Friday, December 24, 2010

The First 4 Principles and Ordinances of the Gospel

Today I read Moroni 6, in this chapter Moroni tells us about how the Church was during his day and after Christ came. We have already talked about the importance of church meetings so today I thought we could talk about the first 4 principles and ordinances of the Gospel: Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, Repentance, Baptism by Immersion for the remission of sins, and the Gift of the Holy Ghost.

Moroni covers all 4 of these topics in this chapter, just not very extensively. The first principle of the restored Gospel is Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The reason this is the first principle is because if you do not have it, you will not do any of the others. Think about it, if you did not believe Jesus was out there and did not believe that there was something else after this life, then why do we care about going to church? We have to believe that Jesus is the Christ and that we are doing all of this for a reason otherwise it is all for naught, at least in our own minds.

Repentance is the second principle. It is next because, one faith without some kind of works is dead. We have to do something to demonstrate our faith in Jesus Christ and he asks us to come follow Him. Well, can we follow Him if we do not do what he asks? No, we cannot. We cannot be a follower of Him if we do not follow His teachings and do what He taught. Also, we have to repent of our sins because no unclean thing can enter into the Kingdom of God, nor, as we have discussed many times, would we desire to enter into His Kingdom unclean. We have to be clean in order come into His presence.

The first ordinance in the Gospel is Baptism by Immersion for the remission of sins. After we repent of our sins we are ready for the next step, to be baptized. We know from the Gospel of John that we must be baptized in order to enter into the Kingdom of God. Baptism is a commandment of God and even Jesus Christ was baptized in order to comply with that commandment during his mortal ministry. We are all commanded to be baptized in order to enter the kingdom. We baptize by immersion because that is how Jesus Christ himself was baptized and because that is the model He left for us to follow.

The second ordinance of the Gospel is the laying on of hand for the Gift of the Holy Ghost. This is perhaps the most important of the first 4 principles and ordinances and if it does not happen the others are done in vain. The reason I say this, is because it is this that cleanses us from our sins. The Holy Ghost's job is varied and many. However, His role immediately after baptism is to justify and sanctify us. He justifies us by making us worthy to stand in His presence. But it is the sanctification that we are concerned with at this point. To Sanctify something is to set it aside as holy essentially and in this instance it is my belief that it is the Holy Ghost, or the Baptism of Fire as He is sometimes referred to, the cleanses us from our sins at the time of our baptism, and not the baptism itself. I may be incorrect, but I do think that I am. Fire has long been used as a metaphor to talk about cleansing and purification. It is so here as well.

If we do not have these first 4 principles and ordinances in the Gospel then all our efforts are for naught. We need to continually have Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we need to repent of our sins each and every day. We need to renew our baptismal covenants each week by partaking of the sacrament worthily. And finally we need to invite the Holy Ghost into our lives to change our very natures and to sanctify us on a daily basis by living a pure and righteous life and, as Elder Bednar stated in his October 2010 conference talk, seeking daily after the companionship of the Holy Ghost.

As we strive to live these principles we are living the true and everlasting Gospel. All the rest is added on top of these, this is why they are the first, they are the foundation of all that follows. Master these and you will have nothing to worry about in the life to come! Until tomorrow.

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