====== O3IXI8E0OC ====== {{:navescapestipple.jpg?direct&300 |03IXI8E0OC - The Mariner's Log}}**The Mariner's Log** also known as **God’s Plan of Happiness in Ten Simple Symbols** Have you ever wondered: "Why are we here?" Do you ever contemplate why God made the earth or, given the pain many people have, if there really is a God or if he really cares about us? These deep questions have bothered people since the very beginning of everything! God has provided us answers to our questions and help to understand why our world is the way it is. He wants us to learn many things and grow up to become like him. God created a plan to accomplish this. This plan is called "God's Plan of Happiness." You have likely come to this web page because you were intrigued by this string of characters: **03IXI8E0OC**. I call this “the Mariner's Log.” The log is a graphical representation of God’s Plan for Happiness, to help you remember the Plan and what God wants to do for you. What I am about to tell you is not fiction; it is my understanding of God’s purposes for the earth and our mortal lives. //Though what I say here has deep roots in a particular religious belief, the things I write here come from my own personal understanding of God and his Plan. These writings do not represent the official position of any group or anyone besides [[user:jason_nemrow|Jason Nemrow]]. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) and there may be many similarities between what is written here and official LDS doctrine. If you are interested in learning more about LDS beliefs regarding God’s Plan for Happiness, you can visit [[http://www.mormon.org]] or talk with a Latter-day Saint about it. I repeat: the things explained in this web page are NOT official statements of LDS doctrine, nor are these writings endorsed by the LDS Church.// [[about|Here is some background into the creation and early history of the Mariner's Log.]] ===== A Short Explanation of the Log ===== //Please understand that this short explanation is// totally incomplete //and the symbols associated with each part of God’s Plan might not seem to have anything to do with what is written in this section. This short explanation is merely a “teaser” to the larger explanation that follows. If you like, it is a reluctant and unsatisfactory answer for impatient people who want a one-minute response to the question of “What is this Mariner's Log?”// **0** - God created a plan for us to grow up with an opportunity to become like him. **3** - Two-thirds of us chose to accept God’s plan and Jesus was our leader. **I** – As part of the plan, we had to come to earth by being born. **X** – We are here on earth to prove to God that we will follow his plan and that we will take the help of Jesus. **I** – We will all die and our chance to prove ourselves to God will come to an end. **8** – God will give us a last time to learn about and follow his plan after death. **E** – Jesus will judge how we followed the plan and give us our ultimate reward. **0** – If we reject the plan or break a ‘big’ law of God, we will be given a poor reward. **O** – If we follow parts of God’s plan, we will be given a better reward. **C** – If we follow God’s plan completely, we can grow to become like him: the best reward of all. As you read the more detailed explanations of each part of God’s Plan of Happiness, everything will make much more sense and you will understand how the symbols relate to each part. ===== On the Log Symbols ===== Each symbol of the Log is a number or a letter, but you must understand that each symbol is more accurately a graphical representation of a part of God’s Plan of Happiness. The Log was designed to be comprehensible to anyone, no matter their language or culture, as an aid in understanding the Plan. The fact that all of the symbols are commonly used numbers and letters simply allows the Log to be transmitted easily by email, web page, typewriter, handwriting, or other means of communication. ===== The Explanation of The Mariner's Log or God’s Plan of Happiness ===== I have only given a passing attempt at explaining God's Plan of Happiness here. Learning the nature of God and what he wants us to do is a unending process and I am sure even those people who are very knowledgeable about the Plan still have much to learn from God about it. I don't think anyone on earth fully comprehends the entire Plan, least of all me. In this explanation, I have intentionally left out some aspects of the Plan, such as the importance of physical bodies and the Resurrection. I do this to keep the explanation brief and to encourage you to seek out a member of the [[http://www.mormon.org|Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] that you respect to get a more complete explanation of the Plan. ==== O ==== Before you were born, you lived with God. We all lived with God because we are his children. Like any good father, God loves us and wants what is best for us. God wants us to have the things that he has. Like any normal child, we loved God our father and wanted to grow up to be like him. As children, we were in a safe place, living with God our father. In order to grow up, we would have to leave this safe place and strike out on our own. If we didn’t leave this home, we could never really grow up and become like God. Growing up requires making our own choices and not always being under the eye of our parents. Growing up means that we must be willing to be in places that might not be particularly safe. God wanted to give us guidance as we left our safe home with him. He created God’s Plan of Happiness to help us along the way while we were far away from him, to help us grow up with the least amount of danger. God presented his Plan to all his children. //The number ‘0’ symbolizes our safe home as children with God. It represents a circle without an opening because, before God created the Plan, we were not able to leave this home and grow up.// ==== 3 ==== When God presented his Plan to us, he also gave us our first choice: to accept the Plan or reject it. God’s oldest son, a man we would call Jesus Christ, supported the Plan. He also offered to help all of God’s children to fulfill the Plan. Many children followed the leadership of Jesus and also accepted the Plan. Another of God’s sons, someone we would call Satan or the Devil, did not support the Plan. He convinced many children that the Plan was too dangerous and that many children would choose not to follow the Plan and never get to be like God. Satan told the children that he would force them to do what the Plan required so that everyone would become like God. Some children liked this idea and followed Satan, rejecting the Plan. God knew that his children would never really grow up if they were forced to do what they should and that they would never be able to be like their father, no matter what Satan said. God put Jesus in charge of making the Plan work. Two-thirds of the children of God followed Jesus and supported the Plan. Satan and those who followed him vowed to destroy the Plan and every child of God that tried to follow Jesus. One-third of the children of God followed Satan in trying to destroy the Plan. God sent Satan and his followers away from his home. //The number ‘3’ symbolizes the two-thirds of God’s children that followed Jesus Christ and supported the Plan. It represents two circles connected together with an opening on one side, allowing the followers of Jesus to progress in the Plan.// ==== I ==== God’s Plan required that we leave our safe home with him. Jesus created the earth for us to live on while we were away. We leave our home with God when we are born. As part of the Plan, we are born to mortal parents, who are children of God that have lived on earth for a time and who are meant to help us grow up the way God wants us to. When we come to earth, we cannot remember our lives before birth. God does this because he doesn’t want our memories of accepting the Plan to influence us into blindly following the Plan while on earth. It is very important that we make our own choices while we are here. //The first letter ‘I’ symbolizes our birth, the portal between our lives as children with God and our lives of growing up on earth. It also represents a barrier to our memories of childhood with God.// ==== X ==== Without the memory of our time with God, our life on earth becomes a great test to see if we will seek out, learn, and follow God’s Plan. Though we don’t have our memories, God has provided a way for us to learn about the Plan and what we must do to follow it. What we have to do is seek out that learning. God has taught men called prophets about the Plan and what God wants us to do. These prophets are told to tell other people and to write down these things in books. The Bible is a collection of books written by prophets and we can learn about the Plan by reading it. As part of the Plan, God sends the Holy Ghost to help people feel when things are true. When we listen to a true prophet of God or read his words, the Holy Ghost lets us feel that the things we hear or read are true and come from God. This way we can know truth. This is how we learn about the Plan and what God wants us to do, even though we cannot remember learning about it when we lived with God. God will answer our questions through the Holy Ghost when we sincerely ask him through prayer. If we are to grow up, we must learn to make good choices. The earth provides several possibilities to choose from and to learn from. The Plan, as taught by prophets of God, is one possible choice among many on how to live your life. We learn very quickly that the choices we make can affect us for the rest of our lives and beyond. Before you were born on earth, you rejected the ideas of Satan and his followers. You are now the enemy of the Devil who wants to destroy the Plan by persuading you not to follow it. He may entice you to do things that God doesn't want you to do. He may convince you that the Plan is foolish or too hard to follow, or that there is no God and no Plan. He can trick you into ignoring or rejecting one or two parts of the Plan so you can never become like God. Satan can confuse us by offering many, many different and appealing paths to follow besides the Plan. If Satan can get us to deviate from the Plan, even just a little, we can lose our opportunity to be like God. God doesn't want this to happen. //Many people on Earth are influenced by philosophies called atheism and agnosticism, which deny God typically because there is obvious suffering and unfairness on earth and that a proper God would do something about this. Such people miss the entire point of mortal life, which is to test how people will react to such situations. Obviously, atheits and agnostics are failing the test miserably and God is taking note of this fact.// Before we were born, Jesus Christ promised that he would help us follow the Plan. He was born and lived on earth just as we do, and he followed God’s Plan perfectly, giving us the ultimate example. Knowing that we would make mistakes and might be tricked into doing the wrong things by Satan, Jesus paid the punishment for the things that we will do wrong and offers us the chance to repent of our mistakes and sins against God’s Plan. When we repent in the way Jesus taught us, it is as if we never sinned and we can be right back to following the Plan. Jesus truly does fulfill his promise to help us follow God’s Plan. Experiences we have on earth can prepare us for living a life like God’s. Parenting children, avoiding bad things and embracing good things, and gaining control over our bodies and appetites help us to be more like God and help us better follow his Plan. Once we learn about the Plan and are following it, we need to help others do the same. We can do this by teaching our children these things and sharing with them how we discovered the Plan. We can also do these things for other people around us. Our first purpose in life on earth should be to recognize God’s Plan, learn of it, and follow it by following the example of Jesus Christ. Our second purpose should be to help others recognize, learn, and follow the Plan as well. //The letter ‘X’ symbolizes the fact that “we are here” on earth. It also represents the many decisions we must make and the many directions we may choose to go in.// ==== I ==== Very similar to birth, the other portal through which all of us must pass is death. It marks the end of our mortal opportunity to make many decisions for ourselves. Our greatest chance to prove ourselves in following the Plan will be behind us. In death, we leave behind all the physical things that we accumulated during life: money, possessions, physical addictions, and the like. The Plan was meant to lift our vision past mere physical pleasures and focus more on our ultimate reward. As the common saying goes: “You can’t take it with you.” The memories of our lives before birth will be restored to us in preparation for the time that Jesus will judge how well we followed the Plan. //The second letter ‘I’ symbolizes our death, the portal between our mortal lives and the life beyond. It also represents a barrier that the physical things of mortality do not follow you beyond death.// ==== 8 ==== Between death and our judgment, there is a time of waiting. We will wait in one of two places, which God calls Paradise and Prison. Paradise is the place where those who accepted and tried to follow the Plan will go after death. It has also been called a place of rest from the trials of mortal life. Many people in Paradise will be given the task of teaching about the Plan to those in Prison. Prison is the place for those who either did not accept the Plan or did not choose to follow it or for those who simply didn't ever learn about the Plan. Those in Prison will be taught God’s Plan and will have the opportunity to accept it. God has promised that everyone will understand the Plan and choose to accept or reject it before their lives are judged. Those in Prison who accept the Plan will be able to enter Paradise and have the rest that can be found there. //The number ‘8’ symbolizes the two places of waiting called Paradise and Prison. It also symbolizes that the two places are connected and people can move between them under certain conditions. It further symbolizes two connected albeit closed circles because further progress is only possible after judgment.// ==== E ==== Each person that has ever lived on earth will be judged in their appointed time. Jesus Christ, the one who taught us about the Plan and gave us the perfect example of following it, will be our judge. His judgment will be based on how diligently we followed his example and did the things he taught us to do. When you did something wrong but then repented for it, Jesus will not consider those mistakes in his judgement. After we are judged, we will be given our reward. Basically, there are three rewards that we receive, based on how we accepted and followed the Plan. //The letter ‘E’ symbolizes the judgment that each of us must eventually pass through. The three arms of the symbol represent the three basic rewards we can receive based on our efforts in following the Plan.// ==== O ==== The least reward that we can receive is called the “Telestial Kingdom” by God. It has been compared in glory to the light produced by the stars. People who did not accept the Plan or who committed serious sins on Earth without repenting for them will receive the Telestial Kingdom as their reward. The Telestial Kingdom has conditions like those on the earth as it is now. Those who receive this reward will not be permitted to progress any further. They will not be allowed to become like God. //The number ‘0’ symbolizes the Telestial Kingdom, or lowest reward. It represents a closed circle as those who receive this reward will not be permitted to progress beyond it.// ==== O ==== The better reward that we can receive is called the “Terrestrial Kingdom” by God. It has been compared in glory to the light reflected by the moon. People who accept the Plan but do not follow it sufficiently will receive the Terrestrial Kingdom as their reward. The Terrestrial Kingdom has conditions similar to those in the Garden of Eden before Adam and Eve fell. Those who receive this reward will not be permitted to progress any further. They will not be allowed to become like God. //The letter ‘O’ symbolizes the Terrestrial Kingdom, or better reward. It represents a closed circle as those who receive this reward will not be permitted to progress beyond it.// ==== C ==== The best reward we can receive is called the “Celestial Kingdom” by God. It has been compared in glory to the light produced by the sun. People who accept the Plan and follow it well, repenting of the things they do wrong in life, will receive the Celestial Kingdom as their reward. These will live with God and learn from him. They will also have the opportunity to progress onward and become like God. This is the reward that Jesus Christ receives because he followed the Plan perfectly. This is the reward that God wants all his children to strive to receive. The Plan is designed to help God’s children desire and work to receive the Celestial Kingdom and become like God. //The letter ‘C’ symbolizes the Celestial Kingdom, or best reward. It represents an open circle as those who receive this reward can progress on and can become like God.// ===== The Most Treasured Things I Take Away from the Plan ===== Each person has an individual reaction to God’s Plan of Happiness. For myself, I am struck by the love of God for us. He is willing to share all he has and all he is with us. Like any good father, he wants us to have the joy and happiness that he has. I can imagine him working every day of my life to help me along as I strive to follow the example of Jesus Christ toward the best reward the Plan offers. The world ceases to be a confusing and frightening place and becomes an opportunity to grow and learn and understand what is truly important and also an opportunity to share my perspective with others. This was the reason that I created the Salvation Code: to share God’s Plan of Happiness with as many people as possible. I am, by nature, a person who is reluctant to do things that I think might upset or offend others, just like a lot of people. Jesus Christ has said that teaching others about the Plan is very important and this is my way of honoring all his efforts and showing my desire to obey and follow him. I hope that the Code and this inadequate explanation of God’s Plan of Happiness will touch your soul and that you will get a desire to learn more about what God has in store for you. I hope you will contact a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and discover that there is more to know about God and Jesus Christ and what they want you to do. You can learn that all these things are true through the warm feelings that come from the Holy Ghost, just as I have learned them. I have felt God’s love and I know that if you haven’t had that feeling, you can. I know God lives and I know he loves you and wants you to become like him. I know that Jesus Christ makes it possible for us to repent of the things we do wrong and that he will lead us back to God, if we will follow him. God awaits me and God awaits you. May these things bring you closer to that highest reward that God wants you to have!