We often speak of having the Spirit, or losing it. This can create the impression that the Spirit is like a light switch that only turns on or off, all or nothing.
The Holy Ghost is a personage, a member of the Godhead. But the scriptures speak of receiving “a portion” of the Spirit. While the Holy Ghost has an indivisible spirit body, the emanating influence of the Spirit is given by degrees. When we say “portion,” we are talking about how much we are getting at this moment of that radiating influence, light, power, glory, or whatever you want to call it, emanating from the presence of God.
“…Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.”
“And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so” (2 Kings 2:9). Elisha did see him taken up into heaven in a whirlwind by a “chariot of fire,” so he got what he asked for. The Spirit is given to us by degrees, or in “portions,” that can become stronger or weaker.
Context in the scriptures helps us know whether we are reading about the personage of the Holy Spirit, or the influence of the Spirit.
Receive
At confirmation, each new member of the Church of Jesus Christ hears this instruction: “Receive the Holy Ghost.” This is not a passive statement; it is a commandment. Since the Spirit can be received in greater and greater portions, keeping this commandment describes a life-long pursuit.
It can be difficult to receive, hear, or feel the Holy Spirit. Forces inside and outside us can drive that sweet influence away. We are familiar with the list of things we should repent of in order to avoid offending the Spirit. What can we do besides omitting those bad things to receive the Spirit more fully?
Jesus told Nicodemus, “The wind (i.e. the Spirit) bloweth where it listeth…” (John 3:8). We cannot control the weather, or force the Spirit. If we want the Spirit, we need to go where it leads.
D&C 82:10 assures us, “I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say…” There are instructions of how to receive the Holy Ghost in the scriptures. If we follow these rules, He will bless us with it.
The Sunday School Answers
There is a list of Dos, standing opposite of the long list of Don’ts, that every Latter-day Saint can recite. “How can we _______?” the Sunday school teacher will ask. The class will immediately blurt out something like the following list: “Keep the commandments, attend church meetings, fulfill our callings, pay our tithes, attend the Temple, study the scriptures, pray…” and several other things. (Fasting never comes up for some reason.) We may smirk, but we also agree. What do these all-purpose “answers” to our spiritual problems all have in common?
My first mission president gave each of his missionaries a sticker to put in the front cover of our scriptures: “7 Ways to Invite The Spirit: -Prayer (D&C 136:29:32) -Use the Scriptures (Alma 31:5) -Testify (2 Nephi 33:1) -Use Music (D&C 25:12) -Express Love & Gratitude to God (Mor. 7:47) -Share Spiritual Experiences (Luke 10:25-37) -Perform Priesthood Ordinances (D&C 84:20).”
This list sounds a lot like the generic Sunday school answers. Everything on either list invites the Spirit to be with us. We do these things to feel the Spirit.
“What if I’m already doing them?”
“Do them even more” is the stock answer. These things are good, but we may be omitting some other important ways to keep the commandment to receive the Spirit.
The scriptures use superlatives and extreme language to describe some ways we can receive the Holy Ghost. Instead of simply “feeling” the Spirit, we read about intense “always,” “fire,” “fulness,” and being “filled.”
Always
Each week in sacrament meeting, we are told that if we are
1. Willing to take upon us the name of Christ
2. Willing to always remember Him
3. Willing to keep His commandments
then we may ALWAYS have His Spirit to be with us.
“Always” (permanently) having His Spirit with us is critical to keeping the commandment to “receive the Holy Ghost.” “Willing” describes the internal attitude required of us to have that great blessing. A heart and mind willing to do things God’s way is ready to receive the Spirit.
What was Jesus Christ’s special gift? He announced in the synagogue that He was the Messiah by reading Isaiah 61:1-2 and then interpreting it: “The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me…” He enjoyed a fullness of the Spirit.
“None ever were perfect but Jesus; and why was He perfect? Because He was the Son of God, and had the fullness of the Spirit…” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 187-188). When we speak of trying to be like Jesus, what we are saying is that we also want to enjoy a fulness of the Holy Ghost, that radiating influence, in us. We take His name onto ourselves in order to claim a portion of the Spirit closer to what He enjoyed in mortality.
The promise is, with this constant memory of the Savior and being ready to try again when we fail, and being willing to take His name onto ourselves and obey Him, we will always have His Spirit to be with us.
Fire
The voice of Jesus came to the Nephites in the darkness after the great destruction in the Book of Mormon, imploring: “O all ye that are spared because ye were more righteous than they, will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?” (3Ne. 9:13). He then began to explain their role in that process.
“And ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, him will I baptize with fire and with the Holy Ghost…” (3Ne. 9:20).
This is intense language—“baptize with fire and with the Holy Ghost.” Baptized means immersed, completely covered. He tells them this happened to “the Lamanites, because of their faith in [Him] at the time of their conversion…and they knew it not.”
We often associate the Holy Ghost with extreme feelings and emotionalism, but these people were spiritually born again, experiencing the mighty change of heart, without even knowing it. Perhaps we need sensitivity to it the Spirit as much as we need an increased portion of it.
This combination of coming to Jesus, with faith in Him, and deep humility (a “broken heart and a contrite spirit”) is a prerequisite for receiving the Spirit to the degree that we are born again. Our portion of the Spirit is proportional to the depth of our humility.
Fullness
Attending the Temple is on the list we spontaneously recite in Sunday school, but it also belongs to the extreme-description category.
D&C 109 was received by revelation and read by Joseph Smith as the dedicatory prayer for the Kirtland Temple. It lists some of the purposes of the House of the Lord, including the following: “…that they may grow up in thee, and receive a fulness of the Holy Ghost…” (v. 15).
The Temple is a place to serve selflessly, but there are rewards. We get to soak in the Spirit (to borrow Elder Bednar’s pickle imagery). There is great spiritual power and protection that comes to us as we participate in all aspects of Temple work.
D&C 109 also says “…that all people who shall enter upon the threshold of the Lord’s house may feel thy power, and feel constrained to acknowledge that thou hast sanctified it, and that it is thy house, a place of thy holiness” (v. 13). The visual impact of the elegant décor is small compared with the sublime spiritual feelings we can experience there. Entering the Temple is like moving from the tepid shallows on the riverbank to the center of the river—all things spiritual are accelerated there.
The Light of the Body
Our physical bodies allow us to receive a greater portion of the Spirit. Jesus Christ is “the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (John 1:9). Everyone with a body has something extra—the light of Christ—during their mortal journey.
Keeping the Word of Wisdom helps us to receive revelation because our bodies, when healthy and free from sin, allow our spirits to enjoy a greater portion of light. “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light” (Matt: 6:22). We learn in D&C 88 that our bodies are currently being quickened by a portion (a part) of the full glory we will enjoy in the resurrection:
“They who are of a celestial spirit (right now) shall receive the same body which was a natural body (during the resurrection); even ye shall receive your bodies, and your glory shall be that glory by which your bodies are (currently) quickened” (v. 27-28).
Our bodies gather that light that emanates from God. The more obedient we are, the more light our bodies receive and communicate to our spirits.
“All beings who have bodies have power over those who have not,” and, “The great principle of happiness consists in having a body” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 181). A body does more than we can understand now, in terms of accelerating our happiness. Those in the spirit world look “upon the long absence of their spirits from their bodies as a bondage” (D&C 138:50, D&C 45:17).
If our behavior is not celestial, then we receive a lesser portion.
“Ye who are (now) quickened by a portion of the celestial glory shall then receive of the same, even a fulness” (D&C 88:29).
But there is more to it than being healthy.
Section 88 compares us mortals and our trajectory through eternity with the earth’s past, present, and future:
“For after [the earth] hath filled the measure of its creation, it shall be crowned with glory…”
“…the earth abideth the law of a celestial kingdom, for it filleth the measure of its creation…
“Wherefore, it shall be sanctified; yea, notwithstanding it shall die, it shall be quickened again, and shall abide the power by which it is (currently) quickened, and the righteous shall inherit it” (D&C 88:19, 25-26).
What is true of the earth also applies to us:
“For notwithstanding they die, they also shall rise again, a spiritual body.
“They who are of a celestial spirit shall receive the same body which was a natural body; even ye shall receive your bodies, and your glory shall be that glory by which your bodies are quickened.
“Ye who are (now) quickened by a portion of the celestial glory shall then receive of the same, even a fulness” (D&C 88:27-30). When we use our bodies to accomplish God’s intended ends (whatever they are for us individually) we get an increased portion of celestial glory here and now.
The earth is fulfilling the measure of its creation by bringing forth life; our physical bodies have the capacity to bring forth life also. As Spirits, we could do anything we can do now, as far as talents and abilities go, but we could not beget children of our own. We now have that capacity in this life. When we create and nurture families we are given a greater portion of the Spirit.
Fulfilling the measure of our creation might also include individual assignments, things that apply to us and no one else.
Filled
We are meant to be in the world, but not of it: “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil” (John 17:15). I still sympathize with monks and nuns who retreat from the world to seek pure simplicity.
Jesus said, “Blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost” (3Ne. 12:6). “Filled” is another superlative—you cannot be more than full.
Esau was hungry, and sold his birthright (the claim to his priesthood) for a bowl of soup. It is easy to trade eternal for temporal in a moment of weakness. Yet we can be miserable and wealthy simultaneously. Hearts set on the things of this world experience disappointment sooner or later.
Our spirits get homesick, yearning for our heavenly home. We can smother this feeling with noise and sin, if we choose. But flashy technological gizmos cannot cover it completely. But those who hunger and thirst after righteousness will be filled with the Holy Ghost.
The things we cannot touch or buy are the things we need most. The fruits of the Spirit are peace, love, joy, and knowledge, the abundant life. The Lord tells us, through strong language in the scriptures, the way to receive what Elisha asked for—a greater portion of His Spirit.
Thursday, April 30, 2015
Monday, April 13, 2015
Holy
Examining the origin of a scriptural term can shed light on the gospel, on what we are supposed to be feeling and thinking and doing.
We Latter-day Saints usually understand “holy” to mean “without spot.” (This can also lead us to think in terms of comparison, “holier than,” which can be unpleasant.) Moral or ritual cleanliness is part of its meaning, but there is more.
The word translated as “holy” in English is usually the Hebrew word ka-DOSH. It does refer to purity, but it also means “set apart.”
We Latter-day Saints usually understand “holy” to mean “without spot.” (This can also lead us to think in terms of comparison, “holier than,” which can be unpleasant.) Moral or ritual cleanliness is part of its meaning, but there is more.
The word translated as “holy” in English is usually the Hebrew word ka-DOSH. It does refer to purity, but it also means “set apart.”
Some analogies can help illustrate the other meaning of the word we miss out on in common usage:
When do we pull out the genuine silver and expensive China for a meal? When there are important visitors or events. Those dishes are set apart, designated for special use only. A child digging in the garden with a regular fork or spoon may get leniency; to find the same child using Grandma’s silver ladle to dig up dirt is a capital offense. Those dishes are kept under lock and key; they are designated for certain important occasions, and nothing else.
A bullet might roll around in the back of a truck, or sit in a pocket, or gather dust on a shelf; it might spend a week quietly waiting inside a gun. But once the gun is aimed and fired, that bullet is committed to its target, a two-inch circle hundreds of yards down the firing range. It is thoroughly dedicated to that target, and nothing else. Before the bullet is fired, it has many possible targets; after the bullet is fired, it is committed, dedicated, to one specific purpose.
The limited, selective use of those special dishes, or the trajectory of the bullet, parallels the fuller meaning of the word “holy.” Something holy is committed, designated, devoted, or dedicated for specific use or special purposes, and to nothing else.
Holiest of All
In Isaiah 6:3, we read of Isaiah seeing heavenly beings, seraphs, flying around the throne of God and chanting: “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts…” In Hebrew, using an adjective more than once intensifies it. But to use a word three times in a row turns it into a superlative: “holiest.” God is holiest, they are saying—more so than all others.
Though it does not use the word, 2Ne. 26:24 is telling us about His commitment, or holiness: “He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world…” This implies great focus. We and our salvation are His targets, what He is committed to: “For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39).
Can we comprehend just how committed the Lord is to our salvation? If He merely liked us, our immediate comfort and convenience would be the extent of His actions towards us. But He loves us and is committed to making us like Him, and therefore the circumstances He will put us through can become extreme.
Jesus was not spared the extremes during His mortal probation, either. “The Son of Man hath descended below them all” (D&C 122:8). But He did not balk: “…for I do always those things that please [the Father]” (John 8:29). He wanted to always do God’s will. “Jesus said unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work” (John 4:34). He rejoiced in obedience the way we do in breakfast, lunch and dinner.
“…God doth not walk in crooked paths, neither doth he turn to the right hand nor to the left, neither doth he vary…therefore his paths are straight, and his course is one eternal round” (D&C 3:2). How can His course be straight AND round? If you walk in a straight line on the surface of a globe long enough, you eventually get back to where you started. The Lord probably works in cycles and periods and eons that repeat. Seen from above, a hoop looks like a circle; seen from its edge, it is a straight line.
The Lord’s consistency and reliability take some uncertainty out of life. Nephi explains, “For he is the same yesterday, today, and forever; and the way is prepared for all men from the foundation of the world, if it so be that they repent and come unto him.
“For he that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost, as well as in these times as in times of old, and as well in times of old as in times to come; wherefore, the course of the Lord is one eternal round” (1Ne. 10:18-19).
Nephi describes the dedicated-style holiness of the Savior: “He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world…” (2Ne. 26:24). What, no hobbies? It can be hard to imagine God loving what He has committed to do when our lives often consist of fulfilling unpleasant commitments while longing to go out and play. (Is merging “have to” with “want to” true success?) In any case, the opposite of holy is not just dirty; the opposite of holy is distracted, ambivalent, hesitating, scatter-brained, lacking focus, or “For Generic Use.”
Like Jesus
We talk about becoming like our Savior; that does not just mean clean, free from sin; it also includes being fully committed to doing what we can of the Father’s work. One of the happiest verses in all scripture is D&C 60:7. The Lord tells us, “For I am able to make you holy…” Alma the Younger and the sons of Mosiah are great examples of this. They were the “the very vilest of sinners” (Mosiah 28:4), but the Lord made them into the greatest of missionaries.
He said, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest…
“For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matt 11:28, 30).
The Lord can change our hearts to be more like His. The more committed-holy we choose to make our hearts, the more spotless-holy He will make us.
“…thou shalt lay aside the things of this world, and seek for the things of a better” (D&C 25:10). The things of a better world also require work and seeking to obtain, but testimony and knowledge and covenants are much more portable and durable than the treasures of the earth. We can even carry them into the next world.
It is easy to confuse frantic “multitasking,” scurrying from one chore to the next, with virtue. But being busy is not necessarily the same as being holy.
“…sad to say, we even wear our busyness as a badge of honor, as though being busy, by itself, was an accomplishment or sign of a superior life.
“Is it?
“I think of our Lord and Exemplar, Jesus Christ, and His short life among the people of Galilee and Jerusalem. I have tried to imagine Him bustling between meetings or multitasking to get a list of urgent things done.
“I can’t see it.
“Instead I see the compassionate and caring Son of God purposefully living each day” (President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Of Regrets and Resolutions, October 2012 General Conference).
Our time on earth is short. We have an infinite number of options in this life; the biggest limiting factor is time. Everything is available to us, but we only have time to pursue a few things effectively. Our choices in this life expose our true character, where our hearts really are.
God told Moses, in essence, “I AM God, YOU ARE Moses—this is what I do; here is your assignment.” He then explained part of Moses’ purposes and mission on earth: “…and thou shalt be made stronger than many waters; for they shall obey thy command as if thou wert God” (Moses 1:25).
Each of us has unique combinations of gifts, and a unique mission to fulfill here on earth. Not all talents are glamorous. We may have agreed premortally to deploy talents here that we have not yet even considered. We should make certain we are not like that precious silver ladle that gets used as a shovel in the garden. We should find out how the Lord prefers us to use our gifts.
Like Jehovah
The Ten Commandments still get modern respect as the foundation to our faith (and stable civilizations), but how often do we notice the thesis statement, the reason for the rules the Lord hands to Moses? “Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me…
“And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation” (Ex. 19:5-6). Prudery is not the reason behind the Law of Moses. Israel was meant to be set apart, peculiar, different from the rest of the world.
The rules do not just focus on outward behaviors. The Lord wanted to make Israel like Him in feeling, too:
“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
“Speak unto all…say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy” (Lev. 19:1-2). In other words, everyone needs to be like God.
“…if ye offer a sacrifice of peace offerings…ye shall offer it at your own will” (v. 5). We are to be sincere, authentic, and genuine in worship. God’s love for us is real; we should return real love, “without compulsory means.” Gifts given grudgingly are counted evil.
“And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest” (v. 9). Why are they to be inefficient, and leave some fruits and grains behind in the field?
“…thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the Lord your God” (v. 10). Ancient Israelites were supposed to leave something behind for anyone who wanted it, especially the poor. And the Lord reminds us that this is who He is by signing the verse: “I am the Lord your God.” He is generous with us; we should be generous to others.
“Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumblingblock before the blind, but shalt fear thy God: I am the Lord” (v. 14). We are not to take advantage of the disadvantaged, for sport or otherwise. We are to respect others’ handicaps as God respects our weaknesses.
“…thou shalt not respect (show favoritism to) the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor” (v. 15). Money or social status or outward beauty (or their lack) should not dictate our respect towards others; we should base our opinions on a person’s character.
“Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart…
“Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge…but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord” (v.17, 18). We can reprove another’s behavior when prompted by the Spirit, but we are not to harbor silent bad feelings or contempt towards anyone—this makes us more holy, more like God.
This is all part of the Law of Moses. God has treated us, His begging children, well; we are to treat others the way He has treated us, with the same indulgent, fatherly patience, kindness, mercy, and generosity. Compulsion and “holy” are incompatible.
Holiness
The fuller meaning of “holy” expands our understanding of another word—“holiness.”
The High Priest of the Old Temple and the Tabernacle wore a gold crown inscribed with the words HOLINESS TO THE LORD. This phrase is displayed prominently today on each new Temple.
What does it mean?
“Holy” means “committed;” “holiness” is a verb—“consecrated to the Lord.” The fullest expression of holiness is keeping the Law of Consecration, devoting everything we are, have, or will yet own or be, to the Lord.
The Lord has devoted all His resources and time to us and our salvation; it is symmetrical for Him to expect similar total devotion from us.
Whatever we offer to God—a temple or ourselves—receives a greater portion of His Spirit, and His glory. He improves whatever we consecrate to Him. “Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their souls, raise up friends, and pour out peace. Whoever will lose his life in the service of God will find eternal life” (The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p. 361). An entire community that lives and thinks and feels this way, and receives that improvement from the Lord, is referred to as “Zion.”
To be holy is to be as committed to the Lord and His work as He is to us—it is reciprocal. Holiness is the action that flows from that commitment, the act of giving it all to Him. Instead of substituting the appearance of moral and physical cleanliness for “holy,” we should give it all to God so that He can purify us, inside and out. Then we will be clean, and committed—completely holy.
When do we pull out the genuine silver and expensive China for a meal? When there are important visitors or events. Those dishes are set apart, designated for special use only. A child digging in the garden with a regular fork or spoon may get leniency; to find the same child using Grandma’s silver ladle to dig up dirt is a capital offense. Those dishes are kept under lock and key; they are designated for certain important occasions, and nothing else.
A bullet might roll around in the back of a truck, or sit in a pocket, or gather dust on a shelf; it might spend a week quietly waiting inside a gun. But once the gun is aimed and fired, that bullet is committed to its target, a two-inch circle hundreds of yards down the firing range. It is thoroughly dedicated to that target, and nothing else. Before the bullet is fired, it has many possible targets; after the bullet is fired, it is committed, dedicated, to one specific purpose.
The limited, selective use of those special dishes, or the trajectory of the bullet, parallels the fuller meaning of the word “holy.” Something holy is committed, designated, devoted, or dedicated for specific use or special purposes, and to nothing else.
Holiest of All
In Isaiah 6:3, we read of Isaiah seeing heavenly beings, seraphs, flying around the throne of God and chanting: “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts…” In Hebrew, using an adjective more than once intensifies it. But to use a word three times in a row turns it into a superlative: “holiest.” God is holiest, they are saying—more so than all others.
Though it does not use the word, 2Ne. 26:24 is telling us about His commitment, or holiness: “He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world…” This implies great focus. We and our salvation are His targets, what He is committed to: “For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39).
Can we comprehend just how committed the Lord is to our salvation? If He merely liked us, our immediate comfort and convenience would be the extent of His actions towards us. But He loves us and is committed to making us like Him, and therefore the circumstances He will put us through can become extreme.
Jesus was not spared the extremes during His mortal probation, either. “The Son of Man hath descended below them all” (D&C 122:8). But He did not balk: “…for I do always those things that please [the Father]” (John 8:29). He wanted to always do God’s will. “Jesus said unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work” (John 4:34). He rejoiced in obedience the way we do in breakfast, lunch and dinner.
“…God doth not walk in crooked paths, neither doth he turn to the right hand nor to the left, neither doth he vary…therefore his paths are straight, and his course is one eternal round” (D&C 3:2). How can His course be straight AND round? If you walk in a straight line on the surface of a globe long enough, you eventually get back to where you started. The Lord probably works in cycles and periods and eons that repeat. Seen from above, a hoop looks like a circle; seen from its edge, it is a straight line.
The Lord’s consistency and reliability take some uncertainty out of life. Nephi explains, “For he is the same yesterday, today, and forever; and the way is prepared for all men from the foundation of the world, if it so be that they repent and come unto him.
“For he that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost, as well as in these times as in times of old, and as well in times of old as in times to come; wherefore, the course of the Lord is one eternal round” (1Ne. 10:18-19).
Nephi describes the dedicated-style holiness of the Savior: “He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world…” (2Ne. 26:24). What, no hobbies? It can be hard to imagine God loving what He has committed to do when our lives often consist of fulfilling unpleasant commitments while longing to go out and play. (Is merging “have to” with “want to” true success?) In any case, the opposite of holy is not just dirty; the opposite of holy is distracted, ambivalent, hesitating, scatter-brained, lacking focus, or “For Generic Use.”
Like Jesus
We talk about becoming like our Savior; that does not just mean clean, free from sin; it also includes being fully committed to doing what we can of the Father’s work. One of the happiest verses in all scripture is D&C 60:7. The Lord tells us, “For I am able to make you holy…” Alma the Younger and the sons of Mosiah are great examples of this. They were the “the very vilest of sinners” (Mosiah 28:4), but the Lord made them into the greatest of missionaries.
He said, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest…
“For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matt 11:28, 30).
The Lord can change our hearts to be more like His. The more committed-holy we choose to make our hearts, the more spotless-holy He will make us.
“…thou shalt lay aside the things of this world, and seek for the things of a better” (D&C 25:10). The things of a better world also require work and seeking to obtain, but testimony and knowledge and covenants are much more portable and durable than the treasures of the earth. We can even carry them into the next world.
It is easy to confuse frantic “multitasking,” scurrying from one chore to the next, with virtue. But being busy is not necessarily the same as being holy.
“…sad to say, we even wear our busyness as a badge of honor, as though being busy, by itself, was an accomplishment or sign of a superior life.
“Is it?
“I think of our Lord and Exemplar, Jesus Christ, and His short life among the people of Galilee and Jerusalem. I have tried to imagine Him bustling between meetings or multitasking to get a list of urgent things done.
“I can’t see it.
“Instead I see the compassionate and caring Son of God purposefully living each day” (President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Of Regrets and Resolutions, October 2012 General Conference).
Our time on earth is short. We have an infinite number of options in this life; the biggest limiting factor is time. Everything is available to us, but we only have time to pursue a few things effectively. Our choices in this life expose our true character, where our hearts really are.
God told Moses, in essence, “I AM God, YOU ARE Moses—this is what I do; here is your assignment.” He then explained part of Moses’ purposes and mission on earth: “…and thou shalt be made stronger than many waters; for they shall obey thy command as if thou wert God” (Moses 1:25).
Each of us has unique combinations of gifts, and a unique mission to fulfill here on earth. Not all talents are glamorous. We may have agreed premortally to deploy talents here that we have not yet even considered. We should make certain we are not like that precious silver ladle that gets used as a shovel in the garden. We should find out how the Lord prefers us to use our gifts.
Like Jehovah
The Ten Commandments still get modern respect as the foundation to our faith (and stable civilizations), but how often do we notice the thesis statement, the reason for the rules the Lord hands to Moses? “Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me…
“And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation” (Ex. 19:5-6). Prudery is not the reason behind the Law of Moses. Israel was meant to be set apart, peculiar, different from the rest of the world.
The rules do not just focus on outward behaviors. The Lord wanted to make Israel like Him in feeling, too:
“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
“Speak unto all…say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy” (Lev. 19:1-2). In other words, everyone needs to be like God.
“…if ye offer a sacrifice of peace offerings…ye shall offer it at your own will” (v. 5). We are to be sincere, authentic, and genuine in worship. God’s love for us is real; we should return real love, “without compulsory means.” Gifts given grudgingly are counted evil.
“And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest” (v. 9). Why are they to be inefficient, and leave some fruits and grains behind in the field?
“…thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the Lord your God” (v. 10). Ancient Israelites were supposed to leave something behind for anyone who wanted it, especially the poor. And the Lord reminds us that this is who He is by signing the verse: “I am the Lord your God.” He is generous with us; we should be generous to others.
“Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumblingblock before the blind, but shalt fear thy God: I am the Lord” (v. 14). We are not to take advantage of the disadvantaged, for sport or otherwise. We are to respect others’ handicaps as God respects our weaknesses.
“…thou shalt not respect (show favoritism to) the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor” (v. 15). Money or social status or outward beauty (or their lack) should not dictate our respect towards others; we should base our opinions on a person’s character.
“Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart…
“Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge…but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord” (v.17, 18). We can reprove another’s behavior when prompted by the Spirit, but we are not to harbor silent bad feelings or contempt towards anyone—this makes us more holy, more like God.
This is all part of the Law of Moses. God has treated us, His begging children, well; we are to treat others the way He has treated us, with the same indulgent, fatherly patience, kindness, mercy, and generosity. Compulsion and “holy” are incompatible.
Holiness
The fuller meaning of “holy” expands our understanding of another word—“holiness.”
The High Priest of the Old Temple and the Tabernacle wore a gold crown inscribed with the words HOLINESS TO THE LORD. This phrase is displayed prominently today on each new Temple.
What does it mean?
“Holy” means “committed;” “holiness” is a verb—“consecrated to the Lord.” The fullest expression of holiness is keeping the Law of Consecration, devoting everything we are, have, or will yet own or be, to the Lord.
The Lord has devoted all His resources and time to us and our salvation; it is symmetrical for Him to expect similar total devotion from us.
Whatever we offer to God—a temple or ourselves—receives a greater portion of His Spirit, and His glory. He improves whatever we consecrate to Him. “Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their souls, raise up friends, and pour out peace. Whoever will lose his life in the service of God will find eternal life” (The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p. 361). An entire community that lives and thinks and feels this way, and receives that improvement from the Lord, is referred to as “Zion.”
To be holy is to be as committed to the Lord and His work as He is to us—it is reciprocal. Holiness is the action that flows from that commitment, the act of giving it all to Him. Instead of substituting the appearance of moral and physical cleanliness for “holy,” we should give it all to God so that He can purify us, inside and out. Then we will be clean, and committed—completely holy.
Saturday, April 4, 2015
"NO!" Is Nothing New
When the Conference Center was first constructed and used for General Conference, the first speaker to offer a talk, President Packer, expressed concern that the beauty of the box might distract from the gem it contained. The grandeur of the building, or anything else, should not be the main focus when we gather to hear Church leaders speak.
Years ago, I watched another general authority speak in the Marriot Center at BYU. It is a sports arena, and seats 25,000 people. Perhaps the fact of its being a sports arena had something to do with a technical gaff that disrupted his talk. Even though the sound of his voice continued, the jumbo-tron screens above his head suddenly began showing a hockey game. I assume a technician bumped the wrong button or something. Those who left the Marriot Center that Sunday were talking about hockey, instead of what the leader talked about.
Today in General Conference, some people in the audience shouted "NO!" as the names of the First Presidency and Twelve were read for sustaining. I wonder if they understand the meaning of the phrase, "by the same sign." If we want to show a sustaining vote for the leaders, we raise our hands. If we want to register a "no" vote, we also raise our hands at the appropriate time. Shouting is not part of the invitation for group participation.
In any case, this kind of thing is nothing new.
Below is a letter I wrote for one of my home teaching families this last Tuesday, 31 March 2015, in case they were not home. Realizing it was the last day of the month (it can creep up so stealthily), I improvised, planning to drop off a letter and not interrupt their evening together. (This is a bad way to do home teaching, but something is better than nothing). They were home, and invited me in graciously, even without any appointment. After they turned off the TV, we read the letter together. It is applicable to the subject at hand. Aside from a few typo corrections and removing their names, here is the letter:
****************************************
Instead of home teaching this month, invading your home at the last minute without my companion (again), I thought I’d just write up some brief thoughts and leave them with you to think about.
General Conference is coming up—yet another meeting.
Why are there so many meetings in the Church? Three hours of meetings on Sunday, divided up by age and gender for two of them. Ward and Stake conference are semi-annual; we are to meet as families for FHE once a week. Our callings may require even more meetings throughout the week. That’s roughly 2 million meetings per year. (I got a D in high school algebra; my calculations might be wrong.)
The oldest history we have of any event is the Grand Council, a meeting called by God to announce His plan for our happiness. It resembles General Conference in some important ways.
Everyone was invited to this comprehensive meeting. The whole world can come to General Conference if they want. All sessions are made available to the public, even priesthood session (online).
God asked, “Whom shall I send?” when the Savior was chosen. The majority of His children accepted the Savior (2/3). There were voices of dissent, but those who accepted Jesus overcame that opposition by faith in Him (see Rev. 12:11). The opposition was cast out for violent rebellion. General Conference gives us the chance to sustain those whom God has chosen in our day. We learn from Him through them about the plan, what we should do next. The building is hemmed in by hecklers and protesters and loud apostates. Stories of rudeness abound. Choirs of Single Adult and Young Single Adult stakes surround the Conference Center in long lines, spaced regularly every few feet to make it illegal for hecklers to get too close.
Satan and his followers were cast out into the earth. The temptation during Conference is to cast ourselves out into the world—and play. Boating, camping, or wandering, anything but sitting through another meeting. We should remember that Sunday is still the Sabbath, even if the sacrament is not passed.
“And the voice of warning shall be unto all people, by the mouths of my disciples, whom I have chosen in these last days” (D&C 1:4). We have a chance to sustain these men and women, just as we had a chance to choose or reject Jesus premortally. “And all things shall be done by common consent in the church, by much prayer and faith, for all things you shall receive by faith. Amen” (D&C 26:2). A majority vote is not enough in the Lord’s plans—harmony and agreement are necessary before we can move forward effectively.
“And if ye desire the glories of the kingdom, appoint ye my servant Joseph Smith, Jun. (or whoever the living prophet is), and uphold him before me by the prayer of faith” (D&C 43:12). There is something special about the prayers of the Saints for the Brethren and the Prophets, and theirs for us. They pray for us; we should pray for them.
I suppose if God’s course is one eternal round, then there were heavenly councils before the one we know about, and there will be other councils in the future when we get to heaven. Heaven is described as an “innumerable company of angels” (D&C 76:67), and if we want to prepare to live there, then we need to learn how to be part of a team, a family, even. Maybe that’s why there are so many meetings in the Church: “I say unto you, be one: and if ye are not one, ye are not mine” (D&C 38:27).
I hope you enjoy General Conference this weekend, and make time to listen for what you each need to hear.
Years ago, I watched another general authority speak in the Marriot Center at BYU. It is a sports arena, and seats 25,000 people. Perhaps the fact of its being a sports arena had something to do with a technical gaff that disrupted his talk. Even though the sound of his voice continued, the jumbo-tron screens above his head suddenly began showing a hockey game. I assume a technician bumped the wrong button or something. Those who left the Marriot Center that Sunday were talking about hockey, instead of what the leader talked about.
Today in General Conference, some people in the audience shouted "NO!" as the names of the First Presidency and Twelve were read for sustaining. I wonder if they understand the meaning of the phrase, "by the same sign." If we want to show a sustaining vote for the leaders, we raise our hands. If we want to register a "no" vote, we also raise our hands at the appropriate time. Shouting is not part of the invitation for group participation.
In any case, this kind of thing is nothing new.
Below is a letter I wrote for one of my home teaching families this last Tuesday, 31 March 2015, in case they were not home. Realizing it was the last day of the month (it can creep up so stealthily), I improvised, planning to drop off a letter and not interrupt their evening together. (This is a bad way to do home teaching, but something is better than nothing). They were home, and invited me in graciously, even without any appointment. After they turned off the TV, we read the letter together. It is applicable to the subject at hand. Aside from a few typo corrections and removing their names, here is the letter:
****************************************
Instead of home teaching this month, invading your home at the last minute without my companion (again), I thought I’d just write up some brief thoughts and leave them with you to think about.
General Conference is coming up—yet another meeting.
Why are there so many meetings in the Church? Three hours of meetings on Sunday, divided up by age and gender for two of them. Ward and Stake conference are semi-annual; we are to meet as families for FHE once a week. Our callings may require even more meetings throughout the week. That’s roughly 2 million meetings per year. (I got a D in high school algebra; my calculations might be wrong.)
The oldest history we have of any event is the Grand Council, a meeting called by God to announce His plan for our happiness. It resembles General Conference in some important ways.
Everyone was invited to this comprehensive meeting. The whole world can come to General Conference if they want. All sessions are made available to the public, even priesthood session (online).
God asked, “Whom shall I send?” when the Savior was chosen. The majority of His children accepted the Savior (2/3). There were voices of dissent, but those who accepted Jesus overcame that opposition by faith in Him (see Rev. 12:11). The opposition was cast out for violent rebellion. General Conference gives us the chance to sustain those whom God has chosen in our day. We learn from Him through them about the plan, what we should do next. The building is hemmed in by hecklers and protesters and loud apostates. Stories of rudeness abound. Choirs of Single Adult and Young Single Adult stakes surround the Conference Center in long lines, spaced regularly every few feet to make it illegal for hecklers to get too close.
Satan and his followers were cast out into the earth. The temptation during Conference is to cast ourselves out into the world—and play. Boating, camping, or wandering, anything but sitting through another meeting. We should remember that Sunday is still the Sabbath, even if the sacrament is not passed.
“And the voice of warning shall be unto all people, by the mouths of my disciples, whom I have chosen in these last days” (D&C 1:4). We have a chance to sustain these men and women, just as we had a chance to choose or reject Jesus premortally. “And all things shall be done by common consent in the church, by much prayer and faith, for all things you shall receive by faith. Amen” (D&C 26:2). A majority vote is not enough in the Lord’s plans—harmony and agreement are necessary before we can move forward effectively.
“And if ye desire the glories of the kingdom, appoint ye my servant Joseph Smith, Jun. (or whoever the living prophet is), and uphold him before me by the prayer of faith” (D&C 43:12). There is something special about the prayers of the Saints for the Brethren and the Prophets, and theirs for us. They pray for us; we should pray for them.
I suppose if God’s course is one eternal round, then there were heavenly councils before the one we know about, and there will be other councils in the future when we get to heaven. Heaven is described as an “innumerable company of angels” (D&C 76:67), and if we want to prepare to live there, then we need to learn how to be part of a team, a family, even. Maybe that’s why there are so many meetings in the Church: “I say unto you, be one: and if ye are not one, ye are not mine” (D&C 38:27).
I hope you enjoy General Conference this weekend, and make time to listen for what you each need to hear.
*************************************
I then felt I should tell this young married couple that even where two or three are gathered together, there will be Jesus also. I said that, in my opinion, the Lord honors decisions made in councils far more than those made by individuals in their own heads, and will be more likely to support those decisions—even if it is just a husband and wife meeting to discuss some issue.
Thinking of ways to suppress others or deny them their agency, even when they are doing the wrong thing for themselves or others, will cost us the companionship of the Spirit. We should allow them their freedom in our hearts. I pity those ecclesiastical leaders who must deal with members in open rebellion and apostasy; I trust they will balance what is best for them, and for the rest of the Church.
It is funny that I was considering skipping the sustainings section of the Conference to do a little more exercise; it is always the same, I thought. Now I worry that people will be so distracted by the dissenting voices during the sustainings that they will forget to talk about the fact that this has been an astonishing spiritual feast thus far, and we are only two sessions in.
I had my major concerns and questions addressed so forcefully within the first thirty minutes of the first session, it was like a tender mercy to me. Gossiping about a little rudeness is not the main point of General Conference; let's not be distracted. I hope that neither the beauty of a building, nor a game of hockey, nor the inappropriate shouts of dissent will cause us to lose our focus, or become angry and lose the Spirit. This has been great so far, and I am excited to hear the next six hours of talks.
Thursday, March 19, 2015
O
It is easy to see or hear or experience something so frequently that we assume we understand all about it, and therefore we stop trying to learn about it. We hear the sacrament prayers about 48 times a year, and so we can make that kind of mistaken assumption about them, if we are not careful.
The sacrament is often discussed in General Conference and Church meetings. One aspect no one ever broaches in the discussion is the very first word in the prayers on the bread and water: O.
This word serves as a reminder of our desperate and potentially dangerous circumstances, our dependence on the Lord as our Rescuer.
It is less a word, and more of an exclamation or interjection. It intensifies our petition. Instead of casually asking, we are now pleading, imploring, even begging. It injects earnest feeling into our collective petition, offered by the boy kneeling and speaking in our behalf at the sacrament table.
Hosanna and O
The O in the sacrament prayer has a long ritual history. The “ho” sound in the Hebrew word hosanna (HO-SHAH-NAH, “O rescue please!”) is like our O in English. (The “sh” in “Yehoshua,” spelled “Jesus” in the New Testament, also means “rescue” or “save.” Jesus’ name literally means “Rescued By Jehovah.” See also Matt. 21:9, 15; Mark 11:9-10; John 12:13.)
Read D&C 109 some time to get a taste of the emphatic nature of the word O. (It contains at least 28 uses of “O,” by my count, as well as at least one Hebrew “hosanna.”) It is the prayer, received by Joseph Smith through revelation, written down, and read to dedicate the Kirtland Temple.
Here is a sampling:
“O Jehovah, have mercy upon this people, and as all men sin forgive the transgressions of thy people, and let them be blotted out forever…
“…Thy will be done, O Lord, and not ours…
“O Lord God Almighty, hear us in these our petitions, and answer us from heaven…
“O hear, O hear, O hear us, O Lord! And answer these petitions, and accept…the work of our hands…” (D&C 109:34, 44, 77, 78).
Joseph Smith had no microphone or sound system to amplify his voice; he was speaking to a congregation of about 900 people when he offered this prayer, some listening at the windows because the Kirtland Temple was so packed. His voice must have been dramatic and intense. (He prayed sincerely, according to Eliza R. Snow.) At the intersection of dependent humility and borderline desperation, we find the outcry, “O.”
Imagine a man lost in the forest. He has no phone, and no one knows his precise whereabouts. As he wanders fearfully through the vast, rugged landscape, feeling the pangs of hunger and thirst, wary of wild predators, he hears a helicopter in the distance, and the sound is getting louder. He runs frantically to a clearing, ascends the highest prominence in the center of the clearing, and begins waving his white t-shirt to get the attention of the pilot. “Here I am! Over here! Help me!” he screams. That is the spirit of the word “hosanna.”
Putting O at the beginning of our sacrament prayers adds that same flavor—imploring, pleading, begging. It removes the casual tone that infects most of our prayers. The two set prayers in the Church of Jesus Christ end up being the most emotionally charged. It is no mistake that there is an O at the beginning of each prayer; we are collectively admitting our total reliance on the Savior. It is mass-group repentance.
If the sacrament is a boost or help for penitent sinners, why is it that we do not gather random non-members and apostates and people involved in serious sin to partake of it? Why are some sinners invited, while others are encouraged to visit the meetings without partaking?
I find the hinge for determining whether we should partake or not in the word “willing.” Elder Maxwell used the phrase “reasonable righteousness” to describe the level of spiritual progress achieved by the rank and file members of the Church. It is not that they have stopped all sin completely, but that they are aimed in that direction, actively seeking, working, and intending to progress and repent.
When a person admits to himself and his bishop that he is addicted to pornography or drugs, or that he has committed adultery or stolen, it is evidence that he or she is not WILLING to keep covenants. At that point, it then becomes the prerogative of the bishop (who presides over the administration of the sacrament) to intervene. When there is sufficient evidence that the person in question is WILLING and able to try to keep his or her covenants, then it is wise to reinstate the sacrament as a renewal of those covenants.
Making a covenant is like being on a mountain. We progress by keeping our covenants, by staying up there on that mountain. Keeping commandments is always good, but keeping commandments with covenants in place amplifies the Lord’s blessings for our obedience. On the other hand, breaking the commandments with a covenant in place amplifies the justice, the cursing, and the grievousness of that sin. It is worse to fall from a mountain than to trip while walking on level ground.
A person with a covenant in place who intends to break it is like a person who intends to fall while on a mountain. It is safer to fall walking on flat ground than to fall from a mountain; it is safer to have one’s covenants revoked or suspended to some degree by the authority of a bishop than to have covenants in place, renew them every week, and yet have the intent (willingness) to sin, and sin grievously. Covenants compound righteousness, as well as sin.
“Willing” Denotes Intentions
What are we doing when we eat the bread each week?
When we partake of the sacrament, we are witnessing (showing) God that we are willing to take the name of His Son Jesus Christ upon ourselves, willing to always remember His Son, and willing to keep the commandments which He has given us. If we have plans to break those commandments, especially the Ten Commandments, we should not partake. Before we touch the bread and water, we ought to be certain we are facing uphill, willing to do all those things (however much we stumble in our sincere attempts). That willingness makes us worthy to partake of the sacrament.
The resurrected Savior gave the Nephites specific instructions about how the sacrament should and should not be administered:
“And behold, ye shall meet together oft; and ye shall not forbid any man from coming unto you when ye shall meet together, but suffer them that they may come unto you and forbid them not;
“But ye shall pray for them, and shall not cast them out; and if it so be that they come unto you oft ye shall pray for them unto the Father, in my name…
“And now behold, this is the commandment which I give unto you, that ye shall not suffer any one knowingly to partake of my flesh and blood unworthily, when ye shall minister it;
“For whoso eateth and drinketh my flesh and blood unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to his soul; therefore if ye know that a man is unworthy to eat and drink of my flesh and blood ye shall forbid him” (3Ne. 22-23, 28-29). The purpose of offering or refusing the sacrament to people is to assist their progress and salvation. It is not to make people feel unwelcome in Church, or make some feel superior over others who are struggling.
Jesus does not say to judge anyone harshly, or cast anyone out; we are commanded to accept visitors, worthy or not, and not shun them. We are all penitent sinners, begging for the assistance only He can give. The Church has been compared to a hospital for the sick, not a well-provisioned rest home for the already-made-its. (In fact, Satan is given power to tempt us if we refuse to invite others to come unto Christ; I am a witness of this principle. See 3Ne. 18:25.)
Shame is a powerful motivator, and the devil can use the shame of being unworthy to partake of the sacrament as leverage to keep people out of sacrament meetings, and out of the Church altogether.
I vividly remember the example of one bishop of a single’s ward on his last day as the bishop. He left the rostrum, and flushed people hiding in the foyers on to the stand with him, a few minutes before the sacrament meeting began. He added about twenty or thirty individuals from the periphery to the center of the meeting, putting them near him in the choir loft. This act of inclusion was more powerful than anything said during the meeting. It was freighted with significance—very Christlike.
O Help Us!
Those who are worthy to partake of the sacrament, to continue the mountain analogy, often feel like they are barely hanging on by their fingernails. Satan can attack anyone unless he or she is perfectly obedient. (Even those people still have to deal with flawed or angry mortals, flat tires, illness, trials, wayward family members, sorrow for the sins of the world, etc.) No one comes to the sacrament table without a heavy heart, without some concern weighing on her or him. That is part of this mortal experience.
It is a shame to see people playing with electronic devices or being distracted during this moment when we can remember our dependence. We may not all be beggars for food and clothing, but we are all spiritual beggars.
A verse from King Benjamin’s speech captures the essence of group repentance we should have in sacrament meetings:
“For behold, are we not all beggars? Do we not all depend upon the same Being, even God, for all the substance which we have…
“And behold, even at this time, ye have been calling on his name (just like in the sacrament prayers), and begging for a remission of your sins. And has he suffered that ye have begged in vain? Nay; he has poured out his Spirit upon you, and has caused that your hearts should be filled with joy, and has caused that your mouths should be stopped that ye could not find utterance, so exceedingly great was your joy” (Mosiah 4:19-20). Coming to the Lord alone and begging is less powerful than coming as a group to make a request. “I say unto you, be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine” (D&C 38:27).
“Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.
“For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matt. 18:19-20).
The intensity of our petitions and feelings of need during the ordinance of the sacrament is proportional to our awareness of just how dire our circumstances really are, just how dependent we are on our Savior. The words of the ordinance are not “I,” “mine,” and “me,” though; they are “we,” “they (us)” and “them (us again).”
Awareness Induces Reverence
Some things tend to wake us up out of CASUAL mode, and remind us of our utter dependence on Jesus Christ. After his recent attendance at a funeral, one member of a stake presidency mused sardonically, “What if you went to a funeral, and a sacrament meeting broke out? Everyone is reverent, everyone is attuned to the Spirit, people are focused on God,” and their dependence on him, etc. Death is a solemn reminder that we are all moving towards the Great and Last Interview with our Priesthood Leader, Jesus Christ, and it begs the question: Am I prepared?
This life is the time to prepare to meet God, the day we have been given to perform our labors. We have a chance once a week to reflect on just how well we are progressing, how well we are keeping our covenants. We also have a chance to reflect on what adjustments to make in order to get a better grip on the rock face, to tighten our anchors and secure our ropes. (These adjustments might be revealed to us in the middle of the ordinance of the sacrament, if we are asking, attentive, and attuned.)
It is right that we reverently, yet fervently, intone “O” at the beginning of the sacrament prayers.
What fastens us to God securely? There are many possible answers, but the center of the braided strands of those tethers must include the Holy Ghost, and that is the ultimate purpose, the payoff, the reward, for worthily partaking of the sacrament and renewing our covenants each week:
“…that [we] may always have [Jesus Christ’s] Spirit to be with [us]” (D&C 20:77). This is what the sacrament is ultimately all about.
How desperate are we to get, keep, and follow the Spirit?
The sacrament is often discussed in General Conference and Church meetings. One aspect no one ever broaches in the discussion is the very first word in the prayers on the bread and water: O.
This word serves as a reminder of our desperate and potentially dangerous circumstances, our dependence on the Lord as our Rescuer.
It is less a word, and more of an exclamation or interjection. It intensifies our petition. Instead of casually asking, we are now pleading, imploring, even begging. It injects earnest feeling into our collective petition, offered by the boy kneeling and speaking in our behalf at the sacrament table.
Hosanna and O
The O in the sacrament prayer has a long ritual history. The “ho” sound in the Hebrew word hosanna (HO-SHAH-NAH, “O rescue please!”) is like our O in English. (The “sh” in “Yehoshua,” spelled “Jesus” in the New Testament, also means “rescue” or “save.” Jesus’ name literally means “Rescued By Jehovah.” See also Matt. 21:9, 15; Mark 11:9-10; John 12:13.)
Read D&C 109 some time to get a taste of the emphatic nature of the word O. (It contains at least 28 uses of “O,” by my count, as well as at least one Hebrew “hosanna.”) It is the prayer, received by Joseph Smith through revelation, written down, and read to dedicate the Kirtland Temple.
Here is a sampling:
“O Jehovah, have mercy upon this people, and as all men sin forgive the transgressions of thy people, and let them be blotted out forever…
“…Thy will be done, O Lord, and not ours…
“O Lord God Almighty, hear us in these our petitions, and answer us from heaven…
“O hear, O hear, O hear us, O Lord! And answer these petitions, and accept…the work of our hands…” (D&C 109:34, 44, 77, 78).
Joseph Smith had no microphone or sound system to amplify his voice; he was speaking to a congregation of about 900 people when he offered this prayer, some listening at the windows because the Kirtland Temple was so packed. His voice must have been dramatic and intense. (He prayed sincerely, according to Eliza R. Snow.) At the intersection of dependent humility and borderline desperation, we find the outcry, “O.”
Imagine a man lost in the forest. He has no phone, and no one knows his precise whereabouts. As he wanders fearfully through the vast, rugged landscape, feeling the pangs of hunger and thirst, wary of wild predators, he hears a helicopter in the distance, and the sound is getting louder. He runs frantically to a clearing, ascends the highest prominence in the center of the clearing, and begins waving his white t-shirt to get the attention of the pilot. “Here I am! Over here! Help me!” he screams. That is the spirit of the word “hosanna.”
Putting O at the beginning of our sacrament prayers adds that same flavor—imploring, pleading, begging. It removes the casual tone that infects most of our prayers. The two set prayers in the Church of Jesus Christ end up being the most emotionally charged. It is no mistake that there is an O at the beginning of each prayer; we are collectively admitting our total reliance on the Savior. It is mass-group repentance.
If the sacrament is a boost or help for penitent sinners, why is it that we do not gather random non-members and apostates and people involved in serious sin to partake of it? Why are some sinners invited, while others are encouraged to visit the meetings without partaking?
I find the hinge for determining whether we should partake or not in the word “willing.” Elder Maxwell used the phrase “reasonable righteousness” to describe the level of spiritual progress achieved by the rank and file members of the Church. It is not that they have stopped all sin completely, but that they are aimed in that direction, actively seeking, working, and intending to progress and repent.
When a person admits to himself and his bishop that he is addicted to pornography or drugs, or that he has committed adultery or stolen, it is evidence that he or she is not WILLING to keep covenants. At that point, it then becomes the prerogative of the bishop (who presides over the administration of the sacrament) to intervene. When there is sufficient evidence that the person in question is WILLING and able to try to keep his or her covenants, then it is wise to reinstate the sacrament as a renewal of those covenants.
Making a covenant is like being on a mountain. We progress by keeping our covenants, by staying up there on that mountain. Keeping commandments is always good, but keeping commandments with covenants in place amplifies the Lord’s blessings for our obedience. On the other hand, breaking the commandments with a covenant in place amplifies the justice, the cursing, and the grievousness of that sin. It is worse to fall from a mountain than to trip while walking on level ground.
A person with a covenant in place who intends to break it is like a person who intends to fall while on a mountain. It is safer to fall walking on flat ground than to fall from a mountain; it is safer to have one’s covenants revoked or suspended to some degree by the authority of a bishop than to have covenants in place, renew them every week, and yet have the intent (willingness) to sin, and sin grievously. Covenants compound righteousness, as well as sin.
“Willing” Denotes Intentions
What are we doing when we eat the bread each week?
When we partake of the sacrament, we are witnessing (showing) God that we are willing to take the name of His Son Jesus Christ upon ourselves, willing to always remember His Son, and willing to keep the commandments which He has given us. If we have plans to break those commandments, especially the Ten Commandments, we should not partake. Before we touch the bread and water, we ought to be certain we are facing uphill, willing to do all those things (however much we stumble in our sincere attempts). That willingness makes us worthy to partake of the sacrament.
The resurrected Savior gave the Nephites specific instructions about how the sacrament should and should not be administered:
“And behold, ye shall meet together oft; and ye shall not forbid any man from coming unto you when ye shall meet together, but suffer them that they may come unto you and forbid them not;
“But ye shall pray for them, and shall not cast them out; and if it so be that they come unto you oft ye shall pray for them unto the Father, in my name…
“And now behold, this is the commandment which I give unto you, that ye shall not suffer any one knowingly to partake of my flesh and blood unworthily, when ye shall minister it;
“For whoso eateth and drinketh my flesh and blood unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to his soul; therefore if ye know that a man is unworthy to eat and drink of my flesh and blood ye shall forbid him” (3Ne. 22-23, 28-29). The purpose of offering or refusing the sacrament to people is to assist their progress and salvation. It is not to make people feel unwelcome in Church, or make some feel superior over others who are struggling.
Jesus does not say to judge anyone harshly, or cast anyone out; we are commanded to accept visitors, worthy or not, and not shun them. We are all penitent sinners, begging for the assistance only He can give. The Church has been compared to a hospital for the sick, not a well-provisioned rest home for the already-made-its. (In fact, Satan is given power to tempt us if we refuse to invite others to come unto Christ; I am a witness of this principle. See 3Ne. 18:25.)
Shame is a powerful motivator, and the devil can use the shame of being unworthy to partake of the sacrament as leverage to keep people out of sacrament meetings, and out of the Church altogether.
I vividly remember the example of one bishop of a single’s ward on his last day as the bishop. He left the rostrum, and flushed people hiding in the foyers on to the stand with him, a few minutes before the sacrament meeting began. He added about twenty or thirty individuals from the periphery to the center of the meeting, putting them near him in the choir loft. This act of inclusion was more powerful than anything said during the meeting. It was freighted with significance—very Christlike.
O Help Us!
Those who are worthy to partake of the sacrament, to continue the mountain analogy, often feel like they are barely hanging on by their fingernails. Satan can attack anyone unless he or she is perfectly obedient. (Even those people still have to deal with flawed or angry mortals, flat tires, illness, trials, wayward family members, sorrow for the sins of the world, etc.) No one comes to the sacrament table without a heavy heart, without some concern weighing on her or him. That is part of this mortal experience.
It is a shame to see people playing with electronic devices or being distracted during this moment when we can remember our dependence. We may not all be beggars for food and clothing, but we are all spiritual beggars.
A verse from King Benjamin’s speech captures the essence of group repentance we should have in sacrament meetings:
“For behold, are we not all beggars? Do we not all depend upon the same Being, even God, for all the substance which we have…
“And behold, even at this time, ye have been calling on his name (just like in the sacrament prayers), and begging for a remission of your sins. And has he suffered that ye have begged in vain? Nay; he has poured out his Spirit upon you, and has caused that your hearts should be filled with joy, and has caused that your mouths should be stopped that ye could not find utterance, so exceedingly great was your joy” (Mosiah 4:19-20). Coming to the Lord alone and begging is less powerful than coming as a group to make a request. “I say unto you, be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine” (D&C 38:27).
“Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.
“For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matt. 18:19-20).
The intensity of our petitions and feelings of need during the ordinance of the sacrament is proportional to our awareness of just how dire our circumstances really are, just how dependent we are on our Savior. The words of the ordinance are not “I,” “mine,” and “me,” though; they are “we,” “they (us)” and “them (us again).”
Awareness Induces Reverence
Some things tend to wake us up out of CASUAL mode, and remind us of our utter dependence on Jesus Christ. After his recent attendance at a funeral, one member of a stake presidency mused sardonically, “What if you went to a funeral, and a sacrament meeting broke out? Everyone is reverent, everyone is attuned to the Spirit, people are focused on God,” and their dependence on him, etc. Death is a solemn reminder that we are all moving towards the Great and Last Interview with our Priesthood Leader, Jesus Christ, and it begs the question: Am I prepared?
This life is the time to prepare to meet God, the day we have been given to perform our labors. We have a chance once a week to reflect on just how well we are progressing, how well we are keeping our covenants. We also have a chance to reflect on what adjustments to make in order to get a better grip on the rock face, to tighten our anchors and secure our ropes. (These adjustments might be revealed to us in the middle of the ordinance of the sacrament, if we are asking, attentive, and attuned.)
It is right that we reverently, yet fervently, intone “O” at the beginning of the sacrament prayers.
What fastens us to God securely? There are many possible answers, but the center of the braided strands of those tethers must include the Holy Ghost, and that is the ultimate purpose, the payoff, the reward, for worthily partaking of the sacrament and renewing our covenants each week:
“…that [we] may always have [Jesus Christ’s] Spirit to be with [us]” (D&C 20:77). This is what the sacrament is ultimately all about.
How desperate are we to get, keep, and follow the Spirit?
“And they did pray for that which they most desired; and they desired that the Holy Ghost should be given unto them” (3Ne. 19:9). That gift will keep us tethered securely to our Father, and enable Him to get us back to Him safely.
Friday, March 6, 2015
"God Gave You a Brain"
I was out for a walk a few months ago, and I overheard a few words from a conversation between a woman and a teenage boy, whom I assume was her son. The mother was speaking in earnest:
“God gave you a brain, and He expects you to use it!” When I hear Latter-day Saints talk like this, it unsettles me.
It is true. “Be smart,” President Hinckley instructed the youth of the Church. I am the first proponent of getting all kinds of education. A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge, Joseph Smith tells us. But what knowledge of what kind?
God has commanded His people to develop their minds, but I do not believe He is very impressed with our intellects, however good it is to expand and exercise them. He gave monkeys, cows, fish, rabbits, and frogs brains, too, though not as complex as ours. (None of these creatures seem to get into as much mischief as we do.)
Are cleverness and wit really what we were sent to earth to cultivate? I suspect we laid aside eons of learning gained in the presence of God (see D&C 138:56) in a perfect spirit body capable of perfect recall (see 2Ne. 9:13; Alma 11:43) when we came to earth and put on these flawed physical bodies. The veil covers that fire. It was a deliberate loss of knowledge and capacity for learning facts and figures. This life is primarily a test of other virtues; obedience, faith, humility, etc., can be displayed on godlike levels by mortals here on earth—intelligence, not as much.
As with all gifts from God, our wits are subject to use and abuse. Common sense is good for repairing flat tires and opening pickle jars, but we can trip over our knowledge, cleverness, and brains, especially when we prefer them over the Spirit or when we give them preeminence when trying to living the gospel. When someone says things about using the brains God gave us, I often read between the lines and hear a confession that revelation is a foreign process.
Is acting on faith too hard for us?
Yes, get all the education you can; yes, the glory of God is intelligence, BUT...
Walking On Water
Below is the story of Peter trying to walk on water to Jesus, who was also walking on the storm-tossed sea. Pay attention to the role that Peter’s brain plays in stifling his attempt:
“But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary.
“And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.
“And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.
“But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.
“And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.
“And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.
“But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.
“And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” (Matt 14:31).
Initially, all the disciples relied on their eyes and brains to deduce that Jesus could not be Himself. Humans cannot walk on water, so they logically assumed they must be seeing a ghost. (They feared what would save them; is there a lesson in there for us?)
Peter devises a test to determine whether it is the Lord, and bases it in part on the principle found in 1Ne. 3:7, that when God gives a commandment, He also prepares a way to accomplish it. “…bid me come unto thee…” he asks, because if the real Jesus tells Him to walk on water, the command itself will make it possible, and he will not drown. “Come,” says Jesus, and Peter leaps out of the boat.
At first, he walks on the water successfully. But Peter begins thinking logically at this point. He sees the wind blowing, and becomes afraid. It seems humorous in hindsight—walking on water is only safe in Peter’s mind when the wind is not blowing? The laws of buoyancy are temporarily suspended, so why is anything else a threat? But this is just more logic, and reason is the ballast that begins to sink him.
It is touching that the instant Peter cries for help, Jesus grabs his arm and pulls him up again. “Savior” means one who does for others that which they cannot do for themselves. Jesus seems to be in no hurry to get back into the boat. Peter’s education is more important than his safety, because Jesus begins to teach and rebuke Peter before they even get into the boat again: “O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” He did not say, “God gave you a brain—logically, if one law of physics could be suspended to keep you safe, why not the rest of them?” Peter did not fail an intelligence test. He faltered in a test of his faith (and the Lord prepared Peter to try again instead of flunking him or expelling him from school).
The Lord’s Ways
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.” (We should expect the unexpected.)
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9). The heavens completely encompass the earth, and expand outward in all directions forever—that is how the heavens are higher than the earth. The point is that we should expect to be confused at first when we encounter the Lord’s ways and instructions.
Why choose an unlearned farm boy as the head of this last dispensation? Isaiah foresees Joseph Smith’s plight: “I am not learned” (Isaiah 29:12). Maybe Moroni was feeling the same inadequacy when he told the Lord: “…thou hast made us that we could write but little, because of the awkwardness of our hands. Behold, thou hast not made us mighty in writing like unto the brother of Jared…” (Ether 12:24).
The Lord comforts Him: “…thou hast been faithful…And because thou hast seen thy weakness thou shalt be made strong, even unto the sitting down in the place which I have prepared in the mansions of my Father” (Ether 12:37). This pattern of the Lord picking His spokesmen from a state of their weaknesses is common. Moses had speech impediments; Enoch called himself a universally despised “lad.” Humility, not brilliance, was their leading characteristic. The audience might be impressed with the eloquence or imposing bearing of a speaker; the Lord “looketh upon the heart,” and is not impressed with outward show. What we consider unlikely, the Lord uses as standard equipment.
Arm of the Flesh
“…for I know that cursed is he that putteth his trust in the arm of the flesh. Yea, cursed is he that putteth his trust in man or maketh flesh his arm” (2Ne. 4:34), especially those who are trying to do the Lord’s work while so relying. Human knowledge and the five senses are part of that “arm.” Peter started sinking when he tried to apply worldly, previous experience logically to an irrational event, a divine miracle. We might also find ourselves sinking in other ways if we try to accomplish the Lord’s work by obeying logic and schedules and reason when the Spirit beckons elsewhere.
One of the most temporally prepared men I ever knew recently had a heart attack. He stored many supplies and temporal goods for any external catastrophe, and yet an internal train wreck happened anyway, and caught him off guard. I saw him at the gym a few months ago; he is still active and ambulatory, for which I am glad. And there is certainly nothing wrong with his attempts to be prepared. But it is worth noting that man’s “puny arm” could not keep a blood vessel from clogging, much less divert the Missouri River. As Nephi says, we are cursed when we trust in our own abilities and knowledge; perhaps part of that curse is false confidence.
I read that one Latter-day Saint author’s mission president distributed copies of a sale’s training manual to his missionaries (this was many years ago). He had succeeded as a businessman, and he wanted his missionaries to succeed the way he had, by having them convince people through charm, logic, and manipulation. (The author said he rebelled and studied the Book of Mormon instead—so naughty.) Slick packaging sells everything else, but the gospel is not meant to be sold or bought. “…Thy money perish with thee,” Peter rebuffs Simon Magus after his offer to buy the priesthood (see Acts 8:20). “…come unto the Holy One of Israel, and feast upon that which perisheth not, neither can be corrupted, and let your soul delight in fatness” (2Ne. 9:45).
Just as the gospel is not for sale, it is also not subject to the same rules as commodities that are for sale.
Logically, the Lord should send the very smartest people as His emissaries, but instead we read, “The weak things of the world shall come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones, that man should not counsel his fellow man, neither trust in the arm of flesh—
“…That the fulness of my gospel might be proclaimed by the weak and the simple unto the ends of the world, and before kings and rulers” (D&C 1:19, 23).
Being charmed or argued logically into the gospel instead of converted by personal revelations would leave us without deep roots, and we would eventually fall away. If the messenger is plain and simple, only the message itself is being accepted or rejected—the plain and simple truth can, and should, stand on its own two feet without scaffolding, save personal revelation.
Laman & Lemuel
Nephi’s older brothers, Laman and Lemuel, are the Church’s perennial whipping boys. We hiss and boo at their folly, while cheering for Nephi. “Be like Nephi; Don’t be like Laman and Lemuel,” we chant.
Laman and Lemuel ultimately did everything the Lord commanded them (they just complained a lot beforehand). They left Jerusalem; they went back for the brass plates; they went back for Ishmael’s family; they traveled in the wilderness; they helped Nephi build a ship; they sailed to the New World; they settled their families in the Americas, and populated them; all this was just like Nephi.
What was the difference then, between Laman and Lemuel, on one hand, and Nephi, on the other? Nephi acted on faith. Laman and Lemuel relied on common sense—they used their brains.
Imagine if your father came to you and told you God had warned him in a dream that people in the city wanted to murder him, and so the Lord had commanded him to take his family from a cushy situation and live in tents in the desert. Then he gets a revelation that the family is to construct a rocket ship, fly to the dark side of the moon, and establish a permanent colony there. Crazy, yes? This was Laman’s and Lemuel’s issue—what their father said did not make sense to their natural minds.
Nephi believed, not because he was smarter than they, but because “…I did cry unto the Lord; and behold he did visit me, and did soften my heart that I did believe all the words which had been spoken by my father; wherefore, I did not rebel against him like unto [Laman and Lemuel]” (1Ne. 2:16). Following the seemingly irrational promptings of the Spirit led Nephi to own prime real estate in the Americas, and to great revelations, as well as assisting in the creation of scripture read by millions of people thousands of years in his future. Following his older siblings’ common sense, based on five sense-information, would have led them to a few more years of ease and wealth, and then to be killed or enslaved when Jerusalem was destroyed.
It is wise to expect promptings not to make sense, at least at first; if our current understanding and trajectory are correct, then all we have to do is apply our wits to circumstances, and no course correction is needed. If there is something we cannot see coming our way, the Spirit can warn us (but usually without any explanation, and so it takes faith at first to act). After we act, we see the Lord's impressions to us fulfilled. Laman and Lemuel never reached that state of trust and action like Nephi.
Safe Handling
Are stupidity and ignorance virtues? No, but a little bit of knowledge can make its owner drunk with pride (just as any exceptional gift might inflame its owner with a sense of disdain for others). Is there a way to avoid this? Is there a spiritually safe way to be smart, sensible, and prepared?
“O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not…
“But to be learned is good if they hearken unto the counsels of God” (2Ne. 9:28-29).
“And whoso knocketh, to him will (Jesus Christ) open; and the wise, and the learned, and they that are rich, who are puffed up because of their learning, and their wisdom, and their riches—yea, they are they whom he despiseth; and save they shall cast these things away, and consider themselves fools before God, and come down in the depths of humility, he will not open unto them” (2Ne. 9:42). We can get to heaven without being very smart, but not without being very humble.
It is good to be as smart and educated as possible (see D&C 90:15; 88:78-81). “Happy is the man that findeth wisdom” (Prov. 3:13), says Solomon the Wise. Yet he recognizes our limits, too: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
“In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
“Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil” (Prov. 3:5-7).
The Lord usually gives revelations without explaining why we are to follow those promptings; we often need to act without seeing the whole picture at first. The scriptures will give us reasons to obey the commandments, but a prompting to go somewhere or say something usually comes without a description of the outcome. “And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do” (1Ne. 4:6). Again, it is a test of our faith, not our knowledge.
Captain Moroni
A great example of someone who was smart, yet also followed the promptings of the Spirit, was Captain Moroni. Yes, he gave his men superior shielding in the form of armor, but he also relied on the gift of prophecy. He sent men to inquire of Alma, the current prophet, to ask where they should go to repel their enemies. On the word of the prophet, he lunged blind into the fog of war, and achieved victory even though his army was outnumbered (see Alma 43-44). He prepared according to his wits, and acted according to his faith.
It is easy to read such stories and feel that maybe we do not have to let go of the railing of carnal security and learn to use the slippery, risky ice skates of faith after all. But the Lord will throw us into the water to teach us how to swim if we insist on dragging our feet, especially if we have already made covenants with Him.
Modifying our behavior according to what is obvious to us takes little or no faith, and does not connect us to God as well as other things. Applying our minds to study, pondering, and meditation are parts of the gospel. While God expects us to use what wits He has given us, the virtues of faith and humility and love of God sometimes require us to take a leap of faith, something that does not make sense initially. Wit is more obvious; faith and humility allow us to extend our love of the Lord into trust that begets actions, even when those actions seem irrational to us at first.
As long as our trust in the Lord and His small whisperings that come to us is greater than our trust in what we can understand with our limited mortal minds, we ought to be as educated and smart as possible. Our love of the Lord is only as great as our trust in Him, and that is what we are being tested on in mortality, not our intelligence. A church full of Saints who live this way might be more miraculous than walking on water.
“God gave you a brain, and He expects you to use it!” When I hear Latter-day Saints talk like this, it unsettles me.
It is true. “Be smart,” President Hinckley instructed the youth of the Church. I am the first proponent of getting all kinds of education. A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge, Joseph Smith tells us. But what knowledge of what kind?
God has commanded His people to develop their minds, but I do not believe He is very impressed with our intellects, however good it is to expand and exercise them. He gave monkeys, cows, fish, rabbits, and frogs brains, too, though not as complex as ours. (None of these creatures seem to get into as much mischief as we do.)
Are cleverness and wit really what we were sent to earth to cultivate? I suspect we laid aside eons of learning gained in the presence of God (see D&C 138:56) in a perfect spirit body capable of perfect recall (see 2Ne. 9:13; Alma 11:43) when we came to earth and put on these flawed physical bodies. The veil covers that fire. It was a deliberate loss of knowledge and capacity for learning facts and figures. This life is primarily a test of other virtues; obedience, faith, humility, etc., can be displayed on godlike levels by mortals here on earth—intelligence, not as much.
As with all gifts from God, our wits are subject to use and abuse. Common sense is good for repairing flat tires and opening pickle jars, but we can trip over our knowledge, cleverness, and brains, especially when we prefer them over the Spirit or when we give them preeminence when trying to living the gospel. When someone says things about using the brains God gave us, I often read between the lines and hear a confession that revelation is a foreign process.
Is acting on faith too hard for us?
Yes, get all the education you can; yes, the glory of God is intelligence, BUT...
Walking On Water
Below is the story of Peter trying to walk on water to Jesus, who was also walking on the storm-tossed sea. Pay attention to the role that Peter’s brain plays in stifling his attempt:
“But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary.
“And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.
“And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.
“But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.
“And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.
“And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.
“But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.
“And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” (Matt 14:31).
Initially, all the disciples relied on their eyes and brains to deduce that Jesus could not be Himself. Humans cannot walk on water, so they logically assumed they must be seeing a ghost. (They feared what would save them; is there a lesson in there for us?)
Peter devises a test to determine whether it is the Lord, and bases it in part on the principle found in 1Ne. 3:7, that when God gives a commandment, He also prepares a way to accomplish it. “…bid me come unto thee…” he asks, because if the real Jesus tells Him to walk on water, the command itself will make it possible, and he will not drown. “Come,” says Jesus, and Peter leaps out of the boat.
At first, he walks on the water successfully. But Peter begins thinking logically at this point. He sees the wind blowing, and becomes afraid. It seems humorous in hindsight—walking on water is only safe in Peter’s mind when the wind is not blowing? The laws of buoyancy are temporarily suspended, so why is anything else a threat? But this is just more logic, and reason is the ballast that begins to sink him.
It is touching that the instant Peter cries for help, Jesus grabs his arm and pulls him up again. “Savior” means one who does for others that which they cannot do for themselves. Jesus seems to be in no hurry to get back into the boat. Peter’s education is more important than his safety, because Jesus begins to teach and rebuke Peter before they even get into the boat again: “O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” He did not say, “God gave you a brain—logically, if one law of physics could be suspended to keep you safe, why not the rest of them?” Peter did not fail an intelligence test. He faltered in a test of his faith (and the Lord prepared Peter to try again instead of flunking him or expelling him from school).
The Lord’s Ways
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.” (We should expect the unexpected.)
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9). The heavens completely encompass the earth, and expand outward in all directions forever—that is how the heavens are higher than the earth. The point is that we should expect to be confused at first when we encounter the Lord’s ways and instructions.
Why choose an unlearned farm boy as the head of this last dispensation? Isaiah foresees Joseph Smith’s plight: “I am not learned” (Isaiah 29:12). Maybe Moroni was feeling the same inadequacy when he told the Lord: “…thou hast made us that we could write but little, because of the awkwardness of our hands. Behold, thou hast not made us mighty in writing like unto the brother of Jared…” (Ether 12:24).
The Lord comforts Him: “…thou hast been faithful…And because thou hast seen thy weakness thou shalt be made strong, even unto the sitting down in the place which I have prepared in the mansions of my Father” (Ether 12:37). This pattern of the Lord picking His spokesmen from a state of their weaknesses is common. Moses had speech impediments; Enoch called himself a universally despised “lad.” Humility, not brilliance, was their leading characteristic. The audience might be impressed with the eloquence or imposing bearing of a speaker; the Lord “looketh upon the heart,” and is not impressed with outward show. What we consider unlikely, the Lord uses as standard equipment.
Arm of the Flesh
“…for I know that cursed is he that putteth his trust in the arm of the flesh. Yea, cursed is he that putteth his trust in man or maketh flesh his arm” (2Ne. 4:34), especially those who are trying to do the Lord’s work while so relying. Human knowledge and the five senses are part of that “arm.” Peter started sinking when he tried to apply worldly, previous experience logically to an irrational event, a divine miracle. We might also find ourselves sinking in other ways if we try to accomplish the Lord’s work by obeying logic and schedules and reason when the Spirit beckons elsewhere.
One of the most temporally prepared men I ever knew recently had a heart attack. He stored many supplies and temporal goods for any external catastrophe, and yet an internal train wreck happened anyway, and caught him off guard. I saw him at the gym a few months ago; he is still active and ambulatory, for which I am glad. And there is certainly nothing wrong with his attempts to be prepared. But it is worth noting that man’s “puny arm” could not keep a blood vessel from clogging, much less divert the Missouri River. As Nephi says, we are cursed when we trust in our own abilities and knowledge; perhaps part of that curse is false confidence.
I read that one Latter-day Saint author’s mission president distributed copies of a sale’s training manual to his missionaries (this was many years ago). He had succeeded as a businessman, and he wanted his missionaries to succeed the way he had, by having them convince people through charm, logic, and manipulation. (The author said he rebelled and studied the Book of Mormon instead—so naughty.) Slick packaging sells everything else, but the gospel is not meant to be sold or bought. “…Thy money perish with thee,” Peter rebuffs Simon Magus after his offer to buy the priesthood (see Acts 8:20). “…come unto the Holy One of Israel, and feast upon that which perisheth not, neither can be corrupted, and let your soul delight in fatness” (2Ne. 9:45).
Just as the gospel is not for sale, it is also not subject to the same rules as commodities that are for sale.
Logically, the Lord should send the very smartest people as His emissaries, but instead we read, “The weak things of the world shall come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones, that man should not counsel his fellow man, neither trust in the arm of flesh—
“…That the fulness of my gospel might be proclaimed by the weak and the simple unto the ends of the world, and before kings and rulers” (D&C 1:19, 23).
Being charmed or argued logically into the gospel instead of converted by personal revelations would leave us without deep roots, and we would eventually fall away. If the messenger is plain and simple, only the message itself is being accepted or rejected—the plain and simple truth can, and should, stand on its own two feet without scaffolding, save personal revelation.
Laman & Lemuel
Nephi’s older brothers, Laman and Lemuel, are the Church’s perennial whipping boys. We hiss and boo at their folly, while cheering for Nephi. “Be like Nephi; Don’t be like Laman and Lemuel,” we chant.
Laman and Lemuel ultimately did everything the Lord commanded them (they just complained a lot beforehand). They left Jerusalem; they went back for the brass plates; they went back for Ishmael’s family; they traveled in the wilderness; they helped Nephi build a ship; they sailed to the New World; they settled their families in the Americas, and populated them; all this was just like Nephi.
What was the difference then, between Laman and Lemuel, on one hand, and Nephi, on the other? Nephi acted on faith. Laman and Lemuel relied on common sense—they used their brains.
Imagine if your father came to you and told you God had warned him in a dream that people in the city wanted to murder him, and so the Lord had commanded him to take his family from a cushy situation and live in tents in the desert. Then he gets a revelation that the family is to construct a rocket ship, fly to the dark side of the moon, and establish a permanent colony there. Crazy, yes? This was Laman’s and Lemuel’s issue—what their father said did not make sense to their natural minds.
Nephi believed, not because he was smarter than they, but because “…I did cry unto the Lord; and behold he did visit me, and did soften my heart that I did believe all the words which had been spoken by my father; wherefore, I did not rebel against him like unto [Laman and Lemuel]” (1Ne. 2:16). Following the seemingly irrational promptings of the Spirit led Nephi to own prime real estate in the Americas, and to great revelations, as well as assisting in the creation of scripture read by millions of people thousands of years in his future. Following his older siblings’ common sense, based on five sense-information, would have led them to a few more years of ease and wealth, and then to be killed or enslaved when Jerusalem was destroyed.
It is wise to expect promptings not to make sense, at least at first; if our current understanding and trajectory are correct, then all we have to do is apply our wits to circumstances, and no course correction is needed. If there is something we cannot see coming our way, the Spirit can warn us (but usually without any explanation, and so it takes faith at first to act). After we act, we see the Lord's impressions to us fulfilled. Laman and Lemuel never reached that state of trust and action like Nephi.
Safe Handling
Are stupidity and ignorance virtues? No, but a little bit of knowledge can make its owner drunk with pride (just as any exceptional gift might inflame its owner with a sense of disdain for others). Is there a way to avoid this? Is there a spiritually safe way to be smart, sensible, and prepared?
“O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not…
“But to be learned is good if they hearken unto the counsels of God” (2Ne. 9:28-29).
“And whoso knocketh, to him will (Jesus Christ) open; and the wise, and the learned, and they that are rich, who are puffed up because of their learning, and their wisdom, and their riches—yea, they are they whom he despiseth; and save they shall cast these things away, and consider themselves fools before God, and come down in the depths of humility, he will not open unto them” (2Ne. 9:42). We can get to heaven without being very smart, but not without being very humble.
It is good to be as smart and educated as possible (see D&C 90:15; 88:78-81). “Happy is the man that findeth wisdom” (Prov. 3:13), says Solomon the Wise. Yet he recognizes our limits, too: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
“In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
“Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil” (Prov. 3:5-7).
The Lord usually gives revelations without explaining why we are to follow those promptings; we often need to act without seeing the whole picture at first. The scriptures will give us reasons to obey the commandments, but a prompting to go somewhere or say something usually comes without a description of the outcome. “And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do” (1Ne. 4:6). Again, it is a test of our faith, not our knowledge.
Captain Moroni
A great example of someone who was smart, yet also followed the promptings of the Spirit, was Captain Moroni. Yes, he gave his men superior shielding in the form of armor, but he also relied on the gift of prophecy. He sent men to inquire of Alma, the current prophet, to ask where they should go to repel their enemies. On the word of the prophet, he lunged blind into the fog of war, and achieved victory even though his army was outnumbered (see Alma 43-44). He prepared according to his wits, and acted according to his faith.
It is easy to read such stories and feel that maybe we do not have to let go of the railing of carnal security and learn to use the slippery, risky ice skates of faith after all. But the Lord will throw us into the water to teach us how to swim if we insist on dragging our feet, especially if we have already made covenants with Him.
Modifying our behavior according to what is obvious to us takes little or no faith, and does not connect us to God as well as other things. Applying our minds to study, pondering, and meditation are parts of the gospel. While God expects us to use what wits He has given us, the virtues of faith and humility and love of God sometimes require us to take a leap of faith, something that does not make sense initially. Wit is more obvious; faith and humility allow us to extend our love of the Lord into trust that begets actions, even when those actions seem irrational to us at first.
As long as our trust in the Lord and His small whisperings that come to us is greater than our trust in what we can understand with our limited mortal minds, we ought to be as educated and smart as possible. Our love of the Lord is only as great as our trust in Him, and that is what we are being tested on in mortality, not our intelligence. A church full of Saints who live this way might be more miraculous than walking on water.
Saturday, February 21, 2015
Prophecy
We sing the song, “We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet” (Hymns, 19).
Hugh Nibley pointed out that prophecy is a gender-neutral gift. For instance, Eliza R. Snow had the spiritual gift of prophecy. To know or be shown the future by God is one thing; what makes the President of the Church of Jesus Christ, his counselors, and the Quorum of the Twelve special is that they have been commissioned to share information with us in the present that will help us prepare for the future. Not every legitimate prompting and impression that the Lord gives to individuals is meant to be shared (most are not). But the Brethren who hold those offices are appointed to be “prophets, seers, and revelators.” To reveal means to make known, to publicize.
It is one thing to predict based on wisdom. It is another to have the future revealed in detail to us by God or one of His servants, the prophets. Recent events have reminded me that we are actually led by prophets in our day.
Joseph Smith recorded many prophecies, and some of them are in the Doctrine and Covenants. Here is part of D&C 87:1-8. This revelation was given 25 December 1832, almost thirty years before the Civil War, which began in 1860 and ended in 1865:
“Verily, thus saith the Lord concerning the wars that will shortly come to pass, beginning at the rebellion of South Carolina, which will eventually terminate in the death and misery of many souls…”
The Civil War began with the secession of South Carolina, and the first shots of the war were fired on Fort Sumter, on the shore of that state. It is still the most costly war America ever fought in terms of death—600,000 to 800,000 men died in five years, depending on whose tabulations you consult.
“And the time will come that war will be poured out upon all nations, beginning at this place.”
This was the beginning of modern warfare. Gunpowder had been around for centuries, but the Civil War was the first truly modern war. It saw the advent of steel plated steam powered warships, the extensive use of railroads, the use of hot air balloons for surveillance (technically an air force), trench warfare, and telegraph lines for instantaneous communication across long distances. Though it was never deployed in the combat of the Civil War, the machine gun was invented at that time. The next century and a half saw other innovations in weapons technology, and manufacturing, buying, and selling these machines became the most profitable business of the next 150 years. Genocide and mass murders became commonplace as these machines proliferated and fell into the hands of dictators. Two world wars and countless “brushfire” wars turned the world into a proving ground for these deadly instruments. Only the advent of nuclear weapons (a mere 80 years after the Civil War ended) caused the world to pause and feel a desire for peace through some means other than superior firepower and the threat of force. We went from muskets in 1832, to possessing technology to wipe out humanity through the push of a few buttons in 1945.
“…the Southern States shall be divided against the Northern States, and the Southern States will call on other nations…and they shall also call on other nations, in order to defend themselves…and then war shall be poured out upon all nations.
“…slaves shall rise up against their masters, who shall be marshaled and disciplined for war.”
The North recruited an entire regiment (54th infantry) of black soldiers.
“And thus, with the sword and by bloodshed the inhabitants of the earth shall mourn…”
The last verse makes an impressive series of predictions about the future into more than an exercise of fortune-telling, and drives home the point of having a prophet in the Church of Jesus Christ today:
“Wherefore, stand ye in holy places, and be not moved, until the day of the Lord come; for behold, it cometh quickly, saith the Lord. Amen.” We are told about great calamities in details no one could know without prophetic vision, but we are also told what to do about it—the safest way to weather the coming storm.
Joseph Smith’s prophecies about the Civil War are famous, at least among anti-Mormons. (We Latter-day Saints seem to prefer not to talk about them in our Sunday school classes. It is easy to become jaded about miracles.) There is another prophecy that gets no mention at all, but is equally impressive.
Astronomy
Joseph was in Liberty Jail, a pit prison without adequate food or warmth, basically a frozen sewer. Joseph and Hyrum Smith, as well as other men, spent several months in that miserable place while they received reports that their families and loved ones, the Saints, were being driven and persecuted.
Joseph wrote a letter from that prison (how did he have a pen and paper, yet not adequate food, clothing, or the option of bathing?), and parts of that letter are in our D&C. It begins with the line, “O God, where art thou? (verse 1). The Lord responds to Joseph’s prayer with words of consolation and instruction, and we focus on those words in our own trials. But look at this remarkable prediction from a prison in frontier America in 1839:
“…the last times…A time to come in the which nothing shall be withheld…All…shall be revealed…if there be bounds set to the heavens or to the seas, or to the dry land, or to the sun, moon, or stars—
“All the times of their revolutions, all the appointed days, months, and years, and all the days of their days, months, and years, and all their glories, laws, and set times, shall be revealed in the days of the dispensation of the fulness of times—
“According to that which was ordained in the midst of the Council of the Eternal God of all other gods before this world was…” (D&C 121:27-32).
The orbits, rates of rotation, approximate masses, composition, and other details about the sun, moon, and stars are now known.
For instance, the sun has an eleven year cycle of magnetic disturbances and sunspots. Our galaxy is approximately 120,000 light years in diameter, has a spiral pinwheel shape, and rotates on its axis. Our solar system circles the center of the galaxy once every 250 million years. Thousands of “exoplanets” have been found orbiting other stars. The Hubble telescope, with its view from space unhindered by air, has photographed seemingly dark patches of sky, and returned images of thousands of galaxies, each comprised of hundreds of millions of stars and planets. This information was veiled to scientists until very recently. But the Lord tells Moses in scriptures received through revelation to Joseph Smith, “Worlds without number have I created…And there are many that now stand, and innumerable are they unto man…” (Moses 1:33, 35). (We also see hints in the scriptures that there are now inhabited worlds other than our own (see D&C 88).) A kid in third grade can look up all of this on the internet at home.
The sun rotates on its axis at a rate of about once per 28 earth days; the moon also has a 28 day cycle. The moon appears to perfectly subtend, or overlap, the sun in the sky. What are the odds that one planet we know has life has only one moon, orbits only one star, and they look the exact same size from the surface of that planet? The fingerprints of deliberate creation are still there, if we choose to pay attention and ask questions.
You might say, “lucky guess, just random sweeping generalities borne of overused superlatives,” and dismiss it all. But Brigham Young pushes things even closer to recently revised models of the universe:
“How much matter do you suppose there is between here and some of the fixed stars which we can see? Enough to frame many, very many millions of such earths as this, yet it is now so diffused, clear and pure, that we look though it and behold the stars. Yet the matter is there. Can you form any conception of this? Can you form any idea of the minuteness of matter?” (Journal of Discourses, 15:136, quoted in Discourses of Brigham Young, p. 397-8).
“...the world...this little ball, this little speck in God’s creation, so small that from the sun I expect you would have to have a telescope to see it; and from any of the fixed stars I do not expect that it has ever been seen, only by the celestials (exalted)—mortals could not see this earth at that distance.” J.D. 15:19, quoted in Discourses of B.Y., p. 295).
The latest scientific data lead some scholars to postulate “dark matter,” stuff between the stars we cannot see, yet whose influence gives gravitational effects they can account for through no other means. There is even visible matter between the stars, and I hear that most of it is quasi-organic, potential building blocks of living organisms like carbon and oxygen. Of course, the incomprehensible vastness of space was learned a century ago, though the picture has expanded recently.
It is easy for anyone to shrug off trying to explain these extraordinary statements from prophets and keep doing what they were doing, but those who already receive personal revelation cannot help but have their faith reinforced by such amazing accuracy. Blindfolded, possessing no formal training in science, no advanced instruments like orbiting telescopes or atom-smashers, these men living in the 1800s described accurately a physical universe we have only begun to witness through telescopes.
What does that tell us about the accuracy of their descriptions of the place where God lives, of premortal and afterlife geography?
Prophets Today
The skeptic will say, “What about prophecy today?”
In 1998, and again in 2001, in General Conference, President Hinckley made reference to Pharaoh’s dream: seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine.
“I cannot forget the great lesson of Pharaoh’s dream of the fat and lean kine and of the full and withered stalks of corn.
“I cannot dismiss from my mind the grim warnings of the Lord as set forth in the 24th chapter of Matthew.
“…Now, I do not wish to be an alarmist. I do not wish to be a prophet of doom. I am optimistic. I do not believe the time is here when an all-consuming calamity will overtake us” (The Times In Which We Live, October 2001 General Conference). He referenced the same dream in 1998:
“I wish to speak to you about temporal matters.
“As a backdrop for what I wish to say, I read to you a few verses from the 41st chapter of Genesis.
“Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt, dreamed dreams which greatly troubled him. The wise men of his court could not give an interpretation. Joseph was then brought before him: “Pharaoh said unto Joseph, In my dream, behold, I stood upon the bank of the river:
‘And, behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, fatfleshed and well favoured; and they fed in a meadow:
‘And, behold, seven other kine came up after them, poor and very ill favoured and leanfleshed. …
‘And the lean and the ill favoured kine did eat up the first seven fat kine: …
‘And I saw in my dream … seven ears came up in one stalk, full and good:
‘And, behold, seven ears, withered, thin, and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them:
‘And the thin ears devoured the seven good ears: …
‘And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, … God hath shewed Pharaoh what he is about to do.
‘The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one. …
‘… What God is about to do he sheweth unto Pharaoh.
‘Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt:
‘And there shall arise after them seven years of famine;
‘… And God will shortly bring it to pass’ (Gen. 41:17–20, 22–26, 28–30, 32).
“Now, brethren, I want to make it very clear that I am not prophesying, that I am not predicting years of famine in the future. But I am suggesting that the time has come to get our houses in order.
“So many of our people are living on the very edge of their incomes. In fact, some are living on borrowings” (To the Boys and to the Men, October 1998 General Conference, priesthood session).
He did not predict a literal famine (people were still trying to diet during the recession), but there was a “bubble” that lasted seven years, followed by a slump that lasted seven years. The boom-time lasted from about 2001 to the massive recession in 2008; seven years of plenty. I remember two pamphlets distributed to every family in Church during the last years of the boom, one extolling and explaining getting financially prepared (building up savings, getting out of debt), and a pamphlet explaining the right way to get and maintain a year’s food supply.
The last seven years since 2008 have been hard for many, but we seem to be turning a corner. This year, 2015, started off with a massive drop in oil prices, which affects every aspect of the economy. It means the value of American money itself might increase, if retailers choose to lower their prices. Wal-Mart recently gave their half a million plus American employees a one dollar per hour raise; that means the poorest one percent of employed Americans just got a pay increase. President Hinckley’s seven years of famine might be at an end. I’m glad not everyone slept through General Conference.
Follow the Spirit
It is tempting to base our faith on miracles and amazing predictions coming true. “But, behold, faith cometh not by signs, but signs follow those that believe.
“…Yea, signs come by faith, unto mighty works…
“Wherefore, I, the Lord, am not pleased with those among you who have sought after signs and wonders for faith, and not for the good of men unto my glory” (D&C 63:10-12).
“…An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign…” (Matt. 12:39). Those who worship their flesh will trust what their five senses can touch and report. God expects us to follow the Spirit, often despite the contradictory report of our flesh.
As a missionary, I encountered remarkable historical facts about the early Christian Church that had been dug up in recent centuries. “Aha! This PROVES that the Church is true!” I thought to myself. I began to lean on this tangible confirmation instead of the whisperings of the Spirit. The next thing I knew, the Spirit withdrew a pace, and I was left to struggle for a few days with doubts about the existence of God instead of worrying which Christian denomination was true. I learned a valuable lesson—whether it is a visible tower of Babel, or an intellectual one built of evidences, God will knock it over. The only acceptable escalator into heaven is the promptings of the Spirit, and the faith we exert to follow them. He wants us to trust in Him instead of our eyes, ears, our war machines, or our stomachs.
Still, those who exert that faith continuously are bound to witness signs and miracles when all other options for completing their assignments run out. Moses had no other options BUT to part the Red Sea, and so it was allowed.
One Important Prophecy
“…the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Rev. 19:10). The greatest truth about our current future is that He will come again to the earth. The prophets have demonstrated veracity in lesser things; all true prophets lend their voices to this one great reality. His modern Church is called “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” This is a prophecy—we are living in the “latter” days, the last years before the return of Jesus Christ. He will purge the world of wickedness, and so the Church is supposed help gather as many people as possible, get them under covenants, and encourage as many people to repent as possible.
Prophets do not just amaze crowds with miracles or prophecy; they save us physically and spiritual with forewarning. The metaphorical figure of the prophet is a watchman on a tower, who can see the enemy afar off: “…build a tower, that one may overlook the land round about, to be a watchman upon the tower, that [my vineyard] may not be broken down when the enemy shall come…” (D&C 101:45).
Joseph Smith received inspired corrections to Matt. 24, and the entire refurbished chapter is included in our Pearl of Great Price. It repeats the Lord’s prophetic warning about His Second Coming, to us:
“…of that day, and hour, no one knoweth…
“But as it was in the days of Noah, so it shall be also at the coming of the Son of Man;
“…they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage;
“And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away…
“…watch, therefore, for you know not at what hour your Lord doth come” (JS-M 1:40-46).
Hugh Nibley pointed out that prophecy is a gender-neutral gift. For instance, Eliza R. Snow had the spiritual gift of prophecy. To know or be shown the future by God is one thing; what makes the President of the Church of Jesus Christ, his counselors, and the Quorum of the Twelve special is that they have been commissioned to share information with us in the present that will help us prepare for the future. Not every legitimate prompting and impression that the Lord gives to individuals is meant to be shared (most are not). But the Brethren who hold those offices are appointed to be “prophets, seers, and revelators.” To reveal means to make known, to publicize.
It is one thing to predict based on wisdom. It is another to have the future revealed in detail to us by God or one of His servants, the prophets. Recent events have reminded me that we are actually led by prophets in our day.
Joseph Smith recorded many prophecies, and some of them are in the Doctrine and Covenants. Here is part of D&C 87:1-8. This revelation was given 25 December 1832, almost thirty years before the Civil War, which began in 1860 and ended in 1865:
“Verily, thus saith the Lord concerning the wars that will shortly come to pass, beginning at the rebellion of South Carolina, which will eventually terminate in the death and misery of many souls…”
The Civil War began with the secession of South Carolina, and the first shots of the war were fired on Fort Sumter, on the shore of that state. It is still the most costly war America ever fought in terms of death—600,000 to 800,000 men died in five years, depending on whose tabulations you consult.
“And the time will come that war will be poured out upon all nations, beginning at this place.”
This was the beginning of modern warfare. Gunpowder had been around for centuries, but the Civil War was the first truly modern war. It saw the advent of steel plated steam powered warships, the extensive use of railroads, the use of hot air balloons for surveillance (technically an air force), trench warfare, and telegraph lines for instantaneous communication across long distances. Though it was never deployed in the combat of the Civil War, the machine gun was invented at that time. The next century and a half saw other innovations in weapons technology, and manufacturing, buying, and selling these machines became the most profitable business of the next 150 years. Genocide and mass murders became commonplace as these machines proliferated and fell into the hands of dictators. Two world wars and countless “brushfire” wars turned the world into a proving ground for these deadly instruments. Only the advent of nuclear weapons (a mere 80 years after the Civil War ended) caused the world to pause and feel a desire for peace through some means other than superior firepower and the threat of force. We went from muskets in 1832, to possessing technology to wipe out humanity through the push of a few buttons in 1945.
“…the Southern States shall be divided against the Northern States, and the Southern States will call on other nations…and they shall also call on other nations, in order to defend themselves…and then war shall be poured out upon all nations.
“…slaves shall rise up against their masters, who shall be marshaled and disciplined for war.”
The North recruited an entire regiment (54th infantry) of black soldiers.
“And thus, with the sword and by bloodshed the inhabitants of the earth shall mourn…”
The last verse makes an impressive series of predictions about the future into more than an exercise of fortune-telling, and drives home the point of having a prophet in the Church of Jesus Christ today:
“Wherefore, stand ye in holy places, and be not moved, until the day of the Lord come; for behold, it cometh quickly, saith the Lord. Amen.” We are told about great calamities in details no one could know without prophetic vision, but we are also told what to do about it—the safest way to weather the coming storm.
Joseph Smith’s prophecies about the Civil War are famous, at least among anti-Mormons. (We Latter-day Saints seem to prefer not to talk about them in our Sunday school classes. It is easy to become jaded about miracles.) There is another prophecy that gets no mention at all, but is equally impressive.
Astronomy
Joseph was in Liberty Jail, a pit prison without adequate food or warmth, basically a frozen sewer. Joseph and Hyrum Smith, as well as other men, spent several months in that miserable place while they received reports that their families and loved ones, the Saints, were being driven and persecuted.
Joseph wrote a letter from that prison (how did he have a pen and paper, yet not adequate food, clothing, or the option of bathing?), and parts of that letter are in our D&C. It begins with the line, “O God, where art thou? (verse 1). The Lord responds to Joseph’s prayer with words of consolation and instruction, and we focus on those words in our own trials. But look at this remarkable prediction from a prison in frontier America in 1839:
“…the last times…A time to come in the which nothing shall be withheld…All…shall be revealed…if there be bounds set to the heavens or to the seas, or to the dry land, or to the sun, moon, or stars—
“All the times of their revolutions, all the appointed days, months, and years, and all the days of their days, months, and years, and all their glories, laws, and set times, shall be revealed in the days of the dispensation of the fulness of times—
“According to that which was ordained in the midst of the Council of the Eternal God of all other gods before this world was…” (D&C 121:27-32).
The orbits, rates of rotation, approximate masses, composition, and other details about the sun, moon, and stars are now known.
For instance, the sun has an eleven year cycle of magnetic disturbances and sunspots. Our galaxy is approximately 120,000 light years in diameter, has a spiral pinwheel shape, and rotates on its axis. Our solar system circles the center of the galaxy once every 250 million years. Thousands of “exoplanets” have been found orbiting other stars. The Hubble telescope, with its view from space unhindered by air, has photographed seemingly dark patches of sky, and returned images of thousands of galaxies, each comprised of hundreds of millions of stars and planets. This information was veiled to scientists until very recently. But the Lord tells Moses in scriptures received through revelation to Joseph Smith, “Worlds without number have I created…And there are many that now stand, and innumerable are they unto man…” (Moses 1:33, 35). (We also see hints in the scriptures that there are now inhabited worlds other than our own (see D&C 88).) A kid in third grade can look up all of this on the internet at home.
The sun rotates on its axis at a rate of about once per 28 earth days; the moon also has a 28 day cycle. The moon appears to perfectly subtend, or overlap, the sun in the sky. What are the odds that one planet we know has life has only one moon, orbits only one star, and they look the exact same size from the surface of that planet? The fingerprints of deliberate creation are still there, if we choose to pay attention and ask questions.
You might say, “lucky guess, just random sweeping generalities borne of overused superlatives,” and dismiss it all. But Brigham Young pushes things even closer to recently revised models of the universe:
“How much matter do you suppose there is between here and some of the fixed stars which we can see? Enough to frame many, very many millions of such earths as this, yet it is now so diffused, clear and pure, that we look though it and behold the stars. Yet the matter is there. Can you form any conception of this? Can you form any idea of the minuteness of matter?” (Journal of Discourses, 15:136, quoted in Discourses of Brigham Young, p. 397-8).
“...the world...this little ball, this little speck in God’s creation, so small that from the sun I expect you would have to have a telescope to see it; and from any of the fixed stars I do not expect that it has ever been seen, only by the celestials (exalted)—mortals could not see this earth at that distance.” J.D. 15:19, quoted in Discourses of B.Y., p. 295).
The latest scientific data lead some scholars to postulate “dark matter,” stuff between the stars we cannot see, yet whose influence gives gravitational effects they can account for through no other means. There is even visible matter between the stars, and I hear that most of it is quasi-organic, potential building blocks of living organisms like carbon and oxygen. Of course, the incomprehensible vastness of space was learned a century ago, though the picture has expanded recently.
It is easy for anyone to shrug off trying to explain these extraordinary statements from prophets and keep doing what they were doing, but those who already receive personal revelation cannot help but have their faith reinforced by such amazing accuracy. Blindfolded, possessing no formal training in science, no advanced instruments like orbiting telescopes or atom-smashers, these men living in the 1800s described accurately a physical universe we have only begun to witness through telescopes.
What does that tell us about the accuracy of their descriptions of the place where God lives, of premortal and afterlife geography?
Prophets Today
The skeptic will say, “What about prophecy today?”
In 1998, and again in 2001, in General Conference, President Hinckley made reference to Pharaoh’s dream: seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine.
“I cannot forget the great lesson of Pharaoh’s dream of the fat and lean kine and of the full and withered stalks of corn.
“I cannot dismiss from my mind the grim warnings of the Lord as set forth in the 24th chapter of Matthew.
“…Now, I do not wish to be an alarmist. I do not wish to be a prophet of doom. I am optimistic. I do not believe the time is here when an all-consuming calamity will overtake us” (The Times In Which We Live, October 2001 General Conference). He referenced the same dream in 1998:
“I wish to speak to you about temporal matters.
“As a backdrop for what I wish to say, I read to you a few verses from the 41st chapter of Genesis.
“Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt, dreamed dreams which greatly troubled him. The wise men of his court could not give an interpretation. Joseph was then brought before him: “Pharaoh said unto Joseph, In my dream, behold, I stood upon the bank of the river:
‘And, behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, fatfleshed and well favoured; and they fed in a meadow:
‘And, behold, seven other kine came up after them, poor and very ill favoured and leanfleshed. …
‘And the lean and the ill favoured kine did eat up the first seven fat kine: …
‘And I saw in my dream … seven ears came up in one stalk, full and good:
‘And, behold, seven ears, withered, thin, and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them:
‘And the thin ears devoured the seven good ears: …
‘And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, … God hath shewed Pharaoh what he is about to do.
‘The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one. …
‘… What God is about to do he sheweth unto Pharaoh.
‘Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt:
‘And there shall arise after them seven years of famine;
‘… And God will shortly bring it to pass’ (Gen. 41:17–20, 22–26, 28–30, 32).
“Now, brethren, I want to make it very clear that I am not prophesying, that I am not predicting years of famine in the future. But I am suggesting that the time has come to get our houses in order.
“So many of our people are living on the very edge of their incomes. In fact, some are living on borrowings” (To the Boys and to the Men, October 1998 General Conference, priesthood session).
He did not predict a literal famine (people were still trying to diet during the recession), but there was a “bubble” that lasted seven years, followed by a slump that lasted seven years. The boom-time lasted from about 2001 to the massive recession in 2008; seven years of plenty. I remember two pamphlets distributed to every family in Church during the last years of the boom, one extolling and explaining getting financially prepared (building up savings, getting out of debt), and a pamphlet explaining the right way to get and maintain a year’s food supply.
The last seven years since 2008 have been hard for many, but we seem to be turning a corner. This year, 2015, started off with a massive drop in oil prices, which affects every aspect of the economy. It means the value of American money itself might increase, if retailers choose to lower their prices. Wal-Mart recently gave their half a million plus American employees a one dollar per hour raise; that means the poorest one percent of employed Americans just got a pay increase. President Hinckley’s seven years of famine might be at an end. I’m glad not everyone slept through General Conference.
Follow the Spirit
It is tempting to base our faith on miracles and amazing predictions coming true. “But, behold, faith cometh not by signs, but signs follow those that believe.
“…Yea, signs come by faith, unto mighty works…
“Wherefore, I, the Lord, am not pleased with those among you who have sought after signs and wonders for faith, and not for the good of men unto my glory” (D&C 63:10-12).
“…An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign…” (Matt. 12:39). Those who worship their flesh will trust what their five senses can touch and report. God expects us to follow the Spirit, often despite the contradictory report of our flesh.
As a missionary, I encountered remarkable historical facts about the early Christian Church that had been dug up in recent centuries. “Aha! This PROVES that the Church is true!” I thought to myself. I began to lean on this tangible confirmation instead of the whisperings of the Spirit. The next thing I knew, the Spirit withdrew a pace, and I was left to struggle for a few days with doubts about the existence of God instead of worrying which Christian denomination was true. I learned a valuable lesson—whether it is a visible tower of Babel, or an intellectual one built of evidences, God will knock it over. The only acceptable escalator into heaven is the promptings of the Spirit, and the faith we exert to follow them. He wants us to trust in Him instead of our eyes, ears, our war machines, or our stomachs.
Still, those who exert that faith continuously are bound to witness signs and miracles when all other options for completing their assignments run out. Moses had no other options BUT to part the Red Sea, and so it was allowed.
One Important Prophecy
“…the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Rev. 19:10). The greatest truth about our current future is that He will come again to the earth. The prophets have demonstrated veracity in lesser things; all true prophets lend their voices to this one great reality. His modern Church is called “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” This is a prophecy—we are living in the “latter” days, the last years before the return of Jesus Christ. He will purge the world of wickedness, and so the Church is supposed help gather as many people as possible, get them under covenants, and encourage as many people to repent as possible.
Prophets do not just amaze crowds with miracles or prophecy; they save us physically and spiritual with forewarning. The metaphorical figure of the prophet is a watchman on a tower, who can see the enemy afar off: “…build a tower, that one may overlook the land round about, to be a watchman upon the tower, that [my vineyard] may not be broken down when the enemy shall come…” (D&C 101:45).
Joseph Smith received inspired corrections to Matt. 24, and the entire refurbished chapter is included in our Pearl of Great Price. It repeats the Lord’s prophetic warning about His Second Coming, to us:
“…of that day, and hour, no one knoweth…
“But as it was in the days of Noah, so it shall be also at the coming of the Son of Man;
“…they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage;
“And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away…
“…watch, therefore, for you know not at what hour your Lord doth come” (JS-M 1:40-46).
Thursday, February 5, 2015
The Distinct Emphases of the Standard Works
Jesus taught, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me” (John 5:39). That is what all scriptures ultimately have in common; they testify of Christ. There are lots of details, nearly 2500 pages of them, and it is easy to be intimidated by the gigantic corpus of the scriptures. Five libraries comprise the current standard works of the Church: The Old Testament, the New Testament, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. Each one is made up of separate books (the word “Bible” means “library”).
These books can be like a mountain, intimidating to climb. When we spend a few minutes crawling over one or two verses, we can miss the overall shape of the mountain. It becomes visible when we step back and try to get a big-picture overview.
The people in the Book of Mormon who witnessed the resurrected Savior, and interacted with Him, were extremely fortunate. It says that Jesus “expounded all the scriptures unto them which they had received” (3Ne. 23:6), and gave them more. I do not believe that means He read all the scriptures to them; rather, it means He explained the scriptures to them, perhaps giving summaries, an overview of what they had in their sacred records to that point. This says to me that such an exercise is at least possible. In the New Testament, the resurrected Savior taught two disciples when they did not even recognize Him: “…beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27).
Perhaps He taught them how their scriptures were about Him. Whatever the nature of the discourse, Mormon describes it thus: “…Jesus…expounded all the scriptures in one, which they had written, [and] he commanded them that they should teach the things which he had expounded unto them” (3Ne. 26:14).
Jesus dictated new scriptures from Old World prophets into the Nephite scriptural record. “We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things…” (Ninth Article of Faith).
I would love to have heard Jesus’ summation of the brass plates and other sacred records.
Below is my attempt, not to summarize what the scriptures have in common, but to summarize themes that differentiate each of the five standard works from the others. I feel there are themes and purposes in each of the standard works, distinct emphases that set each one apart from the others (though there is a huge amount of inevitable overlap between them). The following is my summary of each of the standard works and themes they contain outside of that large area they have in common.
Old Testament
The Old Testament gives us several creation stories. It gives us the story of the creation of the world, and its baptism (the Flood); it gives us the story of the creation of the House of Israel, and its baptism (in the Red Sea); it also gives us the genealogy of Jesus Christ.
The Old Testament starts off by giving us the general law of God, His rules for humanity to Adam and Eve. Moses gives us The Law (“Torah” means “The Law”), and the rest of the Old Testament is the story of people breaking (mostly) and keeping The Law, and the consequences of their choices. The prophets teach The Law, and encourage Israel to keep it, to return to it.
You could sum up the whole Old Testament with one word: Obedience.
The story continues to this day; we are still making the same mistakes and committing the same kinds of sins, violating the same laws now as then. One scripture to capture the essence of the Old Testament: “…choose you this day whom ye will serve…but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Josh. 24:15).
New Testament
With all those violations of divine law, there must be punishment. The New Testament tells us the story of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ to pay for our sins. He atones for our misdeeds with His own blood, voluntarily suffering and dying in our place so that we will not be damned. He is also resurrected, a fact witnessed by gospel authors and many others. Four witnesses give their own personal accounts in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
The disciples spread this “Gospel” (“good news”) to the rest of the world, and the world eventually kills them all, just like Jesus. One word to summarize the New Testament: Sacrifice (the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.) One scripture to sum it up: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
The Book of Mormon
Now that Jesus Christ has paid for our sins, we need not be damned. That is justification. But what about the evil in our hearts that got us into this mess to begin with? We still have the inclination to sin; how do we get rid of it? That is the next step, sanctification, being cleaned up on the inside.
The Book of Mormon explains, better than any other book, what we need to do in order to access the power of the Atonement. We must have faith in Christ, repent and be baptized, and receive the Holy Ghost. We must also be extremely humble before Him and humbly accept whatever assignments He gives us. The Book of Mormon explains how to be spiritually reborn, changed in our natures, and receive divine strength beyond our own, also called “grace.”
The Book of Mormon teaches us how to survive spiritually and physically in this fallen world. It gives us an economic picture of the Gospel, explaining how a free, affluent people can avoid the pitfalls of wealth (which makes it pertinent to America and the modern world). It shows us, transparently, the differences between fake messengers (antichrists sent by Satan to shake faith), versus true missionaries sent by God. The book itself is also a mighty missionary tool, meant to “gather scattered Israel” home (Come All Ye Sons of God, Hymns, 322).
One word to summarize the Book of Mormon: the Gospel (both how to receive it and how to teach it). One scripture to capture the essence of the book: “And ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, him will I baptize with fire and with the Holy Ghost…” (3Ne. 9:20).
The Pearl of Great Price
This is the most exotic book of scripture we have. Its provenance is incomparable. It contains the seven testimonies of the seven prophetic heads of seven dispensations. Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus Christ, and Joseph Smith, each speak to us from this book.
It also contains the sublime doctrine of our premortal existence—that each of us lived with God as His spirit children before the creation of the earth. Before the “beginning” of the Old Testament, there was a council in heaven, and we participated in it. We cannot remember that life because of the veil, but every person we meet who is born into this world chose Jesus Christ as his or her Savior, and elected to follow God’s plan and come to this earth.
The provenance, or origins, of these books is unlike anything else. For instance, Joseph Smith receives revelation about lost writings of Moses, who describes the discourse of Enoch about Adam’s spiritual rebirth.
It is a book of generations, from the beginning of the world to modern times, telling us where we came from. There are extraordinary doctrines and events described in it. Adam is literally baptized by the Holy Ghost with water, then spiritually with fire; Enoch (who has literally been erased from the Bible, save one verse only) sees an intimate vision of God weeping; he hears the earth itself speak; pictures from papyri are used to illustrate Abraham’s accounts.
We read of Abraham receiving astronomy lessons directly from God about other populated worlds. The Lord puts His hand on Abraham’s eyes, and he sees creation and the stars unfold before him. Moses meets Jehovah face to face, and then confronts Satan, on a mountain top. Joseph Smith, a fourteen year old farm boy concerned for his salvation, meets the Father and the Son in a grove of trees in the First Vision. Jesus preps His ancient and modern disciples for His Second Coming in an inspired review of Matthew 24. This is an exotic collection of scripture, with astonishing theophanies and breathtaking vistas.
Tacked humbly to the end are the Articles of Faith, thirteen simple statements of our beliefs about us, God, Christ, the fate of His Church and Kingdom, and the whole world in the last days before the Second Coming.
A few words to summarize the Pearl of Great Price: Generations, Dispensations, Patriarchal Lineage, Priesthood, Eons, Premortal Beginnings. Two verses of scripture to sum it up: “…there is nothing that the Lord thy God shall take in his heart to do but what he will do it…thou wast chosen before thou wast born” (Abr. 3:17, 22).
The Doctrine and Covenants
In the first four books of the Old Testament, Moses writes as an omniscient third person narrator telling a story. In Deuteronomy, the fifth book, he goes from narrator to first person guide. He tells the Israelites to wake up and behave, and speaks to the reader as if he were face to face: This is how you build a society acceptable to God.
Our book of Doctrine and Covenants partakes of that same spirit. Instead of reading stories and narratives, suddenly Joseph Smith is quoting directly from the Lord. “Thus saith the Lord” dominates the Doctrine and Covenants. And what is He telling us to do? Just as with Moses in Deuteronomy, Jesus is speaking through His current prophet (Joseph Smith, then) and giving us instructions for building Zion, and a Zion people.
Just as the Pearl of Great Price hints at our divine origin as daughters and sons of God, the Doctrine and Covenants tells us plainly that, when we cooperate with God fully, one day we will be exalted and become just like Him. We can only do this as husband and wife, permanent family units. Little wonder the D&C emphasizes organizing us into a family, church, and community; we will have to enjoy each others’ company forever, and learn to share “all that my father hath.” The Pearl of Great Price teaches our ancient premortal origins; the Doctrine and Covenants gives us a clearer view of our divine potential and destiny.
One word to sum it up: Consecration. Two verses to capture its essence: “When the Savior shall appear we shall see him as he is…And that same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there, only it will be coupled with eternal glory, which glory we do not now enjoy” (D&C 130:1-2).
Intent
This is my summary of motifs that set each standard work apart from the others. Beginnings, The Law, and The Fall, in the Old Testament; Atonement to heal The Fall of Adam and our sinful state in the New Testament; Tutorials about accessing the sanctifying power of the Atonement in the Book of Mormon; The deep origins of the world and our spirits in the Pearl of Great Price; Learning from the Lord’s mouth about building up Zion and our potential to become like God one day in the Doctrine and Covenants.
Nephi’s brother, Jacob, says, “For, for this intent have we written these things, that they may know that we knew of Christ, and we had a hope of his glory many hundred years before his coming; and not only we ourselves had a hope of his glory, but also all the holy prophets which were before us” (Jacob 4:3). That is the ultimate purpose of all scripture: encouraging faith in Christ, bringing souls to Him through repentance, ordinances, etc.
While the Christian world has varying degrees of trust in the infallibility of the scriptures (the Bible), some to an extreme degree, the authors of the Book of Mormon are open and frank about their flaws.
Moroni, the final author in the Book of Mormon, says, “Condemn me not because of mine imperfection, neither my father, because of his imperfection, neither them who have written before him; but rather give thanks unto God that…ye may learn to be more wise than we have been” (Mormon 9:31). They leave the door open for us to be smarter than they, and learn and grow. This is typical of the love of parents for their children.
The Bible gives us story after story about direct communication with God, but today’s religions based solely on the Bible (or other books) are doubtful about whether such manifestations are available for duplication in this day and age. They say, in essence, “A Bible! A Bible! We have already got a Bible, and there cannot be any more Bible” (2Ne. 29:3). The authors of the Book of Mormon, and the revelations and teachings given to and through Joseph Smith, all leave personal revelation wide open to us as individuals, and encourage us to tread in their footsteps, to come up to God and receive knowledge from Him for ourselves.
As Joseph Smith taught, “…God hath not revealed anything to [me], but what He will make known unto [you], and even the least Saint may know all things as fast as he is able to bear them…” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 149).
These books can be like a mountain, intimidating to climb. When we spend a few minutes crawling over one or two verses, we can miss the overall shape of the mountain. It becomes visible when we step back and try to get a big-picture overview.
The people in the Book of Mormon who witnessed the resurrected Savior, and interacted with Him, were extremely fortunate. It says that Jesus “expounded all the scriptures unto them which they had received” (3Ne. 23:6), and gave them more. I do not believe that means He read all the scriptures to them; rather, it means He explained the scriptures to them, perhaps giving summaries, an overview of what they had in their sacred records to that point. This says to me that such an exercise is at least possible. In the New Testament, the resurrected Savior taught two disciples when they did not even recognize Him: “…beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27).
Perhaps He taught them how their scriptures were about Him. Whatever the nature of the discourse, Mormon describes it thus: “…Jesus…expounded all the scriptures in one, which they had written, [and] he commanded them that they should teach the things which he had expounded unto them” (3Ne. 26:14).
Jesus dictated new scriptures from Old World prophets into the Nephite scriptural record. “We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things…” (Ninth Article of Faith).
I would love to have heard Jesus’ summation of the brass plates and other sacred records.
Below is my attempt, not to summarize what the scriptures have in common, but to summarize themes that differentiate each of the five standard works from the others. I feel there are themes and purposes in each of the standard works, distinct emphases that set each one apart from the others (though there is a huge amount of inevitable overlap between them). The following is my summary of each of the standard works and themes they contain outside of that large area they have in common.
Old Testament
The Old Testament gives us several creation stories. It gives us the story of the creation of the world, and its baptism (the Flood); it gives us the story of the creation of the House of Israel, and its baptism (in the Red Sea); it also gives us the genealogy of Jesus Christ.
The Old Testament starts off by giving us the general law of God, His rules for humanity to Adam and Eve. Moses gives us The Law (“Torah” means “The Law”), and the rest of the Old Testament is the story of people breaking (mostly) and keeping The Law, and the consequences of their choices. The prophets teach The Law, and encourage Israel to keep it, to return to it.
You could sum up the whole Old Testament with one word: Obedience.
The story continues to this day; we are still making the same mistakes and committing the same kinds of sins, violating the same laws now as then. One scripture to capture the essence of the Old Testament: “…choose you this day whom ye will serve…but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Josh. 24:15).
New Testament
With all those violations of divine law, there must be punishment. The New Testament tells us the story of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ to pay for our sins. He atones for our misdeeds with His own blood, voluntarily suffering and dying in our place so that we will not be damned. He is also resurrected, a fact witnessed by gospel authors and many others. Four witnesses give their own personal accounts in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
The disciples spread this “Gospel” (“good news”) to the rest of the world, and the world eventually kills them all, just like Jesus. One word to summarize the New Testament: Sacrifice (the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.) One scripture to sum it up: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
The Book of Mormon
Now that Jesus Christ has paid for our sins, we need not be damned. That is justification. But what about the evil in our hearts that got us into this mess to begin with? We still have the inclination to sin; how do we get rid of it? That is the next step, sanctification, being cleaned up on the inside.
The Book of Mormon explains, better than any other book, what we need to do in order to access the power of the Atonement. We must have faith in Christ, repent and be baptized, and receive the Holy Ghost. We must also be extremely humble before Him and humbly accept whatever assignments He gives us. The Book of Mormon explains how to be spiritually reborn, changed in our natures, and receive divine strength beyond our own, also called “grace.”
The Book of Mormon teaches us how to survive spiritually and physically in this fallen world. It gives us an economic picture of the Gospel, explaining how a free, affluent people can avoid the pitfalls of wealth (which makes it pertinent to America and the modern world). It shows us, transparently, the differences between fake messengers (antichrists sent by Satan to shake faith), versus true missionaries sent by God. The book itself is also a mighty missionary tool, meant to “gather scattered Israel” home (Come All Ye Sons of God, Hymns, 322).
One word to summarize the Book of Mormon: the Gospel (both how to receive it and how to teach it). One scripture to capture the essence of the book: “And ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, him will I baptize with fire and with the Holy Ghost…” (3Ne. 9:20).
The Pearl of Great Price
This is the most exotic book of scripture we have. Its provenance is incomparable. It contains the seven testimonies of the seven prophetic heads of seven dispensations. Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus Christ, and Joseph Smith, each speak to us from this book.
It also contains the sublime doctrine of our premortal existence—that each of us lived with God as His spirit children before the creation of the earth. Before the “beginning” of the Old Testament, there was a council in heaven, and we participated in it. We cannot remember that life because of the veil, but every person we meet who is born into this world chose Jesus Christ as his or her Savior, and elected to follow God’s plan and come to this earth.
The provenance, or origins, of these books is unlike anything else. For instance, Joseph Smith receives revelation about lost writings of Moses, who describes the discourse of Enoch about Adam’s spiritual rebirth.
It is a book of generations, from the beginning of the world to modern times, telling us where we came from. There are extraordinary doctrines and events described in it. Adam is literally baptized by the Holy Ghost with water, then spiritually with fire; Enoch (who has literally been erased from the Bible, save one verse only) sees an intimate vision of God weeping; he hears the earth itself speak; pictures from papyri are used to illustrate Abraham’s accounts.
We read of Abraham receiving astronomy lessons directly from God about other populated worlds. The Lord puts His hand on Abraham’s eyes, and he sees creation and the stars unfold before him. Moses meets Jehovah face to face, and then confronts Satan, on a mountain top. Joseph Smith, a fourteen year old farm boy concerned for his salvation, meets the Father and the Son in a grove of trees in the First Vision. Jesus preps His ancient and modern disciples for His Second Coming in an inspired review of Matthew 24. This is an exotic collection of scripture, with astonishing theophanies and breathtaking vistas.
Tacked humbly to the end are the Articles of Faith, thirteen simple statements of our beliefs about us, God, Christ, the fate of His Church and Kingdom, and the whole world in the last days before the Second Coming.
A few words to summarize the Pearl of Great Price: Generations, Dispensations, Patriarchal Lineage, Priesthood, Eons, Premortal Beginnings. Two verses of scripture to sum it up: “…there is nothing that the Lord thy God shall take in his heart to do but what he will do it…thou wast chosen before thou wast born” (Abr. 3:17, 22).
The Doctrine and Covenants
In the first four books of the Old Testament, Moses writes as an omniscient third person narrator telling a story. In Deuteronomy, the fifth book, he goes from narrator to first person guide. He tells the Israelites to wake up and behave, and speaks to the reader as if he were face to face: This is how you build a society acceptable to God.
Our book of Doctrine and Covenants partakes of that same spirit. Instead of reading stories and narratives, suddenly Joseph Smith is quoting directly from the Lord. “Thus saith the Lord” dominates the Doctrine and Covenants. And what is He telling us to do? Just as with Moses in Deuteronomy, Jesus is speaking through His current prophet (Joseph Smith, then) and giving us instructions for building Zion, and a Zion people.
Just as the Pearl of Great Price hints at our divine origin as daughters and sons of God, the Doctrine and Covenants tells us plainly that, when we cooperate with God fully, one day we will be exalted and become just like Him. We can only do this as husband and wife, permanent family units. Little wonder the D&C emphasizes organizing us into a family, church, and community; we will have to enjoy each others’ company forever, and learn to share “all that my father hath.” The Pearl of Great Price teaches our ancient premortal origins; the Doctrine and Covenants gives us a clearer view of our divine potential and destiny.
One word to sum it up: Consecration. Two verses to capture its essence: “When the Savior shall appear we shall see him as he is…And that same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there, only it will be coupled with eternal glory, which glory we do not now enjoy” (D&C 130:1-2).
Intent
This is my summary of motifs that set each standard work apart from the others. Beginnings, The Law, and The Fall, in the Old Testament; Atonement to heal The Fall of Adam and our sinful state in the New Testament; Tutorials about accessing the sanctifying power of the Atonement in the Book of Mormon; The deep origins of the world and our spirits in the Pearl of Great Price; Learning from the Lord’s mouth about building up Zion and our potential to become like God one day in the Doctrine and Covenants.
Nephi’s brother, Jacob, says, “For, for this intent have we written these things, that they may know that we knew of Christ, and we had a hope of his glory many hundred years before his coming; and not only we ourselves had a hope of his glory, but also all the holy prophets which were before us” (Jacob 4:3). That is the ultimate purpose of all scripture: encouraging faith in Christ, bringing souls to Him through repentance, ordinances, etc.
While the Christian world has varying degrees of trust in the infallibility of the scriptures (the Bible), some to an extreme degree, the authors of the Book of Mormon are open and frank about their flaws.
Moroni, the final author in the Book of Mormon, says, “Condemn me not because of mine imperfection, neither my father, because of his imperfection, neither them who have written before him; but rather give thanks unto God that…ye may learn to be more wise than we have been” (Mormon 9:31). They leave the door open for us to be smarter than they, and learn and grow. This is typical of the love of parents for their children.
The Bible gives us story after story about direct communication with God, but today’s religions based solely on the Bible (or other books) are doubtful about whether such manifestations are available for duplication in this day and age. They say, in essence, “A Bible! A Bible! We have already got a Bible, and there cannot be any more Bible” (2Ne. 29:3). The authors of the Book of Mormon, and the revelations and teachings given to and through Joseph Smith, all leave personal revelation wide open to us as individuals, and encourage us to tread in their footsteps, to come up to God and receive knowledge from Him for ourselves.
As Joseph Smith taught, “…God hath not revealed anything to [me], but what He will make known unto [you], and even the least Saint may know all things as fast as he is able to bear them…” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 149).
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