Plan of Salvation Drawing Video
Tyler J. Griffin and Donald B. Anderson, "The Peachy Plan of Happiness: A Christ-Centered Visual Approach,"Religious Educator 18, no. 1 (2017): 12–31.
What we become determines our eternal destination, and the programme of happiness is God's design to enable that development.
The greatest concept we can study or teach is the plan of redemption—sometimes chosen the plan of salvation or the programme of happiness. The doctrines of the plan of redemption take more power to bring men to God than any other truth or concept.
Many members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints quickly recognize the following diagram.
Diagrams such as this are visual representations of sure aspects of that all-encompassing program. Our Heavenly Male parent's plan includes our eternal by, our present life, and our eternal future. It is incommunicable to correspond all aspects of that plan in one diagram. Neal A. Maxwell expressed: "Conversationally, we reference this great pattern virtually too casually at times; we even sketch its rude outlines on chalkboards and paper as if it were the floor programme for an addition to one's house. Nonetheless, when we really have time to ponder the Plan, it is breathtaking and overpowering! Indeed, I, for one, cannot decide which creates in me the most awe—its very vastness or its intricate, individualized detail."[1]
We could never capture such vastness and particular in a single diagram or model. Nevertheless, models and visuals can enable us to better grasp and teach primal portions of this scenic plan.
In the Church, we have a proclivity for visual methods of learning and teaching the programme. The most common diagrams used are variations of figure 1.[2] This diagram utilizes various circles to portray where we were, where we are, where nosotros will become afterward death, and where we will end upwardly eternally. This common diagram also uses lines to represent the major events in our progression through the plan: nativity and the veil, expiry, Resurrection, and Concluding Judgment. This basic configuration allows united states to requite a cursory all the same powerful overview of our eternal journey.
In spite of their introductory strengths, many often-used diagrams like figure 1 lack overt representation of many critical doctrines often discussed in the scriptures associated with the plan. It is possible, for instance, to teach the plan as depicted in figure 1 without ever mentioning the mission or role of Jesus Christ, the Cosmos, the Fall, spiritual decease, Christ's Amende, or the principles and ordinances of his gospel. To perpetually teach the programme with such omissions can lead people to focus solely on that which is overtly portrayed in the diagram.
To assist us anchor the many fundamental aspects of the plan in our teaching, President Benson counseled us to utilise "the messages and the method of didactics found in the [scriptures] to teach this great program of the Eternal God."[three] Because people tend to learn, teach, and call back the plan of redemption visually, there is a need for wide-ranging models that convey diverse aspects of the program of redemption using principles and patterns used in the scriptures.
This commodity introduces one additional style of looking at the program from a different "camera angle" than those presented in the past. We hope this perspective is helpful to students and teachers who may wish for a model that depicts multiple oft-neglected cadre doctrines and centers around Jesus Christ and his Atonement. We intend for this diagram to supplement and heighten—rather than replace—currently used models.
The model outlined in this commodity visually portrays two concepts: a) the foundational doctrines of the plan and b) the states of being through which humankind must pass in social club to become more Christlike and render to live forever with our heavenly parents.
Step 1: Premortal State
This leads to some key questions: What is the purpose of Heavenly Father'south programme? Did God requite us his plan to help u.s.a. become somewhere or to aid usa go something? Our heavenly parents[4] intend for their children to "obtain a physical trunk and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize their divine destiny as heirs of eternal life."[5] The divine destiny of God's children includes living with our heavenly parents. However, equally important as it will be to return to the presence of God, is that the ultimate aim of the program?
If returning to God were the ultimate purpose of the programme, then why did he send us to earth in the first place? Nosotros were already in heaven, living with our heavenly parents as their spirit children. But beingness in their presence was apparently not ultimate happiness for us; nor was it the end of our progression. Nosotros are here on earth for a greater purpose. Our heavenly parents are perfect in every way and take glorified, resurrected bodies. We seek to exist similar them! Joseph Smith said, "If you lot wish to go where God is, you must be like God or possess the principles which God possesses."[6] What we become, therefore, determines our eternal destination, and the plan of happiness is God'due south pattern to enable that development.
To illustrate this concept visually, we brainstorm with a dotted line. We are on that line if nosotros are either like God or in his presence.
The arrows on both sides of the dotted line represent the eternal past, or the premortal state of man, likewise as the eternal futurity, the last country of humankind, which we will elaborate on later in this article. Based on teachings from Abraham 3, we began on the left side of the dotted line as intelligences[7] who were spiritually born into sky every bit sons and daughters of heavenly parents. Nosotros shaded in the left end of the dotted line to illustrate being in God's presence.
In the premortal realm, major weather condition differentiated us from our heavenly parents. They had perfected bodies of mankind and bone (D&C 130:22). We had spirit bodies that lacked vital concrete capacities that enable eternal happiness. Nosotros too lacked an infinite level of knowledge, power, honey, and experience that they possess. In improver, our heavenly parents enjoy eternal life. We could not progress to the measure and will of our Heavenly Father while in his presence in our spirit-torso state. We had to leave and experience mortality in a fallen state.
In the premortal realm, nosotros had spirit bodies that lacked vital physical capacities. Nosotros also lacked an infinite level of knowledge, ability, love, and experience.
The 3 Pillars of Eternity
According to his programme, God would establish iii critical conditions to enable his children to grow toward becoming more like him. Commencement, we had to take a identify where we could experience mortality's tests while separated from his presence. That would crave the creation[8] of an world. Second, God's pure creation would need, through a process of agency[ix], to enter a fallen state, thus allowing for an opposition in all things (encounter 2 Nephi ii:xi). All things would otherwise take "remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no expert, for they knew no sin" (two Nephi 2:23). Tertiary, that fallen land would have persisted and "the first judgment which came upon human must needs have remained to an endless elapsing" except there "should exist an infinite atonement" (two Nephi 9:7; emphasis added).[10]
These 3 foundational events—the Creation, the Fall, and the Atonement—are called the three pillars of eternity. Book of Mormon prophets repeatedly used these pillars to teach the plan. Regarding their human relationship, Elder Russell 1000. Nelson stated, "The Book of Mormon reveals the of import interrelationships between the Creation, the Fall, and the Atonement. I cannot fully comprehend the Amende without beginning understanding the Fall; and the fall of Adam cannot be fully understood without first understanding the Creation. These three great doctrinal pillars sustain each other in God's eternal program."[11]
In the premortal world, before proceeding with the Cosmos, it was requisite that one exist found who was both willing and able to perform the Amende. This intercessor would mediate with eternal justice for our weaknesses, imperfections, and mortal condition and conquer both death and hell. These two obstacles could not be defeated for us in heaven by the premortal spirit known as Jehovah; they could only be overcome by the uniquely qualified Jesus Christ in the flesh. Due to the Savior's distinctive birth, he had the power to descend into both expiry and hell and burst their bands from inside. He could and so arise one time again to heaven with infinite ability to "draw all men unto"[12] him through the power of the Resurrection. Abraham recorded Heavenly Father's profound premortal question equally follows: "Whom shall I send?" Due to the fact that Jesus was the Father'due south "Beloved and Chosen from the beginning" (Moses 4:2), it is probable that every eye in the heavenly throng turned and looked at the Lamb of God (Revelation 5:6–vii) to encounter his response to that question. The corking premortal Messiah, he who was chosen from the kickoff, simply stated, "Hither am I, send me" (Abraham 3:27). Elder Neal A. Maxwell said, "Never has one private offered, in and then few words, to do so much for then many."[13]
Notice how these three pillars form the ground for all other aspects of the plan in the diagram below.
Figure 3. The 3 pillars of eternity.
We place Jesus Christ and his Atonement prominently in the center of the diagram to illustrate his central role in the plan of redemption. The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that "the fundamental principles of our religion is the testimony of the apostles and prophets concerning Jesus Christ, 'that he died, was cached, and rose once again the third 24-hour interval, and ascended upwardly into sky'; and all other things, are just appendages to these, which pertain to our religion."[fourteen] Every bit Elder Bruce R. McConkie further stated, "We view the amende of the Lord Jesus Christ as the eye and cadre and middle of revealed religion."[15]
The measure of creation for God's children in mortality is to become like their Heavenly Father. The land of being in which we dwell governs our capacity to progress. The pillars of eternity directly modify the various states of humankind. By establishing these iii pillars, God gave united states the opportunity to continue through further states of being in our quest for eternal progression. Book of Mormon prophets used the word state over fifty times in specific reference to our progression through the programme of salvation. Those same prophets also teach about the human relationship between the three pillars and u.s. through which humankind progresses.
Stride 2: A State of Innocence
When God created Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, they were created in a "state of innocence" (2 Nephi ii:23) as immortal beings. They walked and talked with God and enjoyed his presence—hence, we solidly fill in the line betwixt the Cosmos and the Fall. In this paradisiacal state, Adam and Eve did not know skillful or evil, joy or misery, happiness or sorrow. They were not capable of bearing children (see two Nephi 2:22–23).
Figure 4. The state of innocence in Eden.
God did not intend for Adam and Eve to remain in a state of innocence forever. Had they remained in a state of Edenic innocence, they could non have progressed toward godliness. They needed to experience a mortal, fallen state. The Fall and the resulting opposition in a mortal country initiated the optimal weather in which progression could occur.
Through the ability of the Atonement, God graciously covers the first eight years of our life with innocence (see D&C 68:27 and Moroni viii:8–xiii). Thus, each of us personally passes through similar progressions as Adam and Eve. This babyhood state of innocence creates a rubber environment for us to begin learning how to navigate various choices in a mortal body without risk of eternal penalisation for wrongdoing.
Step iii: A Fallen, Mortal Land
The Fall ushered in a mortal state and introduced two major consequences for Adam, Eve, and all their subsequent posterity: physical death and spiritual death. In a gospel sense, death means separation (of 2 things). Physical death is the separation of the spirit and body. Spiritual death represents our separation from God.
Figure 5. The two deaths.
The fallen status of spiritual death, or separation from God, provides the state of affairs and conditions that enable all of God's children to be tested, acquire from their ain experience, and farther develop the attributes of God. From birth to death, our fallen state hosts a boxing, constantly played out, between our spirit (arriving to earth from the presence of God) and our body (fashioned from fallen matter). Though this body is a sacred gift, it has desires, appetites, and passions that, when left unchecked, give Satan ability to bind and obsess God's children (two Nephi ii:29).
Stated simply, the body in a natural, carnal, fallen state seeks ease and pleasure for itself. Pleasure for the body comes in the gratification of natural appetites and passions. When our spirit fails to "determent all [our] passions" (Alma 38:12) according to the commandments, the body'due south increasingly fed appetites and passions tend to grow and subsequently atomic number 82 to bondage and spiritual regression. This idea was further expressed by Elder David A. Bednar:
Every bit sons and daughters of God, nosotros take inherited divine capacities from Him. Merely we shortly live in a fallen world. The very elements out of which our bodies were created are by nature fallen and always subject to the pull of sin, corruption, and decease. Consequently, the Autumn of Adam and its spiritual and temporal consequences impact the states well-nigh straight through our concrete bodies. And yet we are dual beings, for our spirit that is the eternal part of u.s. is tabernacled in a physical body that is field of study to the Fall. As Jesus emphasized to the Apostle Peter, "The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matthew 26:41).
The precise nature of the examination of bloodshed, and then, can be summarized in the following question: Will I respond to the inclinations of the natural man, or will I yield to the enticings of the Holy Spirit and put off the natural homo and get a saint through the Amende of Christ the Lord (see Mosiah iii:19)? That is the test. Every appetite, desire, propensity, and impulse of the natural man may exist overcome by and through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We are here on the world to develop godlike qualities and to bridle all of the passions of the flesh.[16]
If we came to earth for the opportunity to become more than like God, why would he place us in fallen bodies of flesh that accept a will toward evil?[17] Why place u.s.a. in bodies that, by nature, seek to pull united states of america increasingly away from his attributes and presence? The opposition of a mortal body provides a very real test and gives us the opportunity to "[put] off the natural human and [become] a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord" (Mosiah iii:19). Much like the strengthening consequence on muscles provided past the resistance of weights, as nosotros overcome the natural homo and obey God'due south commandments, we overcome the resistance of our fallen, carnal land and go more like God.
The scriptures contain many stories of people who overcame intense opposition while accomplishing marvelous works. For mortality to be a valid trial of faith and examination of our reliance on the Lord, the opposition must be "in" us, rather than purely "against" us. Only and then can we realize that we cannot prevail on our own. Our fallen condition and lecherous nature constantly remind us of our absolute, ongoing, all-inclusive need for a Savior and his Atonement. Adam and Eve'southward Fall initiates our dire need for redemption that only the Atonement tin bring.
Step four: A State of Redemption
Christ has power to redeem humankind from two things: the directly effects of the Fall and our own sins.
Through the Resurrection,[xviii] Christ redeems all humankind unconditionally from the Fall. Without an space Atonement, we would forever remain in our fallen state, spiritually dead, shut out from the presence of God. The prophet Jacob used the same four-word phrase "to rise no more" (2 Nephi 9:7–8) to draw what would happen to both our bodies and our spirits if the Savior had not completed an infinite Atonement for us. He further states that we would become subject to the devil and become like him. Were this and so, the visual portrayals of physical and spiritual death in figure five would be arrows, demonstrating the eternal, ongoing, and space consequences.
Jesus completed the infinite Atonement with his Resurrection and made it possible to redeem all of us from both consequences: decease and hell. Many sympathise that resurrection overcomes physical death. Unfortunately, many distort the weather condition of redemption from spiritual death, or separation from God's presence, which nosotros too inherited from Adam and Eve. This inherited spiritual death is very dissimilar from the separation caused by our ain misuse of agency. As demonstrated beneath, the Book of Mormon repeatedly teaches that the Resurrection of Jesus Christ unconditionally redeems all of God's children from not only their physical death, but also their inherited spiritual death (run across Mormon 9:thirteen).
From atop the walls of Zarahemla, Samuel the Lamanite taught, "For behold, he surely must dice that salvation may come; yea, it behooveth him and becometh expedient that he dieth, to bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, that thereby men may be brought into the presence of the Lord" (Helaman xiv:xv). He makes the point stronger in the next verse: "Yea, behold, this expiry bringeth to laissez passer the resurrection, and redeemeth all mankind from the first decease—that spiritual expiry" (v. 16; emphasis added). To brand the point unmistakable, he restated it in the next poetry, "But behold, the resurrection of Christ redeemeth mankind, yea, even all mankind, and bringeth them back into the presence of the Lord" (v. 17). Samuel left no question about the universality of redemption from our separation from God's presence through the Resurrection of Christ.
Samuel was non the just prophet who taught of the universality of redemption. Moroni stated, "And considering of the redemption of man, which came by Jesus Christ, they are brought dorsum into the presence of the Lord; yea, this is wherein all men are redeemed, considering the death of Christ bringeth to pass the resurrection, . . . and they shall come forth, both minor and great, and all shall stand before his bar, being redeemed and loosed from this eternal band of decease" (Mormon 9:13). Amulek told the people of Ammonihah, "Now, this restoration shall come to all . . . [and anybody, in a resurrected body,] shall be brought and be arraigned before the bar of Christ the Son, and God the Father, and the Holy Spirit, which is i Eternal God, to be judged co-ordinate to their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil" (Alma 11:44). In Book of Mormon terminology, we might say that we are redeemed from Adam's two deaths by grace alone (see 2 Nephi 9:22; Alma 42:23; Mormon 7:6) then nosotros tin can then exist perfectly judged of our own works (see two Nephi 9:xv; 28:23; Alma 12:8).
Because of this redemption, not one of God's children built-in into this mortal, fallen state will be punished for Adam's transgression (encounter second commodity of faith ). In other words, "The manner is prepared from the fall of man, and salvation is free" (2 Nephi ii:4).
Elder D. Todd Christofferson also taught this doctrine when he said the following:
The Savior's Redemption has two parts. Showtime, it atones for Adam'southward transgression and the consistent Autumn of man by overcoming what could be called the direct effects of the Fall—physical death and spiritual death. Physical death is well understood; spiritual death is the separation of man from God. In the words of Paul, "For equally in Adam all dice, even so in Christ shall all exist made alive" (1 Corinthians 15:22). This redemption from physical and spiritual decease is both universal and without status.[nineteen]
Figure half dozen. Universal redemption from two deaths.
Why would God want to bring everyone, the evil also as the righteous, back into his presence? The Book of Mormon prophets are consistent on this point. The doctrine of the Resurrection is inseparably connected with the doctrine of the Judgment.[20] The Atonement brings to laissez passer the Resurrection, and the Resurrection brings all humankind dorsum into the presence of God to be judged (encounter Alma 42:23; Helaman xiv:15–17; 2 Nephi 9:15, 21–22; Mormon 9:12–14).
Everyone will stand before the Godhead (see Alma 11:44) having been redeemed from all the direct effects of the Autumn "through the merits, and mercy, and grace" of Christ alone (2 Nephi ii:eight). He paid a cost to the Begetter that we could non pay for ourselves (see Alma 42:11–16). In that moment, each child of God will stand liberated from all burdens inflicted past others' choices. That state of redemption from all external consequences will allow Jesus to perfectly approximate us based on our own use of bureau.
Conditional Salvation from Sin
Through nativity, all inherit the effects of the Fall and enter into a fallen state. Being separated from God, all but Jesus commit sin once they reach the age of accountability (see Alma 42:fourteen; D&C 68:27). At the Judgment, all must business relationship for those sins.
Although redemption from the Fall is unconditional for all, salvation from our own sins is granted merely on the "conditions of repentance" (D&C 138:nineteen; Alma 42:13; Helaman 5:11). Samuel taught the Nephites that Christ "bringeth to pass the condition of repentance, that whosoever repenteth the same is not hewn down and cast into the burn; only whosoever repenteth not is hewn down and bandage into the burn down" (Helaman fourteen:eighteen). The conditions of repentance are 1 of the great themes of the Book of Mormon. Oft referred to as the "doctrine of Christ" (2 Nephi 31:two, 21; 32:6; 3 Nephi 11:31–41), the conditions of repentance besides form a major part of the gospel of Jesus Christ every bit he himself divers information technology in three Nephi 27:13–21.
Elder D. Todd Christofferson farther taught:
The second aspect of the Savior's Amende is redemption from what might be termed the indirect consequences of the Fall—our own sins as opposed to Adam'due south transgression. . . . Because nosotros are accountable and nosotros make the choices, the redemption from our own sins is conditional—conditioned on confessing and abandoning sin and turning to a godly life, or in other words, conditioned on repentance (see D&C 58:43).[21]
Figure vii. Redemption from our own sins
Meeting the conditions of repentance constitutes "all we tin can do" (2 Nephi 25:23, Alma 24:eleven), reconciles united states to God, and opens to us the fountains of redeeming grace. Ultimately, redemption from our own sins involves making and keeping sacred covenants and receiving grace.[22]
It is important to realize that our efforts to live the gospel are necessary but non sufficient for eternal conservancy. The law cannot salvage usa; it tin only condemn (see 2 Nephi 2:5). Jesus Christ saves us through his grace.[23] The Book of Mormon teaches a clear relationship between what nosotros do and what effect it has on our continuing with God: "Now they did non suppose that conservancy came by the police of Moses [or any other law]; just the police of Moses did serve to strengthen their faith in Christ; and thus they did retain a promise through faith, unto eternal conservancy" (Alma 25:16). Thus our efforts to alive the gospel of Jesus Christ practise not salve us; they increase our faith in Christ. Increasingly, nosotros trust him and seek his volition rather than our ain. That process, fueled by his mercy and grace, changes us. We become more than and more similar him, and less like the natural and fallen human being, who seeks only to gratify mortal desires, appetites, and passions.
Footstep six: The Terminal State of Man
Many elements of the plan of redemption culminate at the judgment bar of God. The Judgment ushers in the final state of humankind. An angel instructed King Benjamin to teach that Jesus Christ did what he did and suffered what he suffered "that a righteous judgment might come upon the children of men" (Mosiah 3:x). Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, all will be redeemed from the grave and brought back into the presence of God, just that redemptive reunion, for some, volition exist both painful and temporary. President Ezra Taft Benson said, "Nothing is going to startle us more than when we pass through the veil to the other side than to realize how well we know our Father and how familiar His face is to usa."[24]
Multiple Book of Mormon prophets addressed the judgment bar response of those who fail to meet the Savior'south atmospheric condition of repentance. King Benjamin declared, "Therefore if that man repenteth not, and remaineth and dieth an enemy to God, the demands of divine justice do awaken his immortal soul to a lively sense of his own guilt, which doth cause him to shrink from the presence of the Lord, and doth make full his chest with guilt, and pain, and anguish, which is like an unquenchable burn, whose flame ascendeth up forever and ever" (Mosiah 2:38; see as well 3:24–25; Helaman xiv:18; Moroni 9:4).
Alma the Younger as well used brilliant imagery to describe that event for the unrepentant: "If we accept hardened our hearts confronting the word, insomuch that it has non been found in usa, then will our state be atrocious, for then we shall be condemned. . . . And in this awful state we shall not cartel to look upwardly to our God; and nosotros would fain be glad if we could command the rocks and the mountains to fall upon us to hibernate us from his presence (Alma 12:13–xiv; meet as well Mosiah 16:five).
With additional revelation and clarification received through the Prophet Joseph Smith, we larn that Jesus Christ "glorifies the Father, and saves all the works of his hands, except those sons of perdition who deny the Son after the Father has revealed him" (D&C 76:43). Excepting the sons of perdition, all humankind will exist "saved" into 1 of three degrees of glory: celestial, terrestrial, or telestial. Elder Dallin H. Oaks taught, "These 3 different degrees of celebrity have a special relationship to the 3 dissimilar members of the Godhead."[25]
Those who enter the angelic kingdom dwell eternally in a state of never-ending happiness (encounter D&C 121:45; Mosiah ii:41). In his last message, Mormon wrote, "And [Jesus] hath brought to pass the redemption of the world, whereby he that is establish guiltless before him at the judgment mean solar day hath it given unto him to dwell in the presence of God in his kingdom" (Mormon 7:seven). Those in the angelic kingdom "shall dwell in the presence of God and his Christ forever and always" (D&C 76:62).
Those in the terrestrial kingdom "receive of the presence of the Son, but not of the fullness of the Male parent" (5. 77). Those who receive a telestial glory "are bandage down to hell and endure the wrath of Omnipotent God, until the fullness of times. . . . Only where God and Christ dwell they cannot come, worlds without cease" (vs. 106, 112). They volition receive "not of his fullness in the eternal world, but of the Holy Spirit through the ministration of the terrestrial" (v. 86).
Those who deny the Holy Ghost cannot bear a telestial celebrity. These sons of perdition will shrink from the presence of God to outer darkness as the simply ones "on whom the second expiry shall accept any ability" (D&C 76:37; see also Alma 12:16).
Figure 8. The plan of redemption.
At our Judgment, we will accept a "perfect knowledge like unto [those] in the flesh, relieve information technology be that our knowledge shall be perfect" (2 Nephi 9:13). This perfect cognition will kindle a "bright recollection of all our guilt" (Alma eleven:43). In this awareness, fifty-fifty the hardest of hearts volition acknowledge that "all his judgments are just; that he is but in all his works" (Alma 12:fifteen). God'due south plan is so fair that even telestial-spring souls will "bow the knee, and . . . confess to him who sits upon the throne forever and ever" (D&C 76:110) that his glorious plan is perfectly off-white.[26]
Information technology would exist neither just nor merciful for God to force the wicked into the angelic kingdom. Could such a person feel whatever peace or contentment in God'due south kingdom, surrounded by his perfection and glory? Moroni teaches that the wicked would exist more "miserable to dwell with a holy and just God, nether a consciousness of [their] filthiness before him, than [they] would to dwell with the damned souls in hell" (Mormon ix:iv). Hence, God'due south preparation of multiple glories shows his love for his children and the role of bureau throughout the entire plan—culminating in the perfect residuum of justice and mercy in their eternal judgment.
Those who repent of all their sins will receive "all that [the] Father hath" (D&C 84:38). For those who choose something less, they will "relish that which they are willing to receive, because they were not willing to relish that which they might have received" (D&C 88:32). As C. S. Lewis wrote, "At that place are only 2 kinds of people in the finish: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, in the end, 'Thy will be done.' All that are in Hell, cull it. Without that self-option there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy volition ever miss it. Those who seek find. To those who knock information technology is opened."[27]
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ unconditionally redeems all of God's children from not just their physical death, but likewise their inherited spiritual decease.
Conclusion
Traditional location-focused models of the plan of conservancy provide a wonderful introduction and overview of our journey through the eternities. The model presented here complements these widely used diagrams by focusing on the three pillars that uphold that program and highlight the axis of the Savior Jesus Christ and his infinite Atonement. Additionally, this model emphasizes the various states of being through which we pass in our journey through the program. It too emphasizes other major roles of Jesus Christ as Creator and Judge within the Father'due south plan.
Through the Savior's perfect and infinite Atonement, God has enabled all of the states to overcome all effects of the Fall and progress to become more like him. Everyone ever built-in into mortality volition receive unconditional redemption from the direct effects of the fall through the Resurrection of Christ. That universal redemption will atomic number 82 all to exist judged on their use of agency, based on their own accountability. Eternal salvation from the indirect furnishings of the Autumn (our own sins) is granted to those who meet the Savior's conditions for repentance (Alma 42:27).
These doctrines (Resurrection and Judgment), taught with the pillars of eternity, have supernal power to stir God's children to repentance. Hence, Joseph Smith taught, "The doctrine of the Resurrection of the Dead and Eternal Judgment are necessary to preach among the first principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ."[28]
Many prophets in the Book of Mormon follow a powerful teaching pattern. They conspicuously explain sure elements of the program of salvation and so invite their audiences to act on what they taught. Those invitations oft include things such every bit increasing one'south religion in Christ, repenting of sins, being baptized, or continuing to press frontwards in the path that leads to eternal life (encounter Alma 7:14; 34:31; Helaman 7:23; ten:14; 12:23; 14:19; three Nephi ix:22; Mormon 5:24; seven:8; Ether 4:eighteen).
Afterward dying on the cross, Jesus taught the spirits in paradise based on this aforementioned design. "And there he preached to them the everlasting gospel, the doctrine of the resurrection and the redemption of flesh from the autumn, and from individual sins on conditions of repentance" (D&C 138:19).
Studying multiple aspects of God'south plan through more than one lens allows us to run across more than facets of what he has put into place for our eternal progression and happiness. This opens additional channels for the Holy Ghost to inspire increased faith in the Savior, repentance of our sins, and increased desires to make and keep covenants with God.
When we study and teach his program using the words and examples that he and his prophets employ, we will have a greater tendency to inspire more than of his children to repent and prepare to stand up before him spotless at the great and final day—having been reconciled to God through his Merely Begotten Son (see 2 Nephi x:24; 25:23; Jacob 4:xi).
Notes
---
[1] Neal A. Maxwell, "Thanks Be to God," Ensign July 1982, 51.
[2] This can be illustrated by a simple Internet search on the central phrase "programme of salvation." Narrowing the search to include only images reveals the potency of the traditional circles and lines in plan visualizations. This can also be seen as the first option for teaching the plan in the Volume of Mormon Teacher Resource Manual, constitute at https://
[three] Ezra Taft Benson, "The Volume of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants," Ensign, May 1987, 83.
[four] For reference to our Mother in Heaven, run across "Mother in Heaven," The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-solar day Saints, https://
[5] "The Family unit: A Proclamation to the World," Ensign, Nov 2010, 129.
[half dozen] History, 1838–1856, volume C-1 Addenda, 62, http://
[7] See specifically verses eighteen–28. Run into also the lds.org Guide to the Scriptures entry for "Intelligence, Intelligences" and the Encyclopedia of Mormonism entry on "Intelligences."
[8] "Creation," The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, https://
[ix] "Fall of Adam," The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, https://
[ten] "Atonement of Jesus Christ," The Church building of Jesus Christ of Latter-twenty-four hour period Saints, https://
[11] Russell M. Nelson, "A Treasured Testament," Ensign, July 1993, 64. Elder Bruce R. McConkie too stated something similar: "These three divine events—the 3 pillars of eternity—are inseparably woven together into 1 grand tapestry known as the eternal plan of salvation. A New Witness for the Articles of Organized religion (Salt Lake Metropolis: Deseret Book, 1985), 81.
[12] See ii Nephi 26:24 and iii Nephi 27:14–15.
[13] Neal A. Maxwell, "Meekness—A Dimension of True Discipleship," Ensign, March 1983, 71.
[14] History, 1838–1856, volume B-1, 795-96, http://
[15] Bruce R. McConkie, A New Witness for the Articles of Faith (Common salt Lake Metropolis: Deseret Book, 1985), 81.
[16] David A. Bednar, "We Believe in Beingness Chaste," Ensign, May 2013, 42–43.
[17] Meet 2 Nephi 2:29.
[18] The LDS essay "Resurrection," The Church building of Jesus Christ of Latter-twenty-four hours Saints, https://
[xix] D. Todd Christofferson, "Redemption," Ensign, May 2013, 109.
[20] Run across Terry B. Brawl, "The Final Judgment," in The Volume of Mormon and the Message of the Four Gospels, ed. Ray L. Huntington and Terry B. Brawl (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, 2001), one–18.
[21] Christofferson, "Redemption," Ensign, May 2013, 109–ten.
[22] Preach My Gospel: A Guide to Missionary Service (Table salt Lake Urban center: The Church building of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2004), 60–70. Encounter also Robert L. Millet, By Grace Are We Saved (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1989). See likewise Bruce C. Hafen, "Grace," in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, ed. Daniel H. Ludlow (New York: Macmillan, 1992), 2:560–63.
[23] See 2 Nephi 2:6–10; Romans three:24, 28. Annotation that Joseph Smith'due south modify in poetry 24 is substantively the same as Martin Luther's disquisitional change in his German language Bible that could be argued as the germination of the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther added the discussion Allein (which means alone) after the give-and-take organized religion. Joseph added the discussion only after the word justified.
[24] Ezra Taft Benson, "Jesus Christ—Gifts and Expectations," Speeches of the Year, 1974 (Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 1975), 313.
[25] Dallin H. Oaks, "Apostasy and Restoration," Ensign, May 1995, 86.
[26] This is a powerful reference to a prophecy from Isaiah 45:22–23, where Jehovah declared that "every knee joint shall bow, every natural language shall swear." Paul, in two of his letters, referenced that statement, once in Romans 14:xi and so more than straight in Philippians 2:11, where he stated "that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Male parent." In this detail example, Paul is equating Jesus Christ with Jehovah from the Isaiah passage. This Isaiahnic phrase is also used in Mosiah 27:31 and D&C 88:104.
[27] C. S. Lewis, The Swell Divorce (New York: Macmillan, 1946), 72–73.
northcutttheavalogy.blogspot.com
Source: https://rsc.byu.edu/vol-18-no-1-2017/great-plan-happiness-christ-centered-visual-approach
0 Response to "Plan of Salvation Drawing Video"
Post a Comment