Second Article of Faith

The Second Article of Faith in the belief of the Mormons is: "We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression."

What this means is that we will not be punished for the choices Adam made in the Garden of Eden. We can only pay the price of our own sins. I'm not sure why people would think that we would be punished for anyone else's sins or transgressions.

Ezekiel 18:20 "The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him."

Actually, we need to be grateful to Adam and Eve for their choices in the Garden of Eden. By choosing to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil they were able to put God's plan into play. His plan was for His children to come to earth, to receive a body, and learn to live our lives the way our Heavenly Father wanted us to so we can return back to him someday with honor. We cannot prove ourselves unless we live in a world where everyone has choices and where we pay the price for that agency. Now we can show Heavenly Father that we love him and that we are willing to live our lives as He commands us to. Commandments are laws that we are required to live in order to know true happiness while living in this world. If we choose not to live them then there are consequences that can hurt us or will not allow us to return to live with Him.

Because of the choices made in the Garden of Eden we needed a Savior to help us return home and that Savior is Jesus Christ. But I will talk about that in the next Article of Faith post. But here is scripture to help understand part of the Plan of Salvation regarding Adam and Eve's role in the Plan of Salvation.

1 Cor. 15: 22, "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."

Part of the Plan of Salvation help 

As I have studied more about Adam and Eve I have come to love them and appreciate their understanding of the choice they made that gives us the opportunity to prove ourselves worthy to live with our Heavenly Father. I am grateful for them and their wisdom. And now I can have that same wisdom as I continue to learn and grow here in this world.

It's a Small, Small World

Yesterday, I went to the temple in Orlando, Florida. I like to go once a month, usually the Saturday before Fast Sunday. I also like to go early in the morning so that I can get back home about the time my kids are getting up so I don't miss much time with them.

I went yesterday, early, and was in an endowment session and noticed a brother who looked familiar to me. I thought for a moment on who I thought he was but it wasn't until I saw the face of his beautiful wife that I knew it was friends that I have lost touch with over the years.

In the late 1980's we became friends but it was only for a short time because they moved. We lost touch and wondered from time to time how they were doing. In fact, it was just a few months ago that they crossed my mind as I came across some old photos of them. Anyway, I approached my friend, Ruth, and reintroduced myself to her. There was so much joy, and hugging and tears. I was so glad to see her again and to hear about her family. She commented that it is good to know that we are both still strong in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a great experience.

I pondered about that experience on my way home and thought that this must be what it will be like when we die and meet those family and friends on the other side of the vale. There will be so much joy and hugging and tears in being reunited with them again. I will never forget how I felt being so exciting to see them again.

Well, the story doesn't end here, today I found out that one of my favorite families has moved to another ward. I text the wife, Sarah, who I used to serve with in the Relief Society in our ward. She surprised me with the news about who her new Relief Society President was, it was my friend Ruth! It must be a small small world.

Ruth had bore her testimony today and mentioned that she ran into me at the temple yesterday and Sarah spoke to her sharing that they had a common friendship with me. I am so glad they are in the same ward together to look after one another. I hope they will be able to establish good friendships with each other like I have with them.

It truly amazes me sometime how things work out. My friend Ruth said yesterday that our meeting was not by chance that there must be some kind of purpose for running into one another again. I agreed, perhaps it has something to do with my friend Sarah, who knows. All I know is it's a small world after all.