Confusion about one of the articles of Faith

Ok everyone, help me out here. I do a lot of things by faith. Faith that what I'm told is true. Something has occured to me recently and I'm kind of dwelling on it. It has to do with the second article of Faith. "We believe that man will be punished for their own sins and not for Adam's transgression." The more I think about it, the more I think Yes! we are being punished for Adam's transgression. When Adam ate the forbidden fruit of the Tree of knowledge of good and evil (see Genesis 2:9 and Genesis 3:6) he was told that (Genesis 3:17-19) 17. ". . . cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 18. Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 19. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat . . ." For Eve the Lord told her (Genesis 3:16) "Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; . . ." In my line of thinking, we ARE being punished for both Adam's and Eve's transgression. Any woman who's had a baby knows that we are being punished for Eve's transgression. Man has to work very hard to bring food out of the earth and work the land. So how are we NOT being punished for Adam's transgression? Help me out here. This is really bothering me. Melody

Can't help you any...I'm very scripture illiterate!!!! Trust me on that one. I will have my husband read your post and see what his thoughts on it are. Gala

I don't have a solid answer for you either. I'm going to pass the question onto someone who's great with answers like these.

HI Melody Well Sweetie here's my two cents worth...we are reaping the results of Adams transgression and having to suffer the consequences of his actions but when we are judged his transgression will not be among ours. Its like having a Father that is an alcholic and having to pay along with him for his transgression (the stress and abuse from him) but we will not be held accountable for his actions in our judgment. I have a couple of things like this that make me crazy too...like no beginning no end..my wee brain can't handle that. Hope I've helped and not made it worse.. love ya Alfie

Thank you Alfie. That makes perfect sense. It makes everything click together now. I had faith and I believed that the articles of faith were true and I didn't doubt them, I just couldn't figure this one out in my mind. Thank you for your wisdom and being willing to share with me and everyone else who had ever questioned the same thing. You're a jewel. Love you Melody

Hey! I'm adding my 2 bits a little late but I just got my answer from my smarty pants brother-in-law. He's great for these kinds of answers! He says the when Joseph Smith wrote that article of faith he was specifically addressing Original Sin. Original sin is the reason the Catholics baptize their babies. They believe that children are born carrying the sin of Adam. My b-i-l says that Adam and Eve suffered the consequences of their action when they were taken from the garden. They suffered both temporal and spiritual death as a result. We suffer the same but not as a punishment. We chose to come here to learn and grow. Well, don't know if that helped anymore (I thought Alfie's answer was great!) but I just thought I'd share what I got. Hyd

Thanks Hydi. I think both you and Alfie are right. We suffer the consequences of Adam's transgression by using our free agency and choosing to come to this earth but we're not responsible for it. I knew that this would be a place to put my mind at ease about this issue. I sure appreciate everyone who has posted and gone through the effort to find me an answer. You guys are the greatest. Melody

Hi there Hydi I forgot about the term original sin...great answer from ya !! take care Alfie