D&C 76:30-39
76:30-36 - So far we've covered the glory, power, and majesty of Jesus Christ, and the fall of Satan. To me this demonstrates that Jesus Christ is our Savior, and that we are tempted because Lucifer wanted to become the Savior and he was not chosen, so he rebelled and was cast down to earth to become the opposition in all things. I wonder when exactly he realized that his rebellion was the missing piece in the puzzle of the plan of salvation, that by becoming the devil, he gave those who were faithful the opportunity to choose for themselves, thus enabling the plan of salvation to move forward. I wonder how upset he was when he realized that his dissension had been planned for from the beginning. Now the Lord begins talking about the Sons of Perdition, which is a concept that I haven't really understood very well. The Lord talks about what requirements the sons of perdition must have fulfilled, "of whom I ay that it had been better for them never to have been born." These "are vessels of wrath, doomed to suffer the wrath of God, with the devil and his angels n eternity; Concerning whom I have said there is no forgiveness in this world nor in the world to come." DJR points out 8 requirements stated in verses 31 and 35.
1. "Know my power"
2. "Been made partakers thereof"
3. "Suffered themselves through the power of the devil to be overcome"
4. "Deny the truth"
5. "Defy my power"
6. "Denied the Holy Spirit after having received it"
7. "Denied the Only Begotten Son of the Father"
8. "Crucified him unto themselves and put him to an open shame."
This seems like such a complex list, but also one that seems easy to do. I feel like I did most of these things while I was inactive, and while I deliberately disobeyed God's commandments, but I feel like I've been able to repent and that I've been forgiven. Surely I've been able to have the Spirit with me again and have grown spiritually. I feel like all punishment that we receive is a choice, a choice to commit the sin and a choice to refuse to repent. I feel like, because I've chosen to repent, then I am not a son of perdition, if that makes sense. I feel very strongly that the sons of perdition aren't those who are sorely sorry for what they did and are begging for a chance to repent and the Lord says no. I believe firmly that the sons of perdition are those who refuse to repent, even though every opportunity has been presented to them to do so. I feel that those in the lower two kingdoms are those who don't want to put in the effort to live celestial law. I feel that where we end up is a choice and that whatever we choose the Lord will allow us to get there, either because of his help, or in spite of it. So I don't think that simply going inactive is grounds for perdition, even conscientiously disobeying the commandments is grounds, because of the opportunity to repent. DJR gives an excellent perspective by quoting Brigham Young as teaching, "How much does it take to prepare a man, or woman... to become angels to the devil, to suffer with him through all eternity? Just as much as it does to prepare a man to go into the Celestial Kingdom, into the presence of the Father and the Son, and to be made an heir to his kingdom, and be browned with browns of glory, immortality, and eternal lives." I really liked that, because I think that if our eternal existence could be thrown away in a simple, single mistake, which I think is something that Satan tells us can happen, then it would be easier for us to believe Satan when he tells us that we've gone too far, that we can't repent now because we've done too much wrong, we can't be forgiven. The IM teaches, "To become a son of perdition one must sin against the Holy Ghost, but before that is possible, one myst receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Elder Melvin J. Ballard explained that 'unto the Holy Ghost has been given the right and the privilege of manifesting the truth unto men as not other power will. So that when he makes a man see and know a thing he knows it better than he shall ever know anything else; and to sin against that knowledge is to sin against the greatest light there is, and consequently commit the greatest sin there is.' Elder Joseph Fielding Smith further explained why sin against the Holy Ghost is so serious: 'The Spirit of God speaking to the spirit of man has power to impart truth with greater effect and understanding than the truth can be imparted by personal contact even with heavenly beings. Through the Holy Ghost the truth is woven into the very fibre and sinews of the body so that it cannot be forgotten.' The Prophet Joseph Smith asked, concerning those who become sons of perdition, 'What must a man do to commit the unpardonable sin? He must receive the Holy Ghost, have the heavens opened unto him, and know God, and then sin against Him. After a man has sinned against the Holy Ghost, there is no repentance for him. He has got to say that the sun does not shine while he sees it; he has got to deny Jesus Christ when the heavens have been opened unto him, and to deny the plan of salvation with his eyes open to the truth of it; and from that time he begins to be an enemy. This is the case with many apostates of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.' Elder Spencer W. Kimball wrote: 'The sin against the Holy Ghost requires such knowledge that it is manifestly impossible for the rank and file to commit such a sin.' Of apostates who had committed the unpardonable sin, the Prophet Joseph Smith said: 'When a man begins to be an enemy to this work, he hunts me, he seeks to kill me, and never ceases to thirst for my blood. He gets the spirit of the devil- the same spirit that they had who crucified the Lord of Life- the same spirit that sins against the Holy ghost.' People do not come to such a state in a moment. Elder Joseph Fielding Smith described the path that some follow, which would cause them to hate God and his servants: 'The change of heart does not come all at once, but is due to transgression in some form, which continues to lurk in the soul without repentance, until the Holy Ghost withdraws, and then that man is left to spiritual darkness. Sin begets sin, the darkness grows until the love of truth turns to hatred and the love of God is overcome by the wicked desire to destroy all that s just and true. In this way Christ is put to open shame, and blasphemy exalted.' Such people have placed themselves outside the redemptive powers of Christ. They cannot partake of His mercy because they cannot incline themselves to repent, having totally lost the Spirit of God. THeir sin 'is an offense so heinous that the sinner is unable to repent; and this is what makes his case hopeless. If he could repent, he could be forgiven, but being incapable of repentance, he cannot be reached by the pardoning power.' In the realms of perdition or the kingdom of darkness, where there is no light, Satan and the unembodied spirits of the pre-existence shall dwell together with those of mortality who retrogress to the level of perdition. These have lost the power of regeneration. They have sunk so low as to have lost the inclinations and ability to repent.'" The IM asks, "How might anyone 'crucify' the Only Begotten Son of the Father and 'Put HIm to an open shame'?" And answers saying, "Elder Bruce R. McConkie stated that 'commission of the unpardonable sin consists in crucifying unto oneself the Son of God afresh and putting him to open shame. To commit this unpardonable crime a man must receive the gospel, gain from the Holy Ghost by revelation the absolute knowledge of the divinity of CHrist, and then deny 'the new and everlasting covenant by which he was sanctified, calling it an unholy thing, and doing despite to the Spirit of grace.' He thereby commits murder by assenting unto the Lord's death, that is, having a perfect knowledge of the truth he comes out in open rebellion and places himself in a position wherein he would have crucified Christ knowing perfectly the while that he was the Son of God. Christ is thus crucified afresh and put to open shame.' Concerning the degree to which such people become willed with the spirit of Satan, Elder Charles W. Penrose said: 'Those who have followed (Satan) so that they become imbued with his spirit, which is the spirit of destruction, in opposition to the spirit which brings life, are his. The spirit of murder enters their hearts; they are ready to put to death even the Son of God, if His existence in life comes in their way.' The scriptures sometimes use the phrase 'shedding innocent blood' in reference to the actions of those in this condition. President Joseph FieldingSmith explained that the shedding of innocent blood is not confined to take lives of the innocent, but is also included in seeking to destroy the word of God and putting Christ to open shame. Those who have known the truth and then fight against the authorized servants of Jesus Christ also fight against Him, and thus are guilty of His blood. 'Shedding innocent blood is spoken of in the scriptures as consenting to the death of Jesus Christ and putting him to open shame.'" So we see that in order to be eligible to become a son of perdition, one has to have a perfect knowledge of Christ, and then decide to turn against him. This is comforting to me because I myself make many mistakes and it's nice to know that as long as I'm moving in the right direction, I'm not going to become a daughter of perdition. I also have many people that I know and deeply love who have or might at some point fall away from the church, and not just go inactive, but actually disagree with doctrine and the prophets. This hurts my heart, but it's comforting to me to know that they can learn and grow too, and repent even though their time away will be painful.
76:37-39 - These who sin against the light are "the only ones on whom the second death shall have any power. Yea, verily, the only ones who shall not be redeemed in the due time of the Lord, after the sufferings of his wrath."" DJR says that these are "the only ones who will not have at least some degree of glory and be free from Satan forever." Those who will have to pay for their own sins because they refuse to repent and accept the suffering of the Lord for them, and because of that, they will suffer for their own sins, and then still be cast into outer darkness. But for those of us who are not sons of perdition, or as the Lord puts it "for all the rest shall be brought forth by the resurrection of the dead, through the triumph and the glory of the Lamb." The IM teaches, "The term second death as used here refers to the spiritual death that will come upon those sons of perdition who have been resurrected. Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote: 'Spiritual death is to be cast out of the presence of the Lord, to die as to the things of righteousness, to die as to the things of the Spirit. Spirit beings as such never die in the sense of annihilation or in the sense that their spirit bodies are disorganized; rather, they continue to live to all eternity either as spirits or as resurrected personages... Eventually, all are redeemed from spiritual death except those who have 'sinned unto death,' that is, those who are destined to be sons of perdition. John teaches this by saying that after death and hell have delivered up the dead which are in them, then death and hell shall be 'cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.' And thus the Lord said in our day that the sons of perdition are 'the only ones on whom the second death shall have any power,' meaning any power after the resurrection.'" President George Q. Cannot explained: 'A careful reading of these verses,... and especially of the preceding paragraphs, will show that the Lord does not, in this language, exclude even the sons of perdition from the resurrection. It is plain that the intention is to refer to them explicitly as the only ones on whom the second death shall have any power: 'for all the rest shall be brought forth by the resurrection of the dead, through the triumph and the glory of the Lamb.' This excluded class are the only ones on whom the second death shall have any power, and 'the only ones who shall not be redeemed in the due time of the Lord, after the suffering of his wrath.' This is by no means to say that they are to have no resurrection. Jesus our Lord and Savior died for all, and all will be resurrected- good and bad, white and black, people of every race, whether sinners or not; and no matter how great their sins may be, the resurrection of their bodies is sure. Jesus had died for them, and they all will be redeemed from the grace through the atonement which he has made.'"
1. "Know my power"
2. "Been made partakers thereof"
3. "Suffered themselves through the power of the devil to be overcome"
4. "Deny the truth"
5. "Defy my power"
6. "Denied the Holy Spirit after having received it"
7. "Denied the Only Begotten Son of the Father"
8. "Crucified him unto themselves and put him to an open shame."
This seems like such a complex list, but also one that seems easy to do. I feel like I did most of these things while I was inactive, and while I deliberately disobeyed God's commandments, but I feel like I've been able to repent and that I've been forgiven. Surely I've been able to have the Spirit with me again and have grown spiritually. I feel like all punishment that we receive is a choice, a choice to commit the sin and a choice to refuse to repent. I feel like, because I've chosen to repent, then I am not a son of perdition, if that makes sense. I feel very strongly that the sons of perdition aren't those who are sorely sorry for what they did and are begging for a chance to repent and the Lord says no. I believe firmly that the sons of perdition are those who refuse to repent, even though every opportunity has been presented to them to do so. I feel that those in the lower two kingdoms are those who don't want to put in the effort to live celestial law. I feel that where we end up is a choice and that whatever we choose the Lord will allow us to get there, either because of his help, or in spite of it. So I don't think that simply going inactive is grounds for perdition, even conscientiously disobeying the commandments is grounds, because of the opportunity to repent. DJR gives an excellent perspective by quoting Brigham Young as teaching, "How much does it take to prepare a man, or woman... to become angels to the devil, to suffer with him through all eternity? Just as much as it does to prepare a man to go into the Celestial Kingdom, into the presence of the Father and the Son, and to be made an heir to his kingdom, and be browned with browns of glory, immortality, and eternal lives." I really liked that, because I think that if our eternal existence could be thrown away in a simple, single mistake, which I think is something that Satan tells us can happen, then it would be easier for us to believe Satan when he tells us that we've gone too far, that we can't repent now because we've done too much wrong, we can't be forgiven. The IM teaches, "To become a son of perdition one must sin against the Holy Ghost, but before that is possible, one myst receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Elder Melvin J. Ballard explained that 'unto the Holy Ghost has been given the right and the privilege of manifesting the truth unto men as not other power will. So that when he makes a man see and know a thing he knows it better than he shall ever know anything else; and to sin against that knowledge is to sin against the greatest light there is, and consequently commit the greatest sin there is.' Elder Joseph Fielding Smith further explained why sin against the Holy Ghost is so serious: 'The Spirit of God speaking to the spirit of man has power to impart truth with greater effect and understanding than the truth can be imparted by personal contact even with heavenly beings. Through the Holy Ghost the truth is woven into the very fibre and sinews of the body so that it cannot be forgotten.' The Prophet Joseph Smith asked, concerning those who become sons of perdition, 'What must a man do to commit the unpardonable sin? He must receive the Holy Ghost, have the heavens opened unto him, and know God, and then sin against Him. After a man has sinned against the Holy Ghost, there is no repentance for him. He has got to say that the sun does not shine while he sees it; he has got to deny Jesus Christ when the heavens have been opened unto him, and to deny the plan of salvation with his eyes open to the truth of it; and from that time he begins to be an enemy. This is the case with many apostates of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.' Elder Spencer W. Kimball wrote: 'The sin against the Holy Ghost requires such knowledge that it is manifestly impossible for the rank and file to commit such a sin.' Of apostates who had committed the unpardonable sin, the Prophet Joseph Smith said: 'When a man begins to be an enemy to this work, he hunts me, he seeks to kill me, and never ceases to thirst for my blood. He gets the spirit of the devil- the same spirit that they had who crucified the Lord of Life- the same spirit that sins against the Holy ghost.' People do not come to such a state in a moment. Elder Joseph Fielding Smith described the path that some follow, which would cause them to hate God and his servants: 'The change of heart does not come all at once, but is due to transgression in some form, which continues to lurk in the soul without repentance, until the Holy Ghost withdraws, and then that man is left to spiritual darkness. Sin begets sin, the darkness grows until the love of truth turns to hatred and the love of God is overcome by the wicked desire to destroy all that s just and true. In this way Christ is put to open shame, and blasphemy exalted.' Such people have placed themselves outside the redemptive powers of Christ. They cannot partake of His mercy because they cannot incline themselves to repent, having totally lost the Spirit of God. THeir sin 'is an offense so heinous that the sinner is unable to repent; and this is what makes his case hopeless. If he could repent, he could be forgiven, but being incapable of repentance, he cannot be reached by the pardoning power.' In the realms of perdition or the kingdom of darkness, where there is no light, Satan and the unembodied spirits of the pre-existence shall dwell together with those of mortality who retrogress to the level of perdition. These have lost the power of regeneration. They have sunk so low as to have lost the inclinations and ability to repent.'" The IM asks, "How might anyone 'crucify' the Only Begotten Son of the Father and 'Put HIm to an open shame'?" And answers saying, "Elder Bruce R. McConkie stated that 'commission of the unpardonable sin consists in crucifying unto oneself the Son of God afresh and putting him to open shame. To commit this unpardonable crime a man must receive the gospel, gain from the Holy Ghost by revelation the absolute knowledge of the divinity of CHrist, and then deny 'the new and everlasting covenant by which he was sanctified, calling it an unholy thing, and doing despite to the Spirit of grace.' He thereby commits murder by assenting unto the Lord's death, that is, having a perfect knowledge of the truth he comes out in open rebellion and places himself in a position wherein he would have crucified Christ knowing perfectly the while that he was the Son of God. Christ is thus crucified afresh and put to open shame.' Concerning the degree to which such people become willed with the spirit of Satan, Elder Charles W. Penrose said: 'Those who have followed (Satan) so that they become imbued with his spirit, which is the spirit of destruction, in opposition to the spirit which brings life, are his. The spirit of murder enters their hearts; they are ready to put to death even the Son of God, if His existence in life comes in their way.' The scriptures sometimes use the phrase 'shedding innocent blood' in reference to the actions of those in this condition. President Joseph FieldingSmith explained that the shedding of innocent blood is not confined to take lives of the innocent, but is also included in seeking to destroy the word of God and putting Christ to open shame. Those who have known the truth and then fight against the authorized servants of Jesus Christ also fight against Him, and thus are guilty of His blood. 'Shedding innocent blood is spoken of in the scriptures as consenting to the death of Jesus Christ and putting him to open shame.'" So we see that in order to be eligible to become a son of perdition, one has to have a perfect knowledge of Christ, and then decide to turn against him. This is comforting to me because I myself make many mistakes and it's nice to know that as long as I'm moving in the right direction, I'm not going to become a daughter of perdition. I also have many people that I know and deeply love who have or might at some point fall away from the church, and not just go inactive, but actually disagree with doctrine and the prophets. This hurts my heart, but it's comforting to me to know that they can learn and grow too, and repent even though their time away will be painful.
76:37-39 - These who sin against the light are "the only ones on whom the second death shall have any power. Yea, verily, the only ones who shall not be redeemed in the due time of the Lord, after the sufferings of his wrath."" DJR says that these are "the only ones who will not have at least some degree of glory and be free from Satan forever." Those who will have to pay for their own sins because they refuse to repent and accept the suffering of the Lord for them, and because of that, they will suffer for their own sins, and then still be cast into outer darkness. But for those of us who are not sons of perdition, or as the Lord puts it "for all the rest shall be brought forth by the resurrection of the dead, through the triumph and the glory of the Lamb." The IM teaches, "The term second death as used here refers to the spiritual death that will come upon those sons of perdition who have been resurrected. Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote: 'Spiritual death is to be cast out of the presence of the Lord, to die as to the things of righteousness, to die as to the things of the Spirit. Spirit beings as such never die in the sense of annihilation or in the sense that their spirit bodies are disorganized; rather, they continue to live to all eternity either as spirits or as resurrected personages... Eventually, all are redeemed from spiritual death except those who have 'sinned unto death,' that is, those who are destined to be sons of perdition. John teaches this by saying that after death and hell have delivered up the dead which are in them, then death and hell shall be 'cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.' And thus the Lord said in our day that the sons of perdition are 'the only ones on whom the second death shall have any power,' meaning any power after the resurrection.'" President George Q. Cannot explained: 'A careful reading of these verses,... and especially of the preceding paragraphs, will show that the Lord does not, in this language, exclude even the sons of perdition from the resurrection. It is plain that the intention is to refer to them explicitly as the only ones on whom the second death shall have any power: 'for all the rest shall be brought forth by the resurrection of the dead, through the triumph and the glory of the Lamb.' This excluded class are the only ones on whom the second death shall have any power, and 'the only ones who shall not be redeemed in the due time of the Lord, after the suffering of his wrath.' This is by no means to say that they are to have no resurrection. Jesus our Lord and Savior died for all, and all will be resurrected- good and bad, white and black, people of every race, whether sinners or not; and no matter how great their sins may be, the resurrection of their bodies is sure. Jesus had died for them, and they all will be redeemed from the grace through the atonement which he has made.'"
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