Alma 17: 6 Having refused the kingdom which their father was desirous to confer upon them, and also this was the minds of the people...This has always been something I have found to be an interesting conundrum: what is our obligation to be/do large things when we are capable of being/doing large things? In this specific example, any one of these four sons could have been an amazing king. And while it's true that they brought many people to the knowledge of the truth, I don't see anything in the stories that would imply that those people couldn't have been brought to the truth by three of Mosiah's four sons, while the other stayed and became King. Alma only lasted as chief judge for all of nine years before the "freedom" they had granted the people blew up in his face and he had to quit to focus on preaching the word. What if they had had a strong king, who could have imposed a state religion on the people and a High Priest who could dedicate all of his time to preaching the word of God, and three sons of Mosiah who could have made an amazing 14 year missionary journey to the Lamanites? Wouldn't that have been a better use of at least one of the sons' time? They could conceivably had that king all the way through the book of Alma, and then had a great chance that his son, raised as he would have been, in the company of people like his father, Alma, the great missionary uncles he would have had, Moroni, and Heleman, would have been likely to be a solid, upright man, who could have taken them nearly to Christ's time.
So was the decision to decline the throne in favor of personal desires, however noble, the right decision?
Alma 17:11 Show forth good examples unto them in me, and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls. I have a note in my scriptures that Anatoliy Frolov didn't want to learn about the gospel but when we helped him by translating his paper, he saw our example and wanted to know more. Anatoliy was the first person who got baptized in consequence of my teaching while I was on my mission. He was an amazing man, and was wonderful to teach. I was with Elder Staples in Novo-Darnitsya at the time.
Alma 26:27 and when our hearts were depressed, and we wer about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions and I will give unto you success. In Voskresenskiy, when I was teaching a family that I thought was perfect, and they told me that they liked everything we were saying, but they also liked their own church, and their friends were there, and they didn't see why they ought to change, I left their house so low that I was questioning why I had even come on my mission, and why we bothered to teach people the gospel at all, if the Lord, in his mercy, could just baptize them after they died anyway. We were walking to a bus stop, and I was praying, crying out inside, for God to help me understand, and I felt an amazing bolt of lightning and felt, "the Gospel is true because we have living prophets" and I was filled with such a joy that I could not contain it. I started running around, shouting for joy, throwing my bag into the air, and when my companion looked at me like I was a crazy person, I told him, "the gospel is true because we have living prophets." He said something like, "Duh." but also became enthusiastic and threw my bag a time or two. It's not new doctrine, and it's not intensely personal, but it was revelatory, and it was a message sent by God to me at a time when I needed to feel an outpouring of the spirit and it buoyed me up.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Monday, November 7, 2011
Sunday School Lesson 43: A Chosen Generation
First Peter is believed to have been written while Peter was the bishop of either Rome or Antioch. He was bishop of Antioch for 7 years and Bishop of Rome for 25 years, and died in 64-67 AD. I'm not sure I go for that timeline, because it doesn't leave much time for him to live in Jerusalem, and interact with Paul throughout Acts and some of Paul's epistles. Plus, that's a 32 year window for this epistle, which is almost as long as he lived after Christ was resurrected, so it's about as specific as saying we have no idea when he wrote it, except it probably wasn't while he was in Jerusalem. Lame.
1 Peter 1: 1 To the strangers scattered throughout ... Strangers is from the greek (διασπορᾶς diasporas), and meant scattered. It's interesting to me because a community of Ukrainians living outside of Ukraine (who try to maintain Ukrainian culture) is called a diaspora, and that's the only place I had heard it, but the dictionary has it only as a collection of Jews living outside Israel. The content in the rest of the epistle doesn't sound like it's written to Jews, though, diaspora in the opening or not.
1:6 Though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations. Couple of things to note here: Paul spoke of Moses's choice to leave Pharaoh's court using the same season reference, By faith Moses...refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.(Heb. 11:24-25) A season obviously means your mortal life, which gives a bit of an indication about the scale of time you must start to think on as a prophet. I'm still young enough to remember a time when a month seemed interminable, the summer seemed like a lifetime, and the school year seemed like an eternity. Recently, however, it has started to feel like the seasons are come and gone before you have time to realize they are fully arrived. Paul and Peter here, both speak of life that same way. Moses was in the wilderness with the Israelites for forty years and Paul here casually dismisses it as, oh, that was just a season.
The second thing I noticed is the grammatically excludable if need be statement. This statement is actually omitted from some translations of the Bible. Albert Barnes says that Peter was just being tactful by saying, if need be, and that he more accurately meant, because you need it. I often agree with Barnes, and certainly think that most or all of us have something to be gained through trials and humility.
1:8 Whom having not seen, ye love. This was a completely different statement back then, coming from Peter. He not only had seen Christ, but had worked with him daily during his ministry. At a family reunion once, I was up on a deck that came off the second floor of the house, sitting with my grandfather and grandmother, looking down at the majority of their eight living children, all with spouses, their 50-some-odd grandchildren, most with spouses, and the hundred or so great grandchildren. My grandfather and grandmother were looking at those people with different eyes than I was, and as we talked about what it meant for them to see all those people, returning that year to honor them, I had a hint of something eternal that I can't really describe. I wonder if Peter had a similar thought as he wrote this letter to the uncounted saints who, through his and others' efforts were honoring Christ daily.
1:15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation. Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. This statement was originally given in Leviticus 11, again in 19, and again in 20. It is probably one of my favorite injunctions in scripture. At the time it was given, the alternatives to Jehovah were bloodthirsty, lustful, immoral creations of stone and wood that embodied most of the worst behaviors of man, think of Molech or Baal. By the time of the Christians and in this part of the world, people were worshiping the greek and roman pantheons. Zeus was the father of the gods and was constantly coming down to earth to exaltedly lie with normal women. His wife, rather than punish him, would, in deified jealous rage, punish the woman who had succumbed to her husband's immortal seduction. And so on. It was (and is) commonly accepted that people do and act like the gods they worship, choosing them, perhaps in part, because they can identify with that deity. For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever. (Micah 4:5) Heavenly Father was different from the gods of the day because he said, I am holy, so you should be holy. This is a really important thing to recognize in ourselves--we will practice and aspire to the behaviors and virtues of the being we worship and pray to. Our God is a God of holiness, cleanliness, obedience, truth, love, grace, and so on. If we really believe in him, we will seek to live in the pattern he has set for us.
1:20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world. Just had to note the explicit reference to an existence in God's presence before the physical creation of the world. And, lest any think this applies to Christ only, He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. (Ephesians 1:4) Both Christ and we existed in a place where God could foreordain and choose us prior to the creation of the world.
1 Peter 1: 1 To the strangers scattered throughout ... Strangers is from the greek (διασπορᾶς diasporas), and meant scattered. It's interesting to me because a community of Ukrainians living outside of Ukraine (who try to maintain Ukrainian culture) is called a diaspora, and that's the only place I had heard it, but the dictionary has it only as a collection of Jews living outside Israel. The content in the rest of the epistle doesn't sound like it's written to Jews, though, diaspora in the opening or not.
1:6 Though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations. Couple of things to note here: Paul spoke of Moses's choice to leave Pharaoh's court using the same season reference, By faith Moses...refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.(Heb. 11:24-25) A season obviously means your mortal life, which gives a bit of an indication about the scale of time you must start to think on as a prophet. I'm still young enough to remember a time when a month seemed interminable, the summer seemed like a lifetime, and the school year seemed like an eternity. Recently, however, it has started to feel like the seasons are come and gone before you have time to realize they are fully arrived. Paul and Peter here, both speak of life that same way. Moses was in the wilderness with the Israelites for forty years and Paul here casually dismisses it as, oh, that was just a season.
The second thing I noticed is the grammatically excludable if need be statement. This statement is actually omitted from some translations of the Bible. Albert Barnes says that Peter was just being tactful by saying, if need be, and that he more accurately meant, because you need it. I often agree with Barnes, and certainly think that most or all of us have something to be gained through trials and humility.
1:8 Whom having not seen, ye love. This was a completely different statement back then, coming from Peter. He not only had seen Christ, but had worked with him daily during his ministry. At a family reunion once, I was up on a deck that came off the second floor of the house, sitting with my grandfather and grandmother, looking down at the majority of their eight living children, all with spouses, their 50-some-odd grandchildren, most with spouses, and the hundred or so great grandchildren. My grandfather and grandmother were looking at those people with different eyes than I was, and as we talked about what it meant for them to see all those people, returning that year to honor them, I had a hint of something eternal that I can't really describe. I wonder if Peter had a similar thought as he wrote this letter to the uncounted saints who, through his and others' efforts were honoring Christ daily.
1:15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation. Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. This statement was originally given in Leviticus 11, again in 19, and again in 20. It is probably one of my favorite injunctions in scripture. At the time it was given, the alternatives to Jehovah were bloodthirsty, lustful, immoral creations of stone and wood that embodied most of the worst behaviors of man, think of Molech or Baal. By the time of the Christians and in this part of the world, people were worshiping the greek and roman pantheons. Zeus was the father of the gods and was constantly coming down to earth to exaltedly lie with normal women. His wife, rather than punish him, would, in deified jealous rage, punish the woman who had succumbed to her husband's immortal seduction. And so on. It was (and is) commonly accepted that people do and act like the gods they worship, choosing them, perhaps in part, because they can identify with that deity. For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever. (Micah 4:5) Heavenly Father was different from the gods of the day because he said, I am holy, so you should be holy. This is a really important thing to recognize in ourselves--we will practice and aspire to the behaviors and virtues of the being we worship and pray to. Our God is a God of holiness, cleanliness, obedience, truth, love, grace, and so on. If we really believe in him, we will seek to live in the pattern he has set for us.
1:20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world. Just had to note the explicit reference to an existence in God's presence before the physical creation of the world. And, lest any think this applies to Christ only, He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. (Ephesians 1:4) Both Christ and we existed in a place where God could foreordain and choose us prior to the creation of the world.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
2 Nephi 26
2 Nephi 26:4-5 Wherefore, All those who are proud, and that do wickedly, the day cometh that shall burn them up, saith the Lord of Hosts, for they shall be as stubble. And they that kill the prophets, and the saints, the depths of the earth shall swallow them up, saith the Lord of Hosts; and mountains shall cover them, and whirlwinds shall carry them away, and buildings shall fall upon them and crush them to pieces and grind them to powder. This is a little odd. The reality is, the vast majority of those who actually kill a prophet also die, after living full lives; and really, not many people go around killing saints anymore. So, does it mean, that in the millennial day, those who would have qualified as participants in such a group will suffer this? Or is it referencing judgment day? An Angel will stand there with a bull-horn yelling, "all right, everybody who killed a prophet, come stand by this mountain! Saint-killers on the left, by the falling building, and the rest of you, grab your stubble suit and head to the fire!" It seems kind of lame. Words like this have been passed around to and by people who have actually lost loved ones, who want to know that the perps will be caught and punished, but if they just get the same allegorical Hell that the rest of us get for normal failings, then it becomes small comfort in the moment. Of course they should all be fine with it in the end, at judgment day itself, when their perspective should be changed and their nature (if they are saved) should actually regret that any soul should suffer.
In that vein, what is it about our existence here that makes it so hard for us to have that perspective? Obviously there are people who have it, e.g. the sons of Mosiah, some of the prophets, but there are some notably righteous people who clearly lack it, e.g Jonah (he was upset when the Lord didn't follow through on the destruction of Ninevah, even though they repented), Elisha (he had the she-bears rip up those kids for calling him baldy). Something about us feels a need for immediate and physical punishment of injustice. I have it, myself. I wonder if I need to evaluate that further, but I'm out of time.
In that vein, what is it about our existence here that makes it so hard for us to have that perspective? Obviously there are people who have it, e.g. the sons of Mosiah, some of the prophets, but there are some notably righteous people who clearly lack it, e.g Jonah (he was upset when the Lord didn't follow through on the destruction of Ninevah, even though they repented), Elisha (he had the she-bears rip up those kids for calling him baldy). Something about us feels a need for immediate and physical punishment of injustice. I have it, myself. I wonder if I need to evaluate that further, but I'm out of time.
Friday, August 12, 2011
2 Nephi 25
2 Nephi 25:1-2 Isaiah spake many things which were hard for many of my people to understand...For I have not taught them many things concerning the manner of the Jews; for their works were works of darkness and their doings were doings of abomination. When Christ came, the Jews had a hard time believing that he was the anointed Messiah, but the Nephites did not have the same trouble. From this scripture, it would appear that the Nephite acceptance of Christ could have been the result of a deliberate and calculated move on Nephi's part to wean them off the Jewish way of thinking.
25:4 The words of Isaiah are not plain unto you, nevertheless, they are plain unto all those that have the spirit of prophesy. Nice (not very subtle) dig, Nephi. Oh, you don't get it? Well, smart people do. We know the testimony of Christ is the spirit of prophesy, so Isaiah should be plain as day to anybody who has a testimony of Christ. But it isn't. I wondery why. Part of it is definitely going to be context, and background. Joseph Smith said something fairly similar about the book of Revelation, and I think that can enlighten us a little. There's an entire section of the Doctrine and Covenants that is simply a question and answer session with the Lord about what do certain parts of the book of Revelation mean. This conversation undoubtedly took place before he said the book was plain as day and easy to understand, and maybe that's what Nephi means. Isaiah is plain as day and easy to understand after you have the opportunity to have a Q&A session with the Lord about it.
25:4 The words of Isaiah are not plain unto you, nevertheless, they are plain unto all those that have the spirit of prophesy. Nice (not very subtle) dig, Nephi. Oh, you don't get it? Well, smart people do. We know the testimony of Christ is the spirit of prophesy, so Isaiah should be plain as day to anybody who has a testimony of Christ. But it isn't. I wondery why. Part of it is definitely going to be context, and background. Joseph Smith said something fairly similar about the book of Revelation, and I think that can enlighten us a little. There's an entire section of the Doctrine and Covenants that is simply a question and answer session with the Lord about what do certain parts of the book of Revelation mean. This conversation undoubtedly took place before he said the book was plain as day and easy to understand, and maybe that's what Nephi means. Isaiah is plain as day and easy to understand after you have the opportunity to have a Q&A session with the Lord about it.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
2 Nephi 24
There is an interesting shift that happens around verse five, before which, the subjects are the actual nation of Israel and Babylon, speaking of the eventual return of Israel to their lands of promise and the demise of Babylon, thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say: How hath the oppressor ceased, the golden city ceased! and if you are not paying attention, the subsequent verses may seem to apply but by the time you get to verse 12, you'll note that the person being addressed is no longer the King of Babylon, but Lucifer. There are a number of things that will happen:
The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked staff clearly symbolizing power or authority,
He that smote the people ... is persecuted
the whole earth is at rest and a comment that the trees are rejoicing, perhaps indicating that in the millenial day, we will be better resource managers
Hell from beneath is moved to meet thee
[His] pomp is brought down to the grave - Lucifer will be cast out of the earth, and the denizens there will say, How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! and that's when you realize that even though the chapter started out talking about the King of Babylon, it switched to speaking about Luciferin the middle.
24:12-15 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! Art thou cut down to teh ground, which did weaken the nations! For thou has said in thy heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God...I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. Just as Isaiah sometimes speaks messianically, here he uses the king of Babylon to typify Lucifer. I like these verses because they are nearly identical to the verses in the book of Isaiah, and are one of the places in the Bible where you have reasonably clear support for our version of the pre-earth life, with the council in heaven and Lucifer, a son of the morning, existing in heaven, in God's presence, aspiring to ascend to the throne of God, and being cast out for his hubris until the residents of hell ask him, art thou become weak as we?
The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked staff clearly symbolizing power or authority,
He that smote the people ... is persecuted
the whole earth is at rest and a comment that the trees are rejoicing, perhaps indicating that in the millenial day, we will be better resource managers
Hell from beneath is moved to meet thee
[His] pomp is brought down to the grave - Lucifer will be cast out of the earth, and the denizens there will say, How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! and that's when you realize that even though the chapter started out talking about the King of Babylon, it switched to speaking about Luciferin the middle.
24:12-15 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! Art thou cut down to teh ground, which did weaken the nations! For thou has said in thy heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God...I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. Just as Isaiah sometimes speaks messianically, here he uses the king of Babylon to typify Lucifer. I like these verses because they are nearly identical to the verses in the book of Isaiah, and are one of the places in the Bible where you have reasonably clear support for our version of the pre-earth life, with the council in heaven and Lucifer, a son of the morning, existing in heaven, in God's presence, aspiring to ascend to the throne of God, and being cast out for his hubris until the residents of hell ask him, art thou become weak as we?
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
2 Nephi 23
2 Nephi 23:9-10 Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate; and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light; and the sun shall be darkened in his going forth and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. Couple of quick thoughts here: a day that is cruel and fierce to lay the land desolate and destroy the sinners. So will the righteous also suffer? The way I read it, I have to say this seems to imply yes. There are others that don't seem to imply that the righteous will suffer, but I can't think of them right now. The celestial bodies being darkened may refer to them being obscured by dark clouds from a storm or ash clouds from volcanic eruptions, or perhaps as a byproduct of a war fought with terrible weapons.
23:11 I will punish the world for evil, and the wicked for their iniquity. Does this mean that they wicked men will still be alive while all these calamities are being poured out? I sure hope so, or the rest of the world is bearing the brunt of their temporal punishment. But that's the crux of it, isn't it? Does what happens to us temporally count as a punishment? Remembering that the goal of life is to gain a body and learn obedience through faith, is there any trial here that is not a blessing? Any calamity that does not allow us to demonstrate our commitment to God? It is interesting that it goes on to talk about how rare a man will be, implying that of the people who get burned up will be more likely to be men than women.
23:15-16 Every one that is proud shall be thrust through; yea, and every on that is joined to the wicked shall fall by the sword. Their children shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled and their wives revished. So at least some of the wicked will die, while others will watch terrible things happen to their families. I hope that those terrible things don't happen to my familiy, whether I qualify for destruction or not. That would be an awful thing to have to see.
23:21-22 But wild bests of the desert shall lie there...and satyrs shall dance there. And the wild bests of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces. HAH! Biblical proof of Satyrs and Dragons. After Babylon is destroyed, mythical creatures will show up there and we can go see them.
23:22 For I will be merciful unto my people, but The wicked shall perish. I do like the almost subtle reminder that the Lord will not treat his covenant people the same as he treats the wicked. The only problem is that the Lord is often talking about eternal destruction when we tend to focus on physical destruction. He may mean that he'll destroy them by sending them to Hell and his merciful treatment of his people is forgiving their sins and allowing them to join him in Heaven, and whatever happens to them while they are alive is not worth mentioning, for the reasons I gave above. Whichever it is, I still hope none of the terrible things discussed in this chapter happen to my family, and I hope that if they do, I will have the Lord's help in keeping an eternal perspective.
Marshall told me about a fellow who had spoken in church a few weeks ago whose 18 month old daughter had drowned and he was crying tears of gratitude that he was able to be a part of her life for those 18 months. From an eternal perspective, what matters is that she had a chance to come to earth, gain a physical body, and return to God in Heaven, and to her parents, it is an opportunity to understand (very slightly) some of the pain that Christ suffered for us as he took our sins and iniquities and infirmities upon himself. But I'm sure it's not easy and hope that I don't have to go through it.
23:11 I will punish the world for evil, and the wicked for their iniquity. Does this mean that they wicked men will still be alive while all these calamities are being poured out? I sure hope so, or the rest of the world is bearing the brunt of their temporal punishment. But that's the crux of it, isn't it? Does what happens to us temporally count as a punishment? Remembering that the goal of life is to gain a body and learn obedience through faith, is there any trial here that is not a blessing? Any calamity that does not allow us to demonstrate our commitment to God? It is interesting that it goes on to talk about how rare a man will be, implying that of the people who get burned up will be more likely to be men than women.
23:15-16 Every one that is proud shall be thrust through; yea, and every on that is joined to the wicked shall fall by the sword. Their children shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled and their wives revished. So at least some of the wicked will die, while others will watch terrible things happen to their families. I hope that those terrible things don't happen to my familiy, whether I qualify for destruction or not. That would be an awful thing to have to see.
23:21-22 But wild bests of the desert shall lie there...and satyrs shall dance there. And the wild bests of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces. HAH! Biblical proof of Satyrs and Dragons. After Babylon is destroyed, mythical creatures will show up there and we can go see them.
23:22 For I will be merciful unto my people, but The wicked shall perish. I do like the almost subtle reminder that the Lord will not treat his covenant people the same as he treats the wicked. The only problem is that the Lord is often talking about eternal destruction when we tend to focus on physical destruction. He may mean that he'll destroy them by sending them to Hell and his merciful treatment of his people is forgiving their sins and allowing them to join him in Heaven, and whatever happens to them while they are alive is not worth mentioning, for the reasons I gave above. Whichever it is, I still hope none of the terrible things discussed in this chapter happen to my family, and I hope that if they do, I will have the Lord's help in keeping an eternal perspective.
Marshall told me about a fellow who had spoken in church a few weeks ago whose 18 month old daughter had drowned and he was crying tears of gratitude that he was able to be a part of her life for those 18 months. From an eternal perspective, what matters is that she had a chance to come to earth, gain a physical body, and return to God in Heaven, and to her parents, it is an opportunity to understand (very slightly) some of the pain that Christ suffered for us as he took our sins and iniquities and infirmities upon himself. But I'm sure it's not easy and hope that I don't have to go through it.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Matt 7:21-23
Matt 7:21-23 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
This scripture makes me think of networking at work. We often get frustrated that the people who get promoted aren't always those we think are most exemplary, or the best qualified, they're often the one who has a personal relationship with the hiring manager. There's even the oft-repeated "it's not what you know, it's who you know." And in the professional workplace, this is often viewed as a flaw in the system. The best and brightest doesn't necessarily advance because he may not be personally familiar with the person doing the hiring.
In the gospel, it's the same way, apparently. Here you have a group of people who are essentially proclaiming that they have done the work, but Christ replies, "I never knew you."
Flip over to Matt 25, to the parable of the ten virgins. Five brought oil in addition to what they could hold in their lamps, and five brought no oil so that when the party approached, those who had not were compelled to run try to purchase, and when they returned, did Christ admonish them for what they had done? No. He said simply, I know you not. And wouldn't let them in to the party.
Alma touches on this theme in Mosiah 26, where he reminds us that we must know the name by which we are called, and the voice of the Good Shepherd. Those who do not know him are told, Then will I confess unto them that I never knew them; and they shall depart into everlasting fire...
The two obvious traps that I see associated with our attempts to know Christ are knowing about Christ, and believing that works can be a substitute for knowing him.
Knowing about Christ is probably the easiest to do. When Christ talked about those who had visited him in prison, fed him when they saw him hungry, clothed him when they saw him naked, he was talking to a group of people who knew about him. Those who failed to recognize him in the poor, the meek, and the lowly did so not because they didn't know about him, but because they didn't know him.
I want to be clear: learning about Christ is a good and necessary part of our spiritual development, but it is no substitute for coming to know Christ. We should be doing both.
The second challenge is somewhat harder, but Christ was quite clear that it was possible--that of performing actions that are good without knowing Christ. In the scripture that started this off, the sinners said, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? and Christ did not deny that they had indeed done many wonderful works, but he says, I never knew you. This is the failing of a hypocritical generation, and he was definitely speaking to his target audience at the time, who were known for their hypocrisy, but are we any better? As we go to church on Sunday, and perform our callings, and having family prayers, and all the myriad other things we do, are we filled with the love of God? Or are we aware that our neighbors are watching us and we want them to believe that we're good people? Are we convinced that doing our home teaching is ministering unto the Savior as he lies naked, hungry, or thirsty? Or is it something we do because it's awkward to tell the Elders' Quorum President that we haven't done it again this month?
I am not going to go through all the motivations we might have for performing acts that are motivated by the wrong reason, but it is possible.
The lucky thing about both of these flaws is that they both have a strong tendency to build you to the point where you might have started out simply learning about Jesus and end up coming to know him, and you might start out doing the works of Christ for the wrong motivations and the promise does exist that through action, you can come to know that they are of God, and your motivations can change. I have a hard time believing that one could go for long persisting in daily scripture study, daily prayer, temple attendance, and serving actively in the church without progressing past learning about Christ and rote performance of actions.
On the flipside, I also think it is possible to build a house on that foundation, and once the walls are up, through neglect of the less public portions of service and more personal obligations of study and prayer, quietly and slowly dig that foundation out from under the house while presenting to all the world a facade that slowly becomes more and more unstable.
And that, for me, is one of the most important lessons in this whole discussion: You can not look at someone and have any understanding of where they are at spiritually based on anything you can see because it is possible for someone who knows Christ intimately to give you nothing different to observe than someone who does not. The motivations are in the heart, and as Paul said, Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels...though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains...and though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. All those things are possible without allowing them to create within you the saving grace that means that you know Christ. When it comes time to be judged, Christ will either know you or he will not know you, and your works and knowledge will profit you nothing if you do not know him.
This scripture makes me think of networking at work. We often get frustrated that the people who get promoted aren't always those we think are most exemplary, or the best qualified, they're often the one who has a personal relationship with the hiring manager. There's even the oft-repeated "it's not what you know, it's who you know." And in the professional workplace, this is often viewed as a flaw in the system. The best and brightest doesn't necessarily advance because he may not be personally familiar with the person doing the hiring.
In the gospel, it's the same way, apparently. Here you have a group of people who are essentially proclaiming that they have done the work, but Christ replies, "I never knew you."
Flip over to Matt 25, to the parable of the ten virgins. Five brought oil in addition to what they could hold in their lamps, and five brought no oil so that when the party approached, those who had not were compelled to run try to purchase, and when they returned, did Christ admonish them for what they had done? No. He said simply, I know you not. And wouldn't let them in to the party.
Alma touches on this theme in Mosiah 26, where he reminds us that we must know the name by which we are called, and the voice of the Good Shepherd. Those who do not know him are told, Then will I confess unto them that I never knew them; and they shall depart into everlasting fire...
The two obvious traps that I see associated with our attempts to know Christ are knowing about Christ, and believing that works can be a substitute for knowing him.
Knowing about Christ is probably the easiest to do. When Christ talked about those who had visited him in prison, fed him when they saw him hungry, clothed him when they saw him naked, he was talking to a group of people who knew about him. Those who failed to recognize him in the poor, the meek, and the lowly did so not because they didn't know about him, but because they didn't know him.
I want to be clear: learning about Christ is a good and necessary part of our spiritual development, but it is no substitute for coming to know Christ. We should be doing both.
The second challenge is somewhat harder, but Christ was quite clear that it was possible--that of performing actions that are good without knowing Christ. In the scripture that started this off, the sinners said, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? and Christ did not deny that they had indeed done many wonderful works, but he says, I never knew you. This is the failing of a hypocritical generation, and he was definitely speaking to his target audience at the time, who were known for their hypocrisy, but are we any better? As we go to church on Sunday, and perform our callings, and having family prayers, and all the myriad other things we do, are we filled with the love of God? Or are we aware that our neighbors are watching us and we want them to believe that we're good people? Are we convinced that doing our home teaching is ministering unto the Savior as he lies naked, hungry, or thirsty? Or is it something we do because it's awkward to tell the Elders' Quorum President that we haven't done it again this month?
I am not going to go through all the motivations we might have for performing acts that are motivated by the wrong reason, but it is possible.
The lucky thing about both of these flaws is that they both have a strong tendency to build you to the point where you might have started out simply learning about Jesus and end up coming to know him, and you might start out doing the works of Christ for the wrong motivations and the promise does exist that through action, you can come to know that they are of God, and your motivations can change. I have a hard time believing that one could go for long persisting in daily scripture study, daily prayer, temple attendance, and serving actively in the church without progressing past learning about Christ and rote performance of actions.
On the flipside, I also think it is possible to build a house on that foundation, and once the walls are up, through neglect of the less public portions of service and more personal obligations of study and prayer, quietly and slowly dig that foundation out from under the house while presenting to all the world a facade that slowly becomes more and more unstable.
And that, for me, is one of the most important lessons in this whole discussion: You can not look at someone and have any understanding of where they are at spiritually based on anything you can see because it is possible for someone who knows Christ intimately to give you nothing different to observe than someone who does not. The motivations are in the heart, and as Paul said, Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels...though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains...and though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. All those things are possible without allowing them to create within you the saving grace that means that you know Christ. When it comes time to be judged, Christ will either know you or he will not know you, and your works and knowledge will profit you nothing if you do not know him.
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