I am grateful for Adam's gift of story re-telling to draw out keen theological insights that are both intellectually and spiritually inspiring. At the same time, his writing is crucially practical, inviting us to exercise our spiritual muscles, walking and talking our way into a new world.
Once one recognizes the centrality of vicarious suffering in the model of Christ, the New Testament can finally be understood. Faith comes in to focus, grace jumps off the page, church gets a meaning etc. My own journey started with Colossians 1:24 (which due to its archaic translation has never been quoted in General Conference but is clearly rendered in modern translations and in many of the other languages.) I discovered that this verse is embraced by Catholics but is the subject of doctoral dissertations by Protestants but the Saints have the key of understanding.
I can scarcely turn a page of scripture now without finding the necessity of vicarious covenant living. The chastity, consecration, and obedience of the dead rest upon our covenant living.
Over and again I have heard leaders tell youth that Joseph Smith taught that as soon as they are baptized for the dead an administrator releases a soul from spirit prison. They left out the proviso that this would happen when the proxy lived the law of the gospel. "Every man that has been baptized and belongs to the kingdom has a right to be baptized for those who have gone before; and as soon as the law of the Gospel is obeyed here by their friends who act as proxy for them, the Lord has administrators there to set them free." TOPC Joseph Smith Chapter 41.
I am grateful for Adam's gift of story re-telling to draw out keen theological insights that are both intellectually and spiritually inspiring. At the same time, his writing is crucially practical, inviting us to exercise our spiritual muscles, walking and talking our way into a new world.
Once one recognizes the centrality of vicarious suffering in the model of Christ, the New Testament can finally be understood. Faith comes in to focus, grace jumps off the page, church gets a meaning etc. My own journey started with Colossians 1:24 (which due to its archaic translation has never been quoted in General Conference but is clearly rendered in modern translations and in many of the other languages.) I discovered that this verse is embraced by Catholics but is the subject of doctoral dissertations by Protestants but the Saints have the key of understanding.
I can scarcely turn a page of scripture now without finding the necessity of vicarious covenant living. The chastity, consecration, and obedience of the dead rest upon our covenant living.
Over and again I have heard leaders tell youth that Joseph Smith taught that as soon as they are baptized for the dead an administrator releases a soul from spirit prison. They left out the proviso that this would happen when the proxy lived the law of the gospel. "Every man that has been baptized and belongs to the kingdom has a right to be baptized for those who have gone before; and as soon as the law of the Gospel is obeyed here by their friends who act as proxy for them, the Lord has administrators there to set them free." TOPC Joseph Smith Chapter 41.
Oh yes, and thank you for your essay Brother Miller.
Yes, this is thrilling. Thank you, Adam, for thinking this through and laying it out in an accessible form.