Obedience - A quest.

Alma 56 & 57

I wasn’t going to continue writing after I finished the Book of Mormon, but I think I’ll add thoughts as they come to me.  After all, this blog was going to be my spiritual musings in the beginning. 

This morning as I read I was hit in Alma 57 by a few words starting v19-27 (I won’t spell them out): 

• Firm
• Undaunted
• Obey
• Observe
• Exactness
• Continually

 The Stripling Warriors (those too young to have covenanted peace with the Lamanites) chose as their captain a prophet (Helaman).  Their mothers taught them in righteousness.  Those bulleted words quite possibly were lessons they taught.  Most importantly, they were taught that if they did not doubt, the Lord would protect them (v47). 

What does it mean to be firm?  Am I firm in keeping the commandments?  Do I get intimidated or discouraged when things are difficult (undaunted)?  Do I obey with exactness?  Do I observe?  Observe what?  Perhaps the effects of not being firm, undaunted and obedient so that I avoid like the plague a similar outcome.  Am I exact in my obedience?  These are things to ponder continually.  Pres. Hinckley said once, and I put it in my scriptures as a sticky note:  “When obedience ceases to be an irritant and becomes a quest, then we are empowered by the Lord.”  I love that!  It is certainly something worth working toward.  There is always room for improvement.

The Godhead

Two things have happened to me in the last two days that make me real curious about other people’s belief in the Godhead and where that belief comes from.  The scriptures?  I think not. 

Sunday, our family was talking about the angst many people have in the country against Mitt Romney and his religious affiliation with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I really don’t get it.  My son-in-law who has been on a mission in Florida said “They are pretty passionate about their belief that God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost are all one God, and don’t mess with that belief.  Anything contrary to it is evil in their minds.”  Are you kidding me?  Pure logic tells me that’s crazy!  I remember hearing my cousin as a young girl repeat the Nicene Creed.  I just read it on the Internet and even it is a contradiction of itself.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_versions_of_the_Nicene_Creed_in_current_use

First they say “Just one God” and then they say Jesus Christ returns to that one God and sits on his right side.  Is this not confusing doctrine?

Does this one God talk to himself?  Genesis 1:26  “God said, Let us make man in our image; . . .”  Does that not imply there were at least two people present?  Then in Genesis 3:22 it says “. . . man is become as one of us, to know good and evil; . . .”  Does this not imply there are two people talking about Adam and Eve?  When Jesus Christ is baptized, we hear the voice of the Father saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased;. . .”  (Matthew 3:17)  My mind operates on logic, and I really don’t get it. 

I believe in a Heavenly Father – my Father of my Spirit.  I know He loves me and I am His daughter.  I love Him!  I believe in Jesus Christ, His Son, my Redeemer, Savior, elder brother, friend and advocate with the Father.  I know He died for my sins and was resurrected the third day.  I know he visited the Nephites on the American Continent after his resurrection and did teach them the gospel in its pure form.  I know the Holy Ghost is a personage of spirit, which is how he can reside in me.  He is real.  I have felt his presence and influence in my life too many times to number. 

How can this knowledge be offensive to anyone?  I find it liberating at least and comforting beyond expression.  

It could only come from God!

Moroni 10

I’m sad that there was not time at the end of reading this chapter to record my thoughts and feelings.  I knew when I said my prayer that day that I was on the last chapter of Moroni and that I would be challenged by Moroni to pray to know of its truth.  I did so.  

Moroni tells us that the Holy Ghost will bear testimony to us of its truthfulness.  He talks about the gifts of the spirit and that they are always accompanied by faith.  He exhorts us to come unto Christ and be perfected in him.

What was my experience?  Did I feel the power of the Holy Ghost bear witness of its truth as I finished?  I don’t know what more I could expect.  Every time I read its pages I feel of its truth and gratitude to have this amazing book in my life.  It has changed my life in so many ways.  It blesses me as I counsel with my children in their problems.  It blesses me as I pursue my own responsibilities in the church.  It blesses me as I support my husband in his efforts as a Priesthood holder and as her pursues his profession.  When I miss reading it for a day, I feel empty at the end of the day and I know it is because I have not nourished my spirit from its pages.  To me, this is a tangible witness that The Book of Mormon is true.

I love reading Moroni’s exhortation to not deny the gifts of God.  They are many, and some of them I do not have – or have not pursued sufficiently to be blessed with them; but I know people who do have them.  They have paid the price.  I have been blessed with tremendous faith, and it does profit me.  I believe I have developed the gift to teach by the Spirit.  This was not something that came to earth with me.  However, my patriarchal blessing says I will be a light to others who see dimly, so perhaps it is a gift I brought to earth with me and it lay dormant while I was inactive and growing in the gospel. 

I believe we can pray to behold angels and ministering spirits and we will see them.  This is done by actively recognizing when an angel has touched your life.  It happens regularly, and the more grateful we are for the angels in our lives, the more we see them. 

I know the Book of Mormon is true.  I marvel at the process.  I remember the first time I actually read it from cover-to-cover.  It wasn’t easy to understand and it was a struggle.  However, there were pages that were clear as a bell to me and I knew they were from the Lord.  It spoke to me, and I wanted more of it in my life.  I know this process is for a reason, for those things that are work strengthen and bless us.  I know if you will put Moroni’s promise to the test, that the spirit will bear witness to you of its truth.  It may not come as you finish the last verse.  It most likely will come as you ponder the truths as you read them.  A young man named Joseph Smith nor anyone else could not have manufactured them.  They could only have come from God.  In the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.   

Trust in the Lord

Moroni 9

Mormon writes his last epistle to Moroni.  This is probably the saddest letter ever written by a good man to anyone!  The Lamanites and the Nephites are all so wicked they torture and kill each other with no sense of human decency at all. 

I cannot comprehend the depravity of which Mormon writes.  Could we become so wicked?  I know there are really wicked things in the world that happen, but could it become the norm?  I remember watching a “cowboy and Indians” movie – probably several different movies, and the Indians did some pretty despicable things to the women in the movie.  One was with Steve McQueen many years ago – “Nevada Smith”.  His parents had been brutally murdered by Indians and their home burned to the ground.  He witnessed it somehow.  Whenever I read this chapter, those images play over in my mind. 

When I reach this part of the Book of Mormon, I’m saddened that man can degenerate to such a level.  Is it the “natural man” King Benjamin refers to in Mosiah 3:19?  Certainly he would be an enemy to God.  So how does one insure they do not ever become so evil?  I believe King Benjamin tells us in this verse.

• Yield to the enticings of the Holy Ghost
• Accept the Atonement of Christ
• Be like a child, i.e. submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, submit to the Lord’s will even as a child submits to his parents.

 There is plenty here to think about for the day and every day.  It could be boiled down to trusting the Lord as a small child trusts his parents.

Baptism

Moroni 8

Baptism – This is Mormon’s letter to Moroni on the Lord’s command on baptism of little children and those who have never heard the gospel. 

Little children are not capable of repenting because they have not learned good from bad and making choices yet.  It’s as simple as that.

I also like that those without the law will not be judged the same as those who have the law.  So to assume otherwise is to mock the Lord. 

I especially like v12 “But little children are alive in Christ, even from the foundation of the world; if not so, God is a partial God, and also a changeable God, and a respecter to persons; for how many little children have died without baptism!”  We know God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  Why then do so many people have problems with this doctrine?

Faith With a Brightness of Hope

Moroni 7

There are so many nuggets I could choose to chew on this morning – and so little time!

These last few chapters in Moroni are full of good stuff.  Moroni tells us how to judge.  Yes folks, we are supposed to judge.  This is one that caused me so much grief as I was embracing the gospel.  Those people in my life who were anti-Mormon, said we are not to judge; that it is the Lord’s place to judge.  Well, Moroni certainly clears this up in verses 14-17.  If something draws us closer to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, then it is of God (v16).  It something causes us to deny the existence of Christ or Heavenly Father then it is of the devil.  Simple rule. 

I mention this because there are a lot of things in this world we need to be judging daily, i.e. our entertainment, where we spend our time, those we choose to associate with, and the list goes on.  We live in a world with more choices than ever before in the history of man, I dare say.  Entertainment is probably the biggest one out there.  My daughter has a voice like a songbird.  She is beautiful to look at as well.  There aren’t a lot of places for her to exercise her talents except in bars.  Oh, these are good bars.  You don’t have to drink.  It grieves me that she doesn’t see the slippery slope here.  I can go into these places and not partake of the evil that is there.  The music can be acceptable.  In fact, the one time I went to support her in a karaoke contest, I did nothing wrong.  However, I knew quite plainly by the Spirit that I was in enemy territory.   I made the choice that I would not be going back – even to support a sweet daughter.

Is this prudish?  Perhaps.  However, we must use this ruler if we are to remain on safe ground.  I doubt seriously if I would be weakened to the point of doing anything disagreeable to the Lord.  However, my very presence there bears testimony that I think it’s not all that bad and sets a bad example.  It just might be that someone who is not quite so resolved to stay away from the edge would use my example to justify his or her actions.  I take seriously my responsibility to set a good example – for my own children and for any who know me.

The other really huge nugget is faith.  Actually, it took me two days to read this chapter.  It is through faith that we lay hold upon every good thing (v25).   What is faith?  Faith is the vehicle that takes us back to our Heavenly Father.  I will never forget the first prayer I uttered after nine years of darkness.  It was more of a plea than a prayer.  But I was exhausted from the life I was living.  It was a miserable existence and I wanted change.  “Oh, Heavenly Father, whatever it is my parents are praying for, I’m ready to do what I need to do to get there.”  That was the most powerful prayer of my life up to that point!  I don’t know that it was necessarily filled with faith, but rather a glimmer of hope that just maybe there was someone listening.  Well, there was.  There is never a day of my life since that I have not thought of this miracle in my own life.  Have miracles ceased?  Not even!  It is by faith that miracles are wrought (v37) and I’m living proof. 

My marching order for today is to press forward in faith, believing.