What is the Purpose of Life Here on Earth?

Have you ever asked yourself that question?  What is your purpose here on earth?  Why am I here?  What am I suppose to be doing?  And if you already know, do you ask yourself that question enough?

For those who visit my blog who are not members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I want to tell you that there is a reason why we are here.  When people start to talk religion, many people are turned off and believe that they don't need a church to go to, or that they don't believe in God, or that they are happy with their own religion.  I want you to know that there is a real purpose and meaning as to why we even exist here on this earth.  I want you to know.  I share this with you so you can know too.

We lived in Heaven before we came to this earth.  We lived as spirits, and we have a Heavenly Father who created us.  We looked like our Father, only we did not have bodies of flesh and bone as he did.  We wanted to be like him.  Our Father in Heaven loves us, so much in fact, that he wants all his spirit children to have what he has and to become like him.  He prepared a way for us to become like Him.  He would allow all his spirit children who wanted to come to earth, to receive a physical body like His.  While on earth, we would be tested and tried to see if we would use or physical bodies properly and be able to obey all the commandments he would give us.  We would be allowed to choose what to do with all we have.  If we choose wisely, we would be able to enjoy all the blessings and glory that our Heavenly Father enjoys.

Lucifer, commonly referred to as Satan, and a third of all of Heavenly Father's spirit children (can you imagine how many billions of spirits that would be!) did not like the idea that they could possibly not have the opportunity to be like God because of their actions and choices on earth.  They did not want to risk it.  Satan wanted a way that would force everyone to be good so we could all return to live with our Heavenly Father.  But what sense does that make?  What would you learn?  How can you prove that you would use your body correctly or that you would be obedient?  Satan and his followers were sent out of our Heavenly Father's presence and chose not to come to this earth to receive a body.

Heavenly Father is very wise and loving.  He knew it would be hard to live on earth, we would make mistakes, we would give in to temptations, and because of unbelief and the apostasy of the past our circumstances may never even give us the opportunity to have Heavenly Father's knowledge in our lives.  Jesus Christ was chosen to come to earth and suffer and die for us, so that every single one of us, if we choose to, can return to live with our Heavenly Father again.  We will all live again after we die, this was a free gift that Jesus Christ gave to everyone by allowing himself to be crucified and then being resurrected three days later.  Whether we will receive all of Heavenly Father's glory and to have the rights and abilities he has, is totally up to us.  We can choose that.  For those of us who have the knowledge of the gospel in our lives, we can repent (or tell our Father in Heaven we are sorry) and continually work at being a better person.  We are not perfect, but we are trying.  This is were the word Atonement comes in.  Because we are not perfect, we sin, and no one with sin can be in the presence of God.  Jesus Christ suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane by taking upon him ALL the sins (and I meaning everything!) of the world.  He took on the pain and punishment of everything, so that when we came to earth and inevitably would sin, we could repent of our sins and Jesus Christ would take the punishment upon his shoulders, and then we would be worthy to be in our Heavenly Father's presence again.  Well, what about all those people who didn't have the opportunity to have the gospel taught to them?  Always remember this:  Heavenly Father loves every single one of his children.  He knows each one of us individually and wants each one of us to return to Him.  If we don't have the opportunity in this life to understand or hear His plan, He will give that opportunity to us after we die.  We will have the opportunity to be taught the gospel after we die, and have the opportunity to accept it or reject it then.

Having this knowledge of the reason why we are here on earth, this purpose of life, is the reason why we live and believe the things we do.  This is why we believe in living chaste lives. This is why we don't smoke or drink.  This is why we go to church every Sunday.  This is why we read our scriptures.  This is why we try to do our best.  We aren't perfect, we all are making mistakes, but we keep trying.

Please visit www.mormon.org if you are curious or have more questions.  Please feel free to leave a question in my comment box as well.  I hope you will come to understand your purpose in life too!