Avoid Metaphysics at Your Peril!

Posted on February 7, 2026 by Monte Shelley

Monthly Message, August 2021

Metaphysics is ideas about the unseen universe in which we live. It is the complement of the seen universe in which we live, which we will call “physics.” We cannot see all of physics, but we sample enough of it by our senses to firm up good ideas as to what it is, even the parts we cannot now see, such as the parts of this earth we cannot now see. Metaphysics is much more vast and complicated than physics is, for it includes all of the past, all of the future, all of the things so small we cannot sense them, and all of the things so large we cannot sense them. Metaphysics includes the causation of most of the things we observe in physics and any realms that exist that we cannot observe.

So there are at least seven big questions to be resolved about the metaphysical realm:

  1. Is there a God?
  2. Is there a devil?
  3. Do we humans live after death?
  4. Is there right and wrong?
  5. What causes what?
  6. Is there a spiritual realm related to this physical realm?
  7. What is the true character of the persons whose bodies we see?

It is probable that each human being answers these questions and the ideas related to each of them in at least a slightly different way, but that too is a metaphysical question. If we are thus different in our thinking, then each of us lives in a private universe. And one of the great metaphysical questions is: Is my private metaphysical universe real or just imaginary? One reasonable answer to that question is that I alone exist, and everything else is just my imagination. This answer is called “solipsism.” There is no mortal way to show that solipsism is not true.

One positive side of the unseen existence of the metaphysical realm is that our situation, with metaphysics being discussable but unknowable between human beings, is that the situation provides us with a most precious gift: agency. Because we cannot prove to anyone else that our formulation of the metaphysical universe is true or correct, each of us is free to answer all metaphysical questions for ourselves. We may bear testimony of what we believe to others, but since we cannot prove what we believe about metaphysics, we cannot coerce any other person to believe as we do. This does not mean we cannot influence them. Parents, teachers, friends and so-called authorities are often very persuasive in getting other people to accept their metaphysical views. But it remains that no one can force another person to any metaphysical belief against their will.

Conclusion: It is my belief that we have a Heavenly Father and a Savior who love us so much that they created a mortal existence for us wherein we could imagine for ourselves whatever kind of universe we wanted to live in. They also created a real physical world that we must deal with. We find we succeed better at our tasks in the physical realm when we agree and cooperate. But each person is forced to imagine his or her own metaphysics, which personal metaphysics gives answers to all the great questions of life and provides the basis on which the individual lives the life of their own choosing. Thus are we free indeed. Our freedom is not unlimited, but it is sufficient for each of us to show what we really want to be true. I believe that the love of God thus assures each human being a mortal experience that is a perfect prelude to an eternity of living with the answers to the questions of metaphysics which we choose during mortality.

Chauncey C. Riddle

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The Role and Rule of Universals (Concepts) in our Lives

Posted on February 7, 2026 by Monte Shelley

Monthly Message, July 2021

In our thinking we use universals as a catalog of all the kinds of things we imagine. Some of the universals we imagine we call “real,” such as cat, dog, sand, gravel, small-pox, impetigo, foreigner, native, etc. Some universals are imaginary only, such as leprechaun, unicorn, the average man. Some we don’t know if they are real or not, such as “Bigfoot.” Some are used to measure things, such as pound and inch. Some are vague, like hot; some are precise like 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Some are personal, like boring and beautiful. Some are unique to ourselves, like our self-image.

Concepts are dynamic because we can change them at will, change how we feel about them, discard them if we feel like it, or invent them as we see fit.

We refer to our concepts using words. Every word that has a “meaning” to us does so because we associate it with a concept or a family of related concepts. But we can also have and use concepts without associating them with words, such as we do when we imagine a familiar landscape or build an imaginary object in our mind. We can assign words to concepts or not by our own desire to do so or not.

Some people have very large concept catalogs, others have very small ones. The size of our concept base is usually related to our vocabulary of words. One form of “intelligence” test is simply to give a person a vocabulary test, and suppose that the more words they are familiar with, the more intelligent they are. But vocabulary is a test for only one kind of intelligence. For instance, some people can take anything apart and put it back together again even though they may not have a very large vocabulary. But they do have the ability to form an accurate concept of what they are taking apart and to refer to that concept to reassemble the object.

We have the ability to refine and change our concepts. This is what doctors do when they study the anatomy and physiology of the human body. Connoisseurs of tastes have developed concepts of taste and smell that enable them to detect odors and tastes more precisely than ordinary persons.

Some people like to read a lot simply because in the process they gain new concepts. Others accomplish the same end by listening to music or watching plays or movies.

Probably no two people have the same concept base, and thus we all are isolated by our own thinking. Sometimes two people use a common word but have two different concepts related to that word, and thus communicate poorly, if at all. We try to solve that problem by “defining” our concepts to one another, and can “explain” what we mean by a variety of means.

It is a miracle that we communicate as well as we do.

But there is divine help for communication. The mission of the Holy Ghost is to bring us the meaning God intends us to have in reading a particular passage of scripture at a particular time. Of course it is impossible to say that any scripture has only one precise meaning, for God uses reading or remembering scripture as an occasion for revelation of a particular message God wants us to receive from him at a particular time. God builds and changes our concept base by directly planting the concepts he wants us to have directly in our minds. Every human being who has normal intelligence and is thus accountable sooner or later has communicated to him or her the concepts God wants them to have to be able to repent and have faith in Jesus Christ. This receiving of concepts directly from God is the true freedom and the true agency of each human being. Because God loves each of his children with a pure love, he makes sure that each one of them is given the correct concept base to be able to come to him and be saved. And each child of God uses that divinely given concept base to accept or reject their Father in Heaven and their Savior Jesus Christ. Through concepts God makes us all agents.

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What is the most important event recorded in the Book of Mormon?

Posted on February 7, 2026 by Monte Shelley

Monthly Message, June 2023

This one is really a no-brainer. It is, of course, the visit of Jesus Christ to the Nephites in the land Bountiful during the year after his resurrection. His teachings there were similar to his messages to the people of Judea during his mortal ministry. But there are certain important changes in the record of those teachings as compared with the record of the same Sermon on the Mount as recorded in the Bible. For example, the New Testament says: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” the Book of Mormon account says: “Blessed are the poor in spirit who come unto me, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The Bible account seems to laud being poor in spirit, and there are many guesses as to what that meant. But the Book of Mormon account is clear as to what is meant by being poor in spirit. It means not to have the Holy Spirit with one. But if one who does not have the Holy Spirit with them will come unto Christ through the ordinance path of faith, repentance, baptism and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, that person will become rich in the Holy Spirit, which will make it possible for them to inherit the Celestial Kingdom, heaven.

And the Savior gave the Nephites important prophecies about the future of their own nation and the restoration of his Gospel and Church in the latter days.

Thus the most important event recorded in the Book of Mormon is Christ’s visit to the Nephites.

But what might be some of the other important events recorded in the Book of Mormon? Please make your own list. But do consider the importance of the following seven events.

  1. Lehi’s departure into the wilderness. This event is important because it is the record of Lehi and his family being blessed because of Lehi’s bold willingness to testify of Christ to the people of Jerusalem at a time of their great wickedness. The miraculous journey they made under the Lord’s direction to inherit the special promised land which Lehi and his descendants would inherit is specially instructive to all who would receive a blessing at the Lord’s hand.
  2. The story of Abinadi. This prophet of the Lord Jesus Christ is a powerful witness of the life and mission of the Savior. He tells of the relationship of the Ten Commandments to the Gospel and delineates the relationship of the Father to the Son. He sealed his testimony with his life blood in his martyrdom. He had at least one convert: Alma, who led a group of his converts back to the main body of the Nephites, then became the leader of the church in Zarahemla.
  3. The conversion of Alma the Younger. Alma, the son of Alma, was a persecutor of the members of the Church of Jesus Christ, along with the sons of the King Mosiah, and did great damage to the church. His father and other faithful members fasted and prayed for him, and he was converted back to Christ. He succeeded his father as leader of the Church and did great good for the Nephite people over many years.
  4. The Destructions at the Death of Christ. As foretold by Samuel the Lamanite, there was darkness, great storms, and great destruction in the promised land at the time of the Savior’s death in Jerusalem. This cataclysm destroyed the more wicked part of the people and ravaged the face of the land. Those persons who survived this period of no light and destruction were the more righteous of the Nephites. This cataclysm helped to prepare them to meet the Savior later that year.
  5. Two Hundred Years of Zion. After the visit of the Savior to the Nephites, the apostles sent by the Savior converted all of the Nephites and Lamanites to the Gospel, but more importantly, got them to actually live the Gospel. Thus they were able to establish a Zion, a people who were of one heart, of one mine, who kept the commandments of Christ and had no poor among them. A Zion has been established on this earth since the Fall of Adam only a few precious times. This was a most noteworthy achievement. We today must establish a Zion before the Savior returns in his Second Coming.
  6. The Destruction of the Nephites at the Battle of Cumorah. The Nephites had been warned since their arrival in the promised land that if they were not righteous, they would be scourged by the Lamanites. They finally became so wicked that they were more wicked than the Lamanites. Then, as promised and prophesied, they were utterly destroyed. Even so it will be in these latter days: The Gospel of Christ will be preached to every person on earth, and those who will not heed and repent will be destroyed, burned at the Second Coming of Christ.
  7. The Vision of the Brother of Jared. The Brother of Jared was raised up as a prophet at the time of the tower of Babel and was given a special dispensation of the Gospel of Christ. One of the ways that Christ prepared him was to give him a vision of what would happen in the future of the peoples of the earth. This vision shows several things: That the future is foreknown to God, that full righteousness is a rare thing, and that God’s purposes are always fulfilled.

What do you think are the most noteworthy events recorded in the Book of Mormon?

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What is the most important gift of God to mankind mentioned in the Book of Mormon?

Posted on February 7, 2026 by Monte Shelley

Monthly Messages, May 2023

The most important gift? What a value judgment. But let us see if there are reasons it is so.

The most important gift of God to man mentioned in the Book of Mormon I believe to be the gift of charity. Another way to name that gift is to say it is the gift of a pure heart, for only a pure heart can love fully and purely, which is charity, which is the pure love that Christ has for all others. Quoting Moroni 7:43–48: “And again, behold I say unto you that he cannot have faith and hope, save he shall be meek, and lowly of heart. If so, his faith and hope is vain, for none is acceptable before God, save the meek and lowly in heart; and if a man be meek and lowly in heart, and confesses by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ, he must needs have charity; for if he have not charity he is nothing; wherefore he must needs have charity. And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail— But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.”

There is an important reason why charity, pure love, is the greatest gift of God to man:

Any human being can be saved from the penalty due for his having sinned only through his having faith in Jesus Christ. That penalty due includes suffering for those sins the same amount of suffering the person caused in others through that person’s sinning. And He must also make restitution for having wounded or deprived those whom he has sinned against.

The person cannot be forgiven of having sinned until the suffering caused by the sinning has been met by an equal amount of suffering and until the person(s) he has sinned against are fully recompensed for the damage done to them by those sins and he or she remains as if he or she had never been sinned against. A person who has sinned must do all he or she can to repair the damage done to others through his or her sinning, but no one except Christ can fully make those sinned against whole, as if they had never been sinned against. And they must suffer an equal amount to the suffering they have caused others through sinning unless they come unto Christ and keep covenant with him. Then the suffering of the Savior in the Atonement answers the law of justice by his suffering, and the Savior forgives the one who has come unto him in covenant keeping faith.

The great thing about the gift of charity, which is the pure love of Christ, is that the person who receives this gift no longer sins. This person who has charity has become like the Savior. The greatest thing we know about the Savior is that because he does his Father’s will in all things, he never sins. The work of Christ is to help us to become as he is and sin no longer, and also to help us make payment for sins we have committed. Only after those two things are accomplished can anyone be exalted. And for both we must come unto Jesus Christ and become his little child, “submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father. (Mosiah 3:19)

So, to gain this gift is to become everything, and not to attain it still to be nothing. Our Father and Savior do not want us to remain as nothing, but are trying to share with us the most important thing they have, charity, which is a pure heart.

And you wondered why faith in Christ is not the greatest gift? Charity is the fullness of faith. So faith is not a wrong answer. It is just that a little faith does not do the job. Only faith that serves God and neighbor with all one’s heart, might, mind and strength can be the greatest gift. And the name for that fullness of faith in Christ is charity, the pure love of Christ from Christ.

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Report on General Conference April 2023

Posted on February 7, 2026 by Monte Shelley

Monthly Messages, April 2023

Noting the encouragements to “do.” (Knowing without doing is a waste.)

Saturday Morning

  • Elder Gary Stevenson: Make Easter more important in your family. Focus on the Book of Mormon account of the risen Lord.
  • Sister Bonnie Cordon: Never give up an opportunity to testify of the Christ.
  • Elder Quentin Cook: When you are challenged, keep going with faith in Christ.
  • Elder Gerrit Gong: Minister to others, caring, in the pure love of Christ. Do more, not less.
  • Elder Quentin Cook: Be diligent in gathering Israel.
  • Elder Allen Haynie: Follow the living prophet.
  • President Henry B. Eyring: Find personal peace through faith in Christ. If you love the Lord, keep His commandments.

Saturday Afternoon

  • Elder Dale Renlund: Follow the covenant path to overcome the world.
  • Elder Peter Meurs: Put your trust in the Savior.
  • Elder Randall Bennett: Prepare carefully to receive your patriarchal blessing, then treasure it.
  • Elder Craig Christensen: Repent to receive joy.
  • Elder Evan Schmutz: Feast upon the doctrine of Christ and trust in him through prayer to endure suffering.
  • Elder Benjamin De Hoyos: Trust in Christ’s healing power.
  • Elder Dieter Uchtdorf: Christ will show you your weaknesses, then repent to bless your children.

Saturday Evening

  • Elder Mark Bragg: Have faith in Christ to bring power into your life.
  • Elder Milton Camargo: Always remember Him.
  • Elder K Brett Nattress: Remember that He always loves us.
  • Elder Juan Uceda: Minister to Christ’s children as He would.

Sunday Morning

  • Elder D Todd Christofferson: Become one in Christ.
  • Sister Camille Johnson: Believe in Christ, that He is risen.
  • Elder Ulisses Soares: Accept the love and peace the Savior tries to give us.
  • Elder Kazuhiko Yamashita; Receive a patriarchal blessing.
  • Elder Neal Andersen: Trust in God.
  • Elder Kevin Duncan: Be worthy to be admitted into His presence.
  • President Russel M Nelson: Never throw anything in anger. Be an example of compassion with those we disagree with. Love your enemies and be a peacemaker. Seek after that which is virtuous, lovely, praiseworthy. Change the world by modifying it with dignity. In any contention, cast Satan out of your midst. Act as Christ would, and the Lord will magnify your efforts. Examine and mend your relationship with others.

Sunday Afternoon

  • President Dallin H Oaks: Pay special attention to the words of Christ in the scriptures.
  • President Russell M. Ballard: Don’t procrastinate the promptings you receive from the Holy Ghost.
  • Elder Ronald Rasband: Have oil in your lamp.
  • Elder Vern Stanfill: Do your best and don’t worry about perfection.
  • Elder Mark Bassett: Do all you can do, then the Lord will do the rest.
  • Elder Ahmad Corbett: Be healed by accepting the doctrine of Christ.
  • Elder David Bednar: Abide in Christ by making Him the center of your life.
  • President Russell M. Nelson: Study the Come Follow Me material. Come unto Christ so that He can heal you from sin, sadness, wounds. Learn more about the Savior’s atonement and love. Turn to Christ, follow Him, trust in Him. Worship in the temple. Find enduring happiness in Christ.

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What is the most important spiritual warning in the Book of Morning?

Posted on February 7, 2026 by Monte Shelley

Monthly Messages, April 2023

The most important spiritual warning? What a value judgment. But there are reasons why it might be so. The spiritual warning is as follows:

“They wear stiff necks and high heads; yea, and because of pride, and wickedness, and abominations, and whoredoms, they have all gone astray save it be a few, who are the humble followers of Christ; nevertheless, they are led, that in many instances they do err because they are taught by the precepts of men. O the wise, and the learned, and the rich, that are puffed up in the pride of their hearts, and all those who preach false doctrines, and all those who commit whoredoms, and pervert the right way of the Lord, wo, wo, wo be unto them, saith the Lord God Almighty, for they shall be thrust down to hell.” (2 Nephi 28: 14–15.) “Behold, the pride of this nation, or the people of Nephi, hath proven their destruction except they should repent.” (Moroni 8:27) The great spiritual enemy of righteousness is pride.

Pride is valuing oneself and what one is thinking and doing above and beyond reality. It is a prime example of listening to Satan and sadly misjudging ourselves. Our Savior would have us come down in the depths of humility and be as a little child. Satan prompts us to lift ourselves up in our own eyes and think that we are more than we really are, especially when we put someone else down in the process. Satan wants us to think we are justified in whatever we want, especially when it involves taking advantage over someone else.

Pride has four great faults:

  1. It does not acknowledge that the advantages one has (health, strength, intelligence, wealth) are all gifts from God. To acknowledge those gifts would be humility, the opposite of pride.
  2. It keeps us from seeing ourselves as we truly are, in great need of being saved from ourselves.
  3. It justifies us in trespassing against our neighbor, advancing ourselves at our neighbor’s expense.
  4. It blocks us from receiving the Holy Spirit, that companionship which is essential to salvation.

1. Pride does not acknowledge that the advantages one has (health, strength, intelligence, wealth) are all gifts from God. To acknowledge those as gifts would be humility, the opposite of pride.

The “natural man,” a human being who has not been rescued from spiritual death through faith

in Jesus Christ, usually thinks of himself or herself as a product of nature. Blind chance has brought him or her into this world, has given all that the person has, and therefore there is no gratitude due to anyone for any advantages one may have

2. Pride keeps us from seeing ourselves as we truly are, in great need of being saved from ourselves.

Our only real enemy is the character weaknesses that allow us to break the commandments of God. One part or Christ’s mission is to direct the Holy Spirit to labor with each of us to give up our weaknesses and gain the strength to become like Jesus Christ. Then we also will only do the will of the Father. Then the world will be at peace, and we will have a heaven on earth. If we would each give up our pride in our sinning and become like little children, meek, submissive, obedient to the Savior, then the millennium would come without the need to cleanse the earth of all pride and arrogance.

3. Pride justifies us in trespassing against our neighbor, advancing ourselves at our neighbor’s expense.

The proud person thinks to himself “I deserve what I want” and proceeds to take what he wants by any means. This proud person knows not God, but does listen to the voice of Satan. Satan assures him what he does indeed deserve what he wants. And Satan always confirms him in his selfish desires, a most desirable companion to those who see themselves as the most important person on the scene.

4. Pride blocks us from receiving the Holy Spirit, that companionship which is essential to salvation.

The proud person cannot receive the ministrations of the Holy Spirit because he does not want to do so. He wants to see himself as more, not less, and the Holy Spirit always enjoins one to be humble, as a little child, and to sacrifice to bless others. But the proud person always wants to be more, not less, and to help someone else only if the deed will redound to his own glory.

Remember: The ultimate pride is to reject Jesus Christ and to pretend that we don’t need Him.

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A STATEMENT CONCERNING PRIESTHOOD

Posted on December 3, 2024 by Admin

(Written about 1970)

The Primacy of Personal Revelation

The Primacy of Personal Revelation

The first question which must be settled in any serious discussion is, “On what basis can we agree?” Stating this another way, it is to say, “What kind of evidence is necessary and sufficient to settle the problem at hand?”

In all matters pertaining to the gospel or to the conducting of the affairs of the Kingdom of God on the earth, the justification for any principle, policy or act is spiritual. For a thing to be spiritual means that it is explicitly not physical or empirical, but relates to the conscience within each person, his feelings of right or wrong. This spirituality is declared to be a form of revelation from the true and living God which all men are invited to test and to experiment with in their own consciousness. Spirituality is a matter of faith, trusting the revelations of God personally received. It does not need physical evidence but rests secure in the tried and true whisperings of the Holy Spirit.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)

The power of reason in man, though important and desirable, is not sufficient to discern truth. It cannot because of what it is: reason is the power of correlating and ordering of ideas. It cannot certify truth in either the spiritual or the physical realm, but is limited to making explicit the consequences of our premises and the detection of inconsistency. The folly of those who claim to base their ideas solely in reason is that they must uncritically adopt premises with which to begin reasoning. Given correct initial assumptions, reason can marvelously detail the consequences. But success in either the spiritual or physical realm does not attend those who proceed with unaided reason.

President McKay gives us this insight:

There comes to my mind now the following words of the writer, John Dryden, which I think are applicable to the spiritual part of our work, getting the Holy Ghost, and rising above the temporal, selfish envious things which are contrary to the calling of any high priest, seventy, elder, priest, teacher, or deacon in the church:

“Dim as the borrowed beams of moon and stars to lonely, weary, wandering travelers, is reason to the soul.” Notice that comparison—“Dim as the borrowed rays of moon and stars to lonely, weary, wandering travelers,” (on the earth) “is reason to the soul. And as on high those rolling fires discover but the sky, not guide us here, so reason’s glimmering ray was lent, not to assure our doubtful way, but lead us upward to a brighter day.”

That day is faith, a realization of the enjoyment of the Spirit of God. What the sun is to the earth, so that Holy Spirit is to man, and the 40,000 assembled tonight—or 30,000, whatever  the number may be—are entitled—each individual is entitled to that glorious light of the Holy Spirit.

That is why we like to have every young man and every young woman utilize his or her time intelligently, usefully, to bring the soul in harmony with the spirit, that we all might be partakers of his divine nature. That is the privilege, fellow workers, of all who hold the priesthood of God. [Conference Report, Oct. 1961 p. 90]

Nor can the body senses of man supply him with the truth he needs about spiritual matters. Physical evidence is patently insufficient to determine if there is a spirit in man, or if man lives after death,–or indeed if we will live physically tomorrow or next year. In all the great questions of life and of mortality, physical evidence cannot be a decisive influence in attaining conclusions. Paul reminds us of what every honest student of spiritual matters has discovered:

But as it is written, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. [I Cor. 2:9-14]

Each man must then turn to his own conscience to discern the things of God. Our own reason and the senses of the flesh, wonderful though these powers are, cannot enable us to know the truth of spiritual things nor to work the works of righteousness. This is the meaning of justification through faith, and of the idea that the just live by faith. Paul, who himself once fought against these things bears us further witness:

For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. [Romans 8:5-8]

The crucial question then becomes, “What is the order of the church in establishing the ways of God, in bringing a unity of the faith?” The answer is that there are three witnesses by which these things are done and established.

The first witness is the testimony of living prophets. Paul explains the position of the leaders of the church as follows:

And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:[Ephesians 4:11-15]

The role of the prophet is thus to explain to the children of men the things of God. But how are men to know which are true prophets? They will know only spiritually. If they humbly ask the Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, to tell them who are true prophets, it will be revealed unto them personally, in their own heart and mind. If they have the courage of their honest convictions, they can accept and learn great things from the prophets of God. It will be as though God himself were addressing them:

Search these commandments, for they are true and faithful, and the prophecies and promises which are in them shall all be fulfilled. What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same. [D & C 1:37-38]

The second witness is the records left by former prophets, the scriptures. The scriptures are not given as systematic complete treatises on the things of God. They are in general but fragments  and sketches, giving glimpses of truth to those who can discern. About three things they are plain and emphatic:  The unique position of Jesus Christ as the Savior of mankind, the importance of acceptance of and obedience to the prophets of God, and the place of personal revelation in enabling men to be godly. But to whom are these three ideas plain and emphatic? These are the burden of the scriptures to those human beings who are spiritual, whose hearts are honest and broken. The scriptures are discerned spiritually; their true meaning cannot be assured by either reason or the physical senses, or both. But      to the spiritual person they become a wondrous doorway to the truths of eternity. Once spiritually discerned, these truths are delightfully agreeable to reason and are attested by all the mighty physical handiwork of God. But they must first be spiritually discerned.

The third witness is that of the Holy Spirit. It is one thing to have a spiritual witness of the calling and message of a prophet of God. It is a second thing to have a spiritual witness of the truth and meaning of the Holy scriptures. But it is quite a different thing to be taught directly by the Holy Spirit. In the first and second cases, one is in the presence of something physical, something tangible, the person of the prophet on the one hand and the printed text of the scriptures on the other; these physical, tangible aspects before us provide a bridge to the unseen, spiritual aspects of the universe. When we are honest in our hearts; they act as catalysts to our spiritual inquiry. But when a person has made profitable spiritual inquiry in response to the prophets and the scriptures, and has lived in accordance with the truths and directions gained in that connection, he is sooner or later prepared to be taught truths and receive instruction directly from the Holy Spirit without need of the physical aid. This is somewhat analogous to the use the Prophet Joseph Smith made of the Urim and Thummim in receiving the initial sections of the Doctrine and Covenants; as he grew in spirituality, he did not have the same need for the physical catalyst.

Once attuned to be able to receive instruction directly from the Holy Spirit one cannot profitably either disclaim the continuing need of living prophets and written scriptures or reject the schooling and preparation which led him to his spirituality. There is more than one source of personal revelation. Our double guarantee that we are not being misled by the adversary is first that we remain in unity with those who preside over us in the priesthood, and second, that any revelation we accept is in harmony with the scriptures. The true God is not the author of confusion. The adversary delights in confusion. Present and continuing unity with living and dead prophets is our key to living by the Holy Spirit sent from God. To achieve unity of understanding in that we perceive the sameness of the message of the living prophets with that of the scriptures with that which we feel in our hearts is one measure of our redemption. If we see contradiction and disunity, it is either because we are dealing with false prophets or scriptures, or because we are as yet unredeemed.

The insinuation that a person who has not become one with the prophets, the scriptures and the Holy Spirit is yet in his sins is unredeemed, is of course offensive to those who have not attained this unity. Yet the message of the prophets is clear: until a man subdues his animal passions and gains communion with the infinite, he is not yet spiritual. He must come down into the depths of humility, as a little child, repent of his sins, and seek, as a child, to gain spiritual discernment of and unity with the words of living prophets. In this manner such and one can begin to understand and accept the things of God.

Many persons claim they would be faithful to the Lord if only he would give them sure knowledge first. They often wish for physical, public scientific evidence that the gospel is true before they will repent. But the fruit of the gospel is righteousness: every man blessing his neighbor. Those who can accept the gospel because of the assurance of the Holy Spirit are those who love righteousness for its own sake. Those who demand physical proof of the gospel before they will live it are those for whom righteousness is but an expedient, a way to appease the wrath of God.

The foregoing ideas distinguish two kinds of people: those who perceive the unity of the prophets and who themselves have the spirit of prophecy, and those who do not. The former are called by the scriptures the sons of God; the latter are called the sons of men. This distinction does not wholly follow lines of church membership. If any man wishes fully to understand any matter pertaining to the kingdom of God which is not a part of the fundamental gospel message which prepares a person for baptism, he must first become a son of God.

The sons of men historically have looked upon the sons of God with both resentment and envy. This resentment and envy has been the source of persecution in every dispensation. To bear this persecution patiently, returning good for evil, is one of the opportunities for a son of God to prove his faith. The particular point of attack on the church varies from age to age, but the point is always the same: the righteous are persecuted because they live not after the manner of the flesh, but they believe and act according to the whisperings of the Holy Spirit:

And now, my sons, I would that ye should look to the great Mediator, and hearken unto his great commandments; and be faithful unto his words, and choose eternal life, according to the will of his Holy Spirit;

And not choose eternal death, according to the will of the flesh and the evil which is therein, which giveth the spirit of the devil power to captivate, to bring you down to hell, that he may reign over you in his kingdom. [2 Nephi 2:28-29]

But, behold, the righteous, the saints of the Holy One of Israel, they who have believed in the Holy One of Israel, they who have endured the crosses of the world, and despised the shame of it, they shall inherit the kingdom of God, which was prepared for them from the foundation of the world, and their joy shall be full forever. [2 Nephi 9:18]

The sum of all this is the answer to the question, “How do you prove this or that in your church?”, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The answer on all points of doctrine and policy is that “proof” is spiritual. When a person has the confirming comfort of the Holy Spirit, he has the necessary and sufficient evidence. He can accept the living prophets and the scriptures, understanding them by the Holy Spirit, but not depending upon them for final evidence.

The spoken words of the prophets and the written words of the scriptures, may be classified as signs. Signs follow those that believe, for signs are the physical manifestations of the presence of the gifts of the Spirit. One would expect to hear words and to see writings on important gospel topics from men of God. But it is not solely upon these that the sons of God depend. They depend on the spiritual witness that gives unity and light to all that the prophets do and say; they seek after the gifts of the spirit. They do not seek for signs, but do enjoy them. If there were no signs, the sons of God would search elsewhere for the gifts, knowing that signs always follow the gifts of the spirit.

To say to a living prophet of God, “Prove to me that you are right on such and such a point,” is an admission that the speaker lacks the gifts of the spirit. As one of the sons of men he seeks after a sign. Having rejected the only real proof of the truth of what the prophet says, he then asks for some tangible evidence—which kind of evidence is always inconclusive, since any physical event can be explained away by an infinite number of possible explanations. In the end, however, even signs will condemn the unrighteous, because the signs given from God have a unity and consistency that defies natural explanation. Witness the many failures in attempting to explain away the greatest of all signs of the latter-days: the Book of Mormon.

He who asks the prophet for a sign is fully in accord, intellectually, with the person who says, “Prove that to me out of the scriptures.” Proof-texting is also seeking after signs. It is righteous to read the scriptures as a key to gaining the spirit, but to make the written text into a proof or a final authority is to ignore Paul’s plain warning:

Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?

Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:

Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in the tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.

And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward:

Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;

Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.    [II Cor. 3:1-6]

Why, then, use scriptures at all? Why quote them as above in this writing? The answer is that these quotations, being signs or physical evidences of the gifts of God, are occasions to pause and receive spiritual edification. That edification comes not through the printed word, but in the presence of it, reverencing it as a thing coming from God, but treasuring above all the spiritual uplift and insight gained while looking at the written word.

Again, this is not to despise the text of the scriptures. Even after all the difficulties of translation and the deliberate changes made in the Bible, it stands with the latter-day scriptures as a great monument to the mission of the Savior and will stand as a sign to condemn the unspiritual at the last day. It is evidence of the very kind which most of the sons of men profess to believe.

The following statements on priesthood are offered in the context of the foregoing comments. They are offered as explanations, not proof; their warrant is spiritual.

What the Priesthood Is

The Holy Priesthood is the power and authority to act in the name of God. One prerequisite for receiving the priesthood is to be a son of God, having been born again of water and of spirit. The priesthood consists of three aspects:

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Two Universes – Natural versus Gospel

Posted on December 3, 2024 by Admin

One of the aspects of our social existence which makes life interesting and, at the same time, somewhat exasperating is the phenomenon of disagreement. As we compare ideas, objectives, goals, and plans with our fellow man, one of the things we are faced with immediately is the wide variety of attitudes, beliefs, and feelings which we and our fellow beings exhibit. One might go so far as to say that because of the nature of our mental existence and of the knowledge we have of the world, each human being acts as if he lives in his own private universe. We construct, as it were, a universe in our own minds. We people it with the things we know, with the people we know about. We furnish it with the things that we believe to exist. We cause it to function according to the pattern of existence we believe obtains. And, all in all, we structure it according to the experience, evidence, and desires of our own personal nature. There are among the many worlds that we see exhibited in other people’s lives and thoughts two principal worlds which are somewhat standard and of special interest to us who are Latter-day Saints. One is the world, or the universe, which is pictured to us by the teachings of the scriptures and the prophets. We might call this the “Universe of the Gospel.” The other is the world, or the universe, which is the standard world of our western civilization, the one which every one of us has encountered in our education and which is sufficiently stereotyped that we can describe it in general terms fairly accurately. It is our purpose this evening to examine these two special worlds and to contrast them and to note the very fundamental and important differences that exist between these two worlds. For purposes of analysis we shall break our discussion down into four main headings and under each of these main headings pursue special subtopics.

The four main headings we shall use will be:

(1) the spiritual realm,
(2) our understanding of history,
(3) the nature of values, and
(4) the source of salvation.

            Let us first of all examine the nature of the spiritual area. We will take first the gospel picture and then contrast with it the standard world of western civilization. In the gospel frame of reference there is a definite spiritual realm of existence which is different from, though certainly related to, the physical realm with which we are all familiar, which we experience daily. The spiritual realm is important because it contains the things that are believed by Latter-day Saints to be the most important things in the universe. It contains, for instance, a personal God, a being who is our literal father, who is a kindly, good, exalted man and who has our personal interest at heart. He is a God of justice, but also a God of mercy, a God of power, but also a God of righteousness; and it is to him that we look for our understanding of the universe and for every good thing that we hope for in this universe. Now there is no existence without opposition we are told, and so correlative with the idea of a personal God necessarily goes the idea of a personal devil in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We believe that there is a person who is a devil. This is not to say that he is the only evil, or that he is necessary to evil, but he is a person who promotes evil in the same manner in which our Heavenly Father promotes good. This personal devil is a being like unto ourselves, and like unto God, but having a personality which differs in respect to the things that he desires. He desires to bring about the misery and the misfortune of mankind. A third aspect of the spiritual nature of existence relates to the personal spirit which is in each man. Each human being is composed not only of the physical body which we observe, but his real self is rather something quite different. We believe that this body is inhabited by a spirit and that spirit body by an intelligence’ so that there is a definite and complete distinction between the spirit of man and his body. In Latter-day Saint terminology the basic struggle of this life is the struggle between the spirit and the body. Our Heavenly Father, assists the spirit in its side of the struggle, and the devil works through the physical body, attempting to further its domination over the spirit. A fourth aspect of spiritual existence which is important to Latter-day Saints is simply the reality of spiritual experiences. Not only are God, the devil, and the spirit in man realities, but they are things which may be experienced. We, each of us, experience a stream of consciousness wherein we are aware of influences which cannot be traced to the physical environment. It is in this realm of consciousness that we experience the whisperings of God, the whisperings of Satan, and our own personal response to these things.

            Let us contrast with this spiritual understanding of the universe, now, the standard world of western civilization. In western civilization the existence of the spiritual realm as a whole is denied, except perhaps as a mental ideal. In this realm there is no God; there is no devil; there is no spirit in man; and man has no such thing as spiritual experience. This fundamental denial, of course, assumes a burden of proof which is much greater than the assertion of the existence of these things in the gospel light. To assert that there is no God and no devil in the universe necessitates a sufficient omniscience that one could survey the whole universe and in no part of the universe find any God or any devil. To say that there is no spirit in man is similarly a most difficult thing to prove. This might be likened to asserting that, because we cannot see any electricity in a wire, that therefore there is no such thing as electricity. But one can certainly feel electricity, especially when grounded, and one certainly can be aware of the existence of at least his own spirit, especially when he is grounded in the strength of independent thought and not short-circuited by the shame of the world. One of the most fundamental experiences a human being has is the inner struggle that goes on within himself, the struggle between right and wrong, the struggle between truth and error, the struggle between what is ennobling and what is degrading. To deny the existence and the importance of this realm is to deny what we are: independent spiritual human beings. To relegate ourselves to the realm of machine is to give up independence, individuality, and everything which has brought significance to human achievement.

            Let us move next to the realm of history. Here again we see extremely divergent views separating the gospel picture of the universe from that proposed by western civilization. The gospel teaches us plainly of the divine origin of man, that men are the children of the Gods, and that at one time we were of the same basic nature as God is physically. That is to say, that in the Garden of Eden Adam and Eve had celestial bodies and never would have had to die. They, of course, were not like our Father in Heaven in every respect, but at least in that physical respect were like him. A second important teaching in the historical perspective relates to the Fall of man. In the gospel, when Adam partook of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil, he became fallen. This involves several important ramifications. In the first place, man became dead to that personal God who is his literal and real Father. That is to say, he was cut off from the presence of his Father and righteousness because of his disobedience, no longer able to see God with his physical senses. Being cut off from God and righteousness  made Adam completely subject to that personal devil who then had full access to tempt and to try him. Man, thus, comes under the burden of an overwhelming influence to do evil. Unless this overwhelming influence  is counteracted by the Spirit of the Lord, man is not a free agent, but must and will do greater or lesser amounts of evil, depending on the ability the individual has of his own desires to resist Satan or not to resist. Hd Adam been left in this state, he would have been doomed to remain estranged from God, his Father, forever. But Father sent the Holy Spirit and angels to minister to Adam of truth and righteousness. With these two influences in balance, that of Satan and of the Holy Spirit, man became an agent to choose between good and evil.

            Two aspects of the future history of man which are important in this connection are first, the literal reality of the resurrection of each human being. To know that we go on living forever and that death is not the end and that we will be reunited with the bodies which we have in this life and will go on living into eternity is, indeed, a most important aspect of our understanding. Secondly, coupled with the idea of resurrection is, of course, the necessity of our accounting for the acts of this life. We must stand before the bar of judgment and be held accountable for our acts, whether they be good or whether they be evil. The net result of this understanding of history is to place upon each individual the full weight of the responsibility for his actions and to teach him that his actions are important and that the ramifications of his mortal actions are of eternal significance.

            The world, on the other hand, teaches in connection with history a very contrary view. So far as the origin of man is concerned, the world teaches that man came about by a slow, chance evolutionary process, beginning with some non-living form of life, and over the course of millions and perhaps billions of years evolving into the present status of what we call man. This, of course, gives man an extremely low origin compared to the gospel account. Evolution is a scientific theory which, though valuable to scientific tinking, is not proven and for which there is very important and serious doubt as to the necessity of its truthfulness. It suffices to say that this along with all other scientific theories rests in a realm of speculation where nothing can really be proved. If an individual believes in the evolutionary origin of man, it is because he wants to. It is not because there is any evidence which necessitates such a belief. Indeed, if one wishes to gather all the evidence concerned, there is at least a piece of evidence contrary to the theory of evolution for every evidence which supports the theory of evolution. This is a rather safe generalization, or course, simply because evidence by itself is completely neutral as to its explanation. Explanations are provided by humans, and any piece of evidence which could be construed one way could also be construed another way by the person involved. Since the evidence itself is completely neutral, the individual makes up his own mind as to whether he believes in evolution or not. However, many people are browbeaten into believing in the theory of evolution. According to some this theory has the status of scientific fact. But there is much evidence against evolution and no necessity for any human being to believe it as a proven idea.

            In contrast to its account of the humble natural origin of man, the standard world of western civilization aggrandizes the present nature of man. We are taught that man is basically good, that men can be trusted, that the important thing is that we not degrade man by supposing him to have in any sense evil motives. If it is true that men are subject to Satan, it makes a great deal of difference in our understanding of the processes of this world. If every politician is subjected to the influence of and adversary who attempts to get him to do evil, thinking beings would rather not put into the hands of any one human being any great concentration of power. But, if on the other hand, as western civilization teaches, every man is inherently good, perhaps we need not fear. Each individual may be given the opportunity to account for himself and his own personal experience as to what the real nature of existence is. What is your sample of human nature? Are most human beings good, or do most human beings do evil in one degree or another? When human beings have a highly concentrated power in their hands, do most people use it to do good, or do most people use it to do evil? Single examples may be taken to prove either side. But the question, or course, is, what is the generalization which is true?

            Going on to the future history of man, again though the world recognizes that death is a necessity which comes upon every human being. The important thing is, what is the consequence of death? The world teaches that there is an oblivion, that when we die, we pass into a non-existence where we no longer exist as entities. Coupled with this is the idea that there is no judgment for the acts of man, that the only possible consequences of our acts in this life are the physical rewards and punishments which affect us up until the day of our death. This leads, of course, to the idea that  getting caught in doing anti-social things is the problem and that if we suffer social disapprobation, it is simply because we were not wise enough to elude the restrictions of our community.

            Going on to the third general area, let us contrast the values of the gospel and the world of western civilization in regard to the status of values themselves. The gospel plainly teaches that there is a right or wrong. There is a morality which is not simply the whim of God and which man can know. There is an eternal righteousness which leads to happiness both now and later. Accompanying this idea of the eternal nature of right and wrong is the concept of the worth of the individual. In the gospel frame of reference, the individual person is the most important thing in existence, and every human being is of virtually infinite worth compared with anything else in the universe, compared with any non-personal or non-individual existence in the universe. Whatever programs, governments of society, or actions of individuals which are proposed and executed, the church would teach us that the worth of the individual ought to be respected and kept in mind at all times. No human being should be treated simply as a means to an end, but every human being ought to be treated as an end and worthy in and of himself. Now, in contrast to this, the world teaches that all values are relative, that the thing that is important is simply the satisfaction of desire, that there is no right or no wrong. The world also teaches that the individual is of little worth. The individual may have some worth insomuch as he finds himself on the top of the social power structure, but the teaching of the world is that the important thing is the social group, the social group being the basis and source of all values for individual human beings. The important thing, therefore, for the human being is to accommodate himself to the nature of the group. Most education is carried on under this valuation, attempting to get the individual to subordinate himself to the nature of his social existence and group rather than attempting to bring out in him the important things which he feels are of worth and to enable him to be an independent individual.

            The fourth category in which we might contrast these two worlds is in relation to salvation. In the gospel of Jesus Christ salvation is vertical; that is to say, man has to look upward to a supernatural source for his salvation both from the troubles of life and the perils of eternity. Man seeks to receive from his Father in Heaven first of all the Spirit, to be guided in truth and light; secondly the priesthood by which power he can control the elements of this earth, the power of Satan, and anything necessary which stands in the way of his salvation. Thirdly, he receives the blessings of a personal God, a Father who loves him and who is anxious to reunite with him.

            Salvation for the world, on the other hand, is lateral. This means to say, the teaching of the world is that salvation is to be obtained from our fellow beings. The teaching is that man is saved first of all through learning, so we must go to school and be taught by our fellow human beings what is truth, what is right, what we should know. Ultimately, the problems of our civilization and the struggle against nature are to be solved according to the world through physical force. To this end science is employed, but even more the power of government to pass laws and physically to force certain requirements upon society is looked upon as the great panacea. In the gospel of Jesus Christ, the ultimate salvation is looked for in righteousness; whereas in the world salvation is looked for in physical force. In this connection we quote President David O. McKay in his speech in the October, 1962 General Conference. President McKay says this:

            “Today many nations have lost their independence. Men defeated have been compelled to labor for their conquerors. Property has been seized without recompense, and millions of people have surrendered all guarantees of personal liberty. Force and compulsion will never establish the ideal society. This can come only by a transformation within the individual soul, a life redeemed from sin and brought in harmony with the Divine Will. Instead of selfishness, men must be willing to dedicate their fortunes, and their sacred honor for the alleviation of the ills of mankind. Hate must be supplanted by sympathy and forbearance. Peace and true prosperity can come only by conforming our lives to the law of love, the law of the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. A mere appreciation of the social ethics of Jesus is not sufficient. Men’s hearts must be changed. In these days of uncertainty and unrest, liberty-loving people’s greatest responsibility and paramount duty is to preserve and proclaim the freedom of the individual, his relationship to Diety, and the necessity of obedience to the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Only thus will mankind find peace and happiness.”

            So it is we see that we are faced with this fundamental choice. We can choose the universe the gospel commends to us, or we may choose the world of western civilization. Under the one, we will seek righteousness, which is to say, we will seek by the help of God to better the lives of our fellow men through kindness, through love, through any way that does not involve physical force, which is compatible with the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. If, on the other hand, we seek the power of the world, if we seek to follow the pattern of the world, we will try to solve the problems of man through physical force. May I remind you that these two are essentially the two plans propounded in the council in heaven. The one is the plan of righteousness and agency and honoring of the individual propounded by our Father in Heaven and accepted by the Savior in the pre-existence. The other is the program of Satan which denies the agency and  worth of the individual man and tries to solve all problems and bring about salvation through physical force.

            Again may we note in this Christmas season that the life of our Savior Jesus Christ is a monument to his belief that righteousness is a much greater power than physical force. When the Savior came among men in his earthly existence, the Jews were expecting a Messiah who would come and blight the Roman armies and physically destroy all the enemies of Judaism. But the Savior recognized that there is something much greater, that righteousness is the greatest triumph of all. In his life he sought and succeeded never to succumb to the temptations of the adversary in any particular or in any degree. By this triumph Jesus Christ was able to gain the power of righteousness which is for him the power to resurrect all human beings, to bless those who have themselves sought righteousness with the blessings of eternity including exaltation, and to deliver to each man that happiness which he deserves and wants. He rejected explicitly the possible salvation he could have wrought even with the power of Godhood in destroying armies, in destroying disease, in destroying physical force. He recognized the worth of the individual and that the only salvation worth anything is getting human beings to choose righteousness of themselves, that he might honor them as persons. So in this Christmas season, may we remember the example of our Savior. May we seize upon a clear understanding of that world in which the Savior believed and in which he acted and which was the basis of his triumph. May we reject the sophistries of the adversary and the very unreal world which he and his proponents would have us believe in, the world which leads to destruction.

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THE MAKING OF SAINTS

Posted on December 2, 2024 by Admin

When we read from the Book of Mormon –

…there were no contentions and disputations among them, and every man did deal justly one with another. And they had all things common among them; therefore there were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free, and partakers of the heavenly gift. (4 Nephi 2-3)

–we might wonder: How did they accomplish that magnificent feat? Even more pertinent would be to ask: How can we attain in this dispensation what they did in theirs? It seems clear from the scriptures that we also are charged to establish Zion. This article is an hypothesis as to how we as individual members of the church might assist those who preside over us in the great work of becoming Zion.

It seems plain that our first obligation and opportunity is to support and work within the priesthood structure of the church. Those who preside over us are specifically charged with:

…the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:12-13)

The indispensable key to the priesthood authority of the church bringing us to that state is the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. If we have kept that first commandment we received after we were baptized, to receive the Holy Ghost, then we have a testimony of the truthfulness of this great latter-day restoration and of the divine authority of those who preside in the church. We then can be on the path to becoming as the Savior. King Benjamin phrased it this way:

For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father. (Mosiah 3:19)

What a joy to have a testimony, to feel the sweet, quiet assurance of the Holy Spirit that President Spencer W. Kimball is truly a prophet who speaks to us for our Savior. How important to be founded upon that rock, that the winds and the waves of our contemporary world will not be able to sweep us away into the sufferings and hopelessness of those who have no testimony.

It is good to know that we must become perfect in our relationship to the Savior. But the gap between him and us seems great. Is it possible to find a specific set of steps, a bridge by which we might cross that gap step by step? Fortunately for us, such a bridge is plainly given in the scriptures by Peter:

And beside this, giving all diligence add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. (2 Peter 1:5-7)

A comment on each of these steps will help to show their strength.

  1. Faith.  We must always begin with faith in our Savior. Before we can correctly put our trust in him we mus receive the Holy Spirit which reveals his will to us, for faith comes by hearing the word of God. Having that precious seed or word, we must believe in it and act upon it, for faith without works is dead. So we begin to tread upon this bridge over the chasm by trusting in our Savior, being comforted and guided by his Holy Spirit.
  2. Virtue. Having begun to be faithful we must not falter or doubt. We must gather our strength and courage and do all that we know to do, to obey the commandments we have received. This is the meaning of virtue. The word derives from the Latin vir, meaning man, and by association virtue means strength. As muscle and mind grow in strength with proper use and decay through abuse or no use, so with faith. The focus of our mind and thought must be to move correctly—with faith; and surely—with strength.
  3. Knowledge. Faith supported by virtue brings the need for further knowledge of the ways of the Lord in order to be more faithful. “Blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost.” (3 Nephi 12:6, emphasis added.) Though the Lord’s ways are not our ways, he nevertheless delights in revealing his mysteries to those who serve him in righteousness to the end. They learn of him line upon line, precept upon precept, until their understanding reaches unto heaven. And because they know of him, they become a great blessing to their fellow beings.
  4. Temperance. To be temperate is to be even, to be steady. A faithful, strong, understanding servant needs also to learn steadiness, to serve the Lord in season and out of season, in convenience and in inconvenience, in youth and in age. For to be faithful only when we so choose or at our convenience is not true faith; it is only playing with faith. To be faithful in difficulty is the only way we can show that the faith, strength, and understanding we have are our own heartfelt choices. To serve the Lord only when it is pleasant and convenient is to treat him as a convenience. But to serve him in sacrifice is our way of showing our selfless love for him, for his work, and for all for which he stands. This is temperance.
  5. Patience. With our personal stage now set to be much more effective in the work of righteousness (blessing others), we next learn to discern the needs of others. As we look to those around us, we see souls bound and afflicted with varying degrees of “natural man problems,” varying degrees of captivity to the adversary. We may be tempted to smite away their fetters and blindfolds. But knowledge and temperance tell us to be patient with our brothers and sisters, to know that only the self can unlock the self, and that through faith in the Savior. We must be patient, suffering with the ones whom we would bless until the key of faith is firmly in their own hands. Then they can begin to unfetter themselves.
  6. Godliness. But we will not just stand idly by, watching their suffering. We will share the burden with them, sacrificing our own strength to help them. Godliness follows upon patience because our heart, our concern for others, needs to grow until we cannot look upon any human being without feeling compassion for them. This compassion prepares us to serve and bless all persons around us, as would our Savior.
  7. Brotherly Kindness. To have godly concern for all human beings is but a frustration unless there is a solid means of helping them. As one looks for a way to help, one obvious structure for delivering help is the kingdom, the church. The essence of the church is its priesthood organization. The strength of the priesthood organization of the church is the men and women who preide,  who are its embodiment. To learn to love them and to fulfill in faith the stewardship under them is the greatest way to help this world that one can have; to be a missionary, a president, a teacher, –whatever. Is it not possible that the words we have as “brotherly kindness” really were intended to say “love of the brethren and sisters who preside over us?”
  8. Charity. The final stage of development comes when we possess the greatest spiritual gift, which is charity, or the pure love of Christ. Charity is two things: It is pure, unselfish love from the Savior; and it is that same love reflected back from us to the Savior and then manifest toward all other human beings. It is reflected through us in patience, godly concern, love for the brethren, then delivery of blessings in our stewardship with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength. Of one who possesses this love as the completion of the bridge of faith Peter says:

For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things ye shall never fall. (2 Peter 1:8-10)

Then shall we be even as our Savior is:

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. (1 John 3:2-3)

The opportunity of patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and charity can be framed another way by asking the question: How shall I let my light so shine that others seeing it will be caused to glorify God? We might answer by positing three steps by which the light of the Savior can be full manifest. These steps are to help people feel the Savior’s love, to help them see his way in action, and to help them understand his way through words.

Step 1. Love. We can love purely. We can show the example of full, unselfish Christ-like love as the Holy Spirit radiates through us to others. Be we father, mother, sister, brother, president, or member, we can all give unqualified, Christ-like love to those around us. We will not be critical, but supportive; not condemning, but sympathetic; not condescending but honoring each person as a child of God. We can let each person around us be fully assured that someone knows they exist and cares about what happens to them, because we do. The purity of our love will be the purity of the Holy Spirit; the strength of our love will be the fulness of our Savior, who received a fulness of all things from our Heavenly Father.

As all spiritual people know, the world’s greatest need is more of this love. The Savior has it to give, but he needs translators. We have an opportunity to translate and transmit this love which the world does not because we have the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Step 2. Example. We can show the example of a godly life. We can show how it is that a true servant of Jesus Christ eats and drinks, marries and gives in marriage, buys and sells, teaches and learns, governs and obeys, prays and worships. The example is important because the world needs hope, the hope that the commandments of Jesus can be lived. Many have the ideal, but do not believe that the Savior’s commandments can be lived because they do not understand how to do it. Only those who both know the truth and have the power of God  can show the full example:

Therefore, what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily, I say unto you, even as I am. (3 Nephi 27:27)

Step 3. Witness. We can teach the word of God in its simplicity and purity, as we receive it from the scriptures and the Holy Spirit. We bear testimony that the Savior lives, that his prophet is on earth, that this Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true and living church. We teach the fundamental principles of faith and repentance, baptism and confirmation, of enduring to the end. Thus may others come to comprehend and understand the ways of the Lord.

These three constitute the pattern of perfect teaching: love and respect for the learner, personal demonstration of what is being taught, and correct explanation to build understanding.

Now a frank question: Would you like to have someone in your life who loves you purely; who is the example of all righteous action; who can teach you so that you understand the ways of our Savior? Could you better live the gospel if you felt, saw, and understood the truth of the gospel manifest in the flesh? Surely we would all appreciate that.

Now another frank question: Why don’t you and I who have testimonies and know something of the ways of the Lord go out and show his love, live his example, and teach his truth to the best of our ability? Truly, if we all lived in the physical presence of the Savior we would likely have a surer testimony. But we don’t. But instead of simply seeking that blessing for ourselves, would it not be better to take all the love, the example, the understanding that we have received and pass it on? Is not our opportunity thus to bless others even greater because the Savior is not here?

Let’s be about our Father’s business.

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Two Universes – Natural versus Gospel

Posted on December 2, 2024 by Admin

            One of the aspects of our social existence which makes life interesting and, at the same time, somewhat exasperating is the phenomenon of disagreement. As we compare ideas, objectives, goals, and plans with our fellow man, one of the things we are faced with immediately is the wide variety of attitudes, beliefs, and feelings which we and our fellow beings exhibit. One might go so far as to say that because of the nature of our mental existence and of the knowledge we have of the world, each human being acts as if he lives in his own private universe. We construct, as it were, a universe in our own minds. We people it with the things we know, with the people we know about. We furnish it with the things that we believe to exist. We cause it to function according to the pattern of existence we believe obtains. And, all in all, we structure it according to the experience, evidence, and desires of our own personal nature. There are among the many worlds that we see exhibited in other people’s lives and thoughts two principal worlds which are somewhat standard and of special interest to us who are Latter-day Saints. One is the world, or the universe, which is pictured to us by the teachings of the scriptures and the prophets. We might call this the “Universe of the Gospel.” The other is the world, or the universe, which is the standard world of our western civilization, the one which every one of us has encountered in our education and which is sufficiently stereotyped that we can describe it in general terms fairly accurately. It is our purpose this evening to examine these two special worlds and to contrast them and to note the very fundamental and important differences that exist between these two worlds. For purposes of analysis we shall break our discussion down into four main headings and under each of these main headings pursue special subtopics.

The four main headings we shall use will be: (1) the spiritual realm, (2) our understanding of history, (3) the nature of values, and (4) the source of salvation.

The Spiritual Realm

            Let us first of all examine the nature of the spiritual area. We will take first the gospel picture and then contrast with it the standard world of western civilization. In the gospel frame of reference there is a definite spiritual realm of existence which is different from, though certainly related to, the physical realm with which we are all familiar, which we experience daily. The spiritual realm is important because it contains the things that are believed by Latter-day Saints to be the most important things in the universe. It contains, for instance, a personal God, a being who is our literal father, who is a kindly, good, exalted man and who has our personal interest at heart. He is a God of justice, but also a God of mercy, a God of power, but also a God of righteousness; and it is to him that we look for our understanding of the universe and for every good thing that we hope for in this universe. Now there is no existence without opposition we are told, and so correlative with the idea of a personal God necessarily goes the idea of a personal devil in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We believe that there is a person who is a devil. This is not to say that he is the only evil, or that he is necessary to evil, but he is a person who promotes evil in the same manner in which our Heavenly Father promotes good. This personal devil is a being like unto ourselves, and like unto God, but having a personality which differs in respect to the things that he desires. He desires to bring about the misery and the misfortune of mankind. A third aspect of the spiritual nature of existence relates to the personal spirit which is in each man. Each human being is composed not only of the physical body which we observe, but his real self is rather something quite different. We believe that this body is inhabited by a spirit and that spirit body by an intelligence’ so that there is a definite and complete distinction between the spirit of man and his body. In Latter-day Saint terminology the basic struggle of this life is the struggle between the spirit and the body. Our Heavenly Father, assists the spirit in its side of the struggle, and the devil works through the physical body, attempting to further its domination over the spirit. A fourth aspect of spiritual existence which is important to Latter-day Saints is simply the reality of spiritual experiences. Not only are God, the devil, and the spirit in man realities, but they are things which may be experienced. We, each of us, experience a stream of consciousness wherein we are aware of influences which cannot be traced to the physical environment. It is in this realm of consciousness that we experience the whisperings of God, the whisperings of Satan, and our own personal response to these things.

            Let us contrast with this spiritual understanding of the universe, now, the standard world of western civilization. In western civilization the existence of the spiritual realm as a whole is denied, except perhaps as a mental ideal. In this realm there is no God; there is no devil; there is no spirit in man; and man has no such thing as spiritual experience. This fundamental denial, of course, assumes a burden of proof which is much greater than the assertion of the existence of these things in the gospel light. To assert that there is no God and no devil in the universe necessitates a sufficient omniscience that one could survey the whole universe and in no part of the universe find any God or any devil. To say that there is no spirit in man is similarly a most difficult thing to prove. This might be likened to asserting that, because we cannot see any electricity in a wire, that therefore there is no such thing as electricity. But one can certainly feel electricity, especially when grounded, and one certainly can be aware of the existence of at least his own spirit, especially when he is grounded in the strength of independent thought and not short-circuited by the shame of the world. One of the most fundamental experiences a human being has is the inner struggle that goes on within himself, the struggle between right and wrong, the struggle between truth and error, the struggle between what is ennobling and what is degrading. To deny the existence and the importance of this realm is to deny what we are: independent spiritual human beings. To relegate ourselves to the realm of machine is to give up independence, individuality, and everything which has brought significance to human achievement.

Our Understanding of History

            Let us move next to the realm of history. Here again we see extremely divergent views separating the gospel picture of the universe from that proposed by western civilization. The gospel teaches us plainly of the divine origin of man, that men are the children of the Gods, and that at one time we were of the same basic nature as God is physically. That is to say, that in the Garden of Eden Adam and Eve had celestial bodies and never would have had to die. They, of course, were not like our Father in Heaven in every respect, but at least in that physical respect were like him. A second important teaching in the historical perspective relates to the Fall of man. In the gospel, when Adam partook of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil, he became fallen. This involves several important ramifications. In the first place, man became dead to that personal God who is his literal and real Father. That is to say, he was cut off from the presence of his Father and righteousness because of his disobedience, no longer able to see God with his physical senses. Being cut off from God and righteousness  made Adam completely subject to that personal devil who then had full access to tempt and to try him. Man, thus, comes under the burden of an overwhelming influence to do evil. Unless this overwhelming influence  is counteracted by the Spirit of the Lord, man is not a free agent, but must and will do greater or lesser amounts of evil, depending on the ability the individual has of his own desires to resist Satan or not to resist. Hd Adam been left in this state, he would have been doomed to remain estranged from God, his Father, forever. But Father sent the Holy Spirit and angels to minister to Adam of truth and righteousness. With these two influences in balance, that of Satan and of the Holy Spirit, man became an agent to choose between good and evil.

            Two aspects of the future history of man which are important in this connection are first, the literal reality of the resurrection of each human being. To know that we go on living forever and that death is not the end and that we will be reunited with the bodies which we have in this life and will go on living into eternity is, indeed, a most important aspect of our understanding. Secondly, coupled with the idea of resurrection is, of course, the necessity of our accounting for the acts of this life. We must stand before the bar of judgment and be held accountable for our acts, whether they be good or whether they be evil. The net result of this understanding of history is to place upon each individual the full weight of the responsibility for his actions and to teach him that his actions are important and that the ramifications of his mortal actions are of eternal significance.

            The world, on the other hand, teaches in connection with history a very contrary view. So far as the origin of man is concerned, the world teaches that man came about by a slow, chance evolutionary process, beginning with some non-living form of life, and over the course of millions and perhaps billions of years evolving into the present status of what we call man. This, of course, gives man an extremely low origin compared to the gospel account. Evolution is a scientific theory which, though valuable to scientific tinking, is not proven and for which there is very important and serious doubt as to the necessity of its truthfulness. It suffices to say that this along with all other scientific theories rests in a realm of speculation where nothing can really be proved. If an individual believes in the evolutionary origin of man, it is because he wants to. It is not because there is any evidence which necessitates such a belief. Indeed, if one wishes to gather all the evidence concerned, there is at least a piece of evidence contrary to the theory of evolution for every evidence which supports the theory of evolution. This is a rather safe generalization, or course, simply because evidence by itself is completely neutral as to its explanation. Explanations are provided by humans, and any piece of evidence which could be construed one way could also be construed another way by the person involved. Since the evidence itself is completely neutral, the individual makes up his own mind as to whether he believes in evolution or not. However, many people are browbeaten into believing in the theory of evolution. According to some this theory has the status of scientific fact. But there is much evidence against evolution and no necessity for any human being to believe it as a proven idea.

            In contrast to its account of the humble natural origin of man, the standard world of western civilization aggrandizes the present nature of man. We are taught that man is basically good, that men can be trusted, that the important thing is that we not degrade man by supposing him to have in any sense evil motives. If it is true that men are subject to Satan, it makes a great deal of difference in our understanding of the processes of this world. If every politician is subjected to the influence of and adversary who attempts to get him to do evil, thinking beings would rather not put into the hands of any one human being any great concentration of power. But, if on the other hand, as western civilization teaches, every man is inherently good, perhaps we need not fear. Each individual may be given the opportunity to account for himself and his own personal experience as to what the real nature of existence is. What is your sample of human nature? Are most human beings good, or do most human beings do evil in one degree or another? When human beings have a highly concentrated power in their hands, do most people use it to do good, or do most people use it to do evil? Single examples may be taken to prove either side. But the question, or course, is, what is the generalization which is true?

            Going on to the future history of man, again though the world recognizes that death is a necessity which comes upon every human being. The important thing is, what is the consequence of death? The world teaches that there is an oblivion, that when we die, we pass into a non-existence where we no longer exist as entities. Coupled with this is the idea that there is no judgment for the acts of man, that the only possible consequences of our acts in this life are the physical rewards and punishments which affect us up until the day of our death. This leads, of course, to the idea that  getting caught in doing anti-social things is the problem and that if we suffer social disapprobation, it is simply because we were not wise enough to elude the restrictions of our community.

The Nature of Values

            Going on to the third general area, let us contrast the values of the gospel and the world of western civilization in regard to the status of values themselves. The gospel plainly teaches that there is a right or wrong. There is a morality which is not simply the whim of God and which man can know. There is an eternal righteousness which leads to happiness both now and later. Accompanying this idea of the eternal nature of right and wrong is the concept of the worth of the individual. In the gospel frame of reference, the individual person is the most important thing in existence, and every human being is of virtually infinite worth compared with anything else in the universe, compared with any non-personal or non-individual existence in the universe. Whatever programs, governments of society, or actions of individuals which are proposed and executed, the church would teach us that the worth of the individual ought to be respected and kept in mind at all times. No human being should be treated simply as a means to an end, but every human being ought to be treated as an end and worthy in and of himself. Now, in contrast to this, the world teaches that all values are relative, that the thing that is important is simply the satisfaction of desire, that there is no right or no wrong. The world also teaches that the individual is of little worth. The individual may have some worth insomuch as he finds himself on the top of the social power structure, but the teaching of the world is that the important thing is the social group, the social group being the basis and source of all values for individual human beings. The important thing, therefore, for the human being is to accommodate himself to the nature of the group. Most education is carried on under this valuation, attempting to get the individual to subordinate himself to the nature of his social existence and group rather than attempting to bring out in him the important things which he feels are of worth and to enable him to be an independent individual.

The Source of Salvation

            The fourth category in which we might contrast these two worlds is in relation to salvation. In the gospel of Jesus Christ salvation is vertical; that is to say, man has to look upward to a supernatural source for his salvation both from the troubles of life and the perils of eternity. Man seeks to receive from his Father in Heaven first of all the Spirit, to be guided in truth and light; secondly the priesthood by which power he can control the elements of this earth, the power of Satan, and anything necessary which stands in the way of his salvation. Thirdly, he receives the blessings of a personal God, a Father who loves him and who is anxious to reunite with him.

            Salvation for the world, on the other hand, is lateral. This means to say, the teaching of the world is that salvation is to be obtained from our fellow beings. The teaching is that man is saved first of all through learning, so we must go to school and be taught by our fellow human beings what is truth, what is right, what we should know. Ultimately, the problems of our civilization and the struggle against nature are to be solved according to the world through physical force. To this end science is employed, but even more the power of government to pass laws and physically to force certain requirements upon society is looked upon as the great panacea. In the gospel of Jesus Christ, the ultimate salvation is looked for in righteousness; whereas in the world salvation is looked for in physical force. In this connection we quote President David O. McKay in his speech in the October, 1962 General Conference. President McKay says this:

            “Today many nations have lost their independence. Men defeated have been compelled to labor for their conquerors. Property has been seized without recompense, and millions of people have surrendered all guarantees of personal liberty. Force and compulsion will never establish the ideal society. This can come only by a transformation within the individual soul, a life redeemed from sin and brought in harmony with the Divine Will. Instead of selfishness, men must be willing to dedicate their fortunes, and their sacred honor for the alleviation of the ills of mankind. Hate must be supplanted by sympathy and forbearance. Peace and true prosperity can come only by conforming our lives to the law of love, the law of the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. A mere appreciation of the social ethics of Jesus is not sufficient. Men’s hearts must be changed. In these days of uncertainty and unrest, liberty-loving people’s greatest responsibility and paramount duty is to preserve and proclaim the freedom of the individual, his relationship to Diety, and the necessity of obedience to the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Only thus will mankind find peace and happiness.”

            So it is we see that we are faced with this fundamental choice. We can choose the universe the gospel commends to us, or we may choose the world of western civilization. Under the one, we will seek righteousness, which is to say, we will seek by the help of God to better the lives of our fellow men through kindness, through love, through any way that does not involve physical force, which is compatible with the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. If, on the other hand, we seek the power of the world, if we seek to follow the pattern of the world, we will try to solve the problems of man through physical force. May I remind you that these two are essentially the two plans propounded in the council in heaven. The one is the plan of righteousness and agency and honoring of the individual propounded by our Father in Heaven and accepted by the Savior in the pre-existence. The other is the program of Satan which denies the agency and  worth of the individual man and tries to solve all problems and bring about salvation through physical force.

            Again may we note in this Christmas season that the life of our Savior Jesus Christ is a monument to his belief that righteousness is a much greater power than physical force. When the Savior came among men in his earthly existence, the Jews were expecting a Messiah who would come and blight the Roman armies and physically destroy all the enemies of Judaism. But the Savior recognized that there is something much greater, that righteousness is the greatest triumph of all. In his life he sought and succeeded never to succumb to the temptations of the adversary in any particular or in any degree. By this triumph Jesus Christ was able to gain the power of righteousness which is for him the power to resurrect all human beings, to bless those who have themselves sought righteousness with the blessings of eternity including exaltation, and to deliver to each man that happiness which he deserves and wants. He rejected explicitly the possible salvation he could have wrought even with the power of Godhood in destroying armies, in destroying disease, in destroying physical force. He recognized the worth of the individual and that the only salvation worth anything is getting human beings to choose righteousness of themselves, that he might honor them as persons. So in this Christmas season, may we remember the example of our Savior. May we seize upon a clear understanding of that world in which the Savior believed and in which he acted and which was the basis of his triumph. May we reject the sophistries of the adversary and the very unreal world which he and his proponents would have us believe in, the world which leads to destruction.

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