Author: Trent Dee Stephens
In his 1981 BYU speech, Elder Bruce R. McConkie, said, "...the
three greatest events that have ever occurred in all eternity...the
three pillars of eternity...the creation, the fall, and the atonement,
" are eternally "interwoven to form one grand plan of salvation."1
Elder Russell M. Nelson, has stated, "...before one can
comprehend the atonement of Christ, one must first understand
the fall of Adam."2 The fall, then, being one of the three pillars of
eternity, is, in itself eternal and infinite.
The concept of an infinite atonement and, by extension, an
infinite fall, means that neither the fall nor the atonement is
limited in space or time.
Of course we know that the atonement occurred over a three-day period a little less than two thousand
years ago (4-6 April around 33 AD). Although the atonement
itself occurred at a specific, finite date, its effect is infinite - being
both retroactive as well as proactive. We also believe that the fall
occurred some six thousand years ago - again, at a specific,
finite date. None-the-less, although the date of the fall is finite, if
the influence of the atonement is infinite, by logical extension, the
infinite fall must also be unconfined by space and time -
therefore, being infinite, it must be retroactive as well as
proactive.
