The Second Test: Good or Evil

                Last week we discussed the first test on our path to being like God.  Failure in this test resulted in the loss of further progression.  Success allowed us to progress to the second test.  The second test has similar consequences as the first test.  If we fail we lose the ability to progress further.  If we succeed we achieve the right to progress to a state like God. 
 

                With such large consequences, we need to know what our test entails.  Some may consider it a test of religion.  In fact many in the world believe that is what The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches.  It isn’t.  We believe the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ is contained in our church and no other.  Additionally we believe all will ultimately need to partake of the saving ordinances we have in our church in order to obtain celestial glory and dwell with God, and be like Him.  And we believe it is ultimately best if these ordinances are partaken of here in this life.  This is because getting these ordinances and then living according to the covenants we make along with them increases our ability to receive guidance from our Heavenly Father.  This guidance helps us choose the life we need to live for success.

But we believe there are many good and righteous people in the world who are not members of our religion.  These people will have the opportunity to partake of these saving ordinances even if they don’t receive them in the mortal life.  At the same time we recognize that being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints doesn’t necessarily mean you follow the teachings of the Savior.  Nor does it guarantee that you will choose righteousness.  Many members of our faith will find they did not pass the second test and earn the right to be like God even though they received the saving ordinances we talked about above. 

So the second test isn’t about what religion you choose to live.  It is true that your choice will have an impact.  Choosing a good religion that teaches you wholesome values greatly increases your ability to live the life that will lead to your success, as long as you actually live the religion you choose. 

But the test is ultimately designed to determine our inclination for good or evil over time.    Good is that which obeys the eternal laws of nature by which the universe operates.  Evil is defiance of these laws.  So the test involves opportunities to choose between violating these laws or living according to them. 

But where do we get these opportunities?  The answer lies with Lucifer and those that followed him.  When those who failed the first test rejected the plan of Heavenly Father, they decided to defy Him and were cast out of His presence.  They were sent to earth so they could tempt those who would come as mortal beings in the second test.  These temptations were the opportunities to choose good or evil. 

But these temptations had to actually be enticing to work.  If the opportunities we were given didn’t appear worth it, none would truly be tempted, so they wouldn’t be truly tested.  So Lucifer and his host were given the ability to make that which is evil actually look pleasing or good.  At the same time a veil was placed over the mortal life so our knowledge of the outcome of life wouldn’t prevent a true test.

The last part to a true test is knowledge of the laws we need to live by in order to succeed.  So we are given revelations to present us with this knowledge.  In addition, God sent Jesus Christ to earth in part to teach us what we are supposed to choose and to show us how to do it.  He did this throughout His mortal ministry, which is contained in the Gospels of Luke, Mark, Matthew, and John.  These books are contained in the New Testament.

So we have knowledge of what we are supposed to do, and why, through the example and life of Jesus Christ and through revelation.  Yet we have opportunities and enticements to do evil presented through Lucifer and his followers.  These make up the test designed to determine our inclination for good or evil. 

So why is the test so long?  As we choose one or the other, our inclination for that side grows while the other diminishes.  So we are given many tests, with most of them repeating.  This allows us the opportunity to correct past mistakes and grow to be choosers of good in spite of past bad decisions.  This makes it so the test doesn’t hinge on one event, but on what we actually choose to make of ourselves through time. 

In other words, if you have been following the wrong path, it isn’t too late.  Correct your course and follow the path laid out by the Savior Jesus Christ and by revelation given in the scriptures.  It will be hard.  But it can be done. 

The answer to success in choosing to live a good life, no matter which course you are on currently, lies with faith in the Savior Jesus Christ.  Exercise faith in Him throughout your life and you will live the life you need to in order to pass the second test.  You will earn the right to be like God.

The First Test: A Test of Faith

                Last time we concluded by asking why a perfect god would use imperfect energies to create beings.  When we consider the nature of God it actually makes sense.  God is a loving being.  How do we know this?  Well, consider yourself.  As you grow and try to eliminate your weaknesses, you typically become a better person.  Along the way you find your capacity to love others grows.  You tend to be more charitable and kind to those around you the better you become.  So if we take that to the point of perfection, wouldn’t our capacity to love be immense?  The answer is yes.  It would be.  God is perfect.  So God would have an immense capacity to love.  Since compassion typically follows love, God would also be a compassionate being. 
 

Now imagine how you are with children.  When you see children, you see little beings with the potential to be like you.  However, they are more fragile than you and they lack the amount of understanding that you possess.  Being filled with compassion, you desire to help them grow and become more like you, meaning capable of reaching their potential.  Yet you aren’t perfect like God and your compassion and love is far from being as great as His.  So wouldn’t it stand to reason that a loving and compassionate God would want to help those who could be like Him to actually become like Him?  Of course it would.

Such was actually the case.  God looked upon the imperfect intelligences and saw their potential.  Being filled with love and compassion, He decided to help these imperfect beings become like Him—capable of choice and action.  So He formed these intelligences into spirit bodies.  This made Him the literal father of our spirits.  This is part of the reason many in the world, including members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, recognize Him as our Heavenly Father.

God is perfect, though.  So He would have a perfect understanding of all things and He would be perfect in strategy.  This means He would recognize the potential downfall of helping these imperfect energies become like Him.  That downfall is that imperfect energies won’t necessarily follow the perfect laws of the universe, meaning they could and would make bad decisions.  These decisions could lead these imperfect beings to the point of trying to overthrow God and the laws of the universe in the search for more power.

Recognizing this God developed a plan for the growth of these beings from a state of imperfection to a state of perfection.  This plan included granting these beings a little bit of power to choose and act and testing how they handled this power.  Those that chose wisely would be given greater power while those that chose poorly would not receive greater power.  As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we recognize four stages of this growth process:  obtaining the spirit body, obtaining the mortal physical body, the temporary separation of the spirit and physical bodies, and the perfected being.

We’ve already discussed how we obtained our spirit body.  This gave us a limited capacity to choose and act.  After forming us into our spirit bodies, God presented to us the outline of His plan.  This plan included entering a mortal state of being to suffer pain, affliction, and temptation in order to prove whether we would choose good or evil, the perfect or the imperfect.  This plan would require an example from among us to show us the way we should live.  The person who served as an example would also have to sacrifice themselves in order to provide the means for returning from a state of imperfection to a state of perfection.  This sacrifice would include living a perfect life without any mistake and ultimately giving over life for death in order to break the bonds of death.

Upon hearing the plan, Jehovah (who is known as Jesus Christ) stepped forward and offered Himself as that sacrifice in accordance to the plan presented by God.  Another, Lucifer, stepped forward and offered Himself, but with a different plan.  His plan was for us all to come to mortality and be forced to live perfectly.  This way none would choose poorly and lose the chance for a life like Heavenly Father.  The problem was none would prove themselves capable of living that life either.

This brought us to our first test:  would we have faith in ourselves and in Jehovah, choosing the plan presented by Heavenly Father, or would we give into fear and doubt and choose the plan of Lucifer?  Make no mistake about the magnitude of this test.  It would have been very difficult.  But it was necessary to demonstrate who would choose the hard path in the face of difficulty.  And the consequences were dire.  Those who failed this first test would not gain progression to the greater capacity for choice and action granted by the physical body. 

The books members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recognize as scripture demonstrate that a large number of the spirit bodies in heaven lacked faith in themselves, Jehovah, or both.  Roughly one third chose Lucifer’s plan.  They were sent to earth without physical bodies so they could try and tempt those who came in physical bodies.  Thus they became a means for our second test.  In addition they would receive no further growth and progression, having failed the first test.

The rest of the spirit bodies chose to have faith in themselves and in Jehovah in the face of uncertainty and difficulty.  Thus they passed the first test.  Any man, woman, or child born into this world was among those who passed the first test and earned the promise of the greater capacity for choice and action granted by the physical body.  So congratulations and a job well done!  You succeeded at least once in your existence!  You practiced faith in yourself and in Jehovah!  And here you are in your second test, which we will discuss in more detail next time.

Matter and Energy

                Last time we concluded by asking how Adam and Eve were capable of choosing imperfection when they were created perfectly.  To answer this we’re going to discuss a little bit about the laws of the universe.  A perfect god would live by these laws in order to maintain order.

                The law we need to discuss deals with matter and energy.  Both of these always exist.  They cannot be formed nor destroyed.  They can change form, but they cannot come into being or cease to be. 

                So when God created Adam and Eve, He took existing matter and reformed it into their physical bodies.  These bodies were incapable of action, however, until He gave them the energy of life.  The energies God used were spirit bodies He had previously formed.  Together the spirit and physical bodies formed the living soul capable of choice and action.

But where did the energies for the spirit bodies come from in order for God to create them?  Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe they came from intelligences.  These intelligences always existed and carried an individual will.  A friend of mine and I have discussed the possibility these intelligences were a form of light, which is endlessly bountiful.  But that is mere speculation on our part.

These intelligences were not created by God, nor were they perfect.  Since they were energies that could not be created or destroyed, they already existed.  So the ability for Adam and Eve to choose imperfection lay within the essence of their spirit bodies, the intelligences.  Their individual will, which they always had, coupled with this will’s imperfection allowed these intelligences to choose either perfection or imperfection.  This also allowed for a choice of either good or bad.  This allowed God to create perfect creations and still allow for the agency of choice without violating the laws of the universe.

Unfortunately these intelligences had individual will to act and choose but lacked the capacity to do so.  Forming them into spirit bodies gave them a limited amount of the needed capacity.  The physical body increased this ability further.

So why would a perfect god use imperfect energies to create beings?  What was the purpose?  This will be the subject of the next discussion.

A Perfect God

In the last post we discussed faith in Jesus Christ. I want to continue that discussion. However, I’ve realized over the course of the past week that we need more of a foundation before I can continue as desired. So today I will discuss a perfect God.

Throughout the history of the world, many have believed in imperfect gods while others have believed in perfect gods. Yet God can’t be both perfect and imperfect. So which is it? Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recognize God as a perfect being.

To support our belief, I turn to the various forms of evidence provided by the world in which we live. Take, for example, the life of a flower. Each flower is perfectly suited for the demands of the environment in which it lives. It builds a perfect symbiosis with its surroundings, taking nourishment from what is provided. At the same time, it provides food for other living organisms around it. Trees do the same in the environments where they can be found. Insects, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and even humans all have this relationship with the environments in which they live.

The environments are also so diverse, yet perfect. We have tundra or deserts on our planet. Forests or jungles can be found. Mountains or islands dot the earth. There are so many different sorts of terrain to meet the needs of the diverse organisms of our world.

In addition the atmosphere and the makeup of the earth provide evidence of perfection. Our atmosphere is perfect for life, containing just the right level of substances to keep the earth warm with breathable air. At the same time this same set of substances is designed to burn up harmful objects, such as meteors, before they can do much damage to our way of life. Trees and vegetation convert carbon dioxide to oxygen while animal life and humans convert oxygen to carbon dioxide. Gravity keeps the world in working order. We are in the perfect location relative to the sun for life to exist. Indeed the earth is built to keep the life-supporting environment in and the harmful substances out.

An imperfect being couldn’t have created a world so perfectly organized and structured. However, a perfect being couldn’t create imperfection either. How, then, do we account for the many imperfections found within the world? If God is perfect, how could this God create imperfection in our world?

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we don’t believe imperfection was created by God. Instead we recognize imperfection as a result of the fall of Adam. God created the heavens, the earth, and everything found therein. This includes Adam and Eve, whom He placed in the Garden of Eden. Now all that was in the world was created by a perfect God and was therefore perfect.

God then instructed Adam and Eve to multiply and replenish the earth. He also told them they should not eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil or they would surely die.

Many may wonder how a perfect god could give two conflicting commandments, setting the first man and woman up for failure. I don’t believe He did. I think it would have been more like this: “You are to multiply and fill the earth. But you must know the laws of the world you live in. These laws specify that you cannot eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge between Good and Evil. If you do this world will lose its perfect state and all that is in it will become subject to imperfection and death. You will surely die.”

In other words I believe the second instruction was merely instruction to provide Adam and Eve with the knowledge of the consequences of their choice. In order to obey God, they would need to partake of the fruit, but partaking of the fruit carried consequences that God wanted Adam and Eve to be aware of. In this way Adam and Eve could transgress the laws of the perfect world they were in with knowledge of what it would mean to them. They would not be sinning against the commandments of God. They would be transgressing (violating) against the laws of their world, causing that world to leave its perfect state and enter an imperfect state with death, pain, and other imperfections.

Thus I believe Adam and Eve had knowledge of what would become of them for partaking of the fruit, but chose to do so anyway in order to obey the commandment of God. Thus it was a righteous choice, though it brought about their fall. And in this way God was able to provide a way for us to enter an imperfect state without creating imperfection Himself.

So why would a perfect god punish them for a righteous choice?  Again I don’t believe God did.  Adam and Eve had to suffer the consequences of their choice.  This is why they were expelled from the Garden of Eden and had to suffer the pains of the world.  This was according to the perfect plan of God.

However, this leaves room for a question. The bodies created for Adam and Eve were perfect weren’t they? How, then, could they choose imperfection if they themselves were perfect? This will be the subject of the next post.

Faith in Jesus Christ Part 1

In the first few posts we've been laying the foundation for faith.  This week I want to continue this line of discussion.  We began by discussing the validity of faith as a concept.  Then we looked at faith in God.  If any reader wishes to revisit these, just submit a post and I'll see what we can do.

For now, however, I want to turn to my favorite subject: faith in the Savior Jesus Christ.  I spend a lot of time thinking about this particular subject.  I find it such a precious topic because faith is really worthless if not founded in the Savior.  It was difficult to figure out where to begin, however, until I asked for a little guidance from God.  Fortunately, He responds to requests made in faith, and I received some guidance. 

The story of Jesus Christ is retold many times in history, though often with variations from the truth.  Some of these variations include Greek and Roman heroes such as Bellerophon (the son of Poseidon who captured Pegasus and slew the Chimera), Hercules (the son of Zeus who is considered one of the greatest heroes of mythology for the numerous great deeds he did since birth), and Perseus (the son of Zeus who slew Medusa and saved Andromeda from the sea monster).  Each of these heroes has a godly father but is born by a mortal woman.  Each is also responsible for miraculous events.

Jesus Christ actually was the literal son of God born by a mortal woman, Mary, though no infidelity like those found in mythology was involved.  In addition He was responsible for a multitude of miraculous events throughout His life.  However, the miracles Christ performed were for the benefit of others, not He.  In addition Christ originally came to earth to teach, heal, and guide the world, not defeat the enemies of good as most of mythological heroes do.  This second purpose is saved for His Second Coming. 

Now, if you’re like me, you’re thinking the amount of times a story is retold doesn’t make it true.  I agree, but the world has more to support the validity of the life of Jesus Christ than variations of His story.  We actually have the story of the life of Christ.  This story is contained in the New Testament.

In this wonderful collection of books, Mary gives birth to the Son of God, who is Jesus Christ.  He grows up and proceeds to perform His miracles.  After demonstrating to the world the true path of happiness—that of service—Jesus suffers the pains of the world in Gethsemane and gives up His life on Calvary.  His body is then laid in a tomb until He takes it up again a few days later, breaking the bands of death.  The New Testament then gives a brief history of his apostles after Christ appears to them as a resurrected being.

The New Testament often comes with its supporting text, the Old Testament.  Together they are often referred to as the Bible.  The Old Testament provides the history of God’s dealings with man.  The members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recognize the God of this collection of books as Jehovah before He came to earth as the son of Mary.  Within its pages are also found promises of the coming of the Messiah, who is Christ. 

Interestingly, The Pearl of Great Price and The Dead Sea Scrolls provide support for the Old Testament.  Many of the ancient documents found by the Dead Sea contain the stories of the Old Testament.  These documents are not recognized as canonized scripture, but their support of the Old Testament also serves as evidence for the validity of the story of Jesus Christ. 

The Pearl of Great Price provides two additional testaments of the creation of the world as performed by Jehovah.  In addition it provides the story of the appearance of Christ to Joseph Smith in the early 1800s.  Another testament from modern times is The Doctrine and Covenants.  This book provides revelations from God to our time.  Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints accept these priceless collections as scripture. 

The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ does exactly what its subtitle states.  It provides additional evidence of Jesus Christ.  This wonderful collection of books finds the majority of its setting in the American continents.  This is significant because it provides evidence of Christ’s story from a separate location.  The stories in The Book of Mormon span approximately 1,000 years:  600 before the coming of Christ in the flesh, and 400 after.  One of its books, titled 3 Nephi, contains the history of Christ’s visit to the people of America shortly after His resurrection.

Something that sets The Book of Mormon apart from the other books we’ve mentioned so far is the ease with which readers can understand the stories.  Though still written in an ancient language, the text is written more plainly.  This makes it easier to follow and understand.  In addition, The Book of Mormon focuses directly on Christ.  More than half of its verses testify of Jesus Christ in some manner.  Thus it is an important resource in testifying of Christ.  Can it replace the Old and New Testaments?  Certainly not.  If all you turn to is The Book of Mormon you are mistakenly losing the precious testaments of Christ found in the books of the Bible.  But those who truly love Christ will find The Book of Mormon a wonderful addition to the Bible because of its testament of the Savior of us all.

These books, along with many others in the world, testify of the life of Christ and serve to promise we are justified in having faith in Him.  Unfortunately, I’ve already taken up to much space and need to leave this line of the discussion at this point.  Next time I plan to revisit faith in the Savior Jesus Christ, though from a different perspective. 

So let me close this blog with my testimony of the truth of the stories of the life of Christ.  I’ve had the privilege of receiving a personal witness that Christ did condescend to earth as the son of Mary.  I have no doubt but that He walked on this earth performing miracles.  I know He truly gave Himself as an offering for the pains of this world, whatever their form.  I know He died and was resurrected.  These stories are true.  Of this I stand as a witness.