Thursday Theology — Jesus Christ is Central to Heavenly Father's Plan

Jesus Christ is Central to 

Heavenly Father's Plan

(February 2010 Ensign magazine)

Heavenly Father prepared a plan to help us become as He is and to receive a fullness of joy. He said, "This is my work and my glory — to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" (Moses 1:39)

As spirit children of our Father in Heaven, we lived in His presence in our pre-mortal life. This is called our first estate. We gathered together in a great Council in Heaven in which Heavenly Father presented His plan to us: We would come to earth, our second estate, and gain a physical body. We would also "prove" that "we [would] do all things whatsoever...God [would] command [us]" (Abraham 3:25). A Savior would atone for the sins of all mankind, making it possible for us to repent and become clean again (see Alma 42:23-26.)

We chose to accept our Heavenly Father's plan and Jesus Christ as our Savior. Because of the Savior's Atonement and Resurrection, we can return to our Heavenly Father's presence and live the kind of life He lives.

Come to Know Your Heavenly Father

I apologize for the long absence since my last post. Today I will catch up with November's Thursday Theology topic.

(From January 2010 Ensign magazine)


Ways We Can Come To Know Our Heavenly Father
1. Feast on the scriptures
Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do. (2 Nephi 32:3)


2. Come to know Jesus Christ
If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. (John 14:9)


3. Obey God's commandments and follow His prophets.
He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. 
(John 14:21)


What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same. (Doctrine & Covenants 1:38)


4. With faith, pray to God in the name of Jesus Christ
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. (James 1:5)


And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you. (3 Nephi 18:20)

Take time to gaze into the heavens, where the courses of the stars and planets are evidence of "God moving in his majesty and power" (see Doctrine & Covenants 88:41-47)


Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth (Mosiah 4:9)

Doctrines That Testify of God the Father

(from January 2010 Ensign magazine)


We are created in God's image
And I, God, said unto mine Only Begotten, which was with me from the beginning: Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and it was so. And I, God, said: Let them have dominion over the fishes 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. (Moses 2:26)


God is the Supreme Creator, and all things denote there is a God
But Alma said unto him: Thou hast had signs enough; will ye tempt your God? Will ye say, Show unto me a sign, when ye have the testimony of all these thy brethren, and also all the holy prophets? The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator. (Alma 30:44)


God is our Heavenly Father, a literal spiritual parent
Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? (Hebrews 12:9)


God the Father has a tangible body of flesh and bones
The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit. Were it not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us. (Doctrine & Covenants 130:22)


Our Heavenly Father gave us a plan of salvation
For it is expedient that an ^aatonement should be made; for according to the great ^bplan of the Eternal God there must be an atonement made, or else all mankind must unavoidably perish; yea, all are hardened; yea, all are ^cfallen and are lost, and must perish except it be through the atonement which it is expedient should be made. (Alma 34:9)

God Is Truly Our Father

(from January 2010 Ensign magazine)

God is our Father in Heaven, the Father of our spirits. In the Godhead with Him are Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost. They are distinct beings with distinct roles but are one in purpose. This truth, along with many others, was lost after the deaths of Jesus Christ and His Apostles, during a period known as the Apostasy.

The Lord began to restore these lost truths in the spring of 1820, when 14-year-old Joseph Smith prayed in a grove of trees near his home in Manchester Township, New York, to know which church to join. In answer to his prayer, he saw God the Father and Jesus Christ. The Prophet Joseph Smith later wrote of this vision: "One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other — This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!" (Joseph Smith–History 1:17)

On February 16, 1832, the Prophet and Sidney Rigdon received a revelation. To introduce the revelation, they testified of Jesus Christ and God the Father: "And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of [Jesus Christ], this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives! For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father." (Doctrine & Covenants 76: 22-23)