Someone in another thread brought up this scripture from the lectures on faith.
When I saw this it reminded me of the scriptures I had been reading and studying last night before I went to bed. I was reading in Alma Chapter 13.“For where faith is, there will the knowledge of God be also, with all things which pertain thereto — revelations, visions, and dreams, as well as every necessary thing, in order that the possessors of faith may be perfected, and obtain salvation; for God must change, otherwise faith will prevail with him. And he who possesses it will, through it, obtain all necessary knowledge and wisdom, until he shall know God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, whom He has sent — whom to know is eternal life. Amen.”
— Lectures on Faith by Joseph Smith
People often think of eternal life as something to be received in the future, but eternal life is NOW. This is one eternity.
From eternity to all eternity really stood out to me. The chapter talks about how those after the Holy order of God were ordained before the foundations of this world according to the foreknowledge of God because of their good works after being left to choose between good and evil. Those who possess true priesthood or power in their priesthoods here possessed it in this other world before coming here. In what manner and in what type of place are we "left to choose between good and evil" and wherein are we able to perform labor and do works?6 And thus being called by this holy calling, and ordained unto the high priesthood of the holy order of God, to teach his commandments unto the children of men, that they also might enter into his rest—
7 This high priesthood being after the order of his Son, which order was from the foundation of the world; or in other words, being without beginning of days or end of years, being prepared from eternity to all eternity, according to his foreknowledge of all things—
Our "pre-existant" life was one eternity and we are now in another. Some here who now hold true priesthood also held it in that world after being proven that they would choose good over evil. If they didn't harden their hearts then and received from God are they likely to do the same here? And likewise are those who hardened there hearts then also likely to harden their hearts here? What type of world was it? This is one of the questions I have... I wonder if the mention of a preparatory redemption gives any hints? Anyway... I'm getting off on other subjects.3 And this is the manner after which they were ordained—being called and prepared from the foundation of the world according to the foreknowledge of God, on account of their exceeding faith and good works; in the first place being left to choose good or evil; therefore they having chosen good, and exercising exceedingly great faith, are called with a holy calling, yea, with that holy calling which was prepared with, and according to, a preparatory redemption for such.
4 And thus they have been called to this holy calling on account of their faith, while others would reject the Spirit of God on account of the hardness of their hearts and blindness of their minds, while, if it had not been for this they might have had as great privilege as their brethren.
5 Or in fine, in the first place they were on the same standing with their brethren; thus this holy calling being prepared from the foundation of the world for such as would not harden their hearts, being in and through the atonement of the Only Begotten Son, who was prepared—
My point is that this is eternity. When we enter back into the Lord's presence and KNOW God for ourselves then we have received eternal life as it states above in the lectures on faith and in other scriptures. In the scriptures we are told that those who shall seek their own lives shall lose it while those who lose themselves in service to God find life. We are made ALIVE through Him as the scriptures state. It is not only ancestors who are dead. So are we until we are made alive in Christ. We are either in hell now or we are in heaven NOW. This is the whole sum of the matter in my mind. We need to awake and arise NOW and not think that eternity is only the future and that eternal life is something to be received after we leave this world. This world is one eternity. The one before this one was another eternity and there will be yet future worlds or eternity's. I beleive this is ALSO the doctrine of eternal lives.
What is it that the temple is teaching us that we must do in order to receive eternal life?
The temple is teaching us about the path of how to receive Him while we are IN THE WORLD. That is how we gain eternal life and it is what is necessary to receive exaltation.22 For strait is the gate, and narrow the way that leadeth unto the exaltation and continuation of the lives, and few there be that find it, because ye receive me not in the world neither do ye know me.
23 But if ye receive me in the world, then shall ye know me, and shall receive your exaltation; that where I am ye shall be also.
24 This is eternal lives—to know the only wise and true God, and Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent. I am he. Receive ye, therefore, my law.
25 Broad is the gate, and wide the way that leadeth to the deaths; and many there are that go in thereat, because they receive me not, neither do they abide in my law.
81 And again, we saw the glory of the telestial, which glory is that of the lesser, even as the glory of the stars differs from that of the glory of the moon in the firmament.
82 These are they who received not the gospel of Christ, neither the testimony of Jesus.
83 These are they who deny not the Holy Spirit.
84 These are they who are thrust down to hell.
85 These are they who shall not be redeemed from the devil until the last resurrection, until the Lord, even Christ the Lamb, shall have finished his work.
86 These are they who receive not of his fulness in the eternal world, but of the Holy Spirit through the ministration of the terrestrial;
These scriptures seem to be saying that we are not of a terrestrial glory until we receive the presence of the Son and that we must do so while IN THE FLESH. Then it is the son's role to prepare us and bring us into the Father's presence so we can receive a fullness of the Father. It brings to mind the temple experience. Also, when it speaks of "they who are the spirits of men kept in prison, whom the son visited and preached the gospel unto them, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh. " Could this also be referring to those of us stuck in a telestial world still living a telestial glory and existence on not ONLY those who have already left this mortal world as we might suppose?71 And again, we saw the terrestrial world, and behold and lo, these are they who are of the terrestrial, whose glory differs from that of the church of the Firstborn who have received the fulness of the Father, even as that of the moon differs from the sun in the firmament.
72 Behold, these are they who died without law;
73 And also they who are the spirits of men kept in prison, whom the Son visited, and preached the gospel unto them, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh;
74 Who received not the testimony of Jesus in the flesh, but afterwards received it.
[ AND 2 Nephi 9 :38 And, in fine, wo unto all those who die in their sins; for they shall return to God, and behold his face, and remain in their sins.]
75 These are they who are honorable men of the earth, who were blinded by the craftiness of men.
76 These are they who receive of his glory, but not of his fulness.
77 These are they who receive of the presence of the Son, but not of the fulness of the Father.
78 Wherefore, they are bodies terrestrial, and not bodies celestial, and differ in glory as the moon differs from the sun.
79 These are they who are not valiant in the testimony of Jesus; wherefore, they obtain not the crown over the kingdom of our God.
[/quote]23 Now this Moses plainly taught to the children of Israel in the wilderness, and sought diligently to sanctify his people that they might behold the face of God;
24 But they hardened their hearts and could not endure his presence; therefore, the Lord in his wrath, for his anger was kindled against them, swore that they should not enter into his rest while in the wilderness, which rest is the fulness of his glory.
25 Therefore, he took Moses out of their midst, and the Holy Priesthood also;
26 And the lesser priesthood continued, which priesthood holdeth the key of the ministering of angels and the preparatory gospel;
27 Which gospel is the gospel of repentance and of baptism, and the remission of sins, and the law of carnal commandments, which the Lord in his wrath caused to continue with the house of Aaron among the children of Israel until John, whom God raised up, being filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother’s womb.
The scriptures are just full to the brim with this important Doctrine. It amazes me. We cannot be expected to be saved because we know ABOUT God. We can only be truly saved and receive of fulness by actually knowing HIM. There is a difference.37 Yea, wo unto those that worship idols, for the devil of all devils delighteth in them.
38 And, in fine, wo unto all those who die in their sins; for they shall return to God, and behold his face, and remain in their sins.
39 O, my beloved brethren, remember the awfulness in transgressing against that Holy God, and also the awfulness of yielding to the enticings of that cunning one. Remember, to be carnally-minded is death, and to be spiritually-minded is life eternal.
40 O, my beloved brethren, give ear to my words. Remember the greatness of the Holy One of Israel. Do not say that I have spoken hard things against you; for if ye do, ye will revile against the truth; for I have spoken the words of your Maker. I know that the words of truth are hard against all uncleanness; but the righteous fear them not, for they love the truth and are not shaken.
41 O then, my beloved brethren, come unto the Lord, the Holy One. Remember that his paths are righteous. Behold, the way for man is narrow, but it lieth in a straight course before him, and the keeper of the gate is the Holy One of Israel; and he employeth no servant there; and there is none other way save it be by the gate; for he cannot be deceived, for the Lord God is his name.
This brings us back to the subject of rejecting the fulness of the gospel. The BOM predicts and prophesy's that the gentiles SHALL reject the fulness of the gospel. I made another thread on that recently here. viewtopic.php?f=14&t=32049" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; What happens when people reject the fullness? What does that look like? What is it they are rejecting when they reject the fulness? The scriptures that I posted above speaking about Moses gives us a HUGE clue.
I was reading in the Teachings of the Presidents of the Chruch : Joseph Fielding Smith book and I came across something..
“I sit and reflect at times, and in my reading of the scriptures, I think of the mission of our Lord, what he did for me, and when these feelings come upon me I say to myself, I cannot be untrue to him. He loved me with a perfect love, as he has done for all men, especially those who serve him, and I must love him with all the love I can, even if it is imperfect, which it should not be. It is wonderful. I did not live in the days of our Savior; he has not come to me in person. I have not beheld him. His Father and he have not felt it necessary to grant me such a great blessing as this. But it is not necessary. I have felt his presence. I know that the Holy Spirit has enlightened my mind and revealed him unto me, so that I do love my Redeemer, I hope, and feel it is true, better than everything else in this life. I would not have it otherwise. I want to be true to him. I know he died for me, for you and all mankind that we might live again through the resurrection. I know that he died that I might be forgiven my follies, my sins, and be cleansed from them. How wonderful is this love. How can I, knowing this, do anything else but love him, my Redeemer. I want my boys in the mission fields to feel this same way. I want my children and my grandchildren to feel that way, and never stray from the path of truth and righteousness.”2
Now, I have a great deal of respect for Joseph Fielding Smith and there is a great deal that I agree with him on. It is clear that He loved the Lord and that he strove to do his duties and to be a good man. This is not a personal attack on President Smith but I must say I disagree with his pronouncement that it is not necessary to receive these things. I don't want this thread to turn into a firestorm of a following the prophet debate and Im not bringing attention to this in order to belittle or bash anyone. Im only bringing this up as an example to show in part, why and how we as a people have rejected the fulness. We have forgotten many plain and precious things. We have wrested the scriptures and the important doctrines of the Kingdom. We teach for doctrines the commandments of men. The Lord has told us what is necessary to receive eternal life and exaltation. We must meet His standards. This is why the whole church came under condemnation as the Doctrine and Covenants state. Because we have treated lightly the things we have received. We ALL have. Now, playing a blame game is utterly pointless. Recognizing these things is not about assigning blame to anyone but our individual selves. The condemnation was a collective effort. We have all at times been blinded by that cunning one. Sometimes we are traveling down a path ignorantly but with good intentions. I choose to beleive that this is the case for most. But it is really beneficial when you go back and study history to see how we have evolved as a people. Suddenly you are able to start seeing and understanding why and how we brought this condemnation upon ourselves. Then we can truly awake and arise. I didn't really intend for this thread to necessarily go in this direction but it went here.
Moroni 8:24
24 Behold, my son, this thing ought not to be; for repentance is unto them that are under condemnation and under the curse of a broken law.
Doctrine and Covenants 93:32
32 And every man whose spirit receiveth not the light is under condemnation.
Helaman 14:19
19 Therefore repent ye, repent ye, lest by knowing these things and not doing them ye shall suffer yourselves to come under condemnation, and ye are brought down unto this second death.
The time to gain eternal life is now.54 And your minds in times past have been darkened because of unbelief, and because you have treated lightly the things you have received—
55 Which vanity and unbelief have brought the whole church under condemnation.
56 And this condemnation resteth upon the children of Zion, even all.
57 And they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon and the former commandments which I have given them, not only to say, but to do according to that which I have written—
58 That they may bring forth fruit meet for their Father’s kingdom; otherwise there remaineth a scourge and judgment to be poured out upon the children of Zion.
23 Awake, my sons; put on the armor of righteousness. Shake off the chains with which ye are bound, and come forth out of obscurity, and arise from the dust.
13 O that ye would awake; awake from a deep sleep, yea, even from the sleep of hell, and shake off the awful chains by which ye are bound, which are the chains which bind the children of men, that they are carried away captive down to the eternal gulf of misery and woe.