What is another reason for us to need this life? Man had
become, by nature, a carnal being. “For
sin, taking [GR having taken opportunity] occasion by the commandment, deceived
me, and by it slew me. Wherefore the
law is holy, and the commandment
holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid [GR May it not be!]. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death
in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding
sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold [GR
devoted to, a slave to] under sin” (Romans 7:11-14).
“I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto
ye were not able to bear it, neither
yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not
carnal, and walk as men” (1 Corinthians 3:2-3).
“For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace” (Romans 8:6).
“But remember that he that persists in his own carnal
nature, and goes on in the ways of sin and rebellion against God, remaineth in
his fallen state and the devil hath all power over him. Therefore, he is as though there was no
redemption made, being an enemy to God; and also is the devil an enemy to God”
(Mosiah 16:5).
“For although a man may have many arevelations, and have power to do many mighty works,
yet if he boasts in his own strength, and sets at naught the counsels of God,
and follows after the dictates of his own will and carnal desires, he must fall
and incur the vengeance of a just God upon him” (D&C 3:4).
What is another reason for us to need this life? Man had
become, by nature, a carnal being. “For
sin, taking [GR having taken opportunity] occasion by the commandment, deceived
me, and by it slew me. Wherefore the
law is holy, and the commandment
holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid [GR May it not be!]. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death
in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding
sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold [GR
devoted to, a slave to] under sin” (Romans 7:11-14).
“I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto
ye were not able to bear it, neither
yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not
carnal, and walk as men” (1 Corinthians 3:2-3).
“For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace” (Romans 8:6).
“But remember that he that persists in his own carnal
nature, and goes on in the ways of sin and rebellion against God, remaineth in
his fallen state and the devil hath all power over him. Therefore, he is as though there was no
redemption made, being an enemy to God; and also is the devil an enemy to God”
(Mosiah 16:5).
“For although a man may have many arevelations, and have power to do many mighty works,
yet if he boasts in his own strength, and sets at naught the counsels of God,
and follows after the dictates of his own will and carnal desires, he must fall
and incur the vengeance of a just God upon him” (D&C 3:4).
He had also developed a sensual and devilish nature. “For all have sinned, and come short of the
glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned [GR examined, tried, judged]” (1 Corinthians 2:14).
“But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him
that was born after the Spirit, even
so it is now” (Galatians 4:29).
“For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from
the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the
enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a
saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child,
submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things
which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to
his father” (Mosiah 3:19).
Without the plan of salvation, after death we would be
miserable, cut off from the presence of the Lord. “Wherefore, it must needs be an infinite
atonement—save it should be an infinite atonement this corruption could not put
on incorruption. Wherefore, the first
judgment which came upon man must needs have remained to an endless
duration. And if so, this flesh must
have laid down to rot and to crumble to its mother earth, to rise no more. O
the wisdom of God, his mercy and grace!
For behold, if the flesh should rise no more our spirits must become
subject to that angel who fell from before the presence of the Eternal God, and
became the devil, to rise no more. And our spirits must have become like unto
him, and we become devils, angels to a devil, to be shut out from the presence
of our God, and to remain with the father of lies, in misery, like unto himself;
yea, to that being who beguiled our first parents, who transformeth himself
nigh unto an angel of light, and stirreth up the children of men unto secret
combinations of murder and all manner of secret works of darkness” (2 Nephi
9:7-9).
No plan of salvation means there would be no way for us to
return to the presence of God. “For as
in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians
15:22). This was brought upon us by our
own disobedience. “Because I have
called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded”
(Proverbs 1:24).
“But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without
blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of
the world, but was manifest in these last times for you” (1 Peter 1:19-20).
The only way the plan of redemption could meet the demands
of justice is through mercy. Alma brings
up the concept of mercy. Mercy is “[t]he spirit of compassion, tenderness, and
forgiveness. Mercy is one of the
attributes of God. Jesus Christ offers
mercy to us through his atoning sacrifice.”[1]
“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none
other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Without the atonement, mercy could not take effect. If it did, it would destroy justice. The
works of justice cannot be destroyed.
Should that happen, than God would cease to be God. “And if ye shall say
there is no law, ye shall also say there is no sin. If ye shall say there is no sin, ye shall
also say there is no righteousness. And
if there be no righteousness there be no happiness. And if there be no righteousness nor
happiness there be no punishment nor misery.
And if these things are not there is no God. And if there is no God we are not, neither the
earth; for there could have been no creation of things, neither to act nor to
be acted upon; wherefore, all things must have vanished away. And now, my sons,
I speak unto you these things for your profit and learning; for there is a God,
and he hath created all things, both the heavens and the earth, and all things
that in them are, both things to act and things to be acted upon” (2 Nephi 2:13-
14).
“There is a strong sense in LDS doctrine that Satan's coercive
plan is a lie from the beginning because it is a rejection of reality itself,
which is based on the agency, creativity, and coeternality of intelligences.
This idea of God as noncoercive is such an important part of LDS doctrine that
in the Book of Mormon the prophet Alma reminds us that, were God to coerce our
repentance, even though acting out of his mercy, mercy would rob justice and
God would ‘cease to be God’ (Alma 42:13. 22, 25).”[2]
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