The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also referred to as the “Mormon” church) centers on God’s plan for us: The Plan of Salvation. The plan of salvation is truly an amazing thing. It explains many of life’s deep questions such as: where we come from, what we’re doing here on earth, and where we are going.
We started out in the pre-mortal life where we were spirit children of our Heavenly Father. Just like children look up to their parents, we looked up to our Father and wanted to be like Him. God was all-powerful and had a body of flesh and bone. He created a plan for us to gain a body and become gods ourselves. This was called the Plan of Salvation. We were to come down to earth and receive a body. We would also receive agency, or the ability to act of our own free will. Our return to heaven would depend on the choices we made during our earth life. The plan also required a Savior to suffer for all of our sins and satisfy the laws of heaven. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, volunteered saying: “Here am I, send me”. We were all so excited to finally be able to become like our Eternal Father.
Adam and Eve were the first humans and were the first to enter mortality.
However, Lucifer (Satan) decided to go against the plan. He wanted to take away our agency and trials. At first, one may think that no trials would be a good thing. Yet, without any trials, we would never learn and grow like we need to become like our Heavenly Father. Satan was cast out for his rebellion. Sadly, Satan led away 1/3 of the spirit children with him into darkness. Despite such, the plan continued and Heavenly Father sent Adam and Eve to the Garden of Eden to dwell. They lived in a state of innocence and couldn’t have children. Through the fall, they were able to carry out the plan and begin families.
Ever since then, spirits have been coming to earth to be tested and tried. Eventually, we will be judged and put into 3 different kingdoms of glories. From lowest to highest they are: Telestial, Terrestrial, and Celestial. The celestial kingdom is where we become gods and goddesses like our Father in Heaven. We get to live forever in an exalted state with God and our families. In order for the Plan of Salvation to be possible, we needed a Savior. Jesus Christ came down to perform the atonement to make repentance possible. We knew we all would sin to some degree. He took all of our sins upon himself and suffered so we wouldn’t have to. Through repentance, we can become pure and clean so that we can be worthy of celestial glory.
If we follow the commandments that God has given us to the best of our ability, repenting when we fall short, we can make it back to live with Him. When we live with a repentant and contrite heart, we are able to become closer to God. We have the correct mindset to listen to His promptings and keep our lives clean and pure.
The Plan of Salvation is the purpose of life on earth. I am so grateful for the knowledge that I have that we have a Heavenly Father who lives and loves us. He sent His son to die for us so we can live in celestial glory if we repent and devote our lives to improving ourselves and becoming like our Father in Heaven.
By Kristen B.
Additional Resources:
Learn more about what Mormons believe concerning Jesus Christ
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