1. Definition: Communication: The effect or relationship one being has on or with another.
Kinds: Static: One thing contiguous with another. Dynamic: One thing affecting another.
Static communication is always reciprocal. Dynamic communication may or may not be reciprocal.
Intentional communication = agentive communication.
2. Definition: Human communication: One human being affecting the body of another human being.
Static human communication: One human body being contiguous to another. Dynamic human communication: Acting with one’s body to change the body of another human being.
Kinds of active human communication:
a. Visual affect
b. Auditory affect
c. Substance affect
1) Taste
2) Smell
3) Chemical
4) Solid object
5) Addition or deprivation of heat
d. Kinetic communication (hitting, pushing, etc.)
Prominent myth about communication: Human communication is the exchange of ideas.
3. Spiritual communication: One (at least partly spiritual) being affecting another (at least partly spiritual) being by non-physical means.
Principle kinds:
a. Good: Radiating the good spirit, thus influencing other beings to do godly (righteous) things.
b. Evil: Radiating the evil spirit, thus influencing other beings to do evil (selfish) things.
Postulate: Human beings are always spiritual beings and always under the influence of at least one other spirit, either the spirit of God or the spirit of Satan, or both, plus the possible spiritual influence of other persons.
4. Communication between human beings is always a combination of human communication and spiritual communication. (The effect of spiritual communication gives rise to the myth of transfer of ideas.)
5. Agent communication always has specific parts:
a1. Sender intention: what the sender desires to accomplish.
b1. Sender main idea: the mental image which prompts the sender’s action.
c1. Sender assertion: the physical action launched by the sender to affect the target of communication.
d1. Sender affect: the net result of what the sender accomplished in asserting.
a2. Receiver intention: what the receiver desires to achieve as a response to what the receiver believes the sender intends.
b2. Receiver main idea: what the receiver thinks as a result of what the receiver thinks the sender had as a main idea.
c2. Receiver assessment: the urgency or importance or strength which the receiver places on the communication from the sender in light of what he or she knows and imagines.
d2. Receiver affect: the specific response of the receiver to the sender’s communication.
6. Postulates of communication:
a. To exist is to communicate. Not to affect anything nor to be affected by anything is not to exist. All real beings communicate with something other than themselves. Reality is the sum of all communications.
b. How a being communicates defines its being, since anything exists only in communicating.
c. In a given situation, one being may not act, but only be acted upon by another. But to be a being, it must be potentially able to act. If it is never able to act for itself, it is not a separate being but only a part of the being which acts upon it.
d. The effects of communication upon agents are effects only of accident. Ordinary human communication never does or can change an agent’s essence. Only God can change a being’s essence.
e. An agent being has two potentials, one good, the other evil. The choices and actions (the communications) of the agent fix upon that agent one of the two potentials. Thus the agent partly creates himself or herself.
f. Salvation is communication from the Savior to an agent who has consistently chosen good over evil, inasmuch as he or she was able to do so, to make the person wholly good (holy).
g. Agentive communication, sending or receiving is always good or evil. (There are no value-neutral actions.)
h. Communication is always an entropic process. More is sent than is ever received.
7. Total communication: Two beings interact so completely that they become as one being.
Satan attempts total communication, but cannot succeed long run.
God never attempts total communication, but honors the agency of the other person.
Humans who follow Satan attempt to control, mold, shape other persons or things.
Humans who follow God always respect the individuality and agency of every person and thing with which they cooperate.
8. Ways to improve communication:
a. Communicate in more ways than before.
b. Communicate about more things.
c. Communicate in more and different environments.
d. Be redundant.
e. Communicate only good (unselfishness).
Exercises for communication:
1. Why is no human communication intelligible?
2. When is there too much communication? Give examples.
3. When is there too little communication? Give examples.
4. What is the connection between communication and reality?
5. What is the connection between communication and morality?
6. What is the connection between communication and epistemology?
7. What are examples of total communication?
8. How does one communicate love?
9. Devise a strategy for communicating to any other person your concept of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Implement your strategy. Test and evaluate your strategy. Learn something from the process.
a. Your strategy:
b. Your implementation:
c. Your test and evaluation:
d. What you learned about communication.
Posted in2026 Essay|Comments Off on Theory of Communication, 1991
The following principles are important in learning to interpret the scriptures of the Restored Gospel.
1. The fullness of the scriptures is the key to knowledge.
The scriptures do not bring knowledge of themselves, for they are only sets of inkblots on paper. But as those inkblots are examined prayerfully in the name of the Savior, that study becomes an occasion for revelation from the Father through the Holy Ghost. Those revelations are the word of God, which is His law. Willing, heartfelt obedience to that law is faith in Jesus Christ. As a person lives by that faith, a person gains knowledge of the being and ways of God. The fulness of the scriptures provides all a person needs to ponder to get enough revelation to begin the process of knowing God. Thus the fulness of the scriptures is the key to knowledge. (Luke 11:53, JST Version)
2. There is a parallelism between things physical and things spiritual. All things physical have a spiritual counterpart.
Whenever the scriptures tell a story or mention a physical object, whatever is being discussed physically has a spiritual counterpart which should be sought. For instance, the ark which Noah built to save the animals and righteous souls from the great flood is a representation of the new and everlasting covenant of God which will save every righteous soul from the flood of evil which is called in the scriptures “the world”. Every so-called temporal commandment has a spiritual counterpart and purpose. For instance, the word of wisdom as given in D&C 89 is a representation of the wisdom of God which will save every person spiritually, even as the temporal commandments help a person physically. (D&C 29)
3. It is the spiritual side of existence which governs and drives the physical side, not vice versa.
It is sometimes tempting to think that physical things govern themselves, that the physical universe is a great clock which just ticks on with all of its gears meshing. A fundamental contrary truth of the scriptures is that everything physical is governed by the spiritual order of existence. For instance, it is natural to assume when a storm comes that it is simply the natural play of atmospheric physics at work. While indeed there are aspects of atmospheric physics at work, all is governed and controlled by the hand of God. Thus there never was a storm which did not accomplish exactly that which God wanted it to perform and commanded it to perform. To please God, we must recognize His hand in all things. (D&C 59)
4. We should liken the scriptures unto ourselves.
The real fruit of all scripture is to help each individual to receive and to be faithful to the present revelations of God as they are received by that person at a given moment. The value of reading the scriptures is, then, to inquire of the Lord constantly as to how what we are reading applies to our present situation and predicaments. Knowing the scriptures does not of itself save us in any way. But making application of the scriptures to our daily lives in this manner is the very thing which will save us if we are faithful unto those revelations. (1 Nephi 19:43)
This principle is a species of a more general principle which would have us liken all things unto ourselves. Whenever we see anyone speaking or acting, we should ask ourselves what we would and should do as covenant servants of the Savior in that situation. Whenever we see a problem to be solved, we should ask how that problem could best be solved in the Savior’s way. Since the formation of a Christlike character is our most important and most precious accomplishment in this world, and since that character is formed basically by making correct decisions, likening all things to ourselves and making Christlike decisions in all things greatly increases the density of our character forming decisions in daily life. Thus likening all things to ourselves hastens the process of taking upon ourselves the divine nature and prepares us for making correct decisions when those decisions are our own stewardship reality.
The scriptures are especially helpful in the process of likening all things to ourselves because there we see in addition to the usual worldly mistakes of men the godly acts of good men. To be constantly in the presence of holy persons would be a great advantage in learning to make correct decisions in this life. While most of us may not actually live daily with a prophet of God, we can live in our imagination with the prophets of the scriptures and burn into our souls the values, beliefs and action patterns of those godly men.
Posted in2026 Essay|Comments Off on Principles of Interpreting Scripture, 1984
2. Science was born with philosophy as the child of epistemology and metaphysics, in the attempt to understand the truth about both the seen and the unseen aspects of the world; that as a basis for becoming wise (sophia).
3. Every science except early astronomy has emerged from philosophy as a separate discipline when its methods of inquiry and standards of expression have become relatively fixed.
4. Science is the art of producing descriptive assertions about the universe which meet current criteria and which are acceptable to one’s scientific peers.
These assertions function on four levels:
a. Fact: A theory-laden interpretation of a phenomenon. Example: This is the bone of an ox.
b. Law: A theory-laden generalization upon facts. Example: Ox bones have this characteristic structure.
c. Theory: A factitious image created to explain laws and facts. Example: Environmental stress selected this ox-bone structure for survival.
d. Principle: A basic postulate which guides theory construction. Example: Form follows function.
5. Current criteria of scientific factition: (Roughly in historical order)
a. Must be rational (self-consistent).
b. Must be consistent with a body of “public” phenomena (empiricism).
c. New factitions must be more general or more correct than those they replace.
d. Every factition must be monistic (naturalistic).
e. Every factition must assume uniformity.
6. Science should not be confused with technology. Technology is the art of achieving desired physical results.
7. Science is universally respected today (if not revered) because of the technological power which is associated with it.
8. It is an honor to be called a “scientist” (knower) today, and a put-down to be called a “technologist” (doer). That is because we live in a world with a decidedly Platonist bent.
9. Does (1) the power of technology come from science, or does (2) the power of science come from technology? The Platonist world we live in says (1) is true, but (2) is probably closer to the real truth.
10. Conclusions:
Science is a linguistic scaffolding which facilitates technology.
Science and technology yield a sophia of the flesh, the success of raw physical power.
There is a spiritual power, but it is seldom heard from because its use depends upon repentance. The use of science and technology depends upon physical resources only (until the Lord decides that enough wickedness is enough). The wicked turn to science to accomplish their goals; the righteous turn also to priesthood power to accomplish their goals.
If Latter-day Saints pursue only physical power and do not develop a spiritual power which is superior to the physical power of the science and technology of the day, they have abandoned the cause of Christ and will be destroyed both physically and spiritually.
Posted in2026 Essay|Comments Off on A View of Science
To make whole, holy. To be forgiven all the penalties justice would demand for each sin one has committed. Sin is breaking the law of God, which always brings harm to others. Sin creates a debt which must be repaid in full for the debtor to be forgiven for having sinned.
Terrestrial repayment is one for one: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. (See Exodus 21:23–25)
Celestial repayment is four-fold. (See D&C 98:44, Luke 19:8)
Sanctification from and by Jesus Christ is all or nothing.
To obtain sanctification, one must believe in Christ, be baptized by one having authority, be confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and actually receive the Holy Ghost. It is the actual and present companionship of the Holy Ghost that allows a person to being forgiven. (2 Nephi 31:17) If one has been forgiven, sanctified, and sins again, the debt for all the former sins returns. (D&C 82:7) To regain sanctification, a church member may do so by worthily partaking of the sacrament. It is most desirable to die the mortal death in a state of sanctification.
Justification
All mortals individually need to become justified because they fall short of perfect obedience to God, having become “carnal, sensual and devilish” through transgression (Moses 5:13; Mosiah 16:3) In this plight, they cannot be justified through subsequent obedience to the law and cannot change their own nature to become obedient. Furthermore, they are severed from the source of divine power that can change or sanctify them.
When humans who are accountable have faith in Jesus, are truly repentant, call upon His name, and are baptized, they become eligible for the redeeming grace extended through Jesus Christ. As they act always in faith in Jesus Christ, they are sanctified (forgiven of their sins) and justified, becoming keepers of the law of God. To endure to the end is to continue to make every act an act of faith in Christ, to rely “alone upon the merits of Christ” (1Nephi 10:6, Moroni 6:4). The faith by which one receives this grace manifests itself in an active determination to follow Christ in all things. It is demonstrated by obedience to the commandment to repent and be baptized, followed by a life of submission and obedience and service to God and others. (2 Nephi 31:16–20; Moroni 8:25–26).
Justification directly opens the way to sanctification by establishing a “right” relationship of mortals with God. Thus God, without denying justice, can bless them with the sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost (Mosiah 5:1–2; 3 Nephi 27:20). Justification starts the believer on the path toward righteousness. [CCR: This is the reverse of the reality, for it is sanctification which makes it possible to proceed with justification.]
Pseudo-justification: Declaring that a person is just, law-abiding, when they are not.
Real justification: Being strengthened and empowered until one does keep the law of God and have come unto the fullness of the stature of Christ. Through exercise of full faith in Christ, they have followed the Holy Spirit’s promptings until they have learned to keep every law and commandment of Christ, not matter what the cost. They have become a just person made perfect through faith in Christ, having come to rely alone on the merits of Christ. Only truly justified persons can be exalted. For exalted beings must live and work in a universe where sin is always possible and pressure to sin is always great. Before a person can be trusted with exaltation, they must prove, having been tested to the limit, that they will not break any law of God, that they will do the works of righteousness completely, even as Christ did and does. (D&C 76:50–70.)
Just as we justify a margin by getting all of the lines to measure up to a common length, so the character of a human being is justified by following the Holy Spirit until one comes unto Christ and becomes just like Him, keeping the commandments of the Father perfectly, completely, justly. Justification is a matter of degree. The more one can resist temptation to do evil (break the law of God) the more just one becomes. God will allow Satan to tempt his servants mightily, even to their limit, to cause them to be strengthened in resisting evil. As each is faithful, each disciple becomes stronger and stronger until finally there is nothing which Satan can throw at him which will get him to sin. Then he is justified: He has become a fully just person.
The process of justification is to treasure and master everything that is virtuous, lovely, of good report or praiseworthy, habit by habit, until one’s character comes to the measure of the stature of Christ, the great exemplar. If one does that, learning to love God and neighbor with all heart, might, mind and strength, and does not finish that growth in this life, then they will be able to continue that growth in the spirit world and eventually attain the fullness.
The scriptures provide a good summary: “That by reason of transgression cometh the fall, which fall bringeth death, and inasmuch as ye were born into the world by water, and blood, and the spirit, which I have made, and so became of dust a living soul, even so ye must be born again into the kingdom of heaven, of water, and of the Spirit, and be cleansed by blood, even the blood of mine Only Begotten; that ye might be sanctified from all sin, and enjoy the words of eternal life in this world, and eternal life in the world to come, even immortal glory; For by the water ye keep the commandment; by the Spirit ye are justified, and by the blood ye are sanctified;” (Moses 6:59–60)
Posted in2026 Essay|Comments Off on Notes on Sanctification and Justification
Adam and Eve could not have risen from the Fall without help. They needed and accepted the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which Father sent to them by angelic messengers. The Gospel is not a do-it-yourself formula; it enjoins a dependency called faith. That dependency is to put our whole trust in Jesus Christ, relying alone upon His merits. Only His merits could rescue Adam and Eve from the Fall. Only those merits can save us, their children, from the effects of the Fall.
The Savior has merits enough to answer every problem. The principal merits by which he helps us who are mortal and the resulting benefits are as follows:
Merit
Benefit
His omniscience
He teaches us to understand our God and that we are children of our God
His wisdom
He gives us direction that we might have faith unto repentance
His perfection
He suffered for our sins that we might have not need to do so
His immortality
He could and did die for us, not needing to for himself, that we might be resurrected
His omnipotence
He can create good out of evil that we might partake of heaven
Our Father sent our Savior into this world that He might use these merits in our behalf, to offer salvation to every human being.
If we are ignorant of the true nature of God and man, we cannot worship God correctly. To receive the teaching of that true understanding is the necessary foundation for all true perception of reality and for all wisdom. No man is saved faster than he gains the understanding that God is truly our kind and loving Father in whom we live, move and breathe, who invites us to hear His Son and through Him to rejoin them in the celestial kingdom. Our Savior, who is the Spirit of Truth, will teach us the truth of all things if we come unto Him in faith, ready to use that truth in the work of righteousness.
Our Savior is all wise because He is first and always a god of righteousness. In Him is no selfishness, no shadow of turning from that strait and narrow path which takes Him to fulfill His Father’s will. Having learned obedience as a Son, He is now in a position to succor us if we too are interested in pursuing that strait and narrow path to righteousness. As the sole source of righteousness to the inhabitants of this earth, He is generous in His offer to impart wisdom to any or all who ask in faith. Thus He will lead each person through the still, small voice of conscience, to do those things which will both lift up the lives of others and to ennoble the character of him who is obedient. That same faith will lead each person who hungers and thirsts after righteousness through the gate of baptism to the holy priesthood and to the fullness of all that the Father has.
These first two aspects of the Savior’s mission, the imparting of knowledge and wisdom (truth and light) to the inhabitants of the earth have been in place and a benefit to mankind since the fall of Adam. Not everyone who has lived on the earth has been a beneficiary of these merits, but everyone on the earth is descended from one who knew of these blessings. The fact that some parents who know of the Savior will not teach that light and truth to their children does not thwart the great plan of salvation, however, for each soul is guaranteed a full and personal understanding of basic gospel light and truth before he or she is judged. For some, that opportunity must come in the spirit world. But it will come.
The next two merits of the Savior, His moral perfection and His immortality, combine to make possible that single event which is the most important thing that has ever happened in the history of mankind: the atonement.
The first part of the atonement was the suffering. Every time a human being breaks a commandment of God, that sinning causes a certain amount of suffering on the part of all those who are around the person. This suffering might be caused knowingly or unknowingly, but the result is the same: the inflicting of hurt or the deprivation of rightful blessings. Our Father has so designed this world that each person would receive a fulness of blessing if every person would obey Him, the Father. When anyone disobeys the Father, that shortens the blessing of every person around him, thus cursing them. Now the Father does not look upon this cursing kindly; He desires rather that His children be blessed. So when anyone takes away the blessings of another, the Father has decreed that that person who curses his neighbor must stand for that deed and suffer exactly the same deprivation or hurt which he has caused his neighbor to suffer. Thus there is a time when each human being must stand before the Father to account for his stewardship; he who has used his stewardship to curse his neighbor must pay fully the amount of suffering which he has caused. In addition, and even worse, having cursed his neighbor, he can never again go back into the presence of the Father, for the Father cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance. Anyone who curses his children or others must be cast off forever. Thus, because all men sin, all men would be forever lost from the presence of the Father were it not for the atonement of Jesus Christ.
Our Savior came into mortality and kept every commandment of the Father, thus engendering a fullness of blessing with no admixture of cursing for every person whose life He affected (which was everyone). Thus our Savior had no sins to account for and could and did reenter the presence of our Father upon His death, not needing assistance from anyone. In the Father’s presence He pleads our case, asking the Father if we, too, might not reenter that grand and holy presence. That plea must of necessity be very inappropriate unless some very special conditions obtain for the individual whose case is being examined.
The first condition that must obtain for forgiveness is that the person must have stopped cursing anyone, anytime, anywhere, for any reason. This is to say that the person must have stopped sinning, any sinning, and must have replaced sinning with complete and heartful obedience to all that the Father commands. That repentance is only possible for one who has taken upon himself the fullness of the light and truth which the Savior has to give to men by accepting and living by the laws and ordinances of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Having replaced cursing with blessing, the person has a beginning of merit for his case, which merit obtains only because he has thus far trusted in the merits of Christ.
The second condition which must obtain is that the cursings which the person inflicted on others through his disobedience must have been matched by a full inflicting of that same exact pain and anguish upon the person of the inflictor. The justice of the Father must be fully satisfied. Because He was perfect, having kept the commandments of the Father perfectly, our Savior had nothing to suffer under the law of justice. Being perfect, He could then offer to suffer in behalf of someone else who was under penalty under the law of justice. Thus the Savior had offered to do for all mankind, and this the Savior did for all mankind, for each and every person, for each and every sin.
The suffering of our Savior needed to be done in the flesh, even as the sins for which he suffered had been committed in the flesh. In one twenty-four hour period at the close of His earthly ministry, the Savior took upon Himself the suffering for the sins of every human being who had ever lived or who every would live. Beginning in the Garden of Gethsemane and finishing on the cross of His crucifixion, our Savior bore the wrath of His Father in full measure, suffering in a manner and to a degree that we human beings can only begin to imagine.
Thus having paid the debt of sin for every human being, our Savior was then in a position to satisfy the second requirement for each person. Justice had been satisfied; the suffering had been done. The way back into the presence of the Father was nearly complete.
A third and final requisite was necessary, however. This was that anyone who had sinned and thus deprived his neighbor of blessing must restore that blessing to the person wronged, for only then would justice be complete. Then the person wronged would be as he would have been had the sin never been committed, had the commandment of the Father been kept in the first place. How could this be done? Not even God can reverse time and deeds. But there is a way, through the mercy and merits of Jesus Christ.
Being omnipotent, the fifth merit, our Savior has the power to reward every person with blessings so far in excess of that which we mortals can imagine that he cannot even tell us about it. He has promised that should we suffer any deprivation in this world because of the wickedness of those around us, He will restore that loss to us completely, and more, even an hundredfold. That restoration may or may not come in this world, because it depends upon timeliness and upon the worthiness of the person to receive it. But come it will, in the wisdom and goodness of an almighty God.
The three conditions for the forgiveness of sins then are that the sinner must now be completely obedient to the Father, his debt of suffering must be fully matched with a totally comparable suffering, and the person sinned against must be fully recompensed for any loss suffered in the sinning. Only through the merits of Jesus Christ may these conditions be met. Only in Him can we repent, never again to break the commandments of the Father. Only He could suffer for our sins, satisfying the justice of the Father yet enabling us to be acceptable again in the presence of the Father. Only He has the power to recompense the evil done in our sins. Thus the suffering of the Savior in the atonement is one key to all that we hold dear for eternity.
But the atonement was not complete in the suffering alone. Also necessary was the sacrifice.
As foretold in the myriad sacrifices of the old covenant, there must be a great and last sacrifice to bring about the purposes of our God. This could not be a sacrifice of man or of beast, for it must be an infinite and eternal sacrifice. Only a god could perform such a sacrifice; only a god could be such a sacrifice. So it was that our Savior was willing to be the sacrifice of the Father that would wrest from Satan the keys of death and make possible the resurrection of all mankind.
In submitting to Satan and partaking of the forbidden fruit, Adam had occasioned the delivery to Satan of the key of death, among other things. With that power Satan, as the destroyer, could kill (as he had permission from the Father) and then keep dead (separate from the tabernacle of flesh) both Adam and Eve and every one of their posterity. Thus it was that death came upon all men.
Our Savior, being the literal son of our Father in the flesh, inherited immortality. He never would have needed to die, not being subject to the fall of Adam in that respect. But our Savior was also the son of Mary, and from her He inherited blood, which gave Him the power to die if He so chose. Following the Father’s instruction, our Savior voluntarily gave up that potentially unending mortal life which He possessed together with all of the good things he could have done had he remained alive into eternity. Thus was His sacrifice infinite and eternal. Thus, not having to die, he seized the keys of death and made possible the unlocking of the door of death that all men might live again in the flesh. He, the first fruits of the resurrection, brings all mankind through that door with Himself, sharing all that He can with each of them.
Having lived a perfect life, having suffered the wrath of the Father, and having voluntarily died though an immortal being, our Savior completed the atonement, making it possible for each of us to be reconciled to the Father and again to enjoy His presence.
It remains now to mention the fifth merit of the Savior as it relates to the remainder of His mission. His omnipotence was needed to fulfill the conditions for the Atonement. That same omnipotence is needed by Him to create the heaven which is the reward of the faithful. It is obvious even to the casual observer on earth that the natural processes which nature and humans partake of will never afford the possibility of creating a true heaven on this earth. The inevitable deterioration of natural conditions and the increasing bestiality of so many human beings foretell a steady worsening of the human condition so long as the world shall stand. How can a heaven come out of all this?
The answer to this puzzle is again that it can happen only through the merits of Jesus Christ. Only He has the knowledge, the wisdom, the power and the authority to give every person a fair chance to repent, to separate the righteous from the wicked unerringly, and to renew the earth to a paradisaical glory that the earth might enjoy her sabbath of rest. Though the schemes and programs of men come to naught and the world ripens in iniquity, His purposes and powers fail not, because His merits are sufficient. Only one whose imagination allows him to believe that this world was the blind creation of chance could also be so unrealistic as to believe that the continuing course of natural events will produce any kind of a utopia for mankind. Only he who depends solely upon the merits of Jesus Christ will survive the cataclysm in which the “natural” order will eventuate to see that new heaven and new earth which the kind hand of an omnipotent Father will bring to reward His faithful children for their long-suffering and obedience.
And how did the Savior gain all of these merits, that He might so richly bless mankind? How did He come to be exalted, to become the only Begotten of the Father, the Savior of mankind? He did all of this by humbling Himself before the will of the Father, doing all things whatsoever He was instructed to do, in love for the Father and in long-suffering under the consequences of that obedience. The way up for Him was down.
How then do we partake of the merits of our Christ? In the same manner in which He partook of the merits of His Father, our Father. We partake of His omniscience by receiving His Holy Spirit, not being faithless, but rather, believing. We partake of His wisdom by obeying His instructions as we receive them in our own bosom, acting out in our own flesh the word of His law. We partake of His perfection by making covenant with Him in the waters of baptism, the water a symbol of His blood which was shed for us, of the suffering which pays our debt of sin. We partake of His immortality as His free gift; we need do nothing to be resurrected. Yet if we would obtain His kind of flesh in His kind of kingdom, we must learn to subdue this earthly flesh to the will of God as He did, learning all holiness and righteousness through the covenants of the holy priesthood, showing forth the fulfillment of those covenants in that same flesh. We partake of His omnipotence by showing mercy to others. Even as we would be recompensed for the evil we have suffered at the hands of wicked men, so must others be recompensed for our evil. We partake of the Savior’s omnipotent recompensation only as we demand nothing of others, in forgiveness, and cease completely from any wrongdoing. Thus, without faith it is impossible to please God, our Father. All who would come to Him must declare and show their faith in His Son, bringing forth fruits meet for celestial repentance, taking upon themselves the divine nature and character of Christ Himself.
Posted in2026 Essay|Comments Off on The Savior’s Mission
Right: The correct thing to do; that which maximizes the happiness of everyone affected.
Good: That which is desired; anticipated increase of happiness or pleasure for the chooser.
Right exists independent of being chosen. It exists as a possibility for action in every context, and is always context-specific (particular). Wrong exists in the same way, as a possibility for action in a specific context. It also always particular, but is manifold (there are always many wrong possibilities for action in any specific context).
Righteousness is real only when an agent chooses and does what is right. Evil exists only when an agent chooses and does what is wrong.
Good is a possibility considered for choice by an agent.
Best (or better) is what is actually chosen.
Bad is what is not even considered.
Good is always personal and specific to a given choosing situation.
Righteousness exists only when the right is best (the greatest good) in the eyes of an agent who then does what is right. (For righteous beings, their good is always and only what is right.)
Evil is the substitution of personal good (better or best) for what is right in any choosing situation.
Values are goods chosen by agents. But values are always universals. Goods are always particulars. Therefore values are fictional, non-existent entities. What is real is only choosing, the particular historic choice of an individual in a specific situation.
Choosings in real historic situations are always and inevitably spiritual options. One will either choose his own selfish good (aided and abetted by the evil spirit), or will choose as his good what is right (necessarily assisted by either the Light of Christ or by the Holy Ghost, for Jesus Christ is the sole fountain of righteousness).
What the world calls values turn out to be just the habits of choosing of an individual. Values are invented and used as a concept by the world to hide the reality of spiritual choice between good (right) and evil (selfish desire). The pretense is that one simply has values and chooses accordingly with no personal responsibility involved. Therefore, according to this thinking, the way to cure evil in the world is to program better values (the values of those in power) into people.
Thus language is used to mask reality (to lie) and to get people to believe in that which does not exist (values) so that they will both be manipulable (through propaganda) and non-culpable (ersatz sanity by denial of conscience, which witnesses of good and evil).
But real sanity comes only in choosing right (Christ) in every situation.
Posted in2026 Essay|Comments Off on Values and Sanity
1. Common observation in the Church shows that a very high percentage of inactive families in the Church are headed by men who have the following attributes:
a. Little understanding of the Gospel and the Church.
b. Inferior command of language skills.
c. Marginal vocational capability.
d. Ancestry having characteristics I—1, 2, 3.
e. Posterity having the characteristics I—1, 2, 3.
Conclusion: Inferior family traditions immobilize many members of the Church.
2. We might assume the following principles in connection with this subject:
a. Persons having characteristics I—1, 2, 3, do not make strong, dependable Latter-day Saints.
b. The role of those in authority in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is to stand as foster fathers in assisting every member of the Church to become a strong, dependable Latter-day Saint.
c. New programs may be initiated by the ward and stake authorities of the Church to accomplish I—1, 2, 3.
Conclusion: Church authorities should specifically prepare programs to assist persons with characteristics I—1, 2, 3.
3. Comments on the program of the Church to assist inactive families to understand the Gospel and the Church.
a. The ministering program is the principal link the church has with inactive families.
b. As a rule, ministering brothers concentrate on fellowshipping and on relating inactive families to the local ward.
c. Some ministering brothers do not themselves understand the Gospel very well.
Conclusion: Fellowshipping is a great good, but there is at present no effective general program for assisting inactive families to understand the Gospel and the Church. [The Church has now introduced the Come Follow Me program to meet this need.]
4. Comments on the problem of inferior language skills (Language skills: reading, writing, speaking, thinking).
a. Though some individuals in the church assist others in this problem, the Church has no program to upgrade skills for inactive families.
b. The public schools in general do a mediocre to poor job of upgrading the language skills of persons who come from homes with inferior traditions in this area.
c. Persons with inferior language skills tend to do poorly in school and are shunted into channels leading to minimum vocational ability.
d. Persons with inferior language skills tend to have difficulty relating to the Church which poses the constant threat of being called on to pray, speak, read, and teach.
e. Persons with inferior language skills tend to have difficulty in discovering the Gospel since that demands careful reading, listening and thinking on the part of every individual to piece it together.
Conclusion: Inferior language skills form a formidable barrier to spiritual advancement. Few surmount this barrier and there is no program in the Church or out which is noticeably remedying this problem.
5. Comments on the problem of marginal vocational capability.
a. Persons having marginal vocational capability are frequently economic liabilities to society.
b. Persons having marginal vocational capability do little to support freedom (Historically, people on welfare do not make good soldiers).
c. Persons having marginal vocational capability have great difficulty living the Gospel since they seldom have any surplus over their own needs with which to bless others.
d. Many institutions are available for upgrading vocational capability (Help from these institutions usually depends on language skills, however).
e. Public schools do vocational counseling but not with a Gospel perspective.
Conclusion: Vocational counseling from a Gospel perspective is a great service to young people. This counseling could be given on a regular basis by wards and stakes and could provide a most important means of strengthening these young people spiritually.
Posted in2026 Essay|Comments Off on Vocational Counseling in the Church
a. Spiritually discern your objective for the meeting.
b. List each item necessary to attain the objective, e.g.:
· Place, time, notification of participants, physical facilities
· Materials, handouts or other preparation
· Appropriateness of each item, or permission as needed
c. See that each necessary item is in preparation (do or delegate).
d. Prepare conducting notes for the meeting, observing the following:
· Give the correct name of each participant
· Acknowledge music and musicians who assist
· Write out each thing you intend to say along with all the events to transpire (formal meeting); or Write down each item or idea you need to cover (informal meeting)
· Prepare a time allotment for each aspect of the meeting
· Prepare a backup procedure for each part of the meeting in case of failure or other emergency
2. Immediately prior to the meeting
a. Pray or have a prayer meeting.
b. Double check on all persons and items necessary to the meeting.
c. Be at the meeting site 5 to 10 minutes before the meeting is scheduled to begin.
Conducting the meeting:
1. Begin on time, and begin by announcing who is presiding (if other than the person conducting) and who is conducting (if not known to the participants).
2. Speak directly, personally, and warmly to the participants. Do not multiply words or say things you do not mean.
3. Keep the meeting objective fully in mind. Do not allow the prepared format for the meeting to be changed unless a clearly superior alternative arises.
4. Keep a sense of humor, but keep any humor light.
5. Be positive in what you say.
6. Express gratitude to all participants in a way that is genuine.
7. End on time.
After the meeting:
1. Review the successes and failures (if any) of the meeting. Pay special attention as to whether or not the objective for the meeting was attained.
2. Make notes on how you could be more successful and effective in conducting this kind of meeting another time.
3. Follow up on any items of business that arose in the meeting.
4. Give special private thanks to any persons who especially contributed to the success of the meeting.
5. Develop a standard checklist and agenda for any meeting which is held on a regular basis.
Remember:
1. Time in meetings is precious because people are precious.
2. Bumbling is unacceptable and is never funny. We should strive for excellence in all that we do.
3. Don’t hold meetings for meetings’ sake. Get the job done, whatever the assignment is.
Posted in2026 Essay|Comments Off on How to Conduct a Meeting, 1979
A patriarch is a faithful servant of Jesus Christ, bearer of the Melchizedek Priesthood, who is yoked with a faithful spouse in the temple covenants of eternal marriage.
The primary goal of the patriarch is to endure to the end, which is life eternal.
The companion goal of the patriarch is then to so lead and inspire his wife and posterity that they also come to know the Savior.
The process of enduring to the end is mainly an educational process. One must be taught by others what to believe and what to do (we can be saved no faster than we gain the truth we need). And we must then learn to believe and to do all that we are taught. A righteous person is a disciple (learner) of Christ.
The educational role of the patriarch is to be sure that his wife and children are fully instructed in all they need to know to be faithful to Christ, to overcome the world, and to subdue the earth.
If the patriarch has fully learned all he needs to believe to be faithful to Christ, to overcome the world and to subdue the earth, and if he has learned to do and is doing all he should do, then he can fulfill his role, which has three principal parts:
1. To love purely, so that each person in his stewardship is enveloped in a spiritually oriented atmosphere of Christ-like love. Giving this emotional sustenance is by all odds the most important thing a patriarch ever does.
2. To instruct by example and precept in all that those in his stewardship need to know to do, in both spiritual and temporal matters.
3. To provide such spiritual, physical, social, economic protection and support as is necessary and appropriate.
Those persons thus blessed by a patriarch father have the maximum earthly opportunity to exercise agency to learn what to do, to become what they will. For it is only this patriarchal order which provides full agency to any person on this earth.
The Educational Ideal for Zion
Assuming that fully developed patriarchs exist in the Church, what kind of education will they foster for those in their stewardship? Six kinds of education are proposed as categories to answer that question as follows:
1. Family Education. The patriarch and his wife assume direct personal responsibility for instructing each of their children in each of the following areas:
a. Personal disciple
1) emotional steadiness
2) intellectual honesty and acuity
3) physical orderliness
4) unselfishness
b. Language Skills
c. Spiritual matters
1) the gospel
2) how to receive and live by the gifts of the Spirit
3) the scriptures
4) the order of the Church
5) the order of the priesthood
d. Work—learning to do and to love it
e. Ability to cooperate
f. Hygiene
1) cleanliness
2) body functions
3) nutrition
4) exercise
5) healing
g. Sex Education
h. Horticulture
i. Family preparedness
j. Citizenship—opportunities and responsibilities
k. Service—rendered as appropriate
l. Skills, basic
1) care of tools
2) safety
3) food preparation
4) household management
5) care of machinery
6) teaching
m. Social graces
Parental influence in basic education has often done all it will do by the sixteenth year of each child’s life.
2. Basic Formal Education. The patriarch and his wife assume guidance and quality control in the educational opportunities which their children have in schooling outside of the family to learn:
a. Literary skills
b. Mathematical ability
c. Sciences
d. Countries and peoples
e. Physical education
f. Arts and crafts
Basic formal education is roughly what is received in the United States in K-12 education.
Parents should use whatever opportunities for this basic formal education which are available in their local area which do not put their children into a deadly emotional, spiritual, physical, or social environment.
3. Vocational Education. The patriarch and his wife assume the responsibility for instructing or arranging for instruction for each child in one or more manual skills by which that child could later support a family, such as:
a. Secretarial skills
b. Auto mechanics
c. Farming/ranching
d. Clothing construction
e. Building trades
Ideally this education would be substantially complete by the end of the teenage years.
4. General Education. The patriarch and his wife assume the responsibility for instructing or seeing that each child is instructed in the basic intellectual matters which a person needs to have to cope with the world. Areas which especially need to be pursued are:
a. History
b. Politics
c. Economics
d. Philosophy
e. Literature
This general education is intended to give a person the strength to be alive to the educational, political, and economic forces of the world and to be able to influence those forces for good, that the world might be a better place in which to live and to love purely.
This general education is roughly the equivalent to two years of college work, though many do not have it even after two years of college.
5. Missionary Service. It is contemplated that every young person in the Church would be fully prepared to go on a mission at age 19 having received a full-fledged family, basic, vocational, and general education, then capping those with a thorough understanding and ability to use honorable proselyting techniques.
Upon returning from missionary service, every young person would be ready to marry, and to enter full-time work or to enter professional school.
6. Professional Education. The patriarch and his wife should advise, encourage, and assist as is appropriate in the professional education of their children when and where such is desired by and feasible for the individual. Professional education is viewed as the last two years of college and whatever graduate training is appropriate, or entry into the job market to learn the many occupations which do not depend upon formal educational certification.
Posted in2026 Essay|Comments Off on Educational Ideals for Latter-day Saints, 1978
Thesis: The first principles and ordinances of the Restored Gospel form a tight unity which is a beauty to behold.
Latter-day Saints are familiar with the first principles and ordinances but are not always aware of the tight interconnections among them. To show those interconnections, each will be defined, then a discussion of each will follow. The definitions:
1. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ: Belief and trust in Jesus Christ unto willing and grateful obedience to the commandments He gives us.
2. Repentance: Replacing all acts of non-faith in Jesus Christ with acts of faith in Jesus Christ.
3. Baptism: Promising by covenant to gain and live full faith in Jesus Christ.
4. Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost: Being given the power to gain full faith in Jesus Christ by the Holy Ghost.
5. Enduring to the end: Actually attaining full faith in Jesus Christ, culminating in charity and loving God with all of our heart, might, mind and strength.
1. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ: Belief and trust in Jesus Christ unto willing and grateful obedience to the commandments He gives us.
Everyone in this world lives by faith in someone or something. That is because no human has enough sure knowledge to live by anything but faith. So the question then becomes, in what or whom should an intelligent person have faith? The world is full of candidates for this special allegiance, and many use the name of Christ. But it is not just the name of Christ in which we must have faith, but rather in Him. We make that faith real not just by believing but by keeping His commandments.
Our obedience to Christ must be willingly given. The purpose of our choosing is to form and build our character. Only by exercising our character in choice and action can we build that character.
Mere obedience is not enough. The devils obey Christ, but not willingly. We distinguish ourselves from the devils by giving our obedience willingly, even gratefully. We are grateful for the opportunity to do a real good for someone else made possible by our faith in Jesus Christ.
There are three sources of His commandments for those of us who are Latter-day Saints. The first is the scriptures, the four standard works. It is our opportunity to study them intently to discern what our Savior would have us do, then do those things. The second is the instructions given to us by those who preside over us in the priesthood authority of the Church: The First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve, our stake president, and our bishop. To pay special attention to their advice and counsel in general conference, stake conference, ward conference, and ward meetings is our second opportunity to show faith in Jesus Christ. The third opportunity is to hearken to the promptings of the Holy Spirit which we personally receive. When we have a particular problem to solve as to what to do, we may draw upon those three resources to know what our Savior would have us do. If we are diligent in seeking out the counsel from all three sources, we are very likely to know what our Savior would have us do, and thus be able to exercise faith in Him.
If in trying to be faithful we have used those three sources and are still in doubt as to what to do, and if further prayer and fasting do not help us to receive the answer we need, we must then act on our own, but carefully within the limits and boundaries given to us in our previous revelations as to the mind and will of the Lord from those three sources. For instance, if we think possibly, we must lie or steal to solve some problem, we know those things are clearly outside the boundaries of the counsel we have received, and thus should not be given a second thought. If we remember that all we do should be for the intent to bring glory to the name of Jesus Christ, just that will be a great help to us in making our decisions.
When the humble seeker after good is told of Jesus Christ and what He has done for them, the Holy Spirit bears witness that the message is true. Having previously received and honored the Light of Christ in choosing between good and evil, the seeker after the good recognizes the Holy Ghost as being also good, like the Light of Christ. Thus knowing that the spirit which brings that witness is a good spirit, such a one will accept the witness. Accepting that witness, one may then begin to put one’s trust in Christ by beginning to obey His commandments. The first commandment of the Savior to anyone is to repent.
2. Repentance: Replacing all acts of non-faith in Jesus Christ with acts of faith in Jesus Christ.
Repentance is the opportunity for each person to take charge of his or her life by becoming conscious of the reason for acting in each decision made. With each choice we can and should ask: Is this what my Savior, Jesus Christ, would have me do? As we begin to replace acts we know are not in accordance with His will with those that are clearly in obedience to Him, we have begun the process of truly repenting of our sins.
It is important to remember that there are counterfeit varieties of repentance. Perdition repentance is to recognize that an act is evil, in opposition to the instructions of Christ, and to do it anyway. Any covenant servant of Jesus Christ who continues in that path will wind up in perdition. When one is conscious of having done an act in opposition to the instructions of Christ and simply says “I’m sorry” without changing the action in the future, we have the telestial version of repentance. If the person continues in that path, they will wind up in the telestial kingdom eventually. If the person recognizes that he is doing wrong, makes a change he thinks is better, and is willing to make restitution for the wrong done, the person is among the honorable men and women of the earth and if he or she continues in that path only, will inherit the terrestrial kingdom. Only if the person consciously puts his or her trust in Jesus Christ and valiantly manages to obey His instructions and commandments does the person begin to qualify for a celestial reward. But most of us find ourselves working up through that progression. Hopefully we will all get to full and real repentance.
One of the first fruits of repentance is acceptance of baptism.
3. Baptism: Promising by covenant to gain and live full faith in Jesus Christ.
As we allow ourselves to be immersed in the waters of baptism by one having true priesthood authority, we are making three promises to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost: 1) That we are willing to take the name of Jesus Christ upon ourselves. 2) That we will keep all of the commandments He gives us. 3) That we will always remember Him.
We begin the process of taking the name of Christ upon us in baptism itself, whereby we are known disciples of Christ, those who are learning His ways and trying to be like Him. With every deed of faith we continue to witness for Jesus being the Christ. As we take upon ourselves the priesthood of God and administer blessings to others in our callings and opportunities, we further receive His name and glorify it. In receiving our temple endowments we receive more of the name of Christ upon us. And when we are sealed as couples in the temple in holy matrimony, we receive the final installment of His name. As our life of faithful service then unfolds, our faithful acts bring continuing glory to the name of Jesus Christ as others see our good works and glorify God.
By promising to keep all of the commandments our Savior gives us, we dedicate our lives to the service of our fellow beings in His behalf. Our labor will then be a ministry of bringing hope to the forlorn, succor to the needy, instruction to the ignorant, kindness to those ill-used by others, and above all reassurance that there is a God who cares deeply about each one of them. Our life dedication is then to tread the pathway of turning evil situations (things not as good as they could and should be) into good situations (things that are as good as they should and could be). To comfort a mourner, to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to give employment to the unemployed: these sorts of challenges will become our daily path and accomplishments.
By remembering Him always, we dedicate ourselves to the path of faith and repentance, always seeking His will and the carrying our of His will in every act. By this constant remembrance we neutralize the temptations of the adversary who tries to get us to forget who we are and what we are supposed to be doing. By striving consciously always to remember Him, we prevent ourselves from being diverted into the meaningless and subversive pastimes of our culture. Every hour of every day becomes a challenge to be humbly met and gratefully overcome as we press steadily along the path of faith in Jesus Christ.
Baptism by water is but half a baptism, and must be followed by the baptism of the spirit through the laying on of hands.
4. Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost: Being given the power to gain full faith in Jesus Christ.
The gift of the Holy Ghost is the right to the constant companionship of that special being. Everyone who is confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has this gift. But not everyone has the constant companionship of that being. That right to have the companionship is but an option, and we can exercise that option by praying intently for the actual companionship of the Holy Spirit and by carefully treasuring and obeying any whispering we receive from that holy companion. The more humble and obedient we are, the more we will enjoy specific promptings from that companion. The more proud and rebellious we are, the less we will feel His presence and help. We get to try it both ways to see which way pleases us more. For, having come this far, we are agents unto ourselves, and will enjoy whatever measure of faith in Jesus Christ or faith in anything or anyone else that our heart desires.
As we begin to enjoy that constant companionship, we also become aware that the power of the evil spirit to tempt and try us begins to increase. The more mighty we become in the Holy Spirit, the greater will be our temptations from the evil spirit. And this is by design. For our Father knows that we must remain free to grow into the stature of Jesus Christ. Only in strength of freedom can we come to be what Jesus is and do what He does, which is our goal. It is as if we are standing on the middle of a teeter-totter. On one end is the Holy Ghost, and on the other end is Satan. As long as the weight of the two is equally balanced, we in the middle are free to control the teeter-totter. So as the power of the Holy Ghost grows in our life, so does the power of Satan grow to tempt us even more strongly. Thus the greatest saint has the capability of becoming the greatest sinner. But the opposite is not true. If we yield to Satan and do his will (which is the temptation to do our own will instead of the will of the Savior), the power of the Holy Ghost subsides. The more we pursue selfishness over faithful obedience to Christ, the less of the companionship of the Holy Ghost we enjoy, until at last we are left in the arms of Satan to be just as fully selfish as we care to be.
The constant struggle of a Latter-day Saint is thus discernment. We must discern and distinguish the promptings of the Holy Ghost from the temptations of Satan with sure clarity and understanding. To mistake the one for the other could mean physical or spiritual death in extreme cases. The beauty of the situation is that we get a lot of practice in instances where it is not a matter of life or death, and by careful attention we can learn to discern clearly and correctly between what the Lord desires us to do and what our own carnal or worldly desires might be. It is good to know that Satan cannot tempt us with everything. He can only tempt us with our own desires. As our hearts become purer and purer through careful discipleship and obedience to Christ, the less power Satan has to tempt us. Our goal is to become impervious to temptation to evil, even as our Master was during His earthly ministry.
If we master the temptation to do evil in this world, we will have no need to continue the struggle after we leave this mortal probation. We will have established our character, which is our armor, and never again will we struggle with temptation to think, feel, desire, or do evil to all eternity. Our sure course will be only to bless others, even as Father, the Sons, and the Holy Ghost.
Baptism of the spirit is the beginning, but the goal is to endure to the end.
5. Enduring to the end: Actually attaining full faith in Jesus Christ, culminating in charity and loving God with all of our heart, might, mind and strength, even as Christ does.
Enduring to the end is to complete what we set out to do in baptism, to gain full faith in Jesus Christ. When we have full faith we will rely alone upon the merits of Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit will show us all things that we should do. And we will do them.
Our goal of attaining full faith in Jesus Christ is to attain a perfectness of the pure love of God, which is charity, through the hope and faith which our assiduous keeping of the commandments has made possible. Having that charity, we then are reliable saints on whom the Lord can place any assignment or burden, and He will know that we will fulfill all that He desires of us. For charity never faileth, and those who have it are not thwarted. The full power of God is with them in what they do, and nothing on earth or in hell can withstand them. The gates of hell are no obstacle to them as they invade it to rescue souls, even as they overcome all obstacles on earth to establish Zion and to welcome the Lord into His pavilion to dwell with and bless His saints.
To say that we have charity is to say that we have learned to keep the first and great commandment: we love God with all of our heart, might, mind and strength. We are wholly dedicated and fully consecrated to His work, and His work succeeds in spite of all that hell can do to break loose and try to hinder the work. The powers of hell become the tempering factor which prove and verify that the faith of the saints is whole and holy, complete and full. Then His saints enter into His rest, which is the glory of the presence of God. They are just men and women made perfect in the cause of Christ and receive the eternal reward of following in the footsteps of Christ to bless other souls unto all eternity.
Conclusion: The first principles and ordinances of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ are indeed a unified package which can and will lead all mankind unto all things pertaining to life and salvation.
Posted in2026 Essay|Comments Off on The First Principles Revisited, 2009
