Chauncey C. Riddle
March 15, 1990
8:35 am
Today’s question, what is the metaphysical point of this story? There was a maiden in Judea who was married to Heavenly Father and had a son. He was born Joshua, the name Jesus was attached to him by the Greeks. He was never called Jesus but that’s all right he answers to Jesus when you and I call upon him. We use that name, that is now one of his names.
All right, what’s the answer to the question? Yes, it does explain how Christ became both God and man. What’s another one? There’s a big metaphysical point to be made in that story, a tremendous metaphysical point. This is one of the big places where the restored gospel gives us information that’s absolutely essential for our understanding. This little story ought to set the world on its ear. But you see people don’t think about what it means. The world in general has no idea what … The story is told over and over again without any understanding. What is the fundamental metaphysical point made in this story?
One of your basic metaphysical questions was, what is the nature of man? Man was created by God. That’s true, but that’s not the point of this story. What is the great metaphysical point of this story? That’s what we’re after. Ah, thank you. Man and God are exactly the same species, the same kind. You see that is a tremendous metaphysical point. If you don’t know that you miss the whole point of what salvation is. The Christian world doesn’t believe that. Therefore, the Christian world misses the whole point. It doesn’t understand God, Jesus Christ, nor man. And all that the Christian world really gets out of Christ is some good ethical teachings. It does not understand salvation. Why? Because the metaphysics is all messed up. How did it get so messed up? You’d think that that story being told thousands and thousands of times in everybody’s lifetime would put a point across. Why doesn’t it? Because Satan has been very careful to sow lies in the minds of the children of men. Many of them want to believe the lies, so they do. They don’t inquire of God what the story really is. They just assume what they’ve always heard by some authoritarian source. That God is some non-material being. Therefore, man and God can’t possibly be of the same race.
This isn’t the origin of man, this is the origin of Christ who came so the rest of us could become as he is.
What does the `Son of Man’ mean?
What is God’s name? His name is the Man of Holiness. Jesus Christ is the son of Man of Holiness. You and I can also become sons of God or Man of Holiness. That’s what salvation is.
All right, are we all settled on that metaphysical point? What class do people belong to? That is a very important metaphysical question. What is the nature of man? What is the nature of God? The point is that they both have essentially the same nature. You see, that if Heavenly Father could actually beget a child by Mary in exactly the way you and I were begotten, we have to be the same species. That’s really good evidence in fact.
Because they can’t imagine that she was married. When the story starts she’s a virgin. They don’t know the whole story, they don’t know that she got married. You see therefore the big question in the minds of a lot of peoples, was he born an illegitimate child? We know he wasn’t. He was born under the covenant. There’s a great deal of difference, you see. No, the Father wasn’t around, so she had another husband for time. As often happens to sisters in this world they’re sealed to their husbands who are not around. They also have other husbands for time.
Now, do you have a Heavenly Mother? It’s a good metaphysical question, isn’t it? One of the important metaphysical questions about God is, does he have a wife? In the LDS situation the answer is, of course. Eliza R. Snow said, the thought makes reason stare. If you have any sense at all you know if there is a Father in Heaven, there has to be a Mother in Heaven. It’s just so simple. The world you see confuses this, it’s not using it’s own common sense. I can’t prove it to you but I believe it. And I have fairly good evidence. But the evidence isn’t your evidence. So why am I throwing it out to you for? As a hypothesis by which you might wish to seek evidence.
All right, we are discussing the nature of man.
Joseph was a good man. My guess is Joseph knew full well what he was doing. And he won’t miss out on his eternal blessings at all. He performed a very great service by being a good foster father to the Savior.
Well, where do children go? They go with the mother. So brethren, be good to your wife or you’ll lose your posterity. Seriously.
Now, what does that mean about the eternities? Do you know who Adam’s father is in the patriarchal order? Who is Adam’s father? His father in the patriarchal order is Jesus Christ. He is sealed to Jesus Christ. Who is the father of Jesus Christ? He is sealed to our Heavenly Father. Why are you and I trying to get our genealogy work done? So that you and I can also be sealed into that line. Because if we’re not sealed to Adam we cannot get sealed to Christ. And if we’re not sealed to Christ … it descends only from father to son. See, what we’re asked to declare ourselves for in this mortality, we’re asked if we wish to claim the race … the race to which we genetically belong. We belong to the race of the Gods. If we wish to relinquish that we may. That is man’s agency. We don’t have to inherit it. But anybody who’s willing to undergo training to inherit. What is the training to inherit? It’s schooling in righteousness of Christ through the laws and ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Anybody who wishes to inherit may inherit. There’s no soul on this earth that can’t inherit and receive the full blessings of his rightful heritage. You see, if the world understood these things … take advantage but most people don’t know, they don’t know where to find them. It’s our job to get it out …
Now we need to ask some other questions about it. It’s important to know about the kind of being man is. The most important thing to know is, that man is of the race of the Gods. The key to theology is that they are of the same species. If you don’t understand that, you don’t understand theology because that’s the key to the whole thing. It’s the key to the whole understanding of salvation, of covenants, of everything that goes on in the kingdom of God.
OK, what are some other questions concerning the nature of God? We discussed last time, are we all the same or are we all different? Let’s ask the question a little bit differently. Let’s ask the question in this way. Sure we all have these individual … but does that mean we are actually different creatures in essence or are we all pretty much the same? For instance, do we all have the same heart? No. Since the heart is the independent variable, what does that tell us about ourselves? People come to the world different but can grow to become one with Christ, to look like Christ. (Al 5)
That’s right, sin is never justified. Why did the Father create the fall so we would sin? Why did the Father want us to sin? It’s not necessary to sin. A third of the people that come into the earth don’t bother to sin. They take a body and leave without sinning, they don’t need it. How come the rest of us need to? One of these days there will be a whole generation who will grow up without sinning. Not everybody who comes to earth needs to sin. Most of us are so hard headed, most of us apparently have to sin and see for ourselves how evil it is before we will not do it.
The world is Satan’s kingdom on this earth. The world was created, Satan was given a kingdom on this earth in the fall. So that we would sin and we are told exactly why that was done. Why was that done? So that all would taste the bitter and know the difference between the bitter and the sweet. So that when we make up our minds to choose either the bitter or the sweet we’re doing it out of our own power, not out of (supposition). That’s important.
Father doesn’t want us to sin, nevertheless, is it not true he put us into a situation where we have to sin. So that we could all taste the bitter and know it. So that we could choose by our own knowledge. Now, why? There has to be opposition. In the Celestial Kingdom there is no sin, but there is opposition. What’s the opposition in the Celestial Kingdom? Not evil desires, no one will be there who has evil desires. So where do you get the opposition? You see unless there is the opportunity to be evil, the opportunity to be good means nothing. The Celestial Kingdom could not be Celestial if there was not opposition. So where does in come from? Ah, yes. Just not outer darkness but the other kingdoms. All right, the opposition in the Celestial Kingdom is provided through the other places to go and those in the Celestial Kingdom see those other places constantly. They know, they know what’s going on there. That is the opposition in the Celestial Kingdom to go to some other place. That’s the option that’s there. that’s why there is opposition in the Celestial Kingdom. The only people who stay in the Celestial Kingdom are the ones that want to. Who choose to, thus they reject the opposite.
… point of doing good. There has to be the constant opportunity of doing evil. Can God lie? Yes, anytime he wanted to. Why is he God? Because he chooses to. He doesn’t do it because he’s beyond temptation. In the sense that he couldn’t do it. He does it by sheer will. He holds himself on the path of righteousness. It isn’t outside him that holds him there. He doesn’t have a big gyroscope that keeps him upright on the line. By his own will he chooses in every act he does to do what’s right. And you see, the only way you and I can qualify to be in that kind of a kingdom is also to learn in every act of will to choose what is exactly right and nothing else.
You see that’s what is … it makes it possible for us to be saved. We cannot be saved except by our own will power, we get on the path and choose what’s right, by our own choices. (Al. 5)
Every day is precious to fashion in ourselves a new character, to make the change in the time we have to do it.
Repentance is a strategy of religion, to stop sinning.