Let's get a few things straight.
As great as America has become, and as great as its auspicious foundings were, America is not spoken of in scripture as a "choice nation," as many Latter-day Saints believe and profess.
This is where we get mixed up: this is a "choice land," and this sacred fact presumes a huge responsibility and accountability upon the nation that possesses it.
The words of scripture explain:
"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. . . ."
And further from Moroni:
"Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, 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."
This is the repeated message of Moroni found in Ether chapter 2. Read the whole chapter. There is a power in Moroni's repetition.
Note that the God of this land is Jesus Christ. How marvelous that the Book of Mormon is so plain, so clear, so true to its own internal message as a witness, another testament of Jesus Christ!
This is the land where it all began. Where the human family had its origins. Where the Garden of Eden stood. Our enemies and detractors scoff at this. But, in the Lord's words to Moroni further on in the Book of Ether, "Fools mock, but they shall mourn" (Ether 12:26). This is sacred turf, special---even holy---ground, a choice land. It is a great privilege to live here, to "possess this choice land." It is not to be trifled with. The Book of Mormon makes this abundantly clear.
Today, as we write, the financial markets are closed. The reason: the approach on New York City of "the greatest storm in our history." Whether Hurricane Sandy turns out to live up to that description we shall soon see. The point is: the Lord is in charge of the weather, and He often uses the weather to get the attention of the people, as we wrote in a GIFTS post in June 2010.
So, what about this little detail of "swept off when the fulness of his wrath shall come upon them"? Is the Lord pleased with the inhabitants, the possessors of this choice land?
Here is an acid test. Perhaps this is how we test out whether we are close to the "Tipping Point." Consider the following in the context of events set to take place next Tuesday, November 6th: the national election.
"Now it is not common that the voice of the people desireth anything contrary to that which is right; but it is common for the lesser part of the people [the minority] to desire that which is not right; therefore this shall ye observe and make it your law---to do your business by the voice of the people."
This warning verse sounded an ominous alarm for me at the 2008 election. My worst fears came true at that event.
The next verse says: "And if the time comes that the voice of the people doth choose iniquity, then is the time that the judgments of God will come upon you; yea, then is the time he will visit you with great destruction even as he has hitherto visited this land" --- this choice land.
This warning voice in Mosiah 29 is separated from Moroni's "choice land" passages we started with here by some 285 pages and some 500 years in the Book of Mormon chronology.
Neither Moroni nor his father, chief compiler, editor, and prophet, Mormon were optimistic about the future possessors of this land. They witnessed the destruction of the early possessors of this choice land and their record is a warning voice: the Book of Mormon is a warning voice. History tends to repeat itself.
In conclusion, some cogent insights from Hugh Nibley in a 1970s article entitled, "Beyond Politics":
"At the present time the political dialogue throughout the world has deteriorated catastrophically. In most countries it has degenerated into such mechanical and stereotyped forms that it is no longer profitable or meaningful --- it is no longer a dialogue at all. If you are a private citizen you just do not 'discuss' things with colonels, commisars [czars?], or corporations --- you do what they tell you to do or at best manipulate you into doing. Has it ever been different? Not much . . . ."
Brother Nibley continues:
"God has never given us a time schedule for the developments of the last days. There are a number of reasons for this; for example, if we knew the time and the hour, we would gauge our behavior accordingly and conveniently postpone repentance --- whereas God wants us to live as if we were expecting his coming at any moment. He comes as a thief in the night, 'Watch, therefore, for ye know not the time. . . .' But though he does not give us dates and figures, he does give us unmistakable signs of the times, and urges us to pay the closest possible attention to them. . . ."
And in conclusion from Brother Nibley:
"Specifically, if we want to know the sure sign of the end, we are instructed to look for ripeness or fullness. The end comes when, and only when, 'the time is ripe,' when 'the harvest is ripe'; when the people are 'ripe in iniquity.' Or, to use the other figure, when 'the cup of His wrath is full,' which will be when 'the cup of their iniquity is full.' Or, to combine both terms, when the world is fully ripe in iniquity. Fruit is fully ripe at that moment when further ripening would not mean improvement but only deterioration. . . . When the fruit is ripe there is no point in letting it remain longer on the tree. . . . A society has reached such a point when it can no longer go in the direction it has been taking, when the only hope of motion lies in a change or a direct reversal of direction, and repentance is that change of direction. . . .
"Yet throughout the world today, few, it would seem, have any intention anymore of repenting. That is the ominous note!" (Nibley on the Timely and the Timeless, 293--95).
Gloom and doom? No. God and His servants the prophets are not gloom-and-doom merchants. But they are dead serious about conditions in the earth today. When abortions are in the millions and are often used as a convenience of birth control, God sees that as a "ripening in iniquity."
And when I get feedback from Latter-day Saints telling me that abortion is not viewed negatively by the Lord because He has given no revelation on the subject, I have to think of the Prophet Joseph's words, which Nibley cited earlier in his article.
The last word, then, from Joseph, Kirtland, January 4th, 1833, in a letter to the editor of a newspaper:
"For some length of time I have been carefully viewing the state of things, as it now appears, throughout our Christian land; and have looked at it with feelings of the most painful anxiety. While upon one hand I behold the manifest withdrawal of God's Holy Spirit, and the veil of stupidity which seems to be drawn over the hearts of the people; upon the other hand, I behold the judgments of God that have swept, and are still sweeping hundreds and thousands of our race, and I fear unprepared, down to the shades of death. With this solemn and alarming fact before me, I am led to exclaim, 'O that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night.' [See Jeremiah 9:1 and 2 Nephi 33:2--4]
"I think that it is high time for a Christian world to awake out of sleep, and cry mightily to that God, day and night, whose anger we have justly incurred" (Teachings, 13--14).
Tipping Point? We'll see soon. "Fully ripe in iniquity"? Remember, "the only safety for what is coming is in the scriptures" (BKP) --- and in our ongoing repentance.
God bless.
Steve
Monday, October 29, 2012
Monday, October 15, 2012
GIFTS: The Deeply Flawed Social Doctrine of Self-Esteem, Guilty Parent of Unconditional Love
Where did we get the idea of "unconditional love"? From the world. From the philosophies of men. It is a commonplace idea born in the sciences of psychology. It is the child of the pervasive idea in our society and culture of self-esteem. And they are both false gospel ideas.
When we Latter-day Saints take such an idea and mingle it with scripture we end up with the philosophies of men that we are warned against in sacred places. And which we are under covenant to avoid.
It is common to hear people at the local level of the Church---faithful, good, decent Latter-day Saints--- defend the use of such terms as unconditional love and self-esteem when they appear in our talks and testimonies and lessons, and in our curriculum. "The Lord would never allow us to use false ideas from the world to lead us astray. If we hear it in a talk or see it in a manual it must be correct," they say.
Thankfully, by deliberate decision, as we have said before, such terms are now specifically banned from official Church publications, and you will not hear them in the talks of the Brethren. This is all, as we say, by specific design.
But at the grass roots, the regular members at the local level of the Church, we still seem to have trouble with such bad ideas. We still embrace them. We speak of boosting our self-esteem as if it were vital and central to the gospel plan of redemption.
In the summer of 1828 the Prophet Joseph lost the 116 pages of manuscript translated from the first part of the Book of Mormon plates. He lost the manuscript by disobedience to the will of the Lord. As a result he not only lost the manuscript, he lost the plates themselves for a season, and he lost the Spirit of the Lord. It was a four-month period of agony and deep repentance by Joseph. He was without the Spirit. He felt he had betrayed his calling, and he was left alone by the Lord to suffer the severe consequences of his folly.
Martin Harris had persisted in mithering to see the manuscript. The Prophet continued to plead with the Lord enough times, until they got divine permission, contrary to the Lord's earlier counsel. But disastrous results followed. We can learn something from these instances. Obtaining divine permission is not the same as hearkening to divine counsel. It is almost counselling the Lord, and although permission is granted, it is not a guarantee of protection nor an insulation against tragedy. When we weary the Lord, or the Brethren, for permission, against original counsel, we have to assume the responsibility of the outcome. If we modify the original plan, or simply ignore the counsel given, we are in the same category. (See Robert J. Matthews, BYU, August 1985.)
"If they didn't know the right words, they wouldn't know the plan," taught President Ezra Taft Benson.
Self-esteem and unconditional love are not the right words. They are not part of the plan. In fact they go contrary to the designed purposes of the plan. They give false hope and comfort. And the result is counter to the Lord's purposes and plans for the salvation of His children. All this because we prefer the philosophies of men instead of a deep familiarity with the Lord's own words as given to us by prophets ancient and modern. Self-esteem and unconditional love are from the domain of natural man. They are antithetical to the nature of God and His restored gospel plan.
Basic to a correct understanding of the plan is to accept that our natural fallen state is at odds with God's nature and character. Our fallen nature places us at enmity with God and His ways, indeed it makes us enemies to God. That should be enough to get our attention and place our faith and trust in Him instead of turning to the precepts of men. This is clearly taught in the Book of Mormon.
When we see this clearly, when we have this basic understanding of the plan, that we are placed here as a test to see if we will seek unto and obey the Lord in all things, and at all hazards, then we are in the path of the plan, the path of safety (see Abraham 3:24--5), and we will avoid the ideas of men at all costs.
Can you start to see why a deep familiarity with the holy scriptures is vital for our mortal journey?
These corrective ideas are based in the scriptures, and anyone with a working knowledge of the scriptures will hear echoes here of the word of the Lord. To further illustrate:
"He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal." This is from the Lord Jesus Christ as found in John 12. Do you think He knows something? Do you suspect He knows the big picture better than we do, this "Man of Sorrows, and acquainted with grief"?
"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. . . .
"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world" (John 14:27; 16:33, emphasis added).
Can you see the Lord Jesus' emphasis on Himself, on coming unto Him for our peace and comfort and consolation, and avoiding the world's ideas? Do you see it?
Remember too, "God having provided some better things for them through their sufferings, for without sufferings they could not be made perfect" (JST Hebrews 11:40).
And from those with the spirit of prophecy, which is the testimony of Jesus: "The world today speaks a great deal about love, and it is sought for by many. But the pure love of Christ differs greatly from what the world thinks of love" (President Benson). Do your ideas about love have their origins in the world or in the restored gospel?
"We know that the God of Israel announced himself to be holy and declared for that reason his people must also be holy [Leviticus 19:2, see footnote a]. The followers of Christ were known as disciples, which means disciplined followers. No doctrine was better understood among them than that no unclean thing can enter the presence of God. Everything in the law of Moses was designed to teach this, as are all the ordinances of the gospel known to the Saints of the New Testament. The fundamental doctrine of both the Old and New Testament is that we came into the world to fight against our fallen nature, not to fall in love with it" (JFMc, Agency, p. 89, emphasis added).
"The children of Zion love in proportion to the heavenly knowledge which they have received; for love keeps pace with knowledge, and as the one increases so does the other, and when knowledge is perfected, love will be perfected also" (Orson Pratt).
"I had loved before, but I knew not why. But now I loved with a pureness, an intensity of elevated, exalted feeling, which would lift my soul from the transitory things of this grovelling sphere and expand it as the ocean . . . . In short, I could now love with the spirit and with the understanding also" (Parley P. Pratt).
"Our object is to strengthen faith, not to reinforce self-esteem" (Dallin H. Oaks).
"There must be decision of character, aside from sympathy" (Joseph Smith).
"There are even cases where our liking [someone] conflicts with our charity towards the person we like. For example, a doting mother may be tempted by natural affection to 'spoil' her child; that is, to gratify her own affectionate impulses at the expense of the child's real happiness later on" (C.S.Lewis).
In conclusion (for now), the biggest damage of self-esteem and unconditional love has been in our children. We thought we were doing the right thing, the kind and loving thing, by trying to protect our children from the trials and lessons of life, by indulging them---at home and in school---by rewarding them and praising them beyond all sense of their actual achievement, and in doing so we harmed them, as Jack Lewis describes in this final quote above.
For this reason, and because both of these false ideas have been so pervasive and universal among us, influencing and determining everything else we think about the gospel, it is vital for us to understand the true doctrine as it resides in the mind of our Father in heaven. How can we boldly claim such understanding? That is for you to find out. . . . But these things, as set forth here, are true and faithful, and approach the mind of God. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."
More to be said on this, that's how important it is.
Steve
When we Latter-day Saints take such an idea and mingle it with scripture we end up with the philosophies of men that we are warned against in sacred places. And which we are under covenant to avoid.
It is common to hear people at the local level of the Church---faithful, good, decent Latter-day Saints--- defend the use of such terms as unconditional love and self-esteem when they appear in our talks and testimonies and lessons, and in our curriculum. "The Lord would never allow us to use false ideas from the world to lead us astray. If we hear it in a talk or see it in a manual it must be correct," they say.
Thankfully, by deliberate decision, as we have said before, such terms are now specifically banned from official Church publications, and you will not hear them in the talks of the Brethren. This is all, as we say, by specific design.
But at the grass roots, the regular members at the local level of the Church, we still seem to have trouble with such bad ideas. We still embrace them. We speak of boosting our self-esteem as if it were vital and central to the gospel plan of redemption.
In the summer of 1828 the Prophet Joseph lost the 116 pages of manuscript translated from the first part of the Book of Mormon plates. He lost the manuscript by disobedience to the will of the Lord. As a result he not only lost the manuscript, he lost the plates themselves for a season, and he lost the Spirit of the Lord. It was a four-month period of agony and deep repentance by Joseph. He was without the Spirit. He felt he had betrayed his calling, and he was left alone by the Lord to suffer the severe consequences of his folly.
Martin Harris had persisted in mithering to see the manuscript. The Prophet continued to plead with the Lord enough times, until they got divine permission, contrary to the Lord's earlier counsel. But disastrous results followed. We can learn something from these instances. Obtaining divine permission is not the same as hearkening to divine counsel. It is almost counselling the Lord, and although permission is granted, it is not a guarantee of protection nor an insulation against tragedy. When we weary the Lord, or the Brethren, for permission, against original counsel, we have to assume the responsibility of the outcome. If we modify the original plan, or simply ignore the counsel given, we are in the same category. (See Robert J. Matthews, BYU, August 1985.)
"If they didn't know the right words, they wouldn't know the plan," taught President Ezra Taft Benson.
Self-esteem and unconditional love are not the right words. They are not part of the plan. In fact they go contrary to the designed purposes of the plan. They give false hope and comfort. And the result is counter to the Lord's purposes and plans for the salvation of His children. All this because we prefer the philosophies of men instead of a deep familiarity with the Lord's own words as given to us by prophets ancient and modern. Self-esteem and unconditional love are from the domain of natural man. They are antithetical to the nature of God and His restored gospel plan.
Basic to a correct understanding of the plan is to accept that our natural fallen state is at odds with God's nature and character. Our fallen nature places us at enmity with God and His ways, indeed it makes us enemies to God. That should be enough to get our attention and place our faith and trust in Him instead of turning to the precepts of men. This is clearly taught in the Book of Mormon.
When we see this clearly, when we have this basic understanding of the plan, that we are placed here as a test to see if we will seek unto and obey the Lord in all things, and at all hazards, then we are in the path of the plan, the path of safety (see Abraham 3:24--5), and we will avoid the ideas of men at all costs.
Can you start to see why a deep familiarity with the holy scriptures is vital for our mortal journey?
These corrective ideas are based in the scriptures, and anyone with a working knowledge of the scriptures will hear echoes here of the word of the Lord. To further illustrate:
"He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal." This is from the Lord Jesus Christ as found in John 12. Do you think He knows something? Do you suspect He knows the big picture better than we do, this "Man of Sorrows, and acquainted with grief"?
"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. . . .
"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world" (John 14:27; 16:33, emphasis added).
Can you see the Lord Jesus' emphasis on Himself, on coming unto Him for our peace and comfort and consolation, and avoiding the world's ideas? Do you see it?
Remember too, "God having provided some better things for them through their sufferings, for without sufferings they could not be made perfect" (JST Hebrews 11:40).
And from those with the spirit of prophecy, which is the testimony of Jesus: "The world today speaks a great deal about love, and it is sought for by many. But the pure love of Christ differs greatly from what the world thinks of love" (President Benson). Do your ideas about love have their origins in the world or in the restored gospel?
"We know that the God of Israel announced himself to be holy and declared for that reason his people must also be holy [Leviticus 19:2, see footnote a]. The followers of Christ were known as disciples, which means disciplined followers. No doctrine was better understood among them than that no unclean thing can enter the presence of God. Everything in the law of Moses was designed to teach this, as are all the ordinances of the gospel known to the Saints of the New Testament. The fundamental doctrine of both the Old and New Testament is that we came into the world to fight against our fallen nature, not to fall in love with it" (JFMc, Agency, p. 89, emphasis added).
"The children of Zion love in proportion to the heavenly knowledge which they have received; for love keeps pace with knowledge, and as the one increases so does the other, and when knowledge is perfected, love will be perfected also" (Orson Pratt).
"I had loved before, but I knew not why. But now I loved with a pureness, an intensity of elevated, exalted feeling, which would lift my soul from the transitory things of this grovelling sphere and expand it as the ocean . . . . In short, I could now love with the spirit and with the understanding also" (Parley P. Pratt).
"Our object is to strengthen faith, not to reinforce self-esteem" (Dallin H. Oaks).
"There must be decision of character, aside from sympathy" (Joseph Smith).
"There are even cases where our liking [someone] conflicts with our charity towards the person we like. For example, a doting mother may be tempted by natural affection to 'spoil' her child; that is, to gratify her own affectionate impulses at the expense of the child's real happiness later on" (C.S.Lewis).
In conclusion (for now), the biggest damage of self-esteem and unconditional love has been in our children. We thought we were doing the right thing, the kind and loving thing, by trying to protect our children from the trials and lessons of life, by indulging them---at home and in school---by rewarding them and praising them beyond all sense of their actual achievement, and in doing so we harmed them, as Jack Lewis describes in this final quote above.
For this reason, and because both of these false ideas have been so pervasive and universal among us, influencing and determining everything else we think about the gospel, it is vital for us to understand the true doctrine as it resides in the mind of our Father in heaven. How can we boldly claim such understanding? That is for you to find out. . . . But these things, as set forth here, are true and faithful, and approach the mind of God. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."
More to be said on this, that's how important it is.
Steve
Friday, October 5, 2012
GIFTS: "My boy, I did." A Remarkable Account.
In the School of the Prophets in Kirtland the Prophet Joseph Smith and his associates taught each other in 1834--35 broad and marvelous truths on faith, and on God, the object of that faith.
The Second Lecture taught how Adam and Eve before their Fall knew their God personally and intimately in the Garden and that they retained that knowledge after the Fall:
"The object of the foregoing quotations [from scripture] is to show to this class the way by which mankind were first made acquainted with the existence of a God; that it was by a manifestation of God to man, and that God continued, after man's transgression [the Fall], to manifest himself to him and to his posterity; and, notwithstanding they were separated from his immediate presence that they could not see his face, they continued to hear his voice.
"Adam, thus being made acquainted with God, communicated the knowledge which he had unto his posterity; and it was through this means that the thought was first suggested to their minds that there was a God, which laid the foundation for the exercise of their faith, through which they could obtain a knowledge of his character and also of his glory."
The Second Lecture continued:
"From this we can see that the whole human family in the early age of their existence, in all their different branches, had this knowledge disseminated among them; so that the existence of God became an object of faith in the early age of the world. And the evidences which these men had of the existence of a God, was the testimony of their fathers in the first instance. . . .
"Let this class mark particularly, that the testimony which these men had of the existence of a God, was the testimony of man . . . the whole faith of the world, from that time down to the present is in a certain degree dependent on the knowledge first communicated to them by their common progenitor [Adam]; and it has been handed down to the day and generation in which we live, . . . and we have seen [in this full Lecture] that it was human testimony, and human testimony only, that excited this inquiry in their minds [to seek after God]."
The Second Lecture taught how Adam and Eve before their Fall knew their God personally and intimately in the Garden and that they retained that knowledge after the Fall:
"The object of the foregoing quotations [from scripture] is to show to this class the way by which mankind were first made acquainted with the existence of a God; that it was by a manifestation of God to man, and that God continued, after man's transgression [the Fall], to manifest himself to him and to his posterity; and, notwithstanding they were separated from his immediate presence that they could not see his face, they continued to hear his voice.
"Adam, thus being made acquainted with God, communicated the knowledge which he had unto his posterity; and it was through this means that the thought was first suggested to their minds that there was a God, which laid the foundation for the exercise of their faith, through which they could obtain a knowledge of his character and also of his glory."
The Second Lecture continued:
"From this we can see that the whole human family in the early age of their existence, in all their different branches, had this knowledge disseminated among them; so that the existence of God became an object of faith in the early age of the world. And the evidences which these men had of the existence of a God, was the testimony of their fathers in the first instance. . . .
"Let this class mark particularly, that the testimony which these men had of the existence of a God, was the testimony of man . . . the whole faith of the world, from that time down to the present is in a certain degree dependent on the knowledge first communicated to them by their common progenitor [Adam]; and it has been handed down to the day and generation in which we live, . . . and we have seen [in this full Lecture] that it was human testimony, and human testimony only, that excited this inquiry in their minds [to seek after God]."
The following modern experience will verify the process described above. My Mum provided me with this profound experience in the
spring of 1979:
I was busy preparing for a seminary monthly meeting in the Preston
England stake. As usual I was pressed for time and needed no interruptions. Mum was staying with us for the weekend, and
she suddenly appeared at the doorway of my office.
“Ste, I know you’re busy, but can I just share something
with you?”
I hesitated for a moment; it crossed my mind for a split
second to say, “Mum, I’m really busy, I need to finish off here and be on my
way to the meeting.” But for some
reason, I didn’t say it. I just folded
my hands in my lap, swiveled round in my office chair, and gave Mum my full
attention.
She leaned in the doorway, a signal that this would be
brief, bless her heart, and she began:
“You know I was at Dave and Jean’s last week. Their home teacher came whilst I was there
--- Brother Cunningham.” I knew of
Brother Cunningham from our Dad when I was a small child, one of the solid
strong Saints of the British Isles. Mum continued:
“He told us of attending a Church meeting in London in the
1930s at which the speaker was James Henry Moyle. Brother Moyle spoke of visiting David
Whitmer, one of the Three Witnesses of the Book of Mormon, at his home in
Richmond, Missouri, in 1885. In his
visit Brother Moyle said he asked him, ‘Brother Whitmer, I’m just a young man
and I don’t want to spend my life believing in something if it is not true: Did
you indeed see the plates and handle them, and see the angel, as you said?’
David Whitmer said in a sincere and earnest manner, ‘My boy, I did.’
“Brother Cunningham said he went up to Brother Moyle after
the meeting and said to him, ‘Brother Moyle, I’m just a young man who recently
joined the Church and I don’t want to be deceived either. Did you indeed ask
David Whitmer that question and get the answer you said he gave?’ James Henry
Moyle looked at Brother Cunningham intently and said, ‘My boy, I did.’”
I sat quietly as Mum finished the story, thrilled by the
Spirit of the truth of it. Then I had to
ask:
“Mum, did you indeed hear Brother Cunningham give this
account of his conversation with James Henry Moyle of his interview with David
Whitmer?”
Mum smiled and said, “Ste, I did,” with a chuckle as she saw
that my question fitted the pattern of this remarkable series of encounters.
I shared that experience with the young seminary students in
the meeting that afternoon. It was the highlight of our lesson. They got the point. Now they know too. And so
do you.
“My boy, I did.”
There is one more thing to add: The Lectures on Faith each conclude with a series of Questions and Answers by way of review. To end this Second Lecture:
"What testimony have men, in the first instance, that there is a God? Human testimony, and human testimony only. . . .
"Is the knowledge of the existence of God a matter of mere tradition, founded upon human testimony alone, until persons receive a manifestation of God to themselves? It is."
As Mormon would say, "Thus we see" that it is not enough to merely rely on human testimony---profound as it is--- but that we must each get a manifestation, a revelation for ourselves that the work is true, that the Book of Mormon is true, to add to these remarkable experiences and testimonies of other humans.
So that we can say to our children, "My boy . . . my girl, I did."
God bless.
Steve
Monday, September 24, 2012
GIFTS: I Wondered If the Gentiles Ever Danced with Their Bible
As Summer gives way to Autumn it is a lovely time of the year. The days are growing shorter and cooler, the brightness of the summer sun is mellowing, there is a nip in the evening air, apples and pears are fast ripening: it is the time of harvest.
As we write, Yom Kippur is just hours away (the Day of Atonement, the most holy day in the Jewish calendar, the one day in the year when the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies on behalf of the people of Israel: a clear type of Christ).
The Autumnal Equinox marks the beginning of Fall and reminds us of the many significant things that have happened in Church history at this time of year, like Moroni's annual visits to Joseph and the removing from the Cumorah earth of the gold plates, precious for what they contain and teach, not for their considerable karat value.
This year, October 1st is the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles, or of Ingathering, called by the New Testament Jews simply, "the Feast, and reckoned by them to be the greatest and most joyful of all" (see the LDS Bible Dictionary, page 673).
With this as an introduction, we think there is a quiet power in the following extract. See if you agree:--
"I remember the night in the second week of October when we danced with the Torah scrolls in our little synagogue. It was the night of Simchat Torah, the festival that celebrates the completion of the annual cycle of Torah readings. The last portion of the Five Books of Moses would be read the next morning.
"The little synagogue was crowded and tumultuous with joy. I remember the white-bearded Torah reader dancing with one of the heavy scrolls as if he had miraculously shed his years. My father and uncle danced for what seemed to me to be an interminable length of time, circling about one another with their Torah scrolls, advancing upon one another, backing off, singing.
"Saul and Alex and I danced too. I relinquished my Torah to someone in the crowd, then stood around watching and dancing. It grew warm inside the small room and I went through the crowd and out the rear door to the back porch. I stood in the darkness and let the air cool my face.
"I could feel the floor of the porch vibrating to the dancing inside the synagogue. It was a windy fall night, the air clean, the sky vast and filled with stars. The noise of the singing and dancing came clearly through the open window of the synagogue. An old cycle ending; a new cycle beginning. Tomorrow morning Moses would die, and the old man would read the words recounting his death; a few minutes later he would read the first chapter and the beginning three verses of the second chapter of Genesis. Death and birth without separation. Endings leading to beginnings.
"And then, on Shabbat, he would read all of the first portion of the Book of Genesis: the Creation, Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden, Cain and Abel. And the following Shabbat he would read the story of Noah and the Flood. And then Abraham and Sarah and the Covenant and Isaac and the sacrifice and Rebecca and Jacob and Esau and Joseph and . . . .
"The noise inside the synagogue poured out into the night, an undulating, swelling and receding and thinning and growing sound. The joy of dancing with the Torah, holding it close to you, the words of God to Moses at Sinai. I wondered if Gentiles ever danced with their Bible. Hey, Tony. Do you ever dance with your Bible?
"I had actually spoken the question. I heard the words in the cool dark air. I had not thought to do that. I had not even thought of Tony---yes, I remembered his name: Tony Savanola. I had not thought of him in years. Where was he now? Fighting in the war probably. Or studying for the priesthood and deferred from the draft as I was. Hey, Tony. Do you ever read your Bible? Do you ever hold it to you and know how much you love it? Do Christian Bible scholars write about Jesus the same way they write about Abraham? Do they say it's all only stories? Hey, Tony?"
(Chaim Potok, In the Beginning, pp. 382--83, and with thanks to Dean.)
As we write, Yom Kippur is just hours away (the Day of Atonement, the most holy day in the Jewish calendar, the one day in the year when the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies on behalf of the people of Israel: a clear type of Christ).
The Autumnal Equinox marks the beginning of Fall and reminds us of the many significant things that have happened in Church history at this time of year, like Moroni's annual visits to Joseph and the removing from the Cumorah earth of the gold plates, precious for what they contain and teach, not for their considerable karat value.
This year, October 1st is the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles, or of Ingathering, called by the New Testament Jews simply, "the Feast, and reckoned by them to be the greatest and most joyful of all" (see the LDS Bible Dictionary, page 673).
With this as an introduction, we think there is a quiet power in the following extract. See if you agree:--
"I remember the night in the second week of October when we danced with the Torah scrolls in our little synagogue. It was the night of Simchat Torah, the festival that celebrates the completion of the annual cycle of Torah readings. The last portion of the Five Books of Moses would be read the next morning.
"The little synagogue was crowded and tumultuous with joy. I remember the white-bearded Torah reader dancing with one of the heavy scrolls as if he had miraculously shed his years. My father and uncle danced for what seemed to me to be an interminable length of time, circling about one another with their Torah scrolls, advancing upon one another, backing off, singing.
"Saul and Alex and I danced too. I relinquished my Torah to someone in the crowd, then stood around watching and dancing. It grew warm inside the small room and I went through the crowd and out the rear door to the back porch. I stood in the darkness and let the air cool my face.
"I could feel the floor of the porch vibrating to the dancing inside the synagogue. It was a windy fall night, the air clean, the sky vast and filled with stars. The noise of the singing and dancing came clearly through the open window of the synagogue. An old cycle ending; a new cycle beginning. Tomorrow morning Moses would die, and the old man would read the words recounting his death; a few minutes later he would read the first chapter and the beginning three verses of the second chapter of Genesis. Death and birth without separation. Endings leading to beginnings.
"And then, on Shabbat, he would read all of the first portion of the Book of Genesis: the Creation, Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden, Cain and Abel. And the following Shabbat he would read the story of Noah and the Flood. And then Abraham and Sarah and the Covenant and Isaac and the sacrifice and Rebecca and Jacob and Esau and Joseph and . . . .
"The noise inside the synagogue poured out into the night, an undulating, swelling and receding and thinning and growing sound. The joy of dancing with the Torah, holding it close to you, the words of God to Moses at Sinai. I wondered if Gentiles ever danced with their Bible. Hey, Tony. Do you ever dance with your Bible?
"I had actually spoken the question. I heard the words in the cool dark air. I had not thought to do that. I had not even thought of Tony---yes, I remembered his name: Tony Savanola. I had not thought of him in years. Where was he now? Fighting in the war probably. Or studying for the priesthood and deferred from the draft as I was. Hey, Tony. Do you ever read your Bible? Do you ever hold it to you and know how much you love it? Do Christian Bible scholars write about Jesus the same way they write about Abraham? Do they say it's all only stories? Hey, Tony?"
(Chaim Potok, In the Beginning, pp. 382--83, and with thanks to Dean.)
GIFTS: Are You Ready for General Conference?
President George Q. Cannon said :
"I have noticed . . . that where the people of God pay attention to the written word, and cherish and observe the written word, they are always better prepared to hear the oral instructions of the servants of God. . . . They have greater interest in seeking to obtain oral instructions, than they have when they are careless about the written word of God" (Conference Report, Oct. 1897, p. 38).
Semiannual general conference is on the first weekend in October. How appropriate to honor the Lord Jesus Christ by giving close attention to His servants the prophets. He said, "What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself . . . my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same."
Notice President Cannon's choice of words : "pay attention to the written word . . . cherish and observe" it. There is always a price to pay. And in thus paying it, we show Whom we really cherish, Whom we really worship and reverence, where our priorities and loyalties really lie. Think too of the price He paid to make the gospel of redemption available to us. The least we can do is pay close attention to His word. Those who pay this price in the scriptures between conferences will be rewarded with a feast at conference. It's the Law of the Harvest.
The prophet and man of God, Job, said, "I have esteemed the words of his [the Lord's] mouth more than my necessary food" (Job 23:12). This has something to do with ". . . hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost" (3 Nephi 12:6). A good teacher will urge the students to have their glasses turned up the right way in order to receive the living water of the gospel in the class instruction. You can't get water into a glass or cup that is turned upside down.
President Brigham Young used to counsel the Saints to be sure to have their minds present in the meeting as they were taught by the servants of the Lord --- to focus, to concentrate, to pay the price mentally. That is one way we can worship and love the Lord our God with all our heart, might, mind, and strength. And there is no better way to make that preparation than to "cherish and observe the written word" in readiness for feasting on the word of God as delivered by His servants live and in person. This will stir the promptings of the Holy Ghost within us.
All of this will have a sanctifying, cleansing effect upon us, and will keep us unspotted from the world, as we seek to be healed from the earth stains we discussed last week.
This doctrine is known as the doctrine of personal revelation. And it is a three-legged stool : the holy prophets, the holy scriptures, and the Holy Ghost. Have you ever tried to sit on a two-legged stool? Hard or nearly impossible to balance. A one-legged stool? We need to hear and be fed by those we sustain as prophets, seers, and revelators as well as we need to be nourished by the words of Christ in the scriptures, all of it sanctioned and brought to us by the Holy Ghost (see 2 Nephi 32:1--7). These three sources --- the prophets, the scriptures, the Spirit of the Lord.
Elder Boyd K. Packer was asked, "How do you know when you are getting revelation through the Holy Ghost, and it is not just you making it up?" Elder Packer, himself a prophet, seer, and revelator, answered with one word, "Practice." Practice indeed! Even prophets have never found it easy to draw down inspiration and revelation. They too have to pay an ongoing price in diligent searching, feasting, obedience and focus. Ask them, they will tell you this is so. They serve as models and examples of all we can and should be. Even now they will be wrestling and striving to get in tune and in unity with Him, that they might deliver in a few days' time. The scriptures and serious prayer will be a central part of their preparation. We might do well to pray for them in their preparation, and pay a similar price ourselves so that we can meet together --- we three --- the prophets, the Holy Ghost, and we --- on equal terms next weekend at general conference.
"I have noticed . . . that where the people of God pay attention to the written word, and cherish and observe the written word, they are always better prepared to hear the oral instructions of the servants of God. . . . They have greater interest in seeking to obtain oral instructions, than they have when they are careless about the written word of God" (Conference Report, Oct. 1897, p. 38).
Semiannual general conference is on the first weekend in October. How appropriate to honor the Lord Jesus Christ by giving close attention to His servants the prophets. He said, "What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself . . . my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same."
Notice President Cannon's choice of words : "pay attention to the written word . . . cherish and observe" it. There is always a price to pay. And in thus paying it, we show Whom we really cherish, Whom we really worship and reverence, where our priorities and loyalties really lie. Think too of the price He paid to make the gospel of redemption available to us. The least we can do is pay close attention to His word. Those who pay this price in the scriptures between conferences will be rewarded with a feast at conference. It's the Law of the Harvest.
The prophet and man of God, Job, said, "I have esteemed the words of his [the Lord's] mouth more than my necessary food" (Job 23:12). This has something to do with ". . . hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost" (3 Nephi 12:6). A good teacher will urge the students to have their glasses turned up the right way in order to receive the living water of the gospel in the class instruction. You can't get water into a glass or cup that is turned upside down.
President Brigham Young used to counsel the Saints to be sure to have their minds present in the meeting as they were taught by the servants of the Lord --- to focus, to concentrate, to pay the price mentally. That is one way we can worship and love the Lord our God with all our heart, might, mind, and strength. And there is no better way to make that preparation than to "cherish and observe the written word" in readiness for feasting on the word of God as delivered by His servants live and in person. This will stir the promptings of the Holy Ghost within us.
All of this will have a sanctifying, cleansing effect upon us, and will keep us unspotted from the world, as we seek to be healed from the earth stains we discussed last week.
This doctrine is known as the doctrine of personal revelation. And it is a three-legged stool : the holy prophets, the holy scriptures, and the Holy Ghost. Have you ever tried to sit on a two-legged stool? Hard or nearly impossible to balance. A one-legged stool? We need to hear and be fed by those we sustain as prophets, seers, and revelators as well as we need to be nourished by the words of Christ in the scriptures, all of it sanctioned and brought to us by the Holy Ghost (see 2 Nephi 32:1--7). These three sources --- the prophets, the scriptures, the Spirit of the Lord.
Elder Boyd K. Packer was asked, "How do you know when you are getting revelation through the Holy Ghost, and it is not just you making it up?" Elder Packer, himself a prophet, seer, and revelator, answered with one word, "Practice." Practice indeed! Even prophets have never found it easy to draw down inspiration and revelation. They too have to pay an ongoing price in diligent searching, feasting, obedience and focus. Ask them, they will tell you this is so. They serve as models and examples of all we can and should be. Even now they will be wrestling and striving to get in tune and in unity with Him, that they might deliver in a few days' time. The scriptures and serious prayer will be a central part of their preparation. We might do well to pray for them in their preparation, and pay a similar price ourselves so that we can meet together --- we three --- the prophets, the Holy Ghost, and we --- on equal terms next weekend at general conference.
Sabbathought: He Who Chops His Own Wood Is Twice Warmed, so he won't end up stupid and cold
In the 1960s Elder Harold B. Lee spoke to a group of priesthood
leaders in Salt Lake City. He told of a Bishop on his way home from a
meeting who got a flat tire (tyre for readers in Britain!)). As he took
off the wheel to replace the flat with the spare, he accidentally
kicked the hub cap where he had put the four lug nuts and they were
lost in the snow at the side of the road. A man happened along who
suggested he simply use one lug nut from each of the other three wheels
and attach the spare that way. "That is a brilliant idea," said the
bishop to the stranger, "thank you."
The stranger replied, "You're welcome. . . . By the way, my name is Ben, and I live in the insane asylum down the road. . . . But I want you to know that I'm there because I'm insane, not because I'm stupid." (Chuckles from the priesthood audience.)
Brother Lee then said to the assembled gathering, "Brethren, I want you to know we called you to this special meeting, not because you're insane. . . !" (More chuckles from the audience; they got the point!)
Have you wondered why we are studying basic Gospel Principles this year, from a manual that used to be for investigators and new members? President Monson has often said, "A frequent return to basics is essential to perpetuity [progress]." That is clearly one reason. Another reason may be that we are not insane. . . !
The Brethren have tried for many years to get the Saints to understand the deep things of God, by revelation and from the Bible and the scriptures of the Restoration, but still it is apparent today that this is not a doctrinal era in the Church, and that good gospel doctrine is the best-kept secret in the Church. And yet it is the source of truth and light and power for the struggles we each experience here in mortality.
Why would the Lord send a "telegram answer" to our urgent prayers if we have neglected or ignored the letters He has sent to us while we are away from Home? It is wise to think of prayer as our means of speaking with Father. It is equally wise to think of the scriptures as the source when we want to hear Him speaking to us.
The theme on the cover of the Gospel Principles manual is from 1 Nephi 15:14 and reinforces all we are saying here. There is an urgent need to "come to the knowledge of [our] Redeemer and the very points of his doctrine, that [we] may know how to come unto him. . . ."
Another six or seven passages in the revelations of the Restoration speak of "points of doctrine" and their import. (The phrase is not found in the Bible.) . . . What is a "very point" of doctrine? . . . Will approximate doctrine be enough?
Robert J. Matthews taught: "The dictionary defines a 'point' as: a penetrating detail, a precise concept; a prominent or important item; the 'telling part' of an argument or discussion; the salient feature; the precise thing; the 'turning point'" (17 February 1989).
When we see that the word "repent" in scripture (Hebrew or Greek or English) means "turn" or "change" (see, for example, Matthew 3:2, footnote a), as in "turn your heart to God", it becomes clear that there is a depth of understanding about the wonderful doctrine of repentance that likely eludes us unless and until we go deep to the "very point" and purpose of repentance. Most of us see repentance as a negative word, to be avoided, instead of as the wonderful gift that has been made available to us in the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Indeed, as Paul wrote, there is a repentance that is "not to be repented of", which has its origin in "godly sorrow" not in the "sorrow of the world" (see 2 Corinthians 7:9--10).
That is a perfect example of a very point of His doctrine, "as contrasted to a teaching that is vague, undefined, ambiguous, uncertain, fuzzy, foggy, obscure, and unfocused" (Brother Matthews). Surely the Lord expects us to learn the very points of His doctrine, and, as Brother Matthews points out, "the Book of Mormon is the principal means that he has provided to accomplish it." With a firm and sound understanding from the Book of Mormon (Sunday School course of study for 2008 and 2012), it will be possible for us to see the very points of His doctrine in the Old Testament (the Sunday School course of study for this year, 2010, and for 2014), as we use the Book of Mormon as a lens---or as a Urim and Thummim---through which to see the doctrine in the Old Testament more clearly. And that the doctrine of the Old Testament is the doctrine of Christ.
We seem a bit suspicious of the word "doctrine". My son-in-law, Barry, some years ago said to me, "Steve, when you speak of doctrine the Saints think you are speaking of some obscure passage back in Leviticus!" But the word "doctrine" is the right word. It evokes "the doctrine of Christ" as we see in the Book of Mormon, a book of plainness, and is the means of our learning of Him and coming unto Him. . . . There is no other way, for the Lord "doth not walk in crooked paths" and "it must needs be done in mine own way", for, He says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life". Why do you suppose it is called "the doctrine of Christ"?
If an engineer planned and built a bridge on the assumption that pi is 3.0, instead of 3.14159265, the bridge would not hold. The illustration holds true for the doctrines of the kingdom of God. It is a very point of true engineering to get the construction plan right. It is a very point of true doctrine to do the same with the gospel plan. . . . The word "sin" in Greek (New Testament)---hamartano---literally means "to miss the mark". . . . To miss the point, when it is given unto us, in scripture, in plainness, even as plain as word can be. But it has to be dug out, for it is deep, and the word "read" is in the same family as the word "riddle".
There is much to say to illustrate this important point. For now, it is worth considering that the truths of the scriptures are not easily available, that a price has to be paid, even by prophets, to get the truths of the gospel---the doctrines of the kingdom---so deep into our souls that they come out in our character, and in our countenances, and in our teaching. It is all a part of working out our salvation (see Philippians 2:12; also Alma 34:37), while relying wholly on the merits of Him who is mighty to save.
We have to pay the price to study and learn these things; none of them come to us automatically. For he who chops his own wood is twice warmed. And we don't want to end up stupid and cold, deprived of the fire of His Spirit.
More on this later.
The stranger replied, "You're welcome. . . . By the way, my name is Ben, and I live in the insane asylum down the road. . . . But I want you to know that I'm there because I'm insane, not because I'm stupid." (Chuckles from the priesthood audience.)
Brother Lee then said to the assembled gathering, "Brethren, I want you to know we called you to this special meeting, not because you're insane. . . !" (More chuckles from the audience; they got the point!)
Have you wondered why we are studying basic Gospel Principles this year, from a manual that used to be for investigators and new members? President Monson has often said, "A frequent return to basics is essential to perpetuity [progress]." That is clearly one reason. Another reason may be that we are not insane. . . !
The Brethren have tried for many years to get the Saints to understand the deep things of God, by revelation and from the Bible and the scriptures of the Restoration, but still it is apparent today that this is not a doctrinal era in the Church, and that good gospel doctrine is the best-kept secret in the Church. And yet it is the source of truth and light and power for the struggles we each experience here in mortality.
Why would the Lord send a "telegram answer" to our urgent prayers if we have neglected or ignored the letters He has sent to us while we are away from Home? It is wise to think of prayer as our means of speaking with Father. It is equally wise to think of the scriptures as the source when we want to hear Him speaking to us.
The theme on the cover of the Gospel Principles manual is from 1 Nephi 15:14 and reinforces all we are saying here. There is an urgent need to "come to the knowledge of [our] Redeemer and the very points of his doctrine, that [we] may know how to come unto him. . . ."
Another six or seven passages in the revelations of the Restoration speak of "points of doctrine" and their import. (The phrase is not found in the Bible.) . . . What is a "very point" of doctrine? . . . Will approximate doctrine be enough?
Robert J. Matthews taught: "The dictionary defines a 'point' as: a penetrating detail, a precise concept; a prominent or important item; the 'telling part' of an argument or discussion; the salient feature; the precise thing; the 'turning point'" (17 February 1989).
When we see that the word "repent" in scripture (Hebrew or Greek or English) means "turn" or "change" (see, for example, Matthew 3:2, footnote a), as in "turn your heart to God", it becomes clear that there is a depth of understanding about the wonderful doctrine of repentance that likely eludes us unless and until we go deep to the "very point" and purpose of repentance. Most of us see repentance as a negative word, to be avoided, instead of as the wonderful gift that has been made available to us in the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Indeed, as Paul wrote, there is a repentance that is "not to be repented of", which has its origin in "godly sorrow" not in the "sorrow of the world" (see 2 Corinthians 7:9--10).
That is a perfect example of a very point of His doctrine, "as contrasted to a teaching that is vague, undefined, ambiguous, uncertain, fuzzy, foggy, obscure, and unfocused" (Brother Matthews). Surely the Lord expects us to learn the very points of His doctrine, and, as Brother Matthews points out, "the Book of Mormon is the principal means that he has provided to accomplish it." With a firm and sound understanding from the Book of Mormon (Sunday School course of study for 2008 and 2012), it will be possible for us to see the very points of His doctrine in the Old Testament (the Sunday School course of study for this year, 2010, and for 2014), as we use the Book of Mormon as a lens---or as a Urim and Thummim---through which to see the doctrine in the Old Testament more clearly. And that the doctrine of the Old Testament is the doctrine of Christ.
We seem a bit suspicious of the word "doctrine". My son-in-law, Barry, some years ago said to me, "Steve, when you speak of doctrine the Saints think you are speaking of some obscure passage back in Leviticus!" But the word "doctrine" is the right word. It evokes "the doctrine of Christ" as we see in the Book of Mormon, a book of plainness, and is the means of our learning of Him and coming unto Him. . . . There is no other way, for the Lord "doth not walk in crooked paths" and "it must needs be done in mine own way", for, He says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life". Why do you suppose it is called "the doctrine of Christ"?
If an engineer planned and built a bridge on the assumption that pi is 3.0, instead of 3.14159265, the bridge would not hold. The illustration holds true for the doctrines of the kingdom of God. It is a very point of true engineering to get the construction plan right. It is a very point of true doctrine to do the same with the gospel plan. . . . The word "sin" in Greek (New Testament)---hamartano---literally means "to miss the mark". . . . To miss the point, when it is given unto us, in scripture, in plainness, even as plain as word can be. But it has to be dug out, for it is deep, and the word "read" is in the same family as the word "riddle".
There is much to say to illustrate this important point. For now, it is worth considering that the truths of the scriptures are not easily available, that a price has to be paid, even by prophets, to get the truths of the gospel---the doctrines of the kingdom---so deep into our souls that they come out in our character, and in our countenances, and in our teaching. It is all a part of working out our salvation (see Philippians 2:12; also Alma 34:37), while relying wholly on the merits of Him who is mighty to save.
We have to pay the price to study and learn these things; none of them come to us automatically. For he who chops his own wood is twice warmed. And we don't want to end up stupid and cold, deprived of the fire of His Spirit.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
GIFTS: Undisputable evidence that we are in the Last Days . . .
. . . and that the scriptures are our only safety.
Some years ago (1977) Elder Boyd K. Packer (who turned 88 on Monday) spoke to seminary teachers about the origins of the seminary and institute programs of the Church.
President Wilford Woodruff in the 1890s had spoken of the need for such programs "to counter the effects of a Godless education."
Can you imagine him saying that in 1895!!!
Elder Packer: "These programs were started [in 1912] when they were nice but were not critically needed. They were granted a season to flourish and grow into a bulwark for the Church. They now become a godsend for the salvation of modern Israel in a most challenging hour. [Remember this is being spoken over a generation ago---1977.]
"We are now encircled. Our youth are in desperate jeopardy. These are the last days foreseen by prophets in ancient times.
"I will read one clear, descriptive, accurate prophecy, so old as to be ancient but so timely that evidence of every statement can be seen in today's news releases.
"'This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
"'For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents [can you imagine that being prophesied?], unthankful, unholy,
"'Without natural affection [we see a tidal wave of sexual perversion now sweeping in around us, to say nothing of the hideous specter of child abuse that now is becoming common even among our people], truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good.
"'Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
"'Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away.
"[When you think of what is happening in society today, the next verse has tremendous meaning.]
"'For of this sort are they which creep into houses [even the White House in the 1990s---and beyond?], and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
"'Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth' (2 Timothy 3:1--7, emphasis added).
Elder Packer continued:
"That prophetic description of our day is accurate. The evil circumstances it describes encircle every student you teach.
"While studying one day, I read to that point and sat pondering about all the evidence that now confirms every element in that prophecy. [See the link to the online Drudge Report back in the e-mail introducing this post.] There was a mood of very deep gloom and foreboding, a very ominous feeling of frustration, almost futility. I glanced down the page, and one word stood out, not accidently I think. I read it eagerly and then discovered that the apostle who had prophesied all of that trouble had included in the same discourse the immunization against all of it. Skipping a few verses, I will continue from the same chapter.
"'But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
"'But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;
"'And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to . . . .'"
Able to what? What are the scriptures able to do --- with surety and certainty, that no other source is able to do?
This has become a lengthy post. We'll end it here. Search 2 Timothy chapter 3 to finish the story and to find the true power in the scriptures, as testified by Paul to Timothy, and by Boyd, and by me.
Paul was Timothy's great mentor, almost as a father to him. That is clear from "continue thou in the things which thou hast learned . . . knowing of whom thou hast learned them."
We all need a mentor. A teacher, one on whom we can rely, and whom we can trust (see Mosiah 23:14). One of my main mentors and teachers has been Elder Packer himself. And Alison and I have both told him so in personal correspondence, to which he graciously replied, being the man of God that he is.
The point of all this: the Lord Jesus as found in the scriptures, not the Jesus of folklore and of our own invention, is the only answer to all the filth and nonsense encircling our youth and us today.
The link to today's Drudge Report is meant to confirm these references to news releases and prove Paul's --- and Boyd's --- point. . . .
God bless.
Steve
Some years ago (1977) Elder Boyd K. Packer (who turned 88 on Monday) spoke to seminary teachers about the origins of the seminary and institute programs of the Church.
President Wilford Woodruff in the 1890s had spoken of the need for such programs "to counter the effects of a Godless education."
Can you imagine him saying that in 1895!!!
Elder Packer: "These programs were started [in 1912] when they were nice but were not critically needed. They were granted a season to flourish and grow into a bulwark for the Church. They now become a godsend for the salvation of modern Israel in a most challenging hour. [Remember this is being spoken over a generation ago---1977.]
"We are now encircled. Our youth are in desperate jeopardy. These are the last days foreseen by prophets in ancient times.
"I will read one clear, descriptive, accurate prophecy, so old as to be ancient but so timely that evidence of every statement can be seen in today's news releases.
"'This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
"'For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents [can you imagine that being prophesied?], unthankful, unholy,
"'Without natural affection [we see a tidal wave of sexual perversion now sweeping in around us, to say nothing of the hideous specter of child abuse that now is becoming common even among our people], truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good.
"'Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
"'Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away.
"[When you think of what is happening in society today, the next verse has tremendous meaning.]
"'For of this sort are they which creep into houses [even the White House in the 1990s---and beyond?], and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
"'Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth' (2 Timothy 3:1--7, emphasis added).
Elder Packer continued:
"That prophetic description of our day is accurate. The evil circumstances it describes encircle every student you teach.
"While studying one day, I read to that point and sat pondering about all the evidence that now confirms every element in that prophecy. [See the link to the online Drudge Report back in the e-mail introducing this post.] There was a mood of very deep gloom and foreboding, a very ominous feeling of frustration, almost futility. I glanced down the page, and one word stood out, not accidently I think. I read it eagerly and then discovered that the apostle who had prophesied all of that trouble had included in the same discourse the immunization against all of it. Skipping a few verses, I will continue from the same chapter.
"'But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
"'But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;
"'And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to . . . .'"
Able to what? What are the scriptures able to do --- with surety and certainty, that no other source is able to do?
This has become a lengthy post. We'll end it here. Search 2 Timothy chapter 3 to finish the story and to find the true power in the scriptures, as testified by Paul to Timothy, and by Boyd, and by me.
Paul was Timothy's great mentor, almost as a father to him. That is clear from "continue thou in the things which thou hast learned . . . knowing of whom thou hast learned them."
We all need a mentor. A teacher, one on whom we can rely, and whom we can trust (see Mosiah 23:14). One of my main mentors and teachers has been Elder Packer himself. And Alison and I have both told him so in personal correspondence, to which he graciously replied, being the man of God that he is.
The point of all this: the Lord Jesus as found in the scriptures, not the Jesus of folklore and of our own invention, is the only answer to all the filth and nonsense encircling our youth and us today.
The link to today's Drudge Report is meant to confirm these references to news releases and prove Paul's --- and Boyd's --- point. . . .
God bless.
Steve
Thursday, September 6, 2012
GIFTS: The Rest of the Story: "HEAR YE HIM" in 3 Nephi chapter 11
Attending Education Week at BYU in late August 2009 Alison and I chose our lectures carefully. We were eager to learn good doctrine, less eager to hear secondary things. Brother Robert J. Matthews once said: "I do not want to be involved in secondary causes." We are with him, heart, mind, and soul.
It may come as news to many that there are any "secondary causes" in the gospel.
The whole restoration of the gospel is about superlatives --- about things that matter more than other things, indeed about the things that matter most. There is no democracy of truth. Some prophets (we say it respectfully, along with Elder McConkie) know more and have greater insight than others. No one has transcended in our day the Prophet Joseph Smith for doctrine, knowledge, intelligence, wisdom and insight. The celestial kingdom is higher and greater and more glorious than the terrestrial and the moon gives more light than the stars. The whole message of the Book of Hebrews is that Jesus Christ, and His Melchizedek priesthood power, is higher, greater, nobler, better, more glorious than the Aaronic, or any other power. The Lord Jesus Christ is "the greatest of all" in every sense you can conceive.
These facts are not easy to appreciate and receive in our politically correct culture, which maintains---both consciously and inadvertently---that all opinions are of equal worth. Not so, as we have shown here earlier. But even the Saints, you and I, are not immune from such false ideas and thinking.
Anyway, Alison and I were rewarded in our choices, for the most part. Especially in attending Wayne Brickey's presentations on 3 and 4 Nephi, which chapters we shall soon meet in our Sunday school lessons. I'll now share my notes from Brother Brickey. You'll see the point as you read on:
Heroic action in Greek mythology --- heroes return from odysseys, etc, with knowledge that they use to either bless or control others. Mormon does a masterful editing account of the Savior's visit. . . .
God's wrath is not an emotion, but an action. Savior's arrival to the Nephites comes in stages. . . . Keeping our word, our promises, our covenants is very important to God. . . . For Satan, important to exterminate the records as well as defile the people.
President Lorenzo Snow taught: manifold times increase of your power to counsel, teach, influence others in the spirit world --- they'll listen to you over there! . . . .
Cleansing temple "square" --- twice --- at Passover, Jesus essentially removed some 25,000 people from the area (equivalent to general conference crowd in the Conference Center). He had reasons to remove them. Purging is a necessary beginning to something wonderful. A necessary rebuilding of infrastructure --- physically and spiritually --- took place [PROFOUND!], and prepared them for His arrival (in 3 Nephi 11).
The Candle of the Lord, Elder Packer's great address on hearing the voice of the Lord - - - the sound of a candle burning can be heard --- sizzling --- very soft . . . . Howard W. Hunter's three most important words: "HEAR YE HIM!" to a young woman at a Young Adult convention when she asked him for the three most important words (hoping to hear, "I love you").
Later Jesus said to the Nephites: You've already heard more than you can digest --- go home and ponder it in your families. . . . The principle of companion study in Preach My Gospel [missionary prep manual]. . . . Family study is better than individual study. . . "BEHOLD!" = "Hold with your eyes the real picture --- focus --- SEE!"
Those are my notes from Brother Brickey's first lecture.
Do you see the context for "HEAR YE HIM" over "I love you"?
Two last thoughts: To the questioning Pontius Pilate the Lord Jesus said something important and relevant to our discussion here. John the Beloved's account says:
"Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.
"Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this [again, see the footnote, Pilate said it more than once], he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all."
Do you see it? Do you see the point? Do you understand that Every one that is of the truth heareth His voice? That "HEAR YE HIM" is a commandment, an invitation, an obligation, a blessing, and a judgment---all at the same time!
1 And now it came to pass that there were a great multitude agathered together, of the people of Nephi, round about the temple which was in the land bBountiful; and they were marveling and wondering one with another, and were showing one to another the cgreat and marvelous change which had taken place.
It may come as news to many that there are any "secondary causes" in the gospel.
The whole restoration of the gospel is about superlatives --- about things that matter more than other things, indeed about the things that matter most. There is no democracy of truth. Some prophets (we say it respectfully, along with Elder McConkie) know more and have greater insight than others. No one has transcended in our day the Prophet Joseph Smith for doctrine, knowledge, intelligence, wisdom and insight. The celestial kingdom is higher and greater and more glorious than the terrestrial and the moon gives more light than the stars. The whole message of the Book of Hebrews is that Jesus Christ, and His Melchizedek priesthood power, is higher, greater, nobler, better, more glorious than the Aaronic, or any other power. The Lord Jesus Christ is "the greatest of all" in every sense you can conceive.
These facts are not easy to appreciate and receive in our politically correct culture, which maintains---both consciously and inadvertently---that all opinions are of equal worth. Not so, as we have shown here earlier. But even the Saints, you and I, are not immune from such false ideas and thinking.
Anyway, Alison and I were rewarded in our choices, for the most part. Especially in attending Wayne Brickey's presentations on 3 and 4 Nephi, which chapters we shall soon meet in our Sunday school lessons. I'll now share my notes from Brother Brickey. You'll see the point as you read on:
Heroic action in Greek mythology --- heroes return from odysseys, etc, with knowledge that they use to either bless or control others. Mormon does a masterful editing account of the Savior's visit. . . .
God's wrath is not an emotion, but an action. Savior's arrival to the Nephites comes in stages. . . . Keeping our word, our promises, our covenants is very important to God. . . . For Satan, important to exterminate the records as well as defile the people.
President Lorenzo Snow taught: manifold times increase of your power to counsel, teach, influence others in the spirit world --- they'll listen to you over there! . . . .
Cleansing temple "square" --- twice --- at Passover, Jesus essentially removed some 25,000 people from the area (equivalent to general conference crowd in the Conference Center). He had reasons to remove them. Purging is a necessary beginning to something wonderful. A necessary rebuilding of infrastructure --- physically and spiritually --- took place [PROFOUND!], and prepared them for His arrival (in 3 Nephi 11).
The Candle of the Lord, Elder Packer's great address on hearing the voice of the Lord - - - the sound of a candle burning can be heard --- sizzling --- very soft . . . . Howard W. Hunter's three most important words: "HEAR YE HIM!" to a young woman at a Young Adult convention when she asked him for the three most important words (hoping to hear, "I love you").
Later Jesus said to the Nephites: You've already heard more than you can digest --- go home and ponder it in your families. . . . The principle of companion study in Preach My Gospel [missionary prep manual]. . . . Family study is better than individual study. . . "BEHOLD!" = "Hold with your eyes the real picture --- focus --- SEE!"
Those are my notes from Brother Brickey's first lecture.
Do you see the context for "HEAR YE HIM" over "I love you"?
Two last thoughts: To the questioning Pontius Pilate the Lord Jesus said something important and relevant to our discussion here. John the Beloved's account says:
"Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.
"Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this [again, see the footnote, Pilate said it more than once], he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all."
Do you see it? Do you see the point? Do you understand that Every one that is of the truth heareth His voice? That "HEAR YE HIM" is a commandment, an invitation, an obligation, a blessing, and a judgment---all at the same time!
1 And now it came to pass that there were a great multitude agathered together, of the people of Nephi, round about the temple which was in the land bBountiful; and they were marveling and wondering one with another, and were showing one to another the cgreat and marvelous change which had taken place.
2 And they were also conversing about this Jesus Christ, of whom the asign had been given concerning his death.
3 And it came to pass that while they were thus conversing one with another, they heard a avoice
as if it came out of heaven; and they cast their eyes round about, for
they understood not the voice which they heard; and it was not a harsh
voice, neither was it a loud voice; nevertheless, and notwithstanding it
being a bsmall voice it did cpierce
them that did hear to the center, insomuch that there was no part of
their frame that it did not cause to quake; yea, it did pierce them to
the very soul, and did cause their hearts to burn. [Think of the soft sizzling sound of the candle . . . .]
5 And again the third time they did hear the voice, and did aopen
their ears to hear it; and their eyes were towards the sound thereof;
and they did look steadfastly towards heaven, from whence the sound
came.
8 And it came to pass, as they understood they cast their eyes up again towards heaven; and behold, they asaw a Man bdescending
out of heaven; and he was clothed in a white robe; and he came down and
stood in the midst of them; and the eyes of the whole multitude were
turned upon him, and they durst not open their mouths, even one to
another, and wist not what it meant, for they thought it was an angel
that had appeared unto them.
11 And behold, I am the alight and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter bcup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in ctaking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the dwill of the Father in all things from the beginning.
12 And it came to pass that when Jesus had spoken these words the whole multitude afell to the earth; for they remembered that it had been bprophesied among them that Christ should cshow himself unto them after his ascension into heaven.
God bless us to see Him, to behold His voice, to seek after it, to HEAR YE HIM!
Steve
Friday, August 31, 2012
GIFTS: The Three Most Important Words --- a prophet's answer
The plan was to show you much sooner President Hunter's answer to the young woman's question on the three most important words.
The reason for the delay is a bit complex. I learned a lot from the responses you submitted. The main thing I learned is that you and I are on a different wavelength when it comes to the gospel, and on what's important.
Most of your responses were as gospel slogans, almost like advertisements or the political slogans we saw on placards at the Republican convention this week.
The young woman was actually looking for a prophet of God, President Hunter, to confirm her own "three most important words" --- I love you. I imagine she'd had a discussion with a friend or family member on the issue and she wanted a prophet to endorse her views. She left disappointed.
Some of you suggested "I love you." Most of you had Love as one of your three words, confirming the sad observation that love and service for most of us are the heart and core of the gospel message. Again it is clear: this is not a doctrinal era in the Church. We are miles away from understanding the prime place the doctrine of Christ should occupy in our thinking and teaching and testimonies. It is more than sad to me, it is depressing. As I say, I learned a lot from this little exercise, this informal survey.
There may be a tendency among us to think that each opinion is of equal value. Our democratic view of the gospel and the Church tends to lead to that errant conclusion. But what matters and what counts is the "opinion" of the Lord and His prophets. We seem to miss that vital point. We should cherish and treasure what they cherish and treasure. We must think like they do. That is what having "the mind of Christ" is all about (see 1 Corinthians 2:16). We have little hope of eternal life unless and until we do.
Some answers had real merit. "It is finished," for example, in reference to the Savior's last words on the cross. The key point in this is to know and have a deep understanding of what "it" is in this sentence.
"Feed my sheep" speaks well of someone's understanding of the plan and the increasingly urgent need to feed and nourish in our gospel classrooms and homes. So does "Ye must repent." "Love your neighbor" is more or less scriptural, at least, and "Keep my commandments" is getting closer.
Now we are not being contrary here in a sort of "guess-what's-on-my-mind" game, and "everyone-else's-answer-is-wrong-if-it-doesn't-match-mine" idea. That is childish and silly. No, as we said above, we must learn to think like the Lord and His prophets and be willing to bring our views into correspondence with theirs. This is what true worship is all about --- emulation of the Lord. This is the essence of salvation and of the true definition of eternal life, which is to know God and His ways enough to adopt them and make them our own, so that we Become. Like. Him.
"Ask in faith" . . . "Seek the Spirit" . . . "Search the scriptures" would be on the right path, wouldn't they? No one suggested them. What you mostly said was any tri-permutation of LOVE SERVICE OBEDIENCE ETERNITY HONESTY FORGIVE REMEMBER SERVE LOVE, LOVE, and LOVE.
Nothing much wrong with those words. They all have a place, even a place within the gospel. But it is not the prime place, and they certainly hardly qualify as the most important three words the Lord would have us cherish and obey.
President Hunter's three-word answer to the young woman appears uniquely in a Book of Mormon chapter we will soon "study" in Sunday School. A variation of it was spoken by the Father to Joseph in the Sacred Grove, when He introduced the Son to the boy-prophet. In all recorded sacred history we have only (by my count) forty-two words spoken by the Father Himself, and always to introduce His Beloved Son.
After this lengthy introduction the words themselves will likely be anti-climactic, if not a sure disappointment. But consider all we have said here. And contrast the young woman's disappointment at not hearing from the prophet, "I love you," with the joy the Nephites felt when they heard from the Father: "Hear ye Him," and the rapture in the bosom of the young farm boy in the Grove at, "Hear Him," meaning "Hear the words of my Son, your Savior!---He will now instruct you."
Those were the words in President Hunter's answer: Hear ye Him!
There is more to say on this. More to explain and to expound, to understand and make a part of ourselves.
But those are the words: Hear ye Him!
More soon.
Steve
The reason for the delay is a bit complex. I learned a lot from the responses you submitted. The main thing I learned is that you and I are on a different wavelength when it comes to the gospel, and on what's important.
Most of your responses were as gospel slogans, almost like advertisements or the political slogans we saw on placards at the Republican convention this week.
The young woman was actually looking for a prophet of God, President Hunter, to confirm her own "three most important words" --- I love you. I imagine she'd had a discussion with a friend or family member on the issue and she wanted a prophet to endorse her views. She left disappointed.
Some of you suggested "I love you." Most of you had Love as one of your three words, confirming the sad observation that love and service for most of us are the heart and core of the gospel message. Again it is clear: this is not a doctrinal era in the Church. We are miles away from understanding the prime place the doctrine of Christ should occupy in our thinking and teaching and testimonies. It is more than sad to me, it is depressing. As I say, I learned a lot from this little exercise, this informal survey.
There may be a tendency among us to think that each opinion is of equal value. Our democratic view of the gospel and the Church tends to lead to that errant conclusion. But what matters and what counts is the "opinion" of the Lord and His prophets. We seem to miss that vital point. We should cherish and treasure what they cherish and treasure. We must think like they do. That is what having "the mind of Christ" is all about (see 1 Corinthians 2:16). We have little hope of eternal life unless and until we do.
Some answers had real merit. "It is finished," for example, in reference to the Savior's last words on the cross. The key point in this is to know and have a deep understanding of what "it" is in this sentence.
"Feed my sheep" speaks well of someone's understanding of the plan and the increasingly urgent need to feed and nourish in our gospel classrooms and homes. So does "Ye must repent." "Love your neighbor" is more or less scriptural, at least, and "Keep my commandments" is getting closer.
Now we are not being contrary here in a sort of "guess-what's-on-my-mind" game, and "everyone-else's-answer-is-wrong-if-it-doesn't-match-mine" idea. That is childish and silly. No, as we said above, we must learn to think like the Lord and His prophets and be willing to bring our views into correspondence with theirs. This is what true worship is all about --- emulation of the Lord. This is the essence of salvation and of the true definition of eternal life, which is to know God and His ways enough to adopt them and make them our own, so that we Become. Like. Him.
"Ask in faith" . . . "Seek the Spirit" . . . "Search the scriptures" would be on the right path, wouldn't they? No one suggested them. What you mostly said was any tri-permutation of LOVE SERVICE OBEDIENCE ETERNITY HONESTY FORGIVE REMEMBER SERVE LOVE, LOVE, and LOVE.
Nothing much wrong with those words. They all have a place, even a place within the gospel. But it is not the prime place, and they certainly hardly qualify as the most important three words the Lord would have us cherish and obey.
President Hunter's three-word answer to the young woman appears uniquely in a Book of Mormon chapter we will soon "study" in Sunday School. A variation of it was spoken by the Father to Joseph in the Sacred Grove, when He introduced the Son to the boy-prophet. In all recorded sacred history we have only (by my count) forty-two words spoken by the Father Himself, and always to introduce His Beloved Son.
After this lengthy introduction the words themselves will likely be anti-climactic, if not a sure disappointment. But consider all we have said here. And contrast the young woman's disappointment at not hearing from the prophet, "I love you," with the joy the Nephites felt when they heard from the Father: "Hear ye Him," and the rapture in the bosom of the young farm boy in the Grove at, "Hear Him," meaning "Hear the words of my Son, your Savior!---He will now instruct you."
Those were the words in President Hunter's answer: Hear ye Him!
There is more to say on this. More to explain and to expound, to understand and make a part of ourselves.
But those are the words: Hear ye Him!
More soon.
Steve
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
GIFTS: The Three Most Important Words
A young woman once approached Howard W. Hunter, fourteenth President of the Church, and asked him what are the three most important words.
How would you answer that?
I am tempted to do two or three different things here. At first I planned to simply share President Hunter's answer with no, or little, comment. For his answer is profound, and can stand as a doctrinal insight by itself, especially in light of the answer the young woman was expecting.
Then I entertained the idea of asking you readers, my family and friends, to send me your answer. And then we could share and discuss and expound as we compare our answers with President Hunter's.
A third option would be to expound and explain and build up here the context to President Hunter's answer, so it would have the deep meaning we want to convey. Believe me, it is deep and profound. I wonder if you are ready for it? There is such a thing as learner readiness, which the Master Teacher, the Savior Himself, used to great effect.
Elder Packer once began a general conference talk in this way:
I am not deliberately being evasive here, or teasing you for no reason. I want this discussion to have meaning for you all, to have the same impact it had on me and Alison when we first heard this in an Education Week lecture at BYU three years ago tomorrow.
Having said all this, I'm now clear on how to proceed.
What are the three most important words for you?
Let me know --- in the middle of your busy schedule --- your pondered and reasoned response, would you? We'll give it a few days for your answers to come in, then we'll return and report.
There is something special in store --- Trust me.
As always,
Steve
P.S. Feel free --- even obliged(?!) --- to share this one with others. The more answers we have the better the discussion, in this case. Feel free to use the Comments box below for your answer, or send me a three-word e-mail reply. Thanks.
P.P.S. Happy Birthday, President Monson, 85 years old today!
How would you answer that?
I am tempted to do two or three different things here. At first I planned to simply share President Hunter's answer with no, or little, comment. For his answer is profound, and can stand as a doctrinal insight by itself, especially in light of the answer the young woman was expecting.
Then I entertained the idea of asking you readers, my family and friends, to send me your answer. And then we could share and discuss and expound as we compare our answers with President Hunter's.
A third option would be to expound and explain and build up here the context to President Hunter's answer, so it would have the deep meaning we want to convey. Believe me, it is deep and profound. I wonder if you are ready for it? There is such a thing as learner readiness, which the Master Teacher, the Savior Himself, used to great effect.
Elder Packer once began a general conference talk in this way:
"What I
shall say I could say much better if we were alone, just the two of us.
It would be easier also if we had come to know one another, and had that
kind of trust which makes it possible to talk of serious, even sacred
things.
"If
we were that close, because of the nature of what I shall say, I would
study you carefully as I spoke. If there should be the slightest
disinterest or distraction, the subject would quickly be changed to more
ordinary things.
"I have not, to my knowledge, in my ministry said anything more important."I am not deliberately being evasive here, or teasing you for no reason. I want this discussion to have meaning for you all, to have the same impact it had on me and Alison when we first heard this in an Education Week lecture at BYU three years ago tomorrow.
Having said all this, I'm now clear on how to proceed.
What are the three most important words for you?
Let me know --- in the middle of your busy schedule --- your pondered and reasoned response, would you? We'll give it a few days for your answers to come in, then we'll return and report.
There is something special in store --- Trust me.
As always,
Steve
P.S. Feel free --- even obliged(?!) --- to share this one with others. The more answers we have the better the discussion, in this case. Feel free to use the Comments box below for your answer, or send me a three-word e-mail reply. Thanks.
P.P.S. Happy Birthday, President Monson, 85 years old today!
Monday, July 30, 2012
GIFTS> QQ: Quick Quotes on Current Stuff
- "DEMOCRACY is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote" --- Benjamin Franklin.
- In a speech in the House of Commons on 11 November 1947, Winston Churchill said:
"No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."
- "Redistribution of wealth is essential for true democracy" --- Dolores Huerta, Leftist activist and socialist who coined the phrase, "si, se puede" ("yes, we can"). She was given the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, at the White House on 29 May 2012. This helps explain the Obama agenda as given to Joe the Plumber in Ohio before the 2008 election.
- "The welfare of America is intimately connected with the happiness of all mankind" --- Marquis de Lafayette.
- "The Constitution is not an instrument for the Government to restrain the People! It is an instrument for the People to restrain the Government --- lest it come to dominate our lives and interests" --- Patrick Henry.
- "It is error alone which needs the support of Government. Truth can stand by itself" --- Thomas Jefferson, 1781.
- "There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily" --- George Washington, 31 July 1795.
- "Why are you fighting so hard against the Germans?" asked Lady Astor. "If we stop, you'll find out," replied Winston Churchill.
- Ronald Reagan's definition of compromise: "We win, they lose."
- "'Do not murder.' If people lived by this commandment alone, the world would enter a heavenly state. At the same time, the commandment has been widely misunderstood. The Hebrew original [in the Ten Commandments] prohibits murder, not killing. By mistranslating the Hebrew as 'Do not kill,' too many modern Westerners have been taught that pacifism is moral and noble. It is neither. It is an accessory to murder, since it prevents pacifists from doing the only thing that stops mass murder---killing the murderers. The Nazi death camps were liberated by soldiers whose job was to kill murderers, not by pacifists or 'peace-activists'" --- Dennis Prager, 17 August 2011.
- "War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse" --- John Stuart Mill. These views may seem controversial, but not to warriors in the Book of Mormon, nor to Nephi.
- "If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence. If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel" --- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
- "I didn't get old on purpose, it just happened. If you're lucky, it could happen to you" --- Andy Rooney.
- "VEGETARIAN: that's an old Indian word meaning 'lousy hunter'" --- Andy Rooney.
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Sabbathought: The vital truth nobody knows
Hugh Nibley used to refer to the Book of Mormon as "the book nobody knows."
A prophet wrote: "There is none that doeth good, no, not one" (Romans 3:12).
The Lord said: "None doeth good, for all have gone out of the way" (D&C 82:6). See also Psalms 14:1--3; 53:1--3; D&C 1:16; 84:49--53-->61. You get the impression from holy scripture that the Lord is not as impressed with natural man as the natural man is with himself. The Lord is very aware of the vast gulf between Him and fallen man. That gulf can be bridged, on His terms --- through prayer . . . through the ordinances (see Luke 16 with the rich man and Lazarus), through the covenants, through obedience. But His terms are strict and right and holy, conditional and non-negotiable.
So what of our title here today? What is the "vital truth nobody knows"?
The vital truth nobody knows is agency.
There is a book, published eight years ago, titled "Understanding the Power God Gives Us: What Agency Really Means". In it the author explains that agency is the power to act, NOT merely the power to choose. Most of us are under the false idea that agency is the power to choose. That is why agency is the truth, the doctrine that nobody knows.
The author states: "Without agency, no other part of the gospel can exist. As a gift of God it ranks with life itself, for without it, life has no meaning."
We often say that the issue of the war in heaven, the problem we fought over there, and which continues here in mortality, was agency, "free agency" we wrongly say. Whether we would be free in this life and not forced or compelled or coerced. There is serious error here.
The central issue of the war in heaven was, and is here in mortality, becoming like God. The issue of agency represents the means to become like Him. Becoming like our God can only be achieved through agency, the correct understanding of agency, and the correct application of agency.
Again, we see the importance of using "the right words," as we have said before --- the words of the scriptures. We would save ourselves a lot of anguish, error, time and trouble if we did so.
The term "free agency" is nowhere to be found in scripture.
Free agency is a term most commonly used in sports. When a player is no longer under contract to his team, he is free to negotiate another contract, on more favorable terms, with any team he chooses. This is usually true for an unrestricted "free agent."
Family and friends, we are not "free agents" in anything like this sense. We are under contract, under obligation, under covenant to our Lord and God. Would we prefer to renegotiate the terms---the generous terms---of that covenant contract?
From the book we referred to above: "I do not remember whether it was in church or from my buddies that I learned about the principle called 'free agency,' which was explained to me as my right to choose what I would and would not do. I do remember, however, trying out this new doctrine on my father. When the next Sunday morning rolled around, I innocently asked, 'Dad, do I have agency?'
"'Certainly, son,' came the answer.
"'Then I am going to exercise my agency and stay home from church today,' I announced.
"'Son,' he said, 'in this home you have your agency. That means you can choose to go to church willingly or unwillingly, but you are going to church.' Then he added, 'Now, get your coat on, or you are going to be late.'"
In another source recounting this instructive story, Joseph McConkie---for the author is he---wrote, "I wanted to be in church. I just didn't know at that young age that was what I wanted. And the only way I would know I really wanted to be in church was to be in church."
The father in the story---Bruce R. McConkie---said the definition of agency is to do it willingly, or do it anyway. This story perfectly illustrates the doctrine of agency.
I am not aware of another book anywhere that explains the scriptural doctrine of agency, with the "free-to-choose" principle taught by Lehi (see 2 Nephi 2), nearly as well as this book by Joseph McConkie. Like his Dad, he has a remarkable gift for knowing and explaining doctrine, especially the doctrines "nobody knows."
Here is his summary of this vital truth that nobody knows:
We have no right to do wrong.
That is the essence of the doctrine of agency. It is all about doing, about doing right. Doing wrong is acting in the absence of agency, action in a dark hole, as it were. When agency is in the light and keeps us in the light as we act right. Act, action, active, actual, --- all words we get from the root word agency or agent. All we need to do to abandon or negate our agency is not to act in righteousness, not to do right, not "to go to church," as we see from the story above.
Through the doing, the exercising, the proper acting out of our agency we find ourselves imitating our God, and, after much practice and deliberate disciplined persistence, we'll find ourselves measurably like Him. That is what salvation and eternal life are all about.
This is well explained, along with the consequences, in this well-known, but perhaps not fully understood, revelation from the Lord. Let's see if the above explanation gives new life and meaning to these verses:
"For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward [even if he ends up obeying the compulsion!].
"Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;
"For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward.
"But he that doeth not anything until he is commanded, and receiveth a commandment with doubtful heart, and keepeth it with slothfulness, the same is damned."
We usually stop there. But read on . . . . Next verse:--
"Who am I that made man, saith the Lord, that will hold him guiltless that obeys not my commandments?
"Who am I, saith the Lord, that have promised and have not fulfilled?
"I command and men obey not; I revoke and they receive not the blessing.
"Then they say in their hearts: This is not the work of the Lord, for his promises are not fulfilled. But wo unto such, for their reward lurketh beneath, and not from above."
Did we mention strict? . . . On His terms, not our negotiated terms?
You see, He well remembers our premortal estate. And He acts accordingly. No renegotiation. He is true to the agreements and covenants, and to the council that decided these things there:
"Behold, here is the agency of man, and here is the condemnation of man; because that which was from the beginning is plainly manifest unto them, and they receive not the light."
When our friend Jack spoke with writers in the Church Curriculum Department recently about the priesthood and Relief Society manuals on the teachings of past Church Presidents (George Albert Smith currently), Jack was informed that the curriculum writers were told to leave the quotes exactly as they came from the Church President, with one exception:
President Packer gave strict and clear guidelines to remove the word "free" whenever "free agency" was encountered.
It is not free agency. It is moral agency (see D&C 101:78), which points to our obligation, to our covenants, to the eternal plan.
We are getting better at this work. Slowly but surely. We stand on the shoulders of the giants of the past and we see further, and more clearly. At least we hope we do. That is what they wished for us. There is still a long way to go.
God bless.
Steve
A prophet wrote: "There is none that doeth good, no, not one" (Romans 3:12).
The Lord said: "None doeth good, for all have gone out of the way" (D&C 82:6). See also Psalms 14:1--3; 53:1--3; D&C 1:16; 84:49--53-->61. You get the impression from holy scripture that the Lord is not as impressed with natural man as the natural man is with himself. The Lord is very aware of the vast gulf between Him and fallen man. That gulf can be bridged, on His terms --- through prayer . . . through the ordinances (see Luke 16 with the rich man and Lazarus), through the covenants, through obedience. But His terms are strict and right and holy, conditional and non-negotiable.
So what of our title here today? What is the "vital truth nobody knows"?
The vital truth nobody knows is agency.
There is a book, published eight years ago, titled "Understanding the Power God Gives Us: What Agency Really Means". In it the author explains that agency is the power to act, NOT merely the power to choose. Most of us are under the false idea that agency is the power to choose. That is why agency is the truth, the doctrine that nobody knows.
The author states: "Without agency, no other part of the gospel can exist. As a gift of God it ranks with life itself, for without it, life has no meaning."
We often say that the issue of the war in heaven, the problem we fought over there, and which continues here in mortality, was agency, "free agency" we wrongly say. Whether we would be free in this life and not forced or compelled or coerced. There is serious error here.
The central issue of the war in heaven was, and is here in mortality, becoming like God. The issue of agency represents the means to become like Him. Becoming like our God can only be achieved through agency, the correct understanding of agency, and the correct application of agency.
Again, we see the importance of using "the right words," as we have said before --- the words of the scriptures. We would save ourselves a lot of anguish, error, time and trouble if we did so.
The term "free agency" is nowhere to be found in scripture.
Free agency is a term most commonly used in sports. When a player is no longer under contract to his team, he is free to negotiate another contract, on more favorable terms, with any team he chooses. This is usually true for an unrestricted "free agent."
Family and friends, we are not "free agents" in anything like this sense. We are under contract, under obligation, under covenant to our Lord and God. Would we prefer to renegotiate the terms---the generous terms---of that covenant contract?
From the book we referred to above: "I do not remember whether it was in church or from my buddies that I learned about the principle called 'free agency,' which was explained to me as my right to choose what I would and would not do. I do remember, however, trying out this new doctrine on my father. When the next Sunday morning rolled around, I innocently asked, 'Dad, do I have agency?'
"'Certainly, son,' came the answer.
"'Then I am going to exercise my agency and stay home from church today,' I announced.
"'Son,' he said, 'in this home you have your agency. That means you can choose to go to church willingly or unwillingly, but you are going to church.' Then he added, 'Now, get your coat on, or you are going to be late.'"
In another source recounting this instructive story, Joseph McConkie---for the author is he---wrote, "I wanted to be in church. I just didn't know at that young age that was what I wanted. And the only way I would know I really wanted to be in church was to be in church."
The father in the story---Bruce R. McConkie---said the definition of agency is to do it willingly, or do it anyway. This story perfectly illustrates the doctrine of agency.
I am not aware of another book anywhere that explains the scriptural doctrine of agency, with the "free-to-choose" principle taught by Lehi (see 2 Nephi 2), nearly as well as this book by Joseph McConkie. Like his Dad, he has a remarkable gift for knowing and explaining doctrine, especially the doctrines "nobody knows."
Here is his summary of this vital truth that nobody knows:
We have no right to do wrong.
That is the essence of the doctrine of agency. It is all about doing, about doing right. Doing wrong is acting in the absence of agency, action in a dark hole, as it were. When agency is in the light and keeps us in the light as we act right. Act, action, active, actual, --- all words we get from the root word agency or agent. All we need to do to abandon or negate our agency is not to act in righteousness, not to do right, not "to go to church," as we see from the story above.
Through the doing, the exercising, the proper acting out of our agency we find ourselves imitating our God, and, after much practice and deliberate disciplined persistence, we'll find ourselves measurably like Him. That is what salvation and eternal life are all about.
This is well explained, along with the consequences, in this well-known, but perhaps not fully understood, revelation from the Lord. Let's see if the above explanation gives new life and meaning to these verses:
"For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward [even if he ends up obeying the compulsion!].
"Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;
"For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward.
"But he that doeth not anything until he is commanded, and receiveth a commandment with doubtful heart, and keepeth it with slothfulness, the same is damned."
We usually stop there. But read on . . . . Next verse:--
"Who am I that made man, saith the Lord, that will hold him guiltless that obeys not my commandments?
"Who am I, saith the Lord, that have promised and have not fulfilled?
"I command and men obey not; I revoke and they receive not the blessing.
"Then they say in their hearts: This is not the work of the Lord, for his promises are not fulfilled. But wo unto such, for their reward lurketh beneath, and not from above."
Did we mention strict? . . . On His terms, not our negotiated terms?
You see, He well remembers our premortal estate. And He acts accordingly. No renegotiation. He is true to the agreements and covenants, and to the council that decided these things there:
"Behold, here is the agency of man, and here is the condemnation of man; because that which was from the beginning is plainly manifest unto them, and they receive not the light."
When our friend Jack spoke with writers in the Church Curriculum Department recently about the priesthood and Relief Society manuals on the teachings of past Church Presidents (George Albert Smith currently), Jack was informed that the curriculum writers were told to leave the quotes exactly as they came from the Church President, with one exception:
President Packer gave strict and clear guidelines to remove the word "free" whenever "free agency" was encountered.
It is not free agency. It is moral agency (see D&C 101:78), which points to our obligation, to our covenants, to the eternal plan.
We are getting better at this work. Slowly but surely. We stand on the shoulders of the giants of the past and we see further, and more clearly. At least we hope we do. That is what they wished for us. There is still a long way to go.
God bless.
Steve
Monday, July 16, 2012
QQQ: 14 Quick Quotes
- "Truth will cut its own way"---Joseph Smith.
- "Truth will prevail" ---sign on a political banner in the Market Square in Preston, England, the day Heber C. Kimball and his companions arrived to start the gospel work in Great Britain.
- "Time is always on the side of truth" --- Ezra Taft Benson.
- "Truth can stand by itself"---Thomas Jefferson.
- "When you want to help people, you tell them the truth. When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear."---Thomas Sowell.
- "Any time we declare something to be true we challenge that which is untrue. . . . Truth is more important than harmony. . . . If we are to be a Christlike people we must value truth above life itself.---Joseph Fielding McConkie.
- "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life"---John 14:6.
- "And truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come."---D&C 93:24.
- ". . . for the Spirit speaketh the truth and lieth not. Wherefore, it speaketh of things as they really are, and of things as they really will be; wherefore, these things are manifested unto us plainly, for the salvation of our souls."---Jacob 4:13.
- "Truth makes philosophy unnecessary." Adam S. Bennion.
- "Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?"---Paul in Galatians 4:16.
- ". . . wherefore, the guilty taketh the truth to be hard, for it cutteth them to the very center."---1 Nephi 16:2.
- "The truth is the truth; and neither childish absurdities nor unscrupulous contradictions can make it otherwise. The Earth would still move around the Sun, though the whole Catholic church said no."---Charles Dickens.
- "Do not say that I have spoken hard things against you; for if ye do, ye will revile against the truth; for I have spoken the words of your Maker. I know that the words of truth are hard against all uncleanness; but the righteous fear them not, for they love the truth and are not shaken." Jacob in 2 Nephi 9:40.
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