal from the problems that come from mental illness. Heal from... Abuse. The problems that can become ours because of abuse or the abuses even that we have perpetuated. Yeah, the abuser temptations. Okay. Turmoils, pains and afflictions of all kinds. Disease. There's so many. Fear, pride. selfishness, all of these other negative types of emotions are all here because of the fall
of Adam and Eve. Now, when I, and this is important because, you know, when I worked the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, and I just had an opportunity to work steps one, two, and three with the new sponsor the other day, which was a great experience. But when I worked through the steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, I had to find a new design for living. I mean, that's actually kind of how we refer
to it there. Because of the effects of the fall, which were my alcoholism, which were all of the emotional and other negative attributes in my life that were not in alignment, that were not God -like, because of all of those things, if I ever wanted to have peace, okay, I knew the misery, which was also because of the fall, but I never... If I were to know the joy and the peace that would come through Christ's atonement, that would offset those effects of the fall.
But here's my problem. So I'll be going along in life and I'll be getting the checkboxes checked and I'll be going on temple excursions as a youth and then I'll make a mistake and then I'll... hurry and repent and go on other temple excursions as a youth or what have you and then pretty soon my life gets into my 30s and my 40s and my 50s and now I'm in the beginning stages of my 60s and it's not all that much different, right? I still see everything in my life. I hope I can
explain this right. I still see all of the challenges in my life. And they can still have those those they can they can still affect me in negative
ways. For example. If I'm not in tune and if I'm not realizing that the effects of the fall of Adam and Eve are at work in my life and I have an inappropriate feeling or I have a feeling of anger or resentment towards somebody else or I have a desire to commit a sin or whatever the case may be, if I know that I'm fallen, if I know that because I'm fallen the devil has the ability to bruise my heel, But because of
enmity, I have power to crush his head. But because of all of that, I realize that if I'm feeling those things, it's probably part of Heavenly Father's plan too. I went a long ways to say that, didn't I? But I think it's really important
for us to push pause every once in a while. And especially when we're in that state of temptation or or whatever, that feeling guilt that, oh my gosh, I had this thought, or oh my gosh, I really wanted to do something really mean, or say something, or whatever, whatever that temptation is, to push pause and go, thank you, Heavenly Father, for the fall. Thank you for making me mortal so that I can experience these things and know for myself that I am fallen and that I truly
do need. the atonement of Jesus Christ. Just like Adam and Eve, when they learned that they could be redeemed. I think when we get to that space where there's that fallenness that it's like, wow, I fell really hard this time. And then to just push pause and look up and go, there is hope. There's still hope. Even in this big dark hole I've just dug. And I just kept digging. And I thought, Wow, even the ladder is gone at this point. I can't get out of this. What am
I to do? But what a gift to be able to push pause and say literally, thank you Heavenly Father for the fall. Thank you for this perfect plan that helps me learn, that helps me grow, that gives me experience, helps me, that gives me freedom to have agency to make those choices. and then choose again to follow him. I'm going to read another part in this book. I'm still in chapter six on page 69. In understanding the
fall, we must remember who we really are. We are divine, literal spirit children of heavenly parents. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland taught, because this doctrine of the Fall is so basic to the plan of salvation and also because it is so susceptible to misunderstanding, we must note that these references to natural evil empathetically do not mean that men and women are inherently evil.
There is a crucial difference. I love this. As spirit sons and daughters of God, all mortal men and women are divine in origin and divine in their potential destiny. But it is also true that as a result of the fall, they are now in a natural or fallen world where the devil taketh away light. and where some elements of nature, including temporal human nature, need discipline, restraint, and refinement. We live in a world of sin, and no matter how good we desire to be,
sin enters into each of our lives. It's just a fact. Yeah. So if and when it does, how should we respond to that, right? Should we see ourselves as as broken, as defeated, as trash, as unworthy. Well, and it was important for me to know and learn that I am not my mistakes. Yeah, that's right. That is not my identity. And I think that's, like I said when Elder Holland quoted, I mean, even before that says, we are divine, literal, spirit children. Yeah. of heavenly parents. That's
who we really are. And that's why it's so important that we know who we really are. So that when we have these temptations, when we have this sin, when we have this coming at us, that we don't let it re -identify ourselves. Because that's not who we are. I am not my abuse. I am not my addiction. I am not my sins. I am not my mistakes. I am a literal descendant of the divine. heavenly parents who love me, and I love
them. For me, one of the great things that come about by way of the fall of Adam and Eve Dev is we wouldn't know our need for the Savior. You know, when we talk about recovery, in the circles of recovery, we often refer to a great gift being the gift of desperation. Right. It is a gift to an absolute gift of desperation. And that gift of desperation comes to those who are dealing with addictions by way of what we
sometimes refer to as rock bottom. Yeah. You know, and that rock bottom is obviously not a place. It's a choice. It's a decision. It's not necessarily a series of events. And it can look and be different for literally everybody. But there's a gift in that. There's an absolute gift in understanding our nothingness, right? King Benjamin teaches us that. To understand our own nothingness is key, key, absolutely key to all of this working at all. And so, which is kind
of interesting. One of the great tools that the adversary uses is to want us to make to be relevant or important. And it can show up differently for so many people, right? But when I'm not relevant, when I'm not feeling those kinds of things, important or seen or heard or whatever like that, I know that I'm in need of connection with my savior. And if I didn't have the fall of Adam and Eve, I wouldn't know that. In fact, Elder Holland,
I love this. He said, you can't appreciate the atonement of Jesus Christ unless you understand the fall of Adam and Eve. You can't appreciate the atonement if you don't understand the fall. And I think part of understanding the fall is knowing that we can't save ourselves. I can't. Yes. And yeah, and he can. He can. And we'll let him. I think I'll let him. That's the first three steps. Well, and also I think about if
we really... Believed that we could do this all on our own think about how many egos we would have on you know what I mean I mean, I just well now here's here's an acronym is that what it's called for ego that has really helped me out because out because sometimes I allow my ego to get in my way that look what I did and look what I've accomplished and look who I helped and look who I you know, whatever sure and I remember being in a meeting one time and somebody
saying, you know what ego is? A meeting of? Alcoholics Anonymous. Well, it was a 12 -step recovery in the LDS. Okay, yeah. Back in the 90s and early 2000s when I was a very faithful attender. Back when you were the OG. Yeah. Anyway, back to ego.
brought up that ego means edging God out because you know what I think I know better and I don't need him and I think that's where that humility and that brokenness is really such a gift because I've said it before and I always show it but a broken heart is an open heart and a broken human is an open human. I mean, we've got to come down here and be battered and bruised and
torn. Just, I mean, literally, we have to have these experiences so that we understand and can grow and then realize, oh, we do have a savior that saves us. I can't save myself. Nobody else can save me, but I know who can. And that's what
we have to come to understand. Right. That's the whole, in my mind, that's the whole purpose of the fall of Adam and Eve is so that we will understand our complete and utter absolute absolute complete and utter dependence on Jesus Christ and his power that's made available to us through his atonement there's no addiction that can be overcome there's no there's no abuse that can be dealt with there's no PTSD that can be reconciled quite the way that it can through the power of
Jesus Christ and his atonement. And that's why this is so important to me, Deb. For so many years, 19 years, I was going back and forth and back and forth because I'm fallen and because I am quite rebellious, which is also a problem because of the fall for me. Some of us just are. Our personalities are just that way. We're just. because of the fall of Adam and Eve. We have certain predispositions. I just believe that.
But for 19 years, I had a testimony, and I was trying to be a good kid and go to church and do those kinds of things, but I couldn't quit drinking. I couldn't quit doing a whole bunch of other things. And I just thought that I was broken. that I had gone too far, that there was no way that I could because I couldn't get my stuff together. I couldn't get the discipline I needed. I couldn't, you know, I mean, it talks about it. You just read what Elder Anderson said
about our discipline. Yeah. And because I couldn't pull my discipline together and I still hear that because I couldn't do that. I was like, well, this isn't for me. And it took, you know, a couple of membership councils and a whole bunch of other things. Today, I'm so grateful that I have a different set of eyes to see this through. But for those of us who are struggling and beating ourselves up and feeling like I'm just never
gonna get this thing, it's okay. It's okay. We may never totally get this thing, whatever this thing is to you, but it's okay. Because what we're gonna find out as we go through the next few episodes and get well into the podcast here at least What we're gonna find out is it's okay And there's a process in place for us where we can be reconciled Where we can still have peace
because we've been purchased. We've been redeemed through the blood of Jesus Christ And I feel like the more experiences we have with though with that immortality with the brokenness and the hardness. I think it, you know, we have enough broken spots on us and we allow the Savior to mend. I just think of those shattered vases and bowls that people, you know, like literally just bust into millions of pieces. And it's not that He's changing our hearts. He's giving us a new
heart. He literally, I mean, repentance is change. And he is changing us to who we really are. Because we came, we come down here and get beat up a little bit. I'm going to read one more quote out of the book, page 68. It says, You are now here on earth, a glorious son or daughter of God. You have entered a mortal world with all the deficiencies, temptations, and enticements of a secondary existence where Satan and his followers are allowed to tempt you, to seduce
you, and to ensnare you. While you have made mistakes, these sins do not describe who you are. Your identity is not defined by the sins of the world but by the righteousness of another. Finding yourself here with the sins of failings of the difficult, difficult probationary state, your soul cries out for divine help. This is our brokenness. This is where we cry out. Deep in your soul, you yearn for a redeemer, a savior to find your way back to your heavenly home.
The fall does not define you. It helps refine you. And I think it goes back to that sweet little story about Jessica being homesick, because that's really where we all will end up, is in our heavenly home. This is not our permanent home. I think next week we can kind of wrap up this part of it. We will be talking about this in our institute class this week. So this will be a good timing for us. But Deb, I think just before we wrap up today, this is really important for me. To
understand the fall of Adam and Eve. is probably what really changed everything for me. I think I've said this before, I've had a testimony as long as I can remember. And how that came about, I don't know and I don't care, I had one and have had all my life. But conversion didn't come
for me really. I mean there were bits and pieces of conversion and I know that I'm still in the process of conversion because conversion literally means to change and I'm still trying and making effort through Jesus Christ and his sacrifice to make those changes. But this is where it changed for me. This is where I began to really see myself. When I understood the fall it made it easier to see myself as a loving as a loved, rather, child of heavenly parents, when I understood
the fall. When I really understood that, you know what, Scott, it's okay. You're supposed to want to drink, dummy. And the heavenly father's not mad at you. He's not surprised. You're supposed to want to sin. You're supposed to have, and whatever that is. And you're supposed to turn to him. And I'm so grateful to know that today. to know I'm not broken, to know that when I have these feelings and these thoughts and these impressions and these inadequacies and on and on and on,
that it's okay, that it's just a lie. And it doesn't define you. No, that's not who I am. Well, so, as we wrap it up, like we always do, wherever you are, however you're feeling, we just hope you know you're welcome to be with us. We hope you feel Jesus' love for you. He's not waiting for you to clean up everything before you come to Him. He just wants you to come to Him. Yeah, broken and all. He meets us in the middle of our mess. That's where His grace truly
shines. So come as you are, broken and open, hopeful, questioning, searching. You're not alone. We'd love that if you'd stay connected with us. Appreciate the, we've got many already emails, appreciate the words of encouragement and all of that. And just continue to ask you to continue
to do that for us. Also, if you have any questions, maybe share an experience with us, a time when... understanding your fallenness has been a blessing to you, and maybe a question of, hey, my fallenness doesn't feel like a blessing, and we can talk about that more as well. And if this episode touched your heart, we hope you'll share it with someone you love, a friend, a family member, anyone who could use a little bit more hope right
now. So next week, we're gonna talk more about how the Savior doesn't just redeem us, He heals us, He lifts us, He transforms us, and He does it in everyday life. That's kind of amazing to me. He does it in everyday life, not just in our church life, not just in our whatever, but in our everyday life. I love that. Thanks for being with us, friends. And remember, there's always hope through him because you have truly been redeemed through his blood. Thanks for being with us. See you next time.