Plan of salvation in Mormonism
This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
According to the doctrine of the
Summary
Pre-mortal existence
This section's factual accuracy is disputed. (March 2014) |
In the 1840s,[
During this pre-mortal existence, God the Father presented the following plan to His children:
Human beings would be born on Earth. There they would receive a
Integral to this plan was
Also part of the plan was a
As the plan was explained, God's spirit children also understood that full gospel truth could be lost on the earth as men and women could choose against living by the truth at any point, and could devise other beliefs and ways to live that would be appealing to the natural mind. Yet they also understood that there would be opportunities before the final judgment for every child of God to hear of Jesus Christ and to either accept him or reject him.
LDS Church members believe this plan, ordained by God the Father was not contrived arbitrarily, but was designed based on eternal truths to allow for the greatest possible progress toward a fullness of joy, happiness and love for the greatest number of His spirit children. He loves each of them unconditionally and desires that they progress, knowing that this leads to greater happiness and a potential fullness of joy.
War in Heaven
After God the Father presented this plan,[7] Lucifer volunteered to save all mankind by removing the need for agency as a necessary requirement of the plan.[8][9] Lucifer claimed, with agency removed, no one would have the ability to sin against God, that not one soul would be lost, and all would be able to return sinless to the presence of Heavenly Father without the need for a Savior.[10][11] As recompense for his plan, Lucifer demanded that the power and the glory which God the Father possessed be transferred to him, effectively making him "God." However, to make this plan work, Lucifer alone would need to have his agency intact to fully control and insure that everyone would live sinless. As a result, no spirit experiencing this "sanitized" mortality could truly achieve exaltation.[8][9] God the Father vehemently rejected Lucifer's hobbled plan.
Enraged, Lucifer chose to rebel against God the Father and rallied to him "a third part" of God the Father's children who also preferred Lucifer's plan. The two factions warred, and Lucifer and his followers were cast out of Heaven; Lucifer became Satan, and those who followed him became fallen (also referred to as sons of perdition), and his servants.[12][original research?] They were denied the right to have their own physical bodies (and, consequently, the ability to procreate) but were not affected by the "veil". Latter-day Saints believe that Satan and his servants have since sought to undo, counteract, and undermine God the Father's plan by tempting mortal individuals to evil actions, gaining power over them and their bodies, and by attempting to restrict their agency by whatever means possible.[11]
Spirit world
Latter-day Saint beliefs include the belief in a spirit world between death and the resurrection. They believe that the "veil of forgetfulness" will be removed before they are judged thereafter, and that the spirits of all of mankind continue to prepare for judgment day and their eventual resurrection where they will receive a reward according to their faith and works. They believe that righteous individuals continue to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ in the Spirit World, teaching others and offering them the opportunity to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior and follow God the Father's plan.
Final Judgment
The Latter-day Saints believe that the
He will judge them, 'not according to what they have not, but according to what they have,' those who have lived without law will be judged without law, and those who have a law will be judged by that law. We need not doubt the wisdom and intelligence of the Great Jehovah; He will award judgment or mercy to all nations according to their several deserts, their means of obtaining intelligence, the laws by which they are governed, the facilities afforded them of obtaining correct information, and His inscrutable designs in relation to the human family; and when the designs of God shall be made manifest, and the curtain of futurity be withdrawn, we shall all of us eventually have to confess that the Judge of all the earth has done right.[13]
Another description of the benevolence of the final judgment was presented by President George Q. Cannon of the First Presidency of the LDS Church in 1884:
God's providence is over all His children, and He will reward every man and every woman according to his or her works, and He will reward those who have lived exemplary lives, those who have been moral, whether they be heathen or Christian, whether they have known the name of Jesus or not, whether they have the Bible or the Koran or some other book or no book at all; whatever may have been their condition and circumstances, if they have lived according to the light that God has given them and to laws that they understood, God will reward them and will eventually bestow every blessing upon them which they are capable of receiving.[14]
Salvation
Unlike Nicene Christianity, Latter-day Saints believe that the scriptures teach of multiple types or levels of salvation:
- Immortality is explained as a gift freely given to everyone, made possible by Jesus' death and resurrection.[15][original research?] The church teaches that "The spirit and the body shall be reunited again in its perfect form...even as we now are at this time. ...This restoration shall come to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, both the wicked and the righteous; and even there shall not so much as a hair of their heads be lost; but every thing shall be restored to its perfect frame."[16][original research?]
- After everyone has been resurrected, all will be kingdom within heaven for which each person has qualified is conditional upon acceptance of, and true faith in, Jesus Christ as the Savior and Redeemerof mankind - this is demonstrated through baptism and obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel, including repentance.
- In order to achieve "eternal life", the highest quality and happiest of the degrees of salvation, one must enter into the Celestial Kingdom.
Each level of salvation as explained above relies upon Christ's grace through His infinite
- Outer Darkness is reserved for those people who, after gaining a full knowledge of the Gospel, willfully deny and contend against the Holy Ghost. (Satan, his followers from the premortal life, and those who were born on earth but chose to become sons of perdition.) These individuals who inherit no glory are called sons of perdition. Although resurrected, and thus immortal, they willfully rebelled and rejected the right to salvation.[23]
Hypothesized influence of Emanuel Swedenborg
Historian
Historian Richard Bushman argues that it was more likely that both Swedenborg and Smith were influenced by New Testament scriptures that refer to "celestial" and "terrestrial" bodies that are compared to the sun, moon, and stars, noting fundamental differences between Smith's and Swedenborg's versions of heaven.[25]: 196 Bushman also notes similarities between the Mormon heavenly organization and post-Calvinism[25]: 196 and Universalism.[25]: 199
Latter-day Saints note that Paul made reference to both "celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial", as well as bodies compared to those of stars, when discussing the resurrection in 1st Corinthians 15:40-41 (KJV); they see this as evidence that the idea of "three degrees of glory" was preached by Paul.
See also
- Divinization (Christian)
- Exaltation (Mormonism)
- King Follett discourse
- Salvation
- Universalism and the Latter Day Saint movement
Notes
- ^ See for example Matthew 13:43, John 14:2, 2 Corinthians 12:2, 1 Corinthians 15:40–41, Genesis 2:4–5, Genesis 2:7, Job 38:4, Ecclesiastes 12:7, Jeremiah 1:5, Zechariah 12:1, and Hebrews 12:9
- ^ In this section Jeremiah the prophet is told that the Lord knew him before He formed him in the belly and before he came out of the womb and was sanctified and ordained to be a prophet at that time.[original research?]
References
- ^ "Missionary Materials and Methods | Religious Studies Center".
- ^ Condie, Kent C. (Spring 2006). "Premortal Spirits: Implications for Cloning, Abortion, Evolution, and Extinction". Dialogue. 39 (1). University of Illinois Press: 47.
- ^ a b Ostler, Blake (1982). "The Idea of Pre-Existence in the Development of Mormon Thought" (PDF). Dialogue. 15 (1). University of Illinois Press: 59, 73–74.
- ^ Bowen, David R. Sr. (May 1999). Joseph Smith's Concept of Preexistent Intelligences: Development and Critique (Master of Religion thesis). Lynchburg, Virginia: Liberty University. pp. 5–7.
- ^ Jeremiah 1:5; the Pearl of Great Price Abraham 3:23
- ^ Deuteronomy 6:7
- ^ "Plan of Salvation".
- ^ a b "Council in Heaven".
- ^ a b "Agency and Accountability".
- ^ "Jesus Christ Chosen as Savior".
- ^ a b "Satan".
- ^ Revelations 12:7-9
- Documentary History of the Church4:595-596, April, 1842
- ^ President George Q. Cannon, Nov. 9, 1884, Journal of Discourses, Volume 26:82
- ^ See 1 Corinthians 15:22
- ^ Alma 11:43–44
- ^ Romans 8:17
- ^ D&C 76:74
- ^ 1 Corinthians 15:40
- ^ 2 Corinthians 12:2
- ^ D&C 76:110
- ^ 2 Nephi 9 & 31
- ^ Doxey, Roy W, Doctrine and Covenants Speaks, 1970, Ch. 2
- ^ a b c d Quinn, D. Michael (1998). Early Mormonism and the Magic World View. Salt Lake City: Signature Books – via Internet Archive.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4000-4270-8 – via Google Books.
Further reading
- Joseph Fielding Smith, The Way to Perfection, 1949.
- Alvin R. Dyer, Who Am I, 1966.
- Joseph Fielding McConkie, Straightforward Answers to Tough Gospel Questions, 1998, p. 96 (Chapter 6).
- Joseph Fielding Smith (ed.), Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 1976, p. 310.
External links
- Media related to Mormon plan of salvation diagrams at Wikimedia Commons
- Plan of Salvation explained with illustration and scriptures