Continuing from the previous post
regarding the Plan for our Salvation.
Because there is no way to make
sense out of life without a knowledge of the doctrine of premortal life, we
begin this continuation with two equally important understandings: 1) “The idea
that mortal birth is the beginning of our existence is preposterous, since
there is no way to explain life if you believe that; and 2) “The notion that
life ends with mortal death is ridiculous, since there is no way to face life
if you believe that.
“When we understand the doctrine of premortal life, then
things fit together and make sense. We then know that little boys and little
girls are not monkeys, nor are their parents, nor were theirs, to the very
beginning generation. We are the children of God, created in his image”
(Boyd K. Packer, in Conference Report, Oct. 1983, 22; Ensign, Nov.
1983, p18).
This, then makes our child-parent relationship to God clear,
and the purpose for the creation of this earth clear, as well as the testing of
our obedience and righteousness that comes in mortality is clear. And, according to
Elder Packer, this makes “The need for a redeemer clear.”
According to Elder Packer, when we do understand that basic
and overall principle of the gospel, “we
see a Heavenly Father and a Son; we see an atonement and a redemption. We
understand why ordinances and covenants are necessary. We understand the
necessity for baptism by immersion for the remission of sins. We understand why
we renew that covenant by partaking of the sacrament” (Ibid).
This means then that the Lord made it known to Moses (Moses
3) and also to Abraham (Abraham 3) as well as expressing in several
revelations, that man was in the beginning with God. In that day, however, man
was a spirit unembodied (without body, not yet organized). The beginning was
when the councils met and the decision was made to create this earth that the
spirits who were intended for this earth, should come here and partake of the
mortal conditions and receive bodies of flesh and bones.
In
fact, God the Father provided the plan of salvation by which His spirit
children could eventually become like Him. This plan had several main parts:
1.
God’s plan of salvation was taught to His spirit children (Abraham 3:24-27);
2.
Jesus Christ was chosen and foreordained to come to earth to perform the
atoning sacrifice (1 Peter 1:19-20; Moses 4:2; Revelation 13:8); Abraham 3:27);
3.
Lucifer, a spirit in authorithy in the presence of God, sought the glory and
honor of God and the elimination of the agency of the children of God (Moses
4:1-3; D&C 76:25-28; Isaiah 14:12-14);
4.
Lucifer’s rebellion against God caused a war in heaven (Revelation 12:; D&C
76:25-29);
5.
One-third of the spirits were cast out of heaven because they chose not to
keep their first estate (Abraham 3:27-28; D&C 19:36-38; 2 Peter 2:4;
Revelation 12:8-9);
6.
All who kept their ‘first estate” (premortal life) were promised that they
would “be added upon” (which includes receiving mortal bodies). All who keep
their second estate will have “glory added upon their heads for ever and ever
(Abraham 3:26).
Thus, our Heavenly Father provided the Plan of Salvation by
which His spirit children, all of us, could eventually become like Him. It
would not be a free gift. We would have to prove ourselves that we were worthy
of such a result through our performance on Earth. As the Lord told Abraham, “And we will prove them
herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall
command them; And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; and
they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom
with those who keep their first estate; and they who keep their second estate
shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever”
(Abraham 3:25-26)
“When the great War in Heaven was fought, Lucifer, the son
of the morning, came forth with a plan that was rejected. The Father of us all,
with love for us, His children, offered a better plan under which we would have
freedom to choose the course of our lives. His Firstborn Son, our Elder
Brother, was the key to that plan. Man would have his agency, and with that agency
would go accountability. Man would walk the ways of the world and sin and
stumble. But the Son of God would take upon Himself flesh and offer Himself a
sacrifice to atone for the sins of all men. Through unspeakable suffering He
would become the great Redeemer, the Savior of all mankind” (Gordon B.
Hinckley, in Conference Report, Apr. 2002, 107; or Ensign, May 2002, 90).
“Christ made the
Father’s plan his own by adoption. But what is basically important in this
respect is to know that the power to save is vested in the Father, and that he
originated, ordained, created, and established his own plan; that he announced
it to his children; and that he then asked for a volunteer to be the Redeemer, the
Deliverer, the Messiah, who would put the eternal plan of the Eternal Father
into eternal operation” (Bruce R. McConkie, The Mortal Messiah, 1:48–49
note 3).
However, Satan’s counter-plan was the opposite. In it, man
would have no agency, no free will, but be forced to be good and righteous. As
J. Reuben Clark said, “What Satan wanted, quite evidently, was the full
possession, ownership, of this creation of spirits that is involved in the
peopling of this earth; so he tried to get them by gift, and that being denied,
he is following along and trying to get us through the commission of sin. If we
sin sufficiently we become his subjects. As I read the scriptures, Satan’s plan
required one of two things: Either the compulsion of the mind, the spirit, the
intelligence of man, or else saving men in sin. I question whether the
intelligence of man can be compelled. Certainly men cannot be saved in sin,
because the laws of salvation and exaltation are founded in righteousness, not
in sin” (J. Reuben Clark Jr., in Conference Report, Oct.
1949, 193).
In this war in heaven, there were no “fence sitters,” no
on-lookers, none who did not participate—none were punished for their
performance. We all took sides. We championed God’s Plan or sided with Satan.
As Joseph Fielding Smith said, ”There were no neutrals in the war in heaven.
All took sides either with Christ or with Satan. Every man had his agency
there, and men receive rewards here based upon their actions there, just as
they will receive rewards hereafter for deeds done in the body” (Smith, Doctrines
of Salvation, 1:65–66). In fact, not only were none punished for any reason who
sided with God and his Plan, but were rewarded by keeping that First Estate and
advancing into Earth Life.
“The punishment of
Satan and the third of the host of heaven who followed him, was that they were
denied the privilege of being born into this world and receiving mortal bodies.
They did not keep their first estate and were denied the opportunity of eternal
progression. The Lord cast them out into the earth, where they became the
tempters of mankind—the devil and his angels” (Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 1:65).
Thus,
we see, that we came into this world without blemish, having earned the degree
and circumstances to which we were born by our development and performance
during our First Estate in the spirit realm of our Heavenly Father. It is not
that God placed us here or there, it is that we earned the right to come into
this life, this Second Estate or Earth Life, as we did, from our experiences
and development in the First Estate, or Spirit World. And that clearly means
that we will earn the result of our next or Third Estate, the Eternal Life and
realm of our Heavenly Father by our obedience and performance in this Earth
Life.
(See the next post, “A Plan for
Salvation – Part III,” for more on this pre-mortal to mortal existence as we
carry out our development under the Father’s Plan for our Salvation)
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