Last post I talked about how God loves us, how we have a loving Heavenly Father and that He cares about us, and today I want to talk about one (many ways in one) of the important ways God shows that love to us - by revealing the Gospel.
Now depending on how you view the Gospel you might be wondering why this is a show of God's love for us. Truly, if you see the Gospel as just a bunch of rules designed to prevent you from doing things you think you want to do then yes you might feel the gospel is the child safety cap to Disneyland.
But in truth the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the plan designed by our Heavenly Father to let us obtain joy, we call this the Plan of Happiness or the Plan of Salvation. At the center of this plan, the key element, is the Atonement - an eternal sacrifice provided by the Only One Who Could, even Jesus Christ.
Commandments are a part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ because they guide us to make the decisions, that in God's eternal wisdom has been recognized to produce eternal happiness.
With my Disneyland theme, if I told you a roller coaster had a few loose bolts and some compromised track and then proceeded to explain that even though the roller coaster was painted in amazing, sparkly red paint it was about to collapse to the ground I don't think you would be angry at me to command -which truly is just a very sincere plea with consequences- you not to go on that roller coaster.
So, by Heavenly Father revealing His Gospel in every dispensation really what He is doing is warning us of dangerous places and pointing us to the only path that will give us everlasting joy. The Gospel is in a sense directions on how to take full advantage of the greatest gift of all - the Atonement.
Now that we've talked about that you might have a couple of questions number one being, what in the world is a dispensation? A dispensation as defined by Webster is, "the act of dispensing or dealing out, distributing; distrubution..." Therefore a Gospel Dispensation is a time period in which God distributes the Gospel of Jesus Christ to mankind.
Hasn't the Gospel of Jesus Christ always been on the earth, I mean, we have had the Bible - the Word of God- for a long time. No, there have been periods of general apostasy peppered throughout history. Although the Bible and other scriptures are important, more important is the Spirit of God - which testifies and reveals truth. Without the Spirit of God scriptures are just books filled with black and white words on a page.
Wait, what is general apostasy? Well let me define apostasy first; in the book True To The Faith it says, "When individuals or groups of people turn away from the principles of the gospel, they are in a state of apostasy." So I take that as saying when people are not following the commandments and direction given to them by the Spirit they are then in a state of apostasy. General apostasy would be when most people on the earth are in a state of apostasy, when this happens the Lord retracts His prophets and His priesthood.
I think it is interesting to tie this together: an era of apostasy is when the Spirit of God holds itself back from the knowledge of mankind because they are in a state of apostasy, a state of wickedness, where the Spirit cannot dwell.
So, what does Moses and other prophets have to do with this dispensation and apostasy thing? Prophets are given the priesthood - the power and authority given to man to act in God's name for the salvation of His children - and are taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ through revelation. These prophets are then charged with teaching the Gospel to others, prophets are the way God reveals His Gospel in every dispensation.
When there isn't a prophet on the earth the priesthood is also not on the earth, at that time.
But in truth the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the plan designed by our Heavenly Father to let us obtain joy, we call this the Plan of Happiness or the Plan of Salvation. At the center of this plan, the key element, is the Atonement - an eternal sacrifice provided by the Only One Who Could, even Jesus Christ.
Commandments are a part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ because they guide us to make the decisions, that in God's eternal wisdom has been recognized to produce eternal happiness.
With my Disneyland theme, if I told you a roller coaster had a few loose bolts and some compromised track and then proceeded to explain that even though the roller coaster was painted in amazing, sparkly red paint it was about to collapse to the ground I don't think you would be angry at me to command -which truly is just a very sincere plea with consequences- you not to go on that roller coaster.
So, by Heavenly Father revealing His Gospel in every dispensation really what He is doing is warning us of dangerous places and pointing us to the only path that will give us everlasting joy. The Gospel is in a sense directions on how to take full advantage of the greatest gift of all - the Atonement.
Now that we've talked about that you might have a couple of questions number one being, what in the world is a dispensation? A dispensation as defined by Webster is, "the act of dispensing or dealing out, distributing; distrubution..." Therefore a Gospel Dispensation is a time period in which God distributes the Gospel of Jesus Christ to mankind.
Hasn't the Gospel of Jesus Christ always been on the earth, I mean, we have had the Bible - the Word of God- for a long time. No, there have been periods of general apostasy peppered throughout history. Although the Bible and other scriptures are important, more important is the Spirit of God - which testifies and reveals truth. Without the Spirit of God scriptures are just books filled with black and white words on a page.
Wait, what is general apostasy? Well let me define apostasy first; in the book True To The Faith it says, "When individuals or groups of people turn away from the principles of the gospel, they are in a state of apostasy." So I take that as saying when people are not following the commandments and direction given to them by the Spirit they are then in a state of apostasy. General apostasy would be when most people on the earth are in a state of apostasy, when this happens the Lord retracts His prophets and His priesthood.
I think it is interesting to tie this together: an era of apostasy is when the Spirit of God holds itself back from the knowledge of mankind because they are in a state of apostasy, a state of wickedness, where the Spirit cannot dwell.
So, what does Moses and other prophets have to do with this dispensation and apostasy thing? Prophets are given the priesthood - the power and authority given to man to act in God's name for the salvation of His children - and are taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ through revelation. These prophets are then charged with teaching the Gospel to others, prophets are the way God reveals His Gospel in every dispensation.
When there isn't a prophet on the earth the priesthood is also not on the earth, at that time.
We have now set a few basic beliefs into play and a few definitions:
- Prophets mark a dispensation, with them the priesthood is established on the earth.
- Prophets are taught, by revelation, the gospel and then they go teach others.
- Apostasy occurs when people don't abide by the principles of the gospel, preached by prophets.
- When general apostasy occurs the Spirit withdraws itself, prophets and the priesthood are taken back, thus ending a dispensation.
- When people turn their hearts towards God a Gospel Dispensation is a able to resume.
- The Gospel contains direction and the plan Heavenly Father has set up for us to be successful and happy, with the purpose of returning to His presence.
- At the center of the Gospel is the Atonement.
- Commandments are there to warn us of danger and point us on our way to eternal joy.
- We are now in the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times, the last dispensation... we will never again have the gospel taken away.
- And to think it all started with one prayer of a 14 year old boy.
0 noted ponderings:
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