Free To Choose Eternal Life (2nd Nephi 10)

Pictured above is my good old Pops and my niece's son, Hayden, one of Dad's great grand kids, in 2007.  Hayden had just come into the world a short time previous, and Dad would be leaving it in just a few more months.  Hayden's new baby skin is soft and pure.  Dad's skin is calloused, scarred, and dented.  Hayden has a lifetime of learning to do.  Dad has about learned everything he's going to in this life.  Hayden doesn't even know who's holding him, although he likes this picture now. 

According to the Flesh

All that up there is just my lead-in to talking about one little part of the 2nd verse of 2nd Nephi 10:

2.  For behold, the promises which we have obtained are promises unto us according to the flesh; wherefore, as it has been shown unto me that many of our children shall perish in the flesh because of unbelief, nevertheless, God will be merciful unto many; and our children shall be restored, that they may come to that which will give them the true knowledge of their Redeemer.

 

You see the expression "according to the flesh" a lot in the scriptures.  What it means is, 'as pertaining to mortality.'  You may or may not find that interesting or useful.  In this verse, Jacob references promises made to the Nephites "according to the flesh".  The promise is found in...

verse 7:

7.  But behold, thus saith The Lord God:  When the day cometh that they shall believe in Me, that I am Christ, then have I covenanted with their fathers that they shall be restored in the flesh, upon the earth, unto the lands of their inheritance. 

It's the old "gathering of scattered Israel" promise.  So, Jacob says that, though many of their descendants will apostatize from the true gospel, many of them will not only eventually begin to believe and accept Jesus Christ as their Savior, but will be physically gathered in to their places of inheritance.

Some of this has happened already.  Most has yet to be fulfilled.  The cool part is that the house of Israel will eventually come unto Christ.  This is cool cuz...

2 Nephi 10:3-6

3.  Wherefore, as I said unto you, it must needs be expedient that Christ -for in the last night the angel spake unto me that this should be His name -should come among the Jews, among those who are the more wicked part of the world; and they shall crucify Him -for thus it behooveth our God, and there is none other nation on earth that would crucify their God.

4.  For should the mighty miracles be wrought among other nations they would repent, and know that He be their God.

5.  But because of priestcrafts and iniquities, they at Jerusalem will stiffen their necks against him, that He be crucified.

6.  Wherefore, because of their iniquities, destructions, famines, pestilences, and bloodshed shall come upon them; and they who shall not be destroyed shall be scattered among all nations.

It's also cool cuz...
We now pause for this message from Schoolhouse Rock.

2 Nephi 10:10-13

10.  But behold, this land, said God, shall be a land of thine inheritance, and the Gentiles shall be blessed upon the land.

11.  And this land shall be a land of liberty unto the Gentiles, and there shall be no kings upon the land, who shall raise up unto the Gentiles.

12.  And I will fortify this land against all other nations.

13.  And he that fighteth against Zion shall perish, saith God.

And it's important to note... In this case, "according to the flesh" means that, the house of Israel will one day be gathered and restored to the true gospel of Christ, each individual must come unto Christ, believe in Christ, and choose to follow Christ.

2nd Nephi 10: 16

16.  Wherefore, he that fighteth against Zion, both Jew and Gentile, both bond and free, both male and female, shall perish...

In order for this prophecy to be fulfilled, a land of freedom had to be established.  It would require a land of religious freedom for the Church of Jesus Christ to be restored and spread across the world.



A man sits in front of a Carl Bloch painting of Jesus

 Here's a few last verses.

 Reconciled:  Sweeter than syrup.

We've talked on many occasions about The Fall of Adam and Eve and their posterity (that's us), and how that means we were separated from God.  Reconcile means to be restored to good standing.

2 Nephi 10: 23-25

23.  Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves -to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life.

24.  Wherefore, my beloved brethren, reconcile yourselves to the will of God, and not to the will of the devil and the flesh; and remember, after ye are reconciled unto God, that it is only in and through the grace of God that ye are saved.

25.  Wherefore, may God raise you from death by the power of the resurrection, and also from everlasting death by the power of the atonement, that ye may be received into the eternal kingdom of God, that ye may praise Him through grace divine. Amen.

To be reconciled with our Heavenly Father, or brought back into His presence through the Grace of the Savior, Jesus Christ, we must reconcile ourselves to the will of God, and not keep following the dictates of our idiot, self-centered flesh.  Our spirits want heaven.  Our flesh wants pancakes.  Who wears the pants on your body, your spirit or your flesh?  Do you want heaven or pancakes? 

"Ye are free to act for yourselves
-to choose the way of everlasting
death or the way of eternal life...
reconcile yourselves to the will of God, and not to the will of the... flesh."

Peace be with you...

The Purpose of Life (2 Nephi 2, part 2)

When people see this picture on my computer screen they normally look twice.  At first glance, there's really nothing here that causes them to spend even a whole second on it, other than just to see what I looked like in the summer of '89.  But then it hits them that there is a stream of water and a rock at the top of the picture.  Well, that ain't right.  How'd you do that?

Oh, the picture's upside down.  It doesn't take long to figure out.  So, what have we learned here today, boys and girls?  What wasn't right about the above picture is that it breaks the law, the law of gravity.  It ain't right 'cause you can't break that law.  Like Scotty used to say, "You cannot change the law of physics."

Gravity is a natural law.  There are also eternal laws.  One of these laws is discussed in the next part of our study of 2 Nephi 2.

Opposition in All Things

2 Nephi 2: 11-12

11.  For it must needs be that there is an opposition in all things.  If not so, my first-born in the wilderness [still talking to Jacob], righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad.  Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility.

12.  Wherefore, it must needs have been created for a thing of naught; wherefore there would have been no purpose in the end of its creation.  Wherefore, this thing must needs destroy the wisdom of God and his eternal purposes, and also the power and the mercy, and the justice of God.

If I read this correctly, and please comment with your insights as well, OPPOSITION in all things is a necessary part of our mortal experience.  If there were no opposition, we may as well not have come to earth, because there would have been no "end", or "purpose", in its creation.  And what is the purpose of the creation of our world?

Cool picture.

We pause now for a word from The Savior, Jesus Christ:  Moses 1: 39

39.  Behold, this is My work and My glory -to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.

The purpose for which The Lord created the earth was to bring to pass our chance for Eternal Life.  We are born into a world of tenderness and harshness, of Eternal Truth available at our fingertips, and falseness and wickedness surrounding us in abundance.  We are given a list of things to avoid, and a physical body that thinks it wants those things.  We are given a list of things we should be doing, and a physical body that would rather not.  The choices we make to choose the words of light and life brought to us by the Holy Ghost from our Savior and Redeemer bring us closer to The Lord.  A choice in the other direction will lead us farther away from Him.  Choosing the good part when we are tempted to choose the bad part results in strengthening in us our commitment to follow Christ.  It is the opposition that makes that possible.  If mortality was easy, there wouldn't be any growth.  That reminds me of this song I like by the Indigo Girls.  It's called The Wood Song.  Here's the chorus and the last 2 verses of the song:

But the wood is tired, and the wood is old
And we'll make it fine, if the weather holds
But if the weather holds, we'll have missed the point
That's where I need to go

Sometimes I ask to sneak a closer look
Skip to the final chapter of the book
And then maybe steer us clear from some of the pain it took
To get us where we are this far 

But the question drowns in it's futility
Even I have got to laugh at me
No one gets to miss the storm of what will be
Just holding on for the ride 

2 Nephi 2: 13-16

13.  And 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.

14.  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.

15.  And to bring about His eternal purposes in the end of man, after he had been created, our first parents, and the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and in fine, all things which are created, it must needs be that there was an opposition; even the forbidden fruit in opposition to the tree of life; the one being sweet and the other bitter.

16.  Wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself.  Wherefore, man could not act for himself save it should be that he was enticed by the one or the other.

Lots of opposites in there.  It would make for an interesting chart, but not today.  Let's look at these verses, and this whole chapter like this:  Why am I here on earth?  According to Lehi:

I am here to gain Eternal Life from my Heavenly Father.  

I (and all of us) lived with Heavenly Father before I was born, in what is known as the "pre-mortal life".  There I learned of my Heavenly Father's plan to help me gain Eternal Life, or Exaltation, as it is sometimes called.  The plan called for God to create bodies for Adam and Eve, put in them their spirits (or what is called in the scriptures as the "breath of life"), and place them in the Garden of Eden.  In the Garden of Eden Adam and Eve made a choice to disobey The Lord's commandment to not partake of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil in favor of obeying His commandment to multiply and replenish (or fill) the earth.  In eating of the fruit of the tree, they disobeyed The Lord, bringing about "The Fall of Man", a very important event in them and all of us gaining Eternal Life, which cut them and their posterity (that's us) off from Heavenly Father.  Before The Fall, there was no opposition.  After The Fall, Adam and Eve and their posterity had to live by the "sweat of their brow" and put up with mosquitoes and puncture weeds, which would prove to give the most righteous tire a flat.  These next few scriptures explain all of this:

2 Nephi 2: 19-23

19.  And after Adam and Eve had partaken of the forbidden fruit they were driven out of the garden of Eden, to till the earth.

20.  And they have brought forth children; yea, even the family of all the earth.

21.  And the days of the children of men were prolonged, according to the will of god, that they might repent while in the flesh; wherefore, their state became a state of probation, and their time was lengthened, according to the commandments which The Lord God gave unto the children of men.  for He gave commandment that all men must repent; for he showed unto all men that they were lost, because of the transgression of their parents.

22.  And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of Eden.  And all things which were created must have remained in the same state in which they were after they were created; and they must have remained forever, and had no end.

23.  And they would have had no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for the knew no sin.

If you are saying to yourself, "I kind of understand that, but then again, I kind of don't," you aren't alone.  If I understood it all myself, I could write a much better explanation.  The next few verses help me to comprendo a lot about Our Heavenly Father's Plan.  They also answer the age old question:  What is the purpose of life?  Are you ready for the whole Purpose of Life to be summed up in 1 verse?

Hold On a Minute!!!

Let's try Google first.  Google knows a lotta stuff.

• 1st on the list is http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/01/how-to-discover-your-life-purpose-in-about-20-minutes/.  His methods are exciting:

Here’s what to do:

1. Take out a blank sheet of paper or open up a word processor where you can type (I prefer the latter because it’s faster).
2. Write at the top, “What is my true purpose in life?”
3. Write an answer (any answer) that pops into your head. It doesn’t have to be a complete sentence. A short phrase is fine.
4. Repeat step 3 until you write the answer that makes you cry. This is your purpose.

Wow!  That sounds cool.  I wonder what he came up with for his own purpose.  Let's see...:

Here was my final answer: to live consciously and courageously, to resonate with love and compassion, to awaken the great spirits within others, and to leave this world in peace.

• 2nd on the list is from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meaning_of_life:

In Platonism, the meaning of life is in attaining the highest form of knowledge, which is the Idea of the Good, from which all good and just things derive utility and value. Human beings are duty-bound to pursue the good.

The Epicurean meaning of life rejects immortality and mysticism; there is a soul, but it is as mortal as the body. There is no afterlife, yet, one need not fear death, because "Death is nothing to us; for that which is dissolved, is without sensation, and that which lacks sensation is nothing to us."

(Those are just 2 of many points of view of the many isms found at Wikipedia.org.)

If Google doesn't satisfy, you could try these:

You could ask Monty Python

You could as a wise guru

You could ask Chuck Norris

How about let's see what The Lord has to say on the subject.

2 Nephi 2: 24-26

24.  But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of Him who knoweth all things.

25.  Adam fell that men might be and men are, that they might have joy.

26.  And the Messiah cometh in the fulness of time, that He may redeem the children of men from the fall.  And because that they are redeemed from the fall they have become free forever, knowing good from evil; to act for themselves and not to be acted upon, save it be by the punishment of the law at the great and last day, according to the commandments which God hath given.