PLAN OF SALVATION

Theory of God

Of LDS Christianity

Our Church’s Purpose in the Plan of Salvation 1/19/20

The Gospel of John tells us that John the Baptist and Jesus were baptizing people in separate groups, and notes as an aside that “(Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,)”. Then where does Jesus get his first disciples? John carefully answers that: two of John the Baptist’s disciples left to follow Jesus. So why did Jesus not baptize even one person? Certainly, Jesus had the keys and authority to do that which even the least of the priests here can do. And why does scripture bother to tell us that He did not? I hypothesize that Jesus could not baptize because he is not subject to the curses in the Garden of Eden. With God as His Father, Jesus is not subject to the curse on Adam. Unlike us, Jesus is not of this world.

To understand this, we must remember back to the curses in the Garden of Eden – events that my missionaries assured me actually happened. The first of the three curses was upon Lucifer who was renamed Satan. The war between Good and Evil began and we were made Satan’s lawful prey. The second curse was on Eve who was made to serve Adam and suffer in childbirth. The third, most important curse, was on Adam. He had opened our eyes to the knowledge of Good and Evil and made it possible for us to sin. For this priesthood transgression, he became mortal and forever dead. These curses were to be passed down from generation to generation as an eternal blemish onto all of us who are descended from Adam and Eve. These three curses were made irrevocable by the Father.

Justice demands repayment. But, as shown in the Law of Moses, mercy provides that transgressions may be repaid by substitution of a sacrificial being who is without blemish. In the preexistence, Jesus was chosen for this purpose as the Father’s Only Begotten and the Lamb of God. We were there and all agreed to accept Jesus as our Saviour and reject Lucifer. Because Jesus is the Father’s Only Begotten, he is descended from God – not from Adam. Therefore, only Eve’s blemish remained on Jesus at His birth. That blemish was removed when Jesus was born again or baptized by John the Baptist. Just as the 2000 Stripling warriors performed that which their fathers could not, so Jesus did what His Father could not: As an independent agent, Jesus’ sacrifice satisfied the Curse on Adam.

If Jesus could not baptize because He was not subject to Adam’s curse, perhaps, just as only Levites could be priests, so only those subject to the curse can perform the saving ordinances in the Temples on Earth. If that is so, we can understand why this Church is necessary. In the 1000 year millennium, ~100 billion souls must have all of the saving ordinances such as baptisms, sealings, and marriages performed by proxy in the Temples by the priesthood. If only those cursed in the Garden can serve as priests in the Temples, rather than the host of resurrected beings also present, that would explain why we need now to build the infrastructure of the Temples and establish the society which supports it. All of the meetings, the sabbaths, the scriptures, and the blessings of God on this land which allowed the Latter-Day Saint doctrines to prosper are means to this end. Ours is the only religion that claims this privilege. That is our purpose in the Plan of Salvation.

The Logic and Physics