My dogs favorite snack is my homework...

The last few days haven't been the most exciting days of my life. When I thought about coming the Jerusalem I compared it a little too much to my study abroad in England.  Somehow, that study abroad was very easy.  Our homework was to walk around the city, go and see the amazing museums, and occasionally read while we read the tube.  Super easy.

Now, all of a sudden, while on a study abroad I am expected to work hard.  I have to go to class AND I have to do a lot of homework.

A lot of what I am learning makes me realize how much I don't know.  I have learned a few things that I would love to share though.  I am going to copy and paste an email from my teacher here.

Consider the following ideas about the fall:

The Book of Mormon says that if Adam and Eve had not fallen, they would not have had children (2 Ne. 2:22-23). Some saints read more into this text than it says. It says only that, in order to have children, Adam and Eve needed to disobey the instruction to not subject themselves to death by eating from from the tree of knowledge. It does not say that they had to follow Satan's invitation to disobey that instruction. In other words, they did not have to do what Satan urged them to do.

It does not say that they "had to" fall by obeying Satan, who lied to them.

We are free to be open to the possibility that Adam and Eve could have obeyed God and not Satan, in which case he would have returned to give them further instructions as he promised, including the possibility that there was another way or ways that he could have brought about the fall, such as giving them a conscious, informed choice, as he had done with eating the fruit on the tree of knowledge.

It is Satan, not God, who likes to get us to think of things as if there were no other way. God offers choices and inevitable consequences. Satan offers only subjection in the guise of helping us to break free from a God who doesn't want us to share his power. Satan, in other words, projects his own power-hungriness onto God. He reverses their real roles in his lies to Adam and Eve and to us. It is God who shares true knowledge and power as quickly as the children are able to receive it. It is Satan who conceals and exalts himself at our expense (2 Ne. 2:17-18).

The second point about the fall that you should consider is that it is best understood historically, by which I mean that Adam and Eve weren't static, always in the same state of understanding. When we read the scriptures carefully, especially in light of the temple, we notice that Adam and Eve are like little children, more vulnerable to Satan's propaganda than they were later after gaining experience and seeing things more clearly. Notice how Eve and then Adam gain insight as they gain experience. When they first encounter Satan they are like my six-year-old, willing to believe what they are told and vulnerable to his sophisticated lies. After they gain experience they see things more clearly and better recognize their situation and who they should trust. If my six-year-old were to take candy from a stranger he would be less culpable than my mature, wise, seventeen-year-old. God holds Adam and Eve accountable for transgressing his instructions. He holds Satan accountable for consciously, wickedly, lying with intent to deceive and enslave.

So God uses his omniscience--his foreknowledge--not to cause Adam and Eve to fall (D&C 29 says they did that themselves), but to have a plan of redemption waiting when they fall. In the early days of the restored Church some saints noticed that they had different views of the nature of the fall. They asked Joseph to seek a clarifying revelation, which is now D&C 29. Read verses 36-43 for a fantastic, concise summary of the fall and God's plan for redeeming us from it through his Only Begotten Son.

Pretty amazing huh?  It is an interesting thing to think about!  It is amazing how much my teachers know.

Last night was a guy in the programs birthday.  He turned 19 and there was a party his family through where we played Just Dance and later there was a surprise birthday party.  I think it was a great way to bring everyone in the group together for a social night.  It was a lot of fun!!

As I post this I am watching Pride and Prejudice.  I just can't get away from that movie--especially when on a study abroad apparently.  I LOVE it!

P.S. Yes, I know that my dog is dead.  It just was too funny of a title to pass up.