Acquire Odds Are, Youre Going To Be Exalted: Evidence That The Plan Of Salvation Works By Alonzo L. Gaskill Rendered As Manuscript

was a logical, wellcrafted, wellargued, hopeful discussion about just how many people will gain exaltation, "If you died today, would you go to heaven or hell" I found fascinating new ideas and clarifications in this book, and while Gaskill doesn't have the lyrical, beautiful, moving language of say Jeffrey Holland or Terryl Givens, he is earnest in his conviction that "more of God's children will be exalted than will be lost.
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"The odds are in our favor!, . . The hard things have been taken care of by the Father and the Son, What we're called do do is quite easy, in comparison, " Gaskill's frequent use of exclamation points quite endeared him to me, He argues persuasively for the unfailing concern and watchcare of our Heavenly Father and quotes the more poetic Holland, "Mercy is his mission, and love is his only labor.
" We see "God for what He really isthe ultimate, loving Father, "

Gaskill also increased my appreciation for the Prophet Joseph, quoting him frequently and explaining why Joseph's stature and status before God is so high, "A major reason Joseph's work weighs so heavily in the eternal scheme of things is the restoration of work for the dead that was revealed to him.
" That work for the dead is vital because "the vast majority of all people who hear and accept the gospel of Jesus Christ and its essential ordinances will do so as residents of the spirit world, not as residents of this earth.
" The doctrines of justification and sanctification were also explored, I liked this idea that justification is "a blessing that only the three members of the Godhead can secure for us, The Father provides the Plan and its ordinances, the Son provides the Atonement to resolve our shortcomings, and the Holy Ghost ratifies our acts and ordinances via the parameters the Father has sent and through the Atonement the Son has wrought.
" A short book, so easy to take in, and don't forget to read the footnotes, which have great information too, I enjoyed this, don't get me wrong, But I think it would have been better as a pamphlet, It was the same basic points reiterated over and over, And I grew impatient . So dnf. . Enjoyed reading the info, but did not love the way it was presented, Something was lacking for me in the way he writes, A very much needed read, It is so easy to get mired in the weeds of this world and come to a pessimistic view, This read has cured me of that and now I have a brighter and optimistic view, Onward! I love what this book has taught me, . . and the following quotes will show you some of what that is,
the Spirit enabled Christ to know exactly, . . what it was like to be you and me, . . what it was like to have the temptations we have, while having the background we have, and the health we have, and the family we have, and the history we have.
. . Please know, if you are struggling, God understands why you are as you are!
, . . as we grow in the Spirit, gaining a familiarity with how He speaks to us individually, honing our ability to follow those promptings, we will experience the promised change in our outlook and behavior.

although we are all judged by the same laws, our circumstances influence what is expected of us individually under those laws, From the very beginning of the Plan's institution, we each understood that we would have less ability than Jesus to keep the Father's commandments, . . Our inequality with Christ made this a necessary component of the Father's plan, Likewise, you and I are also unequal in our individual abilities to keep the commandments, when compared to each other, My Father in law brought this book when he came to visit and before giving it to us to read, asked us if we thought we were going to make it to the Celestial Kingdom.
My husband and I were hesitant to answer, We live a good life, have been through the temple, but we felt to say yes was something we couldn't really do as it was too cocky or prideful.


We aren't alone in that within the church, This is the reason BYU Professor Alonzo Gaskill wrote the book, to show us that we have a loving father in heaven who wants us to make it back to live with Him.


I learned quite a bit of uplifting and reassuring bits of doctrine within this short book, It is a relief to read and gives me more confidence in living the way I do, Not sure the coverage of this topic was quite worth a full book, smaller size, larger print, it felt stretched, An article in a journal would have been more fitting, There were a few things that made me smile, like all his personal examples showed Alonzo in a bright light and the contrasting people in utter darkness fellow high priests, in a ward he was visiting of course, a missionary companion, a fellow Christian his examples turned me off, as you don't make a point by putting others down to raise yourself up.


He quotes McConkie too much, yes, I've read everything Bruce wrote, some twice, but he had a lot of dogmatic opinions, I literally laughed out loud when he quoted Bruce's son Joseph from "personal correspondence" to make a point I was like seriously, just because Joseph said it, it must be true not the best way to support a point you're trying to make.


The redeeming factor of the book, was the few quotes that most members of the church don't come across or know about, so from that perspective, I like the quotes, which have been around a long time!! It's easy enough to read.
It's really positive, so if you are critical or down, this is good, There are a lot of scriptures, but also he has a lot of his own opinions a few which I felt uncomfortable with,/stars. Clearly written and with very comforting and intriguing analysis about the plan of salvation, I really liked this book, I would recommend this book to everyone, especially any members of the church, My dad had this laying around in his office at home and I borrowed it, He had already read it and marked all over in it, which I liked,
It is written by a BYU professor but it is not published by the church, Although he quotes scriptures and conference talks and other church leaders through out the book,
It talks about how basically if we live a good life, always striving to have the spirit with us, we will be exalted, That is the Plan.
Heavenly Father wants us to return back to him, He did not make it hard, It is simple. Just to the things that would keep the spirit with you and Jesus' Atonement takes care of the rest,
He also talks about how many people will probably be exalted, Some of those are all those who die before the age of accountability, which is a lot,
He also talks about death, having a wayward children and the sealing powers of temples,
Even though we may not understand how Heavenly Father does things and how he will make things right, this book makes me feel good, After my last church book Forgive for Good, a book about forgiving others, which is really tough for everyone, I decided to read church books that are very appealing to me.
This book, based on the title alone, show how appealing Mormonism is,

This was a nice uplifting read, The title sums it up quite nicely,

Of course I had to bring it into Elder's Quorum and base a lesson around it, They should have known better than to put me in the presidency of anything,

I just realized that I checked out this book from the UCLA Institute of Religion last February, I should give it back, I'll file that away in my "todo" list,

This book just screams "Hope", For every Saint who's ever had a Gospel Doctrine teacher fix the entire class with a baleful gaze while intoning "There were five foolish virgins and five wise virgins, so HALF of you are NOT going to make it to the Celestial Kingdom pause for dramatic effect WHICH ONES OF YOU AREN'T GOING TO MAKE IT" there is this beautiful hopefilled counterargument that the Plan of Salvation NOT the Plan of Misery and Despairloved that note! really works, that the allpowerful God our Father didn't make a defective plan, that He loves us more than we can imagine, and that if only we'll keep plugging away, we'll make it.
His power to save even surpasses my power to mess upHe knows I WANT to come home, What a comforting note. This is a good book for periodic rereading,.overall. Gaskill is an incredible scholar and brilliant thinker, and I have loved reading his books over the years, A BYU professor and former professor at Harvard, while holding degrees in theology, psychology and biblical studies, Alonso Gaskill is not afraid to talk about deep and meaningful topics.
This book felt very different to me, simpler than his more in depth studies of historical and symbolic elements of religion, It is really quite an easy read but that doesn't make it less powerful,

Gaskill, a convert to the LDS church, often sees things in the Mormon culture through different eyes and I absolutely love that about him, I really feel there tends to be a bit of pessimism along with perfectionism in the church, and with this book the author points out why that is not in line with God's plan of salvation and exaltation.


This book is completely full of message after message found in scriptures, the words of prophets and apostles , and every day anecdotes pointing out how merciful our Heavenly Father is.
It points out beautifully how both GRACE and WORKS change and save us, Not one of us is perfect, aside from Christ himself, and thus our relying on Christ every single day is essential, God is a loving father who created a plan to save as many of His children as possible, all the while allowing the act of being saved as a choice to us.
That message alone is so profound and so beautifully explained in this book,
Here is a small snippet of the message
"Christ has the composite picture, He knows the details. And his adding of all things atoned for us in not a negative picture of overwhelming guilt but rather a beautiful portrait of overwhelming understanding, . We must never doubt or give way to despair, we must not lose hope, it is our responsibility to assume the best and to believe that all flesh is in God's hands, "

Gaskill tackles such topics as those young lives who die before the age of accountability, those born with handicaps, those in areas of the world where the gospel is not available to them.
He lays out the case of how God indeed set forth a plan to reach every soul, in one way or another, If members took nothing more away than that optimism coupled with the importance of serving in the temple this would be lifechanging book,

Again the topics are heavy but the writing is not, If anything, I craved a little more intense and deeper discussions at some points, but that is not the point of this book, It lays down the case for optimism, hope, and ultimately for the responsibility of serving others along the way to bring them closer to God as well.
I am so grateful I read this one, What a wonderfully comforting and enlightening book! Bro, Alonzo Gaskill builds on work done in the same vein by authors such as Robert Millett and Stephen Robinson, highlighting the love God has for us that overcomes all.
There is too much of value in Bro, Gaskill's thoughts to convey entirely here, but let me summarize a few thoughts that really stood out for me,

Impatience puts us at risk, . . we do not then honor the words "in process of time" and thus we miss opportunities for personal growth and development, I would add that, since "men and women are that they might have joy" we also put at risk our enjoyment of the beauties of the world around us, something Heavenly Father wants for us.


From time to time, we are blessed with the companionship of the Holy Spirit, for example in priesthood blessings or in the bearing of testimony.
That same Spirit cannot dwell in an unclean tabernacle, Consequently, as Elder McConkie taught, "when men and women receive the Spirit, they become clean and pure and spotless, " That truth is taught in James:and DampC", Thus, one way to know of your standing before the Lord is to look for the Spirit's active and regular influence in your life,

Our Father in Heaven is a successful parent, and will save far more of his children than he will lose, For those of us who have transgressed ummm, all of us, that is important to understand, That happens through what Elder Neal A, Maxwell described as the "awful arithmetic of the Atonement, " Hence his plea to the Father while on the cross to "forgive them for they know not what they do, " His persecutors hadn't even asked for forgiveness, and yet he pleaded on their behalf in that most cruel of moments anyway,

We are certainly responsible for what we know, but many do not know, Some do not know beacuse they have not been taught the truth others do not know because, although they have been taught, they do not grasp the truth.
I believe that is true for most of us at one time or another, perhaps often, and is one powerful reason why we should not stoop to judging others.


Finally, as Bro, Gaskill writes, "God knows we're going to fall short, His expectation of us is not perfection but an attitude of willingness to endure, sorrow for sin, and a determination to move ourselves bit by bit toward Him in our nature, thoughts, and actions.
" This is what Hugh Nibley referred to as the "Doctrine of the Two Ways, "

Great book! Be sure to read the chapter notes also, as their is much of value there also, .