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The Plan of Salvation is just that. It is the plan whereby if we follow the plan we may attain eternal salvation. This plan is fairly simple in design. Yet when you look at all that is involved you realize that only a Master Planner who knows the end from the beginning, who's wisdom surpasses that of any mortal could have put all this together.
Before we all came here to the Earth, we were all spirits who lived in the presence of God our Father. We were taught all that we needed to do so that we could someday grow to become like him and live with him. Oh how we must have reveled with joy at the thought of becoming like him.
There were three key things that we did not have at that time that we needed to gain in order to become like God.
- We needed a physical Body in addition to the Spirit we then had.
- We need to be tested to see if we would choose God over our selfish desires.
- We needed to grow through our making decisions.
So God presented this Plan of Salvation to all of us, his children. He explained that when we come here to the earth we will make mistakes and sin. We would therefore need a Savior, someone who would live a perfect life without sin and would then give up his life willingly and unselfishly to pay the price for all of our sins so that we can once again be pure and be allowed once again into the presence of God. We are told in Moses 6:58 that no unclean thing can dwell with God.
"Wherefore teach it unto your children, that all men, everywhere, must repent, or they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God, for no unclean thing can dwell there, or dwell in his presence; for, in the language of Adam, Man of Holiness is his name, and the name of his Only Begotten is the Son of Man, even Jesus Christ, a righteous Judge, who shall come in the meridian of time."
When we were all told that we needed a Savior, Jesus Christ stepped forward and said send me, I will be their savior and all the Glory will go to God, for it is his plan. Abraham 3:27-28 reads:
"And the Lord said: Whom shall I send? And one answered like unto the Son of Man: Here am I, send me. And another answered and said: Here am I, send me. And the Lord said: I will send the first. And the second was angry, and kept not his first estate; and, at that day, many followed after him."
There was one there whose name was Lucifer, who presented an alternative plan. His plan was to remove the free agency of all mankind and guarantee that everyone would return back to God. While it is good to return back to God, we would only be able to live with God, and not ever again have the opportunity to be like God because we hadn't learned to make decisions and grown through making our own decisions.
Being a wise and all-knowing Father who loves us very much and allowing us to exercise our free agency, He allowed us to choose which plan we wanted to follow. Would we choose Lucifer's plan which only allowed us to return to God's presence? Or would we choose to stay with Gods plan which would allow us to not only live with God but would give us the opportunities for growth to become like him? This debate raged among Gods children in this pre-mortal spirit world. This debate became so intense that we are told in Revelation 12: 7-9 that there was a war in heaven over this very subject.
"And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him."
By the very fact that we are here on the earth with our free-agency still intact, we know that Satan lost this war in Heaven and that the plan that God presented was chosen by us, his children.
In accordance with this plan we would come to Earth, gain a body, be tried and tested, learn and grow and then die a mortal death. This death is the separation of our bodies and spirit. Our savior Jesus Christ would also make it possible for us all to be resurrected, restoring our bodies to our Spirits. We know through the scriptures that Jesus Christ was the first to be resurrected. We also learn in Matthew 27: 52-53 that immediately following the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, he being the first fruits of the resurrection, there were many others that were also resurrected.
"And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many."
Once we were resurrected we would then stand before the Lord at the Great Judgment Bar and be judged to see if our lives were spent in the service of others as Christ taught and was the perfect example of, or did we live our lives selfishly chasing the pleasures of mortality.
Will we be Saved?
There are many faiths that teach that this is where the Atonement of Jesus Christ comes into play. That regardless of how we lived our lives, we will be given a few lashes perhaps and then be sent in to live in the eternal presence and glory of God. However if this logic is further explored it is a false doctrine that is taught to be popular and win people to their faith.
We know that God is fair and just. Now the simple question is would a loving God teach us these things are important through his Son Jesus Christ, His Prophets, His Scripture that we need to obey the commandments, love one another, serve and care for one another, turn the other cheek and so on, only to say at the judgment day that I lied, they really aren't important and I'll forgive everyone so we can all be together. If this is the case, you will be given a mansion for your many hard labors and much good service to others, only to find out that your next door neighbor is the most vial and wicked being ever to walk the earth, but he too was forgiven, but by no account of his effort or desire. Nor will he even want to be in Heaven with God and all those who try to do good. It is contrary to his nature and he will be the same person then, as he is now. He will not change who he is or what he does simply because he's changed locations. This scenario is ridiculous when we think about it and even with our limited wisdom we know it just feels wrong. Can this really be the plan of a God that is just and fair? Of course not.
We are told in James 2:26 - "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also."
This means that of course we need to have faith to be saved. But more importantly, we are also going to be judged by our works. None of us will be truly worthy of Eternal Salvation on our own merits, which is why the savior will apply the Atonement for those who have honestly tried to follow his teachings. This is why our Savior Jesus Christ taught us to "come follow me" (Luke 18:22). He wants us to DO good works, not just utter a phrase. What a glorious doctrine, that when we are brought to the Great Judgment Bar of Our Lord to be judged, we will be given a degree of glory that is just right for us. If we have tried to be good kind people and we have followed all of his commandments, we have searched out and followed his true word and have entered into the waters of baptism to be baptized by someone with the real priesthood authority from God, not from some local government agency, we will be given the opportunity to live in the presence of God and to grow and progress to become like God Our Father. This is even more wonderful knowing that if we have lived our lives with every effort being for that of righteousness and repenting of those sins we've made along the way, those with whom live with there in that glorious kingdom, will also have lived righteous lives and be worthy of such a blessing.
It is my testimony that God, our loving Father in Heaven has prepared this Plan of Salvation, also known as the Plan of Happiness, to provide a way whereby we can not only return to him, but through our works prove our love for him and our desire to live with him. I know that we will all fall short of being truly worthy of that glorious blessing of Eternal Exaltation, but if we give it our all, Our Savior Jesus Christ will make up the difference. I believe that we have the free-agency to choose for ourselves what we want to become. We can choose to be better people, by following the commandments of God and living our lives as we were taught by Jesus Christ, or we can choose not to. But it is that choice that will determine where we spend the eternity after we leave this Earth. We will all be the same people then as we are now.
Colossians 3:25 -
"Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons."
Alma 9:28 -
"Therefore, prepare ye the way of the Lord, for the time is at hand that all men shall reap a reward of their works, according to that which they have been-if they have been righteous they shall reap the salvation of their souls, according to the power and deliverance of Jesus Christ; and if they have been evil they shall reap the damnation of their souls, according to the power and captivation of the devil."
Additional References:
- Colossians 3:24
- 2 John 1:8
- 1 Corinthians 9:17-20
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