Does Adam Have a Belly Button?

[consiglieri]

So is it possible that Adam's immortal body was formed by immortal heavenly parents in a similar fashion that Adam and Eve created their own children? If this is true then perhaps Adam did have an umbilical cord atttached to a heavenly mother and therefore did have a bellybutton. We are told Eve was created from one of Adam's ribs. Perhaps a more interesting question would be "Did Eve have a bellybutton?"

Your instincts serve you well, Luke.

The scriptures intimate just as you say and, following their lead, Eve would also have had a belly button.

Bravo!

All the Best!

--Consiglieri

[Mola Ram Suda Ram]

Your instincts serve you well, Luke.

The scriptures intimate just as you say and, following their lead, Eve would also have had a belly button.

Bravo!

All the Best!

--Consiglieri

After reading through this, I have 2 other questions that are realated to each other. Will we have belly buttons when we are resurrected? Does God have a belly button?

[ELF1024]

Have you ever heard this question in the LDS Church?

I know I have.

I doubt such a question is asked in any other kind of church, but who knows?

Does anybody have an answer they would feel comfortable sharing?

Does anybody have an insight into why this question gets asked in the first place?

All the Best!

--Consiglieri

This question has no bearing on my eternal salvation. So quite frankly... my answer is... Who cares!

[David T]

The scriptures tell us that God ... placed Adam in the Garden as an immortal being with flesh and bone (no blood). Because he was immortal and without blood he could not have come by way of any type of evolution from a lower form of animal, as some might want to believe.

CFR.

The earliest reference to this idea of no blood before the fall I have been able to find was a clear speculation by Orson Pratt in 1853. What scripture tells you there was no blood in Adam's body?

And McConkie's entry in the Bible Dictionary doesn't count.

[CV75]

So is it possible that Adam's immortal body was formed by immortal heavenly parents in a similar fashion that Adam and Eve created their own children?

Or that he was born of God through delegation, from translated parents from another earth who had consumed the elements of this creation to produce a child of the dust of this paradisaical earth. They raised him here (or there and then he immigrated here) until he began his mission in Eden. This would allow him to retain those "translated" qualities in Eden without the mess of falling from a physically celestial glory (only transfer from another paradisaical glory).

[lazarus]

I don't know which amazes me more: the fact that we ask this question or that we have 30 posts in this thread intelligently discussing it.

[consiglieri]

This question has no bearing on my eternal salvation. So quite frankly... my answer is... Who cares!

But what if it actually does have a bearing on your eternal salvation?

And depending on your answer, it indeed may . . .

All the Best!

--Consiglieri

[CV75]

I don't know which amazes me more: the fact that we ask this question or that we have 30 posts in this thread intelligently discussing it.

(thank goodness it's intelligent -- usually there's more screaming!)

[Curtis Weber]

Joseph F. Smith:

"I know that God is a being with body, parts, and passions and that His son is in His own likeness, and that man is created in the image of God. The Son, Jesus Christ, grew and developed into manhood the same as you or I, as likewise did God, His Father grow and develop to the Supreme Being that He now is. Man was born of woman; Christ the Savior, was born of woman and God, the Father, was born of woman; Adam, our earthly parent, was also born of woman into this world, the same as Jesus and you and I."

[consiglieri]

Joseph F. Smith:

"I... Adam, our earthly parent, was also born of woman into this world, the same as Jesus and you and I."

[Curtis Weber]

Firstly, deemphasizing is not out-right rejection; and in this case, if the following fourth-hand account is even close to being accurate, derived his views in no small part from BY's teachings:

"[Elder Bruce R. McConkie, then a member of the First Council of the Seventy] said that it was a true doctrine, that God the Father, Eloheim, a divine resurrected being, came down to this earth after its creation with a wife and produced, in a natural way of sexual intercourse, a child who grew up and became known as Adam. They did the same and brought forth a girl, who grew up and became Eve. They had bodies of flesh and bone, but were not mortal; not till they fell. They (Adam and Eve) were not resurrected and were not translated beings. God really did create their bodies on this earth. They were not transported here; only their spirits. He then said that his father-in-law [Joseph Fielding Smith, then President of the Quorum of the Twelve] told him that was a true doctrine, and that it had been taught a great deal by President Joseph F. Smith. He also added that President Joseph Fielding Smith said it was too deep now for most saints and that's the reason for saying about the creation of Adam and Even in the temple, 'it's only figurative'" (Reed C. Durham, notes from a phone conversion with Bruce R. McConkie, 29 April 29 1966.)

So it appears that Joseph Fielding Smith believed that his father believed that Adam was born of a Woman. If this is truly the case, it would have been nice if President Smith could have spoken with that capital letter or edited the printed version to read "Adam...was also born of Woman...."

It is possible, if not plausible, that Joseph F. Smith accepted Adam's birth, but dismissed or disbelieved the idea that Adam's birth occurred on another planet.

The above source leads naturally to a discussion of the 2 Adam/2 Eve interpretation of BY's Adam teachings, but I don't think that's exactly the intended direction of the thread.

[Curtis Weber]

The first paragraph above should read:

"Firstly, deemphasizing is not out-right rejection; and in this case, if the following fourth-hand account is even close to being accurate, Joseph F. Smith derived his views in no small part from BY's teachings:"

I was unable to find a way to edit my post. Does anyone know why?

[Rivers]

Fascinating.

Give that Joseph F. Smith was instrumental in deemphasizing (to use a nice word) Brigham Young's teaching that Adam was born of a woman on a previous planet and achieved exaltation and godhood prior to being placed by God in the Garden of Eden, what on earth do you suppose President Smith meant by this?

(Let the screaming commence.)

Good find, CW!

All the Best!

--Consiglieri

I had a seminary teacher that said that God the Father and Heavenly Mother came to the Earth, ate fruit, and conceived a physical body for Adam. Looking back on that, I think he was referring to part of the Adam -God theory, except that he had switched up it a bit to conform with modern Mormon understandings.

[Curtis Weber]

I had a seminary teacher...conform with modern Mormon understandings.

I think that is exactly what happened: BY's initial teachings are adapted/parsed/ignored over time to fit one's current theological interpretations.

[Bill “Papa” Lee]

Have you ever heard this question in the LDS Church?

I know I have.

I doubt such a question is asked in any other kind of church, but who knows?

Does anybody have an answer they would feel comfortable sharing?

Does anybody have an insight into why this question gets asked in the first place?

All the Best!

--Consiglieri

Never heard this question, but now that you have asked...I would say no.

[Bill “Papa” Lee]

I had a seminary teacher that said that God the Father and Heavenly Mother came to the Earth, ate fruit, and conceived a physical body for Adam. Looking back on that, I think he was referring to part of the Adam -God theory, except that he had switched up it a bit to conform with modern Mormon understandings.

How old are you? I have read books dating back some time and never heard such bull.

[Curtis Weber]

I have read books dating back some time and never heard such bull.

I heard "such bull" from BYU RelEd teachers in the 1990s.

Oh, and I read "such bull" in the teachings of Brigham Young.

[consiglieri]

"[Elder Bruce R. McConkie, then a member of the First Council of the Seventy] said that it was a true doctrine, that God the Father, Eloheim, a divine resurrected being, came down to this earth after its creation with a wife and produced, in a natural way of sexual intercourse, a child who grew up and became known as Adam. They did the same and brought forth a girl, who grew up and became Eve. They had bodies of flesh and bone, but were not mortal; not till they fell. They (Adam and Eve) were not resurrected and were not translated beings. God really did create their bodies on this earth. They were not transported here; only their spirits. He then said that his father-in-law [Joseph Fielding Smith, then President of the Quorum of the Twelve] told him that was a true doctrine, and that it had been taught a great deal by President Joseph F. Smith. He also added that President Joseph Fielding Smith said it was too deep now for most saints and that's the reason for saying about the creation of Adam and Even in the temple, 'it's only figurative'" (Reed C. Durham, notes from a phone conversion with Bruce R. McConkie, 29 April 29 1966.)

So it appears that Joseph Fielding Smith believed that his father believed that Adam was born of a Woman. If this is truly the case, it would have been nice if President Smith could have spoken with that capital letter or edited the printed version to read "Adam...was also born of Woman...."

Another fascinating find, C.W. Post!

If this account is true, it would help explain why Elder McConkie was allegedly so ready to believe the two-Adam theory when it was alleged by Elden Watson to have been presented to him.

It seems that the leaders of the Church have never been completely able to relinquish Brigham Young's Adam-God Theory.

They have gotten rid of the primary tenet that Adam was God (i.e. a resurrected, exalted being from another planet with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men), but have replaced it with stuff that is, to my mind, stranger still, apparently in the attempt to not broach currently received Mormon Doctrine.

Curioser and curioser, as the Wonderland chick said.

Adam-God Theory = Tar Baby

(For what it's worth, the fact they have to make stuff up out of whole cloth like this is to my mind a sure sign they are riding into a box canyon.)

All the Best!

--Consiglieri

[Rivers]

How old are you? I have read books dating back some time and never heard such bull.

I'm only a quarter of a century old. Some of the seminary teachers out there have some very strange ideas. This particular teacher was one of the strangest. This guy believed that animals communicate through telepathy. I am assuming he was well-versed in all the wacky speculative ideas of 19th century mormonism. I wish I would have taken notes on all the things he taught us.

[Rivers]

As a spirit being in the pre-existance Adam was known as Michael, the Archangel. The scriptures tell us that God made his body from dust of this earth(Morm. 9: 17, D&C 77: 12, Moses 3: 7), and placed Adam in the Garden as an immortal being with flesh and bone (no blood). Because he was immortal and without blood he could not have come by way of any type of evolution from a lower form of animal, as some might want to believe. So if you take the scriptures literally and God actually formed Adam out of dust, he had no biological parents and therefore would not have needed an umbilical cord, therefore no bellybutton.

Was Adam placed into the Garden of Eden as an immortal being or did the Garden of Eden make him immortal? When Adam and Eve partook of the fruit, they were cast out and were unable to eat from the tree of life. If they partook of the tree of life, they would have become immortal while in their sins.

Perhaps it was the tree of life that allowed them to be immortal in the first place. Maybe they became immortal by eating of the tree of life while in the garden. God told them they could eat of any tree except the tree of knowledge of good and evil. I would think the tree of life was included in all the other trees that they were allowed to eat from.

So the scriptures do not rule out the possibility they were not, in fact, born as immortal beings.

[ERMD]

Don't know about Adam, but I would say the God does not.

The umbilicus is a scar, after all.

[LDS Guy 1986]

Don't know about Adam, but I would say the God does not.

The umbilicus is a scar, after all.

That brings us to a really good question!

Will we have a navel when we are resurrected into our perfect immortal bodies?

If the navel is a scar (a type of imperfection) one could argue that we will not!

[ERayR]

This particular teacher was one of the strangest. This guy believed that animals communicate through telepathy.

Apparently he was not the only one. A quick Google search turns up a number of believers in animal telepathy.

[Rivers]

That brings us to a really good question!

Will we have a navel when we are resurrected into our perfect immortal bodies?

If the navel is a scar (a type of imperfection) one could argue that we will not!

Jesus still had his crucifixion scars when he was resurrected because those scars were symbols of the atonement. The belly button is also symbolic of certain things. So I think that we will have belly buttons in the resurrection.

[LDS Guy 1986]

Jesus still had his crucifixion scars when he was resurrected because those scars were symbols of the atonement. The belly button is also symbolic of certain things. So I think that we will have belly buttons in the resurrection.

But it could then be argued that he only kept the scars because he knew that Thomas would doubt that he was resurrected so he willed them to say for that purpose, then afterwards allowed the scars to be healed completely and fade away so his body was completely perfect.