JOEL - According to the scriptures God gave us our agency and
by putting us here on this earth gave us the
opportunity to exercise that agency.
"The Lord said unto Enoch: Behold these thy brethren;
they are the workmanship of mine own hands, and I gave
unto them their knowledge, in the day I created them;
and in the Garden of Eden, gave I unto man his agency;
(Moses 7:32)
Behold, I gave unto him(Adam) that he should be an
agent unto himself; (D&C 29:35)
So, I am not so sure agency was inherant with our
eternal intelligences, but perhaps some agency was
given to us after we were spiritually born in heaven.
We must have had some form of agency in the pre-earth
life to be able to choose between Satan and God's
plan.
I do not think spiritual gifts were inherant with our
intelligence either but are given to us by God
during our life as a result of the influence of the
Holy Ghost.(1 Cor. 12:1-12)
"And all these gifts come by the Spirit of Christ; and
they come unto every man severally, according as he
will.
And I would exhort you, my beloved brethren, that ye
remember that every good gift cometh of Christ."
(Moroni 10:17-18)
“And all these gifts come from God, for the benefit of
the children of God.” (D&C 46:26)
Spiritual gifts come to those who have received the
gift of the Holy Ghost. As the Prophet Joseph Smith
taught, the gifts of the Spirit “are obtained through
that medium” [the Holy Ghost] and “cannot be enjoyed
without the gift of the Holy Ghost. … The world in
general can know nothing about them.” (Teachings of
the Prophet Joseph Smith)
Perhaps inherant in our spirits is the propensity to
be able to receive and/or develope certain spiritual
gifts different from what another person might
have(Moroni 10: 8-16), much the same way we can
discover and develop certain God-given talents that
each of us have. Perhaps some of this comes with us
from the pre-earth life where some of these gifts and
talents were evident there. But most of the spiritual
gifts are given to us while we are living here on
earth.
TOM - I understand how the Atonement of the Savior is both conditional and unconditional but yet there is a question about the Savior's sacrifice that is interesting to me. It is commonly said that the Savior suffered the sins of all mankind but yet it also says that those who do not repent who have the Light in their lives must atone or repent for their sins themselves. Then it would seem that justice has been paid twice for the same sin in that instance. Joseph Fielding Smith seems to advocate that God did not suffer for the conditional sins of those who choose not to repent and have to suffer for them themselves and that is logical to me but that is not what is commonly said in the circles of the Church.
JOEL - God said:
"For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for
all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;
but if they would not repent they must suffer even as
I; which suffering caused myself, even God, the
greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to
bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and
spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter
cup, and shrink" (D&C 19:16-18).
Noone can comprehend the degree of suffering that
Jesus experienced to pay for our sins.
Somehow His suffering was adequate to pay for an
infinate number of sins committed by an unknown number
of people who put into practice the principle of
repentence, either during this life or for those who
accept the gospel in the next life.
You can look at it two ways.
1. Christ's suffering was infinate and complete enough
to cover all the sins of all people, assuming that
everyone would repent of every sin. Which means like
you say, unrepented sins will be suffered for twice.
Or
2. At the moment He suffered for our sins, it was
somehow known in advance how many did or will repent
for their sins, so that the degree of His suffering
would match exactly with the number of repented sins.
I don't think anyone can really comprehend how it
works. All we know is that the suffering He
vicariously experienced on our behalf, is there for us
to pay for our sins if we repent. Perhaps rather than
trying to quantify it, we should think of it more like
a light shinning through a window. You can place
yourself in the light and enjoy its warmth, the joy of
forgiveness, or you can stay away from the light and
remain cold and dark, suffering for your own sins.
Nevertheless the light will continue to shine and
always be there for whoever is willing to go to it.
TOM - As Joseph Smith said that there is no substitute for experience and we all come to earth to get experience as even did our Savior. If those who die before accountability or otherwise are not accountable to any law or those children born during the Millennium who are not subject to Telestial Law then how can they get the experience of which there is no substitute?
JOEL - They will still get some experience during the
Millennium, because life will pretty much go on as
normal (Isa. 65:21-22), except of course that Satan
will be bound so that no one will be tempted to commit
sin(1 Ne. 22:26; 4 Ne. 1:15). The experience they will
get with both good and evil will come at the end of
the Millennium.
Both ancient and modern prophets foretold that, at the
end of a thousand years of peace, Satan would be
loosed, sin be introduced back into the world, and the
final battle between good and evil would be waged
(Rev. 20:7-8; D&C 43:31). It is during this time that
Satan is loosed where all those you speak of will get
their experience and opportunity to be tested and
choose between good and evil.
Return to top