Plan of Salvation

The Purpose of God's Commands

Take a quick look at the stones displayed above.  Notice that not one is what is typically thought of as a 'Gem'.  Usually the word Gem brings to mind a stone that is of an unusual quality; polished, faceted, ready to be set into a piece of jewelry.  However, the stones shown above are Gems in their raw form.  A skilled artisan can take these raw minerals and transform them into gem-quality masterpieces.

God's Commands play a role similar to these minerals.  Heavenly Father uses his commands as one of the raw components to transform sinners into gem-quality (righteous) Saints.  LDS doctrine contends that the way this happens is through a gradual progression of worthiness.  With each sin abandoned and with each righteous work performed a person comes ever closer to perfect.  But there is no such thing as 'partial perfection'.  Perfection is not a relative concept.  Being perfect is black and white.  Either you are or you aren't.  Either you keep the whole of God's Commands or you are guilty of breaking God's Law.

Several other Drawers in the Gem Shop speak to this topic.  The "Breadth of God's Commands" and the "Depth of God's Commands" make evident that most sins cannot be abandoned.  The "Demand of God's Commands" features Gems that exhibit God's demand for absolute perfection now, not a gradual progression.  The "Significance of God's Commands" emphasizes that anyone trying to earn eternal life through obedience is living under the curse of eternal death.  It reveals that such people are cursed because it is impossible to keep God's Commands perfectly and imperfect obedience cannot gain eternal life.

The LDS doctrine of progression presupposes that the only purpose of God's Commands is to give us rules by which to live our lives.  There is no debate that providing rules to live by is one of the reasons God has given mankind commands.  But this is not the only purpose of God's Commands; nor is it the most important.  LDS doctrine proclaims the purpose of life is to be tested by God's Commands and prove one's worthiness.  But Heavenly Father has a 'higher purpose' in giving man commands of such breadth and depth, rules he can never keep perfectly; and then demanding perfection.

So if a progression of worthiness is not the way Heavenly Father uses his commands to create righteous Saints, what is?  Recognizing and believing the answer to this question is dependent on understanding the higher purpose of God's Commands.  This higher purpose is revealed in the Bible Gems represented by the stones pictured above.  Once a person understands this purpose he or she will be prepared to seek out the gate to the "Narrow Way".