Four Titles - Child of God

Some weeks ago, I mentioned that I accidentally found myself posting blog updates as inspired by each General Conference talk in succession. I discovered that had a pattern going, and I just ran with it. Since then, I've skipped a couple of talks. Today, I'd like to skip a few more - not because I don't like the talks I'm skipping, but because I really like the talk I'm skipping to: President Dieter F. Uchtdorf's Four Titles.

This talk shares principles that solidified what I learned from Bishop Dean M. Davies' about building on a sure foundation, which was basically that I should identify and define myself primarily as a child of God. To quote President Uchtdorf:

One title that defines all of us in the most fundamental way is [child] of Heavenly Father. No matter what else we are or do in life, we must never forget that we are God’s literal spirit children. We were His children before we came to this world, and we will be His children forevermore. This basic truth should change the way we look at ourselves, our brothers and sisters, and life itself.

I suppose I'm still working on letting this truth change my life. It's kind of easy to forget Eternal things in the midst of day-to-day life. It's easy to forget what's really important in the long run. I, like many people my age (I assume), find myself easily distracted by everything that's going on in life. Sometimes I need to remind myself of the basics. And I mean the really, really basic basics. I am a child of God.

Unfortunately, none of us quite lives up to everything that this title implies, “for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” 

It can be discouraging at times to know what it means to be a son of God and yet come up short. The adversary likes to take advantage of these feelings. Satan would rather that you define yourself by your sins instead of your divine potential. Brethren, don’t listen to him.

I've fallen into that trap before. Sometimes I think that what I've done disqualifies me from my divine potential. After all, God can't look upon sin with the least degree of allowance, right? How can I be welcomed into heaven and become like He is after I've done X, Y, and Z? I'm so far from perfect and I consistently fail to make any progress. How can I ever reach that goal?

Unfortunately, this discouragement in exactly what Satan wants. By focussing on my imperfection rather than my potential, I'm denying myself the opportunity to be forgiven and improve. I've heard repeatedly that there's nothing I can do in this life, no problem I can cause for myself, that's beyond the Savior's ability to solve. No finite amount of sin, however monumental it may seem and, in fact be, can stand up to His infinite Atonement. I cannot fall farther than His arm can reach to lift me back up.

(Please note that this is NOT a license to commit sin and repent afterward. It doesn't work like that. This is, however, an invitation to forsake any feelings of hopelessness and lack of self-worth.)

Then President Uchtdorf said something that reminded me a lot of something I said.

I do not believe in a God who would set up rules and commandments only to wait for us to fail so He could punish us. [Or a Park Ranger who would build a fence only to wait for us to cross it so he could punish us by pushing us off a cliff.] I believe in a Heavenly Father who is loving and caring and who rejoices in our every effort to stand tall and walk toward Him. Even when we stumble, He urges us not to be discouraged—never to give up or flee our allotted field of service—but to take courage, find our faith, and keep trying.

So often, I forget how much or Heavenly Father loves us, how patient He is with us, how much He wants us to keep striving to keep His commandments no matter how hopeless it feels to us. He knows we can make it if we give it enough time, and He knows how much time we have, on Earth and in the eternities. He knows how strong and good we are, even if we can never see the strength and goodness in ourselves. All we often see in ourselves is our weakness and our past failings. He sees the BIG picture, our entire identities, the good and the bad. And He wants us to focus on the good. He wants us to be optimists, to remember that we are His children and He loves us, and nothing will ever change that.

These truths are glorious to think about. Then how are they so easy to forget?

Getting Defensive

Now that I've finished my detour with Moroni, which is strongly connected to the thought I had planned next, I'd like to return to Elder Hale's talk by repeating an anecdote he shared toward the beginning of his talk:

When I was in the ninth grade, I returned from my first out-of-town game with the varsity baseball team. My father discerned that on the long bus ride home I had witnessed language and behavior that was not in harmony with the standards of the gospel. Being a professional artist, he sat down and drew a picture of a knight—a warrior capable of defending castles and kingdoms. 

As he drew and read from the scriptures, I learned how to be a faithful priesthood holder—to protect and defend the kingdom of God. The words of the Apostle Paul were my guide: 

“Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 

“Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 

“And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 

“Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 

“And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” 

Brethren, if we are faithful in the priesthood, this armor will be given to us as a gift from God. We need this armor! 

Young men, your fathers and grandfathers never faced the temptations that you face on a regular basis. You are living in the last days. If your father wanted to get in trouble, he had to go searching for it. Not anymore! Today temptation finds you! Please remember that! Satan desires to have you, and “sin lieth at the door.” How will you resist his aggressive tactics? Put on the whole armor of God.

I want to emphasize that last paragraph. According to this, Satan's being more aggressive now than he's been in the past. I'm a little bit surprised by that. In my mind, I'm reminded of something Alma the Younger said to his son, Corianton, "Behold, I say unto you, is not a soul at this time as precious unto God as a soul will be (or was) at the time of his coming?" (Alma 39:17) What's so special about us? Why would Satan fight harder for our souls than he fought for our fathers and grandfathers?

I don't know the reason for it, but I do know that he is fighting harder now than he has been, because I've been told that by a prophet of God. I don't think God would allow false doctrine to be taught in General Conference without President Monson standing up and correcting it shortly thereafter (which I'm guessing is part of the reason he always gets the last word in Conference). I've gone off on a tangent here. Time to refocus.

Again, with Elder Hales as it was with Captain Moroni, the call to arms is a call for defense. "How will you resist [Satan's] aggressive tactics?" Elder Hales asked, "Put on the whole armor of God." Concerning the subject of defense, I'm reminded of a group of Lamanites who had an encounter with Amalickiah as he was rising to power. As I recall, they had a pretty good strategy against him:

And it came to pass that they had gathered themselves together upon the top of the mount which was called Antipas, in preparation to battle.

And they had appointed a man to be a king and a leader over them, being fixed in their minds with a determined resolution that they would not be subjected to go against the Nephites. (Alma 47: 7&6)

They played defense, and it worked out great for them until they let their guard down.

I guess my point is that we don't need to attack other people or their beliefs, but we do need to defend our faith whenever and however it's attacked. There are a lot of Spiritual Lamanites out there, and Satan is fighting harder than he's ever fought before (probably. He's certainly fighting harder than he was a generation ago). We need to be ready to withstand those attacks.

Moroni's Diligence

We're reading about Captain Moroni in our family scripture study. I've always liked Captain Moroni, and the main reason why is summed up in Alma 50:1: And now it came to pass that Moroni did not stop making preparations for war, or to defend his people against the Lamanites; (Emphasis Added).

His first recorded act as their commander had been to given them armor, which had never been used by the Lehites up to that point. Then he built fortresses, which had also not been done before on that continent. And even after he had driven off all of his enemies, he continued to fortify the cities of his people, knowing that the Lamanites would return.

We live in a world full of spiritual Lamanites. Sometimes they're temptations, sometimes distractions, sometimes discouragement. Whatever form they take, Spiritual Lamanites are always aggressive and relentless. They will not leave you alone. And if you somehow manage to drive them off temporarily, they'll be back before you know it. We need to defend ourselves, but it's not enough to drive them off. We need to prepare ourselves for when they come back.

In Alma chapter 46, Amalickiah tried to overthrow the Nephite government. Moroni defeated Amalickiah's coup by raising the Title of Liberty and inspiring his people to defend their freedom. Amalickiah fled, but he wasn't finished yet. He spent the whole next chapter plotting, scheming and murdering to gain power over the Lamanites until he became their king. Then he rallied his new army to war against the Nephites. But Moroni had not been idle in Amalickiah's absence.

Now it came to pass that while Amalickiah had thus been obtaining power by fraud and deceit, Moroni, on the other hand, had been preparing the minds of the people to be faithful unto the Lord their God. 

Yea, he had been strengthening the armies of the Nephites, and erecting small forts, or places of resort; throwing up banks of earth round about to enclose his armies, and also building walls of stone to encircle them about, round about their cities and the borders of their lands; yea, all round about the land. Alma 48: 7-8

Because of Moroni's diligence, Amalickiah's conquest was ultimately unsuccessful and he was eventually killed.

How can we follow the example of Moroni and defend ourselves against Spiritual Lamanites? By building up our defenses, whether we're being attacked or not. If we increase our spiritual defenses every opportunity we get, the Spiritual Lamanites will be as powerless against us as Amalickiah's army was against the forces of Moroni. They will come at us again and again, and it won't always be easy to fight them off. In fact, it usually won't be. But if we continue to shore up our defenses, even when we already feel safe, we can give ourselves the advantage in the battles ahead. And as the battles get tougher, we may need every advantage we can get.

Getting Political

So, no offense to Elder Nelson but I don't really feel like blogging about missionary work, so I'm going to skip his talk and probably spend a few days talking about Elder Robert D. Hales' talk instead. He spoke of the Armor of God. But before he went into that, he started his talk with this paragraph:

Brethren, it is an honor to be with the holders of the royal priesthood of God. We are living in the last days, in “perilous times.” As bearers of the priesthood, we have the responsibility to stand strong with a shield of faith against the fiery darts of the adversary. We are role models to the world, protecting God-given, inalienable rights and freedoms. We stand in defense of our homes and our families.

I know that he's addressing Priesthood holders, and I was a little reluctant to share this paragraph because of that, because I know that many of my readers are women. I don't mean to offend any of you. The reason I'm sharing this paragraph is because most of it applies to all of us:

We are living in the last days, in “perilous times.” ...we have the responsibility to stand strong with a shield of faith against the fiery darts of the adversary. We are role models to the world, protecting God-given, inalienable rights and freedoms. We stand in defense of our homes and our families.

As I review this revised paragraph, I realize that I've shared many of these points before. Using our faith as a shield against the evils of the world, standing as role-models or examples of righteousness for anyone who may be watching. But there are some topics in this paragraph that I haven't touched on, mostly because they're too political. "We stand in defense of our homes and our families," ..."protecting God-given, inalienable rights and freedoms."

I wonder about this. I understand the "God-given" part. There's no way in the world a group of colonists could stand up against the entire British armada without heaven's help, and I recall hearing that the Constitution was "inspired," so I know that God had a strong hand in the creation and shaping of this country, and the colonists knew that, too. But when I hear people nowadays talking about our "rights," they seem to really be talking about entitlements. I don't know where the line between inalienable rights and entitlements and privileges is drawn.

I partially understand how protecting various rights and freedoms will help us defend our homes and families. We have an obligation to preserve the rights and freedoms God has given us and pass them down to our children. If we lose our freedom, so will they.

But what freedoms are we talking about? Freedom of speech, surely, and freedom of religion. And...? The right to bear arms? So we can physically defend our homes and families? It makes sense, but in order to make use of that right, I'd have to actually have a gun, and that thought scares me a little. Would I be brave enough to use it? Would I be smart enough to use it right?

What other rights do we need to preserve? I'm growing concerned about the loss of parental rights. I'm hearing all kinds of nasty things, that parents are losing their rights to educate their children or choose what healthcare they get, that teenagers are getting more freedom to have abortions without parental consent or even knowledge. It's scary. But I'm not sure how much of it is true.

I know so very little about our government and our laws. I don't know how our laws are changing. I don't know what I can/should do about it. To quote Alice from an Alice in Wonderland themed video game, "If ignorance is bliss, I must be ecstatic." But I don't feel ecstatic. I feel concerned, though apparently not as concerned as I should be. I should be concerned enough to learn what I need to do and then do it. Mostly, I'm barely concerned enough to worry about it. I guess I need to change that. If I'm going to protect my God-given rights and freedoms, I'll have to learn what they are and how I can fight for them.

But first I have some homework to do, and then I have to get to class.

"Mere Entertainment"

I feel like I should move forward with my talking about General Conference talks. Now that I know a way to increase my faith and trust, I'm going to implement it faithfully, perhaps religiously, as much as I can, for as long as it takes to see whether it's working. In the meantime, there are other topics of great importance that I should write about. The trouble is that I don't really have any thoughts about the next few talks that I feel I can share here. Maybe I should just skip those talks? Or maybe I should talk about something else for now.

You've heard of EFY, I'm sure. EFY stands for Especially For Youth. It's some kind of Mormon Youth Camp, I think. I've never actually been there. All I really know is that they produce CDs with gospel-themed music, and that that music can really help if you're trying to focus your mind on spiritual matters. I'm sure this must have helped me a lot on my mission, without my even realizing it. Now, I've felt my faith waning, and perhaps that's because I'm spending so much less time thinking about spiritual things. My entertainment has been far from gospel-related. This morning, I was feeling especially distracted, and I knew the EFY would help me refocus.

But even refocussing wasn't enough. I still couldn't think of what to share or how to share it, so I'm sharing a message about EFY instead.

President Boyd K. Packer shared a message called Worthy Music, Worthy Thoughts, wherein he said that music can direct thoughts in the mind like water in an irrigation channel. Uplifting music and, if I may broaden the topic, entertainment can lead us closer to God. Other forms of entertainment can cause us to plateau in our spiritual development, or even backslide, depending on what we watch, read, and listen to.

The talk whose message I've been struggling to share is Elder David A. Bednar's talk about the Law of Chastity. It's a difficult topic, and he uses some very bold and specific language, making it difficult to draw any message from his talk than exactly the message he intended to share. However, there's a paragraph in his talk in which he says, "Such relations are not merely a curiosity to be explored, an appetite to be satisfied, or a type of recreation or entertainment to be pursued selfishly."

What some people may see as "harmless entertainment" can actually be devastating and destructive to the soul. There's so much violence, sex, and bad language in the media and in the world around us. Many people are being affected by it without even realizing it, just as I was affected by EFY without my knowledge.

As with many things, entertainment and media can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how, how much, and when it's used. Use it wisely, and it can be an uplifting and inspiring influence for good. Use it unwisely, and it can hold you back and pull you down. According to Elder Bednar, the same is true about physical intimacy. If it's used at the right time, with the right person, for the right purpose, it can be a very positive thing. Used in any other way, it can break hearts and stain souls.

I suppose the moral of this message, then, is to pay attention to what's going on around you. What do you watch, read, listen to, and think about when you get a spare moment? Where are those forms of entertainment taking you? Do they bring you closer to God or pull you farther away? Are they making you stronger or weaker? Better or worse? (And if you think 'neither,' you may want to check again.)

Satan is very good at taking something dangerous and making it look harmless. Sometimes, only God knows how dangerous something is, while everyone else thinks it's fine. Like tea. I don't know why tea is against the Word of Wisdom, but God does. Perhaps we ought to take His word on it, trust Him, and not drink it. Maybe we'll find out later what God knew all along. And same-sex marriage. Many people think there's nothing wrong with it. Personally, I would be okay with letting it be a personal choice, meaning that individuals would be allowed to participate in it, but other individuals shouldn't be forced to recognize it. But I take my political advice from someone who's a LOT smarter than I am. If He says it's not okay... I'm just going to have to trust Him on that.

Maybe I trust God more than I thought.

Life is full of choices. Some choices are really hard to make, some are seemingly inconsequential. God knows what's best for us, and He advises us to the extent that we listen to Him. If we follow His advice, even in the small matters of what music we should listen to, He can help us make the choices that will bring us closer to Him.

Obedience Brings Blessings - Truth and Light

I learned that you can search for General Conference talks by topic. I searched this last Conference for a message on Trust, and I was lead to President Monson's talk, Obedience Brings Blessings. I decided to study that talk this morning, hoping that part of his message would give me directions on how I can increase my faith and trust. In a way, it did.

He that keepeth [God’s] commandments receiveth truth and light, until he is glorified in truth and knoweth all things. D&C 93:28  

Truth and light sound like they're closely related to faith and testimony.

There is no need for you or for me, in this enlightened age when the fulness of the gospel has been restored, to sail uncharted seas or to travel unmarked roads in search of truth. A loving Heavenly Father has plotted our course and provided an unfailing guide—even obedience. A knowledge of truth and the answers to our greatest questions come to us as we are obedient to the commandments of God. 

Sometimes, I have to remember that the commandments aren't a set of meaningless rules that God would curse us if we disobeyed, but rather, they're guidelines and sign posts that warn us of the consequences of certain actions and behaviors.

If there's a cliff, a park ranger will put up a fence and a sign saying "Warning! Cliff! Do not cross!" It's not that he puts up that fence anywhere he wants to, and pushes us off a cliff if we ignore it. God isn't inventing excuses to punish us, He's looking out for ways to protect us (mostly from our own stupidity).

We learn obedience throughout our lives. Beginning when we are very young, those responsible for our care set forth guidelines and rules to ensure our safety. Life would be simpler for all of us if we would obey such rules completely. Many of us, however, learn through experience the wisdom of being obedient. 

Here, President Monson told a story of he and a friend lighting a fire in a field when he was too young to use matches.

Danny and I learned several difficult but important lessons that day—not the least of which was the importance of obedience.

There are rules and laws to help ensure our physical safety. Likewise, the Lord has provided guidelines and commandments to help ensure our spiritual safety so that we might successfully navigate this often-treacherous mortal existence and return eventually to our Heavenly Father. 

 President closed his talk be quoting his predecessor, and listing many blessings that come to Latter-Day Saints through obedience.

Said President Gordon B. Hinckley, “The happiness of the Latter-day Saints, the peace of the Latter-day Saints, the progress of the Latter-day Saints, the prosperity of the Latter-day Saints, and the eternal salvation and exaltation of this people lie in walking in obedience to the counsels of … God.” 

Obedience is a hallmark of prophets; it has provided strength and knowledge to them throughout the ages. It is essential for us to realize that we, as well, are entitled to this source of strength and knowledge. It is readily available to each of us today as we obey God’s commandments. 

The knowledge which we seek, the answers for which we yearn, and the strength which we desire today to meet the challenges of a complex and changing world can be ours when we willingly obey the Lord’s commandments. I quote once again the words of the Lord: “He that keepeth [God’s] commandments receiveth truth and light, until he is glorified in truth and knoweth all things.”

Seems like the answers I'm looking for and the strength I hope to gain by receiving those answers can be gained only by obedience. It's a little bit of a catch-22, if I understand that phrase correctly. I want to increase my faith and trust in God so I can be more motivated to be obedient. I can strengthen my faith through obedience to the commandment, but obedience is an act of faith. You need to have at least some of one in order to gain more of the other. Right now, I'm a little bit worried that I'm dangerously low on both. Maybe there are little commandments, like daily prayer and scripture study, that I can obey to help me gain the faith and strength of will-power to obey the more difficult ones. I should pray to ask God to remind me to be more regular with those. I bet it would help at least some.

Trust Talk

This morning, I read President Marion G. Romney's October 1977 talk, "Trust in the Lord." In it, he shared several stories about people who put their trust in God and found that God is trustworthy. Such examples included David, the shepherd boy who slew Goliath, and the two-thousand stripling warriors of the Book of Mormon.

Then he shared a story that President Thomas S. Monson shared back when he was "Elder" Thomas S. Monson.

In the mission presidents’ seminar last June, Elder Thomas S. Monson told of the great faith and trust in the Lord of Randall Ellsworth, a missionary who, in Brother Monson’s words, “was crushed under that devastating earthquake in Guatemala, pinned for, I think, twelve hours. Found himself totally paralyzed from the waist down. Kidney functions, not present. No hope to ever walk again. … 

“He was flown to … Maryland and … interviewed in the hospital by a television reporter. The television reporter said to him, ‘The doctors say you will not walk again. What do you think, Elder Ellsworth?’ He said, ‘I’ll not only walk again, but I have a call from a prophet to serve a mission in Guatemala, and I shall go back to Guatemala and finish that mission. ’ … 

“He exercised twice the [requirement] outlined by the doctors. He exerted his faith. He received a blessing from the priesthood and his recovery was miraculous. It astounded the physicians and the specialists. He began to be able to stand on his feet. Then he could walk with crutches, and then the doctors said to him, ‘You may return to the mission field if the Church will permit you to go.’ He went. We sent him to Guatemala. He returned to the land to which he had been called, to the people whom he dearly loved. 

“While there he was walking, proselyting a full schedule with a cane in each hand. [His mission president] looked at him and said, ‘Elder Ellsworth, with the faith that you have, why don’t you throw those canes away and walk?’ And Elder Ellsworth said, ‘If you have that kind of faith in me [take the canes].’” He put down the canes and has never used them since. (Mission Presidents’ Training Seminar, June 1977, tape recording, Missionary Department.)

As inspiring as those stories are and were, I can't help thinking that it doesn't always work like that. Not everyone gets healed or delivered, notwithstanding their trust in God. I know that God always blesses those that put their trust in Him, but those blessings don't always come immediately, or even in this life. I've heard that "faith in God includes faith in His timing," and I know that a lot of people struggle with that. I guess I struggle with it, too, in a way.

I need to learn how to trust God and His perspective. I need to learn that as long as I trust God, things will work out somehow. I need to learn how to increase my faith. Apparently this "Trust talk" idea didn't work out as well as I had hoped.