The "Saving" Ordinances of the Gospel
To be "saved". That is what we as mankind are after. What is it though that we are "saved" from? I have discussed this on previous posts and I want to go into one more aspect of it here. We know that there are two things we can be saved from- they are the physical and spiritual aliments that beset our doom. One is physical death and the other is spiritual- spiritual death. If you can imagine that our spirits have a clothing so to speak, the clothing is what we are. We call these our "garments", our spiritual or mental "baggadge". When we sin, our garments become spotted- they become dirty and filthy. Filthiness on clothes is a symbol of being unclean. Imagine a surgeon going in to the operating room with bread crumbs and ketchup stains all down the front of his outfit, would you want that person operating on you? We would say that he is unclean and not fit for the task at hand.
This is the same way that sins appear to others, especially god and ourselves. It creates a guilt and a remorse of conscious, knowing that we are unclean for that which is at hand. In the scriptures, it talks about obedience to the "saving" ordinances that enable our "garments" to be "cleansed" in and through the blood of Christ. This cleansing brings about the ultimate ability to "enter into the rest" of the Lord. The rest of the Lord is the feeling and knowledge that our spiritual baggadge has been cleansed or erased from the consciousness of ourselves and the Lord. It is a "remission" of one's sins. Would there be anything more horrible than to spend an extremely long time or even eternity in a state of guilt and sorrow? It would be a most overwhelming feeling of doom, an "endless torment" on the mind. Yea, it would be hell!
So if we want to rid ourselves of bad eternal baggadge which is sin, all we have to do is look to Christ and live. By "looking" we do. This means that upon looking at God's ways and believeing in them we do. We have faith and repent and are baptized as an outward sign to God that we are willing to subject ourselves to "all" that God commands us to do. Not because we have to, but because we will then want to! As we do this, our sins are forgiven us. This means that the Holy ghost is made to manifest the truthfulness in our spirits of the peace that comes to the repentant. This process erases or cleanses our stains from our garments until we are holy and pure and have become new again to the Lord. We then are found "spotless" before the judgement seat of Christ at the great and last day. This is what we strive for ourselves- this pure state of cleanliness. Anything less than this would cause that endless torment that befalls the unrepentant which is as a "lake of fire and brimstone".
The blessing of having a "white raiment" is the blessing given only the faithful who repent and hold out to the end (the last great day of judgment). They have the priveledge of having their names retained in the "book of life". This book is also called the "book of the names of the sanctified"(D&C 88:2), meaning that they have been cleansed and "set apart" from the unclean or unworthy. They have changed from a "filthy state" to a "saved" state having their garments washed from all stain in and through the blood of Christ who has come into the world to redeem men "from their sins" (Alma 5:21). The white raiment will only be given to those who enter into the holy city- the heavenly city- the Celestial Kingdom of heaven! Remember this is the key, for he who is not found to have the white raiment, must perish in his sins being clothed in all manner of wickedness that testifies to all of his unrepentant state. He has yeilded himself to become the subject of the devil.
Moses 6:59-62 tells us quite profoundly that we must be born again "into the kingdom of heaven". This means that we must be baptized into the Celestial Kingdom of God and be cleansed from our filthy states through the blood of Christ in order to be sanctified from all sin. This is the "plan of salvation to all men"(verse 62). This means that this is the "only" plan for "all" men, both alive and dead. If we want salvation unto eternal life- which truly is never ending life in the Celestial Kingdom of god, we must repent and be obedient to the "saving" ordinances of the gospel. There is no other way, no other name given whereby salvation cometh!(Mosiah 5:7-8). Neither is there any other "kind" of salvation. (Mosiah 4:8)
This is the same way that sins appear to others, especially god and ourselves. It creates a guilt and a remorse of conscious, knowing that we are unclean for that which is at hand. In the scriptures, it talks about obedience to the "saving" ordinances that enable our "garments" to be "cleansed" in and through the blood of Christ. This cleansing brings about the ultimate ability to "enter into the rest" of the Lord. The rest of the Lord is the feeling and knowledge that our spiritual baggadge has been cleansed or erased from the consciousness of ourselves and the Lord. It is a "remission" of one's sins. Would there be anything more horrible than to spend an extremely long time or even eternity in a state of guilt and sorrow? It would be a most overwhelming feeling of doom, an "endless torment" on the mind. Yea, it would be hell!
So if we want to rid ourselves of bad eternal baggadge which is sin, all we have to do is look to Christ and live. By "looking" we do. This means that upon looking at God's ways and believeing in them we do. We have faith and repent and are baptized as an outward sign to God that we are willing to subject ourselves to "all" that God commands us to do. Not because we have to, but because we will then want to! As we do this, our sins are forgiven us. This means that the Holy ghost is made to manifest the truthfulness in our spirits of the peace that comes to the repentant. This process erases or cleanses our stains from our garments until we are holy and pure and have become new again to the Lord. We then are found "spotless" before the judgement seat of Christ at the great and last day. This is what we strive for ourselves- this pure state of cleanliness. Anything less than this would cause that endless torment that befalls the unrepentant which is as a "lake of fire and brimstone".
The blessing of having a "white raiment" is the blessing given only the faithful who repent and hold out to the end (the last great day of judgment). They have the priveledge of having their names retained in the "book of life". This book is also called the "book of the names of the sanctified"(D&C 88:2), meaning that they have been cleansed and "set apart" from the unclean or unworthy. They have changed from a "filthy state" to a "saved" state having their garments washed from all stain in and through the blood of Christ who has come into the world to redeem men "from their sins" (Alma 5:21). The white raiment will only be given to those who enter into the holy city- the heavenly city- the Celestial Kingdom of heaven! Remember this is the key, for he who is not found to have the white raiment, must perish in his sins being clothed in all manner of wickedness that testifies to all of his unrepentant state. He has yeilded himself to become the subject of the devil.
Moses 6:59-62 tells us quite profoundly that we must be born again "into the kingdom of heaven". This means that we must be baptized into the Celestial Kingdom of God and be cleansed from our filthy states through the blood of Christ in order to be sanctified from all sin. This is the "plan of salvation to all men"(verse 62). This means that this is the "only" plan for "all" men, both alive and dead. If we want salvation unto eternal life- which truly is never ending life in the Celestial Kingdom of god, we must repent and be obedient to the "saving" ordinances of the gospel. There is no other way, no other name given whereby salvation cometh!(Mosiah 5:7-8). Neither is there any other "kind" of salvation. (Mosiah 4:8)
posted by Rob Osborn at 1/14/2007 01:11:00 PM
1 Comments:
Clearly ordinances are tied to covenants made with the Lord. But why, exactly, are the covenants (and their associated ordinances, for that matter), necessary in the first place?
One might say that grace, forgiveness, etc. must be "activated" by such, and that without such ordinances one cannot be forgiven, exalted etc.
The implication is that all roughly righteous enough to qualify for the celestial kingdom *will* in fact accept the gospel in the spirit world.
Post a Comment
<< Home