4/24/2017 - Section 19:4-12

April 24, 2017

Section 19:4-12

Judgment Day, Plan of Salvation, Repentance Made Easy, Free Agency, Rest in the Lord, Eternal Progression, Hell, Lord Trust In, Gospel Simplicity, Prayer

Christ clearly states in v 3 that at the great judgment, every one will be judged “according to his works and the deeds which he hath done.” He says that knowing full well that we all make mistakes, big and small. Thus no one could be judged to have kept all His commandments all the time. But like a generous professor, whose main effort is to have us learn the formulas and be able to work the problems, His main focus is on our learning—thus, there is always (at least in this life) the ‘extra credit’. It is not only easily available, but it is absolutely essential. This is a course we cannot pass without a tutor, and we have the best of tutors: v 4 “And surely every man must repent or suffer…” And so, as a student who wants to learn, and really wants to pass this course so I can go on—I am thrilled to have the option of repentance. And the neatest part of all is that repentance leads not just to understanding, but also to relief, and comfort, and happiness, and to all things put to rights. So my only worry is not that I should repent, but to recognize the things I need to repent of. Sometimes my mistakes are glaring and it’s easy to know that I must get busy on repentance. But sometimes I am oblivious to my mistakes, and that is when I must be close enough to the Holy Ghost to feel, or hear, His promptings, and then I must have the determination and energy and time and courage to act on those promptings. The rewards are simply too great to even think of missing these opportunities.

He describes our feelings of falling short due to our not taking advantage of the gift of repentance in order to forgo ‘endless torment’ and then explains “…wherefore it is more express than other scriptures, that it might work upon the hearts of the children of men….” He is doing everything He can to motivate us to graduate—to ‘enter into my rest’(v 9) without taking away our free agency—for that agency is at the foundation of His plan.

p. 37 Elder James E Talmage in the April 1930 General Conference: “During this hundred years [of Church History] many other great truths not known before, have been declared to the people, and one of the greatest is that to hell there is an exit as well as an entrance. Hell is no place to which a vindictive judge sends prisoners to suffer and to be punished principally for his glory; but it is a place prepared for the teaching, the disciplining of those who failed to learn here upon the earth what they should have learned. True, we read of everlasting punishment, unending suffering, eternal damnation. That is a direful expression; but in his mercy the Lord has made plain what those words mean. ‘Eternal punishment;, he says, is God’s punishment, for he is eternal; and that condition or state or possibility will ever exist for the sinner who deserves and really needs such condemnation; but this does not mean that the individual sufferer or sinner is to be eternally and everlastingly made to endure and suffer. No man will be kept in hell longer than is necessary to bring him to a fitness for something better. When he reaches that stage the prison doors will open and there will be rejoicing among the hosts who welcome him into a better state. The Lord has not abated in the least what he said in earlier dispensations concerning the operation of his law and his gospel, but he has made clear unto us his goodness and mercy through it all, for it is his glory and his work to bring about the immortality and eternal life of man.”

I do not pretend to understand God’s plan to its fullest degree. But I know that He will give us the best He is able to give us. If we learn our earth lessons and follow through on what we have learned while we are here, we will receive His promised reward and glory. If we do not follow through on what we have learned and understood here, then we need remedial training. That will be lovingly provided in a place of heavenly tutoring. But if we failed our course on earth due to our own agency, then while we will certainly have the chance to learn and internalize His truths in the next life BUT we will not be able to receive the ‘degree’ that was our goal in our earthly life. We will be able to live in happiness and glory—“not as gods, but are angels of God forever and ever.” (Bruce McConkie, Mormon Doctrine) That will be a wondrous eternal life, but it will have limitations in that we will never be able to come “back into the full presence and glory of God.” (McConkie) As I have said before, becoming a ministering angel always seemed to me to be the place I would be most suited for—but I have come to realize that Heavenly Father only wants the best for us, the things that will bring us the greatest happiness, and He has stated very clearly that that is in the celestial kingdom. And that is why this is now my goal, for I trust in my Father to know where I will be most happy. He knows me. He knows eternal progression. I trust Him to guide me in this earthly life, and I will trust Him to guide me for my eternal life.

2/25/2021 – D&C 19: 1-16

In v 1 Christ very simply states his role in our world: “I am Alpha and Omega, Christ the Lord; yea, even I am he, the beginning and the end of the world. Christ not only KNOWS the plan, he IS the plan. The whole of our ultimate success centers in how we access, or neglect to access, the atonement.

Joseph Fielding Smith wrote about this section: there is no indication in the History of the Church as to the reason why the revelation was given, and the exact day is unknown when it was given. It was without question a revelation of great comfort to Martin, and it is one of the great revelations given in this dispensation; there are few of greater import than this. The doctrine of the atonement of the Lord, as directly applying to the individual, and his exposition of ‘Eternal Punishment,’ as here set forth, give to the members of the Church light which was not previously known.” (Church History and Modern Revelation, 1:85.)

Christ speaks of the difficulties that will surround us as the earth nears the end of the role it has played in our (as in all of Heavenly Father’s children) earth-life time of education. 

Christ reminds us that he, through the atonement, delivers us when we turn to him in our problems and/or difficult times. And when we do this, we gain a fresh start and a higher vision, and a deeper understanding and peace. He will also deliver our earth from its most difficult time – which the scriptures tell us is yet to come (although it certain feels today that we could be in the beginning of that end). 

Bruce R McConkie wrote of this in Mormon Doctrine: “The end of the world is the end of unrighteousness or of worldliness as we know it, and this will be brought about by ‘the destruction of the wicked’ [JS—M 1:4]. When our world ends and the millennial era begins, there will be a new heaven and a new earth. (Isa. 65:17–25; D. & C. 101:23–24.) Lust, carnality, and sensuousness of every sort will cease, for it will be the end of the world.” 

The purpose of this earth, beyond that of obtaining a body, is for us to learn to follow God’s laws, even when we no longer live in His presence. He gives us the scriptures as a training book for us, a map that clearly shows us the best path for our earthly journal. He describes the gifts we receive from following that path. He also describes the very different life we will have if we don’t follow those commandments, because following the commandments are the way we learn and progress and prosper. But He also, for our sake, gives us a ‘remedial school’—that is hell…that is damnation…that is a time when our progress is stopped because we have not become proficient in the skills that will allow us to go forward in a more difficult, but more exhilarating level.

In a conference talk James E Talmage explained:  Hell is no place to which a vindictive judge sends prisoners to suffer and to be punished principally for his glory; but it is a place prepared for the teaching, the disciplining of those who failed to learn here upon the earth what they should have learned. True, we read of everlasting punishment, unending suffering, eternal damnation. That is a direful expression; but in his mercy the Lord has made plain what those words mean. ‘Eternal punishment,’ he says, is God’s punishment, for he is eternal; and that condition or state or possibility will ever exist for the sinner who deserves and really needs such condemnation; but this does not mean that the individual sufferer or sinner is to be eternally and everlastingly made to endure and suffer. No man will be kept in hell longer than is necessary to bring him to a fitness for something better. When he reaches that stage the prison doors will open and there will be rejoicing among the hosts who welcome him into a better state. The Lord has not abated in the least what he has said in earlier dispensations concerning the operation of his law and his gospel, but he has made clear unto us his goodness and mercy through it all, for it is his glory and his work to bring about the immortality and eternal life of man.” (April 1930)

In v’s 16-19 Christ explains this “hell”. It is a place where we must learn the knowledge and skills that we neglected to live on earth. It is the place where we must learn to not harm others in any way, but to work to lift all of those we come into contact with. It is a place where we finally learn to live on a higher level. Christ is warning us that if we find ourselves in this ‘remedial school’, we will most certainly, finally learn the things we came to earth to learn. But as are working to catch up to where we should be, we finally realize where we could have been…if only we had paid closer attention, if only we had put forth more effort. The punishments of hell involve our realization of what ‘could have been’. Christ knows first hand what we will feel if we don’t succeed in our course of earthly learning. He knows first hand the sorrow and regrets we will feel. “Therefore I command you to repent…how sore you know not, how exquisite you know not, yea, how hard to bear you know not.  For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent.” (v’s 15-16)