“And if they be evil they are consigned to an awful view of their own guilt and abominations, which doth cause them to shrink from the presence of the Lord into a state of misery and endless torment, from whence they can no more return; therefore they have drunk damnation to their own souls.”
Mosiah 3:25
Drinking damnation sounds really vile... probably something we should avoid. Beyond that though, I think the idea here is that, in essence, damnation is a self-knowledge of our own evil. And if that is true, perhaps exaltation is the same. 2 Nephi 14 talks about having a “perfect knowledge” of enjoyment and righteousness, which seems to go along with this idea. In that respect, we really are setting up our own rewards throughout our lives by the choices we make... deciding whether to go to heaven or hell based on how we feel about ourselves. Kind of a frightening prospect actually, but something that I think fits with the scriptures really well. God is working to save us from the natural outcome of our own actions, and to do that, he has to get us to change our choices... there is no other way to get us to feel good about our own righteousness than to actually learn to be righteous.
Today, perhaps we should think a little about how we feel about ourselves, and how that might change in the presence of God and the restoration of our premortal memories. And if we want to be better than we are now, let’s jump in and get it done. Eternity sounds like a very long time to regret something.
Mosiah 3:25
Drinking damnation sounds really vile... probably something we should avoid. Beyond that though, I think the idea here is that, in essence, damnation is a self-knowledge of our own evil. And if that is true, perhaps exaltation is the same. 2 Nephi 14 talks about having a “perfect knowledge” of enjoyment and righteousness, which seems to go along with this idea. In that respect, we really are setting up our own rewards throughout our lives by the choices we make... deciding whether to go to heaven or hell based on how we feel about ourselves. Kind of a frightening prospect actually, but something that I think fits with the scriptures really well. God is working to save us from the natural outcome of our own actions, and to do that, he has to get us to change our choices... there is no other way to get us to feel good about our own righteousness than to actually learn to be righteous.
Today, perhaps we should think a little about how we feel about ourselves, and how that might change in the presence of God and the restoration of our premortal memories. And if we want to be better than we are now, let’s jump in and get it done. Eternity sounds like a very long time to regret something.
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