Why Do Vicarious Work?

About a month ago I was asked by a lady to type out why we do temple work in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I was kind of intrigued by the request and wrote this in about 20 minutes.  I gave it to her and haven't given in a second thought.  I want to post it for for anyone who wonders the same thing.  It also contains my testimony of the work and a little doctrine behind it.  This is just my own take on it so take it for what it's worth, not as an official declaration.

(Originally written) 6-18-11

Elder Brady Anderson

To whom it may concern:

I want to explain to you the basic need and reason for vicarious work done in temples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  To comprehend it you must understand the eternal potential for the children of god, the Atonement of Christ and the ordinances necessary to partake fully in it, and the way established using the Priesthood authority of god to do these ordinances for both living and deceased persons. 

            God set up a plan for us before the foundation of the world in which we could come to earth, obtain a body, live and be tested, and come back to live with Him again.  If we follow the plan, we will come to recognize Jesus Christ as our savior and follow his teachings.  If we do this, we can return to live with God, have the full happiness promised, and live forever with our perfected body and with our families.  This is why we came to this earth.  We need a body and a knowledge of good vs. evil to fully understand and enjoy returning home to God.

            Christ’s atonement is essential to this plan.  Because He suffered for our sins, we can repent and be made clean, which is vital to entering into God’s kingdom; Because He died for us, the price has been paid to meet the justice of God; And because He rose the third day, we also will have our body’s reunited with our spirit and have the blessing of being judged.  There are three kingdoms of glory we can earn based on what we did in this life.  The kingdom we reach is determined at judgment.  To attain the highest kingdom, which is truly returning home, we must follow All of Christ’s teachings.  Those include faith in Christ, repentance, baptism by priesthood authority, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.  All who do this will return home!  This is what God wants for every one of His children.

            To accomplish this plan God has continuously called a prophet and given him the Priesthood authority.  This authority is what allows a mortal man to officiate in an ordinance, or act, that is recognized on earth and in heaven.  These ordinances must occur on earth, in mortality, since a body is required for the ordinances to happen.  Those who die before they have the opportunity to do these things have not lost their chance to return home.  Because God wants every one of his children to return home, he has established temples, which are the only places on earth ordinances for the deceased can be done.  A man holding the Priesthood, and a person standing to represent the deceased person, do the ordinance here on earth.  The person who the ordinance is done for has the opportunity after this life to accept the ordinance and still return home to God.  This is what God wants, and this is why we do Temple Work.

            I know that this is the only way to return home to live with God.  I know that he loves us and has given every one of us the opportunity and way to make this possible.  I know that the Priesthood Authority is real and is on the earth today.  I know that those passed on are waiting for us to do their work in temples of God.  In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Elder Brady James Anderson

Well now I think I'll explain myself and this blog.  I go by Elder Anderson these days and I am serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Santa Rosa, CA.  I was recently called to be an "online proselyting" missionary as part of my calling.  This involves social networking and blogging to augment my work as a full-time missionary.  I'm one of a few hundred doing this among 50,000+ missionaries worldwide.  I really enjoy writing and I will use this as a place to express my feelings and hopefully connect to more of God's children in a new and better way.  My journey to be where I am now has had many zig-zags.  Sometimes I might have even lost sight of the moon altogether, referring to the "shoot to the moon" idea.  I'm amazed at where I am and how far I've come, and I owe it all to my Savior, Jesus Christ.  I truly know that it is through Christ, and Christ alone that we can overcome our own mistakes and completely change to a new person in christ.  As it says in the Book of Mormon in Mosiah 27:25-26 http://lds.org/scriptures/bofm/mosiah/27?lang=eng we must become new "creatures" if we are to inherit the kingdom of god.  I know that the old "creature" I was, and the "creature" I am today is a miracle brought by Christ.  I have many more things to learn and to do, but I know that I can become a spiritual being, one that is controlled and governed by God's will.  I know that is possible for all of God's children, and I am here to bear my testimony of the change in me, and how that's possible for all who come unto Christ.  In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Journey to the Moon

Well I'm brand new to blogging so I thought I'd express my first thoughts, and later I'll tell you more about me and my status these days.   I titled my blog "Journey to the Moon" because I see all of life as a journey to a far away place with a long time to travel there.  If you were to shoot off to the moon in a ship of sorts, all you'd need for navigation to get there is your eyes.  Just look at the moon and go!  If you have your eyes on your destination, you'll eventually get there.  Well after several hours (weeks, months or years in real life) you'll start to see that you weren't actually aimed right at the moon.  You'll see you're heading off a little bit.  So it's time to put your eye on the moon again, hit the rockets and redirect your course.  If you kept going on your old course, you could end up thousands of miles away from your destination.  On the other hand, that course you were taking got you closer to the moon and your final destination.  Your path to the moon will be a zig-zag of redirecting and adjusting your course.  As long as you look up, and are willing to admit the old course isn't adequate anymore, you will eventually get there.  That relates to life.  As long as we're moving forward, with our eye on our destination, we will get there.  We may find ourselves way off course at times.  The longer we take to redirect ourselves, the farther off course we'll get.  But the old direction had merit, it got you to where you are, so there's no reason to stop, or turn around.  Just redirect your course slightly and Keep On Going.  I'm finding that I get prideful in my old course, because it got me so far.  I figure that since it made progress, it must be a good course.  That has truth, but as we get closer to our destination, our view becomes clearer and we know what corrections need to be made now.  I know that it can be frustrating at times, but if we realize we will always be redirecting our course, than we won't feel bad when old ways become obsolete.  I know as we keep our eye on the destination, and don't lose sight of it, we will reach the destination we seek.

Picture: "Autumn Moon," Ansel Adams, 1948