Tuesday, June 12, 2018

Mosiah 16:10-11 -- On Immortality, Happiness, and Damnation

"Even this mortal shall put on immortality, and this corruption shall put on incorruption, and shall be brought to stand before the bar of God, to be judged of him according to their works whether they be good or whether they be evil—
If they be good, to the resurrection of endless life and happiness; and if they be evil, to the resurrection of endless damnation, being delivered up to the devil, who hath subjected them, which is damnation—"
Mosiah 16:10-11


The becoming immortal and incorruptible part here is awesome, and the idea of resurrection and endless life and happiness.  It is less awesome to read about the other option... the reward for evil, which is being subject to the devil and being delivered to damnation.

I think damnation *should* be scary.  After all, it is something that we need to work hard to avoid.  However, I think the important thing to remember is that it is not *arbitrary.*  We can choose, and we have the ability to avoid damnation (or actually God has the ability to save us, but we have the ability to call upon God, and to get his help to change, which is necessary to our salvation).

Sometimes we risk damnation because we have a favorite sin, and we think God will understand our tiny, private vice.  The thing is, God doesn't look on sin with any degree of allowance.  It isn't because he is a bully, but because he knows better than we do.  When we ask God to keep a sin or two it is just like a kindergartner asking her mom if she could just drink a little bit out of the bottle marked poison.  Sure, the mom might *understand* why the kid finds the bottle fascinating, or why the child might wants to do something that is forbidden, but she is NEVER going to agree to it.  ... Similarly, God is trying to *save* us.  He won't allow sin because it is poisoning us and hurting us in ways that we don't even realize.

Today, let's work on preparing to stand before the bar of God, and be sure that we are choosing the "endless life and happiness" option rather than the "damnation" option.  Let's avoid the poison of sin, and look to God for help changing our ways.

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