Thursday, May 24, 2012

There is a scripture in the Book of Mormon that creates a lot of talk in the church: 2 Nephi 25:23.  The discussion is about the phrase "after all we can do," and when God's Grace comes into effect.  As a teenager, some teachers said that it meant you had to do your best and then God's Grace would take care of the rest.  More recently I read a devotional, which happen every week at BYU, discussing this topic.  The speaker, Brad Wilcox, taught that God's Grace is an always thing.  For each and every one of us, God's Grace has already saved us.  The "after all we can do" is to say that even after all we can do it is still God's Grace that saves us.  Instead of focusing on what we need to do to get God's Grace, we simply need to accept it and let it change us.
As I was reading today, I found another verse with a similar message: 2 Nephi 10:24.  In this one, there is a message to "remember."  Once you are reconciled unto God, remember that it is only through Grace that you are saved.  A message from Elder Russell M. Nelson indicates that the ordinances of the gospel provide reconciliation with God.  Therefore, the message in the scripture seems to say, even after you have done what you have been asked to do - obtain the ordinances of the temple - it is not your actions that save you, but God's Grace.  The question is, do you have to do things then to be saved by Grace?  Can non-action prevent you from being saved by God's Grace?
Alma 41 teaches all about what happens after death.  Basically, all men are resurrected (spirit and body reunited, never to be separated again), and all men are brought before God to be judged.  Some have taught that the judgment before God is actually a self-judgment.  If we are righteous, we will feel comfortable in the presence of God and we will stay (C.S. Lewis also taught this - The Great Divorce).  If we are not comfortable, we will choose to leave, and the more unrighteous we are, the further away we will want to get.  Whatever our choice in that moment, God's Grace has already saved us, we are in His presence at that moment.  Thus it is how we let God's Grace change us, that will determine our end state.