Reading 1 – Hugh Nibley writes about an early member of the
Church named Clement and a conversation Clement has with the Apostle Peter:
"Clement has his first gospel conversation with Peter, who begins by
explaining to him why a prophet is necessary. Peter compares the world in which
we live to a great house filled with dense smoke—blinding smoke produced by
human unbelief, malice, ambition, greed, etc. Because of this smoke, the people
who live in the house can see nothing clearly, but we must imagine them groping
about with weak and running eyes, coughing and scolding, bumping into each
other, tripping over furniture, trying to make out a bit of reality here and
there—a corner, a step, a wall—and then trying to fit their desperate and
faulty data together to make some kind of sense." ("A Prophet's
Reward", Hugh W. Nibley, The Maxwell Institute, Brigham Young University,
citing Clementine Recognitions I, 3,)
Reading 2 – Joseph Smith taught: "All men know that
they must die. And it is important that we should understand the reasons and
causes of our exposure to the vicissitudes of life and death, and the designs
and purposes of God in our coming into the world, our sufferings here, and our
departure hence. What is the object of our coming into existence, then dying
and falling away, to be here no more? It is but reasonable to suppose that God
would reveal something in reference to the matter, and it is a subject we ought
to study more than any other. We ought to study it day and night, for the world
is ignorant in reference to their true condition and relation. If we have any
claim on our Heavenly Father for anything, it is for knowledge on this
important subject." (TPJS, 324)
Reading 3 – Joseph Smith taught: “The great plan of
salvation is a theme which ought to occupy our strict attention, and be
regarded as one of heaven’s best gifts to mankind” (Teachings of the Prophet
Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith [1976], 68)
Reading 4 – Doctrine and Covenants 93:29
Reading 5 – Doctrine and Covenants 76:23-24
Hebrews 12:9
Reading 6 – Elder Russell M. Nelson has taught, "The
entire Creation was planned by God. A council in heaven was once convened in
which we participated. There our Heavenly Father announced His divine plan. It
is also called the plan of happiness, the plan of salvation, the plan of
redemption, the plan of restoration, the plan of mercy, the plan of
deliverance, and the everlasting gospel. The purpose of the plan is to provide
opportunity for the spirit children of God to progress toward an eternal
exaltation.
The plan required the Creation, and that in turn required
both the Fall and the Atonement. These are the three fundamental components of the
plan. The creation of a paradisiacal planet came from God. Mortality and death
came into the world through the Fall of Adam. Immortality and the possibility
of eternal life were provided by the Atonement of Jesus Christ. The Creation,
the Fall, and the Atonement were planned long before the actual work of the
Creation began."
Abraham 3:24-25
Reading 7 – 2 Nephi 2:24-27
Reading 8 – Moses 5:10-12
Reading 9 – Alma 34:8-9
Reading 10 – Moses 4:1-2
Moses 4:3
Elder Dallin H. Oaks has said, speaking to us as Heavenly
Father might, “All that I have I desire to give you—not only my wealth, but
also my position and standing among men. That which I have I can easily give
you, but that which I am you must obtain for yourself. You will qualify for
your inheritance by learning what I have learned and by living as I have lived.
I will give you the laws and principles by which I have acquired my wisdom and
stature. Follow my example, mastering as I have mastered, and you will become
as I am, and all that I have will be yours.” (Ensign, Nov. 2000, p. 32).
Reading 11 - Elder James E. Talmage said: "This life is
ofttimes, and very properly, referred to as a probation. 'And we will prove
them' the Lord says, putting us upon test, to see whether we will exercise our
agency in choosing to do whatsoever the Lord our God requires of us. The Lord
wants to know about that. Perhaps His foreknowledge shows the result to Him,
but it is necessary that we demonstrate it. There is much work ahead of us, and
the Lord desires to know whom He can trust with authority and power beyond the
grave, so this probationary period has been provided that we may prove and
demonstrate beyond all question as to whether we can be trusted, as to whether
we shall be entitled to the welcome: Well done; you have been faithful over
what may have seemed to be a few things, and perhaps relatively small things,
but you have been proved and you have shown that you can be trusted with many
and greater things" (C.R., October 1929, p. 66).
Elder Bruce R. McConkie has written, "In this mortal
probation it is the design and purpose of the Lord to test us: to see if we
will believe in him and obey his laws now that we no longer dwell in his
presence, hear his voice, and see his face. He already knows how we respond -
what we believe and how we act - when we walk by sight. Now he is testing our
devotion to him when we walk by faith: when his presence is veiled, his voice
is afar off, and his face is seen by few men only" (Elder Bruce R.
McConkie, The Promised Messiah, p. 84).
Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote, "Is it inappropriate to
ask: Why are there different races of men? Why is there a white, a yellow, and
a black race? In the days of Israel's first bondage, why did the Lord send some
spirits in the lineage of enslaved Jacob and others to their Egyptian overlords?
Why were some spirits sent to earth among the Amalekites, the Assyrians, and
the Babylonians, while others at the same moments found birth in the house of
Israel? Why was Antipas sent as the son of a debauched and evil Herod, while
John the Baptist came into the home of a priestly Zacharias and a saintly
Elisabeth?
"All of these things operate by law; they are the
outgrowth of long years of personal preparation in preexistence on the part of
each individual; they come to pass according to the laws that the Lord has
ordained. This second estate is a continuation of our first estate; we are born
here with the talents and capacities acquired there. Abraham was one of the
noble and great spirits in the premortal life. He was chosen for his mortal
ministry and position before he was born, and as with the father of the
faithful so with all of the spirits destined to be born as his seed." (A
New Witness for the Articles of Faith, p. 512)
Reading 12 – Alma 40:11-14
Reading 13 – Regarding those who are righteous at the time
they enter the spirit world, Elder Bruce R. McConkie has said, "There is
no equivocation, no doubt, no uncertainty in our minds. Those who have been
true and faithful in this life will not fall by the wayside in the life to
come. If they keep their covenants here and now and depart this life firm and
true in the testimony of our blessed Lord, they shall come forth with an
inheritance of eternal life.
"We do not mean to say that those who die in the Lord,
and who are true and faithful in this life, must be perfect in all things when
they go into the next sphere of existence. There was only one perfect man—the
Lord Jesus whose Father was God.
"There have been many righteous souls who have attained
relative degrees of perfection, and there have been great hosts of faithful
people who have kept the faith, and lived the law, and departed this life with
the full assurance of an eventual inheritance of eternal life." (Bruce R.
McConkie, “The Dead Who Die in the Lord,” Ensign, Nov 1976, 106)
No comments:
Post a Comment