The Plan of Salvation, part 2

Readings: Doctrine and Covenants 76; 131; 132:19–24; 137.

In the last post I wrote about pre-mortal life, earth life, death and resurrection.  This post is about what happens after Christ comes for the second time, when every body who has ever lived on the earth will be resurrected (each spirit being reunited with their perfected body).  After resurrection, each person will get to be in the presence of God, the Father, for judgement.  At judgement, Jesus Christ will plead your case before the Father (DC 45:3-5):

 3 Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before him—
 4 Saying: Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified;
 5 Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life.

Now, at this time, you will be judged according to how you lived your life while on earth, whether or not you succeeded in the test of turning to God, through the Savior, or not Abr. 3:25 "prove them herewith to see if they will do all things the Lord their God shall command them."  Now some may think that just because there is an existence of a Savior, that they will automatically be saved - that's his job right.  But if that were true, what would be the point of our existence?  If we knew we were going to be saved in the end anyway, what are we accountable for?  What are choices for?  Why is there good and evil? Why do we feel guilt at doing wrong and joy at doing right? No, there must be some sort of guidance and definition.  There is a purpose (Alma 34:32-34):

 32 For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors.
 33 And now, as I said unto you before, as ye have had so many witnesses, therefore, I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed.
 34 Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world.

So, if this life really is the time to prepare to meet God, then we will be judged on how well we know God when we face him.  Of course, there will be things that have turned us away from Him, either by our choice or by the circumstances of life that are beyond our choice, but if we did our best to turn back to Him after realizing that we turned away, then the Savior will help, as quoted above "spare these my brethren that believe on my name."  What about people who haven't heard his name? Those who have been raised in different religions, who don't know a Savior of this sort exists?  God knows their circumstances and they will be given a chance to know Him and a chance to choose to follow Him.  For a long time I wondered why anyone, who after death and their spirit went to the spirit world, would not choose what would then seem like the obvious choice to follow Jesus.  They are, after all, in the spirit world.  But, Alma, in the above scripture, makes it clear that the "same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world."  So, in essence, if you are the sort of person who will not listen to the possibility of a Savior in this life, it is possible you will not in the next.  This is why The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has such a heavy emphasis on missionary work.  If this life really is the time to prepare to meet God, we need to do our best to let everyone know about it.  Not in a fire and brimstone sort of way, but in a 'we want to help you become the best you can be, loved as you should be loved way, through a Savior that will help you do this' sort of way.  But it is your choice. God will not take that choice away from you.  He will not force you to choose Him, what's the point in that?

One other note.  I believe, with all my heart, that God knows every detail of our lives: how we lived, who are parents are, where we live, the traditions and customs we had to live by according to geography and heritage, etc., the experiences we've chosen or experiences that were forced upon us, both good and bad, what our desires are, how we need help, whether we were emotionally, physically, spiritually and mentally able to choose one way or another, and much, much more.  So, while I believe that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints holds all the keys to help us return to Heavenly Father, I do believe that there are many, many, many very good and wonderful people in other churches that are living according to the good that they have learned.  If those people to not choose to partake in the ordinances and covenants offered by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, God will know the reason why, will offer more understanding, and then will still honor the choice of individuals.

At this new level of understanding that will be offered, there will still be people who do not partake of the full benefits of the atonement of Christ, either because of outright choice, or because of how they chose to live their lives or choices they made on earth.  God has provided a place for all, and all of these places, except one, are better than what we know on earth.  That one place is called "Perdition" and is explained by Joseph Smith:

The Prophet Joseph Smith said: “What must a man do to commit the unpardonable sin? He must receive the Holy Ghost, have the heavens opened unto him, and know God, and then sin against Him. After a man has sinned against the Holy Ghost, there is no repentance for him. He has got to say that the sun does not shine while he sees it; he has got to deny Jesus Christ when the heavens have been opened unto him, and to deny the plan of salvation with his eyes open to the truth of it; and from that time he begins to be an enemy” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith [1976], 358).

Joseph Smith revealed that there are three other places where resurrected beings go after judgment: the Telestial Kingdom, the Terrestrial Kingdom and the Celestial Kingdom, represented by the stars, the moon and the sun, respectively. As recorded in section 76 of the Doctrine and Covenants, here are the groups of people that will reside in each kingdom:

The Telestial Kingdom ( D&C 76:81–83, 98–101, 103.) Those who live here will essentially be those who do not accept the gospel of Jesus Christ at all (though they admit who He is, as all will), but did not commit the unpardonable sin.  They will eventualy come from spirit prison (one of the two spiritual states after death) and be resurrected and reside int he Telestial Kingdom.

The Terrestrial Kingdom (DC 76:71-75, 79):  explained by Bruce R. McConkie:

“Those destined to inherit the terrestrial kingdom are: (1) those who died ‘without law’—those heathen and pagan people who do not hear the gospel in this life, and who would not accept it with all their hearts should they hear it; (2) those who hear and reject the gospel in this life and then accept it in the spirit world; (3) those ‘who are honorable men of the earth, who [are] blinded by the craftiness of men’; and (4) those who are lukewarm members of the true church and who have testimonies, but who are not true and faithful in all things” (A New Witness for the Articles of Faith [1985], 146).

The Celestial Kingdom - where God, the Father resides and where the fullness of joy is achieved (See D&C 76:50–53, 68–69). Those who have been valiant in the testimony of Jesus Christ and partake of the covenants and ordinances that have been revealed on the earth through prophets in the scriptures and through prophets in modern time

51 They are they who received the testimony of Jesus, and believed on his name and were baptized after the manner of his burial, being buried in the water in his name, and this according to the commandment which he has given—
 52 That by keeping the commandments they might be washed and cleansed from all their sins, and receive the Holy Spirit by the laying on of the hands of him who is ordained and sealed unto this power;
 53 And who overcome by faith, and are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, which the Father sheds forth upon all those who are just and true.

I don't know if there will be guilt or sorrow for those who do not achieve the Celestial Kingdom or perhaps there will be complete satisfaction because they are happy with their choices.  I do think that because God honors the agency of men and women, that men and women will honor their own agency and understand why their choices are made and be satisfied with it. There is much, much more to this doctrine and would require many blog posts to discuss.  But I will say only a few more things.  There are those who have made covenants and received ordinances in order to be valiant in the testimony of Jesus (those at baptism, and in the holy temples of God), but they do not uphold their covenants or respect their ordinances.  Just because they went through the actions of the covenants and ordinances does not mean they automatically qualify for the Celestial Kingdom.  They must live their lives upholding the covenants and ordinances.

The other thing that I think is significant, is the perspective that my husband has about the different kingdoms.  He did not grow up as a Mormon, but believed that when you die you either go to heaven or hell.  When he learned about the different kingdoms of glory after death, he was quite relieved.  He thought that having more places for people to go was a very merciful and graceful option provided by God.  He thought how very unfair it would be and very hard to judge whether people were ALL good or ALL bad, or just enough good, or just enough bad, to separate them into one or the other category of heaven or hell.  So it seemed to him very merciful for God to have provided categories or kingdoms that all most people to reside in some sort of kingdom of glory.  Because that's what they all are - kingdoms of glory that we get to look forward to after this life.

The Plan of Salvation. Yes, it's a plan. (part 1)

Readings: See below. I have not mentioned all linked scriptures below in the text, but I highly recommend reading them all in the context of the discussion.

Scripture Chain: The Plan of Salvation

Premortal life

• Job 38:4–7
• D&C 138:55–56
• Abraham 3:22–28

Mortal life

• Alma 42:9, 14
• D&C 29:40–43
• Articles of Faith 1:3

Life after death

• Alma 40:11–14
• Alma 42:11–13, 15
• D&C 76:111
• D&C 88:14–16

My little family just talked about the plan of salvation in a lesson for family night.  My middle son told everyone that he had hidden an object in the room that they needed to find.  He didn't tell us what the object was so we didn't know what we were looking for.  We immediately started asking questions - what it this? what is that? what are we looking for? My son just answered that we need to find it. Then, because we were frustrated, we started rapid-fire questions trying to identify the object.  When we finally figured out that the object was a ball of yarn just sitting out on the counter, my son asked us how we liked looking for something we didn't know. We all agreed that it was confusing and frustrating.  My son said that it is always more helpful and efficient when we have a plan or goal to work towards, which is why Heavenly Father has given us a plan.  A plan to help us avoid spiritual harm. Then we talked about some of the components of the plan, which I will discuss here.

The plan of salvation extends from life before this world to life after this world. This plan must first be thought of as an overview to get the value and peace that comes from it, and then it can be thought of in the here and now which will bring peace to whatever you are experiencing now (if you let it).  One piece of information that must be understood in order to grasp the plan of salvation is that our spirit, our internal (not necessarily physical) identity, existed before we were born.  We lived as spirits, with God, in a premortal realm before we came to the life we know now, as evidenced by these scriptures:

• Job 38:4–7
• D&C 138:55–56
• Abraham 3:22–28

God asks Job the question: Where we you before I laid the foundations of the world? In a place where the morning stars sang together and the sons of God shouted for joy (at the presentation of a plan where we would have a change at salvation).

The Doctrine and Covenants reference is particularly instructive on the existence of a pre-mortal world:

 55 I observed that they were also among the noble and great ones who were chosen in the beginning to be rulers in the Church of God.
 56 Even before they were born, they, with many others, received their first lessons in the world of spirits and were prepared to come forth in the due time of the Lord to labor in his vineyard for the salvation of the souls of men.

Not only did we exist, but we were tutored and prepared to come to the earth at the prescribed time the Lord, Jesus Christ gives. This scriptures talks specifically about the rulers in the church of God, but this is a universal truth for all.

In our pre-mortal tutoring, we learned the purpose of coming to this earth:

24 And there stood one among them that was like unto God, and he said unto those who were with him: We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell;
 25 And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them;
 26 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.
 27 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.
 28 And the second was angry, and kept not his first estate; and, at that day, many followed after him.

The one who "stood among them" was Jesus Christ.  He expressed that the purpose for dwelling on earth is to "prove (test) them, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them".  In our proving/testing, the Lord knows that we will not always make good choices, so a Redeemer would be necessary to help them correct mistakes, learn and make better choices.  The first to respond to "whom shall I send?" was Jesus Christ, who really did want to help all spirits.  The second to respond was Lucifer, who only wanted glory for himself.  The first was sent and the second one was angry about that and became there after, Satan, or the devil, who works in opposition to the salvation of humans.

So, now we come to our mortal life. Mortality began with the fall of Adam, which means that Adam and Eve were once in the presence of God, but made a choice when tempted by the opposition (Satan), which consequence brought separation from God (Alma 42:9, 14):

9 Therefore, as the soul could never die, and the fall had brought upon all mankind a spiritual death as well as a temporal, that is, they were cut off from the presence of the Lord, it was expedient that mankind should be reclaimed from this spiritual death.
 14 And thus we see that all mankind were fallen, and they were in the grasp of justice; yea, the justice of God, which consigned them forever to be cut off from his presence.

The soul (body and spirit identity together) is still alive, but we are separated from God.  So there needed to be a way to reclaim spiritual death (be reunited with God again).  Now seen from the point of view of the here are now, you might curse Adam and Eve for separating them, and therefore us as their descendants, from God.  However, seen in an overview that the plan of salvation offers, we see that a separation from God was necessary in order to prove whether we really wanted to be with Him in the first place.  A separation from God, puts us in the realm of hard justice, that is, our actions create reactions and consequences that we must experience according to laws (not just human laws, but eternal laws). God's plan though provides a way to learn from our consequences and use them to progress in an upward spiral, instead of just experiencing the consequences, adding mistake upon mistake in a downward spiral (which is what Satan would have us believe). DC 29:43 lets us know that this plan (upward spiral) was appointed by God:

 43 And thus did I, the Lord God, appoint unto man the days of his probation—that by his natural death he might be raised in immortality unto eternal life, even as many as would believe;

When I say upward spiral, I don't mean constant good choices.  There are bad choices along the way of a upward spiral and you would think that those choices would make you descend the spiral.  However, if one uses the atonement of Jesus Christ in reaction to the bad choices (repentance), the effect is still upward motion, or progress on the spiral. Article of Faith 3:

 3 We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.

Now that we know that this life is a testing period, it goes to follow that there will be a grading, or judgment on how we did. DC 76:111

111 For they shall be judged according to their works, and every man shall receive according to his own works, his own dominion, in the mansions which are prepared;

At death, our bodies are laid to rest in the earth, but our spirits remain intact (as they always will).  Our spirits go to rest in one of two realms Alma 40:11-12:

11 Now, concerning the state of the soul between death and the resurrection—Behold, it has been made known unto me by an angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life.
 12 And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow.
 13 And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of the wicked, yea, who are evil—for behold, they have no part nor portion of the Spirit of the Lord; for behold, they chose evil works rather than good; therefore the spirit of the devil did enter into them, and take possession of their house—and these shall be cast out into outer darkness; there shall be weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth, and this because of their own iniquity, being led captive by the will of the devil.

These two states, spirit paradise or spirit prison are not the final resting place of the soul. It is only the resting place of the spirit until the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, when all, no matter how they lived on earth, will be resurrected - that is, their spirit and their bodies will be reunited.

14 Now, verily I say unto you, that through the redemption which is made for you is brought to pass the resurrection from the dead.
 15 And the spirit and the body are the soul of man.
 16 And the resurrection from the dead is the redemption of the soul.

In this state, each spirit and body begin reunited, all will see God and be judged or proved by their behavior on earth according to laws of God.

The next Sunday School lesson discusses what happens at judgement, where resurrected being go, which will conclude this discussion of the plan of salvation.