Two young girls were walking downtown with her father. They passed a bicycle shop and the girls saw the prettiest pink bicycle, with a basket and streamers! They asked their father if he would buy the bicycle for them. He said no, but that if they worked really hard and saved their pennies, that he would pay the rest.
The first girl worked really hard and saved her pennies. Sometimes she gave into temptation and spent a few pennies here on a candy, or a few there on a gumball. But this didn't deter her. When she slipped, she was ever more determined to save her pennies. And, she continued to save, despite her sweet tooth weakness.
The second girl would do a job here or there, perhaps spend some on a candy, and get discouraged. She thought it impossible to save enough pennies to get the bicycle.
Several months later, the father took the girls back to the bicycle shop. The first girl proudly handed her father a jar filled with 100 pennies. The father took the 100 pennies, combined with his $100 bill and bought her the bike with the basket and streamers. The second girl told the father that she was only able to save 50 pennies. The father asked if it was fair that she get the same bicycle as the first daughter, who had worked so much harder and sacrificed so much more. The second daughter agreed that it was not fair. She was still able to get a bicycle, but it was a purple one, without any basket or streamers. The father took the 50 pennies, along with $50 and purchased this bicycle for her.
So, you see, there is no way either girl could have ever achieved buying the bicycle on her own. But their father wasn't going to just give it to them either. They had to at least make an effort to earn the bicycle, and after all that they could do, the father paid the rest.
To hear EV's tell it, all the girl would have to do it to give her daddy a kiss on the cheek and say she loved him, and the bicycle was hers. No effort at all on her part.
I believe that story has its origins in Stephen Robinson's "Believing Christ," which I quite like and which describes an Atonement-centered gospel, not a works-centered one.
Of course, it doesn't really matter, because as Seth reminded us, none of it's true, anyway. ;)
Here are the steps to reach Heavenly Father, according to the YW manual:
Lesson 16: Temple Endowment,” Young Women Manual 3, 57
This type of illustration (or variations like the pyramid with a progressional component) is a common teaching tool. The current Gospel Principles manual emphasizes the following process for working your way up to God:
The Prophet Joseph Smith taught: “When you climb up a ladder, you must begin at the bottom, and ascend step by step, until you arrive at the top; and so it is with the principles of the Gospel—you must begin with the first, and go on until you learn all the principles of exaltation. But it will be a great while after you have passed through the veil [died] before you will have learned them. It is not all to be comprehended in this world; it will be a great work to learn our salvation and exaltation even beyond the grave” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 348).
This is the way our Heavenly Father became God. Joseph Smith taught: “It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the character of God. … He was once a man like us; … God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus Christ himself did” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp. 345–46).
Oh yeah. We don't know that we teach that.
"I think one of the great mysteries of the gospel is that anyone still believes it." Sethbag, MADB, Feb 22 2008
Trinity wrote:Oh yeah. We don't know that we teach that.
Isn't it interesting that the Atonement has no place in the ladder?
The Atonement is the ladder.
"Surely he knows that DCP, The Nehor, Lamanite, and other key apologists..." -Scratch clarifying my status in apologetics "I admit it; I'm a petty, petty man." -Some Schmo
Trinity wrote:Oh yeah. We don't know that we teach that.
Isn't it interesting that the Atonement has no place in the ladder?
The Atonement is the ladder.
I suppose it is if you consider repentance == atonement. Either way, these are things that you do to exalt yourself. Maybe charity is right after all: you have to work your way into the celestial kingdom.
Trinity wrote:Oh yeah. We don't know that we teach that.
Isn't it interesting that the Atonement has no place in the ladder?
The Atonement is the ladder.
I suppose it is if you consider repentance == atonement. Either way, these are things that you do to exalt yourself. Maybe charity is right after all: you have to work your way into the celestial kingdom.
You do things so that Christ can exalt you unless you believe people verbally speaking blessings actually conveys them without divine influence.
"Surely he knows that DCP, The Nehor, Lamanite, and other key apologists..." -Scratch clarifying my status in apologetics "I admit it; I'm a petty, petty man." -Some Schmo
Scottie wrote:Why does "Temple Endowment" have a box around it?
Probably because it was taken from the Temple Endowment lesson. I'm guessing the diagram is repeated in lessons for all the steps.
"Surely he knows that DCP, The Nehor, Lamanite, and other key apologists..." -Scratch clarifying my status in apologetics "I admit it; I'm a petty, petty man." -Some Schmo
