Gates and branches

There is a very interesting structure to be found in many passages of scripture. Being an old retired computer geek, I recognize these patterns as gates and branches. Gates allow choices to be made and alternate paths can be taken based on the information given to the computer program. The path taken is called a branch.


I think that Heavenly Father’s plan has gates and branches. Every good plan has contingencies. Not that the Lord’s Plan is imperfect, but that those of us who are called upon to be the executors of the plan are imperfect. His contingencies are planned for us.

Heavenly Father’s plan is perfect with regard to its overall objective: to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man (Moses 1:39), with regard to the rolling forth of the gospel to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people (Mosiah 15:28), with regard to the atonement and its purpose (2Nephi 10:25, Jacob 4:11, Mosiah 3:19), with regard to our own personal salvation (4th Article of Faith).

His plan is perfect with regard to agency (Abraham 3:25). He offers the opportunity to make choices, to enter in at the gate and take a branch, good or bad, in our own lives. When we choose a gate and take a branch that takes us from the plan, we always have the opportunity to choose another gate that will take us back to the proper branch. In 3Nephi 14: 13, the Lord tells us:

Enter ye in at the strait gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, which leadeth to destruction, and many there be who go in thereat; Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

So perhaps we can discern good and bad gates by their structure. It would seem that the gate that the adversary would have us enter is wide open, and the branch he would have us take is broad and well-traveled. In the scriptures, this kind of branch always leads downward, away from the Lord’s kingdom: “…and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell.” (2 Nephi 28:21.) So gates and branches must be examined carefully before the gate is opened. The branch may appear to be harmless, may appear to be level and comfortable, but may actually be a subtle downward slope spiritually, emotionally, or physically, but the true branch will always lead upward spiritually, emotionally, and physically.

The Great Plan of the Eternal God (GPEG) (Alma 34:9) does allow for our own choices and actions. It provides the opportunity for us to choose rightly or wrongly, and it provides for our return to the correct path.

The illustrative power of branches is often used often in parables and scriptures. Likewise the concept of the gate (strait is the gate…). Sometimes gates may have a nested form: IF…THEN…ELSE, IF… THEN. An example of one of the gates in the Father’s plan can be found in 1 Kings 9:4-7 when the Lord is speaking to King Solomon:

IF you will do this… (the gate)
And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments:
THEN I (the Lord) will do this… (the – upward – branch)
Then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel for ever, as I promised to David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel.
ELSE IF… (the gate)
But if ye shall at all turn from following me, ye or your children,
THEN… (the alternate – downward – branch)
and will not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them: Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people...

The Lord very clearly states the consequences of choosing the right gate/branch, and of choosing the wrong gate/branch. Bishop John H. Vandenberg, in April 1966 General Conference General Priesthood Meeting, said of Solomon:

Solomon had his choice of roads, and he turned from God. He bartered his long-range goal for Israel for worship of other gods and day-by-day gratifications. He failed himself and failed Israel.

Another example in John 8:31-32:
IF… you will do this… (the gate)
If ye continue in my word,
THEN… I (the Lord) will do this… (the – upward – branch)
then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Another example in Alma 41:14:
Therefore, my son, see that you are merciful unto your brethren; deal justly, judge righteously, and do good continually; and
IF… you will do this… (the gate)
if ye do all these things,
THEN… I (the Lord) will do this… (the – upward – branch)
then shall ye receive your reward; yea, ye shall have mercy restored unto you again; ye shall have justice restored unto you again; ye shall have a righteous judgment restored unto you again; and ye shall have good rewarded unto you again.

Another example in 3 Nephi 20:28:
IF… you will do this… (the gate)
…they shall have received the fulness of my gospel,
THEN… I (the Lord) will do this… (the – downward – branch)
then if they shall harden their hearts against me I will return their iniquities upon their own heads, saith the Father.

This kind of construct can be found in many places throughout the scriptures. In every case, it is we who must make the choice. In every case, there is a reward (sometimes implied) for choosing the right branch and a consequence (sometimes implied) for choosing the wrong branch. We are faced with these same kinds of gates and branches every day. In Moses 7:53 The Lord explains that he is the Messiah and identifies the upward branch we must choose to reach the broad Rock of Heaven and His kingdom of joy and happiness:

…I am Messiah, the King of Zion, the Rock of Heaven, which is broad as eternity;
IF… you will do this… (the gate)
whoso cometh in at the gate and climbeth up by me
THEN… I (the Lord) will do this… (the – upward – branch)
shall never fall; wherefore, blessed are they of whom I have spoken, for they shall come forth with songs of everlasting joy.

The difference, of course, between us and a computer program is that the program has no agency; it is constrained to follow the logic that the programmer has dictated, which can sometimes be incorrect. We, on the other hand, can always choose the upward branch regardless of the seemingly logical and seductive whisperings of the adversary. May we all choose the gates/branches that lead us to the feet of the Savior and the joy of the Celestial Kingdom.