Foreordination

I take teaching very seriously. I put a lot into the lesson I am asked to teach. This week I had 3 things kind of against me:

1) I was given short notice that I was to be the teacher again this week 
2) my husband was out of town all week and so every spare moment I had was caring for a sick baby
3) and this being one of the most complex doctrines to really sink my teeth into 

I didn't quite have the time I wanted to absorb the material as I am used to doing, so pardon me if I end up reading the thoughts and material I prepared today. 

If I may, let me take you back to a scene once familiar to you: Imagine if you will that you are sitting amongst numberless concourses of people gathered at a conference. A conference that is taking place over a number of days. The speaker or teacher if you will is Heavenly Father. 

Abraham expands upon this setting by telling us: 

Abraham 3:23 And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast achosen before thou wast born.

D&C 138:53 (Joseph F. Smith speaking) The Prophet Joseph Smith, and my father, Hyrum Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, and other choice aspirits who were breserved to come forth in the cfulness of times to take part in laying the dfoundations of the great latter-day work,

D&C 138:55 I observed that they were also among the anoble and great ones who were bchosen in the beginning to be rulers in the Church of God.

56 Even before they were born, they, with many others, received their first alessons in the world of spirits and were bprepared to come forth in the due ctime of the Lord to labor in his dvineyard for the salvation of the souls of men.

Having this non-fictional conference refreshed in your mind, what does it mean to be foreordained? 

(Foreordination is God’s premortal ordination of his spirit children to fulfill certain missions during their mortal lives.)

Why is understanding foreordination so vital? 

Remember last week how we learned about the power in knowing who we are and that knowledge empowering us to change for the better? So is having a testimony of foreordination: 

"It can actually increase our understanding of how crucial this mortal second estate is and can further encourage us in good works. This precious doctrine can also help us go the second mile because we are doubly called."

In looking deeper into the subject of foreordination, I found one of the most inspiring, and complex, hidden archives: an address given by ELDER NEAL A. MAXWELL then a member of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy at BYU in 1978 entitled, 
"A More Determined Discipleship". 

Wow, is all I have to say about this address, and why has it been hiding for so long? I honestly wish I could have read it verbatim today and ended our lesson there. I strongly encourage those of you who want a greater understanding of this complex concept of foreordination to read this article. It is both humbling and empowering. I am going to incorporate a few excerpts here and there throughout the lesson today. 

What is foreordained? Everything

D&C 138:54 Including the building of the atemples and the performance of ordinances therein for the redemption of the bdead, were also in the spirit world.

TEMPLES, WORK FOR OUR DEAD 

(D&C 130:20–21). “There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—

“And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated” 

LAWS and Assignments 

E. Maxwell said of these assignments:

HANDOUT #1: 
"This eternal law prevailed in the firstestate as it does in the second estate. It should not disconcert us, therefore, that the Lord has indicated that he chose some individuals before they came here to carry out certain assignments; hence, these individuals have been foreordained to those assignments. “Every man who has a calling to minister to the inhabitants of the world,” said the Prophet Joseph Smith, “was ordained to that very purpose in the Grand Council of heaven before this world was."

Joseph F. Smith proves this by saying 

D&C 138:57 I beheld that the faithful aelders of this dispensation, when they depart from mortal life, continue their labors in the bpreaching of the cgospel of repentance and redemption, through the sacrifice of the Only Begotten Son of God, among those who are in darkness and under the bondage of sin in the great world of the dspirits of the dead.

Wouldn't this be a great way to teach our children why they might choose to go on a mission? Not simply because it's a requirement in the church or it's "the thing to do," rather it was a calling they accepted in their first estate. This second estate is merely an extension of that premortal mission. 

I love the analogy E. Maxwell gives 

HANDOUT #2: "In some ways, our second estate, in relationship to our first estate, is like agreeing in advance to surgery. Then the anesthetic of forgetfulness settles in upon us. Just as doctors do not de-anesthetize a patient in the midst of authorized surgery to ask him again if the surgery should be continued, so, after divine tutoring, we agreed to come here and to submit ourselves to certain experiences; it was an irrevocable decision."

So if we were faithful in our first estate and we raised our hands to accept certain responsibilities does foreordination guarantee we will act upon those responsibilities in our second estate? 

Not necessarily. What is the relationship between foreordination and agency? 

HANDOUT #3: 
"Foreordination does not guarantee that individuals will receive certain callings or responsibilities. Such opportunities come in this life as a result of the righteous exercise of agency, just as foreordination came as a result of righteousness in the premortal existence.


HANDOUT #4: 
"The doctrine of foreordination applies to all members of the Church, not just to the Savior and His prophets. Before the creation of the earth, faithful women were given certain responsibilities and faithful men were foreordained to certain priesthood duties. As people prove themselves worthy, they will be given opportunities to fulfill the assignments they then received." 


We still have our agency here on earth no matter what we chose before we came to earth, Hence the key to us having a knowledge and testimony of foreordination. We need to use our agency and be worthy to receive those callings and responsibilities we signed up for before we came here. Because if we don't do it someone else will be called in our place: 

This idea is further explained in Alma 13:3-5

I have read this scripture time and again as I'm sure you have but never before did it have such profound meaning to me than it did after realizing it was talking about foreordination. 
M
3 And this is the manner after which they were ordained—being acalled and bprepared from the cfoundation of the world according to the dforeknowledge of God, on account of their exceeding faith and good works; in the first place being left to echoose good or evil; therefore they having chosen good, and exercising exceedingly great ffaith, are gcalled with a holy calling, yea, with that holy calling which was prepared with, and according to, a preparatory redemption for such.

4 And thus they have been acalled to this holy calling on account of their faith, while others would reject the Spirit of God on account of the hardness of their hearts and bblindness of their minds, while, if it had not been for this they might have had as great cprivilege as their brethren.

5 Or in fine, in the first place they were on the asame standing with their brethren; thus this holy calling being prepared from the foundation of the world for such as would not harden their hearts, being in and through the atonement of the Only Begotten Son, who was prepared—

Each of us were on the same standing in heaven. Each of us have the opportunity to do something great with our lives. Each of us have the chance to rise to our foreordained call. Who wants to be apart of such limitless opportunity? I know I do. 


2. The second part of our lesson is understanding the Savior and Lucifers role in this great council. 

•In the Council in Heaven, Heavenly Father presented his plan of salvation and chose a Savior for us. Who were the two spirits who offered to be our Savior? (See Abraham 3:27; Moses 4:1–2.) 


Moses 4:1 And I, the aLord God, spake unto Moses, saying: That bSatan, whom thou hast commanded in the name of mine Only Begotten, is the same which was from the cbeginning, and he came before me, saying—Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will dredeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely eI will do it; wherefore fgive me thine honor.

2 But, behold, my Beloved aSon, which was my Beloved and bChosen from the beginning, said unto me—cFather, thy dwill be done, and the eglory be thine forever.

How did their offers differ? (Jesus wanted to follow Heavenly Father’s plan and give him the glory. Lucifer wanted to follow his own plan and take the glory for himself.) 

Why did Heavenly Father choose Jesus Christ to be our Redeemer?

Moses4:3 Wherefore, because that aSatan brebelled against me, and sought to destroy the cagency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him, and also, that I should give unto him mine own power; 

Who did we choose to follow in the Council in Heaven? How do we know we chose to follow Jesus Christ? (We have been born on earth to receive physical bodies.)

•How does it help you to know that you chose to follow Jesus Christ in the Council in Heaven? 

There are so many people in the world wondering what truth is and where they can find it. When in reality truth is within them. They know who Christ is, for they already made the decision to follow him by coming here to earth. Knowing about this foreordained choice can take the guess work out of not knowing which side to stand on, for we already chose a side long ago, we simply need to keep choosing it. 

What blessings will we receive if we keep our second estate? 

See Abraham 3:26:
and they who keep their second cestate shall have dglory added upon their heads for ever and ever.

How can we keep our second estate?

Accepting callings and responsibilities The Lord gives us, being faithful, asking God to reveal other foreordained assignments we are unaware of. 

*just a side note. I would encourage you to reread your patriarchal blessing now having a greater understanding of blessings, callings, and gifts you were foreordained with. I have had my patriarchal blessing for 17 years and I've read it so many times. It was only after I prepared this lesson wherein I finally understood it. It never made sense to me when it said "I had been blessed with the gift of charity." I had never felt like I exercised charity at least how Moroni describes charity. But now I understand charity was a foreordained gift and it can become a gift in my second estate if I nurture that gift by living my life in accordance with charity 
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IF TIME
•What happened to Lucifer (Satan) and those who chose to follow him? (They were cast out of heaven and denied the opportunity to have physical bodies. See Moses 4:3; Abraham 3:28; Revelation 12:7–9; D&C 29:36–37.)

•What are Satan and his followers doing now? (They are still trying to destroy our agency. They are on the earth today as evil spirits who tempt us to sin. See Moses 4:4.) What are some ways that Satan and his followers try to limit or destroy our agency? What can we do to recognize and resist their efforts?

END
"Elder Orson Hyde said of our life in the premortal world, “We understood things better there than we do in this lower world.” He also surmised as to the agreements we made there that “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, and be judged out of our own mouths, according to that which is written in the books.”

Just because we have forgotten, said Elder Hyde, “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. Yet, on occasion, even with our forgetting, there are inklings. President Joseph F. Smith said:

“But in coming here, we forgot all, that our agency might be free indeed, to choose good or evil, that we might merit the reward of our own choice and conduct. But by the power of the Spirit, in the redemption of Christ, through obedience, we often catch a spark from the awakened memories of the immortal soul, which lights up our whole being as with the glory of our former home” (Gospel Doctrine, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1977, pp. 13–14; italics added).

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There has been no greater concept for me personally, that has cast so much light on well read scripture, on answering questions pertaining to previous trials I've faced in my life, and on what my purpose and role here on earth is than that of foreordination. I know we were each foreordained to do great things. It's my hope that we live up to our first estate self and accept the assignments The Lord gives us here in our second estate. 

I know Jesus Christ was divinely appointed and foreordained to be the Savior of mankind. He understood the plan--that the agency of man was key in making the plan successful. 

I am grateful he had confidence in us brothers and sisters, I pray that we will have confidence in ourselves to ultimately choose the better part. 

EXTRA
**There are clearly special cases of individuals with special limitations in life, which conditions we mortals cannot now fully fathom. For all we now know, the seeming limitations may have been an agreed-upon spur to achievement—a “thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor. 12:7). Like him who was “blind from birth,” some come to bring glory to God (John 9:1–2). We must be exceedingly careful about imputing either wrong causes or wrong rewards to all in such circumstances. They are in the Lord’s hands, and he loves them perfectly. Indeed, some of those who have required much waiting upon in this life may be waited upon again by the rest of us in the next world—but for the highest of reasons!


**Elder Talmage:
“Our Heavenly Father has a full knowledge of the nature and disposition of each of His children, a knowledge gained by long observation and experience in the past eternity of our primeval childhood; a knowledge compared with which that gained by earthly parents through mortal experience with their children is infinitesimally small. By reason of that surpassing knowledge, God reads the future of child and children, of men individually and of men collectively as communities and nations; He knows what each will do under given conditions, and sees the end from the beginning. His foreknowledge is based on intelligence and reason. He foresees the future as a state which naturally and surely will be; not as one which must be because He has arbitrarily willed that it shall be.” (James E. Talmage, Jesus the Christ, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1977, p. 29.)