Man having transgressed the Laws of God by partaking of the Forbidden Fruit thereby became as Gods "knowing good from evil." They were empowered by committing that same act to tell right and wrong and to choose the good. Discretion, to this end, increased within them. Not only did they see and recognize the truth, but they also had power to act "according to their wills and pleasures, whether to do evil or to do good."
God, seeing their mental and spiritual growth, gave men commandments with which they were bidden to comply. Obedience brought forth the blessings of Heaven, neglect or refusal to obey, the wrath of God. Gradually he that chooses iniquity, or to do evil without repentance, loses the firm grasp he once had on things righteous. Slowly, but surely, he finds it easier to choose the evil way. He becomes oblivious of God's commandments, and sees darkness where there is light. The penalty of such willful disobedience is death. Not death to the body of flesh and blood, for that came by the transgression of our first parents, but death, a second death, "which was an everlasting death as to things pertaining unto righteousness." Such a man prefers darkness to light, because, we are told, his deeds are evil. No evil can enter God's presence, and the doer thereof is equally banned. Of him there is no Redemption, the justice of God cannot be thus violated. The supreme goodness of God cannot be made an excuse for evil, or any of its component parts.