The Plan of Salvation

This semester in school I am taking a New Testament class that focuses on the Four Gospels.  I attended class the first day expecting to get an overview of the four gospels and their differences.  However, much to my surprise that was not the topic of discussion. Instead, we focused on The Plan of Salvation.  All my life, I’ve seen the traditional diagram used to teach the Plan of Salvation with the three circles, a line for judgement, and then three more circles for the kingdoms of glory.  My professor affectionately called this the “Real Estate” version of the plan of salvation because it teaches us where we are. This version is effective in teaching us where we are, but it does not focus on the key that makes the plan possible – the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ.  My professor, Brother Griffin, taught the plan using a little different of a model – one using a dotted line. He explained that when we are on the dotted line, we are either with or like God.  He explained that because of the Fall, both physical and spiritual death were introduced.  If it were just up to us and our own power, it would be impossible to overcome either of those deaths. However, Jesus Christ was willing to come and sacrifice himself for us. By performing the atonement, he conquered both spiritual and physical death.  There is nothing that we can do to forfeit that gift, as Mormon 9: 13 explains: “And because of the redemption of man, which came by Jesus Christ, they are brought back into the presence of the Lord; yea, this is wherein all men are redeemed, because the death of Christ bringeth to pass the resurrection, which bringeth to pass a redemption from an endless sleep, from which sleep all men shall be awakened by the power of God when the trump shall sound; and they shall come forth, both small and great, and all shall stand before his bar, being redeemed and loosed from this eternal band of death, which death is a temporal death.”

Now that was quite a long introduction – but what exactly does that mean to you and me?  Because the Savior performed the atonement, we are all going to be saved and brought back into the presence of God.  Growing up in our day and age, there is a strong sense of perfectionism in the Church – that we have to be perfect or else there’s nothing that we can do.  I know I have fallen victim to this and this helped realize how flawed that is.  The Lord came to save everyone – not just those that are perfectly obedient, because there isn’t anyone like that.  I am going to focus on remembering this when times get tough, and I urge everyone reading this to do the same.  I also believe that we need to remember the Lord in the Plan of Salvation – we need to change the way we think of it.  If it weren’t for Him, none of us even hope to get back to the presence of God, but because of Him we will all be resurrected and return to our Heavenly Parents.