Ephesians 5:25- "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it."
We are commanded to love our wives as Christ loved the church. How much love is that? More than we can comprehend. Christ loves every human that has ever lived, no matter how wicked. However, I feel he must have an even "more perfect" love (if such is possible) for the church, which consists of those saints striving to obey the Lord. This verse says that his love is demonstrated because Christ gave his life for us. This sounds like an unimaginable love, but Joseph Smith taught that many saints are willing to lay down their lives for the gospel but are not willing to live for it. The beauty with the Savior's love is that that is not the case, he not only died out of love but lived out of love. This is demonstrated in 2 Nephi 26:24, "He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life". I love this verse, the first part really hits home as a husband. "He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world", or in my case this should read, "I doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of Erica". I often ask myself if something I am doing will make Erica happy, unfortunately I know that there are many things that I do where that is not necessarily the case. I need to strive to be more like the Savior who always had that as a prerequisite for any action. The question is, how do I better follow his example?
One lesson I learned on my mission, was the applicability and truthfulness of Ezekiel 36:26. "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh." How many husbands naturally have a stony heart? We all need that new heart spoken of, and with that new heart we will be more capable to fully love our wife. To gain that new heart, we must first love the Lord our God with all our heart, might, mind & spirit. Then he can give us a new heart & a new spirit. This is not enough though, you must continue to increase in love. You should evaluate yourself with Alma's poignant question in Alma 5:26- "if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?"
In summary, the key to loving your spouse as the Savior loves us is by turning your heart over to him, by living the gospel & continuously converting yourself. Without that spiritual health your heart will be weakened and no longer be able to love to its full capacity. This is why the first & great commandment is to love the Lord God & the second is to "love thy neighbor as thyself." What greater neighbor is there than the one that will be at our side throughout all eternity? Erica is my eternal neighbor.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Divine Help
D&C 112:10- " Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers."
I was recently called to be the Elder's Quorum President. My inadequacies make me feel much like I did when I was a new missionary in the CCM. I remember my mom slipping a few notes into my scriptures and one of them was this one. It was one of her favorites as well as one of her grand mother's favorites. It gave me great solace in knowing that humility was all that was required. I didn't need to be some great conqueror, someone that could shake the heavens when I spoke, I just needed to be humble. With that humility the Lord would lead me so that I could accomplish whatever I needed. At a time like this, I have too much on my mind to write more for I don't know exactly what I wish to express. I could really use some answers to my prayers, so for this week I hope more than anything to be able to apply this scripture.
I was recently called to be the Elder's Quorum President. My inadequacies make me feel much like I did when I was a new missionary in the CCM. I remember my mom slipping a few notes into my scriptures and one of them was this one. It was one of her favorites as well as one of her grand mother's favorites. It gave me great solace in knowing that humility was all that was required. I didn't need to be some great conqueror, someone that could shake the heavens when I spoke, I just needed to be humble. With that humility the Lord would lead me so that I could accomplish whatever I needed. At a time like this, I have too much on my mind to write more for I don't know exactly what I wish to express. I could really use some answers to my prayers, so for this week I hope more than anything to be able to apply this scripture.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Reason of Hope
1 Peter 3:15- "be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear"
Second long distance post of the season. This time from the Denver Public Library. Pretty city, too many one-ways and no parking for a Sunday. Also, there were literally like 100 people waiting for the Library doors to open...strange.
Anyways, this post was sparked by something that happened to Sam and I this Monday. Anyone that's talked to me in the past week (including Colorado Rockies Ushers) has heard this story. Basically, Sam and I were approached by three Christian students from UC-Riverside that were doing a theological study of Mormonism. They were very respectful and, despite our difference of beliefs, we were both able to express our beliefs without the other getting offended. Although it was maybe a little too philosophical and not enough "Preach My Gospel" it was a very uplifting and rewarding experience for myself. For instance, while explaining certain principles of our beliefs I attained a deeper understanding of them. I discovered explanations that I had never thought of before for things that seemed simple and clear for me but upon trying to explain it to someone not of my faith they became more profound.
One principle that I had not thought of for a long time was the concept of whether we are saved by grace/faith/works. Obviously at some point I confronted this topic, but I would say ever since the mission I hadn't really studied it with much detail. I knew that the Church's explanation had made sense to me once and that kind of satisified me. Although I studied this subject in my New Testament class, like I said, I thought my understanding was good enough and I knew it was true so I figured I didn't need to elaborate much more on it. However, upon discussing this topic with these 3 fellow seekers of truth, I realized that my understanding was rusty. Yes thats right, I was spiritually rusty, I had let off the gas on this topic and because of that I couldn't express this belief in a simple manner that they could understand. I wasn't "ready always to give an answer". I felt like I knew it well enough for myself but not well enough for them. See, they have a different set of beliefs and so in order for them to understand our stance on salvation by grace/faith/works, I had to know what other fundamental principles were necessary to help them view this topic in a more complete LDS context of the gospel. (This might sound demeaning to them, I failed to point out that they did have an amazing knowledge of LDS beliefs, really remarkable, but that still doesn't mean they necessarily see all our beliefs from a complete LDS perspective).
All this being said, I was not spiritually ready to accomplish this in our brief 2 hour meeting. This is why I went home that night and all the rest of this week and searched good explanations. I found great insights in the New Testament manual and my absolute favorite was a talk given by Gerald N Lund. In an attempt to be brief, to make sense of 2 Nephi 25:23, I would say that we believe that "we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, which faith is made manifest in our works". Although I feel I can better explain this now, I would rather let the Spirit speak individually to anyone that would like to read Brother Lund's talk, as the Holy Ghost truly is the master teacher.
http://lds.org/ensign/1981/04/salvation-by-grace-or-by-works?lang=eng&query=salvation+works
Since that occasion, I have become facebook friends with two of them and I have shared this article as well as these further insights on the topic. I feel much more at ease with this topic and the discussion we had. I can rest easier at night knowing that I have given them as good "an answer" as I could. One lesson that can be learned from this is simply, if you aren't "ready always to give an answer to everyman", at least express yourself with enough humility and sincerity ("meekness and fear") so that you can become facebook friends (kind of joking about the facebook part). In all seriousness though, if I had been arrogant or disrespectful I'm sure they would have not looked for any further contact (which would have made it impossible for me to follow through with Peters admonition).
As part of a small disclaimer, I would like to also remind us that for true effective missionary work, we must base our actions in "Preach My Gospel". I admit that, as President Benson said in "Preach My Gospel" while speaking about the need for a testimony of the Book of Mormon, "Our main task is to declare the gospel and do it effectively. We are not obligated to answer every objection." (page 109). Therefore, although we need to "be ready always to give an answer", we do not need to be able to answer every question or objection. Eventually the individual needs to decide whether or not they believe in the Book of
Mormon, and thus the Prophet Joseph Smith, and thus The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and thus all of its teachings. In summary, what I did was more a humanitarian effort of religious tolerancy to plant a seed for missionary work, but in order for the missionary spirit to truly plant in someones heart they must start at the beginning, the ABC's, whether or not they believe the Book of Mormon is the word of God.
I hope that disclaimer didn't take anything away from this experience or confuse anyone. I just felt it was necessary so we avoid falling into unprofitable religious debates when the objective is not mutual understanding or enlightenment but simply proving the other wrong. I felt that was not the case at all for our discussion.
Second long distance post of the season. This time from the Denver Public Library. Pretty city, too many one-ways and no parking for a Sunday. Also, there were literally like 100 people waiting for the Library doors to open...strange.
Anyways, this post was sparked by something that happened to Sam and I this Monday. Anyone that's talked to me in the past week (including Colorado Rockies Ushers) has heard this story. Basically, Sam and I were approached by three Christian students from UC-Riverside that were doing a theological study of Mormonism. They were very respectful and, despite our difference of beliefs, we were both able to express our beliefs without the other getting offended. Although it was maybe a little too philosophical and not enough "Preach My Gospel" it was a very uplifting and rewarding experience for myself. For instance, while explaining certain principles of our beliefs I attained a deeper understanding of them. I discovered explanations that I had never thought of before for things that seemed simple and clear for me but upon trying to explain it to someone not of my faith they became more profound.
One principle that I had not thought of for a long time was the concept of whether we are saved by grace/faith/works. Obviously at some point I confronted this topic, but I would say ever since the mission I hadn't really studied it with much detail. I knew that the Church's explanation had made sense to me once and that kind of satisified me. Although I studied this subject in my New Testament class, like I said, I thought my understanding was good enough and I knew it was true so I figured I didn't need to elaborate much more on it. However, upon discussing this topic with these 3 fellow seekers of truth, I realized that my understanding was rusty. Yes thats right, I was spiritually rusty, I had let off the gas on this topic and because of that I couldn't express this belief in a simple manner that they could understand. I wasn't "ready always to give an answer". I felt like I knew it well enough for myself but not well enough for them. See, they have a different set of beliefs and so in order for them to understand our stance on salvation by grace/faith/works, I had to know what other fundamental principles were necessary to help them view this topic in a more complete LDS context of the gospel. (This might sound demeaning to them, I failed to point out that they did have an amazing knowledge of LDS beliefs, really remarkable, but that still doesn't mean they necessarily see all our beliefs from a complete LDS perspective).
All this being said, I was not spiritually ready to accomplish this in our brief 2 hour meeting. This is why I went home that night and all the rest of this week and searched good explanations. I found great insights in the New Testament manual and my absolute favorite was a talk given by Gerald N Lund. In an attempt to be brief, to make sense of 2 Nephi 25:23, I would say that we believe that "we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, which faith is made manifest in our works". Although I feel I can better explain this now, I would rather let the Spirit speak individually to anyone that would like to read Brother Lund's talk, as the Holy Ghost truly is the master teacher.
http://lds.org/ensign/1981/04/salvation-by-grace-or-by-works?lang=eng&query=salvation+works
Since that occasion, I have become facebook friends with two of them and I have shared this article as well as these further insights on the topic. I feel much more at ease with this topic and the discussion we had. I can rest easier at night knowing that I have given them as good "an answer" as I could. One lesson that can be learned from this is simply, if you aren't "ready always to give an answer to everyman", at least express yourself with enough humility and sincerity ("meekness and fear") so that you can become facebook friends (kind of joking about the facebook part). In all seriousness though, if I had been arrogant or disrespectful I'm sure they would have not looked for any further contact (which would have made it impossible for me to follow through with Peters admonition).
As part of a small disclaimer, I would like to also remind us that for true effective missionary work, we must base our actions in "Preach My Gospel". I admit that, as President Benson said in "Preach My Gospel" while speaking about the need for a testimony of the Book of Mormon, "Our main task is to declare the gospel and do it effectively. We are not obligated to answer every objection." (page 109). Therefore, although we need to "be ready always to give an answer", we do not need to be able to answer every question or objection. Eventually the individual needs to decide whether or not they believe in the Book of
Mormon, and thus the Prophet Joseph Smith, and thus The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and thus all of its teachings. In summary, what I did was more a humanitarian effort of religious tolerancy to plant a seed for missionary work, but in order for the missionary spirit to truly plant in someones heart they must start at the beginning, the ABC's, whether or not they believe the Book of Mormon is the word of God.
I hope that disclaimer didn't take anything away from this experience or confuse anyone. I just felt it was necessary so we avoid falling into unprofitable religious debates when the objective is not mutual understanding or enlightenment but simply proving the other wrong. I felt that was not the case at all for our discussion.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Names of Christ
Mosiah 3:17-"There shall be no other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ"
Acts 4:12-"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."
Both of these scriptures make it clear that Christ is the only name whereby men can be saved. This seems like a simple enough principle but it became even more meaningful for me as I applied it to a question I had.
This last spring term I took a spanish american history class which I really liked. For my final paper we each got to choose our own book to read and write a book review of. Since this is BYU and we studied the Olmec and Mayan civilizations, I thought it would be really interesting to read some scholarly works about Central America and the Book of Mormon. I chose a book about how Quetzalcoatl might have been Jesus Christ. This belief was based on the fact that early settlers of America claimed that the Native Americans told them that Quetzalcoatl was a "bearded white God from the east", that had visited them and promised to return (much like the Book of Mormon describes Christ visit among the ancient Americans after his resurrection). There were lots of other obvious connections, such as the fact that he was crucified for our sins. Scholars believed for centuries that the reason Cortes conquered the Aztecs was because the Aztec emperor thought Cortes was the bearded white God Quetzalcoatl returned to rule. All of these evidences led President John Taylor to say, "we can come to no other conclusion than that Quetzalcoatl and Christ are the same being”.
However, in recent years scholars have concluded that the Spaniards made up the whole Bearded White God Legend in order to make the natives sound naive and in order to impose Christianity on them. Although no one can prove either belief, if this later belief is correct, what can we make of President John Taylor's quote? (Finally to the question that I referred to at the beginning of this post). Part of me originally felt like these recent scholars were less credable because they are further removed from the age in which these events actually happened and thus could be ignored. However, as I began to ponder more about this subject I realized that it didn't really matter.
First off, lets analyze President Taylor's quote more thoroughly. The key phrase is "we can come to no other conclusion". This does not sound like a direct revelation from God, it doesn't even sound like his own personal opinion, this sounds like him trying to make sense of the evidences at hand. It could be read as "due to the evidence given, the only reasonable conclusion using logic is...". It would have made no sense for him to question the scholars of his day to disprove them because our salvation does not hinge on this issue. This is where the two verses at the top came into play. After struggling a few nights over this topic, running it through my mind constantly, I really started to feel discouraged. The culminating point was one night where I came across something someone that had left the Church had written and used the Quetzalcoatl thing as part of his reasoning. As I felt even more confused I got on my knees that night feeling completely empty spiritually and emotionally. As I prayed the answer came to me. "No other name." Whether Quetzalcoatl was Christ or not, really doesn't matter. I won't be saved or condemned based on that single point. The only name that can save me is Christ. If I am living Christ's gospel in Christ's Church with Christ's Priesthood that is all that matters. I would almost propose that out of the over 100 names and titles given to Christ, the only two that we really need to know are Jehovah and Jesus Christ, since those are his premortal name and mortal name/title. We know Christ visited the Americas but we do not know if the Native American people maintained that belief through the name of Quetzalcoatl throughout history.
This is another example of why we shouldn't get too worried about non-salvatory debates and remember that the gospel is simple. Faith in Jesus Christ, Repentance, Baptism, Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End. Anything beyond that should never put those in question but only strengthen them.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Abba, Father
Galatians 4:26 "And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father."
One of the great truths restored by the prophet Joseph Smith (as early as the first vision) is the relationship between man and God. Before the vision Joseph Smith was leaning towards the Methodist faith and therefore believed that the Father and the Son were simply one being of immaterial space, obviously he learned this wasn't true. If our increased understanding of the Godhead ceased with simply understanding that they were two separate personages, you might say that our beliefs aren't that different than other religions. However, the entire relationship between man and God was redefined. God is not indifferent to our existence but is actively engaged in each of our lives. God is literally our Father. Prayer is a real two way link of communication between us and God. We can speak with him as simply and intimately as a child speaks to their father.
So we know that Abba translated literally means "Father". But what sentimental meanings does it rhetorically bring with it? The Church New Testament Manual states, "Abba is Aramaic (a cognate of Hebrew) and carries more than just the connotation of father. It is the intimate and personal diminutive of the word father used by children in the family circle. The closest equivalent we have is papa or daddy, although neither can really convey fully the
As members of the only Church with this complete understanding of the true Godhead (an understanding of which I have only touched one aspect), I hope that we try to be more appreciative for this knowledge and live more accordingly. May we talk to Heavenly Father in prayer with at least as much faith that He will respond as we do when we send our earthly father an email. Whenever I'm in need of a reminder of His existence and presence I love to sing the primary song "A Child's Prayer." I ask myself the question posed in that song, "Heavenly Father, are you really there and do you hear and answer every child's prayer?" and wait to see how my heart responds. Without fail it answers silently, yes.
One of the great truths restored by the prophet Joseph Smith (as early as the first vision) is the relationship between man and God. Before the vision Joseph Smith was leaning towards the Methodist faith and therefore believed that the Father and the Son were simply one being of immaterial space, obviously he learned this wasn't true. If our increased understanding of the Godhead ceased with simply understanding that they were two separate personages, you might say that our beliefs aren't that different than other religions. However, the entire relationship between man and God was redefined. God is not indifferent to our existence but is actively engaged in each of our lives. God is literally our Father. Prayer is a real two way link of communication between us and God. We can speak with him as simply and intimately as a child speaks to their father.
So we know that Abba translated literally means "Father". But what sentimental meanings does it rhetorically bring with it? The Church New Testament Manual states, "Abba is Aramaic (a cognate of Hebrew) and carries more than just the connotation of father. It is the intimate and personal diminutive of the word father used by children in the family circle. The closest equivalent we have is papa or daddy, although neither can really convey fully the
impact of the word. The point is that God is not only Father (the formal title and name), but he is also Abba, the parent of love and guidance that knows us intimately and whom we can approach without fear." I believe this teaches beautifully that our relationship with Heavenly Father is different than it is with Adam (the father of the whole earth), Noah (the second father of the whole earth) and Abraham (the father of the covenant). They are fathers in the sense of title, responsibility, lineage, etc. While Heavenly Father is our Father for all those reasons & also in the sense of love, guidance, shelter, comfort, understanding, (anyone may feel free to add to this list).
Notice that the phrase Paul uses hear "Abba, Father" is the same that Christ used in the Garden of Gethsemane as He was in the uttermost anguish of the Atonement. Have we ever stopped and realized that we have the exact same relationship with Heavenly Father as the Savior Jesus Christ has? Everything He did in His life shows us how a son should treat their father and how we should treat our Father. The example of the words He spoke before raising Lazarus comes to mind, a sign of respect and gratitude. Going about doing His Father's business in the temple also comes to mind. We can talk with the Father in the same open and personal manner in which the Lord did! Paul reemphasizes this point when he likewise stated in Romans 8:17 "And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ". And finally, Christ himself teaches this as his FIRST principle taught after the resurrection "I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God."As members of the only Church with this complete understanding of the true Godhead (an understanding of which I have only touched one aspect), I hope that we try to be more appreciative for this knowledge and live more accordingly. May we talk to Heavenly Father in prayer with at least as much faith that He will respond as we do when we send our earthly father an email. Whenever I'm in need of a reminder of His existence and presence I love to sing the primary song "A Child's Prayer." I ask myself the question posed in that song, "Heavenly Father, are you really there and do you hear and answer every child's prayer?" and wait to see how my heart responds. Without fail it answers silently, yes.
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