"We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel."
What does this mean? Jesus Christ is the only way back to our heavenly home. And that through his atoning sacrifice we can be saved simply by having faith in Him enough to be obedient to his laws and ordinance.
What are His laws? Jesus came and lived his life here on this earth to teach us how we should live our lives and then he paid the ultimate sacrifice for all mankind - that is to suffer for the price of our sins and lay down His life so we can over come death as He did. By doing the things Jesus taught we are following His laws. What did he do?
He honored God first and foremost and then looked to the well being of all people ( see Matt 22:37-40). He taught lessons to His followers so they could understand His laws. By studying about Jesus' life on the earth we can come to know him and his ways better and become more like him. We can learn that we have a Heavenly Father who loves us so much that he sent His only Begotten Son to save us all. We can learn that our most important mission here is love all people and do what we can to help them on the right path. He taught, he loved, and he sacrificed.
What are His ordinances? The first ordinance is baptism by immersion for the remission of sins. We will talk more about that in another post. There are many other kinds of ordinances that are important to our salvation. We as Latter-day Saints also perform ordinances in the Temples which help us to have a higher understanding of God's ways. These things help us to become better people and develop a higher love of our brothers and sisters, which are all people. We make covenants with God to do certain things and He makes a promise to us to bless us with things we need in our lives. Ordinances are meant for our progression to be able to be successful in walking the path here in this life and to be able to walk the path home to heaven.
So, if we honor God by following the footsteps of Jesus, meaning to do as He did, then we are showing our love back to God. We are showing that we love them enough to do what Jesus did while he was here; to follow His example. Also, if we take care of each other, especially those who are needy - spiritually, physically, and mentally, then we are also doing the will of our Father in Heaven.
And, if we fulfill the ordinances and honor those covenants we make with God then we will be blessed and be able to return home successfully into the arms of a loving God.
But first we must recognize that the only way that could have ever happened for us is through the Atonement of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. His great love for His Father, and us, helped Him to fulfill His part of the Plan of Salvation. He did something that we probably will never fully be able to understand. But we can understand it enough to realize that we are sinners and that we need Him and his atonement in order to return home. Without Him we are nothing. We have to recognize that Jesus is the only way back to our heavenly home.
Through His sacrifice and through our obedience we can find peace and blessings in our lives in knowing that we are on the right path and working hard to help others to see that path as well. Its plain and simple, the plan is laid out in our scriptures. God wants us to be successful and return to Him so he has given us every tool we need to to do this. We just have to do our part by studying and understanding then being obedient to what He wants us to do. Jesus will do the rest.
That is pretty awesome. I am so glad He is on our side. I am so grateful that Jesus suffered and sacrificed so that we can return home, as long as we do what we are supposed to do. I know that Jesus loves us and I know that Heavenly Father loves us and through the fulfilling of the Plan of Salvation we can live for eternity in the most wonderful place ever. What more could we ever want?
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