Is God losing the War?

This was a question posed in class on Sunday. At first I was confused what the Instructor was talking about. How could you think God was losing the war? The answer is clearly No, God is not losing the war and then it hit me. The instructor views winning differently than me and then something at the back of my mind, that has seemed odd to me for many years, became very clear.

In Moses 1:39 it states, “For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” It has always seemed odd to me that both immortality and eternal life are included because to me eternal life requires immortality and thus restating the obvious, which is a common thing in the scripture, but as I’ve looked more into those seeming repeats I have found recently that they are not repeats at all. For example, the last one I looked at was, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth” from Genesis 9:1 and other scriptures. God is NOT saying, have babies, have babies, and have more babies, but that is a topic for another time.

It was apparent to me that the instructor thinks that if the majority of Gods children here on Earth do not obtain Eternal life then God is losing the war. That thing that hit me was that in declaring what his work is; he is telling the spectrum of what he is going to do for man. Through Christ’s resurrection, all of God’s children will be resurrected, and in that regard the enemy has already lost, the only thing to determine is how badly.

Often as members of the LDS church since the existence of the church is to help people come unto Christ so they can receive Eternal Life in the Celestial Kingdom we forget that God has also prepared other Kingdoms of Glories for those that never obtain Eternal life. The battle is already over the war of the whole is over, the only thing left is the battle over the individual.

How much are we willing to turn over our wills to Gods so that he my work a truly marvels work and a wonder in us. This battle over the individual is raging on for each of us living and dead, until the second estate is completed and we receive of that first unconditional gift, The Resurrection.

The Light of Christ and the Two Trees of the Garden of Eden

I have been studying the Light of Christ recently, and found that I see connections that have never before been so at the forefront of my mind. Let me give you some example of what I’ve been reading:

“. . . This is the light of Christ . . .Which light proceedeth forth from the presence of God to fill the immensity of space. The light which is in all things, which giveth life to all things, which is the law by which all things are governed, even the power of God who sitteth upon his throne, who is in the bosom of eternity, who is in the midst of all things.”( D&C 88: 7,12-13)

In the following Light of Christ is referred to as the ‘Spirit of Jesus Christ’

“For the word of the Lord is truth, and whatsoever is truth is light, and whatsoever is light is Spirit, even the Spirit of Jesus Christ. And the Spirit giveth light to every man that cometh into the world; and the Spirit enlighteneth every man through the world, that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit. And every one that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit cometh unto God, even the Father. And the Father teacheth him of the covenant which he has renewed and confirmed upon you, which is confirmed upon you for your sakes, and not for your sakes only, but for the sake of the whole world.” (D&C 84:45-48)

TheLight of Christ – By Marion G. Romney

According to Marion G. Romney the Light of Christ has three stages:

Our Conscience which we receive at Birth

The Gift of the Holy Ghost

Our Calling and Election Made Sure or More Sure Word of Prophecy

The Light of Christ appears to be represented by the two trees in the Garden of Eden,

The Tree of Knowledge of good and evil or as stated above the Law by which all things are governed,

"For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God. . . And now, my brethren, seeing that ye know the light by which ye may judge, which light is the light of Christ, see that ye do not judge wrongfully; for with that same judgment which ye judge ye shall also be judged. Wherefore, I beseech of you, brethren,  that ye should search diligently in the light of Christ that ye may know good from evil; and if ye will lay hold upon every good thing, and condemn it not, ye certainly will be a child of Christ." (Moroni 7:16,18-19)

and the Tree of Life, ‘giveth life to all things’ (D&C 88:13).

 “And thus we see the great call of diligence of men to labor in the vineyards of the Lord; and thus we see the great reason of sorrow, and also of rejoicing—sorrow because of death and destruction among men, and joy because of the light of Christ unto life.” (Alma 28:14)

 “Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.” (Ephesians 5:14)

Power of God

“Wherefore, he is possessor of all things; for all things are subject unto him, both in heaven and on the earth, the life and the light, the Spirit and the power, sent forth by the will of the Father through Jesus Christ, his Son.” (D&C: 50:27)

“ . . . even the power of God who sitteth upon his throne, who is in the bosom of eternity, who is in the midst of all things.” (D&C 88:13)

These realizations concerning the Light of Christ alter my understanding of the events of the Garden of Eden, the divine roles of Women and Men, and the Plan of Salvation.

We have been taught that Women are the givers of life and that being a wife and mother is the greatest accomplishment for a woman.

“Not with standing she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.” (Timothy 2:15)

I would like to note that Eve did not give of the tree of life, it was the tree of knowledge of good and evil, it was the law that she gave unto Adam.

It is interesting to help Eve “. . . the Lord God, said: I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.” (Moses 4:22)

Her natural inclination was towards the law not life. Yet god has made women the bearers of children to educated them in the principles of life to understand its worth and value and given them the nurturing responsibilities, to teach the children good and evil and give them the law. “Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children.” (The Family aProclamation to the World) I think it important to point out that giving birth is not necessary to accomplish this task. Bearing up the children of god comes with pregnancy of course, but also caring for others, bearing up the burdens and spirits of god’s children is also included.

We often think of Adam as Lord over the whole earth.

” And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” (Genesis 1:26) 

Which would clearly point towards the law and the tree of knowledge of good and evil, but it wasn’t from Eve that Adam was created it was Eve from Adam.

“And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.” (Genesis 2:21-22)

It is the role of Man to bring fallen man back to the tree of life or eternal life through the ordinances of the gospel. “By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families.” (TheFamily a Proclamation to the World)

Men are to preside and take the lead in the home over gospel instruction because they have in general a propensity for weakness when it comes to the Law, yet they have a natural inclination towards life. Men are to provide for and protect their families because this sustains life for their families. I also must note it gets them out of the house so Mothers can teach the law by more perfect demonstration.

Now I’m sure it looks like I’m jumping all over the board with this, but here is where the pieced fit more perfectly together.

The Light of Christ is the Power of God, the power to Create Life and is given in its infant stages as a Conscience to every child brought into the world by woman. Yet the ordinances to bring the children of god to eternal life are administered through the power of god, the priesthood, to teach the law. The priesthood is a component of the Light of Christ. In Moroni 3:4 we read that:

"And after this manner did they ordain priests and teacher, according to the gifts and callings of god unto men; and they ordained them by the power of the Holy Ghost, which was in them"

And again

‘Every elder, priest, teacher, or deacon is to be ordained according to the gifts and callings of God unto him; and he is to be ordained by the power of the Holy Ghost, which is in the one who ordains him’ (D&C 20:60 emphasis added)

Each of the sexes has a responsibility for a portion of the Light of Christ The Light of Christ is the Plan of Salvation that comes from the Father, who is a Christ as well, through his Son with the assistance of the Holy Ghost as an administrator of the that light. The Plan is that all of god’s children might have the opportunity to gain in degrees as much of the light of Christ as necessary to become as Christ like as possible, Christ making up the difference along the way.

God knows each of us so perfectly he knows what we need to reach the potential he knows, yet we can’t even imagine,what lies in our capacity if we are only willing to walk in his paths and live as he directs.