God is real. He has many titles but apparently prefers that of "Father". I can only visualize him in the form of a glorified and perfected man. "Man of Holiness" as the scriptures declare.
Most would probably think that this is a new concept that came to me as a result of joining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but that is simply not true. It would be more correct to say that because of my belief in the tangible nature of God, that the teachings of the Church concerning Him were appealing to me. It is the same with respect to my belief that apostles and prophets should minister to men in our day, or the belief that Holy Temples should still exist on Earth. It is the same with respect to the nature of the Godhead.
I never at any time in my life accepted the belief in a "Trinity" in the sense that it means that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are three separate manifestations of the same being. I have always believed that they were three separate and distinct individuals, being "one" in the sense of purpose or agreement. What I am saying is that I didn't change my beliefs about them when I became a "Mormon", but rather I found in the Church the repository of much which I already believed and even the new things which I learned felt familiar to me. I don't think that I am unique in this. Just as some say that learning to speak as a child is somehow innate in us, so it is with the teachings of the gospel. I believe they are already there within us in their purity, that we have always known them and if we do not allow the false teachings and philosophies of men to overtake us to harden our hearts or darken our minds, we will remember them when we are exposed to them again. We will rediscover what we already knew! It is for this reason that as missionaries we help others to "discover again" for themselves what the Spirit of the Lord planted in their hearts long ago.
Tonight I would like to share with you our understanding of the "Plan of Salvation" but in a little different way than we normally do. I want to do it by telling it in story form.
There was a time when we lived in the presence of God prior to our life here in mortality. We lived as the spirit children of our Father in Heaven. We were all a part of his Heavenly Family. We looked upon our Heavenly Father and we knew that he was different than us in that He had a glorified, perfected, and immortal body of flesh and bone. He had all knowledge and all power and was perfect in all the attributes of mercy, love, justice and many others. He experienced a fullness of joy. As his sons and daughters we had a great desire to be like him. Because of his love for us he presented us his plan for how that could be accomplished.
He called a great Grand Council to present the plan that he would create for us an earth where we would dwell. He would establish the conditions that would bring about our mortality after our first parents partook of the forbidden fruit. Life on earth would provide us with the opportunity to receive a mortal body and gain experience as we learned good from evil. Nevertheless, in our fallen state, and now being free to choose for ourselves, we would be subject to sin and death both of which would deny us the opportunity to ever return to His presence because "God cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance" and "no unclean thing can enter into the Kingdom of God".
Because man would become, "carnal, sensuous and devilish" by nature, the plan would require a Savior or a Redeemer to perform an infinite atonement for the souls of those who would choose him and repent. Through the mercy and merits of the Savior's Atonement, the penitent sinner could receive merciful grace and receive a remission of their sins. Because Jesus Christ would paid the price demanded for sin, justice in turn would be satisfied. This part of his atoning sacrifice is conditional, we must repent and forsake our sins. The Saviors Atonement also broke the bands of death for all men providing the means whereby each would be resurrected. The resurrection would be his gift to all men without condition. Thus the obstacles of sin and death are removed and all men have laid before them the means to return to the presence of the Father through obedience to the laws and ordinances of his gospel having been cleansed of sins and sanctified therefrom.
In the Grand Council our Father questioned, "Whom Shall I Send?" and Lucifer, the Father of all lies replied, "Here am I send me!" promising that surely he would save all the sons of daughters of God, wherefore, "Give Me Thine Honor", he demanded. Certainly there was silence in this great and grand audience until the firstborn of all the spirits of God stood, and he that would become the Only Begotten in the flesh humbly, but majestically responded, "Here Am I, (later the Great, I AM), send me, and the Glory Be Thine, Forever!"
Because Lucifer sought to destroy the agency of man and also to take upon himself the very power of God, there was war waged in Heaven and Lucifer was cast out along with one third of the sons and daughters of God who followed him. These are they who had come out in open rebellion against God and opposed his plan of salvation. They were cast out into the earth where they continue to do Satan's bidding and seek the misery of all mankind that they might be overcome and made miserable like unto themselves. They are denied a physical body and participation in God's plan of salvation and are damned in their progression.
The plan of mercy, redemption, or the plan of happiness requires that all men must walk by faith, therefore a veil of forgetfulness was placed over our minds as we were born into mortality for if we could remember our premortal existence we would walk by perfect knowledge, knowing fully the ramifications of our choices, and feel intimidated to make correct choices out of fear of known consequences. In walking by faith we prove our love for God and we demonstrate that love through our obedience to his commandments and making correct choices.
The plan of happiness was created for us to be successful in this life and provide us with the pathway to return to our heavenly home. The plan is called the "Gospel of Jesus Christ". The Church of Jesus Christ would be the organizational structure through which the plan was to be taught as revealed in the various gospel dispensations to the prophets. The prophets would record the revelations of Heaven in all dispensations of the gospel as scripture. Through the Prophets, the Scriptures, the Church and mostly through the impressions of truth which come from the Holy Ghost, men would be sufficiently instructed in the knowledge of the gospel and enabled to obtain the path that leads back to the presence of our Father. The pathway includes learning and applying the first principles of the gospel, including faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. This is the Doctrine of Christ.
In every dispensation of the gospel, the prophets receive the priesthood or divine authority to act in Gods name for the salvation of his children. They receive the gospel through revelation and become stewards over the household of God in all the earth and are his legal administrators. The prophets in turn consecrate other leaders and teachers by conferring that priesthood upon others. Thus the Lord's authority is provided to priesthood leaders to teach the gospel and perform its ordinances, such a baptism and conferral of the Holy Ghost. The priesthood is provided to all worthy males when the Church of Jesus Christ is upon the earth. It is conferred upon men through the laying on of hands by those holding authority to preach the gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof. No man is to arbitrarily take this honor unto himself.
Not all the children of God have had the privilege of knowing and receiving the Gospel in mortality and the just minded must surely inquire as to how it could be that these can be "judged according to men in the flesh and live according to God in the spirit" if they have not been able to receive the saving knowledge and ordinances of the gospel. How is it just that they would receive a reward of damnation simply because they died without the knowledge of a Savior? What is the answer to this mystery?
Just as our mortal birth is in reality the union of our spirits with a mortal body, so it is that death is the separation of the spirit from the body. The body is placed in the grave to decay and return to the dust, yet our spirits, which are eternal in nature continue to live. We go to live in a world of spirits where we rest from worldly cares, if we have been righteous in this life, and we are reunited with loved ones. This is that "paradise" that the Savior spoke of on the cross to the two thieves that were crucified along with him. He did not offer them that heaven which comes after the final judgement and resurrection of the souls of all men, but he said unto them, "this day thou shalt be with me in paradise". Those who have elected to live wickedly in their days in mortality will receive for their reward a place in the spirit prison which has been prepared for them. Hence the spirit world consists of both paradise and prison. Our sojourn there is brief in terms of eternity and ultimately the spirits of all of its inhabitants will be reunited with their bodies again in the resurrection. The resurrection applies to all. The question now to be posed is simple. What will be the quality or nature of resurrection that we will receive?
The Bible teaches plainly that the Savior, after his crucifixion, went and taught his gospel to the spirits in prison. During the three days between the time of his crucifixion and resurrection he inaugurated the preaching of the gospel to all those who had not the privilege of knowing or accepting the gospel in mortality. He commissioned servants in paradise and gave them authority to preach his gospel. In this way all receive an equal opportunity for salvation and eventual exaltation. This is in accordance with the justice and mercy of God. Those who receive the gospel of Jesus Christ, (Lord of the living and the dead), in the spirit world can receive all of the required ordinances of the gospel by proxy in the Holy Temples of God.
The Savior taught, "In my Father's house are many mansions". After the resurrection we will be brought to stand before Jesus Christ, who is our eternal judge to be judged of our works here in mortality, whether they have been good or whether they have been evil. Paul refers to this in one of his letters to the Corinthians when he speaks of the types of resurrection that we can receive.
After the resurrection we will be assigned a Kingdom of Glory commensurate with the type of life we have lived.
There are three Kingdoms of Glory to which we may be assigned on the day of Judgement. The highest of these is the Celestial Kingdom where they who have been valiant for Christ will dwell as exalted beings with their families who have also proven faithful. These will return to live in the presence of our Father to inherit all that he has and dwell with him throughout eternity. Paul compares this Kingdom to the "glory of the Sun".
The second is the Terrestrial Kingdom which Paul likens to the "glory of the moon". These are the good and honorable men and women of the earth who refused to receive the fullness of the gospel, having been blinded through the scriptural misinterpretations of men and their philosophies and traditions. They love and honor the Savior and will be blessed with his presence though they were not valiant in his service. They inherit that which they "were willing to receive" and no more. Yet this is indeed a Kingdom of Glory probably best described by the understanding of "heaven" that most believe in.
The third is the Telestial Kingdom, which Paul likens to the "Glory of the Stars". These are they that have lived in wickedness in mortality who are left to the buffetings of Satan for a thousand years and suffer the consequences for their own sins being the last to be resurrected and saved in a Kingdom of Glory.
The last is best termed as "Outer Darkness" or "Hell" consisting of those who refuse to be redeemed in a Kingdom of Glory. These love and make a lie in the face of truth. These deny light even as they look upon it. They are without redemption because they "cannot be redeemed" They delight in wickedness and bloodshed and are beyond redemption. They receive that hell spoken of in the scriptures where there is eternal burning and weeping and gnashing of teeth. These will join the minions of Satan.
This is the plan of salvation. It is a merciful plan. It is not a plan where a few will be saved in God's heaven and the remainder of God's children will be cast into a fiery hell because they failed at a verbal confession of Christ. Pray about it yourself. Inspect your heart and you will see that God did not create man that he should not fill the measure of his creation. His desire is that all his children return to live with him. He declares, "My work and my glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." I know and testify that all of his efforts extended to us are to that end. He does not delight to punish us and would that we would all open our hearts to receive him on his terms and conditions. He gave us no authority to make it up on our own.
One aspect of the plan of salvation which I have not discussed is the purpose of God in creating us as male and female. Think about this - Is it not his intent to create Eternal Families to dwell with him in his Heavens and to share with them all that he has. Can anyone define a better heaven than this? I challenge you to do so. Ponder this: What would be the biggest expression of God's love for us? The biggest expression of his love for us would be a plan that would enable us to become as he is. This is the grandest of the mysteries of heaven. Understanding that Families are intended to be Forever brings me more joy than any other doctrine of the gospel.
I do not believe that the God and Father of us all, with all the love and compassion and zest for life that he has, is content to sit in yonder heavens surrounded by his creations in their never ending praise and adoration for him. No my dear brothers and sisters, although he is certainly deserving of such endless praise and adoration, I do not believe he has created us for that purpose. In his perfect love he would surely desire to surround himself with like beings as himself to share his infinite knowledge, wisdom and magnificent abilities.
The scripture states, "This is life eternal, to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent." Eternal Life if the type of life that God lives. I know that Our Father in Heaven wants us to know him personally and wants to teach us how to live the life that he lives. He wants us to become one with him. He wants our progress to be eternal. He wants us to become like he is. Read the Saviors prayer to the Father for yourself in St. John. He prays that we might become one with the Father in the same way that he is one with the Father. He wants us to live in unity and love and be fellow-citizens with him. He wants his family members to return to him.
I hope that you are beginning to understand who you are? You are indeed a Son or Daughter of God. This is not a figurative expression.
