Reading Assignment: The Purpose of Mortality

[Pages:4]Reading Assignment:

The Purpose of Mortality

____________________

Introduction: The Council Regarding Mortality

After an aeon of growth and development in the premortal spirit world, it was time to progress to a second estate of existence. President Spencer W. Kimball (1895-1985) viewed the council in these terms:

When we were spiritual beings, fully organized and able to think and study and understand with him, our Heavenly Father said to us, in effect: "Now, my beloved children, in your spirit state you have progressed about as far as you can. To continue your development, you need physical bodies. I intend to provide a plan whereby you may continue your growth. As you know, one can grow only by overcoming."

"Now," said the Lord, "we shall take of the elements at hand and organize them into an earth, place thereon vegetation and animal life, and permit you to go down upon it. This will be your proving ground. We shall give you a rich earth, lavishly furnished for your benefit and enjoyment, and we shall see if you will prove true and do the things that are asked of you. I will enter into a contract with you. If you will agree to exercise control over your desires and continue to grow toward perfection and godhood by the plan which I shall provide, I will give to you a physical body of flesh and bones and a rich and productive earth, with sun, water, forests, metals, soils, and all other things necessary to feed and clothe and house you and give to you every enjoyment that is proper and for your good. In addition to this, I will make it possible for you to eventually return to me as you improve your life, overcoming obstacles and approaching perfection."

To the above most generous offer, we as sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father responded with gratitude. We took our turns and came to earth, as bodies were prepared by our earthly parents. We are now on trial--on the proving ground. This, also, is an absolute truth. It cannot be disproved. It is an incontrovertible fact. If one can accept these unassailable truths, then he is ready to start his experimentation and his laboratory work. ("Absolute Truth," Ensign, Sept. 1978, p. 5)

The following reading assignment briefly discusses the various purposes that have been revealed about the purposes of our mortal existence. These teachings explain that there are five main purposes: four that can relate to each person individually and one the is completed by the combination of those who desire exaltation in the celestial kingdom. What are these five purposes?

I. W e Do Not Presently Fully Understand All the Purposes of the Second Estate-Mortality.

D&C 101:32-33

Yea, verily I say unto you, in that day when the Lord shall come [the millennium], he shall reveal all things?Things which have passed, and hidden things which no man knew, things of the earth, by which it was made, and the purpose

and the end thereof. (Emphasis added)

George Q. Cannon (1827-1901) First Presidency

God has placed us here upon the earth to accomplish important purposes. These purposes have been in part revealed unto us. Probably it is not possible for men and women in this mortal state of existence to comprehend all the designs of God connected with man's existence upon the earth; but much has been revealed upon this subject to us as a people (Gospel Truth, 2 Vols. [1957], 1:11).

II. Four General Purposes of Mortality

President Ezra Taft Benson (1899-1994) spoke of four main reasons for the mortal existence.

Life has a fourfold purpose. First of all, we come to this mortal life to receive a physical, mortal body. Without a physical body man is limited in his progression and only with a spirit and a body united together permanently can man receive a fulness of joy; so we are living today part of eternity.

Second, we came here to gain experience?experience with a physical, mortal world.

The third purpose of life is to give us an opportunity to prove ourselves (Abraham 3:25). To prove that even in the presence of evil and sin we can live a good life. To prove that in spite of temptation that we have the strength and the character to adhere to the principles of the gospel.

And fourth, this life is intended to provide an opportunity to help our Father in Heaven with His great plan, and we do that through honorable parenthood. We cooperate with our Heavenly Father in helping to prepare tabernacles to house spirits of His children. So the matter of marriage, the home, and the family is a vital part of the plan of our Heavenly Father. The whole purpose of the Church is to help and assist us in carrying out these purposes in life. (The

Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson [1988], pp. 27-28)

The following are teachings regarding each of the four general purposes of mortality.

A. To Gain a Physical, Mortal Body

1. Read through the following teachings and answer the question, What are some of the important purposes of the physical body?

Boyd K. Packer (1924-2015) Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

? Our physical body is the instrument of our spirit. (Ensign,

Nov. 1989, p. 14)

? You are a dual being, a spirit clothed in a mortal body. Your body is the instrument of your mind and the foundation of your character. Your spirit operates through your mind, but cultivating your intellect is not enough. Reason alone will neither protect nor redeem you. Reason nourished by faith can do both. (Ensign, May

1989, p. 54)

? Through life in a mortal body you can learn to control

1

matter, and that will be very important to you through all eternity. Pretend . . .that my hand represents your spirit. It is alive. It can move by itself. Suppose that this glove represents your mortal body. It cannot move. When the spirit enters into your mortal body, then it can move and act and live. Now you are a person--a spirit with a body, living on the earth. (Ensign, July 1973, pp. 51)

David A. Bednar Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Our physical bodies make possible a breadth, a depth, and an intensity of experience that simply could not be obtained in our premortal existence. Thus, our relationships with other people, our capacity to recognize and act in accordance with truth, and our ability to obey the principles and ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ are amplified through our physical bodies. In the school of mortality, we experience tenderness, love, kindness, happiness, sorrow, disappointment, pain, and even the challenges of physical limitations in ways that prepare us for eternity. Simply stated, there are lessons we must learn and experiences we must have, as the scriptures describe, "according to the flesh" (1 Nephi 19:6; Alma 7:12?13). (Ensign, May 2013)

2. Read through the following teachings and answer the question: What is an important aspect of the physical body that is essential to the plan of happiness?

Boyd K. Packer (1924-2015) Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Under the accepted plan, Adam and Eve were sent to the earth as our first parents. They could prepare physical bodies for the first spirits to be introduced into this life.

There was provided in our bodies--and this is sacred--a power of creation, a light, so to speak, that has the power to kindle other lights. This gift was to be used only within the sacred bonds of marriage. Through the exercise of this power of creation, a mortal body may be conceived, a spirit enter into it, and a new soul born into this life.

This power is good. It can create and sustain family life, and it is in family life that we find the fountains of happiness. It is given to virtually every individual who is born into mortality. It is a sacred and significant power, and I repeat, my young friends, that this power is good. . . .

The power of creation--or may we say procreation--is not just an incidental part of the plan: it is essential to it. Without it the plan could not proceed. The misuse of it may disrupt the plan. (Ensign, July 1972, p. 111)

B. To Gain Experience With a Physical Mortal, World of Good and Evil

Read through the following teachings and answer the question: What is one reason why good people suffer bad things?

D&C 29:39

[Speaking of the purpose of the Fall] For if they never should have bitter they could not know the sweet. (emphasis added)

Howard W. Hunter (1907-1995) President

To learn the difference between good and evil is one of the great purposes for man to have mortal life.

(Conference Report, Oct. 1969, p.112)

James E. Talmage (1862-1933) Quorum of the Twelve

Apostles

A knowledge of good and evil is essential to the advancement that God has made possible for His children to achieve; and this knowledge can be best gained by actual experience, with the contrasts of good and its opposite plainly discernible. (A Study of

the Articles of Faith [1958], pp. 53-54)

Brigham Young (1801-77) President

Facts are made apparent to the human mind by their opposites. We find ourselves surrounded in this mortality by an almost endless combination of opposites, through which we must pass to gain experience and information to fit us for an eternal progression. (Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [1854-86],

11:42-43; emphasis added)

C. To Prove Ourselves

Read through the following quotes and then answer the following questions: How do we prove ourselves while in mortality? Why is mortality so important in proving that?

Henry B Eyring First Presidency

God's purpose in creation was to let us prove ourselves. The plan was explained to us in the spirit world before we were born. We were valiant enough there to qualify for the opportunity to choose against temptation here to prepare for eternal life, the greatest of all the gifts of God. We rejoiced to know the test would be one of faithful obedience even when it would not be easy: "And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them." (Abr. 3:24)

Hard as we knew the test would be, we felt joy because we had confidence that we could pass it. Our confidence came from knowing that Jesus Christ would come into the world as our Savior. He would overcome death. He would make it possible for us to be cleansed of our sins by qualifying for the effects of His Atonement. (Ensign,

May 2007)

Ezra Taft Benson (1899-1994) President

The great test of life is obedience to God. `We will prove them herewith,' said the Lord, `to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them' Abraham 3:25). The great task of life is to learn the will of the Lord and then do it. The great commandment of life is to love the Lord. (Ensign, May

1988, p. 4; also Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Ezra Taft Benson [2014], p. 38; emphasis added)

Brigham Young (1804-77) President

This is a world in which we are to prove ourselves. The lifetime of man is a day of trial, wherein we may prove to God, in our darkness, in our weakness, and where the enemy reigns, that we are our Father's friends. (Teachings

of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young [1997], p. 85)

D. To Marry and Raise a Righteous Posterity

We, the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a

2

woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children" (Ensign, Nov. 1995, p. 102 ).

Read through the following quotes then answer: Why is the family central to Heavenly Father's plan? What can we learn as well as prove to God through the process of marriage and parenthood?

The First Presidency Oct 1942 ? Parenthood

Amongst His earliest commands to Adam and Eve, the Lord said: "Multiply and replenish the earth." He has repeated that command in our day. He has again revealed in this, the last dispensation, the principle of the eternity of the marriage covenant. ...

The Lord has told us that it is the duty of every husband and wife to obey the command given to Adam to multiply and replenish the earth, so that the legions of choice spirits waiting for their tabernacles of flesh may come here and move forward under God's great design to become perfect souls, for without these fleshly tabernacles they cannot progress to their God-planned destiny. Thus, every husband and wife should become a father and mother in Israel to children born under the holy, eternal covenant.

By bringing these choice spirits to earth, each father and each mother assume towards the tabernacled spirit and towards the Lord Himself by having taken advantage of the opportunity He offered, an obligation of the most sacred kind, because the fate of that spirit in the eternities to come, the blessings or punishments which shall await it in the hereafter, depend, in great part, upon the care, the teachings, the training which the parents shall give to that spirit.

No parent can escape that obligation and that responsibility, and for the proper meeting thereof, the Lord will hold us to a strict accountability. No loftier duty than this can be assumed by mortals. (Conference Report, October 1942, p.12-13; see also

Boyd K. Packer, Ensign, Nov. 1993,,p. 21)

D. Todd Christofferson Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

In what way does marriage between a man and a woman transcend their love for one another and their own happiness to become "a post of responsibility towards the world and mankind"? In what sense does it come "from above, from God"? To understand, we have to go back to the beginning.

Prophets have revealed that we first existed as intelligences and that we were given form, or spirit bodies, by God, thus becoming His spirit children--sons and daughters of heavenly parents. There came a time in this premortal existence of spirits when, in furtherance of His desire that we "could have a privilege to advance like himself,"our Heavenly Father prepared an enabling plan. In the scriptures it is given various names, including "the plan of salvation," "the great plan of happiness," and "the plan of redemption." The two principal purposes of the plan were explained to Abraham in these words:

And there stood one among them that was like unto God, and he said unto those who were with him: We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these [spirits] may dwell;

And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them;

And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; ... and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever. (Abr. 3:24-26)

Thanks to our Heavenly Father, we had already become spirit beings. Now He was offering us a path to complete or perfect that being. The addition of the physical element is essential to the fulness of being and glory that God Himself enjoys. If, while with God in the premortal spirit world, we would agree to participate in His plan--or in other words "keep [our] first estate"--we would "be added upon" with a physical body as we came to dwell on the earth that He created for us.

If, then in the course of our mortal experience, we chose to "do all things whatsoever the Lord [our] God [should] command [us]," we would have kept our "second estate." This means that by our choices we would demonstrate to God (and to ourselves) our commitment and capacity to live His celestial law while outside His presence and in a physical body with all its powers, appetites, and passions. Could we bridle the flesh so that it became the instrument rather than the master of the spirit? Could we be trusted both in time and eternity with godly powers, including power to create life? Would we individually overcome evil? Those who did would "have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever"--a very significant aspect of that glory being a resurrected, immortal, and glorified physical body. No wonder we "shouted for joy" at these magnificent possibilities and promises (Job 38:7). ...

It is He who in the beginning created Adam and Eve in His image, male and female, and joined them as husband and wife to become "one flesh" and to multiply and replenish the earth.21 Each individual carries the divine image, but it is in the matrimonial union of male and female as one that we attain perhaps the most complete meaning of our having been made in the image of God--male and female. Neither we nor any other mortal can alter this divine order of matrimony. It is not a human invention. Such marriage is indeed "from above, from God" and is as much a part of the plan of happiness as the Fall and the Atonement.

In the premortal world, Lucifer rebelled against God and His plan, and his opposition only grows in intensity. He fights to discourage marriage and the formation of families, and where marriages and families are formed, he does what he can to disrupt them. He attacks everything that is sacred about human sexuality, tearing it from the context of marriage with a seemingly infinite array of immoral thoughts and acts. He seeks to convince men and women that marriage and family priorities can be ignored or abandoned, or at least made subservient to careers, other achievements, and the quest for self-fulfillment and individual autonomy. Certainly the adversary is pleased when parents neglect to teach and train their children to have faith in Christ and be spiritually born again. Brothers and sisters, many things are good, many are important, but only a few are essential. (Ensign, May 2015, p. 50-53)

One of the great tests of mortality is that marriage and having children doesn't happen for some. What council

3

do the following statements give to those in these circumstances:

Boyd K. Packer (1924-2015) Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

When we speak of marriage, family life, there inevitably comes to mind, "What about the exceptions? There are always exceptions!" Some are born with limitations and cannot beget children. Some innocent ones have their marriage wrecked because of the infidelity of their spouses. Others do not marry and live lives of single worthiness, while at once the wayward and the wicked seem to enjoy it all.

For now, I offer this comfort: God is our Father! All the love and generosity manifest in the ideal earthly father is magnified, beyond the capacity of mortal mind to comprehend, in Him who is our Father and our God. His judgments are just, His mercy without limit, His power to compensate beyond any earthly comparison.

Remember that mortal life is a brief moment, for we will live eternally. There will be ample?I almost used the word time, but time does not apply here?there will be ample opportunity for all injustices, all inequities to be made right, all loneliness and deprivation compensated, and all worthiness rewarded when we keep the faith. (Mine Errand from the Lord [2008], p. 265)

Dallin H. Oaks Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

? Some who are listening to this message are probably saying, "But what about me?" We know that many worthy and wonderful Latter-day Saints currently lack the ideal opportunities and essential requirements for their progress. Singleness, childlessness, death, and divorce frustrate ideals and postpone the fulfillment of promised blessings. In addition, some women who desire to be full-time mothers and homemakers have been literally compelled to enter the full-time work force. But these frustrations are only temporary. The Lord has promised that in the eternities no blessing will be denied his sons and daughters who keep the commandments, are true to their covenants, and desire what is right.

Brigham Young (1801-77) President

The purpose of our life should be to build the Zion of our God, to gather the House of Israel, bring in the fulness of the Gentiles, restore and bless the earth with our ability and make it as the Garden of Eden, store up treasures of knowledge and wisdom in our own understandings, purify our own hearts and prepare a people to meet the Lord when he comes. (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young

[1997], p. 111)

Joseph Smith (1805-44) President

We ought to have the building up of Zion as our greatest object. (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith

[2007], p. 186)

Many of the most important deprivations of mortality will be set right in the Millennium, which is the time for fulfilling all that is incomplete in the great plan of happiness for all of our Father's worthy children. We know that will be true of temple ordinances. I believe it will also be true of family relationships and experiences. ("The Great Plan of Happiness," Ensign, Nov.

1993, p. 75)

? Another idea that is powerful to lift us from discouragement is that the work of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "to bring to pass the ... eternal life of man" (Moses 1:39), is an eternal work. Not all problems are overcome and not all needed relationships are fixed in mortality. The work of salvation goes on beyond the veil of death, and we should not be too apprehensive about incompleteness within the limits of mortality. ("Powerful Ideas," Ensign, Nov. 1995, p. 26)

III. There is an additional purpose of mortality that is extremely important to Heavenly Father's eternal goal: The Building of Zion.

A. Recall that a description of those who have obtained the celestial kingdom is given D&C 76:50-70. Read through verses 66-67. What did they achieve as a people? Who did they become like?

4

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download