Human

One of the most stereotypically common responses people would give while I was a missionary when we would ask them why they stopped going to church was that they were offended by someone, most commonly one of the local leaders. It was easy, oftentimes, for us as missionaries to internally berate these people who obviously didn't have enough faith to take such things in stride. If they just had stronger testimonies they could handle that kind of issue.

I didn't realize until we came to Acts 13 in class that even Christ's chosen Apostles, who had walked and talked with the Savior, also had similar personal issues. In verse 13 it says "Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia: and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem." The text doesn't say why John (aka Mark) left them, but context and other things suggest that it might have been the same reason for which Paul later refused to go on a missionary journey with Mark. These guys had the strongest testimonies a person can have--they saw Jesus--and they still had a dispute notable enough that it shows up in the Bible 2,000 years later.

If such spiritual powerhouses as Mark and Paul could still have such a sharp disagreement that they decided not to work together--and still be huge spiritual powerhouses--then I suppose I should be less judgmental of people when they have problems with other people. It's part of being human. Regrettable, unfortunate, and ought to be avoided, but it doesn't make them any less righteous. Just human.

A Brief History of the End of Time

The Prophet Joseph Smith called the Book of Revelation "the plainest book God ever caused to be written." A funny statement, for obvious reasons. I suppose there could be many reasons why he would have said that--for one, he's a prophet, so he sees the things of God much more clearly than we do; for another, he could possibly be referring not to how easy it is to understand but how openly it describes (using complex words and symbols) the Lord's doings in the last days.

I like reading the Book of Revelation because I feel like it gives me a sort of insight into how God sees the world, the people in it, and the events that transpire among us. We know that for God, time doesn't work the same way it does for us. The scriptures tell us that all is as a single day to Him, and all things are continually before His face. So when he sees the history of the world, clearly He sees it from a very different perspective than we do.

I suppose it's just the same as the way a hypercube (a theoretical model of a 4-dimensional cube) looks strange and moves strangely from our three-dimensional viewpoint, and yet if we were able to see it in all four dimensions it would appear perfectly normal and simple.

If that’s too nerdy for you, I’m sorry, I used to be a physics major. It’s just how it makes sense in my head.

The Praise and Glory of God

One thing that has been weighing on my mind recently is the responsibility I have as a member of Christ's church and a holder of the Priesthood of God, to bring other people into the fold of God. I remember a scripture my mission president shared with us at a zone conference once, in which we learned that a big part of the purpose in bringing other people into the church was more than simply increasing our numbers, more than to become stronger members ourselves, and even more than bringing the blessings of the gospel to people who otherwise wouldn't have had them--the scripture said (paraphrasing) God the Father is glorified in that we bring Him much fruit. I remembered that verse because in our class discussion we came to Philippians 1:11 - "Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God." D&C 4 notes that we must have an "eye single to the glory of God," and when we bring forth much fruit, or bring many people into the light of the gospel, God is glorified.

I had always understood the idea of God being glorified as that He receives a fuller joy in His family. That isn't wrong, but it's also not a complete explanation.

When the in-class discussion got to Philippians 2:9 - "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him..." we began talking about how Christ was exalted. In the King Follett Discourse, Joseph Smith taught that when Christ was exalted, He took Heavenly Father's place, and Heavenly Father was promoted as well to a higher exaltation. So by extension, as we each individually approach exaltation, it really does exalt our Father even more, in a pretty literal sense. And when we bring others with us, our Father is exalted that much more.

I love how the gospel makes so much sense.

The Glory Which Shall Be Revealed in Us

Every once in a while we need a good boost, emotionally and spiritually. There are plenty of reasons to feel down about life, disappointed by the circumstances we are in, or by the people we care about, or (which is worst) by our own selves. That's why I was happy to find Romans chapter 8:

 16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
 17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

We talk about keeping an eternal perspective, and how that will help us understand and find meaning and comfort in our trials-- 18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

I love that. It's like a change of warm, dry clothes after coming in from a storm. But at the same time I can't help feeling sometimes that it's not talking about me--sometimes I can't see the fulfillment of those grand promises. Sometimes it all feels so foreign.

 24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope.

I know I should hope for it. I want to. I know we should pray and ask the Lord for all things that we need, and if we ask with faith and sincerity of heart it will be given us. But how do I ask for something I don't know how to ask for? --something I don't even know I want?

 26 For we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

God loves me. This is what I know.

The Unknown God

While I was serving as a missionary in Paraguay, I knew of many missionaries who liked to study the Bible intensively, looking for ways to support the Book of Mormon and the Restoration of the Church using Bible verses. The idea behind this focused study was to better understand where our investigators would be coming from, the scriptures they already believed in, and to build off of the knowledge they already had. We have been told, after all, that we don't come to tear down other beliefs but to build upon the truths they already have.

But I was always disappointed by how little it actually helped people to accept the gospel and be converted.

In Acts 17, Paul had a similar experience. We find him and Barnabas in Athens, trying to preach the gospel as they have always done. The Greeks are a tough crowd, though, and Paul tries appealing to the beliefs they already have--he begins by declaring to them the Unknown God, whom they have included in their pagan worship, and whom Paul identifies as God the Father. He then quotes their own poets, that we are offspring of God. He teaches them profound doctrine in logical terms their philosophical and secular minds would find familiar--and they reject him.

The lesson for me, too late to help me on my mission but timely enough to help me in the rest of my life, is that the gospel is best preached not by reason or logic, but by pure testimony. People don't make the kind of significant changes that the gospel requires simply because you show them that God wants them to do basically what they're already doing, but at the Mormon church; people change their lives when they feel the Spirit testify of truth, and the Spirit accompanies the pure and simple testimony of faith.

Daddy

We often talk about God as our Heavenly Father--and in general, we believe it. However, the gospel becomes so much more profound, simple, humbling and exalting when we think about what that means. When I was on my mission, for example, people would often ask us why God would do this or that, or what God thinks about a certain subject or action, and particularly how God considers them. It's a simple doctrine, but it would amaze people when we would explain that God is our Father, being the same kind of relationship that we share with our earthly parents.

When we came to 1 John chapter 4 in class, Bro. Griffin paused for a few minutes to talk about exactly that--how a father can feel such love for a child. When a baby is born, the father is inescapably lost in love with this little child. This child has, up to this point, done nothing to merit love or respect. It's been little more than several months of discomfort, expense, pain, again and again until it is born. It's done nothing for the father but inconvenienced him. Yet when that little nuisance sees daylight and cries--still just a hideous lump of flesh--the father can't help falling so perfectly in love that all of that simply melts away.

Even for several months after being born the child can't even reciprocate that love--doesn't know how to, doesn't care to. All it does is suck up love and attention from its parents. But over time--after countless irregular nights, messes, smells, and more expenses--when the child learns to show love in return, how unspeakably precious it is.

That is how God sees you.

James 1:5

All throughout my high school years in seminary classes--and even more so since serving a mission--I have read James 1:5 countless dozens of times. Honestly, I've even gotten tired of reading it so much that I've skipped over it in the past, jumping from verse 4 to verse 7. It's a great passage of scripture, but overworked. So when we came to this part of the New Testament in class, I sincerely hoped we wouldn't dwell on it for too long, that horse had been beaten to death a long time ago.

But of course, the things we need to hear tend to be the same as the things we don't want to hear.

The general authorities have taught that when we ask the Lord something in prayer, there are three typical answers we will receive: yes, no, and silence. I had also heard this before, but what Bro. Griffin said next really caught my attention--the implicit principle in that teaching is that the best kind of question to ask the Lord is that one that is well enough researched, and ready enough to be acted upon, that all we need is a simple yes-no confirmation.

Verse 6 contains the quintessential "Let Him Ask in Faith." Note that Joseph didn't just read the scripture, feel inspired, and then pray--that wouldn't have been enough to result in the First Vision. By his own account he read and pondered it again and again. "Some of the best sermons we will ever hear will be thus prompted from the pulpit of memory--to an audience of one." --Neil A. Maxwell

All that Will Live Godly

Paul's epistles to Timothy were very poignant to me. Often my reading for class ends up going by without a thought, and I come to the end, having read every word, but having no clue what I had read. Not every time--but since in my head it is homework, it sort of fuzzes out sometimes.

But as I was reading through 1 and 2 Timothy, I found myself pausing several times to re-read a verse, mark it, make notes. I got stuck like this pretty quickly: the first verse that arrested me was 1 Tim 1:5 - "Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned." Normally, when I think of feigning faith, I have typically thought of the enlarging-their-phylacteries type of hypocrite, whose goal is to show others how faithful they are. But as I read this verse the thought struck me that perhaps even more harmful than convincing other people is feigning to yourself that you are more faithful than you are.

Another verse that made me pause was 2 Timothy 3:12 - "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." The beautiful thing about studying with the guidance of the Spirit is that you can see the scriptures in a whole different context, or in ways you hadn't ever thought of before. In this case, I realized that persecution doesn't only mean people being intolerant of your beliefs--in fact, here in Provo I rarely feel "persecuted" by other people. But what is hostile to my beliefs and my testimony is the fact that I live in a world of temptations, constantly wearing at my desire and resolve to keep the commandments and follow in the Savior's path.

So then the question quietly surfaced, If I live in a world full of temptations, with so much spiritual persecution all around me constantly, how can I consistently remain faithful? Fortunately I kept reading, and I found Titus 1:15 - "unto the pure all things are pure." As I look for good things in the world and focus on those instead of only avoiding the bad, I will see and recognize the good things more. Perhaps, I thought, even though temptations may surround me constantly, if I am pure and faithful, all things will be pure unto me.

When God Doesn't Act in Power

Beginning in Acts 21, Paul is persecuted, arrested, bound, beaten, tried, falsely accused, and then finally, in the end of chapter 24, is left in prison under Felix for two years. Two years, just because Felix wanted to extort a bribe, and to please the Jews. What did Paul even do for two years in jail? Then after the two years he was summoned to trial again, but only as a scheme by the Jews to kill him. Paul appealed to Caesar, and was transported by ship, but the ship was wrecked. When he finally reached Rome he was kept under house arrest for another two years, just because Caesar was too busy to see him.

Now to put this story in context, not long before Paul had left on this doomed journey, Peter had been miraculously delivered from prison twice. Why hadn't Paul been delivered as Peter had been?

At the end of last semester I was waiting patiently for my letter of acceptance to BYU's film program--I had plenty of experience, met all the expectations, followed all the steps, and all of my film friends said I was probably the most likely to get accepted. But my letter came, and it was not an acceptance letter.

So this whole semester I've been trying to decide what major to study instead. I finally decided on advertising, and I started talking to advisers and learning more about how to get into that program. What I found out was I would have to burn another semester taking the pre-req courses, then after that semester ended I could apply to the program, and if I got accepted, I could begin classes in the major the semester after that. Why did I have to be set back a whole year and a half? It's a little upsetting.

But I think it's those times when the Lord doesn't make bare His mighty arm, when He doesn't deliver you, that your faith can really show. During his years in confinement he wrote several of his epistles now included in the New Testament; he taught people in the prisons, and people who came to his house to hear him; he testified before kings and rulers of the world. He accomplished miracles--just as God had promised him--because he wasn't delivered.

"Our Light Affliction"

As William Tyndale was translating the New Testament, he came across 2 Corinthians 5:18--"And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation." Only the Greek text he was translating from didn't use the word reconciliation. The word he needed to properly express the concept just didn't exist in English. So he made one up: At-one-ment.

God hath given to us the gospel of the Atonement.

We usually speak about the Atonement of Jesus Christ in context of how He suffered and died for our sins. Indeed, that is the meat and bones of His great atoning sacrifice, the promise that if we make sacred covenants and keep them until the end, we may be allowed to pass the immeasurable gulf of sin that separates us from heaven--"for he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." (2 Cor. 15:21)

But we also know that all that is unjust or unfair about this life can be made right through the Atonement as well. Brigham Young once said "every trial and experience you have passed through is necessary for your salvation." The thing about our mortal existence is that problems don’t just go away. Things don’t work out. Your heart gets broken. You feel life and time itself relentlessly dragging you through the dirt, without even pausing to notice you. But, because Jesus Christ suffered and bled out his love for us--“our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." (2 Cor. 4:17).

Charity

This week in class we studied 1 Corinthians 13, Paul’s quintessential summary of charity. We know from the Book of Mormon that charity is “the pure love of Christ” (Moro. 7:47), and I have often been tempted just to accept that definition and move on. Charity = pure love of Christ. That’s simple enough. What’s next?

But Bro. Griffin stopped us on that phrase and analyzed each word: The pure love of Christ. The pure love of Christ. The pure love of Christ. The pure love of Christ.

“Of” tends to indicate possession; the thing before belongs to the person after. Therefore, that pure love belongs to Christ—not to us.

When we talk about charity, generally we default to talking about ways we can serve others, things we can do to be kind and generous, attention on everyone but ourselves. That is definitely good, and a big part of practicing charity. But charity itself, we don’t possess; charity is the love that Christ has for each of us, and the best we can do is to try to reflect that charity towards those around us. I don’t have the reference, but Elder Jeffrey R. Holland is quoted as saying that you and I make attempts, but true charity was seen on earth only once.

1 Cor. 13 describes charity, but in the third person, almost a disembodied concept. But when we remember that true charity is an attribute of God, those descriptions become descriptions of Christ Himself. And as we strive to become more like the Savior, they naturally become descriptions of ourselves as well.

Paul vs. the Gospel

In many parts of the New Testament, particularly in the epistles of Paul, there are verses of scripture that seem to support teachings of other Christian churches instead of the LDS Church, or even contradict our doctrine. For example, in a few places Paul says, in effect, that all you need to do is have faith in Jesus and confess Him with your mouth, and you will be saved--a staple teaching of many churches, but patently against our understanding that faith is an essential part of the whole gospel. Of course, the trouble with such a reading is that it takes the verse in isolation, rather than in the context of all of Paul's teachings.

In 1 Corinthians 1:17 we find one such seeming inconsistency: Paul says, "Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel." Some churches have interpreted this verse to mean that baptism isn't essential, but we know that baptism is an absolute requirement to gain exaltation. I think that the lesson we can learn in these examples is twofold: there are no quick-and-simple solutions to the gospel, no easy way to heaven; and we ought to study out the gospel as far as we can to enrich our knowledge and understanding of its principles. If you study all of the teachings of Paul, and understand the context in which he is teaching, it becomes clear that he merely meant that the important step for that man at that time was to have faith and be humble enough to confess the Christ, and that Christ sent him not just to put people in the water, but to teach the whole gospel. Thus by really studying the scriptures we can learn true doctrine, and come closer to our Savior.

Ordinary People

This week in our New Testament class we talked a lot about the martyrdom of Stephen, in Acts chapters 6 and 7. As we discussed the story of Stephen, I was surprised that I had not really noticed him before, or if I had I didn't give him much thought. Stephen was called as sort of an assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, or a local leader over the Church, but what is distinctive about him is that when Luke mentions the calling of the seven assistants or local leaders, he is the only one given an epithet: "a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost." Similar words are used to describe him later as well. We can also tell that he was a man of great faith and strong testimony, since he saw a vision of God the Father and Jesus Christ as he was being martyred.

The other six assistants are given names only, except for one who is designated as a "proselyte of Antioch." However, a critical reading of the text shows that these men were also very strong in the faith. For example, immediately after they are set apart it is recorded that “the word of God increased; and the number of disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith” (and by “obedient to the faith” I presume we can infer that they were also great spiritual anchors). Also there is the example of Philip, who is only named, and apparently almost overlooked, but later we read that he had four daughters who could prophesy—by which we can learn that Philip himself was also a powerful example of righteousness.

So my point in all this is that not only the notable and great figures can be spiritually powerful, and have great influence on the testimonies of those around them. I would hardly be recognized outside my own ward, but even so, if I strive to serve the Lord the best I can, the Lord can magnify me and through me He can do great things, even if they appear small to the understanding of men.

Spiritual Power

I wanted to start by commenting on the incredible spiritual power demonstrated by the leaders of the Church during the early days of its existence, shortly after Christ had been resurrected and ascended into heaven. First we have Peter, the chief apostle, the quintessential role model of a man of God. Acts 5:15 says that he had such faith, and he was such a powerful minister that others could have such faith, that people were healed in some cases simply by his shadow passing over them. In addition the chapters before and after that show clearly how he was able to preach the gospel with the Spirit, with such power and authority that thousands of people were baptized in many cities and towns throughout Palestine.

But Peter isn't the only one who demonstrated immense spiritual power. Stephen, one of the seven called to administer over the temporal needs of the Church, is introduced as "a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost" (Acts 6:5). Three verses later it says "And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people." Even as he is surrounded by enemies, stoning and killing him, he still has the faith and trust in the Lord that he can say "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." He had just seen God the Father and Jesus Christ in vision, and rather than squelching his vision, his killers opened it further and landed him there in Their presence.

The lesson in these examples, I believe, is that we too are capable of such faith and power and divine aid. In his last sermon, Stephen taught about how different people from the scriptures passed or failed their trials of faith, and the marvelous results of passing our trials. I think that the reason these stories were included in the Bible is to show us that if we pass our trials of faith, remaining true to the gospel and to the Savior, we become instruments in His hands capable of marvelous things for the benefit of all people.