Life as a Probationary State
We all sin (1 John 3:4) but through our Savior Jesus Christ (Romans 3:23; also Atonement), we can return to live with God again. This time is given for us to prepare to meet God while we are on the earth (Alma 12:24), for no unclean thing can dwell in the presence of God (1 Nephi 10:20-21). All of us during earth life are in a state of nature or in a carnal state, in the bonds of iniquity because of our fallen state (Alma 41:11). God knew this before the fall happened and created a way for us to escape the bonds of the natural man thus creating a beginning (birth) and an end (death) so that we could have a probationary state and a time to serve God and repent through the grace of our brother, Jesus Christ (Alma 42:3-10).
“Mortality was designed to subject the human race to it’s final period of probationary testing” other purposes included power to procreate, receiving a fullness of joy and gaining bodies. Skousen, The First 2000 Years
Two Deaths: Spiritual & Physical
Two deaths occur while we are on the earth (Alma 42), spiritual death as we sin and are moved farther and farther from the presence of God (Alma 12:12-13), and physical death (2 Nephi 9:11-12). Only through our Savior Jesus Christ will these deaths be overcome. In order to fulfill the Law of Justice, we must repent or reap the full consequences of these choices but because of the Plan of Mercy (redemption through Jesus Christ) this is made possible (Alma 42). To help fulfill this plan we must have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repent and receive all the ordinances of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Articles of Faith 1:4) and thus through the atonement of Jesus Christ overcome these two deaths.
Dispensations
A dispensation of the gospel is a period of time in which the Lord has at least one authorized servant on the earth who bears the holy priesthood and the keys, and who has a divine commission to dispense the gospel to the inhabitants of the earth. When this occurs, the gospel is revealed anew, so that people of that dispensation do not have to depend basically on past dispensations for knowledge of the plan of salvation. There have been many gospel dispensations since the beginning. Bible Dictionary
The Great Apostasy
When Christ was on the earth, he established his Gospel with divine authority and principles (Ephesians 2:19-20; 4:11-14) Knowing all things, that His Apostles would be martyred and there would be a falling away (Matthew 24:9) He prepared away for his Gospel to be restored again on the earth in all it’s fullness (Ephesians 1:10)
“As a diamond on black velvet appears more brilliant, so the restoration stands in striking contrast to the dark background of the great apostasy.” Preach My Gospel pp. 36
The Last Dispensation, A Fullness of Times
“After many generations had walked the earth, so many of them in conflict, hatred, darkness and evil then arrived the great new day of the restoration. This glorious gospel was ushered in with the appearance of the Father and the Son to the boy Joseph. The dawn of the dispensation of the fullness of times rose upon the world. All of the good, the beautiful, the divine of all previous dispensations was restored in the remarkable season.” President Gordon B. Hinkley
"I was one day reading the Epistle of James, first chapter and fifth verse which reads: If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him… Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine…I retired to the woods to make the attempt. It was on the morning of a beautiful clear day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty… I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me… When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him! My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. I was answered that I must join none of them… that: they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof (Isaiah 29:13).” Joseph Smith
“To reform is to change what already exists; to restore is to bring back something in it’s original form. Thus restoration of priesthood authority through divine messengers was the only possible way to overcome the Great Apostasy” Preach My Gospel pp. 36
In regards to why a restoration by the hand of God was needed and not man’s reformation, James E. Talmage stated: “Who can dare to affirm that man can originate a priesthood which God is bound to honor and acknowledge?”
That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. Ephesians 1:10-11
0 comments:
Post a Comment