A long time ago, long before remembering, my spirit was born in heaven. I lived there, with Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother, and you. They taught me how to be like them, but I couldn't learn everything, or be completely like them, because I was only a spirit. I didn't have a physical body.
Eventually, Heavenly Father called us all together and presented a beautiful plan, a plan of happiness. He told us that He would create an earth where we could come to live, receive a body, and learn. During the time we lived on earth we wouldn't be able to remember heaven or our Heavenly Parents, because He wanted to give us a real chance to become like Him. If we could remember everything from pre-earth life, we really wouldn't have a chance to do things on our own, and learning, real learning, comes from experience.
The problem with getting a body and learning how to use it, though, was that we would make mistakes in the process. We all wanted to come home to Heavenly Father eventually, after we had learned as much as we could on the earth, but to live with Him eternally we had to be like Him, and He is perfect. So Heavenly Father proposed that He would send His oldest son to earth to become a mediator, a Savior, to atone for our mistakes, imperfections, and sins. His name was Jehovah, Jesus, and He was just like our Heavenly Father, perfect, so He, and He alone, could perform the atonement.
We had another brother, Lucifer, who proposed a different plan. He suggested that Father allow him to be our savior, instead. He said he would force all of us to be perfect while we were on earth, so that when we returned to heaven we would be able to live there. In return, he wanted the glory.
Heavenly Father rejected Lucifer's plan. Even though it would insure eternal life with Heavenly Father to every one of us, if we were forced to be perfect, we wouldn't really be like Him. The two plans were discussed in heaven. Some of our family thought Lucifer's plan sounded good, after all, we wouldn't have to worry about anything if we followed it, and we would all be assured a place in heaven. The rest of us, though, wanted the agency to make our own choices, to learn and grow, and eventually learn how to become like our Heavenly Parents. There was a war in heaven. Two-thirds of our family chose Heavenly Father's plan, and Lucifer was cast out of heaven to become the devil. He and his followers were denied the privilege of getting a physical body and living on earth. He determined to ruin the Father's plan, then, by keeping the rest of us from learning and becoming like God.
Heavenly Father sent Jehovah, and another of our brother's, Michael, to create an earth where we would live. After it was made, Heavenly Father created a body for Michael, whose name was changed to Adam, and placed him here on earth. Then Heavenly Father and Jehovah created a woman to be a help meet for Adam. He called her name Eve.
A beautiful garden was planted in Eden for them, where they could live happily with everything they needed. A veil was placed over their minds so they didn't remember heaven, but while they lived in the Garden of Eden they walked and talked with God. He commanded Adam and Eve to multiply and replenish the earth, to have children. He also told them they could eat from all the trees in the garden, but there was one tree, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, whose fruit He warned them against.
“If you eat that fruit, you will die,” He told them.
Satan, wanting to thwart God's plan, came to the garden and tempted Adam and Eve to eat the fruit from this tree.
“You won't die if you eat it,” he told Eve. “You will gain knowledge though and become like God, being able to chose good or evil for yourselves.”
Eve chose to eat the fruit, even though it meant she would have to face good and evil, and eventually die. She knew it was the only way she would be able to progress with Adam, have children, and eventually return to live with Heavenly Father. Adam agreed with Eve that it was the best choice, and ate as well.
Like God warned, because of this choice they had to leave the garden of Eden, and eventually they died. Before that, though, God taught them that through the atonement of Jesus Christ, they could repent and be forgiven, their spirits would be reunited with their bodies, and they would be resurrected and they could return to live with Heavenly Father again.
Adam and Eve were blessed with children, and eventually, like they had been warned, they died. Their children multiplied and peopled the earth. They were taught the commandments of God to keep them safe and happy and help them learn to become like Him. Some chose to follow His plan, others didn't.
Four thousand years later, in the meridian of time, God sent his Son, Jehovah, to earth. He was born of Mary, in Bethlehem. Joseph was her husband, but not the Savior's father. Heavenly Father was his literal, physical father, thus he was the only person born on earth with a mortal mother and an immortal father. Because of this, he had power over life and death.
Jesus is the only person who lived a perfect life. He was born a baby, grew, learned, and progressed from grace to grace, but He was sinless. He taught his followers the commandments and showed them the way to live, the way to be like Heavenly Father. Jesus had many disciples, but others hated him and were threatened by his teachings, so they planned his death. Jesus knew that to give us the gift of the atonement and resurrection, He had to die, but first He had to pay the price, to suffer, for our sins, imperfections, weaknesses, mistakes, pains, hurts, and sadness.
In the Garden of Gethsemane, in a way that no man can totally comprehend, understand, or fathom, Jesus paid the price for you and for me, so we can go home. The agony was so awful that even He, a God, had not anticipated how bad it would be. He asked His Father to save him from the awful pain, if it was possible, but, if not, he would proceed. There was no other way, only perfect Jesus could pay the price for you and for me, so Jesus atoned for us. It was so awful, it hurt so much, that he bled from every pore.
Then, to complete the atonement, Jesus was taken, tried illegally, and condemned to death. He was crucified by wicked men, but He did not have to die. Jesus was mortal, so he could die, but because God is His father, he was also immortal. Jesus chose to die on Calvary, so that He could brake the bands of death, so we can be resurrected.
His lifeless body was placed in a tomb, sealed and guarded by Roman soldier, but on the third morning he rose. His spirit took possession of his body once more, and unlike the people He restored to life during his ministry, He will never die again. He was resurrected, and because He was, I will be, too. He atoned for my sins, so if I repent and follow His commandments, one day I can stand in front of my Heavenly Father, clean and pure and perfect, and I will be able to live with Him for eternity. He experienced my pains and sorrows, so He knows how to comfort me perfectly, because He understands.
Jesus is my Savior, my Redeemer, my God. He atoned for me, and I owe Him everything, especially my love.
