Plan of Salvation — Prepare to Learn activity in Branch 26
- THE PLAN OF SALVATION
Prepare-to-learn activity, Branch 26, Provo Missionary Training Center
Please read and seek to understand the following explanations and scriptures:
- Atonement of Jesus: To atone means to suffer the penalty for an act of sin, thereby removing the effects of sin from the repentant sinner and allowing them to be reconciled to God. Jesus suffered in Gethsemane and on the cross. He was the only one capable of making a perfect Atonement for all mankind. He suffered the penalty for our sins and died on the Cross. He took upon Himself the pains, sicknesses, temptations, afflictions, and infirmities of us all (read Alma 7:11-12).
- Exaltation: We are exalted when we become like our Heavenly Father and live in His presence as members of His family. President Nelson has taught that to be exalted refers to the highest state of happiness and glory in the celestial realm. Exaltation comes through the Atonement of Jesus and through obedience to all the laws and ordinances of the Gospel. Find a scripture that emphasizes this.
- Fall of Adam and Eve: When Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, they became mortal, subject to sin and death. Adam became the ‘first flesh’ upon the earth (Moses 3:7). The Fall was a blessing and Adam and Eve should be honored as the first parents of all mankind. Find verses in 2 Nephi 2 that relate.
- Immortality: This term refers to living forever in a resurrected state and not being subject to physical death.
- Judgment: God and Jesus will judge us individually to determine the eternal glory we will receive. This judgment will be based on our obedience to God’s commandments, including our acceptance of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus. We will receive our eternal reward based on whether our works and desire have been good or evil. Find a wonderful Book of Mormon scripture that teaches this doctrine.
- Mortality: This is the time of our eternal existence from mortal birth until physical death.
- Physical death: This occurs when our spirit, which is eternal and cannot die, is separated from our physical body. What doctrine is found in Alma 40 that emphasizes this truth?
- Premortal life: Other terms for this are premortal existence and pre-earth life. As spirit children of our Father in Heaven, we lived in His presence before we were born on this earth. In premortal life, we did not have physical bodies.
- Redemption: To redeem is to deliver, to purchase, or to ransom, such as to free a person from bondage by payment. In the gospel, redemption refers to the Atonement of Jesus and to deliverance from sin. Jesus’ Atonement redeems all mankind from physical death, and for those who have faith in Him and repent, it redeems from spiritual death. Find a great Book of Mormon scripture that teaches this truth.
- Resurrection: Resurrection is the reuniting of the spirit body with the physical body of flesh and bone, after death has occurred. After resurrection, the spirit and body will never again be separated, and the person is immortal. Every person born on earth will be resurrected because Jesus overcame death.
- Salvation: Salvation is being saved from physical and spiritual death. The second and third Articles of Faith teach that men will be punished for their own sins and that through the Atonement of Jesus, all mankind may be saved by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel. All people will be saved from physical death by the grace of God and the effects of Jesus’ Atonement. This salvation is universal. However, salvation from spiritual death is conditional, based upon living in obedience to the commandments of the Savior and the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.
- Spiritual death: This term refers to being separated from God and His influences, or to dying as to things pertaining to righteousness. The Fall of Adam and Eve introduced spiritual death into the world. Through the Atonement, this death can be overcome. Study Alma 42:6-7 and 2 Nephi 9:39 to find out how.
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