Today in Seminary, we talked about the Plan of Happiness (also known as the Plan of: Redemption, Salvation, and Exaltation). At its core, the plan is very simple. It tells us where we come from, why we are here, and where we are going. Part of this post is lesson material, but most of it is my own ruminations on the subject from years of learning and personal experience and interpretation.
Where did we come from?
We come from a loving Heavenly Father (God) who wants to help us progress and become like unto him. We existed in the pre-mortal life as spirits, where we all existed together in harmony. We learned, and loved there. While we were there, we progressed as individuals, but there was one problem.
We had limits.
Why are we here?
Without a physical body, like God's, we could only go so far. Because God loves his children, he wants to help us become like him, so he created a plan where we could all receive bodies and end up together again. This plan involved creating an earth where we could receive bodies and have our agency tested. There was another problem here though: all laws have consequences. Blessings, if they're kept, and punishments if they're broken. Heaven, Earth, the nature of God -- they're all predicated upon laws. Laws such as mercy, and justice. While living as humans, we would be subject to temptation and make mistakes. We wouldn't always choose the right. Because of this, we would accumulate sins. Because no unclean thing can dwell in the sight of God (we wouldn't feel comfortable in his presence, like a child who knows they've done something wrong) we wouldn't be able to join him until we took care of our impurities. Because God is perfect, he has to fulfill all laws, including mercy and justice. Mercy dictates that we are forgiven and allowed to move on, but justice demands that there be a payment for our mistakes. How can two seemingly contrary laws be reconciled?
Is this a paradox that invalidates the nature of God?
No. The answer is simple: there must be an intermediary. Somebody who will take our sins from us, and pay the price in our stead. We know the identity of this savior: Jesus Christ, our eldest brother. He lived a life without sin, a perfect life, and then took our sins and paid for him. Because of Christ, we can repent of our sins, we can change and improve. If we just take the hand Jesus is stretching out towards us, we can move past our sins and become clean. When he performed the atonement, paying for our sins, he literally paid the price for all our sins, experiencing the agony our mistakes caused us. Not only that, he experienced everything in our lives -- bad break-ups, bicycle accidents, last year's flu -- all of it. Because he understands our lives so intimately, this makes him the perfect advocate for us. Somebody who can step in for us on judgement day, and represent us to God.
Where are we going?
After we die, we are going to be waiting for the second coming of Christ, when all of humanity will be resurrected and judged. This waiting place is known as "Spirit Paradise and Spirit Prison." This is not to say that there is a good place and a bad place: there is one place, but everybody's state of mind will be different. Those who have heard the Gospel will understand what's going on and effectively be in paradise. Those who haven't, or refuse to understand, will feel as if they are in prison -- unable to progress. While Christ's body lay in the tomb for three days, he organized a giant missionary effort among all those righteous souls in Paradise to go to those in Prison and teach them the Gospel, so that they would be ready for the resurrection, and so that they would be happier. Judgment will consist of a review of our life, with Christ and God. This is when Christ will step in and explain the circumstances of our actions, acting almost like a lawyer. After this, we will go to one of three heavenly kingdoms, each of which are traditionally likened unto a heavenly body of light:
The Telestial Kingdom, compared to the light a distant star provides. We learn from the scriptures that even this kingdom, the lowest of the three, is far better than our lives here in mortality.
The Terrestial Kingdom, compared to the light the moon provides. This kingdom will be far above the Telestial Kingdom, yet below the final one.
The Celestial Kingdom, compared to the light the noon-day sun provides. This is the ultimate heaven This is where God himself dwells, and will boast the smallest population of the three kingdoms. The goal is for everybody to make it here, so we can be together again.
In addition to all of this, we know there are degrees of glory in each of these kingdoms. Heaven truly is a person experience. Each person will be in the kingdom they feel comfortable in; some people will only feel happy in the Telestial Kingdom where the Holy Ghost reigns, while others will be happier in the Terrestial Kingdom, where Christ will reign. Because an integral part of the Lord's plan is for families to be together forever, travel from one kingdom to a lower is possible. The Lord would never separate a family. After all, everything he does is out of love for us. He gives us trials to strengthen us, blesses us in ways we can't see, and is involved in our lives intimately. He loves us, Christ loves, and I love you.
The Plan of Salvation boils down to this: God loves us. We love our Father. To be more like him, we came to Earth to receive bodies. Christ loves us. We love Christ. He paid for our sins. Because of that, we can all be together again in the next life. In the end, all of everything boils down to one thing:
Love.
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