Article of Faith #2

We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression.

I believe that this is an important doctrine, because it teaches us something about free agency. We come into this world pure and innocent as Adam. I truely believe that children are born clean and they do not bring the burden of Adams transgression into the world with them. It is not until we are old enough to understand agency that we are accountable for our sins. When we are old enough to understand right from wrong our Heavenly Father has given us the gift to decide for ourselves. We then are also eligible to suffer the consequences of our choices. But we are only punished by God for OUR sins and not for the ones that Adam commited.

Our Separation from Heavenly Father

As I mentioned before, I learn a lot from conference, so many of my next posts maybe about conference and things I learned. Elder Holland gave a beautiful talk on angels and how Heavenly Father can provide angels (living or not) that can help us in our times of need. He said the when Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden they were separated from God. I was thinking about that and how hard it must have been for them to be separated from the Father that they had communed with so freely before. I am sure He observed their struggle and that is why he provided so many ways for them and us to feel close to Heavenly Father on earth. We were given prayer, so that we can tell Him what we need or how we feel and we can get promptings and revelations from him on what we should do or have feelings of comfort. We were also given messengers in the form of prophets, teachers, and leaders to help guide us. This is just another testament to me that He loves us.

Conference

Twice a year our church has a gathering that last for two days where we get to hear inspiring talks that are meant for the entire body of the church. Our prophet talks to the members and I know that what he is telling us is revelation from God to the people on the earth. I learned so much from this meeting. I love that I get to listen to these speakers twice a year because I always come away refreshed and ready to improve myself. I heard recurring themes of hope and reassurance that we will be blessed either now or in the future if we live the way our Heavenly Father wants us to.