The Fall of Adam brought with it two effects: The bodies of Adam and Eve were transformed from immortal to mortal, and their souls were changed from clean to unclean. In essences, their natures changed from being like God to being like the natural man.
Natures Changed
Immortal --> Mortal
Clean --> Unclean
Figure 1
These changes in nature were a direct result from that original sin, which evicted Adam and Eve from the presence of God and introduced death into the world. At this point, could Adam and Eve have changed their natures on their own?
“Wherefore, all mankind were in a lost and in a fallen state, and ever would be …” (1 Nephi 10:6). In other words, no, Adam and Eve could not change their natures on their own. They were in a lost and fallen state. To me, a lost and fallen state means this. They were lost because they were not in God’s presence; they didn’t know the way back to God, and the clock was ticking on their mortality. They were fallen because if even they could have somehow physically found their way back to God, which we learn from the experience of the Tower of Babel is a vain ambition, Adam and Eve were unqualified to be in his presence because of their unclean natures. So, basically, they needed someone to them the way back to God, and they also needed someone who could help wash away their uncleanness, so they could qualify to dwell with God. In other words, they needed someone to help change their natures.
Who could change their natures?
Let’s read 1 Nephi 10:6 now in its entirety: “Wherefore, all mankind were in a lost and in a fallen state, and ever would be save they should rely on this Redeemer."
I love that phrase, “save they should rely on this Redeemer” (1 Nephi 10:6). Certainly, the story of Adam and Eve reminds us just how much we really need Christ and His Atonement in our lives. Consider the parallel to the ancient Israelites. They were in bondage, and, in order to escape, they had to rely on the Redeemer. Likewise, in order for us to change our natures and escape the bondage of sin and the finality of death, we have to rely on the Redeemer.
Now let’s reconsider the question: Could Adam and Eve change their natures on their own, as we read Alma 22:14: “And since man had fallen he could not merit anything of himself; but the sufferings and death of Christ atone for their sins, through faith and repentance, and so forth; and that he breaketh the bands of death, that the grave shall have no victory.”
If I were to weld 1 Nephi 10:6 and Alma 22:14 together to answer the question of whether Adam and Eve could restore their own natures, I’d have it say, “Man could not merit anything of himself, so he had to rely on the Redeemer.” In other words, man himself could not reverse the arrows on our own; we had to have Christ do that for us; and do it, He did.
Natures Changed
Immortal <--- Mortal
Clean <--- Unclean
Figure 2
You’ll notice a couple differences between Figure 1 and Figure 2. First, the arrows are reversed. This is because Christ did come to earth; he did pay the price for our sins in Gethsemane and on the cross, and in this, he wrought the Atonement, by which we could be restored to cleanliness. Our unclean states need not be permanent. Also, Christ gave his life for us, and then on the third day, he took it up again. In this, the resurrection was performed. And all mankind will be resurrected because Christ was resurrected. That is why the word “mortal” is crossed out (or at least, it would be if I know how to do it on the blog site) because it is free gift to all; therefore, we do not need to worry about it. Or, as Aaron put it in verse 14: “[Christ] breaketh the bands of death, that the grave shall have no victory.” But our the word unclean is not wiped out for everyone. Our unclean natures can be removed, but this is not a free gift to all; rather, it’s reserved for those who take upon themselves the name of Christ and strive to keep His commandments. They won’t be perfect, but Christ will let these souls borrow his perfection in order to qualify for the highest kingdom. As Aaron explains it in verse 14: “The sufferings and death of Christ atone for their sins, through faith and repentance, and so forth.”
It’s important to remember that while Adam and Eve were the first to sin, they were also the first to repent and the first to be reclaimed by Christ’s merciful Atonement. They are an example to us of how to repent. For them, as for us, a Savior was provided.
It’s also important to note that Christ qualified to be our Redeemer by:
(1) Being born to an earthly mother and a Heavenly Father, allowing him to both die and take up his life. In other words, he had the capacity to bring about the resurrection.
(2) Leading a sinless life, so He could make the Atonement on our behalf.
We’ll want to keep these things in mind as we explore the Passover, which is a type of the Atonement.
Before we get to the Passover, we must remember a few things about why the Passover was needed. The ancient Israelites relocated to Egypt when Joseph was alive. The Egyptians eventually feared that there were too many Israelites, so, to keep the Israelites in check, the Egyptians enslaved them. (The parallel here to us is coming under the bondage of sin). Eventually, the Egyptians feared enslaving the Israelites wasn’t enough, and Pharaoh ordered all male Israelite babies to be killed. It is into these circumstances that Moses was born. When he was three months old, his mother decided that the only way she could even protect her son was to put him in a basket, float it on the river and hope for the best. While on the river, baby Moses is discovered and saved by an Egyptian princess, who then raises him. He grows up and is eventually called to lead the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt. He tries reasoning with Pharaoh, but Pharaoh hardens his heart and punishes the Israelites even more. The Lord sends plagues, but Pharaoh hardens his heart even more. Finally, the Lord sends one last plague: The firstborn of each family in Egypt will die in the night. However, if a family sprinkles the blood of an unblemished lamb on their door, their oldest will be spared.
It’s here that we see parallels between the Passover and the Atonement.
Parallel One
Passover: “Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year” (Exodus 12:5)
The Atonement: Christ was the Firstborn of God’s spirit children, and he was unblemished—clean and pure. By being unblemished, he qualified to be the One to make the atonement. Just as the oldest of the ancient Israelites lived because an unblemished lamb was sacrificed, we can be passed over because the unblemished Lamb of God was sacrificed.
Parallel Two
Passover: “And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses” (Exodus 12:7)
The Atonement: Christ’s blood, shed in Gethsemane and on the cross, cleanses the faithful and spares them from spiritual death.
Parallel Three
Passover: “And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it” (Exodus 12:8).
The Atonement: Leavened bread was seen anciently as a sign of corruption because it spoiled easily. Unleavened bread became a symbol that they were partaking of bread which had no corruption or impurity, namely, it was a symbol of the Bread of Life, which never corrupts.
The bitter herbs can represent the bitter cup that Christ had to drink to perform the Atonement. There’s also a representation here for us. Elder Bruce R. McConkie said, “As the Passover was useless unless eaten, so must we lives godly lives for Christ, and openly certify our love for him by keeping his commandments. As it was eaten with bitter herbs, so must we eat the bitter herbs of confession and repentance.”
Parallel Four
Passover: “And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD’s Passover” (Exodus 12:11).
Atonement: Just as the Passover was eaten with haste, we also need to respond eagerly and immediately to the deliverance the Savior offers us.
At the time of his last supper, Christ instituted the Sacrament in place of the feast of the Passover. And, in the modern church, the Sacrament is still the ordinance that takes the place of the Passover, meaning it is still the ordinance in which we must consider how we are passed over. Vaughn J. Featherstone once said, “The sacrament is the ordinance of the Church that ties most directly to the Atonement.”
A couple of the quotes from the Sunday School manual demonstrate the relationship among the Passover, the Atonement and the Sacrament:
Elder Howard W. Hunter taught that at the Passover meal that is now known as the Last Supper, “the bread and wine, rather than the animals and herbs, [became] emblems of the great Lamb’s body and blood, emblems to be eaten and drunk reverently and in remembrance of him forever.
“In this simple but impressive manner the Savior instituted the ordinance now known as the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. With the suffering of Gethsemane, the sacrifice of Calvary, and the resurrection from a garden tomb, Jesus fulfilled the ancient law and ushered in a new dispensation based on a higher, holier understanding of the law of sacrifice. No more would men be required to offer the firstborn lamb from their flock, because the Firstborn of God had come to offer himself as an ‘infinite and eternal sacrifice’ ” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1985, 22; or Ensign, May 1985, 19).
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland asked:
“Do we see [the sacrament] as our passover, remembrance of our safety and deliverance and redemption?
“With so very much at stake, this ordinance commemorating our escape from the angel of darkness should be taken more seriously than it sometimes is. It should be a powerful, reverent, reflective moment. It should encourage spiritual feelings and impressions” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1995, 89; or Ensign, Nov. 1995, 68).
What if there was no sacrament because there were no Atonement? Where would be? Since mankind cannot merit anything of himself (Alma 22:14), mankind has to rely on someone else—a Redeemer (1 Nephi 10:6). If there were no Redeemer, “all mankind,” Amulek said, “must unavoidably perish” (Alma 34:9) and remain fallen and lost forever. But because Christ came, because he loved us enough to suffer in Gethsemane and die on the cross, we can have our natures changed, the arrows reversed, and we can be liberated from the bondage of our Fallen State. In other words, we can “passed over.”
Sunday, April 16, 2006
A More Excellent Way
On this Easter Sunday, I want to start by bearing my testimony that I know Christ lives. Christ gave His life for us. And then three days later, He took it up again. The Empty Tomb became a great symbol to each of us. In defeating death, Christ gave each of us the promise that we too would be resurrected. Job once asked: “If a man die, shall he live again?” (Job 14:14). Christ answered the question when He said: “Because I live, ye shall live also” (John 14:19). Because of Christ, the death introduced by the Fall of Adam, has lost its sting. Or, as Paul put it, “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ, shall all be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:22).
So, because of Christ’s victory over the grave, we can all say, as Neal A. Maxwell once did: “Death is but a mere comma, not an exclamation point.” Without knowledge of Christ’s resurrection, we can easily treat a loved one’s death as an exclamation point, and, at those times, lose all hope and think that we will never see that person again. Similarly, we could, with such an attitude, reach the end of our lives, very scared that we will soon no longer exist.
But because we know Christ was resurrected, such events are met more with hope than with dread. Because we know that the end of this life is just the beginning of eternity. Indeed, we know death is just a comma.
But Easter and the Empty Garden Tomb represent more than just the promise that our life will be renewed beyond this Earth. Easter and the Tomb also represent the chance Christ gave each of us to walk back into the kingdom of our father by following the trail that Christ himself blazed—the strait-and-narrow path.
Christ was once asked: “how can we know the way?” (John 14:5)
The Savior replied: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). Centuries later, Moroni wrote: “In the gift of his Son hath God prepared a more excellent way” (Ether 12:11). The way back to the Father is through Jesus Christ, who invites everyone to come unto Him and follow Him. There is no other route to the Celestial Kingdom. We must follow him. And it is our hope to become one day as perfect as He is.
That is the goal, but not the requirement for this life; explained Elder Russell M. Nelson: “We need not be dismayed if our earnest efforts toward perfection now seem so arduous and endless. Perfection is pending. It can come in full only after the Resurrection and only through the Lord. It awaits all who love him and keep his commandments.” Because we are imperfect, Christ provided his atonement—or, in other words, allows us to share in his perfection to make up the difference. Or, as Nephi explained it, “it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do” (2 Nephi 25:23).
Today, we begin studying the journey of the ancient Israelites from Egypt to the Promised Land. What we’ll want to do is draw parallels from their experiences to the challenges that we face now, as we journey toward the Celestial Kingdom and reunion with our Father. We learn from them to trust in the Lord. God’s promises are fulfilled on his timetable, not ours. But they will be fulfilled.
We learn that when we are backed into a corner, or against the Red Sea, like the Israelites were, that we can, like Moses did, rely on the Lord, and He will provide us our escape. We learn of their dependence on Christ through the bread, or manna, they received to feed them on their journey, and the water that came from the rock when Moses smote it. Their physical salvation depended on that bread and water; our spiritual salvation depends on the bread and water administered in the sacrament. In his mortal ministry, Christ told the Jews: “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:51). We also learn of the need to look to Christ. Fiery serpents once attacked the ancient Israelites; the Israelites had a chance to be healed by looking toward a representation of Christ. Some chose not to and were not healed. But those who looked to Christ, lived. From this, we can learn that when we are bitten by the Adversary, we can look to Christ and be healed. We learn about the importance of sustaining our leaders from Aaron and Hur and their act of holding up Moses’ arms in the battle of Amalek. We will learn many great things as we study these stories in the next few weeks.
But of all the things we can learn from the Exodus story, I want to focus my comments here on one trend that we see played out in this story. In almost every instance where the ancient Israelites faced turmoil, there were some who would moan, “If only we hadn’t left Egypt.” This happened when they were backed up against the Red Seas, when they were sick of eating only manna day in and day out, when they had to battle the Canaanites and when they were discouraged by their life’s journey. To them, the difficulty of “the more excellent way” was just too hard. They would have preferred the easy route. But laziness never was greatness. The road to perfection is not for the weak-willed but for the determined. And while our perfection may be pending, we can be excellent—and, indeed, we should be striving to be excellent. We should be less like Laman and Lemuel, who were continent to stay in Bountiful, and more like Nephi who wanted to cross the great waters to reach his eternal destiny.
And indeed, our destiny will be affected by our character. I remember something I saw on my zone leader’s fridge in my first area, it said: “Thoughts become actions, actions become habits, habits become character, character becomes destiny.” I never knew its source until Friday, I read a talk by Elder Delbert L. Stapley, a member of the Twelve back in the day. Elder Stapley said: “A favorite saying often quoted by the late President David O. McKay was ‘We sow our thoughts, and we reap our actions; we sow our actions, and we reap our habits; we sow our habits, and we reap our characters; we sow our characters, and we reap our destiny.’”
President Hinckley once said, “On such small hinges turn the gates of our lives. Little mistakes, which seem so unimportant in their beginnings, determine the eternal courses we follow. I want to invite us all to walk a higher road of excellence.”
That gate begins to swing with our thoughts. A famous Proverb reminds us that, “As [a man] thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). King Benjamin warned his people of the danger of unchecked thoughts: “But this much I can tell you, that if ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish” (Mosiah 4:30). Since thoughts have such a profound effect on our destiny, elevating our thoughts becomes a good place to start down the road of excellence. The Savior gave four important bits of counsel regarding thoughts in the Doctrine & Covenants: First, He said “Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not” (D&C 6:36); secondly, “Treasure up in your minds the words of life” (D&C 84:85); thirdly, “Cast away your idle thoughts” (D&C 88:69); and, finally, “let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God” (D&C 121:45). President Kimball once said, “Change comes by substituting good habits for less desirable ones …You mold your character and future by good thoughts and acts.”
The next place to call our attention to is to begin weeding out the actions and habits that are holding back our progression. Elder Stapley said, “When a man boasts of his bad habits, you may rest assured they are the best he has.” This thought was reiterated by Jeremy R. Schudde, who said, “It bothers me when people aren’t trying to better themselves.” And, indeed, there is a problem when someone is unwilling to seek out a better life because they’re too comfortable where they are. Elder Russell M. Nelson taught, “Let us do the best we can and try to improve each day. When our imperfections appear, we can keep trying to correct them.” We shouldn’t dwell on or be proud of our weaknesses. It does us no good to become obsessed with our flaws; in fact, it does us harm as we begin to allow our perceived shortcomings to influence our self-confidence. Nor should we be in the habit of pointing out others’ imperfections. Rather, we should work on bettering ourselves and helping others realize their strengths, not their weaknesses. We can, with Christ’s help, become better people, and we can influence those around us to become better people as well.
President Hinckley has pleaded with us to have the courage to accept his invitation—well, actually, it’s Christ’s invitation—to walk down the high road of excellence. President Hinckley said: “This is the great day of decision for each of us. For many it is the time of beginning something that will go on for as long as you live. I plead with you: don’t be a scrub! Rise to the high ground of spiritual, mental, and physical excellence. You can do it. You may not be a genius. You may be lacking in some skills. But so many of us can do better than we are now doing. We are members of this great Church whose influence is now felt over the world. We are people with a present and with a future. Don’t muff your opportunities. Be excellent.”
Elder Stapley once said, “Good habits are not acquired simply by making good resolves, though the thought must precede the action. Good habits are developed in the workshop of our daily lives. It is not in the great moments of test and trial that character is built. That is only when it is displayed. The habits that direct our lives and form our character are fashioned in the often uneventful, commonplace routine of life. They are acquired by practice.”
Another important step toward being excellent is take advantage of each opportunity given to you. One of the advantages of our lives right here, right now are the opportunities we are given. I have felt very blessed in my life to have had the opportunities I’ve had, and there have been days when I’ve said to myself, “How did I end up here?” And the answer can usual be traced back to taking advantage of some small opportunity that later turned out to be a huge break.
In thinking about that this week, I reflected on something that happened six years ago. I had just finished up my freshman year here at Dixie College, and I was applying to be the editor-in-chief of the school newspaper. When I went to my interview with the Publications Committee, I saw in the waiting room a person there I’d never seen before. So I introduced myself and said, “Hi. I’m Stephen Vincent.” And the kid said, “Hi. I’m Stanton Roseman.” I was relieved to find out he was going for yearbook editor. We didn’t say much to each other. And I didn’t really think too much about him. But I met him again that fall when he was working as the assistant yearbook editor. The more I knew him, the more impressed I was at how determined he was to excel at everything.
I had a chance recently to reflect on the difference between that nervous kid awaiting an interview six years ago and the Stanton Roseman I know today, when Stanton asked me to write him a letter of recommendation for an internship he was applying for. I’m going to read you a part of what I wrote in that letter because it really sums up what happens to someone who dreams big dreams and then works hard to accomplish those dreams:
“I first met Stanton six years ago. Since then, I have watched him excel time and time again in whatever interest was he was pursuing. I first met Stanton when I was editor-in-chief of Dixie State College’s student newspaper. He worked initially as a photographer, but Stanton wasn’t content just taking pictures. He wanted to learn all aspects of the newspaper business. He started writing—and wrote some of our best stories that year. After his mission, Stanton became the editor-in-chief of that paper, a position he has held for two years—and a position in which he thrived. The paper’s never looked better. His writing has improved greatly, and he now writes and reports on a professional level. He has used his substantial visual skills to improve the paper’s design and photography. His tenure as editor-in-chief has led to a paper improved in quality and appearance. The sudden rise in the quality of the paper is not a surprise to me or anyone who knows Stanton—because we have seen him take humdrum abilities and turn them into shining talents in every one of his pursuits.”
Stanton and I became home teaching companions a few months ago, and Stanton was excited because he had never done it before. He came into that calling with the same determination he had in the newspaper business. Right away, he set goals for what he wanted us to accomplish as a home teaching companionship, and we’ve worked to try and meet those goals; we have done as a great a job as I hoped, but I know Stanton has been a great influence for good in that calling. Also, I, for one, have been very blessed by having Stanton as my friend. He’s always been someone I hang out with, and, when needed, even confide in. He helped me through one of the hardest times of my life, and I am grateful for the friend I found in him.
To me, the word “excellent” describes Stanton Roseman well because he has worked and worked to become so. He has had his fair share of disappointments in the last six years, but he’s also had many successes, and he is headed toward great things. To me, he’s always been a great example of someone who never settles for mediocrity but works hard to be his best self. I encourage each of you to seek out the opportunities that come your way, and try to better yourself with those chances. I’d particularly encourage you to excellent in your calling and to likewise be excellent in keeping the commandments; in doing this, you will blessed, and you will find your abilities strengthened, and you will find success.
Finally, the best path and the surest path to excellence is to follow in the footsteps of the Savior. I’ll close by quoting President Hinckley:
You will find your greatest example in the Son of God. I hope that each of you will make Him your friend. I hope you will strive to walk in His paths, extending mercy, blessing those who struggle, living with less selfishness, reaching out to others.
He is the greatest example of excellence in all the world. He condescended to come to earth under the most humble of circumstances. He grew up as the son of Joseph the carpenter. He struggled with the adversary on the Mount of Temptation. He came forth resplendent and beautiful and magnificent to teach the world. During His brief ministry, He brought more of truth, more of hope, more of mercy, more of love than anyone else who has walked the earth. He died on Calvary’s cross for each of us. He arose the third day, “the firstfruits of them that slept” (1 Cor. 15:20), bringing the promise of resurrection to all mankind and the hope of exaltation to all who would walk in obedience to His teachings. He was the great paragon of righteousness, the only perfect man ever to walk the earth. His was the wondrous example toward whom each of us might point our lives in our eternal quest for excellence.
The prophet Moroni declared, “In the gift of his Son hath God prepared a more excellent way” (Ether 12:11). You have the witness of that faith. You have the testimony of that faith. You have the example of that faith. Let us all try to stand a little taller, rise a little higher, be a little better. Make the extra effort. You will be happier. You will know a new satisfaction, a new gladness in your heart.
Jesus said, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matt. 5:48). That is the great crowning example of excellence. May each of us have a rich and wonderful life moving in that direction. We will not become perfect in a day or a month or a year. We will not accomplish it in a lifetime, but we can keep trying, starting with our more obvious weaknesses and gradually converting them to strengths as we go forward with our lives.
Tremendous is your opportunity to reach beyond the hoped-for goal of wealth and worldly success, though that may have some modest importance, to build and strengthen others, to relieve suffering, to aid in making the world a better place, to pick up and carry the lantern . . . in walking through the pain-ridden wards of the world.
It was said of the Master that He “went about doing good” (Acts 10:38). In that process He became the epitome of perfection.
So, because of Christ’s victory over the grave, we can all say, as Neal A. Maxwell once did: “Death is but a mere comma, not an exclamation point.” Without knowledge of Christ’s resurrection, we can easily treat a loved one’s death as an exclamation point, and, at those times, lose all hope and think that we will never see that person again. Similarly, we could, with such an attitude, reach the end of our lives, very scared that we will soon no longer exist.
But because we know Christ was resurrected, such events are met more with hope than with dread. Because we know that the end of this life is just the beginning of eternity. Indeed, we know death is just a comma.
But Easter and the Empty Garden Tomb represent more than just the promise that our life will be renewed beyond this Earth. Easter and the Tomb also represent the chance Christ gave each of us to walk back into the kingdom of our father by following the trail that Christ himself blazed—the strait-and-narrow path.
Christ was once asked: “how can we know the way?” (John 14:5)
The Savior replied: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). Centuries later, Moroni wrote: “In the gift of his Son hath God prepared a more excellent way” (Ether 12:11). The way back to the Father is through Jesus Christ, who invites everyone to come unto Him and follow Him. There is no other route to the Celestial Kingdom. We must follow him. And it is our hope to become one day as perfect as He is.
That is the goal, but not the requirement for this life; explained Elder Russell M. Nelson: “We need not be dismayed if our earnest efforts toward perfection now seem so arduous and endless. Perfection is pending. It can come in full only after the Resurrection and only through the Lord. It awaits all who love him and keep his commandments.” Because we are imperfect, Christ provided his atonement—or, in other words, allows us to share in his perfection to make up the difference. Or, as Nephi explained it, “it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do” (2 Nephi 25:23).
Today, we begin studying the journey of the ancient Israelites from Egypt to the Promised Land. What we’ll want to do is draw parallels from their experiences to the challenges that we face now, as we journey toward the Celestial Kingdom and reunion with our Father. We learn from them to trust in the Lord. God’s promises are fulfilled on his timetable, not ours. But they will be fulfilled.
We learn that when we are backed into a corner, or against the Red Sea, like the Israelites were, that we can, like Moses did, rely on the Lord, and He will provide us our escape. We learn of their dependence on Christ through the bread, or manna, they received to feed them on their journey, and the water that came from the rock when Moses smote it. Their physical salvation depended on that bread and water; our spiritual salvation depends on the bread and water administered in the sacrament. In his mortal ministry, Christ told the Jews: “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:51). We also learn of the need to look to Christ. Fiery serpents once attacked the ancient Israelites; the Israelites had a chance to be healed by looking toward a representation of Christ. Some chose not to and were not healed. But those who looked to Christ, lived. From this, we can learn that when we are bitten by the Adversary, we can look to Christ and be healed. We learn about the importance of sustaining our leaders from Aaron and Hur and their act of holding up Moses’ arms in the battle of Amalek. We will learn many great things as we study these stories in the next few weeks.
But of all the things we can learn from the Exodus story, I want to focus my comments here on one trend that we see played out in this story. In almost every instance where the ancient Israelites faced turmoil, there were some who would moan, “If only we hadn’t left Egypt.” This happened when they were backed up against the Red Seas, when they were sick of eating only manna day in and day out, when they had to battle the Canaanites and when they were discouraged by their life’s journey. To them, the difficulty of “the more excellent way” was just too hard. They would have preferred the easy route. But laziness never was greatness. The road to perfection is not for the weak-willed but for the determined. And while our perfection may be pending, we can be excellent—and, indeed, we should be striving to be excellent. We should be less like Laman and Lemuel, who were continent to stay in Bountiful, and more like Nephi who wanted to cross the great waters to reach his eternal destiny.
And indeed, our destiny will be affected by our character. I remember something I saw on my zone leader’s fridge in my first area, it said: “Thoughts become actions, actions become habits, habits become character, character becomes destiny.” I never knew its source until Friday, I read a talk by Elder Delbert L. Stapley, a member of the Twelve back in the day. Elder Stapley said: “A favorite saying often quoted by the late President David O. McKay was ‘We sow our thoughts, and we reap our actions; we sow our actions, and we reap our habits; we sow our habits, and we reap our characters; we sow our characters, and we reap our destiny.’”
President Hinckley once said, “On such small hinges turn the gates of our lives. Little mistakes, which seem so unimportant in their beginnings, determine the eternal courses we follow. I want to invite us all to walk a higher road of excellence.”
That gate begins to swing with our thoughts. A famous Proverb reminds us that, “As [a man] thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). King Benjamin warned his people of the danger of unchecked thoughts: “But this much I can tell you, that if ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish” (Mosiah 4:30). Since thoughts have such a profound effect on our destiny, elevating our thoughts becomes a good place to start down the road of excellence. The Savior gave four important bits of counsel regarding thoughts in the Doctrine & Covenants: First, He said “Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not” (D&C 6:36); secondly, “Treasure up in your minds the words of life” (D&C 84:85); thirdly, “Cast away your idle thoughts” (D&C 88:69); and, finally, “let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God” (D&C 121:45). President Kimball once said, “Change comes by substituting good habits for less desirable ones …You mold your character and future by good thoughts and acts.”
The next place to call our attention to is to begin weeding out the actions and habits that are holding back our progression. Elder Stapley said, “When a man boasts of his bad habits, you may rest assured they are the best he has.” This thought was reiterated by Jeremy R. Schudde, who said, “It bothers me when people aren’t trying to better themselves.” And, indeed, there is a problem when someone is unwilling to seek out a better life because they’re too comfortable where they are. Elder Russell M. Nelson taught, “Let us do the best we can and try to improve each day. When our imperfections appear, we can keep trying to correct them.” We shouldn’t dwell on or be proud of our weaknesses. It does us no good to become obsessed with our flaws; in fact, it does us harm as we begin to allow our perceived shortcomings to influence our self-confidence. Nor should we be in the habit of pointing out others’ imperfections. Rather, we should work on bettering ourselves and helping others realize their strengths, not their weaknesses. We can, with Christ’s help, become better people, and we can influence those around us to become better people as well.
President Hinckley has pleaded with us to have the courage to accept his invitation—well, actually, it’s Christ’s invitation—to walk down the high road of excellence. President Hinckley said: “This is the great day of decision for each of us. For many it is the time of beginning something that will go on for as long as you live. I plead with you: don’t be a scrub! Rise to the high ground of spiritual, mental, and physical excellence. You can do it. You may not be a genius. You may be lacking in some skills. But so many of us can do better than we are now doing. We are members of this great Church whose influence is now felt over the world. We are people with a present and with a future. Don’t muff your opportunities. Be excellent.”
Elder Stapley once said, “Good habits are not acquired simply by making good resolves, though the thought must precede the action. Good habits are developed in the workshop of our daily lives. It is not in the great moments of test and trial that character is built. That is only when it is displayed. The habits that direct our lives and form our character are fashioned in the often uneventful, commonplace routine of life. They are acquired by practice.”
Another important step toward being excellent is take advantage of each opportunity given to you. One of the advantages of our lives right here, right now are the opportunities we are given. I have felt very blessed in my life to have had the opportunities I’ve had, and there have been days when I’ve said to myself, “How did I end up here?” And the answer can usual be traced back to taking advantage of some small opportunity that later turned out to be a huge break.
In thinking about that this week, I reflected on something that happened six years ago. I had just finished up my freshman year here at Dixie College, and I was applying to be the editor-in-chief of the school newspaper. When I went to my interview with the Publications Committee, I saw in the waiting room a person there I’d never seen before. So I introduced myself and said, “Hi. I’m Stephen Vincent.” And the kid said, “Hi. I’m Stanton Roseman.” I was relieved to find out he was going for yearbook editor. We didn’t say much to each other. And I didn’t really think too much about him. But I met him again that fall when he was working as the assistant yearbook editor. The more I knew him, the more impressed I was at how determined he was to excel at everything.
I had a chance recently to reflect on the difference between that nervous kid awaiting an interview six years ago and the Stanton Roseman I know today, when Stanton asked me to write him a letter of recommendation for an internship he was applying for. I’m going to read you a part of what I wrote in that letter because it really sums up what happens to someone who dreams big dreams and then works hard to accomplish those dreams:
“I first met Stanton six years ago. Since then, I have watched him excel time and time again in whatever interest was he was pursuing. I first met Stanton when I was editor-in-chief of Dixie State College’s student newspaper. He worked initially as a photographer, but Stanton wasn’t content just taking pictures. He wanted to learn all aspects of the newspaper business. He started writing—and wrote some of our best stories that year. After his mission, Stanton became the editor-in-chief of that paper, a position he has held for two years—and a position in which he thrived. The paper’s never looked better. His writing has improved greatly, and he now writes and reports on a professional level. He has used his substantial visual skills to improve the paper’s design and photography. His tenure as editor-in-chief has led to a paper improved in quality and appearance. The sudden rise in the quality of the paper is not a surprise to me or anyone who knows Stanton—because we have seen him take humdrum abilities and turn them into shining talents in every one of his pursuits.”
Stanton and I became home teaching companions a few months ago, and Stanton was excited because he had never done it before. He came into that calling with the same determination he had in the newspaper business. Right away, he set goals for what he wanted us to accomplish as a home teaching companionship, and we’ve worked to try and meet those goals; we have done as a great a job as I hoped, but I know Stanton has been a great influence for good in that calling. Also, I, for one, have been very blessed by having Stanton as my friend. He’s always been someone I hang out with, and, when needed, even confide in. He helped me through one of the hardest times of my life, and I am grateful for the friend I found in him.
To me, the word “excellent” describes Stanton Roseman well because he has worked and worked to become so. He has had his fair share of disappointments in the last six years, but he’s also had many successes, and he is headed toward great things. To me, he’s always been a great example of someone who never settles for mediocrity but works hard to be his best self. I encourage each of you to seek out the opportunities that come your way, and try to better yourself with those chances. I’d particularly encourage you to excellent in your calling and to likewise be excellent in keeping the commandments; in doing this, you will blessed, and you will find your abilities strengthened, and you will find success.
Finally, the best path and the surest path to excellence is to follow in the footsteps of the Savior. I’ll close by quoting President Hinckley:
You will find your greatest example in the Son of God. I hope that each of you will make Him your friend. I hope you will strive to walk in His paths, extending mercy, blessing those who struggle, living with less selfishness, reaching out to others.
He is the greatest example of excellence in all the world. He condescended to come to earth under the most humble of circumstances. He grew up as the son of Joseph the carpenter. He struggled with the adversary on the Mount of Temptation. He came forth resplendent and beautiful and magnificent to teach the world. During His brief ministry, He brought more of truth, more of hope, more of mercy, more of love than anyone else who has walked the earth. He died on Calvary’s cross for each of us. He arose the third day, “the firstfruits of them that slept” (1 Cor. 15:20), bringing the promise of resurrection to all mankind and the hope of exaltation to all who would walk in obedience to His teachings. He was the great paragon of righteousness, the only perfect man ever to walk the earth. His was the wondrous example toward whom each of us might point our lives in our eternal quest for excellence.
The prophet Moroni declared, “In the gift of his Son hath God prepared a more excellent way” (Ether 12:11). You have the witness of that faith. You have the testimony of that faith. You have the example of that faith. Let us all try to stand a little taller, rise a little higher, be a little better. Make the extra effort. You will be happier. You will know a new satisfaction, a new gladness in your heart.
Jesus said, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matt. 5:48). That is the great crowning example of excellence. May each of us have a rich and wonderful life moving in that direction. We will not become perfect in a day or a month or a year. We will not accomplish it in a lifetime, but we can keep trying, starting with our more obvious weaknesses and gradually converting them to strengths as we go forward with our lives.
Tremendous is your opportunity to reach beyond the hoped-for goal of wealth and worldly success, though that may have some modest importance, to build and strengthen others, to relieve suffering, to aid in making the world a better place, to pick up and carry the lantern . . . in walking through the pain-ridden wards of the world.
It was said of the Master that He “went about doing good” (Acts 10:38). In that process He became the epitome of perfection.
A More Excellent Way
On this Easter Sunday, I want to start by bearing my testimony that I know Christ lives. Christ gave His life for us. And then three days later, He took it up again. The Empty Tomb became a great symbol to each of us. In defeating death, Christ gave each of us the promise that we too would be resurrected. Job once asked: “If a man die, shall he live again?” (Job 14:14). Christ answered the question when He said: “Because I live, ye shall live also” (John 14:19). Because of Christ, the death introduced by the Fall of Adam, has lost its sting. Or, as Paul put it, “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ, shall all be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:22).
So, because of Christ’s victory over the grave, we can all say, as Neal A. Maxwell once did: “Death is but a mere comma, not an exclamation point.” Without knowledge of Christ’s resurrection, we can easily treat a loved one’s death as an exclamation point, and, at those times, lose all hope and think that we will never see that person again. Similarly, we could, with such an attitude, reach the end of our lives, very scared that we will soon no longer exist.
But because we know Christ was resurrected, such events are met more with hope than with dread. Because we know that the end of this life is just the beginning of eternity. Indeed, we know death is just a comma.
But Easter and the Empty Garden Tomb represent more than just the promise that our life will be renewed beyond this Earth. Easter and the Tomb also represent the chance Christ gave each of us to walk back into the kingdom of our father by following the trail that Christ himself blazed—the strait-and-narrow path.
Christ was once asked: “how can we know the way?” (John 14:5)
The Savior replied: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). Centuries later, Moroni wrote: “In the gift of his Son hath God prepared a more excellent way” (Ether 12:11). The way back to the Father is through Jesus Christ, who invites everyone to come unto Him and follow Him. There is no other route to the Celestial Kingdom. We must follow him. And it is our hope to become one day as perfect as He is.
That is the goal, but not the requirement for this life; explained Elder Russell M. Nelson: “We need not be dismayed if our earnest efforts toward perfection now seem so arduous and endless. Perfection is pending. It can come in full only after the Resurrection and only through the Lord. It awaits all who love him and keep his commandments.” Because we are imperfect, Christ provided his atonement—or, in other words, allows us to share in his perfection to make up the difference. Or, as Nephi explained it, “it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do” (2 Nephi 25:23).
Today, we begin studying the journey of the ancient Israelites from Egypt to the Promised Land. What we’ll want to do is draw parallels from their experiences to the challenges that we face now, as we journey toward the Celestial Kingdom and reunion with our Father. We learn from them to trust in the Lord. God’s promises are fulfilled on his timetable, not ours. But they will be fulfilled.
We learn that when we are backed into a corner, or against the Red Sea, like the Israelites were, that we can, like Moses did, rely on the Lord, and He will provide us our escape. We learn of their dependence on Christ through the bread, or manna, they received to feed them on their journey, and the water that came from the rock when Moses smote it. Their physical salvation depended on that bread and water; our spiritual salvation depends on the bread and water administered in the sacrament. In his mortal ministry, Christ told the Jews: “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:51). We also learn of the need to look to Christ. Fiery serpents once attacked the ancient Israelites; the Israelites had a chance to be healed by looking toward a representation of Christ. Some chose not to and were not healed. But those who looked to Christ, lived. From this, we can learn that when we are bitten by the Adversary, we can look to Christ and be healed. We learn about the importance of sustaining our leaders from Aaron and Hur and their act of holding up Moses’ arms in the battle of Amalek. We will learn many great things as we study these stories in the next few weeks.
But of all the things we can learn from the Exodus story, I want to focus my comments here on one trend that we see played out in this story. In almost every instance where the ancient Israelites faced turmoil, there were some who would moan, “If only we hadn’t left Egypt.” This happened when they were backed up against the Red Seas, when they were sick of eating only manna day in and day out, when they had to battle the Canaanites and when they were discouraged by their life’s journey. To them, the difficulty of “the more excellent way” was just too hard. They would have preferred the easy route. But laziness never was greatness. The road to perfection is not for the weak-willed but for the determined. And while our perfection may be pending, we can be excellent—and, indeed, we should be striving to be excellent. We should be less like Laman and Lemuel, who were continent to stay in Bountiful, and more like Nephi who wanted to cross the great waters to reach his eternal destiny.
And indeed, our destiny will be affected by our character. I remember something I saw on my zone leader’s fridge in my first area, it said: “Thoughts become actions, actions become habits, habits become character, character becomes destiny.” I never knew its source until Friday, I read a talk by Elder Delbert L. Stapley, a member of the Twelve back in the day. Elder Stapley said: “A favorite saying often quoted by the late President David O. McKay was ‘We sow our thoughts, and we reap our actions; we sow our actions, and we reap our habits; we sow our habits, and we reap our characters; we sow our characters, and we reap our destiny.’”
President Hinckley once said, “On such small hinges turn the gates of our lives. Little mistakes, which seem so unimportant in their beginnings, determine the eternal courses we follow. I want to invite us all to walk a higher road of excellence.”
That gate begins to swing with our thoughts. A famous Proverb reminds us that, “As [a man] thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). King Benjamin warned his people of the danger of unchecked thoughts: “But this much I can tell you, that if ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish” (Mosiah 4:30). Since thoughts have such a profound effect on our destiny, elevating our thoughts becomes a good place to start down the road of excellence. The Savior gave four important bits of counsel regarding thoughts in the Doctrine & Covenants: First, He said “Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not” (D&C 6:36); secondly, “Treasure up in your minds the words of life” (D&C 84:85); thirdly, “Cast away your idle thoughts” (D&C 88:69); and, finally, “let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God” (D&C 121:45). President Kimball once said, “Change comes by substituting good habits for less desirable ones …You mold your character and future by good thoughts and acts.”
The next place to call our attention to is to begin weeding out the actions and habits that are holding back our progression. Elder Stapley said, “When a man boasts of his bad habits, you may rest assured they are the best he has.” This thought was reiterated by Jeremy R. Schudde, who said, “It bothers me when people aren’t trying to better themselves.” And, indeed, there is a problem when someone is unwilling to seek out a better life because they’re too comfortable where they are. Elder Russell M. Nelson taught, “Let us do the best we can and try to improve each day. When our imperfections appear, we can keep trying to correct them.” We shouldn’t dwell on or be proud of our weaknesses. It does us no good to become obsessed with our flaws; in fact, it does us harm as we begin to allow our perceived shortcomings to influence our self-confidence. Nor should we be in the habit of pointing out others’ imperfections. Rather, we should work on bettering ourselves and helping others realize their strengths, not their weaknesses. We can, with Christ’s help, become better people, and we can influence those around us to become better people as well.
President Hinckley has pleaded with us to have the courage to accept his invitation—well, actually, it’s Christ’s invitation—to walk down the high road of excellence. President Hinckley said: “This is the great day of decision for each of us. For many it is the time of beginning something that will go on for as long as you live. I plead with you: don’t be a scrub! Rise to the high ground of spiritual, mental, and physical excellence. You can do it. You may not be a genius. You may be lacking in some skills. But so many of us can do better than we are now doing. We are members of this great Church whose influence is now felt over the world. We are people with a present and with a future. Don’t muff your opportunities. Be excellent.”
Elder Stapley once said, “Good habits are not acquired simply by making good resolves, though the thought must precede the action. Good habits are developed in the workshop of our daily lives. It is not in the great moments of test and trial that character is built. That is only when it is displayed. The habits that direct our lives and form our character are fashioned in the often uneventful, commonplace routine of life. They are acquired by practice.”
Another important step toward being excellent is take advantage of each opportunity given to you. One of the advantages of our lives right here, right now are the opportunities we are given. I have felt very blessed in my life to have had the opportunities I’ve had, and there have been days when I’ve said to myself, “How did I end up here?” And the answer can usual be traced back to taking advantage of some small opportunity that later turned out to be a huge break.
In thinking about that this week, I reflected on something that happened six years ago. I had just finished up my freshman year here at Dixie College, and I was applying to be the editor-in-chief of the school newspaper. When I went to my interview with the Publications Committee, I saw in the waiting room a person there I’d never seen before. So I introduced myself and said, “Hi. I’m Stephen Vincent.” And the kid said, “Hi. I’m Stanton Roseman.” I was relieved to find out he was going for yearbook editor. We didn’t say much to each other. And I didn’t really think too much about him. But I met him again that fall when he was working as the assistant yearbook editor. The more I knew him, the more impressed I was at how determined he was to excel at everything.
I had a chance recently to reflect on the difference between that nervous kid awaiting an interview six years ago and the Stanton Roseman I know today, when Stanton asked me to write him a letter of recommendation for an internship he was applying for. I’m going to read you a part of what I wrote in that letter because it really sums up what happens to someone who dreams big dreams and then works hard to accomplish those dreams:
“I first met Stanton six years ago. Since then, I have watched him excel time and time again in whatever interest was he was pursuing. I first met Stanton when I was editor-in-chief of Dixie State College’s student newspaper. He worked initially as a photographer, but Stanton wasn’t content just taking pictures. He wanted to learn all aspects of the newspaper business. He started writing—and wrote some of our best stories that year. After his mission, Stanton became the editor-in-chief of that paper, a position he has held for two years—and a position in which he thrived. The paper’s never looked better. His writing has improved greatly, and he now writes and reports on a professional level. He has used his substantial visual skills to improve the paper’s design and photography. His tenure as editor-in-chief has led to a paper improved in quality and appearance. The sudden rise in the quality of the paper is not a surprise to me or anyone who knows Stanton—because we have seen him take humdrum abilities and turn them into shining talents in every one of his pursuits.”
Stanton and I became home teaching companions a few months ago, and Stanton was excited because he had never done it before. He came into that calling with the same determination he had in the newspaper business. Right away, he set goals for what he wanted us to accomplish as a home teaching companionship, and we’ve worked to try and meet those goals; we have done as a great a job as I hoped, but I know Stanton has been a great influence for good in that calling. Also, I, for one, have been very blessed by having Stanton as my friend. He’s always been someone I hang out with, and, when needed, even confide in. He helped me through one of the hardest times of my life, and I am grateful for the friend I found in him.
To me, the word “excellent” describes Stanton Roseman well because he has worked and worked to become so. He has had his fair share of disappointments in the last six years, but he’s also had many successes, and he is headed toward great things. To me, he’s always been a great example of someone who never settles for mediocrity but works hard to be his best self. I encourage each of you to seek out the opportunities that come your way, and try to better yourself with those chances. I’d particularly encourage you to excellent in your calling and to likewise be excellent in keeping the commandments; in doing this, you will blessed, and you will find your abilities strengthened, and you will find success.
Finally, the best path and the surest path to excellence is to follow in the footsteps of the Savior. I’ll close by quoting President Hinckley:
You will find your greatest example in the Son of God. I hope that each of you will make Him your friend. I hope you will strive to walk in His paths, extending mercy, blessing those who struggle, living with less selfishness, reaching out to others.
He is the greatest example of excellence in all the world. He condescended to come to earth under the most humble of circumstances. He grew up as the son of Joseph the carpenter. He struggled with the adversary on the Mount of Temptation. He came forth resplendent and beautiful and magnificent to teach the world. During His brief ministry, He brought more of truth, more of hope, more of mercy, more of love than anyone else who has walked the earth. He died on Calvary’s cross for each of us. He arose the third day, “the firstfruits of them that slept” (1 Cor. 15:20), bringing the promise of resurrection to all mankind and the hope of exaltation to all who would walk in obedience to His teachings. He was the great paragon of righteousness, the only perfect man ever to walk the earth. His was the wondrous example toward whom each of us might point our lives in our eternal quest for excellence.
The prophet Moroni declared, “In the gift of his Son hath God prepared a more excellent way” (Ether 12:11). You have the witness of that faith. You have the testimony of that faith. You have the example of that faith. Let us all try to stand a little taller, rise a little higher, be a little better. Make the extra effort. You will be happier. You will know a new satisfaction, a new gladness in your heart.
Jesus said, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matt. 5:48). That is the great crowning example of excellence. May each of us have a rich and wonderful life moving in that direction. We will not become perfect in a day or a month or a year. We will not accomplish it in a lifetime, but we can keep trying, starting with our more obvious weaknesses and gradually converting them to strengths as we go forward with our lives.
Tremendous is your opportunity to reach beyond the hoped-for goal of wealth and worldly success, though that may have some modest importance, to build and strengthen others, to relieve suffering, to aid in making the world a better place, to pick up and carry the lantern . . . in walking through the pain-ridden wards of the world.
It was said of the Master that He “went about doing good” (Acts 10:38). In that process He became the epitome of perfection.
So, because of Christ’s victory over the grave, we can all say, as Neal A. Maxwell once did: “Death is but a mere comma, not an exclamation point.” Without knowledge of Christ’s resurrection, we can easily treat a loved one’s death as an exclamation point, and, at those times, lose all hope and think that we will never see that person again. Similarly, we could, with such an attitude, reach the end of our lives, very scared that we will soon no longer exist.
But because we know Christ was resurrected, such events are met more with hope than with dread. Because we know that the end of this life is just the beginning of eternity. Indeed, we know death is just a comma.
But Easter and the Empty Garden Tomb represent more than just the promise that our life will be renewed beyond this Earth. Easter and the Tomb also represent the chance Christ gave each of us to walk back into the kingdom of our father by following the trail that Christ himself blazed—the strait-and-narrow path.
Christ was once asked: “how can we know the way?” (John 14:5)
The Savior replied: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). Centuries later, Moroni wrote: “In the gift of his Son hath God prepared a more excellent way” (Ether 12:11). The way back to the Father is through Jesus Christ, who invites everyone to come unto Him and follow Him. There is no other route to the Celestial Kingdom. We must follow him. And it is our hope to become one day as perfect as He is.
That is the goal, but not the requirement for this life; explained Elder Russell M. Nelson: “We need not be dismayed if our earnest efforts toward perfection now seem so arduous and endless. Perfection is pending. It can come in full only after the Resurrection and only through the Lord. It awaits all who love him and keep his commandments.” Because we are imperfect, Christ provided his atonement—or, in other words, allows us to share in his perfection to make up the difference. Or, as Nephi explained it, “it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do” (2 Nephi 25:23).
Today, we begin studying the journey of the ancient Israelites from Egypt to the Promised Land. What we’ll want to do is draw parallels from their experiences to the challenges that we face now, as we journey toward the Celestial Kingdom and reunion with our Father. We learn from them to trust in the Lord. God’s promises are fulfilled on his timetable, not ours. But they will be fulfilled.
We learn that when we are backed into a corner, or against the Red Sea, like the Israelites were, that we can, like Moses did, rely on the Lord, and He will provide us our escape. We learn of their dependence on Christ through the bread, or manna, they received to feed them on their journey, and the water that came from the rock when Moses smote it. Their physical salvation depended on that bread and water; our spiritual salvation depends on the bread and water administered in the sacrament. In his mortal ministry, Christ told the Jews: “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:51). We also learn of the need to look to Christ. Fiery serpents once attacked the ancient Israelites; the Israelites had a chance to be healed by looking toward a representation of Christ. Some chose not to and were not healed. But those who looked to Christ, lived. From this, we can learn that when we are bitten by the Adversary, we can look to Christ and be healed. We learn about the importance of sustaining our leaders from Aaron and Hur and their act of holding up Moses’ arms in the battle of Amalek. We will learn many great things as we study these stories in the next few weeks.
But of all the things we can learn from the Exodus story, I want to focus my comments here on one trend that we see played out in this story. In almost every instance where the ancient Israelites faced turmoil, there were some who would moan, “If only we hadn’t left Egypt.” This happened when they were backed up against the Red Seas, when they were sick of eating only manna day in and day out, when they had to battle the Canaanites and when they were discouraged by their life’s journey. To them, the difficulty of “the more excellent way” was just too hard. They would have preferred the easy route. But laziness never was greatness. The road to perfection is not for the weak-willed but for the determined. And while our perfection may be pending, we can be excellent—and, indeed, we should be striving to be excellent. We should be less like Laman and Lemuel, who were continent to stay in Bountiful, and more like Nephi who wanted to cross the great waters to reach his eternal destiny.
And indeed, our destiny will be affected by our character. I remember something I saw on my zone leader’s fridge in my first area, it said: “Thoughts become actions, actions become habits, habits become character, character becomes destiny.” I never knew its source until Friday, I read a talk by Elder Delbert L. Stapley, a member of the Twelve back in the day. Elder Stapley said: “A favorite saying often quoted by the late President David O. McKay was ‘We sow our thoughts, and we reap our actions; we sow our actions, and we reap our habits; we sow our habits, and we reap our characters; we sow our characters, and we reap our destiny.’”
President Hinckley once said, “On such small hinges turn the gates of our lives. Little mistakes, which seem so unimportant in their beginnings, determine the eternal courses we follow. I want to invite us all to walk a higher road of excellence.”
That gate begins to swing with our thoughts. A famous Proverb reminds us that, “As [a man] thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). King Benjamin warned his people of the danger of unchecked thoughts: “But this much I can tell you, that if ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish” (Mosiah 4:30). Since thoughts have such a profound effect on our destiny, elevating our thoughts becomes a good place to start down the road of excellence. The Savior gave four important bits of counsel regarding thoughts in the Doctrine & Covenants: First, He said “Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not” (D&C 6:36); secondly, “Treasure up in your minds the words of life” (D&C 84:85); thirdly, “Cast away your idle thoughts” (D&C 88:69); and, finally, “let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God” (D&C 121:45). President Kimball once said, “Change comes by substituting good habits for less desirable ones …You mold your character and future by good thoughts and acts.”
The next place to call our attention to is to begin weeding out the actions and habits that are holding back our progression. Elder Stapley said, “When a man boasts of his bad habits, you may rest assured they are the best he has.” This thought was reiterated by Jeremy R. Schudde, who said, “It bothers me when people aren’t trying to better themselves.” And, indeed, there is a problem when someone is unwilling to seek out a better life because they’re too comfortable where they are. Elder Russell M. Nelson taught, “Let us do the best we can and try to improve each day. When our imperfections appear, we can keep trying to correct them.” We shouldn’t dwell on or be proud of our weaknesses. It does us no good to become obsessed with our flaws; in fact, it does us harm as we begin to allow our perceived shortcomings to influence our self-confidence. Nor should we be in the habit of pointing out others’ imperfections. Rather, we should work on bettering ourselves and helping others realize their strengths, not their weaknesses. We can, with Christ’s help, become better people, and we can influence those around us to become better people as well.
President Hinckley has pleaded with us to have the courage to accept his invitation—well, actually, it’s Christ’s invitation—to walk down the high road of excellence. President Hinckley said: “This is the great day of decision for each of us. For many it is the time of beginning something that will go on for as long as you live. I plead with you: don’t be a scrub! Rise to the high ground of spiritual, mental, and physical excellence. You can do it. You may not be a genius. You may be lacking in some skills. But so many of us can do better than we are now doing. We are members of this great Church whose influence is now felt over the world. We are people with a present and with a future. Don’t muff your opportunities. Be excellent.”
Elder Stapley once said, “Good habits are not acquired simply by making good resolves, though the thought must precede the action. Good habits are developed in the workshop of our daily lives. It is not in the great moments of test and trial that character is built. That is only when it is displayed. The habits that direct our lives and form our character are fashioned in the often uneventful, commonplace routine of life. They are acquired by practice.”
Another important step toward being excellent is take advantage of each opportunity given to you. One of the advantages of our lives right here, right now are the opportunities we are given. I have felt very blessed in my life to have had the opportunities I’ve had, and there have been days when I’ve said to myself, “How did I end up here?” And the answer can usual be traced back to taking advantage of some small opportunity that later turned out to be a huge break.
In thinking about that this week, I reflected on something that happened six years ago. I had just finished up my freshman year here at Dixie College, and I was applying to be the editor-in-chief of the school newspaper. When I went to my interview with the Publications Committee, I saw in the waiting room a person there I’d never seen before. So I introduced myself and said, “Hi. I’m Stephen Vincent.” And the kid said, “Hi. I’m Stanton Roseman.” I was relieved to find out he was going for yearbook editor. We didn’t say much to each other. And I didn’t really think too much about him. But I met him again that fall when he was working as the assistant yearbook editor. The more I knew him, the more impressed I was at how determined he was to excel at everything.
I had a chance recently to reflect on the difference between that nervous kid awaiting an interview six years ago and the Stanton Roseman I know today, when Stanton asked me to write him a letter of recommendation for an internship he was applying for. I’m going to read you a part of what I wrote in that letter because it really sums up what happens to someone who dreams big dreams and then works hard to accomplish those dreams:
“I first met Stanton six years ago. Since then, I have watched him excel time and time again in whatever interest was he was pursuing. I first met Stanton when I was editor-in-chief of Dixie State College’s student newspaper. He worked initially as a photographer, but Stanton wasn’t content just taking pictures. He wanted to learn all aspects of the newspaper business. He started writing—and wrote some of our best stories that year. After his mission, Stanton became the editor-in-chief of that paper, a position he has held for two years—and a position in which he thrived. The paper’s never looked better. His writing has improved greatly, and he now writes and reports on a professional level. He has used his substantial visual skills to improve the paper’s design and photography. His tenure as editor-in-chief has led to a paper improved in quality and appearance. The sudden rise in the quality of the paper is not a surprise to me or anyone who knows Stanton—because we have seen him take humdrum abilities and turn them into shining talents in every one of his pursuits.”
Stanton and I became home teaching companions a few months ago, and Stanton was excited because he had never done it before. He came into that calling with the same determination he had in the newspaper business. Right away, he set goals for what he wanted us to accomplish as a home teaching companionship, and we’ve worked to try and meet those goals; we have done as a great a job as I hoped, but I know Stanton has been a great influence for good in that calling. Also, I, for one, have been very blessed by having Stanton as my friend. He’s always been someone I hang out with, and, when needed, even confide in. He helped me through one of the hardest times of my life, and I am grateful for the friend I found in him.
To me, the word “excellent” describes Stanton Roseman well because he has worked and worked to become so. He has had his fair share of disappointments in the last six years, but he’s also had many successes, and he is headed toward great things. To me, he’s always been a great example of someone who never settles for mediocrity but works hard to be his best self. I encourage each of you to seek out the opportunities that come your way, and try to better yourself with those chances. I’d particularly encourage you to excellent in your calling and to likewise be excellent in keeping the commandments; in doing this, you will blessed, and you will find your abilities strengthened, and you will find success.
Finally, the best path and the surest path to excellence is to follow in the footsteps of the Savior. I’ll close by quoting President Hinckley:
You will find your greatest example in the Son of God. I hope that each of you will make Him your friend. I hope you will strive to walk in His paths, extending mercy, blessing those who struggle, living with less selfishness, reaching out to others.
He is the greatest example of excellence in all the world. He condescended to come to earth under the most humble of circumstances. He grew up as the son of Joseph the carpenter. He struggled with the adversary on the Mount of Temptation. He came forth resplendent and beautiful and magnificent to teach the world. During His brief ministry, He brought more of truth, more of hope, more of mercy, more of love than anyone else who has walked the earth. He died on Calvary’s cross for each of us. He arose the third day, “the firstfruits of them that slept” (1 Cor. 15:20), bringing the promise of resurrection to all mankind and the hope of exaltation to all who would walk in obedience to His teachings. He was the great paragon of righteousness, the only perfect man ever to walk the earth. His was the wondrous example toward whom each of us might point our lives in our eternal quest for excellence.
The prophet Moroni declared, “In the gift of his Son hath God prepared a more excellent way” (Ether 12:11). You have the witness of that faith. You have the testimony of that faith. You have the example of that faith. Let us all try to stand a little taller, rise a little higher, be a little better. Make the extra effort. You will be happier. You will know a new satisfaction, a new gladness in your heart.
Jesus said, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matt. 5:48). That is the great crowning example of excellence. May each of us have a rich and wonderful life moving in that direction. We will not become perfect in a day or a month or a year. We will not accomplish it in a lifetime, but we can keep trying, starting with our more obvious weaknesses and gradually converting them to strengths as we go forward with our lives.
Tremendous is your opportunity to reach beyond the hoped-for goal of wealth and worldly success, though that may have some modest importance, to build and strengthen others, to relieve suffering, to aid in making the world a better place, to pick up and carry the lantern . . . in walking through the pain-ridden wards of the world.
It was said of the Master that He “went about doing good” (Acts 10:38). In that process He became the epitome of perfection.
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Sacrament Talk: March 26, 2006: Lessons on the Atonement from the Book of Mormon
Y’know, I had a difficult time this week deciding how to approach this subject. But in the end, I came to one realization: While there are million things to discuss in talking about the Book of Mormon, only one thing that really matters can happen when you read the Book of Mormon: You will draw closer to Christ.
In realizing that, I’ve decided to focus my talk on Christ; specifically, how I have come closer to Christ and what I’ve learned about Him while I’ve read, studied and pondered the Book of Mormon.
First, I have realized the great love and great compassion He has for me. I know in my darkest and loneliest hours, I have turned to the Book of Mormon for solace. And the solace that I have sought has come. I know that whenever I reached out for Christ, He has welcomed me. I have felt His love often—and it has meant so much to me. I know the Book of Mormon is Christ’s word because the Book of Mormon leads me to Him.
From its title page, the Book of Mormon declares this as its purpose: “The convincing of the Jew and Gentile that JESUS is the CHRIST, the ETERNAL GOD, manifesting himself unto all nations.” Having read the Book of Mormon, I can vouch that this is exactly what the Book of Mormon does. Every time I read the Book of Mormon, I am convinced that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God.
Its pages bear that strong testimony of Christ’s reality. This is the book’s central purpose. Nephi once wrote, “And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins” (2 Nephi 25:26). I have no doubt that every prophet who wrote in the Book of Mormon after Nephi took seriously this charge. I believe they wrote so that we may come to know Christ through their experiences, rejoicings, preachings and prophecies. And they succeeded. If you read and ponder their writings, you will come to know Christ better. All my experience with the Book of Mormon tells me that that is so.
I want to spend the rest of my talk, discussing some scriptures found in the Book of Mormon that have really, really meant something to me and that have taught me about Christ—specifically, these scriptures have taught me about His love and His mercy, His preeminent traits. Because of His love and mercy for us, He completed the Atonement.
I remember the first scripture that ever meant anything to me was Mosiah 2:21-22: “I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.
“And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.”
I remember reading those verses in the MTC, and just how much they struck me. I read and re-read those verses. I studied them for a couple days. I just loved what I found there; this scripture was the first clue I really had into the great love my Savior had for me. I thought a lot at that time that two years was really no great sacrifice for the Savior, who was keeping me alive to begin with, and who would, as King Benjamin said, bless me for my service. It was a great verse for me to know that no matter how far I would be from home for the next two years, I wouldn’t be away from my Savior’s love. I called upon and found that love often in those two years and the years since. I know there is nowhere I can go, nothing I can do, that disqualifies me from His love and the hope of His atonement.
The next scripture is a question from 2 Nephi 7:2. I actually remember where I was when this question just jumped out at me. I was in the basement of the Harold B. Lee Library at BYU, just killing time before I was supposed to meet my roommate to go to a devotional. So I decided to do some reading, and this is the question that I read: “O house of Israel, is my hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem, or have I no power to deliver?” And it just struck me as a question that many people ask, that I have even asked at times in my life, and that question is this: Can Christ’s atonement really work in my case? At times like that, I have foolishly thought: Maybe His atonement is just for other people; maybe He just can’t reclaim me; maybe I can’t really change. When I read this, I realized what I had done at those times was buy into the false idea: That Christ’s arm is shortened. This question really stood out in my mind the next few weeks as I went through the Isaiah chapters, and I learned from that experience that keeping this question in mind is a great way to go through that portion of the Book of Mormon. A few pages past that question in 2 Nephi 9:7, Jacob, in his great sermon on the Atonement, testifies that “it musts needs be an infinite atonement.” Infinite means He can reclaim me and you; He can help us make those changes we need to make to become like Him.
But I really think a more direct answer to the question of, “Is Christ’s arm shortened that he cannot redeem?” is found at the end of the Isaiah chapters in 2 Nephi 28:32. As you know, the Isaiah chapters spend considerable time discussing the wickedness of the world in the latter days. Yet they end with this great verse: “For notwithstanding I shall lengthen out mine arm unto them from day to day, they will deny me; nevertheless, I will be merciful unto them, saith the Lord God, if they will repent and come unto me; for mine arm is lengthened out all the day long, saith the Lord God of Hosts.” The key word there is lengthened.. Christ’s arm isn’t shortened; it is lengthened. He can redeem. When I read this, I like to picture our Savior standing there, arms outstretched, always willing to embrace those who come unto Him. Since those days three years ago when I first studied this question, the Spirit has testified to me often that that is the reality—that Christ does stand there, arms outstretched, waiting for us to return to Him.
What I love about verse 32 is this: Christ stretches out His arms, but no one rushes to fill them—yet He does not put His arms down. Instead, he promises that He will keep his arms outstretched. His arm is always, always outstretched, ready to welcome back the vilest sinner and the most frequent sinner. His atonement is infinite, and His mercy always available.
I think no one in the Book of Mormon learned this lesson more profoundly or more dramatically than did Alma. His story of repentance is by far my favorite in the book, and the chapter where he relates this story to his son Helaman, in Alma 36, is by far my favorite chapter in all of the scriptures. I probably overquote it, but it’s meant so much to me in my life that the verses of that chapter never wander far from my heart.
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said: “There are multitudes of men and women—in and out of the Church—who are struggling vainly against obstacles in their path. Many are fighting the battle of life—and losing. Indeed, there are those among us who consider themselves the vilest of sinners. We have all known such people. We have all spoken with someone who does not think he has been forgiven—or worse, who does not think he can be forgiven. How many broken hearts remain broken because these people feel they are beyond the pale of God’s restorative power? How many bruised and battered spirits are certain that they have sunk to a depth at which the light of redeeming hope and grace will never again shine? To these, the story of the younger Alma comes like water to a parched tongue, like rest a weary traveler.”
Alma, as you know, had spent his youth trying to destroy the church. Yet despite his viciousness toward the church, His father, the great prophet, Alma the Elder, and others in the church prayed for him. In response, an angel appeared to Alma and reprimanded him harshly for what he had done. Alma said later he was struck with such great fear that he fell to the Earth and then for three days, Alma dealt with the consequences of his actions.
Alma spends some time describe just how anguished his soul was at that time, but verse 15 is particularly poignant: “Oh, thought I, that I could be banished and become extinct both soul and body, that I might not be brought to stand in the presence of my God, to be judged of my deeds.” Now, I want to stop right there and tell a story by Tad R. Callister:
“One Sunday morning our teenaged son stood with two other priests to administer the sacrament, as they had done on many prior occasions. They pulled back the white cloth, but to their dismay there was no bread. One of them slipped out to the preparation room in hopes some could be found. There was none. Finally, our trouble son made his way to the bishop and shared the concern with him. A wise bishop then stood, explained the situation to the congregation, and asked, ‘How would it be if the sacrament table were empty today because there were no Atonement?’ I have thought of that often—what would it be like if there were no bread because there had been no crucifixion; no water because there had been no shedding of blood? Of course, the question is now moot, but it does put in perspective our total dependence on the Lord.”
Let’s apply that question to Alma’s experience. At this moment that Alma wishes he were extinct both soul and body, what is going through his mind? I believe a careful reading of this chapter reveals shows that Alma thinks there is no way back. To Alma, he had sinned, he had fallen, and he had lost. There was no more hope for him. Or so he thought. You see, to Alma suffered as sharply as he did in those three days because he knew of no Atonement. To him, the sacrament table was empty.
Fortunately, Alma soon remembered, and we pick up his story in verse 17:
“And it came to pass that as I was thus racked with torment, while I was harrowed up by the memory of my many sins, behold, I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.
“Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death.
“And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.
“And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!
“Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy” (Alma 36:17-21).
I think no story matches the majesty of this story—it is a story of why we need the atonement, and it is a story that that atonement is accessible to all, reiterating the truth testified of by Nephi: “[Christ] inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him” (2 Nephi 26:33). It’s a story that we can change, and that Christ will help us change. We can erase the bad from our lives and redefine ourselves through repentance. Indeed, this story is another witness that Christ’s arm is not shortened, he can redeem. Had Christ’s arm been shortened, had there been no atonement, all would have been lost for Alma.
Alma’s future missionary companion, Amulek, explained it perfectly to the Zoramites: “For it is expedient that an atonement should be made; for according to the great plan of the Eternal God there must be an atonement made, or else all mankind must unavoidably perish; yea, all are hardened; yea, all are fallen and are lost, and must perish except it be through the atonement which it is expedient should be made” (Alma 34:9).
Aren’t you glad there’s an atonement? Aren’t you glad you’re Savior loved you enough to come down and take upon him all of our sins and gave his life so that we could have that hope—that hope of repentance? I know I’m grateful.
If there’s hope for Alma, there’s hope for us. No one is excluded from the outstretched hands of our Savior.
Certainly, Alma knew this truth when he later preached: “Behold, [Christ] sendeth an invitation unto all men, for the arms of mercy are extended towards them, and he saith: Repent, and I will receive you. Yea, he saith: Come unto me and ye shall partake of the fruit of the tree of life; yea, ye shall eat and drink of the bread and the waters of life freely” (Alma 5:33-34).
Alma had been invited to those waters, he had partaken, and he had found what Isaiah said he would: Alma found joy in drawing “water out of the wells of salvation” (2 Nephi 22:3). I hope each of us will take Jacob’s challenge: “Come, my brethren, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters” (2 Nephi 9:50).
How grateful I am that today the Living Waters and the Bread of Life were on the sacrament table because Christ loved us enough to perform the atonement on our behalf. May we do, as we promised in the sacramental covenant, and always remember Him. And always move closer to Him that we may more fully partake of His love and His atonement. I testify that one of the shortest, easiest and best ways to come unto Christ is through reading the Book of Mormon.
I bear my testimony that that book is true. I know its translator, Joseph Smith, was a prophet of God, who was called to restore Christ’s church. I know our Heavenly Father lives and loves us. I know He sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to take upon him our sins. I know Christ loved us enough to do just that. I know Christ lives. How grateful I am for his atonement. This I say humbly in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
In realizing that, I’ve decided to focus my talk on Christ; specifically, how I have come closer to Christ and what I’ve learned about Him while I’ve read, studied and pondered the Book of Mormon.
First, I have realized the great love and great compassion He has for me. I know in my darkest and loneliest hours, I have turned to the Book of Mormon for solace. And the solace that I have sought has come. I know that whenever I reached out for Christ, He has welcomed me. I have felt His love often—and it has meant so much to me. I know the Book of Mormon is Christ’s word because the Book of Mormon leads me to Him.
From its title page, the Book of Mormon declares this as its purpose: “The convincing of the Jew and Gentile that JESUS is the CHRIST, the ETERNAL GOD, manifesting himself unto all nations.” Having read the Book of Mormon, I can vouch that this is exactly what the Book of Mormon does. Every time I read the Book of Mormon, I am convinced that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God.
Its pages bear that strong testimony of Christ’s reality. This is the book’s central purpose. Nephi once wrote, “And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins” (2 Nephi 25:26). I have no doubt that every prophet who wrote in the Book of Mormon after Nephi took seriously this charge. I believe they wrote so that we may come to know Christ through their experiences, rejoicings, preachings and prophecies. And they succeeded. If you read and ponder their writings, you will come to know Christ better. All my experience with the Book of Mormon tells me that that is so.
I want to spend the rest of my talk, discussing some scriptures found in the Book of Mormon that have really, really meant something to me and that have taught me about Christ—specifically, these scriptures have taught me about His love and His mercy, His preeminent traits. Because of His love and mercy for us, He completed the Atonement.
I remember the first scripture that ever meant anything to me was Mosiah 2:21-22: “I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.
“And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.”
I remember reading those verses in the MTC, and just how much they struck me. I read and re-read those verses. I studied them for a couple days. I just loved what I found there; this scripture was the first clue I really had into the great love my Savior had for me. I thought a lot at that time that two years was really no great sacrifice for the Savior, who was keeping me alive to begin with, and who would, as King Benjamin said, bless me for my service. It was a great verse for me to know that no matter how far I would be from home for the next two years, I wouldn’t be away from my Savior’s love. I called upon and found that love often in those two years and the years since. I know there is nowhere I can go, nothing I can do, that disqualifies me from His love and the hope of His atonement.
The next scripture is a question from 2 Nephi 7:2. I actually remember where I was when this question just jumped out at me. I was in the basement of the Harold B. Lee Library at BYU, just killing time before I was supposed to meet my roommate to go to a devotional. So I decided to do some reading, and this is the question that I read: “O house of Israel, is my hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem, or have I no power to deliver?” And it just struck me as a question that many people ask, that I have even asked at times in my life, and that question is this: Can Christ’s atonement really work in my case? At times like that, I have foolishly thought: Maybe His atonement is just for other people; maybe He just can’t reclaim me; maybe I can’t really change. When I read this, I realized what I had done at those times was buy into the false idea: That Christ’s arm is shortened. This question really stood out in my mind the next few weeks as I went through the Isaiah chapters, and I learned from that experience that keeping this question in mind is a great way to go through that portion of the Book of Mormon. A few pages past that question in 2 Nephi 9:7, Jacob, in his great sermon on the Atonement, testifies that “it musts needs be an infinite atonement.” Infinite means He can reclaim me and you; He can help us make those changes we need to make to become like Him.
But I really think a more direct answer to the question of, “Is Christ’s arm shortened that he cannot redeem?” is found at the end of the Isaiah chapters in 2 Nephi 28:32. As you know, the Isaiah chapters spend considerable time discussing the wickedness of the world in the latter days. Yet they end with this great verse: “For notwithstanding I shall lengthen out mine arm unto them from day to day, they will deny me; nevertheless, I will be merciful unto them, saith the Lord God, if they will repent and come unto me; for mine arm is lengthened out all the day long, saith the Lord God of Hosts.” The key word there is lengthened.. Christ’s arm isn’t shortened; it is lengthened. He can redeem. When I read this, I like to picture our Savior standing there, arms outstretched, always willing to embrace those who come unto Him. Since those days three years ago when I first studied this question, the Spirit has testified to me often that that is the reality—that Christ does stand there, arms outstretched, waiting for us to return to Him.
What I love about verse 32 is this: Christ stretches out His arms, but no one rushes to fill them—yet He does not put His arms down. Instead, he promises that He will keep his arms outstretched. His arm is always, always outstretched, ready to welcome back the vilest sinner and the most frequent sinner. His atonement is infinite, and His mercy always available.
I think no one in the Book of Mormon learned this lesson more profoundly or more dramatically than did Alma. His story of repentance is by far my favorite in the book, and the chapter where he relates this story to his son Helaman, in Alma 36, is by far my favorite chapter in all of the scriptures. I probably overquote it, but it’s meant so much to me in my life that the verses of that chapter never wander far from my heart.
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said: “There are multitudes of men and women—in and out of the Church—who are struggling vainly against obstacles in their path. Many are fighting the battle of life—and losing. Indeed, there are those among us who consider themselves the vilest of sinners. We have all known such people. We have all spoken with someone who does not think he has been forgiven—or worse, who does not think he can be forgiven. How many broken hearts remain broken because these people feel they are beyond the pale of God’s restorative power? How many bruised and battered spirits are certain that they have sunk to a depth at which the light of redeeming hope and grace will never again shine? To these, the story of the younger Alma comes like water to a parched tongue, like rest a weary traveler.”
Alma, as you know, had spent his youth trying to destroy the church. Yet despite his viciousness toward the church, His father, the great prophet, Alma the Elder, and others in the church prayed for him. In response, an angel appeared to Alma and reprimanded him harshly for what he had done. Alma said later he was struck with such great fear that he fell to the Earth and then for three days, Alma dealt with the consequences of his actions.
Alma spends some time describe just how anguished his soul was at that time, but verse 15 is particularly poignant: “Oh, thought I, that I could be banished and become extinct both soul and body, that I might not be brought to stand in the presence of my God, to be judged of my deeds.” Now, I want to stop right there and tell a story by Tad R. Callister:
“One Sunday morning our teenaged son stood with two other priests to administer the sacrament, as they had done on many prior occasions. They pulled back the white cloth, but to their dismay there was no bread. One of them slipped out to the preparation room in hopes some could be found. There was none. Finally, our trouble son made his way to the bishop and shared the concern with him. A wise bishop then stood, explained the situation to the congregation, and asked, ‘How would it be if the sacrament table were empty today because there were no Atonement?’ I have thought of that often—what would it be like if there were no bread because there had been no crucifixion; no water because there had been no shedding of blood? Of course, the question is now moot, but it does put in perspective our total dependence on the Lord.”
Let’s apply that question to Alma’s experience. At this moment that Alma wishes he were extinct both soul and body, what is going through his mind? I believe a careful reading of this chapter reveals shows that Alma thinks there is no way back. To Alma, he had sinned, he had fallen, and he had lost. There was no more hope for him. Or so he thought. You see, to Alma suffered as sharply as he did in those three days because he knew of no Atonement. To him, the sacrament table was empty.
Fortunately, Alma soon remembered, and we pick up his story in verse 17:
“And it came to pass that as I was thus racked with torment, while I was harrowed up by the memory of my many sins, behold, I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.
“Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death.
“And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.
“And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!
“Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy” (Alma 36:17-21).
I think no story matches the majesty of this story—it is a story of why we need the atonement, and it is a story that that atonement is accessible to all, reiterating the truth testified of by Nephi: “[Christ] inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him” (2 Nephi 26:33). It’s a story that we can change, and that Christ will help us change. We can erase the bad from our lives and redefine ourselves through repentance. Indeed, this story is another witness that Christ’s arm is not shortened, he can redeem. Had Christ’s arm been shortened, had there been no atonement, all would have been lost for Alma.
Alma’s future missionary companion, Amulek, explained it perfectly to the Zoramites: “For it is expedient that an atonement should be made; for according to the great plan of the Eternal God there must be an atonement made, or else all mankind must unavoidably perish; yea, all are hardened; yea, all are fallen and are lost, and must perish except it be through the atonement which it is expedient should be made” (Alma 34:9).
Aren’t you glad there’s an atonement? Aren’t you glad you’re Savior loved you enough to come down and take upon him all of our sins and gave his life so that we could have that hope—that hope of repentance? I know I’m grateful.
If there’s hope for Alma, there’s hope for us. No one is excluded from the outstretched hands of our Savior.
Certainly, Alma knew this truth when he later preached: “Behold, [Christ] sendeth an invitation unto all men, for the arms of mercy are extended towards them, and he saith: Repent, and I will receive you. Yea, he saith: Come unto me and ye shall partake of the fruit of the tree of life; yea, ye shall eat and drink of the bread and the waters of life freely” (Alma 5:33-34).
Alma had been invited to those waters, he had partaken, and he had found what Isaiah said he would: Alma found joy in drawing “water out of the wells of salvation” (2 Nephi 22:3). I hope each of us will take Jacob’s challenge: “Come, my brethren, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters” (2 Nephi 9:50).
How grateful I am that today the Living Waters and the Bread of Life were on the sacrament table because Christ loved us enough to perform the atonement on our behalf. May we do, as we promised in the sacramental covenant, and always remember Him. And always move closer to Him that we may more fully partake of His love and His atonement. I testify that one of the shortest, easiest and best ways to come unto Christ is through reading the Book of Mormon.
I bear my testimony that that book is true. I know its translator, Joseph Smith, was a prophet of God, who was called to restore Christ’s church. I know our Heavenly Father lives and loves us. I know He sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to take upon him our sins. I know Christ loved us enough to do just that. I know Christ lives. How grateful I am for his atonement. This I say humbly in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Book of Mormon Memories
I also spent some time this week reflecting on what the Book of Mormon has meant to me over the course of my life. First, I think that my parents’ decision to have us read the Book of Mormon together as a family is what glued our family together, and made the great relationships I have with my brothers and sisters as close as they are.
I was a little surprised over the summer when I asked my mom, if her family ever studied the scriptures when she was growing up? “No” she replied.
“Well, did you have family home evening?”
“No.”
“What about family prayer?”
“No.”
I asked my dad the same questions—and he said his family only had family prayer.
“Well, then why did you decide to have to family scripture study, family prayer and family home evening?” I asked.
My dad answered matter-of-factly, “It’s what the prophet asked us to do.” The way he answered the question makes me think that he and my mom didn’t view what the prophet asked them to do as optional.
I’m sure they had difficult times gathering us all together for those things—as it always seemed like someone, particularly my oldest sister, Tiffany, who was a brat growing up—didn’t want to come.
I also realized that that decision to read the scriptures together really helped me in school. I remember when I was first learning to read in the first grade, that Tiffany, my bratty older sister, would groan whenever it was my turn to read because she said, “I took too long”—and, well, Tiffany really didn’t want to be there. Anyhow, those embarrassing moments kindled something inside of me and I worked at being able to read well enough that I could read quickly enough to silence my sister. It was a great day when Tiffany complained I read too fast. I think studying the Book of Mormon prepared my mind to learn, and I honestly believe it helped me do better in school.
I’ve noticed that even now. In a gospel doctrine teachers meeting earlier this year, Chris Nelson, our Sunday School president, promised us that if we put studying the gospel first in our lives, the rest would fall into place. That’s when I decided I would take President Hinckley’s challenge.
And though it was difficult to complete the reading of the Book of Mormon with all the demands on me during last semester, I found that the rest of my life fell into place, and I ended up having the best semester I’ve had in college—despite having all the obstacles I had to having a successful semester. I know the Lord blessed me and increased my ability as I put the gospel first in my life.
One of the things I found is that it really blessed me in my calling as a teacher. Almost every time I prepared a lesson, I read something in the Book of Mormon that just applied perfectly to that lesson, and I was able to share that in my class. Nothing teaches the gospel like the Book of Mormon!
I remember the first time I was ever excited to read the Book of Mormon—the first morning in the MTC. It was such a great experience. I was ingesting the truth so anxiously—cross referencing, and just really enjoying the experience of reading the scriptures. I was to naïve to know it then, but what I was feeling was the Spirit.
A few days later, I became really acquainted with the Spirit when it burned within my heart the testimony that the Book of Mormon is true. That testimony has never left my heart, and the Spirit has etched it deeper into my heart over the years.
A few months into the mission, I began to really learn the Book of Mormon, for one purpose: to stump my companion, Elder Harding. This started one morning when he walked by when I was reading my scriptures, and I said, “Guess where I am?” And I started reading some verses—and he guessed it. “That’s amazing!” I said. So I closed the book and randomly reopened it and began reading. Again, he guessed it. Well, this started a game we played frequently the next few months. And I really began to try and find some verses that weren’t well-known just to stump him. I learned so much doing that. And occasionally I was able to stump Elder Harding. I have found to my disappointment, though, that I am easily stumped—so I still have a lot of learning to do!
I also remember the time at a Scout campout our leaders had us go through an “Iron Rod” experience. And, well, the rod ended, and there was a fire up ahead. But this took place at the time when I needed glasses but hadn’t had the courage yet to admit I needed glasses. So I squinted ahead, and looked at the people sitting around the fire, and, well, they didn’t look like anyone I knew. And the last thing you want to do when you’re of middle school age is to just wander into an embarrassing social situation. And I wasn’t about to walk into someone else’s camp and hope it was my own. So I turned around—and tried another way. That didn’t work. So I came back to the rod and waited for the next person who would come by. Unfortunately, it was my tormentor, my older brother, Joey, and I said, “Where are we supposed to go?”
He pointed at the fire, and said, “Right there, dufus.”
And then he had a good time once we arrived at the fire of pointing out that I had gotten lost “in the mists of darkness.” So I wasn’t spared the embarrassing social situation I had hoped to avoid. I think the times I learned the most have been in the hardest times of my life when I have immersed myself in the Book of Mormon to shine the Light of Christ. This has helped me find a way out of my most desperate situations, and it has helped me feel the love of Christ in my loneliest moments.
Like I said, the Book of Mormon has brought our family together. That bratty sister, Tiffany, is now one of the coolest people I know. I love it when she visits because I can spend hours and hours just talking to her. And my tormentor, Joey, has become one of my best friends. There’s no one I enjoy being around more than my brother. We have a great time, and he is really nice to me these days, doing anything he can to help me out. I credited the Book of Mormon for that because I think the Spirit we felt when reading it, kept our care for each other alive, even during the difficult days of sibling rivalry.
So I can look back at my short life and see just how much the Book of Mormon has meant to me. I love studying it. I love reading it. I love thinking about the people in it and considering their situations. And I love trying to think how it applies to my situation. So many great truths in that book, so little time.
I was a little surprised over the summer when I asked my mom, if her family ever studied the scriptures when she was growing up? “No” she replied.
“Well, did you have family home evening?”
“No.”
“What about family prayer?”
“No.”
I asked my dad the same questions—and he said his family only had family prayer.
“Well, then why did you decide to have to family scripture study, family prayer and family home evening?” I asked.
My dad answered matter-of-factly, “It’s what the prophet asked us to do.” The way he answered the question makes me think that he and my mom didn’t view what the prophet asked them to do as optional.
I’m sure they had difficult times gathering us all together for those things—as it always seemed like someone, particularly my oldest sister, Tiffany, who was a brat growing up—didn’t want to come.
I also realized that that decision to read the scriptures together really helped me in school. I remember when I was first learning to read in the first grade, that Tiffany, my bratty older sister, would groan whenever it was my turn to read because she said, “I took too long”—and, well, Tiffany really didn’t want to be there. Anyhow, those embarrassing moments kindled something inside of me and I worked at being able to read well enough that I could read quickly enough to silence my sister. It was a great day when Tiffany complained I read too fast. I think studying the Book of Mormon prepared my mind to learn, and I honestly believe it helped me do better in school.
I’ve noticed that even now. In a gospel doctrine teachers meeting earlier this year, Chris Nelson, our Sunday School president, promised us that if we put studying the gospel first in our lives, the rest would fall into place. That’s when I decided I would take President Hinckley’s challenge.
And though it was difficult to complete the reading of the Book of Mormon with all the demands on me during last semester, I found that the rest of my life fell into place, and I ended up having the best semester I’ve had in college—despite having all the obstacles I had to having a successful semester. I know the Lord blessed me and increased my ability as I put the gospel first in my life.
One of the things I found is that it really blessed me in my calling as a teacher. Almost every time I prepared a lesson, I read something in the Book of Mormon that just applied perfectly to that lesson, and I was able to share that in my class. Nothing teaches the gospel like the Book of Mormon!
I remember the first time I was ever excited to read the Book of Mormon—the first morning in the MTC. It was such a great experience. I was ingesting the truth so anxiously—cross referencing, and just really enjoying the experience of reading the scriptures. I was to naïve to know it then, but what I was feeling was the Spirit.
A few days later, I became really acquainted with the Spirit when it burned within my heart the testimony that the Book of Mormon is true. That testimony has never left my heart, and the Spirit has etched it deeper into my heart over the years.
A few months into the mission, I began to really learn the Book of Mormon, for one purpose: to stump my companion, Elder Harding. This started one morning when he walked by when I was reading my scriptures, and I said, “Guess where I am?” And I started reading some verses—and he guessed it. “That’s amazing!” I said. So I closed the book and randomly reopened it and began reading. Again, he guessed it. Well, this started a game we played frequently the next few months. And I really began to try and find some verses that weren’t well-known just to stump him. I learned so much doing that. And occasionally I was able to stump Elder Harding. I have found to my disappointment, though, that I am easily stumped—so I still have a lot of learning to do!
I also remember the time at a Scout campout our leaders had us go through an “Iron Rod” experience. And, well, the rod ended, and there was a fire up ahead. But this took place at the time when I needed glasses but hadn’t had the courage yet to admit I needed glasses. So I squinted ahead, and looked at the people sitting around the fire, and, well, they didn’t look like anyone I knew. And the last thing you want to do when you’re of middle school age is to just wander into an embarrassing social situation. And I wasn’t about to walk into someone else’s camp and hope it was my own. So I turned around—and tried another way. That didn’t work. So I came back to the rod and waited for the next person who would come by. Unfortunately, it was my tormentor, my older brother, Joey, and I said, “Where are we supposed to go?”
He pointed at the fire, and said, “Right there, dufus.”
And then he had a good time once we arrived at the fire of pointing out that I had gotten lost “in the mists of darkness.” So I wasn’t spared the embarrassing social situation I had hoped to avoid. I think the times I learned the most have been in the hardest times of my life when I have immersed myself in the Book of Mormon to shine the Light of Christ. This has helped me find a way out of my most desperate situations, and it has helped me feel the love of Christ in my loneliest moments.
Like I said, the Book of Mormon has brought our family together. That bratty sister, Tiffany, is now one of the coolest people I know. I love it when she visits because I can spend hours and hours just talking to her. And my tormentor, Joey, has become one of my best friends. There’s no one I enjoy being around more than my brother. We have a great time, and he is really nice to me these days, doing anything he can to help me out. I credited the Book of Mormon for that because I think the Spirit we felt when reading it, kept our care for each other alive, even during the difficult days of sibling rivalry.
So I can look back at my short life and see just how much the Book of Mormon has meant to me. I love studying it. I love reading it. I love thinking about the people in it and considering their situations. And I love trying to think how it applies to my situation. So many great truths in that book, so little time.
Saturday, March 25, 2006
RELIGION: Sacrament Talk: August 15, 2004: The Keystone and The Capstone
I do not wish to sound disrespectful, but Fast Sunday is a terrible day of the month for me. Don’t misunderstand: I want to fast, and I believe in the fast. It’s just that I forget. I’ll be leaving Sacrament Meeting, heading down that hallway, where I encounter the drinking fountain and want to get a drink. Somehow, it always happens that the moment I push the button is the moment I remember it's Fast Sunday and have to step back. This wouldn't be so bad, but every 10 seconds, I seem to rediscover to drinking fountain, get up to it, remember it's Fast Sunday and then I "Step Away" from the fountain. I often wonder what people think when they see me doing the Texas two-step with the drinking fountain.
It all reminds me of this scripture in Amos 8:11-12: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord:
“And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of Lord, and shall not find it.”
This, of course, refers to the people who lived during the time of the Great Apostasy. When I read this scripture in Amos, I envision the hungry slamming the doors shut on empty food cupboards, and the thirsty finding only dry fountains. Can you imagine what it must have been like to live during that time—without the guidance of a prophet, without the shelter of The True Church of Jesus Christ, without the presence of the divine priesthood to bless our lives? Can you imagine seeking the word of God at a time when the only source was the Bible, which had been drained of many of its plain and precious truths, and during a time of prevalent illiteracy and when Bibles were few in number. Such was the situation for the honest seekers in truth for nearly 2,000 years.
Fortunately, in our day, we only imagine those circumstances; they are not our reality, for in our day God has granted unto us a marvelous restoration of his words, including the marvelous Book of Mormon—the centerpiece of the Restoration.
President James E. Faust said, “[The Book of Mormon] is the text for this dispensation. Nothing took priority over getting the Book of Mormon translated and published. Everything was held until that was accomplished. There were no Apostles until it came into being. Ten days after the book’s publication the Church was organized. Publication of the Book of Mormon preceded missionary work because Samuel Smith needed to have it in hand before he could go forward as the first missionary of the Church.”
That the Book of Mormon had to come forward before The Church of Jesus Christ could be restored makes sense; after all, it is, as Joseph Smith said, “the keystone of religion;” and, as we were so often taught in seminary, the keystone is the stone that holds the arch together; without it, the other stones tumble to the ground. And so it is with our religion—the keystone had to be in place. Before the Church could be built, the Book of Mormon had to be available to the children of God.
What is it about this Book that makes it so important? The best way to answer that is to look at the Book’s thesis statement, which tells us that the Book of Mormon is for “the convincing of Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God.”
And how has it done in living up to this promise? Very, very, very well. I count myself among the millions—and even tens of millions—whose life has been forever altered because of the teachings I have found in this book. I, like so many others in this room, gave two years of my life to tell the world that this book is from God—and we knew that if anyone read from the pages of the Book of Mormon, they, like we had, would draw closer to Christ. And if they prayed about its truthfulness, they would receive a confirmation that the book is true, and, hopefully, this confirming witness would lead them to be baptized and enter the Kingdom of Christ, which is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And I, like so many of you, am here today because I have a strong, burning testimony that the Book of Mormon is true.
Let me share with you how I gained this testimony. I was in my first week at the MTC. Now had I always believed in the Church and had lived up to its principles, and I was now fulfilling a desire of mine to serve a mission. But I realized that I was lacking that burning testimony that this work was true. So I prayed unto the Lord to give me a testimony of these things. It was a prayer I’d said many times before—but this time was different because I sincerely wanted to know. On that next morning, I received a witness that Christ was my Savior. That night, my roommate, Elder Nibarger, got a shipment from his brother … included in it was some information regarding the Book of Mormon, which Elder Nibarger handed to me to read. And as I read, my heart caught fire in an indescribable manner in a way that only the Spirit of God can cause a man’s heart to burn. As I read, I knew this was my confirmation; this book was God’s book!
Months later, my companion and I were teaching a man named Michael Cormason, who was reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. We asked him how it was going, and he said, “Well, I’m praying, but I haven’t received an answer yet, but I think it’s because I’m not being sincere enough. So I’m going to try to be more sincere in my prayers.” I knew right then that Mike would be baptized because I knew his sincerity would be rewarded, as mine had been, with a deep, burning testimony of the Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon. And, indeed, he did receive that witness; he was baptized, and one year later, he was sealed to his wife and daughter in the London Temple, where I had the privilege to be one of the witnesses to the sealing. Today, Mike remains a strong member and leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Not because of me or my companion—but because he sincerely sought a testimony, gained that testimony and followed the Good Shepherd. That his life was patterned after Christ because he read, pondered and prayed about the Book of Mormon is one of the many evidences I have had that this Book does convince mankind that Jesus is the Christ.
I can tell you the Book of Momon brings a man closer to his Atoner because I have experienced. I understand this because, quite honestly, my reading of the Book of Mormon is cyclical instead of constant, as it ought to be. And when I’m in a cycle where I have not been faithful in my reading, I will invariably come to a point, where I ask myself, “What is going wrong here?” It is then that I will realize how distanced I am from God because of my lax reading. It is then that I will realize how adversely the absence of the Book of Mormon has affected my life. It is then that I will repent and read with more intent. And then I am again moved closer to Christ, and then is my life more fully enriched and more fully blessed by the Light of Christ that shines forth from the Book of Mormon.
When I read the Book of Mormon daily, I have an increased desire to be faithful to my covenants, and I more frequently remember Christ, and I am more often cognizant of his suffers which he endured on my behalf. Resultantly, I have a sharply increased desire to walk His path so that I may honor, revere, respect and partake of the Great Atonement forever.
For when I read, I made completely aware that He is the Great Rescuer of my Soul; I am reminded that I have been purchased with a price, and I know that I have a need—a great need—to remember Him who paid that price for me.
The Book of Mormon is a Testament of Christ, and, like no
other book can, it drivers it readers to Christ. I know the Book of Mormon is of God because the Spirit of God stays with me more fully in the times that I am faithful in reading it than in the times when I am not. I know that this a causal, not a coincidental relationship, so I can say to myself and to you: Read the Book of Mormon and be committed to Christ; don’t read and be committed to something else.
Also, I know the Book of Mormon brings a man closer to Christ because of the teachings contained in that book. Of all the great Book of Mormon stories, there is one that I love most, and it is that of Alma the Younger. There is no chapter in the Book of Mormon that I hold closer to my heart than that of Alma 36, when Alma relates to his Son, Helaman, the story of how his life was redirected when he was visited by an angel. This story convinces me of that great need for the atonement in all of our lives, for it is in this story that Alma explains the torturings of his own soul when he thought it damned compared to the rejoicings he had when he was washed clean in the blood of the Lamb. Let me read you a portion of the story:
“And now, for three days and for three nights was I racked, even with the pains of a damned soul.
“And it came to pass that as I was thus racked with torment, while I was harrowed up by the memory of my many sins, behold, I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.
“Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death.
“And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.
“And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!
“Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy.” (Alma 36:16-21)
I like this scripture because I think Alma had a perfect understanding of what it was like to be condemned because of the shocking and forceful way that he was shown the error of his ways. But I love it more because it shows in a very real way how wonderful it is to have a Savior—who provided a way that we don’t have to suffer those awful torturings of a damned soul—and it shows how much joy we can have if we take advantage of the atonement by making and keeping covenants and enduring to the end. And this is certainly our goal—to be washed clean through Christ’s merciful Atonement.
That such a story is found in the Book of Mormon is not by accident. President Ezra Taft Benson taught that part of the way the Book of Mormon draws a man closer to Christ is that it testifies of the “necessity of for a Redeemer.” And, certainly, this book does just that.
***
But this is just one of the ways mentioned by President Benson in how the Book of Mormon draws one closer to Christ. The other ways include the following: the telling of the gospel of Christ in a plain manner, testifying of His divinity and our need to trust Him, bearing witness of the fall and the need for a broken heart and a contrite spirit. It also, said President Benson, counsels us how not to fall into Satan’s snares by exposing the enemies of Christ, confounding false doctrines and laying down contention. Or, as President Benson put it: “God, with his infinite foreknowledge, so molded the Book of Mormon that we might see the error and know how to combat false educational, political, religious, and philosophical concepts of our time.”
How blessed are we to have this book in our hands. The honest seekers of truth no longer have to run to and fro—they can quench their thirst for the knowledge of Christ—by reading this divine book. By feasting upon the words of Christ found in this book, can they be filled with the great light that shines from the gospel of Jesus Christ found herein.
***
And not only has God prepared this great feast for the honest seekers of truth, but he knew no good feast could be complete without a delicious dessert. And so he has given us another great blessing, the Doctrine & Covenants.
Said Ezra Taft Benson of this complement to the Book of Mormon: “The Book of Mormon brings men to Christ. The Doctrine and Covenants brings men to Christ’s kingdom, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth” (D&C 1:30). I know that.
The Book of Mormon is the “keystone” of our religion, and the Doctrine and Covenants is the capstone, with continuing latter-day revelation. The Lord has placed His stamp of approval on both the keystone and the capstone.”
I could spend hours telling you of my great love for the Doctrine & Covenants and how grateful I am for the plain and precious truths restored in this sacred volume, including the explanations on the Spirit World, temple work, the Three Degrees of Glory and the organization of the restored church. I have gained a better and greater love for God, as I have read this sacred volume!
***
But, wait! There’s more! Call now, and you can get the Pearl of Great Price included with the Doctrine & Covenants absolutely free! This short volume will teach you about the Spirit World and contains tales from each of the major dispensations up until our day, including Adam, Enoch, Noah, Moses, Abraham, Christ and the must-read story of Joseph Smith—not to mention the Articles of Faith. In addition, we also have great blessings to have available to us at this time the inspired Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible, the Bible Dictionary, and a Topical Guide that will help us learn about any subject. Perhaps, most importantly, we have a prophet of God, Gordon B. Hinckley, along with the Apostles, to guide us in these latter-days.
Truly, this great feast is a fitting way to end of famine that was on the land for nearly 2,000 years. With all these great gifts given to us in our day, is there any reason to be spiritually malnourished?! No. Come and feast upon the words of Christ, found in the Book of Mormon and these other sacred volumes. And as, you do, may I implore you, as Moroni did, to read, search, ponder and pray about the things that you read. As you do, I know you will receive, as I have, a strong confirmation, from the Spirit of God, that these things are true! Please do so. It will be to your everlasting benefit to partake of these mighty and great volumes of holy writ that we have in our day. How blessed are we to have these volumes in our midst—these volumes that point us to the greatest of all gifts—the Atonement of Jesus Christ, that will bestow upon us immortality, and, if we are faithful to our covenants, eternal life.
I testify that he is our Redeemer, our Savior and our Friend. He died so that we might live. How grateful I am that I need not be paralyzed by the foolishness of my sins. How grateful I am for the chance to repent and the chance to be forgiven, as Alma was, and experience the joys of eternal life! I know the Book of Mormon is true, as are the Doctrine & Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price. I know Joseph Smith was God’s prophet, and Gordon B. Hinckley is God’s prophet today. I know that this is Christ’s church, and I know it is He that stands at the head of it. Again, how eternally grateful am I for my Atoner. And this, I say, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
It all reminds me of this scripture in Amos 8:11-12: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord:
“And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of Lord, and shall not find it.”
This, of course, refers to the people who lived during the time of the Great Apostasy. When I read this scripture in Amos, I envision the hungry slamming the doors shut on empty food cupboards, and the thirsty finding only dry fountains. Can you imagine what it must have been like to live during that time—without the guidance of a prophet, without the shelter of The True Church of Jesus Christ, without the presence of the divine priesthood to bless our lives? Can you imagine seeking the word of God at a time when the only source was the Bible, which had been drained of many of its plain and precious truths, and during a time of prevalent illiteracy and when Bibles were few in number. Such was the situation for the honest seekers in truth for nearly 2,000 years.
Fortunately, in our day, we only imagine those circumstances; they are not our reality, for in our day God has granted unto us a marvelous restoration of his words, including the marvelous Book of Mormon—the centerpiece of the Restoration.
President James E. Faust said, “[The Book of Mormon] is the text for this dispensation. Nothing took priority over getting the Book of Mormon translated and published. Everything was held until that was accomplished. There were no Apostles until it came into being. Ten days after the book’s publication the Church was organized. Publication of the Book of Mormon preceded missionary work because Samuel Smith needed to have it in hand before he could go forward as the first missionary of the Church.”
That the Book of Mormon had to come forward before The Church of Jesus Christ could be restored makes sense; after all, it is, as Joseph Smith said, “the keystone of religion;” and, as we were so often taught in seminary, the keystone is the stone that holds the arch together; without it, the other stones tumble to the ground. And so it is with our religion—the keystone had to be in place. Before the Church could be built, the Book of Mormon had to be available to the children of God.
What is it about this Book that makes it so important? The best way to answer that is to look at the Book’s thesis statement, which tells us that the Book of Mormon is for “the convincing of Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God.”
And how has it done in living up to this promise? Very, very, very well. I count myself among the millions—and even tens of millions—whose life has been forever altered because of the teachings I have found in this book. I, like so many others in this room, gave two years of my life to tell the world that this book is from God—and we knew that if anyone read from the pages of the Book of Mormon, they, like we had, would draw closer to Christ. And if they prayed about its truthfulness, they would receive a confirmation that the book is true, and, hopefully, this confirming witness would lead them to be baptized and enter the Kingdom of Christ, which is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And I, like so many of you, am here today because I have a strong, burning testimony that the Book of Mormon is true.
Let me share with you how I gained this testimony. I was in my first week at the MTC. Now had I always believed in the Church and had lived up to its principles, and I was now fulfilling a desire of mine to serve a mission. But I realized that I was lacking that burning testimony that this work was true. So I prayed unto the Lord to give me a testimony of these things. It was a prayer I’d said many times before—but this time was different because I sincerely wanted to know. On that next morning, I received a witness that Christ was my Savior. That night, my roommate, Elder Nibarger, got a shipment from his brother … included in it was some information regarding the Book of Mormon, which Elder Nibarger handed to me to read. And as I read, my heart caught fire in an indescribable manner in a way that only the Spirit of God can cause a man’s heart to burn. As I read, I knew this was my confirmation; this book was God’s book!
Months later, my companion and I were teaching a man named Michael Cormason, who was reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. We asked him how it was going, and he said, “Well, I’m praying, but I haven’t received an answer yet, but I think it’s because I’m not being sincere enough. So I’m going to try to be more sincere in my prayers.” I knew right then that Mike would be baptized because I knew his sincerity would be rewarded, as mine had been, with a deep, burning testimony of the Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon. And, indeed, he did receive that witness; he was baptized, and one year later, he was sealed to his wife and daughter in the London Temple, where I had the privilege to be one of the witnesses to the sealing. Today, Mike remains a strong member and leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Not because of me or my companion—but because he sincerely sought a testimony, gained that testimony and followed the Good Shepherd. That his life was patterned after Christ because he read, pondered and prayed about the Book of Mormon is one of the many evidences I have had that this Book does convince mankind that Jesus is the Christ.
I can tell you the Book of Momon brings a man closer to his Atoner because I have experienced. I understand this because, quite honestly, my reading of the Book of Mormon is cyclical instead of constant, as it ought to be. And when I’m in a cycle where I have not been faithful in my reading, I will invariably come to a point, where I ask myself, “What is going wrong here?” It is then that I will realize how distanced I am from God because of my lax reading. It is then that I will realize how adversely the absence of the Book of Mormon has affected my life. It is then that I will repent and read with more intent. And then I am again moved closer to Christ, and then is my life more fully enriched and more fully blessed by the Light of Christ that shines forth from the Book of Mormon.
When I read the Book of Mormon daily, I have an increased desire to be faithful to my covenants, and I more frequently remember Christ, and I am more often cognizant of his suffers which he endured on my behalf. Resultantly, I have a sharply increased desire to walk His path so that I may honor, revere, respect and partake of the Great Atonement forever.
For when I read, I made completely aware that He is the Great Rescuer of my Soul; I am reminded that I have been purchased with a price, and I know that I have a need—a great need—to remember Him who paid that price for me.
The Book of Mormon is a Testament of Christ, and, like no
other book can, it drivers it readers to Christ. I know the Book of Mormon is of God because the Spirit of God stays with me more fully in the times that I am faithful in reading it than in the times when I am not. I know that this a causal, not a coincidental relationship, so I can say to myself and to you: Read the Book of Mormon and be committed to Christ; don’t read and be committed to something else.
Also, I know the Book of Mormon brings a man closer to Christ because of the teachings contained in that book. Of all the great Book of Mormon stories, there is one that I love most, and it is that of Alma the Younger. There is no chapter in the Book of Mormon that I hold closer to my heart than that of Alma 36, when Alma relates to his Son, Helaman, the story of how his life was redirected when he was visited by an angel. This story convinces me of that great need for the atonement in all of our lives, for it is in this story that Alma explains the torturings of his own soul when he thought it damned compared to the rejoicings he had when he was washed clean in the blood of the Lamb. Let me read you a portion of the story:
“And now, for three days and for three nights was I racked, even with the pains of a damned soul.
“And it came to pass that as I was thus racked with torment, while I was harrowed up by the memory of my many sins, behold, I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.
“Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death.
“And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.
“And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!
“Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy.” (Alma 36:16-21)
I like this scripture because I think Alma had a perfect understanding of what it was like to be condemned because of the shocking and forceful way that he was shown the error of his ways. But I love it more because it shows in a very real way how wonderful it is to have a Savior—who provided a way that we don’t have to suffer those awful torturings of a damned soul—and it shows how much joy we can have if we take advantage of the atonement by making and keeping covenants and enduring to the end. And this is certainly our goal—to be washed clean through Christ’s merciful Atonement.
That such a story is found in the Book of Mormon is not by accident. President Ezra Taft Benson taught that part of the way the Book of Mormon draws a man closer to Christ is that it testifies of the “necessity of for a Redeemer.” And, certainly, this book does just that.
***
But this is just one of the ways mentioned by President Benson in how the Book of Mormon draws one closer to Christ. The other ways include the following: the telling of the gospel of Christ in a plain manner, testifying of His divinity and our need to trust Him, bearing witness of the fall and the need for a broken heart and a contrite spirit. It also, said President Benson, counsels us how not to fall into Satan’s snares by exposing the enemies of Christ, confounding false doctrines and laying down contention. Or, as President Benson put it: “God, with his infinite foreknowledge, so molded the Book of Mormon that we might see the error and know how to combat false educational, political, religious, and philosophical concepts of our time.”
How blessed are we to have this book in our hands. The honest seekers of truth no longer have to run to and fro—they can quench their thirst for the knowledge of Christ—by reading this divine book. By feasting upon the words of Christ found in this book, can they be filled with the great light that shines from the gospel of Jesus Christ found herein.
***
And not only has God prepared this great feast for the honest seekers of truth, but he knew no good feast could be complete without a delicious dessert. And so he has given us another great blessing, the Doctrine & Covenants.
Said Ezra Taft Benson of this complement to the Book of Mormon: “The Book of Mormon brings men to Christ. The Doctrine and Covenants brings men to Christ’s kingdom, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth” (D&C 1:30). I know that.
The Book of Mormon is the “keystone” of our religion, and the Doctrine and Covenants is the capstone, with continuing latter-day revelation. The Lord has placed His stamp of approval on both the keystone and the capstone.”
I could spend hours telling you of my great love for the Doctrine & Covenants and how grateful I am for the plain and precious truths restored in this sacred volume, including the explanations on the Spirit World, temple work, the Three Degrees of Glory and the organization of the restored church. I have gained a better and greater love for God, as I have read this sacred volume!
***
But, wait! There’s more! Call now, and you can get the Pearl of Great Price included with the Doctrine & Covenants absolutely free! This short volume will teach you about the Spirit World and contains tales from each of the major dispensations up until our day, including Adam, Enoch, Noah, Moses, Abraham, Christ and the must-read story of Joseph Smith—not to mention the Articles of Faith. In addition, we also have great blessings to have available to us at this time the inspired Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible, the Bible Dictionary, and a Topical Guide that will help us learn about any subject. Perhaps, most importantly, we have a prophet of God, Gordon B. Hinckley, along with the Apostles, to guide us in these latter-days.
Truly, this great feast is a fitting way to end of famine that was on the land for nearly 2,000 years. With all these great gifts given to us in our day, is there any reason to be spiritually malnourished?! No. Come and feast upon the words of Christ, found in the Book of Mormon and these other sacred volumes. And as, you do, may I implore you, as Moroni did, to read, search, ponder and pray about the things that you read. As you do, I know you will receive, as I have, a strong confirmation, from the Spirit of God, that these things are true! Please do so. It will be to your everlasting benefit to partake of these mighty and great volumes of holy writ that we have in our day. How blessed are we to have these volumes in our midst—these volumes that point us to the greatest of all gifts—the Atonement of Jesus Christ, that will bestow upon us immortality, and, if we are faithful to our covenants, eternal life.
I testify that he is our Redeemer, our Savior and our Friend. He died so that we might live. How grateful I am that I need not be paralyzed by the foolishness of my sins. How grateful I am for the chance to repent and the chance to be forgiven, as Alma was, and experience the joys of eternal life! I know the Book of Mormon is true, as are the Doctrine & Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price. I know Joseph Smith was God’s prophet, and Gordon B. Hinckley is God’s prophet today. I know that this is Christ’s church, and I know it is He that stands at the head of it. Again, how eternally grateful am I for my Atoner. And this, I say, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Loyalty, happiness and love
Esau’s decision to sell his birthright for a bowl of soup goes down as one of the worst purchases in the history of mankind. Think of all that he gave up … for soup. I mean, at least, get a steak dinner, right? Even had he ordered steak and lobster, it still would have been the worst purchase in the history of mankind. But not only was his selling his birthright the worst purchase in history, it was one of history’s most selfish acts.
You see, Esau’s act didn’t just affect him. For the immediate filling of his stomach, Esau cheated his companion, his children and their children of the Great Abrahamic covenant. To satisfy an appetite, Esau gave away everything. Perhaps the strongest appetite we have, the one that needs to be reigned in and controlled before it controls—is the appetite of sexuality. Like Esau, one cannot violate the Law of Chastity and affect only himself. Like Esau, you may find that the selling of your virtue for immediate gratification is one of the worst purchases you ever made. “We better want the consequences of what we want!” said Elder Neal A. Maxwell.
The hallmark of a good marriage is selflessness. That starts long before the altar. That starts long before the first date with our chosen mate. President David O. McKay said: “Happiness does not begin at the altar; it begins during the period of youth and courtship. These seeds of happiness are sown by your ability to master your driving passion.” I have come to learn that the Law of Chastity is more protective than restrictive. It protects the Celestial relationship. The Law of Chastity requires us to show loyalty before marriage, and then our intimacy within marriage cultivates even deeper loyalty. A couple that adheres to the Law of Chastity will build their love first on friendship and respect; thus, they will be bonded first interpersonally—and then, when the time is right, they will bond sexually as well—and that bond will be deeper if both husband and wife have waited for each other. Too many marriages today fall apart because they only bonded through sex. The Law of Chastity also protects our hearts. When two people who are dating adhere to the Law of Chastity, should they break-up, the hurt will not be as sharp because they have not spent the deepest part of their souls on that relationship. Most of all, the Law of Chastity protects children. It protects them from coming into a family structure that is not as strong or as developed or, even in some cases, as complete as it should be. It protects them from being born to parents who are not yet ready for the responsibilities of parenting. Adherents to the Law of Chastity can also provide their children what they deserve and need most: Parents who love and are committed to each other; parents who love and are committed to the Lord, and parents who love and are committed to their family and parents who are sealed to their children through covenant.
Moreover, it’s not like we’ve been told to never have sex. We’ve just been told “not yet.” The day will come. Waiting, in the meantime, is a sacrifice that shows the love you already have for your eternal companion—to save that special part of yourself for your special someone. That, I believe, is one of the most beautiful expressions of love you can ever give to anyone. Sex, when properly practiced in the bounds the Lord has set, is one of the highest forms of love there is; sex outside of marriage is one of the lowest forms of selfishness. I think one of the best things you can ever do for yourself is make someone earn you. Don’t cheat yourself out of the Great Abrahamic Covenant; don’t cheat yourself out of temple marriage; or to paraphrase Camelot,“Don’t let your passion destroy your dreams.”
You see, Esau’s act didn’t just affect him. For the immediate filling of his stomach, Esau cheated his companion, his children and their children of the Great Abrahamic covenant. To satisfy an appetite, Esau gave away everything. Perhaps the strongest appetite we have, the one that needs to be reigned in and controlled before it controls—is the appetite of sexuality. Like Esau, one cannot violate the Law of Chastity and affect only himself. Like Esau, you may find that the selling of your virtue for immediate gratification is one of the worst purchases you ever made. “We better want the consequences of what we want!” said Elder Neal A. Maxwell.
The hallmark of a good marriage is selflessness. That starts long before the altar. That starts long before the first date with our chosen mate. President David O. McKay said: “Happiness does not begin at the altar; it begins during the period of youth and courtship. These seeds of happiness are sown by your ability to master your driving passion.” I have come to learn that the Law of Chastity is more protective than restrictive. It protects the Celestial relationship. The Law of Chastity requires us to show loyalty before marriage, and then our intimacy within marriage cultivates even deeper loyalty. A couple that adheres to the Law of Chastity will build their love first on friendship and respect; thus, they will be bonded first interpersonally—and then, when the time is right, they will bond sexually as well—and that bond will be deeper if both husband and wife have waited for each other. Too many marriages today fall apart because they only bonded through sex. The Law of Chastity also protects our hearts. When two people who are dating adhere to the Law of Chastity, should they break-up, the hurt will not be as sharp because they have not spent the deepest part of their souls on that relationship. Most of all, the Law of Chastity protects children. It protects them from coming into a family structure that is not as strong or as developed or, even in some cases, as complete as it should be. It protects them from being born to parents who are not yet ready for the responsibilities of parenting. Adherents to the Law of Chastity can also provide their children what they deserve and need most: Parents who love and are committed to each other; parents who love and are committed to the Lord, and parents who love and are committed to their family and parents who are sealed to their children through covenant.
Moreover, it’s not like we’ve been told to never have sex. We’ve just been told “not yet.” The day will come. Waiting, in the meantime, is a sacrifice that shows the love you already have for your eternal companion—to save that special part of yourself for your special someone. That, I believe, is one of the most beautiful expressions of love you can ever give to anyone. Sex, when properly practiced in the bounds the Lord has set, is one of the highest forms of love there is; sex outside of marriage is one of the lowest forms of selfishness. I think one of the best things you can ever do for yourself is make someone earn you. Don’t cheat yourself out of the Great Abrahamic Covenant; don’t cheat yourself out of temple marriage; or to paraphrase Camelot,“Don’t let your passion destroy your dreams.”
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