Edmund Burke said, "Reading without reflecting is like eating without swallowing."
Thus we see that merely reading the scriptures is not enough. But nowhere in the almost 2500 pages of scripture we have in the restored Church do we find the Savior commanding us to "read" the scriptures. Always it is feast, or search, or study, or treasure and ponder.
A quality of reflecting, of pondering, of pausing to think about what we just read, of slowing down is necessary, coupled with frequent pleading prayer: "Father in Heaven, please help me to understand what I am focusing on here. . . . Please, Father."
Most of us think there is virtue in getting to the end of the chapter, that the Lord will bless us for merely having read, for having covered the material. It doesn't work like that. It is not possible to get the Holy Ghost to help us and give the revelation we seek and need in such an approach.
Time spent on just one or two verses in depth is better than the false sense of achievement of having hurriedly finished a chapter.
Elder Boyd K. Packer taught, "Some have made a casual, an insincere effort to search the scriptures and have come away with little or nothing, which is precisely what they deserved."
Henry Ford was right when he observed, "Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is the probable reason so few engage in it," for after all, "It is easier to entertain the mind than to discipline the mind" (Elder Charles A. Didier).
Surely it is a measure of our love for our Father in Heaven that we take the time to earnestly and seriously pay sustained attention to the letters He has caused to be written to guide us home to Him. Is not this a big part of "love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, and strength"?
Shallow sips of the living water do not satisfy or do the job, and the wonders of His works and plan and Godly activities go unexplored and undiscovered. He deserves better than that. We need more than that. Our children deserve better.
We must, of course, "seek learning, even by study and also by faith" (D&C 88:118). The Prophet Joseph taught, "When a man works by faith he works by mental exertion instead of physical force" (Lectures on Faith 7:3).
"We study the gospel because of the sanctifying effects it has on our lives: by gospel study we learn the ways of God and can discern whether or not our lives conform to his laws. From such study comes faith" (Mark L. McConkie).
This goes way beyond "I've read a chapter of scripture and said my prayers."
Let's discipline ourselves to feast, not nibble, . . . to drink deeply, not sip, . . . and then to swallow in careful reflection, that our souls may be nourished thereby. Would you think I exaggerate or overstate the case if I maintain that our salvation depends on what we learn and gain through such a process?
Please let me have your thoughts so I can see if we are on the same page. Thanks.
Steve
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Sabbathought : True or False?
Is this statement true or false?
We believe that all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.
It is, of course, false. The most important element of the third article of faith is missing from this statement.
Last Sunday a twelve-year-old youth recited, as is traditional these days, one of the thirteen articles of faith in sacrament meeting as a token of graduation from Primary. It was rendered just as we have written it here. No one seemed to notice. It was not corrected at the time nor later. It should, of course, have been rendered:
"We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel."
Some of us may think this is just splitting hairs, that if you leave out the beef in a beef-pie dish there will still be enough strength in the other ingredients to provide nutrition and nourishment.
But in doctrine this is not the case. As we find on the front cover of our course of study for this year and next, nothing less than "the very points of [Christ's] doctrine" are necessary for us to "know how to come unto him and be saved." Approximate doctrine won't do. Reduced or abbreviated doctrine will come short.
This is why the Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion, the most doctrinally correct book, and why it is Another Testament of Jesus Christ:
"Wherefore, all mankind were in a lost and in a fallen state, and ever would be save they should rely on this Redeemer" (1 Nephi 10:6).
"And my soul delighteth in proving unto my people that save Christ should come all men must perish. For if there be no Christ there be no God; and if there be no God we are not, for there could have been no creation. But there is a God, and he is Christ, and he cometh in the fulness of his own time" (2 Nephi 11:6--7). Stunning logic, unsurpassed in holy writ or anywhere else.
" . . . salvation doth not come by the law alone [ie the Law of Moses, nor by the 'laws and ordinances of the Gospel' alone]; and were it not for the atonement, which God himself shall make for the sins and iniquities of his people, that they must unavoidably perish, notwithstanding the law of Moses [or 'the laws and ordinances of the Gospel']" (Mosiah 13:28).
"For it is expedient that an atonement should be made; for according to the great plan of the Eternal God there must be an atonement made, or else all mankind must unavoidably perish; yea, all are hardened; yea, all are fallen and are lost, and must perish except it be through the atonement which it is expedient should be made" (Alma 34:9).
This is the language and the clear doctrine of the Book of Mormon. We should get it so deep into our souls that it comes out in our character and in our every expression. It is far clearer than anything in any other book, sacred or otherwise, and we should know it well.
President Ezra Taft Benson said, "If they [the sons of Mosiah, see Mosiah 1:2--3, but also we ourselves] did not know the right words, they would not know the plan."
Does this make eternal sense to you, and resonate as it should?
Please let me have your thoughts. . . . More later.
Warm regards,
Steve
We believe that all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.
It is, of course, false. The most important element of the third article of faith is missing from this statement.
Last Sunday a twelve-year-old youth recited, as is traditional these days, one of the thirteen articles of faith in sacrament meeting as a token of graduation from Primary. It was rendered just as we have written it here. No one seemed to notice. It was not corrected at the time nor later. It should, of course, have been rendered:
"We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel."
Some of us may think this is just splitting hairs, that if you leave out the beef in a beef-pie dish there will still be enough strength in the other ingredients to provide nutrition and nourishment.
But in doctrine this is not the case. As we find on the front cover of our course of study for this year and next, nothing less than "the very points of [Christ's] doctrine" are necessary for us to "know how to come unto him and be saved." Approximate doctrine won't do. Reduced or abbreviated doctrine will come short.
This is why the Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion, the most doctrinally correct book, and why it is Another Testament of Jesus Christ:
"Wherefore, all mankind were in a lost and in a fallen state, and ever would be save they should rely on this Redeemer" (1 Nephi 10:6).
"And my soul delighteth in proving unto my people that save Christ should come all men must perish. For if there be no Christ there be no God; and if there be no God we are not, for there could have been no creation. But there is a God, and he is Christ, and he cometh in the fulness of his own time" (2 Nephi 11:6--7). Stunning logic, unsurpassed in holy writ or anywhere else.
" . . . salvation doth not come by the law alone [ie the Law of Moses, nor by the 'laws and ordinances of the Gospel' alone]; and were it not for the atonement, which God himself shall make for the sins and iniquities of his people, that they must unavoidably perish, notwithstanding the law of Moses [or 'the laws and ordinances of the Gospel']" (Mosiah 13:28).
"For it is expedient that an atonement should be made; for according to the great plan of the Eternal God there must be an atonement made, or else all mankind must unavoidably perish; yea, all are hardened; yea, all are fallen and are lost, and must perish except it be through the atonement which it is expedient should be made" (Alma 34:9).
This is the language and the clear doctrine of the Book of Mormon. We should get it so deep into our souls that it comes out in our character and in our every expression. It is far clearer than anything in any other book, sacred or otherwise, and we should know it well.
President Ezra Taft Benson said, "If they [the sons of Mosiah, see Mosiah 1:2--3, but also we ourselves] did not know the right words, they would not know the plan."
Does this make eternal sense to you, and resonate as it should?
Please let me have your thoughts. . . . More later.
Warm regards,
Steve
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Sabbathought: "My job is not to succeed . . ."
Mother Teresa of Calcutta was once asked by a news reporter, "Do you think, given the enormity of your work, that you will ever succeed in abolishing poverty in Calcutta?"
Her answer came quickly: "My job is not to succeed; my job is to be faithful to my mission."
Elder Richard P. Lindsay of the Seventy used this response from Mother Teresa some years ago in his capacity as public-affairs spokesman for the Church. A reporter had asked him if the Church's stance on teen abstinence was realistic in this modern day, and questioned whether the Church would succeed with such a position.
"Our job is not to succeed," said Elder Lindsay, citing the setting of Mother Teresa's response, "our job is to be faithful to our mission."
[Elder Lindsay, father of Salt Lake City's KSL channel 5 news presenter Bruce Lindsay, passed away last month.]
Consider how relevant and correct this response is for all parents, leaders, and teachers within the Church. I used to use this illustration with noisy and restless new seminary students in September when they pleaded for candy or a video or a game. My job was to be faithful to my mission given me by the Presiding Brethren of the Church, to teach the restored gospel of Jesus Christ by the Spirit to this generation of young people. The students soon got the message.
Now please do not misunderstand: Mother Teresa, Elder Lindsay, and I were not saying our job is to fail, we were showing that the Lord would bring the success --- He would give the harvest --- if we stayed true to our mission and commission as His agents. It is a profound truth.
I think it is possible that the error of Judas Iscariot was partly in thinking that if he betrayed the Master then Jesus would step forward and show Who He really was and win the day. Perhaps Judas sought in part to force the issue and make the Lord reveal Himself in power. If this is the case, Judas overlooked a basic truth of eternity: "It must needs be done in mine own way . . ." and "My ways are not your ways . . . ." It is a profound issue of truth.
Judas's job was to be faithful to his mission as a chosen Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. In failing to do that, he was led into deep and dark sin.
Your job and mine is to be faithful to our missions as Latter-day Saints in these Last Days.
The big question is, What is that mission? What is it from the Lord's point of view? The answers to these questions are found in the revelations and imply a deep understanding of the plan from the revelations if we are to be true to that mission. Then the Lord will give the harvest, in His own time and in His own way and after His own purpose.
Our job, for instance, is not to succeed by entertaining our students, by "teaching" them on their own terms. Our job is to be faithful to our mission.
Your comments, thoughts, and insights are encouraged.
Steve
Her answer came quickly: "My job is not to succeed; my job is to be faithful to my mission."
Elder Richard P. Lindsay of the Seventy used this response from Mother Teresa some years ago in his capacity as public-affairs spokesman for the Church. A reporter had asked him if the Church's stance on teen abstinence was realistic in this modern day, and questioned whether the Church would succeed with such a position.
"Our job is not to succeed," said Elder Lindsay, citing the setting of Mother Teresa's response, "our job is to be faithful to our mission."
[Elder Lindsay, father of Salt Lake City's KSL channel 5 news presenter Bruce Lindsay, passed away last month.]
Consider how relevant and correct this response is for all parents, leaders, and teachers within the Church. I used to use this illustration with noisy and restless new seminary students in September when they pleaded for candy or a video or a game. My job was to be faithful to my mission given me by the Presiding Brethren of the Church, to teach the restored gospel of Jesus Christ by the Spirit to this generation of young people. The students soon got the message.
Now please do not misunderstand: Mother Teresa, Elder Lindsay, and I were not saying our job is to fail, we were showing that the Lord would bring the success --- He would give the harvest --- if we stayed true to our mission and commission as His agents. It is a profound truth.
I think it is possible that the error of Judas Iscariot was partly in thinking that if he betrayed the Master then Jesus would step forward and show Who He really was and win the day. Perhaps Judas sought in part to force the issue and make the Lord reveal Himself in power. If this is the case, Judas overlooked a basic truth of eternity: "It must needs be done in mine own way . . ." and "My ways are not your ways . . . ." It is a profound issue of truth.
Judas's job was to be faithful to his mission as a chosen Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. In failing to do that, he was led into deep and dark sin.
Your job and mine is to be faithful to our missions as Latter-day Saints in these Last Days.
The big question is, What is that mission? What is it from the Lord's point of view? The answers to these questions are found in the revelations and imply a deep understanding of the plan from the revelations if we are to be true to that mission. Then the Lord will give the harvest, in His own time and in His own way and after His own purpose.
Our job, for instance, is not to succeed by entertaining our students, by "teaching" them on their own terms. Our job is to be faithful to our mission.
Your comments, thoughts, and insights are encouraged.
Steve
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Sabbathought : The most important question in history
Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught that this is the most important question in history, and that a failure to answer it is an answer in and of itself.
It is the Savior Himself who posed the question: "What think ye of Christ?" (Matthew 22:42).
Our answer to this question and our enthusiasm for the subject will not only ultimately determine our happiness and well being, but our safety and salvation as well. As Elder Maxwell indicated, this is the question of the ages; there can be no neutrals on this issue.
It is an appropriate question to ponder on this Independence Day of the United States.
At the time of the bicentennial celebration of this day back in 1976, then-President of the Church Spencer W. Kimball wrote a trenchant article in the Ensign magazine entitled, "The False Gods We Worship" (June 1976). Anyone who recalls that article may well agree that while we are declared independent of the oppression of foreign powers, we should declare ourselves utterly dependent on the Lord Jesus Christ. Being a sovereign people, looking to no earthly sovereign as a matter of loyalty and subjection, American Latter-day Saints sometimes have difficulty organizing their priorities in this respect.
For instance, it is not uncommon to hear American Latter-day Saints question the propriety of a people (Nephites) who "bow down at [Jesus'] feet, and did worship him . . . [and] did kiss his feet, insomuch that they did bathe his feet with their tears" (3 Nephi 17:10). When we fully understand that Jesus is our God, far more than our "best friend" or "older brother," we shall have no difficulty with such reverence and awe.
The prophet Moroni wrote some 1600 years ago on this continent: "And now, we can behold the decrees of God concerning this land, that it is a land of promise; and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall serve God, or they shall be swept off when the fulness of his wrath shall come upon them. And the fulness of his wrath cometh upon them when they are ripened in iniquity."
Does anyone doubt that this nation is fast approaching that point? Moroni continues:
"Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity . . . if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ, who hath been manifested by the things which we have written" (Ether 2:9, 12).
On the whole, said President Kimball thirty-four years ago, we are an idolatrous people. O, the great need to declare ourselves dependent on Jesus Christ and act accordingly!
So here is the key question: "What think ye of Christ?"
An easy measure by which to answer it is perhaps the extent to which we see Him in our study of the Old Testament. Do we see that the Old Testament is not history, but HisStory? The Apostle Paul gave us a key:
"But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament;" --- does this describe you and me? --- Paul gives the remedy, the solution: "which vail is done away in Christ" (2 Corinthians 3:14).
Truly, unless one sees Jesus everywhere in the Old Testament, there is no understanding of the Old Testament at all. It is HisStory, and we should search it diligently until we find Him and come to know Him.
Happy Fourth of July!
Steve
It is the Savior Himself who posed the question: "What think ye of Christ?" (Matthew 22:42).
Our answer to this question and our enthusiasm for the subject will not only ultimately determine our happiness and well being, but our safety and salvation as well. As Elder Maxwell indicated, this is the question of the ages; there can be no neutrals on this issue.
It is an appropriate question to ponder on this Independence Day of the United States.
At the time of the bicentennial celebration of this day back in 1976, then-President of the Church Spencer W. Kimball wrote a trenchant article in the Ensign magazine entitled, "The False Gods We Worship" (June 1976). Anyone who recalls that article may well agree that while we are declared independent of the oppression of foreign powers, we should declare ourselves utterly dependent on the Lord Jesus Christ. Being a sovereign people, looking to no earthly sovereign as a matter of loyalty and subjection, American Latter-day Saints sometimes have difficulty organizing their priorities in this respect.
For instance, it is not uncommon to hear American Latter-day Saints question the propriety of a people (Nephites) who "bow down at [Jesus'] feet, and did worship him . . . [and] did kiss his feet, insomuch that they did bathe his feet with their tears" (3 Nephi 17:10). When we fully understand that Jesus is our God, far more than our "best friend" or "older brother," we shall have no difficulty with such reverence and awe.
The prophet Moroni wrote some 1600 years ago on this continent: "And now, we can behold the decrees of God concerning this land, that it is a land of promise; and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall serve God, or they shall be swept off when the fulness of his wrath shall come upon them. And the fulness of his wrath cometh upon them when they are ripened in iniquity."
Does anyone doubt that this nation is fast approaching that point? Moroni continues:
"Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity . . . if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ, who hath been manifested by the things which we have written" (Ether 2:9, 12).
On the whole, said President Kimball thirty-four years ago, we are an idolatrous people. O, the great need to declare ourselves dependent on Jesus Christ and act accordingly!
So here is the key question: "What think ye of Christ?"
An easy measure by which to answer it is perhaps the extent to which we see Him in our study of the Old Testament. Do we see that the Old Testament is not history, but HisStory? The Apostle Paul gave us a key:
"But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament;" --- does this describe you and me? --- Paul gives the remedy, the solution: "which vail is done away in Christ" (2 Corinthians 3:14).
Truly, unless one sees Jesus everywhere in the Old Testament, there is no understanding of the Old Testament at all. It is HisStory, and we should search it diligently until we find Him and come to know Him.
Happy Fourth of July!
Steve
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