Today I read Ephesians 1 where Paul is talking to them about the doctrine of foreordination, or as he refers to it, predestination. I really wish that he did not use that term as it has caused nothing but trouble among Christians in years since that time, but what can you do, it's out there. We have talked about the correct and true doctrine of foreordination, perhaps which the best example of which can be found in Abraham 3. Foreordination of course is that doctrine that before we were born into this world, we were fore-ordained to do certain things for God and the church. Alma teaches us in Alma 13 that all men who receive the Melchizedek Priesthood were foreordained to do so before they were born into this world.
In actuality this is not a hard concept for most people to understand. It is just that the false doctrine of predestination has made it more difficult for some to understand the difference. Predestination is the idea that God has already saved and damned certain people, that no matter what we do, our fates are already sealed. Such doctrine is nonsense and is nothing more than an excuse for those who do not wish to live by the commandments of God. Of course it has appeal, it is basically a free license to do whatever it is you want. You can even commit murder and it won't matter because God has already decided your fate. You are either damned or saved and there is nothing you can do to sway that fate one way or the other. So for those who living the commandments of God is just too hard, it has tremendous appeal.
But such doctrine just proves how certain people do not understand the nature of God at all. If they did, they would reject such notions outright. They would understand that in order to be comfortable in God's presence we will need to be like He is. I know I have said this before, but I really don't understand how people can not understand that concept considering they are only comfortable around people like themselves in this life. I guess they really think the next life is going to be different in every conceivable way.
But we know that who we are will not change just because we no longer have a physical body. If our spirits could not conquer our body and its appetites in this life, we will not be able to in the next life is my understanding. The Book of Mormon, specifically Amulek and Alma, teach us that our spirit will still be the same in the next life, which is only logical to me. I once heard that after we die, before we meet Jesus, we still have the veil over our minds and the only thing that we know after death that we did not know before it, is that there definitely is life after death. The scoffers and the disbelievers will still scoff and will still disbelieve.
Nothing is set in stone, we know this. Everyone has the same opportunities that everyone else does. We can choose what it is we want and work towards it. God loves us enough to allow us to choose our own fate. And really, isn't that just about the greatest gift of all? It definitely is right up there with the Atonement, but it goes back to agency and the ability to choose in the first place. God loves us enough to let us go if that is our choice. He really is merciful and loving in every way. It's a shame that more people do not understand that. Until tomorrow.
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