lesson 3: the plan of salvation
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Lesson 3: The Plan of Salvation. The Basics. Other Christian Faiths. This is what happens without modern revelation. Satan slowly removes parts of the plan over time, through wicked men and false prophets Resurrection is the latest victim. Modern Christianity views Heaven as the end. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Lesson 3: The Plan of Salvation
The Basics
Other Christian Faiths
This is what happens without modern revelation
• Satan slowly removes parts of the plan over time, through wicked men and false prophets
• Resurrection is the latest victim. Modern Christianity views Heaven as the end.
• How much do we take for granted, seeing the whole picture?
• Certainly the best missionary tool; people simply understand it
“As scientists, we can understand a great deal about when things happened, where they happened, how long they took… but science is completely silent on the subject of the Who and the why of creation. There is no way that you can answer those questions from observation.”
-Dr. John Lewis
Perspective• Viewing the world through one eye limits our
vision.• Science and religion are two independent
witnesses of the truth.
What is God’s Perspective?
“He comprehendeth all things, and all things are before him, and all things are round about him; and he is above all things, and in all things, and is through all things, and is round about all things; and all things are by him, and of him, even God, forever and ever.”
- D&C 88:41
Lael Woodbury, Dean at BYU• How does a blind man perceive an object?• How do we perceive music?
“Right now we perceive music in time as a blind man perceives form in space—sequentially. He explores with his fingers, noting form, texture, contours, rhythms. He holds each perception in his mind, one by one, carefully adding one to the other, until he synthesizes his concept of what that space object must be like. You and I don’t do that. We perceive a space object immediately. We simply look at it, and to a certain degree we ‘know’ it. We do [not] go through a one-by-one, sequential, additive process. We perceive that it is, and we are able to distinguish it from any other object.”
How does God perceive time?
“I’m suggesting that God perceives time as instantaneously as we perceive space. For us, time is difficult. Lacking higher facility, we are as blind about time as a sightless man is about space. We perceive time in the same way that we perceive music—sequentially. We explore rhythm, pitch,amplitude, texture, theme, harmonies, parallels, and contrasts. And from our perceptions we synthesize our concept of the object or event—the musical artwork—that existed in its entirety before we began our examination of it.”
How does God perceive us?
“Equally complete now is each of our lives before the Lord. We explore them sequentially because we are time-blind. But the Lord, perceiving time as space, sees us as we are, not as we are becoming. We are, for him, beings without time. We are continually before him—the totality of our psyches, personalities, bodies, choices, and behaviors.”
Theory of Relativity Basics
• As a body (person, planet, star, etc) approaches the speed of light, that body’s time slows in relation to the body left behind.
• If a body achieved the speed of light, all space would be “here”, all time would be “now”.
• D&C 88:11-13
God is the Architect, Christ the Builder
“The three greatest events that ever have occurred or ever will occur in all eternity are these:
1. The creation of the heavens and the earth, of man, and of all forms of life;
2. The fall of man, of all forms of life, and of the earth itself from their primeval and paradisiacal state to their present mortal state; and
3. The infinite and eternal atonement, which ransoms man, all living things, and the earth also from their fallen state so that the salvation of the earth and of all living things may be completed.
These three divine events—the three pillars of eternity—are inseparably woven together into one grand tapestry known as the eternal plan of salvation.”
- Bruce R. McConkie
Notebook Ideas
• How does trusting in God and understanding His eternal perspective help you with your daily struggles?
• Why does Satan want to eliminate pieces of the plan from our view?
• How can you simply explain the Plan of Salvation to someone who has never heard it?