Christ Is The Plan

    From a talk given by Bruce C. Hafen that I have been studying lately many thoughts have come into my mind concerning the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ. His suffering and dying for us that He performed to make us whole and to help us be with the Father once more.
     This is a quick excerpt of the beginning of the talk:

     In recent years, we Latter-day Saints have been teaching, singing, and testifying much more about the Savior Jesus Christ. I rejoice that we are rejoicing more.

      As we “talk [more] of Christ,” ¹ the gospel’s doctrinal fulness will come out of obscurity. For example, some of our friends can’t see how our Atonement beliefs relate to our beliefs about becoming more like our Heavenly Father. Others mistakenly think our Church is moving toward an understanding of the relationship between grace and works that draws on Protestant teachings. Such misconceptions prompt me to consider today the Restoration’s unique Atonement doctrine.

      The Lord restored His gospel through Joseph Smith because there had been an apostasy. Since the fifth century, Christianity taught that Adam and Eve’s Fall was a tragic mistake, which led to the belief that humankind has an inherently evil nature. That view is wrong—not only about the Fall and human nature, but about the very purpose of life.

    I want to focus a little bit more on the idea of Adam and Eve's Fall being a tragic mistake and that man is inherently evil. Was it really a mistake or was it a part of the Plan of our Heavenly Father. Are we inherently evil or do we have the Light of Christ within us that helps us choose him?

   First off, God is omnipotent, all powerful, omniscient, and all knowing. Would He honestly allow a mistake to happen in His plan? I dont think so, he is Perfect. In 1 Peter 1:19-21 it states, "But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was mainfest in these last times for you... that your faith and hope might be in God".

    I testify that Jesus Christ was called and prepared to be the Savior of the world before the world even was. Even before Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden. So why was he prepared to be the Savior for us? Because we were going to need saving. God knew that Adam and Eve would be tempted and would fall and so in his infinite love he prepared and 'sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins'(1 John 4:10)

   In other words, Christ coming to the earth was not a backup plan just in case Adam and Eve fell, he was The Plan. I know this to be true.

   And are we inherently evil or is our evil a result of living in a fallen world full of temptation?

   Going to the root will reveal the answer, when we are born we are perfect and we are not inherently evil. Did not Christ say, "Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven"(Matthew 18:3-4). If children are not perfect in the eyes of God how could they enter into the Kingdom of Heaven? "Men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression"(Article of Faith: 2).