The Missionaries Will Teach...
God is our Heavenly Father and he loves us; we are his children. Hi
cries when we suffer and he rejoices when we are obedient to his
commandments. We can communicate with God through prayer. God put us
on earth so we can learn and grow. He provided a plan for us to be
successful in this life and return to live with him afterwards.
But in order to live with him, we must be pure and clean. The way to
become pure and clean is through obedience. Being disobedient
moves us away from God. Central to God's plan is the atonement of
Jesus Christ. The atonement includes both Jesus' suffering in the
Garden of Gethsemane and his suffering and death on the cross. The
atonement can free us of the weight of our sins and help us grow in
faith and strength.
Some Additional Thoughts...
The LDS Church teaches that God is our heavenly father. When they
say this, they are saying something very specific. The doctrine is
that there are actually two components of your being: your physical body and
your spiritual body. Your earthly father is the literal father of your
physical body. Your heavenly father is the literal father of your
spiritual body.
Furthermore, They believe that God literally has a physical body: God the
father literally lives in a tabernacle of flesh and bones.
The LDS Church teaches that heavenly father loves us
in the same way that a good earthly father loves his children. God
cries when we suffer. He beams with pride when we are good.
Taking this concept of a literal heavenly father further, they believe that
we should obey God, just as a good child will obey his father.
I find it interesting how much manipulation is implied in this one seemingly innocuous principle:
The carrot: if you obey God and you'll be happy and
successful.
The stick: if you disobey you'll suffer.
The guilt: Jesus was brutally tortured and
killed so you could enjoy this carrot; the least you could do is show your
love and appreciation by being obedient.
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