Choose Ye Today

As used in the scriptures, the word Atonement is defined as “the reconciliation of one’s self to God.” (Bible Dictionary, Atonement ).  The Atonement was the single greatest act in human history, but not only was it an act in history performed by the Savior, it is an act that will exist and extend to all human history, in all different worlds. He was foreordained as the Savior of the world to perform the Atonement to save all mankind. I have chosen to examine His foreordination and His sinless life He led leading up to the Atonement. I hope to share some of my feelings and do this sweet topic justice, as it means so much to me. The Guide to the Scriptures defines foreordination as, “ God’s premortal ordination of his valiant spirit children to fulfill certain missions during their mortal lives.” Christ was foreordained as the Savior of the world in the great council of heaven. In Abraham 3, we learn of the foreordination. The idea of God was that we would each come to earth to b...

I will probably repeat a few concepts that I make in this post on my post about the Atonement, but I believe strongly that the more I write them, the more they become a part of me. The past few weeks, I have truly been struggling. Struggling with the stresses of life, struggling with moving on from my mission, struggling with my health, and frankly, just struggling with just about everything. I am grateful for the opportunity to study the Atonement and remind me of past experiences and important doctrinal points to help me make it through this tough time. When I was serving in Switzerland, we had a primary age girl in the ward who was 11. She thought up questions that were very deep into the gospel, things that I never would have thought out at that age. One day, over Sunday dinner, she asked my companion and I why the Savior had to be Jesus Christ. We mulled over what kind of answer she was looking for and tried several times  to give her an answer, but it was never quite the ...

From the scriptures, we learn that the two biggest events in our modern history are the Atonement and the Fall of Adam. The Atonement comes as a byproduct of the fall. The fall was completely necessary for our progression and ability to be born, to learn and progress, and moreover to be saved. We learn from the scriptures about the circumstances surrounding the fall. Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden and were commanded to not partake of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The byproduct of the breaking of this commandment was that they would die the spiritual death, or be cast out from God’s presence. They broke this commandment after being tempted by Satan, and were indeed cast out from the presence of God, out of the Garden which was left to their care. They became mortal, being subject to physical death, pain, sin, and all the other human emotions that we experience. This is the definition of the common term that we use, The Fall. So how does this affect u...

Essential to our society in today’s world is the attribute of virtue. Virtue is defined in Preach My Gospel as ‘a pattern of thought and behavior based on high moral standards’. It is the adherence to a code of ethics that puts the welfare of others above our own. Virtue is a necessity in the way a country runs, and can be broken down to an individual level. Each of us needs that attribute to contribute to the overall bettering of our neighborhoods, communities, cities, and ultimately, our nation. Observing a person’s behavior is an indication of how virtuous they are. Citizenship is obviously defined as the inhabitant of a country. Therefore, virtuous citizenry can be defined as the responsibility for each citizen to live after high moral standards resulting in an individual contribution of a stronger nation. Government has played a role in virtuous citizenry, but there remains an undefined line left for interpretation. What role should government play in nurturing that virtuous citi...

One of the key principles of the gospel for which I will be forever grateful for, is the principle of repentance. Repentance is the process by which we can be made whole again through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. This is only made possible through the mission that Jesus Christ fulfilled when He came to earth. This is of course relating to the roles that justice and mercy play in our lives. To better understand the magnitude of repentance, we can examine the pre-existence. The gift of life eternal was offered to us through a trial and test of earth life, a period to prove ourselves worthy of the gift that was offered to us. We could choose between 2 plans, one that cunningly led us all to heaven without choosing, the other a difficult, treacherous path where we would have to choose one of 2 ways. We knew that we would make mistakes and that each man must pay the price for his mistakes. But a loving Heavenly Father provided a Savior, to pay for the price of those mistakes, our job bei...