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Our Fallen Condition

Our Fallen Condition

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Our Fallen Condition

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  1. Our Fallen Condition We have been sent to a fallen world, a scene abounding in uncertainty, death, & disease. We have inherited a world of misery and woe where hard things happen and innocent people suffer. It is a landscape filled with contradictions, irony, and injustice. Yet, we suppose that fallen worlds have always been designed to try men’s souls. Additionally, Satan is here and “goeth about as a lion seeking whom he may devour.” The battles which rage among mankind do not compare to the battles that rage within mankind, for we have inherited fallen bodies with carnal cravings, sensual inclinations, and devilish desires. When these are mixed into a mortal scene teeming with temptations and swirling with sinful stimulus beckoning each of us down forbidden paths, we truly stand “in jeopardy every hour” (1 Cor. 15:30). All of this—the uncertainty and suffering, the contradictions and injustice, the temptations and enticements of the flesh—creates a context of struggle wherein we are to gain the mastery and to come off conquerors. We have, in essence, been sent to enemy territory with this one grand imperative command from our Father ringing in our ears: “Overcome the World.”

  2. Principles: • Redemption is through the Atonement of Christ • We access the power of the Atonement of Christ by making and keeping covenants. • The temple reverses the effects of the Fall and helps us to regain God’s presence. Just as the Fall cast us out of God’s presence, the Atonement and temple help us to regain God’s presence. As we keep our temple covenants we gain access to the full power of Christ’s atonementand are able to ultimately overcome the world.

  3. Text Redemption from the Fall

  4. “When Adam fell, it was as if the human race had fallen into a pit, from which they were powerless, by any act of their own, to emerge; having no means whereby to climb up and out, and not even knowing how to climb [or that they even need to]…. To Eden To Eternal Life 

  5. To Eden To Eternal Life 

  6. What is our common inheritance in “the pit” of mortality? Moses 6:48-49 To Eden To Eternal Life  • We will all Die • Partake of Misery & Woe • Satan is here • Temptations abound • Carnal, Sensual, Devilish • Shut Out from God

  7. Text The Fall = Cut off from God’s Presence

  8. The Atonement = Regaining God’s Presence Text

  9. The Presence of God (Celestial)

  10. Paradisiacal State (Terrestrial)

  11. Lone and Dreary World (Telestial)

  12. Moses 5:4 What question do you think they asked?

  13. Text

  14. The somewhat gruesome nature of blood sacrifice has led some people to ask, “How could such an activity have anything to do with the gospel of love?” M. Russell Ballard Quorum of the Twelve (CES Symposium on the New Testament, 13 August 1996)

  15. Text Moses 5:6-8

  16. Animal Sacrifice The Sacrament

  17. Our Only Hope

  18. Lone and Dreary World (Telestial)

  19. What’s the Turning Point? The Offering of a Lamb

  20. Repentance means “a turning of the heart and will to God, and a renunciation of sin to which we are naturally inclined…. Repentance is not optional for salvation; it is a commandment of God.” Bible Dictionary “Repentance” (p. 760-761) “Repentance requires spiritual dominion over appetites of the flesh.” Russell M. Nelson Quorum of the Twelve (BYUSpeeches, 29 March 1987)

  21. “Real, personal sacrifice never was placing an animal on the altar. Instead, it is a willingness to put the animal in us upon the altar and letting it be consumed!” Neal A. Maxwell Quorum of the Twelve (Ensign, May 1995, 68)

  22. Natural Man

  23. “How is it that we show the Lord that we have symbolically put ourselves upon today’s sacrificial altar?… “When we overcome our own selfish desires and put God first in our lives and covenant to serve him regardless of the cost, then we are living the law of sacrifice.” M. Russell Ballard Quorum of the Twelve (CES Symposium on the New Testament, 13 August 1996)

  24. How to Regain God’s Presence • (Recap of Moses 5:5-8) • Worship the Lord God (Law of Obedience) • “Ye are the servant of whom ye choose to obey” (Rom. 6:16) • “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15) • Law of Sacrifice • Repent • Call upon God in the name of the Son

  25. Enoch adds significant details to this account: Moses 6:50-52 What do we call the combined elements of verse 52?

  26. 3 Nephi 27 The Law of the Gospel

  27. The Law of the Gospel: A Pattern of Living M. Russell Ballard (Quorum of the Twelve) “The doctrine of faith in Christ, repentance, making and renewing and keeping covenants, and being directed by the Spirit will become a pattern of living. Our actions in daily life are shaped and governed by these doctrinal principles.” (CES Fireside for Young Adults, November 7, 2010, Brigham Young University) Preach My Gospel “Faith in Christ; repentance; making, renewing, and keeping covenants; and being cleansed by the Spirit become a pattern of living. Our actions in daily life are shaped and governed by these principles. Peace and joy come from following this way,and we gradually grow in Christlike attributes.” (Preach My Gospel, p.66)

  28. The Law of the Gospel

  29. Adam’s Question— Moses 6:53 God’s Answer— Moses 6:54-62

  30. Part 1: Why do we need to Repent? Moses 6:54-57

  31. “[C]hildren are conceived in sin: meaning first, that they are conceived into a world of sin, and second, that conception is the vehicle by which the effects of the Fall (not the original transgression, which God has forgiven) are transmitted to Adam's posterity. To say that we are not punished for the transgression is not to say that we are not subject to and affected by it.... Robert Millet LDS Scholar (Life in Christ, p. 24-25)

  32. “Adam's fallen nature is passed on to his children and thereby from generation to generation. Thus sin is implanted in man's nature at conception, just as death is implanted at the same time. Both of these—death and sin—are present only in seed form at conception, and therefore a child is neither dead nor sinful when born. Death and sin do, however, come to pass as a result of man's nature as he grows up. Sin comes naturally, just as does death.” Robert Millet LDS Scholar (Life in Christ, p. 24-25)

  33. Part 2: Why do we need to be Baptized? Moses 6:58-60

  34. “By the Water ye keep the Commandment” “[God] could have set up rules in His kingdom whereby a nod, a handclasp, a kiss or a signature, could have been the entrance requirement, into the Kingdom, instead of baptism, but He did not.” Spencer W. Kimball Quorum of the Twelve (Jan. 16, 1963, BYU Speeches of the Year, 13)

  35. “By the Spirit ye are Justified…”

  36. If you have felt the influence of the Holy Ghost during this day, or even this evening, you may take it as evidence that the Atonement is working in your life. Henry B. Eyring Quorum of the Twelve (CES Fireside, September 10, 2006 BYU)

  37. “The cleansingpowerof our Savior’s Atonement is renewed for us as we partake of the sacrament.” Dallin H. Oaks Quorum of the Twelve (Ensign, Nov 1998, 37)

  38. “The renewal of our covenants by partaking of the sacrament should … be preceded by repentance, so we come to that sacred ordinance with a broken heart and a contrite spirit (see 2 Ne. 2:7; 3 Ne. 12:19; D&C 59:8).” Dallin H. Oaks Quorum of the Twelve (“Always Have His Spirit”, Ensign, November 1996, p.59)

  39. “Let everyone who is guilty of sins they have not repented of … refuse to partake of that bread, also of that water … until they have repented;… for unless you do, you shall drink damnation to yourselves, until you make restitution. I do not care who the persons are.” Heber C. Kimball First Presidency (J of D, 4:81)

  40. “By the Blood ye are Sanctified.”

  41. “[E]verythingin the temple is founded in the Atonement.” Robert D. Hales Quorum of the Twelve (Return: Four Phases of Our Mortal Journey Home, p. 246-247) “The basis for every temple ordinance and covenant—the heart of the plan of salvation—is the Atonement of Jesus Christ.” Russell M. Nelson Quorum of the Twelve ("Personal Preparation for Temple Blessings," Ensign, May 2001, 32)

  42. How Do We Gain Access to the Power of the Atonement of Christ? Articles of Faith 1:3

  43. Let’s Review!

  44. How to Regain God’s Presence • (Recap of Moses 5:5-8; 6:50-68) • Law of Obedience • Law of Sacrifice • Law of the Gospel • Believe • Repent • Be baptized • Receive the Holy Ghost • Call upon God in the name of the Son • Enter into “the Order” of the Son of God • Receive all of the Temple Ordinances

  45. “To enter into the order of the Son of God is the equivalent today of entering into the fullness of the Melchizedek Priesthood, which is only received in the house of the Lord…. “Adam and his descendants entered into the priesthood order of God. Today we would say they went to the House of the Lord and received their blessings.” Ezra Taft Benson (Ensign, Aug. 1985, pp. 6-10)

  46. How to Regain God’s Presence • (Recap of Moses 5:5-8; 6:50-68) • Law of Obedience • Law of Sacrifice • Law of the Gospel • Believe • Repent • Be baptized • Receive the Holy Ghost • Call upon God in the name of the Son • Enter into “the Order” of the Son of God • Receive all of the Temple Ordinances

  47. Ancient Temple Pattern

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