It is a safe bet that we have rarely, if ever, considered Father's Day in the following context. And yet it is the most meaningful and relevant way to view this special day.
"Few doctrines are better known by members of the true church than the doctrine of preexistence. We are well aware that all men are the children of God, the offspring of the Father, his sons and his daughters. We know that we were all born in his courts as spirit beings, long before the foundations of this earth were laid, and that the Lord Jehovah [Jesus] was in fact the Firstborn Son. What is not so well known is that nearly all the passages of scripture, both ancient and modern, which speak of God as our Father and of men on earth being the sons of God, have no reference to our birth in preexistence as the children of Elohim, but teach rather that Jehovah is our Father and we are his children" (Bruce R. McConkie, The Promised Messiah, pp. 351-2).
Yea, but rather . . . .
A couple of weeks ago during a break in a Primary rehearsal for Father's Day singing, the music leader asked the children who, besides our own dads, could we call "Father." One young child said simply, "Jesus." A Primary teacher tried to correct the child by saying with some firmness, "Jesus is not our Father, Jesus is our Older Brother."
It is common for us these days to think of and refer to Jesus as our older brother. It is true that He is, as implied in passing in Elder McConkie's statement above. While it is true that Jesus is our older brother in the context of premortality, it is irrelevant in the context of the plan of redemption.
Jesus is the Father of our new birth, made necessary by our fallen and natural birth into the family of Adam and Eve. Thus we see again the clear context of Fall --- Atonement at the center of the gospel plan.
Just as each of us is born into this world of a mother whose water and blood enabled us to be born, and thus each premortal spirit is given a mortal body, so we must be born again into the kingdom of heaven by water and blood and Spirit (Moses 6:59). This great truth we are commanded by the Lord "to teach freely unto your children" (verse 58). Surely we can see water baptism, the blood of Christ, and the Holy Spirit in this crucial doctrine.
I know the child who gave the answer, "Jesus" in that Primary setting. And I know that her parents have taught her and her siblings in accord with this doctrine and commandment. Her one-word comment was no accident, but the result of good parental teaching.
"And now, he imparteth his word by angels unto men, yea, not only men but women also. Now this is not all; little children do have words given unto them many times, which confound the wise and the learned" (Alma 32:23).
Every year at Christmas we hear sung or read these words from Isaiah, all seven elements of which speak clearly of the birth of Jesus:
"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given . . . and his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace" (2 Nephi 19:6).
Jesus is the Father of our necessary and vital new birth, whereby we are adopted back into the family of God and become His sons and daughters, having been orphaned from that family by the Fall of our father Adam (see Mosiah 5:7). This is one of "the very points of his doctrine" whereby we "may know how to come unto him and be saved" (1 Nephi 15:14). It is not deep doctrine, mysterious and strange. Children can understand it, if we let them. And then, "Out of the mouths of babes . . . ."
Father's Day is for all fathers everywhere, it is a special, even a holy day.
Father's Day is His day in a very special way, just as Christmas Day should be His day, and each and every Sabbath Day.
Elder Boyd K. Packer once taught, "I used to think I understood the word 'father', but recently I have come to a deeper understanding and appreciation of that holy word. . . . It is in the scriptures," he said.
Happy Father's Day everybody!
Steve (I would love to hear your comments. . . .)
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Sabbathought : The wrong bridge
President Henry B. Eyring told this story of his friend Jack Steel. In the United States the highest decoration for gallantry in battle is the Congressional Medal of Honor. The next highest is the Distinguished Service Cross. Jack Steel won the Distinguished Service Cross for this act of heroism and bravery in the Korean conflict. It is a true story, with large implications for us.
Jack's platoon had been assigned to take a particular bridge occupied by the enemy. As they went down the hill toward the bridge Jack noticed the enemy fire was trained on the top of the hill, felling his comrades. He quickly assessed the situation and charged down the hill with his automatic rifle blazing. He took the enemy by surprise and captured the bridge --- alone. . . . As it turned out, it was the wrong bridge. A mistake had been made in intelligence and the squad had been ordered to take a bridge that led nowhere and was of no strategic value. The bridge they should have taken was several miles down the road. Jack got the medal, but the action did not contribute to the bigger plan of the war.
Often in His teachings the Savior would correct wrong ideas with, "Yea, but rather . . ." or simply, "But I say unto you . . . ."
In the last twenty years or so we have unconsciously in our classrooms and chapels moved from speaking of the Spirit to advocating persistently love: the love of God, love for each other, love, love, love. There is nothing wrong with love. God is love. But, as Presidents David O. McKay, Harold B. Lee, and Thomas S. Monson have taught, "It is a greater thing to be trusted than it is to be loved."
We speak as if the love of God will somehow save us, as if it is all we need. It was a false prophet by the name of John Lennon who popularized in the 1960s the notion that "All you need is love."
When we take a slice out of the gospel pie, the concept after we have used it should be the same size as the space in the pie we took it from. The slice is not the whole pie. It is a matter of proportion. It is a serious error to blow it out of proportion.
Again, we stress, love is an integral part of the gospel. Elder Quentin L. Cook in April general conference in his address entitled "We Follow Jesus Christ" said, ". . . He instituted the sacrament. Second, His overwhelming emphasis was on doctrines, teaching love as a preeminent principle." When that was taught last month in our ward the teacher quoted Elder Cook as saying, "Love is the preeminent principle of the gospel." We have said it so often to each other that nobody noticed that this was more than Elder Cook had taught, and was in error.
A further illustration. We most often hear it said that the tree of life in Lehi's vision is the love of God. More accurately the tree of life is the Lord Jesus Christ, who is "a representation of the love of God" (1 Nephi 11:25). To explain : the most well known verse of scripture in Christendom proclaims, "For God so loved the world" (John 3:16). Most of us put a period, a full stop, or even an exclamation mark at this point and are satisfied that this is the gospel plan! But how much does God love the world? " . . . that he gave his only begotten Son . . ." and it is there that the gospel plan --- centered upon the Atonement --- begins. Jesus is the representation, the personal image, the evidence of God's love. He is the tree of life, and the fruit He gives is eternal life, God's life (1 Nephi 15:36 along with D&C 14:7).
It should be easy to see that this is one of "the very points of his doctrine", and to teach it otherwise is to miss the point, to err, and to be led into false doctrine. Any virtue taken to an extreme becomes a vice.
It is a greater thing to be trusted than to be loved. This is the point of mortality. This is the issue of earth life, "to prove them herewith, to see if they will do" according to the revealed plan, instead of making up their own doctrine and plan of action.
Does God love His children? Of course He does. The birth, life, and death of His Son are ample evidence of that love. The issue is : can God trust His children? Can He trust me to keep my promises to Him, to be true to my covenants? Can He trust me at all hazards?
It is a covenant matter, and it goes way beyond love.
We must wake up or we'll end up taking the wrong bridge. The implications of this for our lessons, for our testimonies, for the teaching of our young people are huge. Their salvation depends upon our getting it right. Do you think I exaggerate or overstate the case?
Henry B. Eyring's purpose in sharing this story with all the teachers in the worldwide Church Educational System was to make the point that, as good a job as we had been doing in teaching the youth, we have been taking the wrong bridge. The right bridge is centered in the scriptures, on the Savior and His restored gospel plan. We have not been doing that, said Brother Eyring.
More on this later.
God bless you all on this glorious Sabbath day --- His holy day (not a holiday).
Steve
Jack's platoon had been assigned to take a particular bridge occupied by the enemy. As they went down the hill toward the bridge Jack noticed the enemy fire was trained on the top of the hill, felling his comrades. He quickly assessed the situation and charged down the hill with his automatic rifle blazing. He took the enemy by surprise and captured the bridge --- alone. . . . As it turned out, it was the wrong bridge. A mistake had been made in intelligence and the squad had been ordered to take a bridge that led nowhere and was of no strategic value. The bridge they should have taken was several miles down the road. Jack got the medal, but the action did not contribute to the bigger plan of the war.
Often in His teachings the Savior would correct wrong ideas with, "Yea, but rather . . ." or simply, "But I say unto you . . . ."
In the last twenty years or so we have unconsciously in our classrooms and chapels moved from speaking of the Spirit to advocating persistently love: the love of God, love for each other, love, love, love. There is nothing wrong with love. God is love. But, as Presidents David O. McKay, Harold B. Lee, and Thomas S. Monson have taught, "It is a greater thing to be trusted than it is to be loved."
We speak as if the love of God will somehow save us, as if it is all we need. It was a false prophet by the name of John Lennon who popularized in the 1960s the notion that "All you need is love."
When we take a slice out of the gospel pie, the concept after we have used it should be the same size as the space in the pie we took it from. The slice is not the whole pie. It is a matter of proportion. It is a serious error to blow it out of proportion.
Again, we stress, love is an integral part of the gospel. Elder Quentin L. Cook in April general conference in his address entitled "We Follow Jesus Christ" said, ". . . He instituted the sacrament. Second, His overwhelming emphasis was on doctrines, teaching love as a preeminent principle." When that was taught last month in our ward the teacher quoted Elder Cook as saying, "Love is the preeminent principle of the gospel." We have said it so often to each other that nobody noticed that this was more than Elder Cook had taught, and was in error.
A further illustration. We most often hear it said that the tree of life in Lehi's vision is the love of God. More accurately the tree of life is the Lord Jesus Christ, who is "a representation of the love of God" (1 Nephi 11:25). To explain : the most well known verse of scripture in Christendom proclaims, "For God so loved the world" (John 3:16). Most of us put a period, a full stop, or even an exclamation mark at this point and are satisfied that this is the gospel plan! But how much does God love the world? " . . . that he gave his only begotten Son . . ." and it is there that the gospel plan --- centered upon the Atonement --- begins. Jesus is the representation, the personal image, the evidence of God's love. He is the tree of life, and the fruit He gives is eternal life, God's life (1 Nephi 15:36 along with D&C 14:7).
It should be easy to see that this is one of "the very points of his doctrine", and to teach it otherwise is to miss the point, to err, and to be led into false doctrine. Any virtue taken to an extreme becomes a vice.
It is a greater thing to be trusted than to be loved. This is the point of mortality. This is the issue of earth life, "to prove them herewith, to see if they will do" according to the revealed plan, instead of making up their own doctrine and plan of action.
Does God love His children? Of course He does. The birth, life, and death of His Son are ample evidence of that love. The issue is : can God trust His children? Can He trust me to keep my promises to Him, to be true to my covenants? Can He trust me at all hazards?
It is a covenant matter, and it goes way beyond love.
We must wake up or we'll end up taking the wrong bridge. The implications of this for our lessons, for our testimonies, for the teaching of our young people are huge. Their salvation depends upon our getting it right. Do you think I exaggerate or overstate the case?
Henry B. Eyring's purpose in sharing this story with all the teachers in the worldwide Church Educational System was to make the point that, as good a job as we had been doing in teaching the youth, we have been taking the wrong bridge. The right bridge is centered in the scriptures, on the Savior and His restored gospel plan. We have not been doing that, said Brother Eyring.
God bless you all on this glorious Sabbath day --- His holy day (not a holiday).
Steve
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Sabbathought: The Lord is in charge of the weather
With the news this week (early June 2010) of the volcanic eruption in Iceland and the resulting human disruption and turmoil in canceled air flights and so on, it caused some reflection on the eternal perspective of things.
In Psalm 24 David wrote, "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods" (verses 1--2).
In Moses 7:48--9 we find, "And it came to pass that Enoch looked upon the earth; and he heard a voice from the bowels thereof, saying: Wo, wo is me, the mother of men [the mortal bodies of all mankind are made of the dust of the earth]; I am pained, I am weary, because of the wickedness of my children. When shall I rest, and be cleansed from the filthiness which is gone forth out of me? When will my Creator sanctify me, that I may rest, and righteousness for a season abide upon my face?
"And when Enoch heard the earth mourn, he wept, and cried unto the Lord, saying: O Lord, wilt thou not have compassion upon the earth?"
The restored gospel of Jesus Christ teaches us that the Earth is a living thing, and that mankind are stewards in exercising righteous dominion over it.
President Spencer W. Kimball taught that the Lord uses the weather many times to get the attention of His people and to chasten them.
Our point here in all of this is that the Lord is in charge. Many people have observed the obvious changes in climate we now witness and ascribe them to mankind's abusive stewardship in excessive greenhouse-gas emissions from industrial and machinery waste products. A "scientific report" last month said that the Ten Plagues of Egypt found in the Book of Exodus were not miracles caused by Moses' priesthood power but were caused by climate change! One pundit speculated on just what brand of SUV the Pharaoh was driving . . . !
Would it sound simplistic or naive to state that the Lord's hand is in "climate change", so called, to chasten and bless His children and to bring them to repentance?
Nearly two years ago on the internet was a report on the possible existence of other earths in outer space. One of the points made was that "plate tectonics" (stay with me, this is not that technical)---"the forces that move continents and lift gigantic mountain ranges---are key to life on Earth, and possibly to life on other worlds." That's because "as the rocky plates that form the planet's outer shell move about, they also recycle carbon dioxide. This greenhouse gas keeps our planet's temperature balmy, but not too hot."
As prophesied in the scriptures, in the last days there will be a great increase in natural disasters --- earthquakes . . . tornadoes on a massive scale . . . the sea heaving itself beyond its bounds . . . vapors of smoke in foreign lands . . . massive destruction and devastation, and so forth. Earthquakes shift tectonic plates causing release of the gases on a huge scale. And here is the point: humankind has not caused and cannot cause earthquakes. The God of nature has, and does. And for a purpose.
In the "warning voice" that is known to us as the book of Doctrine and Covenants we find in section 121:12 this summary of all we are saying here: "And also that God hath set his hand and seal to change the times and the seasons, and to blind their minds, that they may not understand his marvelous workings; that he may prove them . . . ."
The Psalmist went on to say after our initial quote above: "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully" (Psalm 24:3--4). . . . That swearing, referred to, has less to do with profanity than with swearing an oath, or making a covenant. More on this later, it is important to our point.
Thus we see: the issue for us is one of being humble before the Lord, of acknowledging His hand in all things (see D&C 59:21), so that we do not find ourselves as the Nephites of old, of whom it was written, "And thus we see that except the Lord doth chasten his people with many afflictions, yea, except he doth visit them with death and with terror, and with famine and with all manner of pestilence, they will not remember him" (Helaman 12:3).
O, that we may "always remember Him . . ."!
Steve
In Psalm 24 David wrote, "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods" (verses 1--2).
In Moses 7:48--9 we find, "And it came to pass that Enoch looked upon the earth; and he heard a voice from the bowels thereof, saying: Wo, wo is me, the mother of men [the mortal bodies of all mankind are made of the dust of the earth]; I am pained, I am weary, because of the wickedness of my children. When shall I rest, and be cleansed from the filthiness which is gone forth out of me? When will my Creator sanctify me, that I may rest, and righteousness for a season abide upon my face?
"And when Enoch heard the earth mourn, he wept, and cried unto the Lord, saying: O Lord, wilt thou not have compassion upon the earth?"
The restored gospel of Jesus Christ teaches us that the Earth is a living thing, and that mankind are stewards in exercising righteous dominion over it.
President Spencer W. Kimball taught that the Lord uses the weather many times to get the attention of His people and to chasten them.
Our point here in all of this is that the Lord is in charge. Many people have observed the obvious changes in climate we now witness and ascribe them to mankind's abusive stewardship in excessive greenhouse-gas emissions from industrial and machinery waste products. A "scientific report" last month said that the Ten Plagues of Egypt found in the Book of Exodus were not miracles caused by Moses' priesthood power but were caused by climate change! One pundit speculated on just what brand of SUV the Pharaoh was driving . . . !
Would it sound simplistic or naive to state that the Lord's hand is in "climate change", so called, to chasten and bless His children and to bring them to repentance?
Nearly two years ago on the internet was a report on the possible existence of other earths in outer space. One of the points made was that "plate tectonics" (stay with me, this is not that technical)---"the forces that move continents and lift gigantic mountain ranges---are key to life on Earth, and possibly to life on other worlds." That's because "as the rocky plates that form the planet's outer shell move about, they also recycle carbon dioxide. This greenhouse gas keeps our planet's temperature balmy, but not too hot."
As prophesied in the scriptures, in the last days there will be a great increase in natural disasters --- earthquakes . . . tornadoes on a massive scale . . . the sea heaving itself beyond its bounds . . . vapors of smoke in foreign lands . . . massive destruction and devastation, and so forth. Earthquakes shift tectonic plates causing release of the gases on a huge scale. And here is the point: humankind has not caused and cannot cause earthquakes. The God of nature has, and does. And for a purpose.
In the "warning voice" that is known to us as the book of Doctrine and Covenants we find in section 121:12 this summary of all we are saying here: "And also that God hath set his hand and seal to change the times and the seasons, and to blind their minds, that they may not understand his marvelous workings; that he may prove them . . . ."
The Psalmist went on to say after our initial quote above: "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully" (Psalm 24:3--4). . . . That swearing, referred to, has less to do with profanity than with swearing an oath, or making a covenant. More on this later, it is important to our point.
Thus we see: the issue for us is one of being humble before the Lord, of acknowledging His hand in all things (see D&C 59:21), so that we do not find ourselves as the Nephites of old, of whom it was written, "And thus we see that except the Lord doth chasten his people with many afflictions, yea, except he doth visit them with death and with terror, and with famine and with all manner of pestilence, they will not remember him" (Helaman 12:3).
O, that we may "always remember Him . . ."!
Steve
With the news this week of the volcanic eruption in Iceland and the resulting human disruption and turmoil in canceled air flights and so on, it caused some reflection on the eternal perspective of things.
In Psalm 24 David wrote, "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods" (verses 1--2).
In Moses 7:48--9 we find, "And it came to pass that Enoch looked upon the earth; and he heard a voice from the bowels thereof, saying: Wo, wo is me, the mother of men [the mortal bodies of all mankind are made of the dust of the earth]; I am pained, I am weary, because of the wickedness of my children. When shall I rest, and be cleansed from the filthiness which is gone forth out of me? When will my Creator sanctify me, that I may rest, and righteousness for a season abide upon my face?
"And when Enoch heard the earth mourn, he wept, and cried unto the Lord, saying: O Lord, wilt thou not have compassion upon the earth?"
The restored gospel of Jesus Christ teaches us that the Earth is a living thing, and that mankind are stewards in exercising righteous dominion over it.
President Spencer W. Kimball taught that the Lord uses the weather many times to get the attention of His people and to chasten them.
Our point here in all of this is that the Lord is in charge. Many people have observed the obvious changes in climate we now witness and ascribe them to mankind's abusive stewardship in excessive greenhouse-gas emissions from industrial and machinery waste products. A "scientific report" last month said that the Ten Plagues of Egypt found in the Book of Exodus were not miracles caused by Moses' priesthood power but were caused by climate change! One pundit speculated on just what brand of SUV the Pharaoh was driving . . . !
Would it sound simplistic or naive to state that the Lord's hand is in "climate change", so called, to chasten and bless His children and to bring them to repentance?
Nearly two years ago on the internet was a report on the possible existence of other earths in outer space. One of the points made was that "plate tectonics" (stay with me, this is not that technical)---"the forces that move continents and lift gigantic mountain ranges---are key to life on Earth, and possibly to life on other worlds." That's because "as the rocky plates that form the planet's outer shell move about, they also recycle carbon dioxide. This greenhouse gas keeps our planet's temperature balmy, but not too hot."
As prophesied in the scriptures, in the last days there will be a great increase in natural disasters --- earthquakes . . . the sea heaving itself beyond its bounds . . . vapors of smoke in foreign lands . . . and so forth. Earthquakes shift tectonic plates causing release of the gases on a huge scale. And here is the point: humankind has not caused and cannot cause earthquakes. The God of nature has, and does.
In the "warning voice" that is the book of Doctrine and Covenants we find in section 121:12 this summary of all we have said here: "And also that God hath set his hand and seal to change the times and the seasons, and to blind their minds, that they may not understand his marvelous workings; that he may prove them . . . ."
The Psalmist went on to say after our initial quote: "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully" (Psalm 24:3--4). . . . That swearing, referred to, has less to do with profanity than with swearing an oath, or making a covenant. More on this later.
Thus we see: the issue for us is one of being humble before the Lord, of acknowledging His hand in all things (see D&C 59:21), so that we do not find ourselves as the Nephites of old, of whom it was written, "And thus we see that except the Lord doth chasten his people with many afflictions, yea, except he doth visit them with death and with terror, and with famine and with all manner of pestilence, they will not remember him" (Helaman 12:3).
O, that we may "always remember Him . . ."!
Steve
In Psalm 24 David wrote, "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods" (verses 1--2).
In Moses 7:48--9 we find, "And it came to pass that Enoch looked upon the earth; and he heard a voice from the bowels thereof, saying: Wo, wo is me, the mother of men [the mortal bodies of all mankind are made of the dust of the earth]; I am pained, I am weary, because of the wickedness of my children. When shall I rest, and be cleansed from the filthiness which is gone forth out of me? When will my Creator sanctify me, that I may rest, and righteousness for a season abide upon my face?
"And when Enoch heard the earth mourn, he wept, and cried unto the Lord, saying: O Lord, wilt thou not have compassion upon the earth?"
The restored gospel of Jesus Christ teaches us that the Earth is a living thing, and that mankind are stewards in exercising righteous dominion over it.
President Spencer W. Kimball taught that the Lord uses the weather many times to get the attention of His people and to chasten them.
Our point here in all of this is that the Lord is in charge. Many people have observed the obvious changes in climate we now witness and ascribe them to mankind's abusive stewardship in excessive greenhouse-gas emissions from industrial and machinery waste products. A "scientific report" last month said that the Ten Plagues of Egypt found in the Book of Exodus were not miracles caused by Moses' priesthood power but were caused by climate change! One pundit speculated on just what brand of SUV the Pharaoh was driving . . . !
Would it sound simplistic or naive to state that the Lord's hand is in "climate change", so called, to chasten and bless His children and to bring them to repentance?
Nearly two years ago on the internet was a report on the possible existence of other earths in outer space. One of the points made was that "plate tectonics" (stay with me, this is not that technical)---"the forces that move continents and lift gigantic mountain ranges---are key to life on Earth, and possibly to life on other worlds." That's because "as the rocky plates that form the planet's outer shell move about, they also recycle carbon dioxide. This greenhouse gas keeps our planet's temperature balmy, but not too hot."
As prophesied in the scriptures, in the last days there will be a great increase in natural disasters --- earthquakes . . . the sea heaving itself beyond its bounds . . . vapors of smoke in foreign lands . . . and so forth. Earthquakes shift tectonic plates causing release of the gases on a huge scale. And here is the point: humankind has not caused and cannot cause earthquakes. The God of nature has, and does.
In the "warning voice" that is the book of Doctrine and Covenants we find in section 121:12 this summary of all we have said here: "And also that God hath set his hand and seal to change the times and the seasons, and to blind their minds, that they may not understand his marvelous workings; that he may prove them . . . ."
The Psalmist went on to say after our initial quote: "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully" (Psalm 24:3--4). . . . That swearing, referred to, has less to do with profanity than with swearing an oath, or making a covenant. More on this later.
Thus we see: the issue for us is one of being humble before the Lord, of acknowledging His hand in all things (see D&C 59:21), so that we do not find ourselves as the Nephites of old, of whom it was written, "And thus we see that except the Lord doth chasten his people with many afflictions, yea, except he doth visit them with death and with terror, and with famine and with all manner of pestilence, they will not remember him" (Helaman 12:3).
O, that we may "always remember Him . . ."!
Steve
GIFTS: A text without a context is a pretext: The inestimable blessing of the Sabbath Day
President Thomas S. Monson has echoed many prophets in teaching that the reason we are commanded to rest from our labors on the Sabbath day is so that the Lord can do His work exclusively on that day. Now, let us ask: What is the Lord's work? We are His work . . . the work of becoming like Him. "For behold, this is my work and my glory---to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man," the Lord says.
A couple of years ago as a family we visited the Church Museum on West Temple Street in Salt Lake City. We were impressed and thrilled with the evidences on display of the pioneer heritage we all cherish and relate to. One of the displays was of a pioneer family keeping the Sabbath day holy, and was centered upon the revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith given by the Lord on 7 August (a Sunday) in 1831. The key verse in that revelation says, "And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day" (D&C 59:9). We discussed this verse some weeks ago in the Sabbathought on lepers and becoming clean from the world.
The display in the Museum showed the last part of this verse as if it were etched on a large stone. But by someone's error it read, " . . . offer up thy sacraments upon thy holy day." We drew the error to the attention of the guides in the Museum who were most gracious, and grateful to have it pointed out.
That this error had gone unnoticed for many years tells us something. It tells us that most of us do not understand nor appreciate the Sabbath day and the purpose for which it was given. We tend to think of it as our day, a day to rest from our labors but to spend in our own way. This despite Isaiah's words to the contrary in Isaiah 58:13--14, where this great prophet taught: "If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord . . . ." And other promised blessings follow.
Notice the pronouns "thy" and "my" and the emphasis the Lord gives them for the Sabbath through His prophets. In our modern society we are steeped in self esteem and God's unconditional love for us, as we suppose, and the deep and wonderful blessings of the kingdom go unclaimed. That is why the error in stone was not apparent to anyone, and it is why even "the humble followers of Christ . . . in many instances . . . do err because they are taught by the precepts of men" (2 Nephi 28:14). It is, in many cases of our conduct, as if we had never received the revelations in Isaiah and in section 59 of the Doctrine and Covenants, and elsewhere.
The very next revelation in the Doctrine and Covenants, section 60, says in verse 7, "For I am able to make you holy . . . ." Do you catch this? He is holy (see Leviticus 11:44; 19:2--3; 2 Nephi 9:20, footnote a, LDS Bible Dictionary, pp 703--704)), and He knows how to make us holy, but it is not on our own terms or in our own way or by our own methods. And "making you holy" has a great deal to do with "His holy day". He is a specialist in making His children holy. Consider these wise and profound thoughts: "The sabbath is not an infringement of man's liberty but rather the liberation of man.
"The sabbath asserts the principle of freedom under God, of liberty under law, God's law. It summons man to obedience to the ordinance of rest in order to free man from himself and from his work. The essence of humanism is its belief in the plenary ability of man. Man is able, it is held, to save himself, to guide his own evolution and that of society, to control himself, his world, the weather, and all things else. When man controls and re-orders all things, then man will have re-created the world into a paradise. Whether Marxist, Fabian, or democratic, this is the dream of humanism" (Rousas John Rushdoony, Institutes of Biblical Law, p. 129).
I recall hearing in high school, as we studied the French Revolution of 1789, that Robespierre and his cronies changed the order of rest from one day in seven to one day in ten. It didn't work. Much less was accomplished. Production was down. So they changed back.
It was President Ezra Taft Benson who taught that a deep study of the Book of Mormon would expose the false ideas of man that are found in communism, socialism, and humanism (see Alma 30, for instance). We hear echoes of modern society in these wise words from Rushdoony.
The Lord Jesus said (see Mark 2:24--28) "The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath," and we tend to use that truth to justify any activity we choose on that holy day. But it is vital to know to whom He was speaking --- the context of His words --- for a text without a context is a pretext. He was speaking to Pharisees, to those who held priesthood and should have known better. The word "saint" comes from the word "sanctify", which means to make holy. We Latter-day Saints can't be like the world.
The final word goes to Elder Bruce R. McConkie: It is in no sense an exaggeration, nor does it overstate the case one whit, to say that those who keep the sabbath day holy according to the revealed pattern obtain the encouragement and faith to keep all the other commandments and will be assured of an inheritance in the celestial kingdom of our God (paraphrase from memory of page 588 of Promised Messiah).
May your thoughts and words and happiness reflect His holy day on this one day in seven.
Steve
A couple of years ago as a family we visited the Church Museum on West Temple Street in Salt Lake City. We were impressed and thrilled with the evidences on display of the pioneer heritage we all cherish and relate to. One of the displays was of a pioneer family keeping the Sabbath day holy, and was centered upon the revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith given by the Lord on 7 August (a Sunday) in 1831. The key verse in that revelation says, "And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day" (D&C 59:9). We discussed this verse some weeks ago in the Sabbathought on lepers and becoming clean from the world.
The display in the Museum showed the last part of this verse as if it were etched on a large stone. But by someone's error it read, " . . . offer up thy sacraments upon thy holy day." We drew the error to the attention of the guides in the Museum who were most gracious, and grateful to have it pointed out.
That this error had gone unnoticed for many years tells us something. It tells us that most of us do not understand nor appreciate the Sabbath day and the purpose for which it was given. We tend to think of it as our day, a day to rest from our labors but to spend in our own way. This despite Isaiah's words to the contrary in Isaiah 58:13--14, where this great prophet taught: "If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord . . . ." And other promised blessings follow.
Notice the pronouns "thy" and "my" and the emphasis the Lord gives them for the Sabbath through His prophets. In our modern society we are steeped in self esteem and God's unconditional love for us, as we suppose, and the deep and wonderful blessings of the kingdom go unclaimed. That is why the error in stone was not apparent to anyone, and it is why even "the humble followers of Christ . . . in many instances . . . do err because they are taught by the precepts of men" (2 Nephi 28:14). It is, in many cases of our conduct, as if we had never received the revelations in Isaiah and in section 59 of the Doctrine and Covenants, and elsewhere.
The very next revelation in the Doctrine and Covenants, section 60, says in verse 7, "For I am able to make you holy . . . ." Do you catch this? He is holy (see Leviticus 11:44; 19:2--3; 2 Nephi 9:20, footnote a, LDS Bible Dictionary, pp 703--704)), and He knows how to make us holy, but it is not on our own terms or in our own way or by our own methods. And "making you holy" has a great deal to do with "His holy day". He is a specialist in making His children holy. Consider these wise and profound thoughts: "The sabbath is not an infringement of man's liberty but rather the liberation of man.
"The sabbath asserts the principle of freedom under God, of liberty under law, God's law. It summons man to obedience to the ordinance of rest in order to free man from himself and from his work. The essence of humanism is its belief in the plenary ability of man. Man is able, it is held, to save himself, to guide his own evolution and that of society, to control himself, his world, the weather, and all things else. When man controls and re-orders all things, then man will have re-created the world into a paradise. Whether Marxist, Fabian, or democratic, this is the dream of humanism" (Rousas John Rushdoony, Institutes of Biblical Law, p. 129).
I recall hearing in high school, as we studied the French Revolution of 1789, that Robespierre and his cronies changed the order of rest from one day in seven to one day in ten. It didn't work. Much less was accomplished. Production was down. So they changed back.
It was President Ezra Taft Benson who taught that a deep study of the Book of Mormon would expose the false ideas of man that are found in communism, socialism, and humanism (see Alma 30, for instance). We hear echoes of modern society in these wise words from Rushdoony.
The Lord Jesus said (see Mark 2:24--28) "The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath," and we tend to use that truth to justify any activity we choose on that holy day. But it is vital to know to whom He was speaking --- the context of His words --- for a text without a context is a pretext. He was speaking to Pharisees, to those who held priesthood and should have known better. The word "saint" comes from the word "sanctify", which means to make holy. We Latter-day Saints can't be like the world.
The final word goes to Elder Bruce R. McConkie: It is in no sense an exaggeration, nor does it overstate the case one whit, to say that those who keep the sabbath day holy according to the revealed pattern obtain the encouragement and faith to keep all the other commandments and will be assured of an inheritance in the celestial kingdom of our God (paraphrase from memory of page 588 of Promised Messiah).
May your thoughts and words and happiness reflect His holy day on this one day in seven.
Steve
"We shall not cease from exploration / And the end of all our exploring / Will be to arrive where we started / And know the place for the first time" (T.S.Eliot, Little Gidding).
This lovely thought from T.S.Eliot has great meaning for Latter-day Saints with their knowledge and understanding of a life before we came here to Earth --- not a reincarnation (The Prophet Joseph taught that is a false idea, see Teachings, pages 104--5). Nor is Eliot the only poet to echo the idea.
William Wordsworth's famous lines are well known among us: "Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting; / The soul that rises with us, our life's star / Hath had elsewhere its setting / And cometh from afar; / Not in entire forgetfulness, / And not in utter nakedness, / But trailing clouds of glory do we come, / From God who is our home" (On Intimations of Immortality).
It is strange to realize that of all the world's religions only one possesses and teaches this great truth of the premortal existence and career of the soul. And yet, so it is. What a blessing to us the Prophet Joseph was and is! Praise to the man!
We come from God. He is the literal Father of our spirits, the eternal part of us. Our purpose here is to gain a body and the experiences and knowledge that will teach us how to be like Him, and gain with Him a fullness of joy. This is known in scripture and in eternity as the plan of salvation, or the plan of our God, or the plan of redemption, or the plan of happiness. In one place in the Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith he refers to it as "the plan of ordinances" (page 167).
This last idea --- a plan of ordinances --- has great insight for us, as it is the purpose of the Church to perform the ordinances of salvation for all accountable souls (over the age of eight) who have ever lived on the Earth. It is through the ordinances that we put upon us the knowledge and intelligence and glory that eventually will bring us to be like God our Father.
The subject is too vast to do justice to here, but it is worth introducing at least. When I was a boy my dream was to play football (soccer) for England. With the World Cup in South Africa coming up next month, and no phone call of invitation, now in my 63rd year I fear my chances to play for England may be slim. I have often fantasized on what it would be like to play on the same team as Sir Bobby Charlton, to play with the same team as George Best and Denis Law or David Beckham. I confess that playing with those stellar artists I would be embarrassed and too timid to perform. But if a way could be found for me to play like these stars of the past, that would be an entirely different ball game, as they say in America.
If I were to live with God in my present natural, fallen capacity I confess I would be embarrassed and too timid to look Him in the face. But if a way could be found whereby I might become like Him, then that is a different ball game entirely.
Now here is the point --- the very point of doctrine --- the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ through the Prophet Joseph Smith, centered and revolving around the ordinances and covenants of salvation found in the holy place under the keys of the priesthood IS the way to become like Him.
President Joseph F. Smith, sixth President of the Church (1901--18) taught: "We are destined and foreordained to become like God, and unless we do become like Him we will never be permitted to dwell with Him."
How is it done? . . . More later on how we have found the path, the one and only way to becoming like God.
Your thoughts and comments and questions are always welcome.
Steve
This lovely thought from T.S.Eliot has great meaning for Latter-day Saints with their knowledge and understanding of a life before we came here to Earth --- not a reincarnation (The Prophet Joseph taught that is a false idea, see Teachings, pages 104--5). Nor is Eliot the only poet to echo the idea.
William Wordsworth's famous lines are well known among us: "Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting; / The soul that rises with us, our life's star / Hath had elsewhere its setting / And cometh from afar; / Not in entire forgetfulness, / And not in utter nakedness, / But trailing clouds of glory do we come, / From God who is our home" (On Intimations of Immortality).
It is strange to realize that of all the world's religions only one possesses and teaches this great truth of the premortal existence and career of the soul. And yet, so it is. What a blessing to us the Prophet Joseph was and is! Praise to the man!
We come from God. He is the literal Father of our spirits, the eternal part of us. Our purpose here is to gain a body and the experiences and knowledge that will teach us how to be like Him, and gain with Him a fullness of joy. This is known in scripture and in eternity as the plan of salvation, or the plan of our God, or the plan of redemption, or the plan of happiness. In one place in the Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith he refers to it as "the plan of ordinances" (page 167).
This last idea --- a plan of ordinances --- has great insight for us, as it is the purpose of the Church to perform the ordinances of salvation for all accountable souls (over the age of eight) who have ever lived on the Earth. It is through the ordinances that we put upon us the knowledge and intelligence and glory that eventually will bring us to be like God our Father.
The subject is too vast to do justice to here, but it is worth introducing at least. When I was a boy my dream was to play football (soccer) for England. With the World Cup in South Africa coming up next month, and no phone call of invitation, now in my 63rd year I fear my chances to play for England may be slim. I have often fantasized on what it would be like to play on the same team as Sir Bobby Charlton, to play with the same team as George Best and Denis Law or David Beckham. I confess that playing with those stellar artists I would be embarrassed and too timid to perform. But if a way could be found for me to play like these stars of the past, that would be an entirely different ball game, as they say in America.
If I were to live with God in my present natural, fallen capacity I confess I would be embarrassed and too timid to look Him in the face. But if a way could be found whereby I might become like Him, then that is a different ball game entirely.
Now here is the point --- the very point of doctrine --- the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ through the Prophet Joseph Smith, centered and revolving around the ordinances and covenants of salvation found in the holy place under the keys of the priesthood IS the way to become like Him.
President Joseph F. Smith, sixth President of the Church (1901--18) taught: "We are destined and foreordained to become like God, and unless we do become like Him we will never be permitted to dwell with Him."
How is it done? . . . More later on how we have found the path, the one and only way to becoming like God.
Your thoughts and comments and questions are always welcome.
Steve
A generation ago, in the mid-1980s, I was asked to speak at a fireside on "The Old Testament: Sominex of the Scriptures?"
I had to ask many questions to get to the point of what I was being asked to teach. It turned out that in an Old Testament year of Sunday School study people were lamenting the course of study as boring; they were convinced the Old Testament was sleep-inducing and not as "fun" as they wished. Apparently "Sominex" is a medication in America to help put you to sleep at night.
I was a bit stunned at the request but after I had recovered from the shock and disappointment that Latter-day Saints would consider any part of the word of the Lord in such terms I began a vigorous effort to try to correct these views and to show how marvelous the Old Testament can be. I soon realized that the problem is not with the subject matter; the problem is always with the reader or student.
A silly little thought I heard years ago comes to mind: A man complained to his doctor that he was always falling out of bed. The doctor suggested to the man that it might be because he didn't get into it far enough.
The divine command on the scriptures has ever been that we search them, study, treasure their abundant truths, feast upon the words of Christ, pay the price and stretch our minds, with an abundance of satisfying rewards and blessings for our having done so. If we attempt a half-hearted study and come away with little or nothing, then we have received precisely what we have earned.
Does anyone actually think that the Lord is boring? Think on the last stunning sunset you witnessed, the vivid double rainbow you saw in April, the birth of a child with all of its wonder and complexity, a waterfall, the mystery of a forest at dusk. Is the Lord and Creator of all of it a boring Person?
We have pointed out previously that "Unless we see Jesus everywhere in the Old Testament, there is no understanding of the Old Testament at all" (Glenn L. Pearson, June 1986 Ensign, p. 17). To illustrate: the serpent on the pole in Numbers chapter 21 is as clear a type of Christ and His crucifixion as could possibly exist. Yet it was taught last week in one Church classroom that a serpent could not possibly refer to the Savior, that a serpent was a symbol of Satan. . . . And so a great teaching moment was lost.
Truly, as the Prophet Joseph taught in quoting an Alexander Pope poem, "A little learning is a dangerous thing / Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring; / There, shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, / And drinking deeply sobers us again."
Many of us are drunk with shallow knowledge and understanding, and the only cure is to drink deeply of the living waters of the scriptures. The serpent on the pole from Numbers 21 is a clear and vivid picture of the Savior on the cross. The Gospel of John in the New Testament clearly shows this to be so: "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up; That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life" (3:14--15).
But this is not all, in no less than four places in the Book of Mormon the picture first presented in Numbers finds clear explanation as a type and picture of Jesus on the cross. The picture has been perpetuated in modern medicine with the intertwined serpents on the winged pole ("with healing in his wings") and is known as the "caduceus". I wish I could draw one for you here.
Andrew Jukes wrote, "The types are indeed pictures, but to understand the picture it is necessary we should know something of the reality . . . and the greater the acquaintance with the reality, the greater will be the ability to explain the picture" (The Law of the Offerings, p 14).
I sense that we are missing the point, blurring the picture, distorting the reality, and the result is that we do not teach it right. And He and His doctrine, wherein alone is found salvation, go unseen.
Recall, "They shall come to the knowledge of their Redeemer and the very points of his doctrine, that they may know how to come unto him and be saved" (1 Nephi 15:14).
Indeed the Old Testament is boring and sleep-inducing if all we do is read it as literature, or as a daily goal. But if we search it and value it as the multi-faceted witness of Christ that it truly is, then it is life and light to the soul, rich and vibrant and life giving. Speaking to those who considered that they already were on the path to eternal life, and speaking of the Old Testament, Jesus said in John 5:39, "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me."
More later.
Steve
I had to ask many questions to get to the point of what I was being asked to teach. It turned out that in an Old Testament year of Sunday School study people were lamenting the course of study as boring; they were convinced the Old Testament was sleep-inducing and not as "fun" as they wished. Apparently "Sominex" is a medication in America to help put you to sleep at night.
I was a bit stunned at the request but after I had recovered from the shock and disappointment that Latter-day Saints would consider any part of the word of the Lord in such terms I began a vigorous effort to try to correct these views and to show how marvelous the Old Testament can be. I soon realized that the problem is not with the subject matter; the problem is always with the reader or student.
A silly little thought I heard years ago comes to mind: A man complained to his doctor that he was always falling out of bed. The doctor suggested to the man that it might be because he didn't get into it far enough.
The divine command on the scriptures has ever been that we search them, study, treasure their abundant truths, feast upon the words of Christ, pay the price and stretch our minds, with an abundance of satisfying rewards and blessings for our having done so. If we attempt a half-hearted study and come away with little or nothing, then we have received precisely what we have earned.
Does anyone actually think that the Lord is boring? Think on the last stunning sunset you witnessed, the vivid double rainbow you saw in April, the birth of a child with all of its wonder and complexity, a waterfall, the mystery of a forest at dusk. Is the Lord and Creator of all of it a boring Person?
We have pointed out previously that "Unless we see Jesus everywhere in the Old Testament, there is no understanding of the Old Testament at all" (Glenn L. Pearson, June 1986 Ensign, p. 17). To illustrate: the serpent on the pole in Numbers chapter 21 is as clear a type of Christ and His crucifixion as could possibly exist. Yet it was taught last week in one Church classroom that a serpent could not possibly refer to the Savior, that a serpent was a symbol of Satan. . . . And so a great teaching moment was lost.
Truly, as the Prophet Joseph taught in quoting an Alexander Pope poem, "A little learning is a dangerous thing / Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring; / There, shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, / And drinking deeply sobers us again."
Many of us are drunk with shallow knowledge and understanding, and the only cure is to drink deeply of the living waters of the scriptures. The serpent on the pole from Numbers 21 is a clear and vivid picture of the Savior on the cross. The Gospel of John in the New Testament clearly shows this to be so: "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up; That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life" (3:14--15).
But this is not all, in no less than four places in the Book of Mormon the picture first presented in Numbers finds clear explanation as a type and picture of Jesus on the cross. The picture has been perpetuated in modern medicine with the intertwined serpents on the winged pole ("with healing in his wings") and is known as the "caduceus". I wish I could draw one for you here.
Andrew Jukes wrote, "The types are indeed pictures, but to understand the picture it is necessary we should know something of the reality . . . and the greater the acquaintance with the reality, the greater will be the ability to explain the picture" (The Law of the Offerings, p 14).
I sense that we are missing the point, blurring the picture, distorting the reality, and the result is that we do not teach it right. And He and His doctrine, wherein alone is found salvation, go unseen.
Recall, "They shall come to the knowledge of their Redeemer and the very points of his doctrine, that they may know how to come unto him and be saved" (1 Nephi 15:14).
Indeed the Old Testament is boring and sleep-inducing if all we do is read it as literature, or as a daily goal. But if we search it and value it as the multi-faceted witness of Christ that it truly is, then it is life and light to the soul, rich and vibrant and life giving. Speaking to those who considered that they already were on the path to eternal life, and speaking of the Old Testament, Jesus said in John 5:39, "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me."
More later.
Steve
GIFTS: Who Is Willing---Even EAGER---To Be Taught the Things of God?
At breakfast with his generals on the morning of the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon Bonaparte said, "I tell you Wellington is a bad general, the English are bad soldiers; we will settle this matter by lunchtime."
Do you ever get the idea that your best thinking may have been in error? . . . And that positive thinking and past achievements can only take you so far, perhaps to the battlefield but not necessarily to the victory?
When it comes to the gospel of Jesus Christ we are nearly always in error unless we get a revelation from Him through His Spirit, "For my ways are not your ways, neither are your thoughts my thoughts."
The Prophet Joseph asked, "Who knows the mind of God? Does He not reveal things differently from what we expect?" (Teachings, page 224). All of this is a clear indication of the vast gulf between man in his natural, fallen state --- you and me --- and our God. As the Lord once said to Joseph, "Behold, thou art Joseph, and I am God." Rodney Turner observed that distances always seem greater from above, looking down. . . . We have good reason to be humble, and if we can, teachable as well.
In a brilliant discourse found in Alma chapter 5 in the Book of Mormon, the great high priest Alma asks some forty-eight questions by way of instruction to the people of Zarahemla. One of his first questions is whether the people have sufficiently retained in remembrance the Lord's mercy and long-suffering toward their ancestors, and that He had delivered their souls from hell. Alma goes on to explain how the Lord did this for their ancestors, "Behold, he changed their hearts; yea, he awakened them out of a deep sleep, and they awoke unto God. Behold, they were in the midst of darkness; nevertheless, their souls were illuminated by the light of the everlasting word." This awakening began through the bold and courageous words of a holy prophet, Abinadi, who was put to death for his trouble.
Notice with care, it was the Lord who changed their hearts, through the preaching of the word of God. Indeed there is more power in the word of God to change hearts and minds and lives than in any other thing known to man (see Alma 31:5).
Do you believe this?
It is not the common lot of mankind --- or of Churchkind --- to give place for the word of God in the sense of seeking it and yearning to be taught and changed by it.
Helaman, grandson of the high priest and prophet Alma just cited, spoke of the joy of his people in their consolation and sanctification, which came "because of their yielding their hearts unto God" (Helaman 3:35).
The angel who told king Benjamin to "Awake, and hear the words which I shall tell thee . . . glad tidings of great joy" (Mosiah 3:3) was likely Abinadi himself, who was martyred a generation earlier, as mentioned above. Abinadi also told the king: ". . . the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam [the Fall of Adam caused this condition among mankind] . . . unless he yields to [Him] . . . willing to submit" (3:19). These are key points of doctrine, and they rarely are welcomed by natural man in his fallen state; but they reflect good religion.
Let's give the final word to C.S.Lewis on how vital this yielding is, and how it is to be done:
"Christ says, 'Give me all. I don't want so much of your time, or so much of your money, or so much of your work, I want you. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half measures are any good. I don't want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want the tree down. I don't want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, I want it out. Hand over your whole natural self, all the desires, the ones that you think are innocent as well as the ones that you think are wicked. You give me the whole outfit, and I will give you a new self. In fact, I will give you myself, and my will shall become your will.
"The terrible thing, of course, the almost impossible thing, is to hand over your whole self, all your wishes, and all your precautions to Christ. But that is far easier than what we are all trying to do instead. For what we are trying to do instead is remain what we call 'ourselves', to keep personal happiness as our great aim in life, and yet at the same time to be reasonably good. We're all trying to let our mind and heart go their own way, centered on money, or pleasure, or ambition, and hoping in spite of this to behave honestly and humbly, and that is exactly what Christ warned us that we could not do. He said a thistle cannot produce figs. If I'm a field that contains nothing but grass seed, I cannot produce wheat. Cutting the grass may keep it short, but I shall still produce grass and never wheat. If I want to produce wheat the change must go deeper than the surface. I must be ploughed up and resown. It's the difference between paint which is simply on the surface and a dye or a stain that soaks right through. He never talked vaguely. He said, 'Be perfect,' and He meant it. He meant that we must go in for the full treatment. See, I have chosen you; you haven't chosen me. You come to this on MY terms, and I want for you the full treatment.
"Now that's hard. But the sort of compromise we're hankering after is harder still; in fact, it's impossible. It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird, but it's a jolly sight harder for an egg to learn to fly. We are like eggs at present, and you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. Someday you have to be hatched or go bad. . . . It is hard for an egg to become a bird, but it is impossible for an egg to learn to fly" (Mere Christianity, pp 163--65).
As we elaborated elsewhere, being born again involves labor pains. It starts with a broken heart and a contrite spirit --- a soul who is willing, even eager, to be taught, to be changed, to be saved. Submit . . . yield . . . are key words here.
Elder Packer: "A desire to learn is one thing. An expressed willingness to be taught and to be corrected is quite another. . . . Many will say they want to learn but feel threatened if there is the slightest element of correction in what they are given." Do you see how defensive natural man is, and how protective of his fallen state he is? Irony of ironies!! Being humble --- even willing to be humiliated, if necessary --- is essential.
Steve
Do you ever get the idea that your best thinking may have been in error? . . . And that positive thinking and past achievements can only take you so far, perhaps to the battlefield but not necessarily to the victory?
When it comes to the gospel of Jesus Christ we are nearly always in error unless we get a revelation from Him through His Spirit, "For my ways are not your ways, neither are your thoughts my thoughts."
The Prophet Joseph asked, "Who knows the mind of God? Does He not reveal things differently from what we expect?" (Teachings, page 224). All of this is a clear indication of the vast gulf between man in his natural, fallen state --- you and me --- and our God. As the Lord once said to Joseph, "Behold, thou art Joseph, and I am God." Rodney Turner observed that distances always seem greater from above, looking down. . . . We have good reason to be humble, and if we can, teachable as well.
In a brilliant discourse found in Alma chapter 5 in the Book of Mormon, the great high priest Alma asks some forty-eight questions by way of instruction to the people of Zarahemla. One of his first questions is whether the people have sufficiently retained in remembrance the Lord's mercy and long-suffering toward their ancestors, and that He had delivered their souls from hell. Alma goes on to explain how the Lord did this for their ancestors, "Behold, he changed their hearts; yea, he awakened them out of a deep sleep, and they awoke unto God. Behold, they were in the midst of darkness; nevertheless, their souls were illuminated by the light of the everlasting word." This awakening began through the bold and courageous words of a holy prophet, Abinadi, who was put to death for his trouble.
Notice with care, it was the Lord who changed their hearts, through the preaching of the word of God. Indeed there is more power in the word of God to change hearts and minds and lives than in any other thing known to man (see Alma 31:5).
Do you believe this?
It is not the common lot of mankind --- or of Churchkind --- to give place for the word of God in the sense of seeking it and yearning to be taught and changed by it.
Helaman, grandson of the high priest and prophet Alma just cited, spoke of the joy of his people in their consolation and sanctification, which came "because of their yielding their hearts unto God" (Helaman 3:35).
The angel who told king Benjamin to "Awake, and hear the words which I shall tell thee . . . glad tidings of great joy" (Mosiah 3:3) was likely Abinadi himself, who was martyred a generation earlier, as mentioned above. Abinadi also told the king: ". . . the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam [the Fall of Adam caused this condition among mankind] . . . unless he yields to [Him] . . . willing to submit" (3:19). These are key points of doctrine, and they rarely are welcomed by natural man in his fallen state; but they reflect good religion.
Let's give the final word to C.S.Lewis on how vital this yielding is, and how it is to be done:
"Christ says, 'Give me all. I don't want so much of your time, or so much of your money, or so much of your work, I want you. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half measures are any good. I don't want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want the tree down. I don't want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, I want it out. Hand over your whole natural self, all the desires, the ones that you think are innocent as well as the ones that you think are wicked. You give me the whole outfit, and I will give you a new self. In fact, I will give you myself, and my will shall become your will.
"The terrible thing, of course, the almost impossible thing, is to hand over your whole self, all your wishes, and all your precautions to Christ. But that is far easier than what we are all trying to do instead. For what we are trying to do instead is remain what we call 'ourselves', to keep personal happiness as our great aim in life, and yet at the same time to be reasonably good. We're all trying to let our mind and heart go their own way, centered on money, or pleasure, or ambition, and hoping in spite of this to behave honestly and humbly, and that is exactly what Christ warned us that we could not do. He said a thistle cannot produce figs. If I'm a field that contains nothing but grass seed, I cannot produce wheat. Cutting the grass may keep it short, but I shall still produce grass and never wheat. If I want to produce wheat the change must go deeper than the surface. I must be ploughed up and resown. It's the difference between paint which is simply on the surface and a dye or a stain that soaks right through. He never talked vaguely. He said, 'Be perfect,' and He meant it. He meant that we must go in for the full treatment. See, I have chosen you; you haven't chosen me. You come to this on MY terms, and I want for you the full treatment.
"Now that's hard. But the sort of compromise we're hankering after is harder still; in fact, it's impossible. It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird, but it's a jolly sight harder for an egg to learn to fly. We are like eggs at present, and you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. Someday you have to be hatched or go bad. . . . It is hard for an egg to become a bird, but it is impossible for an egg to learn to fly" (Mere Christianity, pp 163--65).
As we elaborated elsewhere, being born again involves labor pains. It starts with a broken heart and a contrite spirit --- a soul who is willing, even eager, to be taught, to be changed, to be saved. Submit . . . yield . . . are key words here.
Elder Packer: "A desire to learn is one thing. An expressed willingness to be taught and to be corrected is quite another. . . . Many will say they want to learn but feel threatened if there is the slightest element of correction in what they are given." Do you see how defensive natural man is, and how protective of his fallen state he is? Irony of ironies!! Being humble --- even willing to be humiliated, if necessary --- is essential.
Steve
GIFTS: Your Soul's Many Cries for Water . . . .
"Thousands have lived without love, not one without water" (W.H.Auden, 1907--73, respected Anglo-American poet, philosopher, and writer).
Love is important; water is necessary. This was brought home to us when we were without water for over eight hours because of street repairs last September. We still loved each other here at home, but it was not enough. For drinking, cleaning, cooking, and sustaining life itself, there is no adequate substitute for water. We can't live without it. Sounds pretty obvious, doesn't it!
What about living water, as spoken of by the Lord Jesus Christ? He said He had water that shall be in the one who receives it "a well of water springing up into everlasting life" (John 4:14, see verses 7--15). But there is that word again : "receive". We have to have our cup turned the right way up, or our hand a cupped hand, and the vessel must be clean.
He said, "Blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost" (3 Nephi 12:6). The Holy Ghost is the living water. The Holy Ghost is the oil in the lamp of the wise Saint. But neither the power nor the gift of the Holy Ghost is automatic. It must be sought and thirsted after. As we cited last week from Job, I have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary food. Thus it seems that we have stumbled on something even more necessary than H 2 O . . . "the words of His mouth". Can we live without them? Most of us do a good job of trying to live without them, or with taking occasional sips and nibbles, when the divine command and invitation is to feast on His words, to search them, and to treasure them as the precious and rare things they are.
Elder Neal A. Maxwell wrote, "A few little flowers will spring up briefly in the dry gullies through which torrents of water pass occasionally; but it is steady streams that produce thick and needed crops. In the agriculture of the soul that has to do with nurturing attributes, flash floods are no substitute for regular irrigation."
In our family a few years ago we read a book entitled, "Your Body's Many Cries for Water," written by Iranian-born Dr. F. Batmanghelidj. All of his assets confiscated, and thrown into prison by the revolutionary regime, he learned the benefits of water while treating fellow prisoners. The only medicinal resource he had was water, impure water at that, to go along with the faith of his patients. The subtitle of his book is: "You Are Not Sick, You Are Thirsty!" --- and he recommends we drink a glass of water whenever we get hungry or feel a twinge of pain. He dedicates the book "To our Creator, with awe, humility, dedication, and love."
Most of us are dying of thirst and don't recognize it. Elder A. Theodore Tuttle of the Seventy told in general conference of the ship in a fog where the passengers had run out of water. They sent out an urgent signal for help. They received this reply, '"Let down your buckets where you are!" This made no sense for they were in the Atlantic Ocean. Again, the urgent plea. Again, the same reply: "Let down your buckets where you are!"
They did not know it, but they had drifted into the mouth of a freshwater river and were surrounded by living water. All they had to do was retrieve the living water that lay all around them. Yes, they had an abundance of living water immediately available, but they were dying for lack of that knowledge.
We are in a similar situation. We are surrounded by living water. But, again, we stress, the drinking of it is not automatic. We must prepare our own vessels and thirst after the living water, and pay the price to get it. In this we must be independent. No one else can spoon feed us this living water. We must pay the price and seek it diligently for ourselves . . . . Do you believe this?!
Elder Packer said to the youth of the Church, "No one can compel you to taste of this living water. It can come only when you consent. . . . If you are to find it, you must pay more, by a thousandfold, than ever you paid before" (October 1969 CR).
Yes, the youth, their parents and grandparents must pay the price. Because, "that which we obtain too easily we esteem too lightly" (Thomas Paine). There is ample evidence that we esteem the Christ, the doctrine of Christ, and His holy scriptures lightly indeed, in favor of a social or an ethical gospel.
God bless us all to have a thirst-free Sabbath because of our feasting on the word of the Lord and on His sacramental meal. . . . And recall too that the bread and the water are blessed and sanctified to the souls of all those who partake of them, for your soul cries out for His living water and the living bread of His word.
Steve
Love is important; water is necessary. This was brought home to us when we were without water for over eight hours because of street repairs last September. We still loved each other here at home, but it was not enough. For drinking, cleaning, cooking, and sustaining life itself, there is no adequate substitute for water. We can't live without it. Sounds pretty obvious, doesn't it!
What about living water, as spoken of by the Lord Jesus Christ? He said He had water that shall be in the one who receives it "a well of water springing up into everlasting life" (John 4:14, see verses 7--15). But there is that word again : "receive". We have to have our cup turned the right way up, or our hand a cupped hand, and the vessel must be clean.
He said, "Blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost" (3 Nephi 12:6). The Holy Ghost is the living water. The Holy Ghost is the oil in the lamp of the wise Saint. But neither the power nor the gift of the Holy Ghost is automatic. It must be sought and thirsted after. As we cited last week from Job, I have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary food. Thus it seems that we have stumbled on something even more necessary than H 2 O . . . "the words of His mouth". Can we live without them? Most of us do a good job of trying to live without them, or with taking occasional sips and nibbles, when the divine command and invitation is to feast on His words, to search them, and to treasure them as the precious and rare things they are.
Elder Neal A. Maxwell wrote, "A few little flowers will spring up briefly in the dry gullies through which torrents of water pass occasionally; but it is steady streams that produce thick and needed crops. In the agriculture of the soul that has to do with nurturing attributes, flash floods are no substitute for regular irrigation."
In our family a few years ago we read a book entitled, "Your Body's Many Cries for Water," written by Iranian-born Dr. F. Batmanghelidj. All of his assets confiscated, and thrown into prison by the revolutionary regime, he learned the benefits of water while treating fellow prisoners. The only medicinal resource he had was water, impure water at that, to go along with the faith of his patients. The subtitle of his book is: "You Are Not Sick, You Are Thirsty!" --- and he recommends we drink a glass of water whenever we get hungry or feel a twinge of pain. He dedicates the book "To our Creator, with awe, humility, dedication, and love."
Most of us are dying of thirst and don't recognize it. Elder A. Theodore Tuttle of the Seventy told in general conference of the ship in a fog where the passengers had run out of water. They sent out an urgent signal for help. They received this reply, '"Let down your buckets where you are!" This made no sense for they were in the Atlantic Ocean. Again, the urgent plea. Again, the same reply: "Let down your buckets where you are!"
They did not know it, but they had drifted into the mouth of a freshwater river and were surrounded by living water. All they had to do was retrieve the living water that lay all around them. Yes, they had an abundance of living water immediately available, but they were dying for lack of that knowledge.
We are in a similar situation. We are surrounded by living water. But, again, we stress, the drinking of it is not automatic. We must prepare our own vessels and thirst after the living water, and pay the price to get it. In this we must be independent. No one else can spoon feed us this living water. We must pay the price and seek it diligently for ourselves . . . . Do you believe this?!
Elder Packer said to the youth of the Church, "No one can compel you to taste of this living water. It can come only when you consent. . . . If you are to find it, you must pay more, by a thousandfold, than ever you paid before" (October 1969 CR).
Yes, the youth, their parents and grandparents must pay the price. Because, "that which we obtain too easily we esteem too lightly" (Thomas Paine). There is ample evidence that we esteem the Christ, the doctrine of Christ, and His holy scriptures lightly indeed, in favor of a social or an ethical gospel.
God bless us all to have a thirst-free Sabbath because of our feasting on the word of the Lord and on His sacramental meal. . . . And recall too that the bread and the water are blessed and sanctified to the souls of all those who partake of them, for your soul cries out for His living water and the living bread of His word.
Steve
GIFTS: There Is Only One Way to Get "More Freedom From Earth Stains"
Elder Harold B. Lee once visited a leper colony on the Hawaiian Islands. There is a branch of the Church in the colony and the members there told Elder Lee that if they had to choose between being a leper or being a member of the Church they would choose to stay in their afflicted condition and remain members of the true Church.
This awesome commitment to the restored gospel raises some compelling questions :
Do all Latter-day Saints feel this same commitment to the kingdom of God?
Why do these lepers feel this way?
Do all religious people feel this way toward their own religion?
Let me add one more question:
Are we not all lepers?
Tainted by sin, from "earth stains", as we sing in "More Holiness Give Me", afflicted and spotted with the consequences of being born into a fallen world, we are in some trouble. Do we recognize it?
Consider this : when we play with mud, it is not the mud that gets glovey. . . . Or fingery. It is the fingers, or the gloves that get muddy. The Fall of Adam and the subsequent devastating state of the human family are, like gravity, a law of existence here in this world. It is a severe condition. It is one from which fallen man is powerless to rescue himself. He needs a Savior, a Redeemer, a Deliverer.
Nephi said: "Wherefore, all mankind were in a lost and in a fallen state, and ever would be save they should rely on this Redeemer."
The power to save himself is not in fallen man. That is part of his affliction. It is deliberate, according to the great plan of the Eternal God. It has a purpose. Like gravity, it is relentless, and it is real.
As Rodney Turner said in 1988, As natural man, "we are hopelessly lost unless a higher Nature overwhelms and transforms our fallen nature. This higher Nature with its attendant powers is found in Jesus Christ." To confirm this profound statement from Brother Turner, it is a marvelous insight to learn, from the Prophet Joseph Smith, that the Greek word baptiso literally means to overwhelm, as well as to immerse or bury (see Teachings, pp 262, 314). Baptism is a rebirth, not just a temporary fix.
We are in a lost and fallen state and we do not know of ourselves how to get out of it. In our natural, fallen state we protest at this statement and insist that we are OK, that we have it all under control. We even think that if we are kind and nice and loving we will be fine. But that will just leave us as kind, nice, loving natural, fallen man. As well might a skilled surgeon attempt to do brain or heart surgery on himself. Or a dentist perform his own root-canal work. Or a man baptize himself. . . . He needs help!
Well, help is on its way. It is found in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "if it so be that they are built upon [and teach] my gospel" (see 3 Nephi 27:8).
In ancient Israel, the healed leper must be cleansed within as well as without. He would go to the priest for a ritual cleansing. See Leviticus chapter 14. In an elaborate ritual the priest would take two little live birds, cedar wood (think of a cedar chest that is used to keep things clean and free from decay), a scarlet cloth, and a sprig of hyssop (verse 4).
One of the birds is killed over running water (v. 5), and the other bird is tied to the hyssop and cedar stick with the red cloth (v. 6). (Can you see where this is going yet, and how it is a type of the Atonement?)
The priest then dips the living bird --- as a live paintbrush, if you will --- into the blood of the dead bird and the running water. The priest then sprinkles the mixture on to the cured leper seven times and releases the live bird ("with healing in his wings", see Malachi 4:2; compare carefully 3 Nephi 25:2).
The cleansed leper then washes himself and his clothes, shaves all his hair and beard, including his eyebrows (vv. 8--9), and after further animal sacrifice is pronounced clean (v. 11).
Do you see the point? In his washed, cleansed, shaved condition, do you see he now is born again; he even looks like a baby, with no eyebrows.
Now, . . . Are we not all lepers? In our fallen, natural state, in need of a thorough cleansing from earth stains through some type of blood and water --- from somewhere, if we can only find it!
Surely it is appropriate to discuss these things on the Sabbath --- as a Sabbathought --- for He who is Lord of the Sabbath said in a revelation to fallen man, "And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day . . . and pay thy devotions unto the Most High" (Doctrine and Covenants 59:9--10).
The Sabbath is a celestial law, given to us on a telestial earth. It will take strict observance to keep it holy (as strict as the law of the cleansing of the leper), surrounded as we are by telestial and terrestrial influences. More on this Law of the Sabbath later.
Your thoughts and insights are eagerly encouraged.
Steve
This awesome commitment to the restored gospel raises some compelling questions :
Do all Latter-day Saints feel this same commitment to the kingdom of God?
Why do these lepers feel this way?
Do all religious people feel this way toward their own religion?
Let me add one more question:
Are we not all lepers?
Tainted by sin, from "earth stains", as we sing in "More Holiness Give Me", afflicted and spotted with the consequences of being born into a fallen world, we are in some trouble. Do we recognize it?
Consider this : when we play with mud, it is not the mud that gets glovey. . . . Or fingery. It is the fingers, or the gloves that get muddy. The Fall of Adam and the subsequent devastating state of the human family are, like gravity, a law of existence here in this world. It is a severe condition. It is one from which fallen man is powerless to rescue himself. He needs a Savior, a Redeemer, a Deliverer.
Nephi said: "Wherefore, all mankind were in a lost and in a fallen state, and ever would be save they should rely on this Redeemer."
The power to save himself is not in fallen man. That is part of his affliction. It is deliberate, according to the great plan of the Eternal God. It has a purpose. Like gravity, it is relentless, and it is real.
As Rodney Turner said in 1988, As natural man, "we are hopelessly lost unless a higher Nature overwhelms and transforms our fallen nature. This higher Nature with its attendant powers is found in Jesus Christ." To confirm this profound statement from Brother Turner, it is a marvelous insight to learn, from the Prophet Joseph Smith, that the Greek word baptiso literally means to overwhelm, as well as to immerse or bury (see Teachings, pp 262, 314). Baptism is a rebirth, not just a temporary fix.
We are in a lost and fallen state and we do not know of ourselves how to get out of it. In our natural, fallen state we protest at this statement and insist that we are OK, that we have it all under control. We even think that if we are kind and nice and loving we will be fine. But that will just leave us as kind, nice, loving natural, fallen man. As well might a skilled surgeon attempt to do brain or heart surgery on himself. Or a dentist perform his own root-canal work. Or a man baptize himself. . . . He needs help!
Well, help is on its way. It is found in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "if it so be that they are built upon [and teach] my gospel" (see 3 Nephi 27:8).
In ancient Israel, the healed leper must be cleansed within as well as without. He would go to the priest for a ritual cleansing. See Leviticus chapter 14. In an elaborate ritual the priest would take two little live birds, cedar wood (think of a cedar chest that is used to keep things clean and free from decay), a scarlet cloth, and a sprig of hyssop (verse 4).
One of the birds is killed over running water (v. 5), and the other bird is tied to the hyssop and cedar stick with the red cloth (v. 6). (Can you see where this is going yet, and how it is a type of the Atonement?)
The priest then dips the living bird --- as a live paintbrush, if you will --- into the blood of the dead bird and the running water. The priest then sprinkles the mixture on to the cured leper seven times and releases the live bird ("with healing in his wings", see Malachi 4:2; compare carefully 3 Nephi 25:2).
The cleansed leper then washes himself and his clothes, shaves all his hair and beard, including his eyebrows (vv. 8--9), and after further animal sacrifice is pronounced clean (v. 11).
Do you see the point? In his washed, cleansed, shaved condition, do you see he now is born again; he even looks like a baby, with no eyebrows.
Now, . . . Are we not all lepers? In our fallen, natural state, in need of a thorough cleansing from earth stains through some type of blood and water --- from somewhere, if we can only find it!
Surely it is appropriate to discuss these things on the Sabbath --- as a Sabbathought --- for He who is Lord of the Sabbath said in a revelation to fallen man, "And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day . . . and pay thy devotions unto the Most High" (Doctrine and Covenants 59:9--10).
The Sabbath is a celestial law, given to us on a telestial earth. It will take strict observance to keep it holy (as strict as the law of the cleansing of the leper), surrounded as we are by telestial and terrestrial influences. More on this Law of the Sabbath later.
Your thoughts and insights are eagerly encouraged.
Steve
"You can always tell an Englishman," said President Gordon B. Hinckley to President Ken Cork of the Newcastle-under-Lyme England stake in a reception line at April General Conference time in Salt Lake in the mid-1970s. President Hinckley moved down the line, shaking hands, and came back to President Cork: "But you can't tell him much."
Typical of this prophet's humor!
Humor is humor because of the hint of irony in it, because it hints at something that is true, draws attention to it, and says it anyway. We recognize the truth or accuracy of the statement, and laugh or smile because we sense the truth in it.
I had the feeling I was teaching---or trying to teach---a group of "Englishmen" in a class a few years ago when I shared this marvelous statement from President Brigham Young:
"Some have supposed that it would make but little difference with them whether they learned much or little, whether they attained to all the intelligence within their reach or not while they tarry in this world, believing that if they paid their tithing, went to meetings, said their prayers, and performed those duties which were especially commanded, that . . . as soon as they lay off this mortal body all would be well with them. But this is a mistaken idea and will cause every soul to mourn who embraces and practices upon it. When they arrive in the world of resurrected bodies, they will realize, to their sorrow that God required of them in this world not only obedience to his revealed will, but a searching after His purposes and plans" (as cited in Selected Writings of Robert J. Matthews [1999], page 110).
The group of priesthood I shared this with in Utah were clearly a bunch of Englishmen, for most of them rejected the statement and vocally corrected President Young and my teaching. Truly, you can always tell an Englishman, . . . but you can't tell him much!
How sad that in some (many?) instances it is common to be able to extend that to: "You can always tell a high priest in the Church, but you can't tell him much." It is an indictment, and, sadly, it is common.
When Brother Matthews cited this statement from President Young, he then added: "Note the phrase, 'searching after His purposes and plans.' I am reminded of a statement attributed to Elder Sterling W. Sill, who reportedly said, 'It isn't enough just to obey the Lord---we ought to agree with him."
This sentence from Elder Sill was the first Sabbathought we shared with you back last summer.
A final idea: what would such "Englishmen" or Utah high priests or other people in their natural, fallen state do with this statement from Nephi?
"And now I, Nephi, cannot say more; the Spirit stoppeth mine utterance, and I am left to mourn because of the unbelief, and the wickedness, and the ignorance, and the stiffneckedness of men; for they will not search knowledge, nor understand great knowledge, when it is given unto them in plainness, even as plain as word can be" (2 Nephi 32:7).
Can we all say with the Jerusalem Twelve, "Lord is it I?" or do we say, "I know high priests like that," and shake our heads wearily? We all need to take this one very seriously.
More on this later.
Steve
Typical of this prophet's humor!
Humor is humor because of the hint of irony in it, because it hints at something that is true, draws attention to it, and says it anyway. We recognize the truth or accuracy of the statement, and laugh or smile because we sense the truth in it.
I had the feeling I was teaching---or trying to teach---a group of "Englishmen" in a class a few years ago when I shared this marvelous statement from President Brigham Young:
"Some have supposed that it would make but little difference with them whether they learned much or little, whether they attained to all the intelligence within their reach or not while they tarry in this world, believing that if they paid their tithing, went to meetings, said their prayers, and performed those duties which were especially commanded, that . . . as soon as they lay off this mortal body all would be well with them. But this is a mistaken idea and will cause every soul to mourn who embraces and practices upon it. When they arrive in the world of resurrected bodies, they will realize, to their sorrow that God required of them in this world not only obedience to his revealed will, but a searching after His purposes and plans" (as cited in Selected Writings of Robert J. Matthews [1999], page 110).
The group of priesthood I shared this with in Utah were clearly a bunch of Englishmen, for most of them rejected the statement and vocally corrected President Young and my teaching. Truly, you can always tell an Englishman, . . . but you can't tell him much!
How sad that in some (many?) instances it is common to be able to extend that to: "You can always tell a high priest in the Church, but you can't tell him much." It is an indictment, and, sadly, it is common.
When Brother Matthews cited this statement from President Young, he then added: "Note the phrase, 'searching after His purposes and plans.' I am reminded of a statement attributed to Elder Sterling W. Sill, who reportedly said, 'It isn't enough just to obey the Lord---we ought to agree with him."
This sentence from Elder Sill was the first Sabbathought we shared with you back last summer.
A final idea: what would such "Englishmen" or Utah high priests or other people in their natural, fallen state do with this statement from Nephi?
"And now I, Nephi, cannot say more; the Spirit stoppeth mine utterance, and I am left to mourn because of the unbelief, and the wickedness, and the ignorance, and the stiffneckedness of men; for they will not search knowledge, nor understand great knowledge, when it is given unto them in plainness, even as plain as word can be" (2 Nephi 32:7).
Can we all say with the Jerusalem Twelve, "Lord is it I?" or do we say, "I know high priests like that," and shake our heads wearily? We all need to take this one very seriously.
Steve
In January 1986 Elder Boyd K. Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve met with some 66 stake presidents and taught, "Brethren, these are the words you must remember and must teach to your people." . . . He then taught the power of the restored gospel that is in the six words that follow.
If you were to compact the power of the restored gospel into six words, which words would you choose?
The words Elder Packer emphasized, and taught that we should emphasize in our teaching and in our lives, can be said to constitute the roots of the tree of life. If the roots are in sound condition and are nourished, the fruits will take care of themselves.
Paul spoke of the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians chapter 5: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance [self-control]. There are others, many others: chastity, honesty, courage, virtue, and many more, and they are the fruits of exercising our agency in living the restored gospel. But first we have to know before we can obey.
Note that love is a fruit, more than it is a root. Faith also. . . . If we tended an orchard or a vineyard it would be a mistake to climb a ladder to pour needed living water on the fruits in order for them to grow and produce. No, the living water is needed at the roots. This is an obvious fact of agriculture, and a less obvious truth in the agriculture of the soul. . . . We get good fruits by nurturing the roots.
What are the roots? Elder Packer's six words, to be "remembered and to be taught" are: doctrine . . . covenants . . . ordinances . . . priesthood . . . revelation . . . scripture, all of which surely qualify as the roots of the power that is in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.
Each of those words is centered in Jesus Christ. Consider: "the doctrine of Christ" as found in the Book of Mormon. Indeed all "true doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior" and brings us unto Christ.
Every ordinance carries a covenant. The ordinances and covenants---from baptism and sacrament to the ordinances of the House of the Lord---are designed to teach us of, and to bring us to Christ.
It takes priesthood keys and authority to perform the ordinances. Indeed the priesthood itself is the power of God, and is the "Holy Priesthood after the Order of the Son of God" (see D&C 107:1--4), so it derives from and leads to Jesus Christ.
Revelation comes by the Holy Ghost whose role and function is to reveal, teach, and testify of the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (see Ether 12:41; John 14). The basic revelation that Jesus is "the Christ, the Son of the living God" (see Matthew 16:16--17) we call a testimony, and comes through the Holy Ghost by revelation to each individual who conforms to the truth in hungering and thirsting after righteousness. It is not an automatic or a casual thing.
All scripture is given to testify of Jesus Christ, as we discussed last week.
So, these six words from Elder Packer, see how they interconnect and focus us on Jesus Christ and His restored gospel! The world is more or less familiar with these words, but the revelations of the Restoration open them up to us in a way that the world cannot guess at. As we plant these root words in the soil of our souls they bring forth rich fruit.
One illustration: we spoke last week of Joseph of Egypt and of how he was a prototype of Christ. One of Joseph's actions confirms and illustrates all we are saying here about these six words and roots and fruits.
In Genesis 39:9 we find Joseph resisting the advances of Potiphar's wife to lie with her (verse 7). He resists with these words: " . . . thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?"
Do you see the doctrine? . . . The covenant? . . . Joseph does not say, "How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against Potiphar." Nor does he say, " . . . and sin against my father Israel who taught me never to do that wickedness." Nor against the wife herself, . . . but against God. This is a covenant matter; it is good doctrine. It is a root of chaste conduct, which conduct is the fruit.
We do not effectively teach chastity by speaking about chastity. Chastity, morality of any kind, is a fruit of strong belief in sound doctrine, of covenant promises and obligations that are only available through priesthood ordinances. The scriptures teach these truths, and they come to us by revelation even in the very hour we need them if they are planted deep enough in our soil . . . But if we rely on the philosophies of men, or on a social gospel, we and Joseph of Egypt, the father of our tribe would not have the power of the gospel to shield and protect us.
What a blessing it is to have these truths at our disposal! It would be a gross error to dispose of them by neglect. Let's get them so deep into our souls that they come out in our character, and in our countenances, and in our teaching. . . . We are all teachers.
More later. Warmest regards,
Steve
If you were to compact the power of the restored gospel into six words, which words would you choose?
The words Elder Packer emphasized, and taught that we should emphasize in our teaching and in our lives, can be said to constitute the roots of the tree of life. If the roots are in sound condition and are nourished, the fruits will take care of themselves.
Paul spoke of the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians chapter 5: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance [self-control]. There are others, many others: chastity, honesty, courage, virtue, and many more, and they are the fruits of exercising our agency in living the restored gospel. But first we have to know before we can obey.
Note that love is a fruit, more than it is a root. Faith also. . . . If we tended an orchard or a vineyard it would be a mistake to climb a ladder to pour needed living water on the fruits in order for them to grow and produce. No, the living water is needed at the roots. This is an obvious fact of agriculture, and a less obvious truth in the agriculture of the soul. . . . We get good fruits by nurturing the roots.
What are the roots? Elder Packer's six words, to be "remembered and to be taught" are: doctrine . . . covenants . . . ordinances . . . priesthood . . . revelation . . . scripture, all of which surely qualify as the roots of the power that is in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.
Each of those words is centered in Jesus Christ. Consider: "the doctrine of Christ" as found in the Book of Mormon. Indeed all "true doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior" and brings us unto Christ.
Every ordinance carries a covenant. The ordinances and covenants---from baptism and sacrament to the ordinances of the House of the Lord---are designed to teach us of, and to bring us to Christ.
It takes priesthood keys and authority to perform the ordinances. Indeed the priesthood itself is the power of God, and is the "Holy Priesthood after the Order of the Son of God" (see D&C 107:1--4), so it derives from and leads to Jesus Christ.
Revelation comes by the Holy Ghost whose role and function is to reveal, teach, and testify of the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (see Ether 12:41; John 14). The basic revelation that Jesus is "the Christ, the Son of the living God" (see Matthew 16:16--17) we call a testimony, and comes through the Holy Ghost by revelation to each individual who conforms to the truth in hungering and thirsting after righteousness. It is not an automatic or a casual thing.
All scripture is given to testify of Jesus Christ, as we discussed last week.
So, these six words from Elder Packer, see how they interconnect and focus us on Jesus Christ and His restored gospel! The world is more or less familiar with these words, but the revelations of the Restoration open them up to us in a way that the world cannot guess at. As we plant these root words in the soil of our souls they bring forth rich fruit.
One illustration: we spoke last week of Joseph of Egypt and of how he was a prototype of Christ. One of Joseph's actions confirms and illustrates all we are saying here about these six words and roots and fruits.
In Genesis 39:9 we find Joseph resisting the advances of Potiphar's wife to lie with her (verse 7). He resists with these words: " . . . thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?"
Do you see the doctrine? . . . The covenant? . . . Joseph does not say, "How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against Potiphar." Nor does he say, " . . . and sin against my father Israel who taught me never to do that wickedness." Nor against the wife herself, . . . but against God. This is a covenant matter; it is good doctrine. It is a root of chaste conduct, which conduct is the fruit.
We do not effectively teach chastity by speaking about chastity. Chastity, morality of any kind, is a fruit of strong belief in sound doctrine, of covenant promises and obligations that are only available through priesthood ordinances. The scriptures teach these truths, and they come to us by revelation even in the very hour we need them if they are planted deep enough in our soil . . . But if we rely on the philosophies of men, or on a social gospel, we and Joseph of Egypt, the father of our tribe would not have the power of the gospel to shield and protect us.
What a blessing it is to have these truths at our disposal! It would be a gross error to dispose of them by neglect. Let's get them so deep into our souls that they come out in our character, and in our countenances, and in our teaching. . . . We are all teachers.
More later. Warmest regards,
Steve
As we study the Old Testament this year in Sunday School it is worth catching a glimpse of what it is all about. What is the message of the Old Testament? What is the "big picture" that will help us to unlock what can be a challenging book of scripture? How would you answer these questions?
President Marion G. Romney taught: "The message of the Old Testament is the message of Christ, and His coming, and His Atonement." Glenn L. Pearson wrote in the June 1986 Ensign that unless one "sees Christ everywhere in the Old Testament, there is no understanding of the Old Testament at all" (page 17).
Indeed! The Old Testament (OT) is a testament of the Messiah, a witness of Jesus Christ. The New Testament (NT) is a testament of Jesus Christ and His coming and His Atonement. The Book of Mormon is Another Testament (AT) of Jesus Christ, spanning some 1000 years of Old Testament times (BC) into New Testament times and beyond (AD).
I like to call the Doctrine and Covenants a Further Testament (FT) of Jesus Christ and His comings (first coming and second coming) and His Atonement. Surely the Pearl of Great Price would qualify as a Collective or Composite (CT) testament of Jesus Christ as it spans some seven dispensations of the gospel and includes in its 61 pages insights and excerpts from each of the other testaments.
So we have OT NT AT FT and CT, all sacred books of scripture which "talk of Christ . . . rejoice in Christ . . . preach of Christ . . . and . . . prophesy of Christ" (see 2 Nephi 25:26). The Church has been roundly criticised by many Christian churches for presuming to have sacred scripture beyond the Bible. Fact is, the Bible has been under siege for many years now and can use help to affirm its basic message: the Divine Sonship and ministry of Jesus the Christ. Such is the purpose of the Book of Mormon and the other scriptures of the Restoration mentioned above (see 1 Nephi 13:20--27, 39--40; 2 Nephi 33:10--11; Mormon 7:8--9; D&C 20:1--12, among other references).
Let's consider just one Old Testament source that clearly and plainly, among many others, points to Christ. Remember Nephi's words that "my soul delighteth in proving unto my people the truth of the coming of Christ; for, for this end hath the law of Moses been given; and all things which have been given of God from the beginning of the world, unto man, are the typifying of him" (2 Nephi 11:4). These things---"all things which have been given of God . . . unto man . . ."---are called types, or shadows, or symbols, or signs, or patterns, or lessons, or similitudes, all designed to point mankind's focus and attention toward their Lord and Saviour and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Elder Bruce R. McConkie has written that "ten thousand times ten thousand is not a beginning to their number, but such teachings merely introduce the subject."
Joseph of Egypt is a perfect type of Christ. . . . Consider: both were called the most loved of their fathers; both were sent by their father to their brethren; both were fully obedient to the will and wishes of their father and responded to the call by saying, "Here am I"; both went to their brothers knowing full well they would be rejected and hated; both came in the name of their father and with his authority; both were betrayed by their brothers; both blessed those with whom they labored in prison; both were tempted with great sin; both were saviours to their people, giving them the bread of life; and on and on and on. There is not space here to name all the ways that Joseph of Egypt was a type of Christ.
One compelling type in closing: Joseph was imprisoned with two political prisoners --- Jesus was crucified between two political prisoners; Joseph predicted good of one prisoner and bad of the other --- one of the thieves on the cross was repentant, the other "railed on Him"; their dreams were to come to pass in three days --- Jesus' body lay in the tomb for three days as He opened the way in the spirit prison for the dead to be saved; one of the prisoners in Genesis was a baker (of bread), the other was a butler (server of wine) --- the bread and wine are symbolic of Jesus in the sacrament; [now note this!] the baker (bread, body) was hanged on a tree ---while the butler was restored to his position. The body of Christ was crucified on a tree, while the blood of Gethsemane brings atonement and restores us to God.
Do you get the impression that there is more in the scriptures than we first glimpse? That is why we are commanded to "search the scriptures," as Jesus said, for "they are they which testify of me" (John 5:39).
Your comments and thoughts are encouraged and welcome.
Steve
President Marion G. Romney taught: "The message of the Old Testament is the message of Christ, and His coming, and His Atonement." Glenn L. Pearson wrote in the June 1986 Ensign that unless one "sees Christ everywhere in the Old Testament, there is no understanding of the Old Testament at all" (page 17).
Indeed! The Old Testament (OT) is a testament of the Messiah, a witness of Jesus Christ. The New Testament (NT) is a testament of Jesus Christ and His coming and His Atonement. The Book of Mormon is Another Testament (AT) of Jesus Christ, spanning some 1000 years of Old Testament times (BC) into New Testament times and beyond (AD).
I like to call the Doctrine and Covenants a Further Testament (FT) of Jesus Christ and His comings (first coming and second coming) and His Atonement. Surely the Pearl of Great Price would qualify as a Collective or Composite (CT) testament of Jesus Christ as it spans some seven dispensations of the gospel and includes in its 61 pages insights and excerpts from each of the other testaments.
So we have OT NT AT FT and CT, all sacred books of scripture which "talk of Christ . . . rejoice in Christ . . . preach of Christ . . . and . . . prophesy of Christ" (see 2 Nephi 25:26). The Church has been roundly criticised by many Christian churches for presuming to have sacred scripture beyond the Bible. Fact is, the Bible has been under siege for many years now and can use help to affirm its basic message: the Divine Sonship and ministry of Jesus the Christ. Such is the purpose of the Book of Mormon and the other scriptures of the Restoration mentioned above (see 1 Nephi 13:20--27, 39--40; 2 Nephi 33:10--11; Mormon 7:8--9; D&C 20:1--12, among other references).
Let's consider just one Old Testament source that clearly and plainly, among many others, points to Christ. Remember Nephi's words that "my soul delighteth in proving unto my people the truth of the coming of Christ; for, for this end hath the law of Moses been given; and all things which have been given of God from the beginning of the world, unto man, are the typifying of him" (2 Nephi 11:4). These things---"all things which have been given of God . . . unto man . . ."---are called types, or shadows, or symbols, or signs, or patterns, or lessons, or similitudes, all designed to point mankind's focus and attention toward their Lord and Saviour and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Elder Bruce R. McConkie has written that "ten thousand times ten thousand is not a beginning to their number, but such teachings merely introduce the subject."
Joseph of Egypt is a perfect type of Christ. . . . Consider: both were called the most loved of their fathers; both were sent by their father to their brethren; both were fully obedient to the will and wishes of their father and responded to the call by saying, "Here am I"; both went to their brothers knowing full well they would be rejected and hated; both came in the name of their father and with his authority; both were betrayed by their brothers; both blessed those with whom they labored in prison; both were tempted with great sin; both were saviours to their people, giving them the bread of life; and on and on and on. There is not space here to name all the ways that Joseph of Egypt was a type of Christ.
One compelling type in closing: Joseph was imprisoned with two political prisoners --- Jesus was crucified between two political prisoners; Joseph predicted good of one prisoner and bad of the other --- one of the thieves on the cross was repentant, the other "railed on Him"; their dreams were to come to pass in three days --- Jesus' body lay in the tomb for three days as He opened the way in the spirit prison for the dead to be saved; one of the prisoners in Genesis was a baker (of bread), the other was a butler (server of wine) --- the bread and wine are symbolic of Jesus in the sacrament; [now note this!] the baker (bread, body) was hanged on a tree ---while the butler was restored to his position. The body of Christ was crucified on a tree, while the blood of Gethsemane brings atonement and restores us to God.
Do you get the impression that there is more in the scriptures than we first glimpse? That is why we are commanded to "search the scriptures," as Jesus said, for "they are they which testify of me" (John 5:39).
Your comments and thoughts are encouraged and welcome.
Steve
GIFTS: Some of the true details of the Christmas story we seem to miss
When I was a small child I thought we were singing "We three kings of Orion Tar . . ." and that it somehow fitted in with the tar baby in the fairy story. I knew there was a "Baby" involved, so it was logical to my infant mind, but I confess I missed the plot of the origin of the wise men.
When I could read I saw that We Three Kings were in fact "of Orient" origins, but that just placed them somewhere near Leyton Orient, for I was a football (soccer) fan. Then I gradually learned through more reading and listening that they were from the East, as in east of the land of Israel. It took time---line upon line---before I worked out that the wise men (not kings any longer, that was a bit misleading, and probably more than three in number) were indeed prophets (see Revelation 19:10) who knew from scripture prophecies of the Birth of the Christ Child. They came to adore Him, and I came to identify with their deep feelings for Him.
It is easy to miss the true picture and the real story, especially in lyrics of songs, or carols, or hymns, or in scripture, especially when familiarity can obscure the real meaning, and we get left with just our familiar traditional understanding, never correcting it or adding to it for a better realisation.
I am reminded of the Yorkshireman who attended a concert of Handel's "Messiah" and was convinced the choir was singing of a partiality for a good piece of mutton when they sang "All we like sheep". . . ! A close look at Isaiah 53:6, in context of the whole Messianic chapter, will show his mistake.
We have spoken earlier of the profound doctrine in the line, "The hopes and fears of all the years, / Are met in thee tonight", O Little Town of Bethlehem. What hopes? What fears? Why, if Jesus were not born, and if He did not fulfill His mission and commission, the whole family of mankind, as well as the whole of Creation, would perish and collapse under the weight of the Fall of Adam that was already in place. Every soul baptized for a remission of sins prior to His coming --- in "hopes" of a future redemption by Jesus --- would have the hopes dashed forever. Every soul who was translated (Moses, Elijah, and others) would have to be untranslated and returned to a lost and fallen condition with no future hope of rescue. "Hopes" indeed. . . . "Fears" indeed!
Was the angel who came "unto him from heaven, strengthening him" in His Gethsemane ordeal someone who had an extreme vested interest in the outcome of this suffering in the Garden? Someone who perhaps drank from another bitter cup in an earlier Garden, that mankind might be? Could this angel have been "mighty Michael, who foremost fell that man might be", in the words of Elder Bruce R. McConkie? Michael is Adam, we learn from the Prophet Joseph Smith.
Also. ". . . Where meek souls will receive him, still / The dear Christ enters in." Again, the true meaning of Christmas --- to receive the Christ, the heavenly gift. Notice, not "shall receive him, still . . . ." It is not inevitable or automatic. "Where meek souls will receive him, still . . . ." It must be according to the free will of each soul. That suggests a wise use of the agency (the power to act, not just to choose) on the part of each individual soul.
These are profound truths, they are among "the very points of his doctrine" that are so vital for us to know so that we "may know how to come unto him and be saved."
Elsewhere, "Mild he lays his glory by" (we spoke last week that He "emptied Himself" to divest Himself of all His premortal knowledge and so forth---then He gained it all back as He learned and was obedient to His Father's will, so that by age twelve He knew again), / "Born that man no more may die; / Born to raise the sons of earth [the bodies of Adam, Eve, and all their posterity (us) are made from the dust of the earth], / Born to give them second birth. . . ." How clearly the holy scriptures, and inspired hymns, speak of the need for fallen, mortal man to be born again, born into the family of Jesus Christ (their "Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace" --- see Isaiah 9:6), to become His sons and daughters in a new birth. Baptism itself is the death and burial and raising out of water to a new life of all who submit to it. The Prophet taught, "Being born again, comes by the Spirit of God through ordinances" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 162).
Our sacrament hymns are teaching in so many instances the same doctrines---"the very points of his doctrine." Consider: ". . . A broken law to satisfy. . . ." (Hymn 191), ". . . A broken law to recompense." . . . (Hymn 187), " . . . And thus dispelled the awful gloom / That else were this creation's doom" (Hymn 174) . . . . All speak of Creation --- Fall --- Atonement, the three great doctrinal pillars of eternity. There are dozens of other examples of the very points of this core doctrine of Christ appearing in our sacrament hymns.
We have been trying to make the point ("the very point") that Christmas need not be just one day a year, that indeed every Sabbath --- His holy day --- can bring the Christmas story to our remembrance, for the Sabbath story is the Christmas story, and unless we recognize this we do not really appreciate either day, nor indeed Him, and what He has done for us.
What were we each doing one hundred years ago? . . . We were somewhere, as individual souls, doing something. . . . Did we know better there and then of these eternal truths than we know now?
We did. . . . Our great need is to remember. How to remember? How can we recall, recall, recall, like a distant echo? Notice! The scriptures "have enlarged the memory of this people, yea, and convinced many of the error of their ways, and brought them to the knowledge of their God unto the salvation of their souls" (see also John 14:26; D&C 130:18--19; Revelation 12:7--11, and so on). The scriptures speak of "a new song". Do you think there was ever an "old song"? Just as the "new and everlasting covenant" is the old covenant revealed anew, so the old song is the new song, the song of the salvation of our God and His Christ. Here is the key question: do we know the words of the song, so that we can sing it? Or do we unconsciously interpose the words of a favorite folk song or blues song, or rap lyrics (perish the thought!) because we have forgotten the words? Where will we find the words of "the song of redeeming love"?
Why do we sing at the end of each old year, and the start of each New Year, "Auld Lang Syne"? The three-word title is of Scottish origin, probably penned by Robert Burns, and it literally means, "Old Long Since," evoking past associations, friendships, and loves, and recalling by extension a golden age of peace and harmony and wonderful, clear understanding and hope, a Zion society.
Someone said, along these same lines: "I have spent my life stringing and unstringing my instrument, and the song I came here to sing remains unsung."
Happy New Year, beloved family and friends! --- for the sake of Old Long Since. . . .
Steve
When I could read I saw that We Three Kings were in fact "of Orient" origins, but that just placed them somewhere near Leyton Orient, for I was a football (soccer) fan. Then I gradually learned through more reading and listening that they were from the East, as in east of the land of Israel. It took time---line upon line---before I worked out that the wise men (not kings any longer, that was a bit misleading, and probably more than three in number) were indeed prophets (see Revelation 19:10) who knew from scripture prophecies of the Birth of the Christ Child. They came to adore Him, and I came to identify with their deep feelings for Him.
It is easy to miss the true picture and the real story, especially in lyrics of songs, or carols, or hymns, or in scripture, especially when familiarity can obscure the real meaning, and we get left with just our familiar traditional understanding, never correcting it or adding to it for a better realisation.
I am reminded of the Yorkshireman who attended a concert of Handel's "Messiah" and was convinced the choir was singing of a partiality for a good piece of mutton when they sang "All we like sheep". . . ! A close look at Isaiah 53:6, in context of the whole Messianic chapter, will show his mistake.
We have spoken earlier of the profound doctrine in the line, "The hopes and fears of all the years, / Are met in thee tonight", O Little Town of Bethlehem. What hopes? What fears? Why, if Jesus were not born, and if He did not fulfill His mission and commission, the whole family of mankind, as well as the whole of Creation, would perish and collapse under the weight of the Fall of Adam that was already in place. Every soul baptized for a remission of sins prior to His coming --- in "hopes" of a future redemption by Jesus --- would have the hopes dashed forever. Every soul who was translated (Moses, Elijah, and others) would have to be untranslated and returned to a lost and fallen condition with no future hope of rescue. "Hopes" indeed. . . . "Fears" indeed!
Was the angel who came "unto him from heaven, strengthening him" in His Gethsemane ordeal someone who had an extreme vested interest in the outcome of this suffering in the Garden? Someone who perhaps drank from another bitter cup in an earlier Garden, that mankind might be? Could this angel have been "mighty Michael, who foremost fell that man might be", in the words of Elder Bruce R. McConkie? Michael is Adam, we learn from the Prophet Joseph Smith.
Also. ". . . Where meek souls will receive him, still / The dear Christ enters in." Again, the true meaning of Christmas --- to receive the Christ, the heavenly gift. Notice, not "shall receive him, still . . . ." It is not inevitable or automatic. "Where meek souls will receive him, still . . . ." It must be according to the free will of each soul. That suggests a wise use of the agency (the power to act, not just to choose) on the part of each individual soul.
These are profound truths, they are among "the very points of his doctrine" that are so vital for us to know so that we "may know how to come unto him and be saved."
Elsewhere, "Mild he lays his glory by" (we spoke last week that He "emptied Himself" to divest Himself of all His premortal knowledge and so forth---then He gained it all back as He learned and was obedient to His Father's will, so that by age twelve He knew again), / "Born that man no more may die; / Born to raise the sons of earth [the bodies of Adam, Eve, and all their posterity (us) are made from the dust of the earth], / Born to give them second birth. . . ." How clearly the holy scriptures, and inspired hymns, speak of the need for fallen, mortal man to be born again, born into the family of Jesus Christ (their "Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace" --- see Isaiah 9:6), to become His sons and daughters in a new birth. Baptism itself is the death and burial and raising out of water to a new life of all who submit to it. The Prophet taught, "Being born again, comes by the Spirit of God through ordinances" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 162).
Our sacrament hymns are teaching in so many instances the same doctrines---"the very points of his doctrine." Consider: ". . . A broken law to satisfy. . . ." (Hymn 191), ". . . A broken law to recompense." . . . (Hymn 187), " . . . And thus dispelled the awful gloom / That else were this creation's doom" (Hymn 174) . . . . All speak of Creation --- Fall --- Atonement, the three great doctrinal pillars of eternity. There are dozens of other examples of the very points of this core doctrine of Christ appearing in our sacrament hymns.
We have been trying to make the point ("the very point") that Christmas need not be just one day a year, that indeed every Sabbath --- His holy day --- can bring the Christmas story to our remembrance, for the Sabbath story is the Christmas story, and unless we recognize this we do not really appreciate either day, nor indeed Him, and what He has done for us.
What were we each doing one hundred years ago? . . . We were somewhere, as individual souls, doing something. . . . Did we know better there and then of these eternal truths than we know now?
We did. . . . Our great need is to remember. How to remember? How can we recall, recall, recall, like a distant echo? Notice! The scriptures "have enlarged the memory of this people, yea, and convinced many of the error of their ways, and brought them to the knowledge of their God unto the salvation of their souls" (see also John 14:26; D&C 130:18--19; Revelation 12:7--11, and so on). The scriptures speak of "a new song". Do you think there was ever an "old song"? Just as the "new and everlasting covenant" is the old covenant revealed anew, so the old song is the new song, the song of the salvation of our God and His Christ. Here is the key question: do we know the words of the song, so that we can sing it? Or do we unconsciously interpose the words of a favorite folk song or blues song, or rap lyrics (perish the thought!) because we have forgotten the words? Where will we find the words of "the song of redeeming love"?
Why do we sing at the end of each old year, and the start of each New Year, "Auld Lang Syne"? The three-word title is of Scottish origin, probably penned by Robert Burns, and it literally means, "Old Long Since," evoking past associations, friendships, and loves, and recalling by extension a golden age of peace and harmony and wonderful, clear understanding and hope, a Zion society.
Someone said, along these same lines: "I have spent my life stringing and unstringing my instrument, and the song I came here to sing remains unsung."
Happy New Year, beloved family and friends! --- for the sake of Old Long Since. . . .
Steve
In September Elder David Bednar of the Twelve spoke to Saints in the Preston, England, area and urged them to study the "Five Gospels" (as he put it) and look closely at the way the Lord said and did things. Elder Bednar promised that if the Saints did a serious study in this way they would find a different Lord and Savior than the one they think they know. I can testify to that, and the discovery is not only marvelous and life-changing, but is crucial to our coming to know the Lord Jesus.
Often in the Four Gospels accounts of the Savior's ministry we find Him issuing gentle but firm corrections. These are often prefaced with "Yea, but rather, . . ." or simply, "But . . . ."
This is clear in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5--7) for He is teaching the need to transition from the Law of Moses to His law, the Law of Christ, or from a terrestrial level to celestial.
But more to our point here is when He corrects elsewhere to raise the sights of His disciples to things which they never had supposed. He said through the prophet Isaiah, "For my ways are not your ways, neither are your thoughts my thoughts. . . ." (55:8--9). For instance, look closely at Matthew 12:46--50, where His mother and brothers come along wishing to speak with Him. We would expect, in the natural man, that He is going to accommodate His mother and family. . . . Not so. . . . Look at the first word of verse 48, then follow His words as He refocuses us and realigns.
Also, in Luke 11:27--28, He deflects the praise from His mother toward His . . . well, you have a look for yourself. It is a great moment. I often think of this woman in verse 27 as perhaps the first Catholic, given her emphasis in the words she utters!
Also, in Matthew 19:16--17. Do you see the subtle but firm and clear correction? There are many other examples. He is different from the world's view of Him, and unless we search the scriptures for ourselves we shall just see Him the way the world sees Him,---we'll have only hearsay evidence of Him---and that won't do; we won't know Him. And that will have serious consequences, For "this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." We each must come to know Him; our salvation in families depends on it.
That rather lengthy introduction is meant to explain why and where we have placed emphasis in the Christmas story. We get the Christmas story wrong, whether it is the wise men, the shepherds in the field, Mary on the donkey (they were likely too poor to own a donkey), the date of His birth, or the stable scene. Do we get other things wrong about the Savior and His ministry and His gospel? Our point is that we do. We rely on our traditions instead of getting the story right. We see things as we are instead of how they really are.
A quick further illustration: our missionaries report that on occasion they chat with someone at a doorstep as they explain their purpose, and the home owner rejects the message with words like these, "Oh, I have my own church; if Jesus Himself came down and told me to join the Mormon church, I wouldn't do it; I have my own church." I call that Exhibit A in the evidence that natural man, in this fallen world, because of his traditions and comfort zone, is dozy and resistant to what is best for him. Does that describe me on what is vitally important to my family, our well being and salvation? Does it describe you?
Let's give room for an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ: Elder Bruce R. McConkie taught: "Joseph [the carpenter] made the decision to sleep in the courtyard with the animals, in the stable if you will, and we cannot think but that there was a divine providence in this. The great God, the Father of us all, intended that His Only Begotten Son should be born in the lowest of circumstances and subject to the most demeaning of surroundings. There, amid the lowing of cattle and the bleating of sheep; there, where the calm of the night was filled with the sounds of braying asses and yelping dogs; there, where the stench of urine and the stink of dung fouled the nostrils of delicate souls; there in a stable the Son of God was born. Why was this night different from all others? Because on it was born He who was different than all others: a God was born."
Elder McConkie echoes the description of the "stable" we saw earlier from President Brigham Young when he spoke of Mary "crawling in her distress among the litter left by the cattle" to give birth to her holy Son. President Young also said, "It is written of the Savior that he descended below all things. If he did, he descended in capacity. I will merely tell you what I believe on this point. I believe that there never was a child born on this earth with any less capacity than dwelt in the child that was born in a manger of his mother Mary . . . that there never was a child that descended lower in capacity, or that knew less" (JD 7:286).
We are all born reduced, or fallen from the ability and capacity we had in the premortal sphere. But Jesus most of all, and He becomes our model and example in all things as a result. This doctrine finds expression in Paul's letter to the Philippians 2:7 where Paul says He "made himself of no reputation . . . ." (see verses 5--8). The Anchor Bible translates that phrase as He "emptied himself." The Lord Jesus, Who is Jehovah, the Creator of the Earth under His Father, the most intelligent and wonderful being in the family of God, emptied Himself of His premortal intelligence, knowledge, wisdom, understanding, status, glory, majesty, and capacity, to be born among us in a stable.
Do we get the story, really? . . . In the way it really happened? . . . Do we see our place in it all? . . . He does. Remember, He is the gift. But "what doth it profit a man [or woman] if a gift is bestowed upon him, and he receive not the gift? Behold, he rejoices not in that which is given unto him, neither rejoices in him who is the giver of the gift. . . . because they were not willing to enjoy that which they might have received" (Doctrine and Covenants 88:33, 32, emphasis added).
We say here again: the true meaning of Christmas is receiving. . . . Receiving Him. How do we do that? It is as if the Gift comes to us in a locked box, and we need to find the key. . . . What is the key? . . . Well, that is the purpose of the gospel and of the priesthood, and of the temple, and of the Birth and Atonement of the Lord Jesus, the Son of the Living God.
A final thought on how Father feels about all this: "For behold, . . : Thou art angry, O Lord, with this people, because they will not understand thy mercies which thou hast bestowed upon them because of thy Son" (Alma 33:16).
There are probably more gaps in our understanding and appreciation of these sacred things, more holes to be plugged, than we realize. Let's be humble and teachable enough to let Him correct them, to find the Truth in all of it, and discard the error and mere tradition that abounds. "And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
"And I will be found of you, saith the Lord . . . ." (Jeremiah 29:13--14).
God bless us all, everyone, to find Him while He can be found.
Steve
Often in the Four Gospels accounts of the Savior's ministry we find Him issuing gentle but firm corrections. These are often prefaced with "Yea, but rather, . . ." or simply, "But . . . ."
This is clear in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5--7) for He is teaching the need to transition from the Law of Moses to His law, the Law of Christ, or from a terrestrial level to celestial.
But more to our point here is when He corrects elsewhere to raise the sights of His disciples to things which they never had supposed. He said through the prophet Isaiah, "For my ways are not your ways, neither are your thoughts my thoughts. . . ." (55:8--9). For instance, look closely at Matthew 12:46--50, where His mother and brothers come along wishing to speak with Him. We would expect, in the natural man, that He is going to accommodate His mother and family. . . . Not so. . . . Look at the first word of verse 48, then follow His words as He refocuses us and realigns.
Also, in Luke 11:27--28, He deflects the praise from His mother toward His . . . well, you have a look for yourself. It is a great moment. I often think of this woman in verse 27 as perhaps the first Catholic, given her emphasis in the words she utters!
Also, in Matthew 19:16--17. Do you see the subtle but firm and clear correction? There are many other examples. He is different from the world's view of Him, and unless we search the scriptures for ourselves we shall just see Him the way the world sees Him,---we'll have only hearsay evidence of Him---and that won't do; we won't know Him. And that will have serious consequences, For "this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." We each must come to know Him; our salvation in families depends on it.
That rather lengthy introduction is meant to explain why and where we have placed emphasis in the Christmas story. We get the Christmas story wrong, whether it is the wise men, the shepherds in the field, Mary on the donkey (they were likely too poor to own a donkey), the date of His birth, or the stable scene. Do we get other things wrong about the Savior and His ministry and His gospel? Our point is that we do. We rely on our traditions instead of getting the story right. We see things as we are instead of how they really are.
A quick further illustration: our missionaries report that on occasion they chat with someone at a doorstep as they explain their purpose, and the home owner rejects the message with words like these, "Oh, I have my own church; if Jesus Himself came down and told me to join the Mormon church, I wouldn't do it; I have my own church." I call that Exhibit A in the evidence that natural man, in this fallen world, because of his traditions and comfort zone, is dozy and resistant to what is best for him. Does that describe me on what is vitally important to my family, our well being and salvation? Does it describe you?
Let's give room for an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ: Elder Bruce R. McConkie taught: "Joseph [the carpenter] made the decision to sleep in the courtyard with the animals, in the stable if you will, and we cannot think but that there was a divine providence in this. The great God, the Father of us all, intended that His Only Begotten Son should be born in the lowest of circumstances and subject to the most demeaning of surroundings. There, amid the lowing of cattle and the bleating of sheep; there, where the calm of the night was filled with the sounds of braying asses and yelping dogs; there, where the stench of urine and the stink of dung fouled the nostrils of delicate souls; there in a stable the Son of God was born. Why was this night different from all others? Because on it was born He who was different than all others: a God was born."
Elder McConkie echoes the description of the "stable" we saw earlier from President Brigham Young when he spoke of Mary "crawling in her distress among the litter left by the cattle" to give birth to her holy Son. President Young also said, "It is written of the Savior that he descended below all things. If he did, he descended in capacity. I will merely tell you what I believe on this point. I believe that there never was a child born on this earth with any less capacity than dwelt in the child that was born in a manger of his mother Mary . . . that there never was a child that descended lower in capacity, or that knew less" (JD 7:286).
We are all born reduced, or fallen from the ability and capacity we had in the premortal sphere. But Jesus most of all, and He becomes our model and example in all things as a result. This doctrine finds expression in Paul's letter to the Philippians 2:7 where Paul says He "made himself of no reputation . . . ." (see verses 5--8). The Anchor Bible translates that phrase as He "emptied himself." The Lord Jesus, Who is Jehovah, the Creator of the Earth under His Father, the most intelligent and wonderful being in the family of God, emptied Himself of His premortal intelligence, knowledge, wisdom, understanding, status, glory, majesty, and capacity, to be born among us in a stable.
Do we get the story, really? . . . In the way it really happened? . . . Do we see our place in it all? . . . He does. Remember, He is the gift. But "what doth it profit a man [or woman] if a gift is bestowed upon him, and he receive not the gift? Behold, he rejoices not in that which is given unto him, neither rejoices in him who is the giver of the gift. . . . because they were not willing to enjoy that which they might have received" (Doctrine and Covenants 88:33, 32, emphasis added).
We say here again: the true meaning of Christmas is receiving. . . . Receiving Him. How do we do that? It is as if the Gift comes to us in a locked box, and we need to find the key. . . . What is the key? . . . Well, that is the purpose of the gospel and of the priesthood, and of the temple, and of the Birth and Atonement of the Lord Jesus, the Son of the Living God.
A final thought on how Father feels about all this: "For behold, . . : Thou art angry, O Lord, with this people, because they will not understand thy mercies which thou hast bestowed upon them because of thy Son" (Alma 33:16).
There are probably more gaps in our understanding and appreciation of these sacred things, more holes to be plugged, than we realize. Let's be humble and teachable enough to let Him correct them, to find the Truth in all of it, and discard the error and mere tradition that abounds. "And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
"And I will be found of you, saith the Lord . . . ." (Jeremiah 29:13--14).
God bless us all, everyone, to find Him while He can be found.
Steve
Elder David Baxter of the First Quorum of the Seventy some years ago spoke of a common feeling among the human family that, if there were a God, why would He allow all the suffering and agonies that are so apparent in the world? They cite this as evidence that there cannot possibly be a God, for if there were a God, they say, either He doesn't care or has not the power to do anything about the problems we see so clearly all around us.
Elder Baxter taught, "There is a God, the Father of us all, and He has done something about the problems."
Elder Baxter then cited two verses of scripture: one from the Bible and the other from the Doctrine and Covenants. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
That verse from John chapter 3 is probably the best known verse of scripture in the Christian world. It also happens to be one of a very few verses in the Bible that give a clue about why Jesus Christ is so vital to the salvation of mankind. Can you see the Fall, as discussed in the past two Christmas e-mails, in the phrase "should not perish"? Mankind's fate, without the redeeming powers of the Son of God, would be to perish, simply by virtue of the effects of the Fall of Adam. The Book of Mormon teaches this doctrine more plainly and clearly than any other book. Armed with this knowledge and understanding from the Book of Mormon, Latter-day Saints can then see it plainly in the Bible. That is the purpose of the Book of Mormon: to show what the Bible has been teaching all along, but which has been lost through the Great Apostasy and is missing from the Christian churches of our day.
Note "his only begotten Son," as we discussed earlier. "Begotten" means born. . . . Jesus is the only Person born on the Earth who had God the Father as the literal and immediate father of His birth. This too was discussed here previously. . . . The repetition can only strengthen it. This is the doctrine of Christmas---the Christmas story---centered on the Divine Sonship of Jesus Christ, out of which foundation arises even the mighty Atonement itself.
Note the conditions attached to the avoidance of the "perish" state spoken of by John: "whosoever believeth in [Jesus Christ]". The Greek word here is "pisteuo" and goes far beyond merely "believing" in Him with a nod of the head of mental assent. The Greek means, "to trust their salvation to". When we understand the doctrine of Christ clearly, we shall see that we are dependent upon Jesus for every shred of salvation. This is a truth that evades a lot of Latter-day Saints, as well as people in the world. If we truly appreciated this truth our worship, our reverence, our obedience in every aspect of our lives would be significantly altered and enhanced, resulting in greater happiness and joy. . . . This is the Christmas story.
The other verse cited by Elder Baxter is as follows: "Wherefore, I the Lord, knowing the calamity which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth, called upon my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., and spake unto him from heaven, and gave him commandments [instruction, light, truth, keys, covenants, laws]." . . . That verse is found in section one, the Lord's own preface to His book of Doctrine and Covenants.
The only way to get to Gethsemane is through the Sacred Grove. . . . This is the Christmas story.
Each of the opening chapters of the three books of scripture given to us through Joseph Smith is a marvelous balance of warning and deliverance. Think of how this is true in 1 Nephi chapter 1, . . . and in Moses chapter 1. It is astoundingly clear in this section one of the Doctrine and Covenants, the first sixteen verses of which sound a clear voice of warning to the peoples of the earth. Then, verse seventeen introduces the deliverance, and even the seam of the page separates the warning from the deliverance as we find that the Lord has indeed acted to save the world from itself and from the evil warned about. . . . This is the Christmas story.
One concluding thought that will act as a summary for all we have said in these three Christmas e-mails:
It is apparent to many that Jesus was not born on December 25th, but more likely in the Spring, when the earth is renewed in the Northern Hemisphere, and new life comes to the earth. So why do we celebrate the Birth "in the deep midwinter"? It is the perfect time to do so! Consider:
The Romans used to hold a full week of festivity over the final seven days of the year---a Saturnalia, they called it---in which they would celebrate in drama, feasting, song, dance (and revelry) the Creation of the world.
The longest, darkest day of the year is the first day of Winter, December 21st. The ancients would wait the usual three-day period to make sure, then they would celebrate the lightening of the days, the end of the darkening, the return of the Sun. Surely we can see that this is a type of the Fall / Atonement doctrine that we have tried to spell out so clearly. . . . This is the Christmas story. . . . Creation --- Fall --- Atonement are the essence of the whole plan of happiness. . . .
. . . This is the Christmas story. . . . If there were a God, surely He would do something for the cheer and consolation and rescue of His children. My friends and family, He has done something. . . . And you can only get to Gethsemane through the Sacred Grove.
God bless us all to catch this story, to pay the price in study and obedience to catch it early and catch it clearly, and to live accordingly.
Steve
Elder Baxter taught, "There is a God, the Father of us all, and He has done something about the problems."
Elder Baxter then cited two verses of scripture: one from the Bible and the other from the Doctrine and Covenants. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
That verse from John chapter 3 is probably the best known verse of scripture in the Christian world. It also happens to be one of a very few verses in the Bible that give a clue about why Jesus Christ is so vital to the salvation of mankind. Can you see the Fall, as discussed in the past two Christmas e-mails, in the phrase "should not perish"? Mankind's fate, without the redeeming powers of the Son of God, would be to perish, simply by virtue of the effects of the Fall of Adam. The Book of Mormon teaches this doctrine more plainly and clearly than any other book. Armed with this knowledge and understanding from the Book of Mormon, Latter-day Saints can then see it plainly in the Bible. That is the purpose of the Book of Mormon: to show what the Bible has been teaching all along, but which has been lost through the Great Apostasy and is missing from the Christian churches of our day.
Note "his only begotten Son," as we discussed earlier. "Begotten" means born. . . . Jesus is the only Person born on the Earth who had God the Father as the literal and immediate father of His birth. This too was discussed here previously. . . . The repetition can only strengthen it. This is the doctrine of Christmas---the Christmas story---centered on the Divine Sonship of Jesus Christ, out of which foundation arises even the mighty Atonement itself.
Note the conditions attached to the avoidance of the "perish" state spoken of by John: "whosoever believeth in [Jesus Christ]". The Greek word here is "pisteuo" and goes far beyond merely "believing" in Him with a nod of the head of mental assent. The Greek means, "to trust their salvation to". When we understand the doctrine of Christ clearly, we shall see that we are dependent upon Jesus for every shred of salvation. This is a truth that evades a lot of Latter-day Saints, as well as people in the world. If we truly appreciated this truth our worship, our reverence, our obedience in every aspect of our lives would be significantly altered and enhanced, resulting in greater happiness and joy. . . . This is the Christmas story.
The other verse cited by Elder Baxter is as follows: "Wherefore, I the Lord, knowing the calamity which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth, called upon my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., and spake unto him from heaven, and gave him commandments [instruction, light, truth, keys, covenants, laws]." . . . That verse is found in section one, the Lord's own preface to His book of Doctrine and Covenants.
The only way to get to Gethsemane is through the Sacred Grove. . . . This is the Christmas story.
Each of the opening chapters of the three books of scripture given to us through Joseph Smith is a marvelous balance of warning and deliverance. Think of how this is true in 1 Nephi chapter 1, . . . and in Moses chapter 1. It is astoundingly clear in this section one of the Doctrine and Covenants, the first sixteen verses of which sound a clear voice of warning to the peoples of the earth. Then, verse seventeen introduces the deliverance, and even the seam of the page separates the warning from the deliverance as we find that the Lord has indeed acted to save the world from itself and from the evil warned about. . . . This is the Christmas story.
One concluding thought that will act as a summary for all we have said in these three Christmas e-mails:
It is apparent to many that Jesus was not born on December 25th, but more likely in the Spring, when the earth is renewed in the Northern Hemisphere, and new life comes to the earth. So why do we celebrate the Birth "in the deep midwinter"? It is the perfect time to do so! Consider:
The Romans used to hold a full week of festivity over the final seven days of the year---a Saturnalia, they called it---in which they would celebrate in drama, feasting, song, dance (and revelry) the Creation of the world.
The longest, darkest day of the year is the first day of Winter, December 21st. The ancients would wait the usual three-day period to make sure, then they would celebrate the lightening of the days, the end of the darkening, the return of the Sun. Surely we can see that this is a type of the Fall / Atonement doctrine that we have tried to spell out so clearly. . . . This is the Christmas story. . . . Creation --- Fall --- Atonement are the essence of the whole plan of happiness. . . .
. . . This is the Christmas story. . . . If there were a God, surely He would do something for the cheer and consolation and rescue of His children. My friends and family, He has done something. . . . And you can only get to Gethsemane through the Sacred Grove.
God bless us all to catch this story, to pay the price in study and obedience to catch it early and catch it clearly, and to live accordingly.
Steve
Sitting here at the computer with snow gently falling outside the window and Christmas music on the stereo the Christmas spirit is tangible here in Spanish Fork, Utah. We hope the spirit of the Season is similarly evocative for you wherever you are.
Last week we wrote about why the Birth, the Atonement and Resurrection of Jesus Christ are so vital to the human family, the descendants of Adam and Eve---you and me, our ancestors and posterity. If there had been no Fall of Adam by which came death and separation from God who is our home, there would have been no Atonement by which comes life and restoration to the presence of God. . . . The Fall was downward, but forward, and, with the Atonement, becomes the central part of the whole plan of redemption and happiness.
That this doctrine was clearly understood to the ancients is shown in the word, "Hosanna", which the throng of people cried to welcome Him into the Holy City at the start of His final week. The word Hosanna means "O save us now!" and is from the Hebrew root word yasha, whence we get Savior, Jesus, Joshua. His family would have called Jesus, "Yeshua". . . . O save us now!---from what?! . . . from all the effects of the Fall which dominate our existence here below! As we saw last week, only One---the seed of the woman---was able to perform that rescue act.
We often get mixed up between Hosanna and Hallelujah, which means "Praise to Jehovah". Both words are expressions of devotion and adoration, but the doctrinal implication behind "Hosanna" is that Jesus is not only the King, the Lion of Judah, but also the Prince of Peace, the Lamb of God, the Savior of the world. It is important to understand this since clearly our salvation depends upon it.
The confusion between Hosanna and Hallelujah are not the only misunderstandings we perpetuate. . . . Let's look at some others:
We sing in the carol, The First Noel, that the shepherds "looked up and saw a star / Shining in the East beyond them far. . . ." Here we have mixed up the account in Luke chapter 2 and the account in Matthew chapter 2 where we see the wise men following the star from their Oriental homeland to find the Christ Child. Notice in Matthew 2 that these wise men did not come to the stable for the Birth. They came at least a year after the birth "into the house [not the stable], [where] they saw the young child [not the baby] with Mary his mother". There they opened their gifts, three in number, giving us the idea there were Three Wise Men, or "We Three Kings". There was likely a larger group of them than three, we don't know for sure. But far from being "Magi" (whence the word "magic") or astrologers (stargazers), they were without question holy scripture-knowing men filled with the spirit of prophecy, anxious to find and adore the new King. Wise men sought the Christ; wise men still do.
Back to the shepherds in the field. . . . What field? Migdal Eder, or the watchtower of the flock. They were watching over the flock that was destined for sacrifice in the temple the next day, Passover Day. Do you sense a deeper connection with our story than we had previously assumed? They did not follow a star! They followed the directions of an angel. Which angel? Gabriel, who is Noah, he who presided over the Earth at the flood, when the earth was baptized by water, himself a second Adam. Who were the two angels at the tomb of the Resurrection? Could they have been Michael and Gabriel, or Adam and Noah? When we see the teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith clearly, it is not hard to make this connection. Do you see how marvelously detailed our story is?---all pointing in One direction: the Divine Sonship and Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, and how we in the human family are to use that Atonement to gain salvation.
Gabriel announced to the shepherds, "For unto you is born this day in the city of David [Bethlehem] a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord," or in the shepherds own language: "Yeshua (Savior), Meshiach (Messiah or Christ) Adonai (the Lord). The hairs on their neck and arms would have stood up, electrified, at this language!
City of David is Bethlehem, which means House (Beth) of Bread (lechem), an appropriate place for the Bread of Life (see John chapter 6) to be born.
The stable: hardly a wooden European-style structure separate from the inn, and not a cave for privacy either, as we may think. There being no room for them in the inns (Joseph Smith Translation shows it is plural, suggesting they were turned away more than once), they were only able to huddle in the center of the quadrangle courtyard where the baggage and animals of the travelers were kept, a kind of stable, where "the poor mother in her distress crawled into a manger, among the litter that had been left by the cattle" (Brigham Young in Journal of Discourses, 3:323). The birth would have been more public than we might care to consider, not the secluded, private event we perhaps imagine from our traditions, and among the soiled straw.
Finally, back to our overarching theme, the big picture: the Fall necessitated and precipitated the Atonement. Recall these words from one of our Christmas carols: ". . . He'll come and make / The blessings flow / Far as the curse was found. . . ." What curse? The curse inherent in the Fall of Adam and of all his posterity (you and me).
Also, ". . . Peace on earth and mercy mild, / God and sinners reconciled! . . . Light and Life to all he brings, / Ris'n with healing in his wings. Mild he lays his glory by, / Born that man no more may die; / Born to raise the sons of earth, / Born to give them second birth." Do you plainly see Fall--Atonement?
Can we ask in closing, What is the true meaning of Christmas? . . . Again---like our Hosanna--Hallelujah confusion; like the shepherds not following a star, but an angel; like the Three Wise Men fable; like the stable misunderstanding---is it possible we have got the true meaning of Christmas a bit mixed up as well? . . . We most often say the true meaning of Christmas is giving. . . . I wish to dispute that in favor of confirming the doctrine: the true meaning of Christmas is receiving. . . . Receiving Him into our lives and souls. . . . "How silently, how silently / The wondrous gift is giv'n! / So God imparts to human hearts / The blessings of his heav'n. / No ear may hear his coming; / But in this world of sin, / Where meek souls will receive him, still / The dear Christ enters in".
The giving part has already been done, He is the gift: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, . . ." Our job now is to receive that gift. The gifts we give after receiving The Gift are of a different character and quality, and will reflect our having received Him.
"Rings and jewels are not gifts, but apologies for gifts; the only real gift is a portion of yourself", indeed the portion that has been changed forever through truly receiving Him.
God bless you all. There is far more yet to say on this most sacred of themes. Merry Christmas indeed, everybody!
Steve
Last week we wrote about why the Birth, the Atonement and Resurrection of Jesus Christ are so vital to the human family, the descendants of Adam and Eve---you and me, our ancestors and posterity. If there had been no Fall of Adam by which came death and separation from God who is our home, there would have been no Atonement by which comes life and restoration to the presence of God. . . . The Fall was downward, but forward, and, with the Atonement, becomes the central part of the whole plan of redemption and happiness.
That this doctrine was clearly understood to the ancients is shown in the word, "Hosanna", which the throng of people cried to welcome Him into the Holy City at the start of His final week. The word Hosanna means "O save us now!" and is from the Hebrew root word yasha, whence we get Savior, Jesus, Joshua. His family would have called Jesus, "Yeshua". . . . O save us now!---from what?! . . . from all the effects of the Fall which dominate our existence here below! As we saw last week, only One---the seed of the woman---was able to perform that rescue act.
We often get mixed up between Hosanna and Hallelujah, which means "Praise to Jehovah". Both words are expressions of devotion and adoration, but the doctrinal implication behind "Hosanna" is that Jesus is not only the King, the Lion of Judah, but also the Prince of Peace, the Lamb of God, the Savior of the world. It is important to understand this since clearly our salvation depends upon it.
The confusion between Hosanna and Hallelujah are not the only misunderstandings we perpetuate. . . . Let's look at some others:
We sing in the carol, The First Noel, that the shepherds "looked up and saw a star / Shining in the East beyond them far. . . ." Here we have mixed up the account in Luke chapter 2 and the account in Matthew chapter 2 where we see the wise men following the star from their Oriental homeland to find the Christ Child. Notice in Matthew 2 that these wise men did not come to the stable for the Birth. They came at least a year after the birth "into the house [not the stable], [where] they saw the young child [not the baby] with Mary his mother". There they opened their gifts, three in number, giving us the idea there were Three Wise Men, or "We Three Kings". There was likely a larger group of them than three, we don't know for sure. But far from being "Magi" (whence the word "magic") or astrologers (stargazers), they were without question holy scripture-knowing men filled with the spirit of prophecy, anxious to find and adore the new King. Wise men sought the Christ; wise men still do.
Back to the shepherds in the field. . . . What field? Migdal Eder, or the watchtower of the flock. They were watching over the flock that was destined for sacrifice in the temple the next day, Passover Day. Do you sense a deeper connection with our story than we had previously assumed? They did not follow a star! They followed the directions of an angel. Which angel? Gabriel, who is Noah, he who presided over the Earth at the flood, when the earth was baptized by water, himself a second Adam. Who were the two angels at the tomb of the Resurrection? Could they have been Michael and Gabriel, or Adam and Noah? When we see the teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith clearly, it is not hard to make this connection. Do you see how marvelously detailed our story is?---all pointing in One direction: the Divine Sonship and Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, and how we in the human family are to use that Atonement to gain salvation.
Gabriel announced to the shepherds, "For unto you is born this day in the city of David [Bethlehem] a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord," or in the shepherds own language: "Yeshua (Savior), Meshiach (Messiah or Christ) Adonai (the Lord). The hairs on their neck and arms would have stood up, electrified, at this language!
City of David is Bethlehem, which means House (Beth) of Bread (lechem), an appropriate place for the Bread of Life (see John chapter 6) to be born.
The stable: hardly a wooden European-style structure separate from the inn, and not a cave for privacy either, as we may think. There being no room for them in the inns (Joseph Smith Translation shows it is plural, suggesting they were turned away more than once), they were only able to huddle in the center of the quadrangle courtyard where the baggage and animals of the travelers were kept, a kind of stable, where "the poor mother in her distress crawled into a manger, among the litter that had been left by the cattle" (Brigham Young in Journal of Discourses, 3:323). The birth would have been more public than we might care to consider, not the secluded, private event we perhaps imagine from our traditions, and among the soiled straw.
Finally, back to our overarching theme, the big picture: the Fall necessitated and precipitated the Atonement. Recall these words from one of our Christmas carols: ". . . He'll come and make / The blessings flow / Far as the curse was found. . . ." What curse? The curse inherent in the Fall of Adam and of all his posterity (you and me).
Also, ". . . Peace on earth and mercy mild, / God and sinners reconciled! . . . Light and Life to all he brings, / Ris'n with healing in his wings. Mild he lays his glory by, / Born that man no more may die; / Born to raise the sons of earth, / Born to give them second birth." Do you plainly see Fall--Atonement?
Can we ask in closing, What is the true meaning of Christmas? . . . Again---like our Hosanna--Hallelujah confusion; like the shepherds not following a star, but an angel; like the Three Wise Men fable; like the stable misunderstanding---is it possible we have got the true meaning of Christmas a bit mixed up as well? . . . We most often say the true meaning of Christmas is giving. . . . I wish to dispute that in favor of confirming the doctrine: the true meaning of Christmas is receiving. . . . Receiving Him into our lives and souls. . . . "How silently, how silently / The wondrous gift is giv'n! / So God imparts to human hearts / The blessings of his heav'n. / No ear may hear his coming; / But in this world of sin, / Where meek souls will receive him, still / The dear Christ enters in".
The giving part has already been done, He is the gift: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, . . ." Our job now is to receive that gift. The gifts we give after receiving The Gift are of a different character and quality, and will reflect our having received Him.
"Rings and jewels are not gifts, but apologies for gifts; the only real gift is a portion of yourself", indeed the portion that has been changed forever through truly receiving Him.
God bless you all. There is far more yet to say on this most sacred of themes. Merry Christmas indeed, everybody!
Steve
At a time when the world, even the christian world, seem confused about what is literal and true and what is figurative and false, it is warming and wonderful to be assured that the Restoration of the Gospel, lost to the world since the first century, teaches that the birth of Jesus Christ is a fact of history, that it took place in real time and real space. Indeed, the holy birth is a central part of HisStory as well as of human history.
The restored gospel shows us that Jesus was born probably in the Spring, at Passover time, some 2009 years ago. The exact date is not so important as the exact doctrine of His birth. The event is a fact of history, not because we all agree it is (some disagree), but because it fullfils a vital need made necessary by another event of history in a Garden some 4000 years earlier.
Jesus was born as the Son of God in order to pay for all the effects of the Fall of Adam, another literal event that happened on a certain day at a certain time in a certain place. The revelations of the Restoration confirm and expand on this knowledge and belief. The Fall was not a myth invented to explain primitive tales. Adam was not a mythical figure. He was the father of the human race of mankind, and Eve his wife, the mother of all living.
The Christmas story begins in Genesis 3:15, where we find a prophetic reference to the Virgin Birth. Joseph Smith rendered a plainer translation of this verse, which happens to accord with the original Hebrew:
The Lord, speaking to the serpent (Satan) says: "And I will put enmity [hostility, animosity, hatred] between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it [Joseph renders "it" as "he", we'll see why in a moment] shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."
Did you ever stop to consider that in all the families of the earth since the beginning of time that there is only One who can rightly be termed "the seed of the woman"? (Genesis 3:15; but see also Moses 4:21, which is the Prophet's rendering of this verse). All the rest of us are the seed of man and woman. Jesus alone is "the seed of woman", and is the seed or Child of Mary. The only Man involved is God the Father, Elohim, the Man of Holiness (see Moses 7:35), the literal Father of the body of Jesus, and thus a separate and distinct Being from Jesus, as the boy Joseph witnessed in the Sacred Grove when all these truths, long lost to the world despite the Bible's evidences, began to be restored. Jesus is not, cannot be, His own father, as the christian doctrine of the Trinity falsely asserts. Thus we see why Jesus is referred to often in the Four Gospels as "son of man." That word "man" should rightly be capitalized to "Man", for Jesus is the Son of Man of Holiness, even of God the Father, literally and in actuality.
Back to our verse from Genesis. . . . Satan is told there by the Lord that he will have limited ability to irritate, to pester, to cause a nuisance to the seed of the woman (Jesus), to "bruise His heel," but that Jesus will have the ultimate victory and will bruise (the Hebrew word means crush or grind or defeat) Satan's head. This part of the gospel story uses symbolism and figurative language but it is describing real events that really happened. The best place to learn of these interpretations and insights is in the Book of Mormon.
Why was a savior, or redeemer so necessary, and so vital to the human family? Because of the Fall. The Fall was downward but forward. It was deliberate and purposeful. It was planned and essential to the growth, development, schooling, and salvation of all who come into mortality, born into the human family of Adam and Eve. It took One who was not dominated by that fall to save the whole human race. The Fall is passed down to Adam and Eve's posterity through the blood. "Dam" (pronounced dawm) is the Hebrew word for blood, and A-dam means to show blood, or first blood. Jesus inherited blood through his mortal mother Mary, but He also inherited life and power over the Fall from His Father, the Man of Holiness. It was necessary for it to be so, and this true doctrine answers all the mysteries and objections of the whole story.
So we see why Christmas was necessary. . . .
The foundation doctrine of the whole plan of redemption and salvation and happiness is the one we have discussed here. It is the doctrine of Divine Sonship. Out of this doctrine grows even the mighty Atonement itself, the central doctrine of the plan.
Now we know these things because of the Restoration of the gospel through the Prophet Joseph Smith, and through the Book of Mormon. These truths are basic to knowing who we are as a people, to what we represent, to what we know, and to the reason we do extensive missionary work throughout the earth: "How great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know" who Jesus is and why He is so necessary in the human story. The word "plan" is not to be found in the Bible, so the christian world has lost this truth and has no idea that there is a plan. But it is repeated over and over again in the Book of Mormon, and that is where we go to learn the exact points of doctrine of the plan.
Jesus is not optional, He is crucial. We must not be neutral, or ignorant on these points of doctrine. They, along with the literal Resurrection of the Lord Jesus, form the rock basis of our testimonies and of our identity as a people. And they open up the Christmas story to us like never before. Thus we see the Reason for the Season.
The Sabbath ought to be a day to ponder on these things, to prepare our minds for the sacrament that fuses by ordinance and by covenant these things into "the souls of all those who partake of it", and, at this time of year, to prepare our minds for Christmas. Hence, this Sabbathought. We sing, "The hopes and fears / Of all the years / Are met in thee tonight", O little town of Bethlehem, in the birth of the Christ Child. What hopes? What fears? We have started to consider the answers in this introduction. More later.
As Tiny Tim said, "God bless us, every one!"
Steve
The restored gospel shows us that Jesus was born probably in the Spring, at Passover time, some 2009 years ago. The exact date is not so important as the exact doctrine of His birth. The event is a fact of history, not because we all agree it is (some disagree), but because it fullfils a vital need made necessary by another event of history in a Garden some 4000 years earlier.
Jesus was born as the Son of God in order to pay for all the effects of the Fall of Adam, another literal event that happened on a certain day at a certain time in a certain place. The revelations of the Restoration confirm and expand on this knowledge and belief. The Fall was not a myth invented to explain primitive tales. Adam was not a mythical figure. He was the father of the human race of mankind, and Eve his wife, the mother of all living.
The Christmas story begins in Genesis 3:15, where we find a prophetic reference to the Virgin Birth. Joseph Smith rendered a plainer translation of this verse, which happens to accord with the original Hebrew:
The Lord, speaking to the serpent (Satan) says: "And I will put enmity [hostility, animosity, hatred] between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it [Joseph renders "it" as "he", we'll see why in a moment] shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."
Did you ever stop to consider that in all the families of the earth since the beginning of time that there is only One who can rightly be termed "the seed of the woman"? (Genesis 3:15; but see also Moses 4:21, which is the Prophet's rendering of this verse). All the rest of us are the seed of man and woman. Jesus alone is "the seed of woman", and is the seed or Child of Mary. The only Man involved is God the Father, Elohim, the Man of Holiness (see Moses 7:35), the literal Father of the body of Jesus, and thus a separate and distinct Being from Jesus, as the boy Joseph witnessed in the Sacred Grove when all these truths, long lost to the world despite the Bible's evidences, began to be restored. Jesus is not, cannot be, His own father, as the christian doctrine of the Trinity falsely asserts. Thus we see why Jesus is referred to often in the Four Gospels as "son of man." That word "man" should rightly be capitalized to "Man", for Jesus is the Son of Man of Holiness, even of God the Father, literally and in actuality.
Back to our verse from Genesis. . . . Satan is told there by the Lord that he will have limited ability to irritate, to pester, to cause a nuisance to the seed of the woman (Jesus), to "bruise His heel," but that Jesus will have the ultimate victory and will bruise (the Hebrew word means crush or grind or defeat) Satan's head. This part of the gospel story uses symbolism and figurative language but it is describing real events that really happened. The best place to learn of these interpretations and insights is in the Book of Mormon.
Why was a savior, or redeemer so necessary, and so vital to the human family? Because of the Fall. The Fall was downward but forward. It was deliberate and purposeful. It was planned and essential to the growth, development, schooling, and salvation of all who come into mortality, born into the human family of Adam and Eve. It took One who was not dominated by that fall to save the whole human race. The Fall is passed down to Adam and Eve's posterity through the blood. "Dam" (pronounced dawm) is the Hebrew word for blood, and A-dam means to show blood, or first blood. Jesus inherited blood through his mortal mother Mary, but He also inherited life and power over the Fall from His Father, the Man of Holiness. It was necessary for it to be so, and this true doctrine answers all the mysteries and objections of the whole story.
So we see why Christmas was necessary. . . .
The foundation doctrine of the whole plan of redemption and salvation and happiness is the one we have discussed here. It is the doctrine of Divine Sonship. Out of this doctrine grows even the mighty Atonement itself, the central doctrine of the plan.
Now we know these things because of the Restoration of the gospel through the Prophet Joseph Smith, and through the Book of Mormon. These truths are basic to knowing who we are as a people, to what we represent, to what we know, and to the reason we do extensive missionary work throughout the earth: "How great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know" who Jesus is and why He is so necessary in the human story. The word "plan" is not to be found in the Bible, so the christian world has lost this truth and has no idea that there is a plan. But it is repeated over and over again in the Book of Mormon, and that is where we go to learn the exact points of doctrine of the plan.
Jesus is not optional, He is crucial. We must not be neutral, or ignorant on these points of doctrine. They, along with the literal Resurrection of the Lord Jesus, form the rock basis of our testimonies and of our identity as a people. And they open up the Christmas story to us like never before. Thus we see the Reason for the Season.
The Sabbath ought to be a day to ponder on these things, to prepare our minds for the sacrament that fuses by ordinance and by covenant these things into "the souls of all those who partake of it", and, at this time of year, to prepare our minds for Christmas. Hence, this Sabbathought. We sing, "The hopes and fears / Of all the years / Are met in thee tonight", O little town of Bethlehem, in the birth of the Christ Child. What hopes? What fears? We have started to consider the answers in this introduction. More later.
As Tiny Tim said, "God bless us, every one!"
Steve
As a postscript to today's thought about the place of psychology in relation to the restored gospel, and how we should be careful, it is important to understand that the word "psyche" in Greek---the root of our key word here--- means "soul" as well as "mind".
The Prophet Joseph taught that the mind of man is in the spirit of man. He also taught elsewhere that, "None but fools will trifle with the souls of men" (Teachings, p. 137).
An apt summary of what we were trying to say today. Hope it was worthwhile. Your thoughts and feedback are kindly encouraged.
One last thought: are you as impressed as I am with the abundant technology we have today that makes it possible to communicate in this way? It is worth noting that President George Albert Smith said that it was the Book of Mormon that heralded the age of inventions, and that they exist for the main purpose of sending the message of the Restoration throughout the globe, to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. To catch this fact is stirring and wonderful to me. Ephraim's job is to now send the message down the trade routes and lines of communication established over the past couple of centuries by Ephraim so that it reaches into all the world. Internet connection and e-mail are tools in this process, and form a reason for my motivation in presuming to make use of this marvelous facility (see Doctrine and Covenants 1:19--23. I urge each of you to look at those verses in the context of this missive.).
Best wishes,
Steve
The Prophet Joseph taught that the mind of man is in the spirit of man. He also taught elsewhere that, "None but fools will trifle with the souls of men" (Teachings, p. 137).
An apt summary of what we were trying to say today. Hope it was worthwhile. Your thoughts and feedback are kindly encouraged.
One last thought: are you as impressed as I am with the abundant technology we have today that makes it possible to communicate in this way? It is worth noting that President George Albert Smith said that it was the Book of Mormon that heralded the age of inventions, and that they exist for the main purpose of sending the message of the Restoration throughout the globe, to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. To catch this fact is stirring and wonderful to me. Ephraim's job is to now send the message down the trade routes and lines of communication established over the past couple of centuries by Ephraim so that it reaches into all the world. Internet connection and e-mail are tools in this process, and form a reason for my motivation in presuming to make use of this marvelous facility (see Doctrine and Covenants 1:19--23. I urge each of you to look at those verses in the context of this missive.).
Best wishes,
Steve
Sabbathought: "Truth makes philosophy unnecessary"
Good morning family and friends,
A quick thought for the Sabbath that has shown itself true and valuable in our experience lately. I learned it from Bob Matthews who told us it came from Henry D. Moyle, I believe he said:
"Truth makes philosophy unnecessary."
I think it is also true that "true doctrine makes psychology unnecessary," but we seem afflicted with the urge to help people figure out what it is in their past that has caused them to act wrongfully. What it is in their past can be traced to the Fall of Adam, but their wrongdoings are their own (see Articles of Faith 1:2).
Arthur Henry King has said it this way:
"What is fundamentally wrong with human society and human beings is not psychological, it is not economic, it is not political, it is not anthropological, it is not cultural. It is more fundamental than that. It is sin."
Thus we see the basic core doctrine of the gospel . . . : Fall / Atonement, as taught so clearly in the Book of Mormon. If you have no sin (and I have met a lot of people, in and out of the Church, who claim this), then you have little need for Christ and His Atonement.
In 2001 Elder F. Enzio Busche gave a classic address to the BYU Studies Academy meeting in Salt Lake City, which I was privileged to attend, and from which I made these notes:
"'Preach nothing but repentance' (D&C 19:21; see 5:19). Are we [in the Church] blind to the threat posed by psychiatry and psychology? Phrases like 'biogenetic disposition' and 'chemical imbalance' are common among our people, and are used as reasons---excuses, really---for people's behavior. 'Compulsive', 'obsessive', 'stop blaming yourself', 'don't feed the guilt monster' all stop our members from repenting. We might be surprised to learn that no less a notable than Carl Jung said, 'Ultimately every psychological problem comes down to a matter of religion.'"
Elder Busche emphasized that he is not saying psychology is wrong, but it goes unchecked, unchallenged by us. He said his son started to study psychology with a view to a career. He had to drop it; he found it incompatible with his core beliefs, found himself arguing with his professors. "Is it possible", mused Elder Busche, "for BYU to replace Freudian psychology with gospel understanding?"
There is more in my notes of Elder Busche's talk, and I'll elaborate if any of you are interested, but that will suffice for an illustration of this Sabbathought: "Truth makes philosophy unnecessary" and True doctrine makes psychology unnecessary.
Warm regards for a lovely Sabbath,
Steve
A quick thought for the Sabbath that has shown itself true and valuable in our experience lately. I learned it from Bob Matthews who told us it came from Henry D. Moyle, I believe he said:
"Truth makes philosophy unnecessary."
I think it is also true that "true doctrine makes psychology unnecessary," but we seem afflicted with the urge to help people figure out what it is in their past that has caused them to act wrongfully. What it is in their past can be traced to the Fall of Adam, but their wrongdoings are their own (see Articles of Faith 1:2).
Arthur Henry King has said it this way:
"What is fundamentally wrong with human society and human beings is not psychological, it is not economic, it is not political, it is not anthropological, it is not cultural. It is more fundamental than that. It is sin."
Thus we see the basic core doctrine of the gospel . . . : Fall / Atonement, as taught so clearly in the Book of Mormon. If you have no sin (and I have met a lot of people, in and out of the Church, who claim this), then you have little need for Christ and His Atonement.
In 2001 Elder F. Enzio Busche gave a classic address to the BYU Studies Academy meeting in Salt Lake City, which I was privileged to attend, and from which I made these notes:
"'Preach nothing but repentance' (D&C 19:21; see 5:19). Are we [in the Church] blind to the threat posed by psychiatry and psychology? Phrases like 'biogenetic disposition' and 'chemical imbalance' are common among our people, and are used as reasons---excuses, really---for people's behavior. 'Compulsive', 'obsessive', 'stop blaming yourself', 'don't feed the guilt monster' all stop our members from repenting. We might be surprised to learn that no less a notable than Carl Jung said, 'Ultimately every psychological problem comes down to a matter of religion.'"
Elder Busche emphasized that he is not saying psychology is wrong, but it goes unchecked, unchallenged by us. He said his son started to study psychology with a view to a career. He had to drop it; he found it incompatible with his core beliefs, found himself arguing with his professors. "Is it possible", mused Elder Busche, "for BYU to replace Freudian psychology with gospel understanding?"
There is more in my notes of Elder Busche's talk, and I'll elaborate if any of you are interested, but that will suffice for an illustration of this Sabbathought: "Truth makes philosophy unnecessary" and True doctrine makes psychology unnecessary.
Warm regards for a lovely Sabbath,
Steve
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