Understanding Salvation: The Journey to the Celestial Kingdom

1. Romans 7-16

2. AM I SAVED?

3. salvation List everything a person needs to get to the Celestial Kingdom. (At what point did Jesus show up on your list? First? Last? In the middle?)

4. So… are you saved? (common question to be asked among Christians) Read Romans 10:9‑ ‑10. Many good Christians cite these verses as proof that they have been saved because they have sincerely confessed or declared that Jesus Christ is their Savior.

5. THE ROLE OF HOPE

6. Romans “In the geometry of restored theology, hope has a greater circumference than faith. If faith increases, the perimeter of hope stretches correspondingly” (Elder Neal A. Maxwell, November 1994).

7. Romans HOPE FAITH What if something is beyond our faith and our hope?

8. Romans Romans 4:17-19, 20-22

9. HOPE WORKS VIDEO LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=sSvwPj25Trk

10. THE LAW OF INHERITANCE

11. Romans 8 If you could inherit anyone’s possessions, whose possessions would you choose and why? Who typically inherits someone’s possessions? Romans 8:14–17 According to verse 17, what must God’s covenant children do to become joint-heirs with Christ?

12. Romans 8 Elder Jeffrey R. Holland: “Your Father in Heaven knows your name and knows your circumstance. He hears your prayers. He knows your hopes and dreams, including your fears and frustrations. And He knows what you can become through faith in Him. Because of this divine heritage you, along with all of your spiritual sisters and brothers, have full equality in His sight and are empowered through obedience to become a rightful heir in His eternal kingdom, an “[heir] of God, and joint-[heir] with Christ” [Romans 8:17]. Seek to comprehend the significance of these doctrines.” (“To Young Women,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2005, 28).

13. THE LAW OF LOVE

14. Love CompatibilityWhen would you break off your Relationship? There always seems to be Distress in the relationship You get Persecuted and made fun of because you’re with that person You get hungry and feel famished and your stomach growls when you see them They start to wear immodest clothing and look kindanaked. Someone pulls a sword and threatens you with death if you continue in the relationship That person dies - will your love endure forever? An angel tells you not to be with that person any more You are offered $10,000 by your parents to break it off You meet someone that’s a better height You find a new creature

15. Read Romans 8:35-39 Who’ll take the Son? (LINK: http://www.jaredstory.com/story_of_a_son.html

16. WORSHIP WITH OUR BODIES

17. Read Romans 12:1‑5 looking for the analogy Paul used. What do you think Paul meant when he wrote “present your bodies a living sacrifice … unto God”? 

18. What makes something valuable? Who made it.   Where it was made. How many were made. What it cost to make. Who made you? Where were you made? How many of you are there? What cost was involved? Romans 12:2

19. Snagged in a 2007 yard sale by a New York family for $3, the Chinese Ding bowl had sat on the family’s mantel until they decided to have it valued.  The Sotheby family sold this vase in 2013 for  $2.2 million.

20. THE LAW OFFENSE

21. Is it acceptable for a Latter-day Saint to: (1) follow a vegetarian diet? (2) eat chocolate? (3) wear shorts in public? (4) use technology on the Sabbath? (5) participate in holiday celebrations that are rooted in other religious or cultural traditions?

22. Romans 14:1–5  Some people observed no dietary restrictions. Others abstained from meat and ate only vegetables as a continuation of dietary laws under the law of Moses. In addition, some Church members chose to continue to observe Jewish customs, practices, and holidays. What problems do you think could have arisen within the Church as members made different personal decisions in these matters? See Romans 14:3 Council regarding personal preference vs church doctrine: Romans 14:10–13, 15,19, 21 How might Church members eating certain foods influence others to spiritually stumble? What truth can we learn from Paul’s instruction regarding our actions in matters not addressed by specific commandments?

23. THE PRE-EARTH LIFE

24. ROMANS 9-11: The Doctrine of Foreordination Read Romans 9:1‑5. Note the words adoption, glory, covenants, and promises. According to verse 4, who is promised these blessings? Why do you think they were chosen? How does vs 6 tie into this doctrine? Read Election of Grace in the BD, p. 662

25. True/False Some people were foreordained to do bad things.

26. Elder Bruce R McConkie “When we come into mortality, we bring the talents, capacities, and abilities acquired in our prior existence. Mozart composed and published sonatas when but eight years of age because he was born with musical talent. Melchizedek came into this world with such faith and spiritual capacity that “when a child he feared God, and stopped the mouths of lions, and quenched the violence of fire.” (JST, Gen. 14:26.) Cain, on the other hand, like Lucifer, was a liar from the beginning and was told in this life: “… thou shalt be called Perdition; for thou wast also before the world.” (Moses 5:24.) Ensign, May 1974, p.71

27. True/False If you were foreordained to do something, you will do it.

28. President Harold B. Lee “Do not misunderstand that a calling pre-determines what you must do…God may have called and chosen men in the spirit world to do a certain work, but whether they will accept that calling here is a matter in which it is their right and privilege to exercise agency. Hence as the Lord has said, ‘there are many called but few chosen.” Decisions for Successful Living, pp. 168-169

29. Elder Neal A. Maxwell “By reason of that surpassing knowledge, God reads the future; He knows what each of us will do under given conditions. His foreknowledge is based on intelligence and reason. He foresees the future as a state which naturally and surely will be.” The Great Apostasy, p. 20. James E. Talmage, Quoted by Neal A. Maxwell, Things As They Really Are, p.28)

30. True/False All Melchizedek Priesthood holders were foreordained to be Melchizedek Priesthood holders.

31. Joseph Smith “Every man who has a calling to minister to the inhabitants of the world was ordained to that very purpose in the grand council of heaven before this world was.” Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 365. Alma 13:2-3 (cross-reference Jeremiah 1:5-6) “And those priests were ordained after the order of his Son … being called and prepared from the foundation of the world according to the foreknowledge of God.”

32. True/False If you don’t do what you were foreordained to do, you will be held accountable for it.

33. President Spencer W. Kimball “While we do not now remember the particulars, this does not alter the glorious reality of what we agreed to. You are accountable for those things which long ago were expected of you just as are those we sustain as prophets and apostles!” Ensign, Nov. 1979, p. 102.

34. True/False Everyone is foreordained to do something.

35. Elder Bruce R. McConkie “As with Abraham, so with all the prophets, and for that matter so, to one degree or another, with the whole house of Israel and with all the members of the Lord’s earthly church—all are participants in the blessings of foreordination.” Ensign, May 1974, p. 71.

36. True/False We agreed to do the things we were foreordained to do.

37. President Spencer W. Kimball “We made vows, solemn vows, in the heavens before we came to this mortal life…We made covenants before we accepted our position here on the earth. We committed ourselves to our Heavenly Father that if He would send us to the earth and give us bodies and give to us the priceless opportunities that earth life afforded, we would keep our lives clean and would marry in the holy temple and would rear a family and teach them righteousness.” Be Ye Therefore Perfect, Utah Institute Devotional, Jan. 10, 1975, 2.

38. Elder Neal A. Maxwell “Orson Hyde taught, ‘It is not impossible that we signed the articles thereof with our own hands, which articles may be retained in the archives above to be presented to us when we rise from the dead…Our forgetfulness cannot alter the facts.” (Journal of Discourses, 7:314–15.) Hence, the degree of detail involved in the covenants and promises we participated in at that time may be a more highly customized thing than many of us surmise.” Neal A. Maxwell, Brigham Young University 10 October 1978.

39. True/False Our birth time and location was based on our pre-earth life choices.

40. Elder Bruce R. McConkie “As a result of preexistent faithfulness, certain of the Father's children earned the right to receive preferential treatment during their mortal sojourn. Some who were noble and great were foreordained. Others merited birth into the house of Israel so they would be in a position to hear the word of truth before that same gift was given to others.” The Promised Messiah, p.506

41. President David O McKay “Our place in this world would then be determined by our own advancement in the pre-mortal state, just as our place in our future existence will be determined by what we do here in mortality” Home Memories of President David O. McKay, 228–30.

42. True/False We chose our spouses in the Pre-Earth Life.

43. “We have been counseled not to teach the idea of a ‘one and only.’ The Church does not teach that we chose our companion or our parents during our pre-mortal existence. A successful date or marriage often depends more on being the right person than on finding the right person.” Seminary Teachers Manual for O.T. p. 59

44. Romans 9-11 Why did Paul teach this doctrine of foreordination? Romans 9:31-33 Romans 10:1 Romans 10: 13-15   Romans 15:4

45. Romans 7-16