As a young man my search for truth was a consistent desire to know something about the purpose of life and whether or not there was actually a God. What I sought was not given to me in an instant. Being able to look back and connect some of the experiences that shaped my understanding, it was a process of about 8 years.
I don't know all of the reasons some of us seek understanding as to the purpose of life, but it seems certain events may tend to cause us to look both inward and upward. These events may often be deemed as negative in nature, not because God wants to punish us, but because they happen in the course of normal living. I am speaking of illness, accidents, injuries, and death that interrupt, or disrupt our day to day activities and relationships.
To observe that the world exists and that we exist on some basis of eternal principles is a fundamental step in seeking truth. Is there a God that created us or not? If so then what demonstrates the nature of this being or beings? What did they or He have in mind. Who is authorized to speak for God? Can we identify actual eternal unchangeable principles and truth? Can we communicate directly with God, and if so, how do we do so? How do we find out the truth about these things?
I found answers in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There I learned about principles that make sense of the questions about the purpose of life and our eternal destiny as individuals and families. These teachings open our minds to the concept of an eternal glorious family of God to which we belong. God has once again called prophets to lead his church give us knowledge that had been lost.
Most people that have learned anything about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, have heard of Joseph Smith. He was about 14-years old in 1820. He tells his experience of seeking to know his standing before God and how he could find out if one of the many churches in his area was the right or true one. The result of his searching and asking God resulted in what is known to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as the "First Vision". There are significant truths that are gained from his experience that apply to each one of us. Link to Joseph Smiths narrative of his vision.
The experience he describes cannot logically be ignored even though his critics will try and say that it was all made up as a lie or some type of con. Joseph's message and testimony of God have filled much of the earth in spite of the false narratives developed and disseminated by his critics.
I found answers in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There I learned about principles that make sense of the questions about the purpose of life and our eternal destiny as individuals and families. These teachings open our minds to the concept of an eternal glorious family of God to which we belong. God has once again called prophets to lead his church give us knowledge that had been lost.
Most people that have learned anything about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, have heard of Joseph Smith. He was about 14-years old in 1820. He tells his experience of seeking to know his standing before God and how he could find out if one of the many churches in his area was the right or true one. The result of his searching and asking God resulted in what is known to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as the "First Vision". There are significant truths that are gained from his experience that apply to each one of us. Link to Joseph Smiths narrative of his vision.
The experience he describes cannot logically be ignored even though his critics will try and say that it was all made up as a lie or some type of con. Joseph's message and testimony of God have filled much of the earth in spite of the false narratives developed and disseminated by his critics.
One of the angelic messengers that visited him in the process of teaching him about his life's mission prophesied that his name would be known for good and for evil throughout the world. This was some 170 years before the internet came about. The claims of the critics from his day have lingered and multiplied as apologists from the sectarian groups of Christian thinkers thought his story would disrupt their foundational grasp on their biblical authority.
When I first learned about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I was not very informed about what other Christian churches taught about God or how they were formed. I didn't realize that they did not believe in eternally existing true principles by which God existed and action. I was told by pastors that God, the Trinity in this case, could do whatever it wanted to do, that it essentially made up truth as it went along.
Joseph did not go into the grove of trees seeking to create a story or looking for a vision or to start a new church. He did not make a published record of his account until more than a decade after it happened, and did so in response to the criticisms that resulted from his verbal telling of these events in his life. This wasn't the day and age of instantaneous communication nor was there a reason to make a written account of the event at the time it happened. The time did arrive, however, and it was necessary to share the message with others and it was published to the world.
Since he first declared to have conversed with God and other heavenly messengers he has essentially been on trial, even though he has been dead for about 170 years. Even though his testimony has been refuted by various critics and false narratives, these efforts have not stopped the work he initiated as a result of that "First Vision".
The critical narratives that have been fabricated over time from historical events have not ever provided or met a credible burden of proof capable of withstanding critical evaluations. Most arguments against Joseph Smith are spurious allegations based on conjecture. They would not stand as evidence in a court of law.
Joseph did not go into the grove of trees seeking to create a story or looking for a vision or to start a new church. He did not make a published record of his account until more than a decade after it happened, and did so in response to the criticisms that resulted from his verbal telling of these events in his life. This wasn't the day and age of instantaneous communication nor was there a reason to make a written account of the event at the time it happened. The time did arrive, however, and it was necessary to share the message with others and it was published to the world.
Since he first declared to have conversed with God and other heavenly messengers he has essentially been on trial, even though he has been dead for about 170 years. Even though his testimony has been refuted by various critics and false narratives, these efforts have not stopped the work he initiated as a result of that "First Vision".
The critical narratives that have been fabricated over time from historical events have not ever provided or met a credible burden of proof capable of withstanding critical evaluations. Most arguments against Joseph Smith are spurious allegations based on conjecture. They would not stand as evidence in a court of law.
Josephs testimony has simply been that God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to him and told him not to join any of the churches of his day. The Book of Mormon is also an important aspect of his witness. No other religious leader in the Christian tradition has produce a record, calling it scripture. This book came forth as a divine means and as a witness of his calling, it is another testament of Jesus Christ. It is a divine record, translated by the gift and power of God.
His message has always been to instill in people a desire to be disciples of Jesus Christ and to proclaim his eternal gospel in preparation for his second coming. His testimony of Jesus Christ and God the Father stand as a witness of his message and calling as a prophet.
Without the testimony of Joseph Smith, we would not have a prophetic witness of God's involvement with modern society. Bible scholars and philosophers have developed and established Christian in debates and and scholarly efforts. In all of their endeavors they claim that God is silent and they are somehow his spokesmen.
His message has always been to instill in people a desire to be disciples of Jesus Christ and to proclaim his eternal gospel in preparation for his second coming. His testimony of Jesus Christ and God the Father stand as a witness of his message and calling as a prophet.
Without the testimony of Joseph Smith, we would not have a prophetic witness of God's involvement with modern society. Bible scholars and philosophers have developed and established Christian in debates and and scholarly efforts. In all of their endeavors they claim that God is silent and they are somehow his spokesmen.
The fact that Joseph's antagonists depend so heavily on fallacies demonstrates the weakness of their arguments. Comparing these false narratives to the truth demonstrates the symptomatic bias that drives these negative narratives. The typical pattern used by deceptive apologists takes historical facts, often out of context, spins a narrative with conjecture and then disseminates the misinformation through the multitude of online channels and congregational meetings in churches. Those uninformed individuals that hear these messages in an uncontested setting take what they hear as truth and also share it.
What do we learn from Joseph Smith's "First Vision"? The first truth is that God is an actual person and has a glorified physical body. We are quite literally created in the image of God. We look like him. This one simple teaching went and still goes against the doctrines of sectarian creeds of the trinitarian teachers in mainstream Christianity.
Modern and ancient Bible scholars and philosopher-theologians have taught that God is incorporeal, meaning there is no physical being, that it is therefore a genderless being. Any reference to God being a male or a father or parent are all symbolic references. Any reference to mankind being created in the image of God is also symbolic because they teach that God in reality has no image because he is invisible. God's existence is as an eternal force of an unknown nature.
From Joseph's experience, doctrinal truths have been revealed that God exists in the family unit. This is the pattern of eternal creation. Creation is not a random one time occurrence.
A divine and eternal Godhead that we are familiar with in the Bible consists of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. They are three separate and distinct physical individuals. The Father and Son have glorified bodies of eternal spiritual flesh and bone. The Holy Ghost is a spirit being not yet embodied with the same physical body.
All creation takes place under the divine plan and direction of the Father. He delegated many aspects of the creation of this world and worlds without end to Jehovah, his firstborn Son in the spirit from the pre-mortal time where we too were begotten spirit children of God. His redemptive role as Jesus Christ transcends time and space, and he is the Creator of worlds and the Savior of souls without end.
Each member of the Godhead has the title of God. Together we can and do refer to them as an eternal God. They are united in purpose to bring salvation to all of us. Their voice can be heard speaking as individuals for themselves or for each other.
The traditional concept of God being an incorporeal and genderless Trinity rests on a foundational idea that this world is the first and only created on which souls might be saved. No humans existed prior to the existence of the Garden of Eden which places creation in the last 7000 years or so.
We learn from continuing revelation to the prophet that Our Eternal Father is the father of our spirit. Fatherhood and manhood are features of godhood in a state of exaltation as it is known. The eternal nature of the family rests on His fatherhood is not independent of womanhood and motherhood. We learn that genders are an eternal unchangeable part of who we are. God is the head of the family in heaven and on earth. Men are created spiritually and physically in his image, and women are in the image of our eternal mother.
Womanhood and manhood are eternal. It was not a random observation by God in the Garden that it was not good for the man to be alone. The existence of a woman was not something new that was solving a previously unknown problem. With the knowledge that the union and marriage of man and woman comes from heaven, Latter-day Saints teach that marriage is ordained by God. Its purpose is to unite a man and woman as an eternal companionship, with the potential to become endowed with powers of eternal increase. Such was the promise to Abraham.
Our Father in Heaven is all knowing and all-powerful and perfect in every virtue of character and love. He is a possessor of all powers that exist that produce a righteous existence. In other words, he is not a mystical possessor of powers that philosophers think he would possess in order to be God. He governs in an infinite kingdom based on eternal truths, not magic. He knows and comprehends all things.
God is the creator of endless worlds, souls, and salvation. The spirits of these souls are us, the spirit children of our eternal Father. As such we are eternal beings, the intelligence of each one of us is co-eternal and uncreated. As such our individual worth is incalculable.
The Methodology for Saving Souls.
Through the prophet Joseph Smith we learn that salvation and more importantly exaltation is an eternally ongoing process. We also learn that people that have lived on the earth without full opportunities to know the truth will have such opportunities.
What is the eternal Christianity of the Restored Gospel? We lived with God before we are born on this earth to our mortal parents. We are part of his eternal family. He chose his most righteous and also firstborn son in our pre-mortal family to be a Redeemer and Savior to us. He was known as Jehovah and was born as the Son of God on the earth and the only begotten of the Father in the flesh. He became Jesus Christ. As a member of the Godhead, Jesus was always the plan for mankind’s salvation. He would be a voluntary sacrifice for sin and overcome death by the power of his resurrection.
God is the creator of endless worlds, souls, and salvation. The spirits of these souls are us, the spirit children of our eternal Father. As such we are eternal beings, the intelligence of each one of us is co-eternal and uncreated. As such our individual worth is incalculable.
The Methodology for Saving Souls.
Through the prophet Joseph Smith we learn that salvation and more importantly exaltation is an eternally ongoing process. We also learn that people that have lived on the earth without full opportunities to know the truth will have such opportunities.
What is the eternal Christianity of the Restored Gospel? We lived with God before we are born on this earth to our mortal parents. We are part of his eternal family. He chose his most righteous and also firstborn son in our pre-mortal family to be a Redeemer and Savior to us. He was known as Jehovah and was born as the Son of God on the earth and the only begotten of the Father in the flesh. He became Jesus Christ. As a member of the Godhead, Jesus was always the plan for mankind’s salvation. He would be a voluntary sacrifice for sin and overcome death by the power of his resurrection.
This plan is based on eternal laws of agency, justice, mercy and the perfect love of God. The creation of earth and mortality was and is a necessary step for the eternal growth and happiness of his children.
Mortality would be introduced by a choice, not by force. The Eden setting was designed for this purpose. “The man has become as one of us” was the declaration by the Gods after the fall. Adam and Eve became this world's first Christians. It was a forward step not backward.
How does one know the truth? God can and does reveal the truth and answers the prayers of those willing to study and ask. Of this, I have personal experience. To say otherwise would be to say that he leaves the knowledge of eternal things to chance. Only one church with divine authority existed when the Savior was on the earth. Men changed it. It has been restored to the earth with the fullness of God’s authority.
The Book of Mormon is another testament of the Savior. Its pages contain doctrine that confirms the truth of the Bible and gives clarity to it. If one wants to know the truth then they must read it and study it. Divine messengers have visited the earth to restore authority and ordinances and covenants that are eternal in nature and assure us of God’s interest in our well being.
Mortality would be introduced by a choice, not by force. The Eden setting was designed for this purpose. “The man has become as one of us” was the declaration by the Gods after the fall. Adam and Eve became this world's first Christians. It was a forward step not backward.
How does one know the truth? God can and does reveal the truth and answers the prayers of those willing to study and ask. Of this, I have personal experience. To say otherwise would be to say that he leaves the knowledge of eternal things to chance. Only one church with divine authority existed when the Savior was on the earth. Men changed it. It has been restored to the earth with the fullness of God’s authority.
The Book of Mormon is another testament of the Savior. Its pages contain doctrine that confirms the truth of the Bible and gives clarity to it. If one wants to know the truth then they must read it and study it. Divine messengers have visited the earth to restore authority and ordinances and covenants that are eternal in nature and assure us of God’s interest in our well being.
The Holy Ghost will testify with confirming power that these things are true and that living prophets guide the church. We can all have a direct channel of communication with God. I have felt it, observed the effects and know that it is real and true. Happiness, understanding of life’s purpose and eternal perspective have been the result.
The struggles and challenges of life are more confidently met when we understand why we are here and that Jesus Christ is involved in our lives. It is an eternal plan, not a temporary plan that brought us to this mortal experience, and the requisite personal growth through faith and obedience that we need. It will bless us now and continue into eternity to bless our eternal souls if we will embrace it.
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