The Teachings being faith, repentance, baptism & Gift of the Holy Spirit
 

(This paper contains the understandings of White Wolf)

  
INTRODUCTION

The teachings of Jesus Christ are fundamentally faith, repentance, baptism and the Gift of the Holy Spirit. These are usually taught in a simple, straight forward way-- deep explanations are not needed. The spiritually open person can accept and understand what is taught, and its truth as is witnessed by the Holy Spirit.

The purpose of this paper is to explain how faith, repentance, etc. are derived from certain basic spiritual truths. The hope is that by doing this, a skeptical person can understand why faith and repentance are as they have been established, and perhaps then the skeptic will be open to a spiritual confirmation of these fundamentals. This could lead to a full acceptance of the teachings. Also, this deeper understanding of faith and repentance can help those already converted to more fully appreciate the Gospel.

SOME FUNDAMENTAL SPIRITUAL TRUTHS

As stated above, to understand the whys of the fundamental teachingsl, we need to understand and accept some fundamental truths. This explanation will take several pages. Finally, we will be able to return to faith, repentance, baptism and the Gift of the Holy Spirit, explaining them in a couple pages.

First, let us accept that there are some things we cannot explain. How did everything that is in the Creation, start? For instance, if you accept the Big Bang theory, what made it possible and how did we get from there to here. Can we say every thing started from nothing? How can things come from nothing? Etc.

Our explanation starts with the fact that this Universe and we exist and that the complex constructions in the Universe, such as rocks, our bodies, molecules, etc. are composed of organized simpler elements. Given this, the question becomes how the simpler elements such as quirks, protons, electrons, strings, etc., became organized into more complex units. Does this happen:

1) By chance combinations, that is Darwin's approach;
2) By a Creator being organizing things.

The beauty and integrated complexity of the Universe, including Mother Earth and all on Her, seems to me could not come into existence by chance encounters. I reject this explanation and thus, Darwinism as the chief explanation of this complex Creation.

I am going to argue that a Creator was necessary for the Creation. Later, I will discuss how this has been proven to me and how you can prove this to yourself. But first, we explain how the Creation came about and how it works. Don't ask me how a Creator could come into existence, I don't know. The point is that He does exist.

How the Creation came about

The basic building blocks of the Creation are intelligences, spirits or awareness's. They exist! These from the simplest to the most sophisticated or most intelligent-- from a string (taken from string theory) or quirk to the sophisticated human spirit-- are capable of deciding to obey or not obey a request from a greater spirit or intelligence. If they obey, the awareness's, spirits, can be organized to form strings, atoms, etc., up the scale to molecules and then to rocks and finally plants and animal bodies. These higher level physical organizations, such as bodies, rocks, etc. are governed by a higher level intelligence, spirit, placed in these bodies-- higher than the lower level atoms and molecules that have been organized to form the physical rocks, bodies, etc.

The greatest intelligence or spirit of all is that of the Creator. He could visualize what was possible and was able to convince the lower level intelligences or awarenesses, to become organized as He requested. The Creation came into existence.

How was he able to convince them to become organized as requested? Was He not asking them to give up what we call freedom? Here we come to the application of a universal truth: when two or more spirits are organized in certain ways, they realize benefits, such as love, peace, joy, etc. These spirits, when they are not organized, experience confusion, stress, disorientation, etc. The great intelligence of the Creator permitted Him to organize spirits in ways that they feel wondrous benefits. When we humans do something good for other people, animals, the environment, etc. we feel uplifted! The benefits are so great that they are worth giving up so-called freedom to experience happiness. Are we really free if we do things or fail to do things that would prevent us from obtaining joy? Is not the greater freedom the ability to get what most of us seek-- love, joy, appreciation, knowledge, etc.? In this sense, the Creator makes us free by creating conditions and teaching us how we can obtain happiness though this means not doing certain things that prevent us from having joy. In a sense, we are free to choose happiness or misery-- in either case; there are some restrictions on us. Those persons that choose happiness don't regret giving up negative behavior.

In summary, the Creation is composed of various levels of spirits, awareness's, or intelligences organized at the highest level that they are capable of functioning at or want to function at, organized to form beautiful Mother Earth and all on Her. In doing so, these spirits experience love, joy, beauty, etc. I feel joy; even shed tears, as I write this.

Who is the Creator?

The Creator, the supreme intelligence, is Jesus Christ working under the direction of His Heavenly Father to form Mother Earth. We will later explain how you can know this.

Why the Creation?

The Creator is a being of unfathomable love and great intelligence. He wants to bring the highest possible level of happiness and joy to all spirits, awarenesses. When intelligences are organized and cooperate with others, such as in Mother Earth, they experience the greatest happiness.

But why are there so many horrible and sad experiences in our Earth life?  First, a truth; all spirits, awareness's, existed before they became part of Earth and will exist forever.

A second basic truth is that as we experience the bitter, the bad, hardship, we appreciate the sweet, the good more. When you experience pain, emotional hurts, etc., you later appreciate relief, the return of love all the more. Thus, difficult experiences on Mother Earth enable us to appreciate more of the beauty and peace of the post-Earth life in the spirit world. Also, we come to more appreciate the ways of the Creator. The Creator is helping us learn so that we can have the greatest happiness.

How do bad experiences come about? First, they are necessary for us and all spirits to learn the difference between good and evil like the ways of the Creator versus other ways. Since we are free to make our own choices, often we make poor choices that hurt others and us. Thus, many bad experiences come about because of bad choices, such as those by Hitler and Stalin. Also, the Creator can generate difficulties to help us learn the greater wisdom. (For more on this, see the appendix of the paper Resource Problems are Connected in the website: www.spiritualresourcemanagement.com).

The role of Man in the Creation

Man has a unique role in the Creation. Man is the one spirit given to know the difference between good and evil, and also of capable of learning and modifying his behavior.

It happens that with this ability to know the difference between good and bad, and the capacity to modify our behavior and learn, comes an important consequence. When Man is disobedient to the ways of the Creator, especially when he, Man, knows that he is disobedient, this generates negative energy that depresses and hurts the rest of the Creation. That is, knowingly ignoring our Makers requests and commandments when we could choose otherwise is felt by all the Creation. The effect of lower level intelligences such as plants and animals, doing negative things, is minor compared to the effect of Mans choices, Man who can discern whether his actions are good or bad. These lower spirits cannot readily discern the consequences of their choices and thus, cannot be held responsible, as they are innocent. The lower intelligences do though know when they are in a loving, positive atmosphere versus a negative one.

Those people who do not want this great responsibility that Man has and its potential negative effects, cannot avoid consequences. If you ignore your Creator and His ways, unintentionally and especially if you ignore them intentionally, you generate negative energy-- you are ignoring your Maker. You are causing harm and not producing positive benefits for the Creation (by living the great wisdom). You will not have the Creators special help and peace of mind.

Despite his frequently harming and depressing all the Creation, Man has been given dominion in the Creation. That is, Man has great power to do harm or good.

People must pay a penalty for their misdeeds

With all the hard to bear consequences caused by privileged Man's negative behavior, the severe depression, and with Man knowing the difference between good and evil, plus Man can learn, the Creation demands penalties for each persons misdeeds. A debt must be paid. If not, the Creation will rebel and fall apart. Justice must be done.

These necessary penalties will be very hard to bear, to pay, very painful. However, our loving Maker has provided a way to void these penalties.

The Creator paid for Mans disobedience which can lift the burden if...

Our loving Creator has provided a way for each individual to escape paying the penalty of his wrongs, bad behavior, disobedience, etc. The Creator can grant mercy, forgiveness, if we accept and revere Him, and work seriously to live as He teaches: the Ten Commandments, love, forgiving others, living morally, helping others, etc. If we don't accept this, we must pay the penalties attached to our bad acts which will be very hard to endure. Most will be paid in the post-Earth spirit world. The spirits in the Creation will have justice if mercy is not earned.

The price the Creator paid to make mercy available

Our Creator suffered so much for our misbehavior; we cannot fully comprehend His suffering. It happened in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross. He sweated great drops of blood enduring the pain caused by paying the price of all our penalties. I have been in Gethsemane and know this happened!

His suffering had to be so great that it shocked the Creation! It had to be so much that the Creation said to its Creator (which all spirits loved), seeing how much you have suffered for these humans, we are willing to forgive their misdeeds, all the great harm they have done, if they accept you, and work to improve their behavior.

The experiences of this Earth life are necessary if we are fully to learn the way of happiness and are to internalize it in our heart, even if it required the tremendous suffering of our beloved Creator.

The Creator has unfathomable love for us and wants to teach us the way of happiness. Wont you accept this love and great gift of mercy?

How do you learn that this is true?

The Creator has not left us without means of knowing the truth. Reflect on what is taught and then pray to Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ, and ask if what I have taught is true. Don't focus on the details but the overall picture as presented. If you pray with a sincere heart, wanting to know whether or not it is true, your prayer will soon be answered. You will feel beautiful warmth in your bosom and/or great peace. This is the Creator's way of answering our prayer. It is very convincing-- you have felt the Creator's love and peace.  Or you may just know that  it is true.

You also can learn of the wisdom of the Creator by living His teachings. As you first live one of them, soon evidence will come that it is true. As I have lived the teachings, I have learned of their truth. In addition, I have seen miracles-- I have been healed and seen healings, events have been arranged so that I could accomplish a task, I have known the future, I have been miraculously saved from car accidents, etc. This happens when you have faith. Above all, you have the peace which surpasses ordinary understanding.

If you are not willing to live as your Creator asks, you are not likely to get answers to your prayers or a confirmation of what is taught here. The Creator will not confirm sacred knowledge if you will ignore it.
 

Why cant you subject these teachings to scientific proof?

The Creator in His wisdom has chosen the way to confirm the truth advocated above. If you learn sacred knowledge and don't respect it, this is not good-- it will work against you. Most people who would obtain this knowledge by scientific means, would not respect it-- it would not touch their hearts and effect their behavior as deeply as a spiritual witness as described above, does. Respect the ways of an all-wise Creator as regards His dispensing knowledge.

THE TEACHINGS ARE BASED ON THE ABOVE DESCRIBED TRUTHS

So far we have learned that:

1) Everything on Mother Earth is composed of organized spiritual awarenesses; intelligences that chose to obey the requests of the Creator.

2) Man is the most intelligent of all spirits, awarenesses and intelligences. The Creation expects Man to wisely use his knowledge of good and evil to do good. Also, Man can learn and modify his behavior. With all this plus Man being given dominion on Earth, what Man does has great impact, positive or negative, on the rest of the Creation. Mans disobedience to the ways of the Creator generates much negative energy which is felt by all the Creation and which depresses it.

3) All people have done negative things-- to a small or greater extent, we have all gone against the wise ways of the Creator, Jesus Christ. Man has cheated, been selfish, lied, been immoral and lazy, stolen, been inconsiderate, etc. Justice requires that we, the most privileged and most capable of all spirits, awareness's, have a debt to pay. Penalties are imposed because of our disobedience. If not paid, the Creation would rebel and fall apart. Justice must be done.

4) Jesus Christ, our Creator took upon himself our sins, misdeeds. That is, He paid the penalties assessed because of our sins. This frees us from paying them provided we accept Him as our debt payer and work to improve ourselves as He advocates. If we don't, we will eventually pay, mostly in the post-Earth life in the spirit world. It will be very hard to bear! Also, you would be assigned to one of the lesser kingdoms in the post-Earth spirit world, a kingdom that is less beautiful, where knowledge is limited, where a higher kingdom rules over you.

Given this information, we can now simply explain the four fundamental teachings.

Faith

What faith is should now be almost obvious. If we want to be happy and fulfilled, and have our misdeeds forgiven, this requires:

1) Accepting that Christ is all-wise and wants to teach us the way of happiness;
2) Seeking to understand and live His teachings;
3) Realizing that as we accept Him and His teachings, He will pay the penalty of our misdeeds, sins, instead of us paying it, provided we repent!

Repentance

This involves working to overcome our shortcomings, working to improve ourselves, getting rid of bad behavior and attitudes, and replacing them with better ones. This process of self-improvement is to continue throughout our life and is to be guided by the teachings of Jesus Christ. Our improvement brings positive energy to the Creation instead of depressing it.

Baptism

When you have faith and are willing to repent, you can be baptized. This is the way the Creator has chosen to formalize a covenant between you and Him. This covenant is a pledge from you that you will work to live Christ's teachings, will work to improve yourself, and never forget that Christ is your Creator, exemplar and paid the price of your misdeeds (sins). In return, He will forgive your sins, give you the Gift of the Holy Spirit and you can enter the highest post-Earth kingdom, the Celestial Kingdom (see1 Corinthians 15: 40-44, 2 Cor. 12: 2, and LDS Doctrine and Covenants, Section 76).

There is much symbolism in baptism.  Being immersed in water represents your sins being washed away. You come up out of the water clean of your misdeeds.  Also, it can represent burial and as you come out of the water, you are reborn into your new life of living His teachings (often called the Gospel). 

For the Baptism to be fully recognized by Jesus and for you to receive the full benefit of it, a Priesthood holder who has His authority must perform it. For an explanation of this, see your Latter-Day Saint Missionaries.

Just because someone says he has authority to baptize because he has a degree from a divinity school, doesn't mean he does. Baptism by such a person can help, but does not bring all the benefits that you might receive, such as the full-time presence of the Holy Spirit versus its' occasional visit.

There is hope for those who don't accept Christ and live His teachings  in their Earth life.  Christ is all loving and is as merciful as the demands of justice allow.  First, there are many persons who have had no opportunity to hear the teachings and learn of Christ.  They will be taught in the post-Earth spirit world and then will decide what they will accept.  If they accept everything, they will have all the benefits offered, including life in the highest kingdon and forgiveness of sins.

For those that have had an opportunity in their Earth life but did not fully utilize it, they still can be taught in the post-Earth spirit world, accept and then can receive some of the benefits, including forgiveness of misdeeds.  In some cases, perhaps, they will get all the benefits.

Don't procrastinate.  If you do, you will loose obtaining the greatest benefits.  You will become aware of what you might have had.  Your loss will be so great that you will be very grieved.

Gift of the Holy Spirit (Holy Ghost)

If you have been bapized by an authoritative Priesthood  holder,  you qualify for the full Gift of the Holy Ghost.  This gift is important because it means that you can have the constant companionship of the third member of  the Godhead to  guide you-- the three members being the Father, the Son (Christ) and the Holy Ghost. 

This is a wonderful gift:

1) the Holy Ghost can be with you full time instead of just occasionally;

2) He helps you understand the teachings and gives you strength to live them;

3) He helps you learn and understand all good things;

4) He can warn you of dangers and point out good things (for instance, you can realize a person needs help, even the type of help required);

5) He is called  the Comforter-- the Holy Spirit give you peace of mind and confidence that you can handle a challenge;

6) the guidance that comes from the Spirit will help you progress in life much faster than if you don't have it.

For more information, see your LDS (Latter Day Saint (Mormon)) missionaries.  They can teach many more wonderful aspects.  They understand the application of faith, repentance, and baptism, but being young, they will not likely comprend all of the basic spiritual truths given here to explain why faith, repentance, etc. are as they are.  Again, they do understand the application of faith, etc. for they have a spiritual witness of their validity and can help you gain one.

Before proceeding with the concluding comments, I state that everything expressed in this paper and on this websigte, represents the understandings of the author, White Wolf.  The LDS Church has no responsibility.  Any mistakes, are mine.

THE GOSPEL IS THE  ONLY WAY!

Our Creator, Jesus Christ, wants us to learn how to be happy.  The Gospel, which is the road  to obtaining joy, is based on fundamental spiritual truths.  By accepting Jesus Christ and repenting, we can live a happy and fulfilling life.  Also, we avoid paying the penalty for our sins-- He paid it.  Through baptism by one with His authority, we qualify for the most beautiful kingdom in the post-Earth spirit world.  If we were allowed into this wonderful kingdom without accepting Christ as the Creator, without the right baptism, or without the demands of justice being satisfied (we have all sinned), the spirits of Mother Earth would rebel.  Also, we would be very uncomfortable there with the greater spirits.

The Creator had the intelligence to organize the Creation so that it would bring the greatest possible happiness to all spirits, awarenesses in the Creation.  Also, He developed the path (His teachings) that maximizes joy for Man.  There is no way we can get all the wonderful benefits without the help of Him and without following His path.  And as we do this, we generate positive energy, which buoys the Creation.

If you are not sure of the correctness of what is advocated, pray to find out by applying the procedure given under the heading "How do you learn that this is true?"*

Again, His teachings are the only way we can gain everything.  We must accept and honour the Creator and what He advocates.  There is no other way to obtain all this beauty, peace of mind, and all knowledge and to avoid being subject to other spirits.  His plan is based on an all wise brilliant understanding and application of basic spiritual truths!  Don't you want this beauty, all knowledge and eternal peace?!

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* Reflect on matters and pray to Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ, asking if it is true.  If you pray with sincerity, wanting to know whether it is true, you will soon feel beautiful warmth in your bosom and/or a great peace.  This is the Lord's way of confirming truth or you  may just know that the spiritual basics taught here are true.  It is very convincing-- you have felt His love and peace.  Or you may just know that the spiritual basics given here are true.  If you live the teachings, you soon get evidence that they are true.