Some interesting information from “Basic Facts About the Church” at http://www.lds.org/church/facts?lang=eng
"According to the National Council of Churches, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the second-fastest-growing church in the United States. However, despite its increasing numbers, the Church cautions against overemphasis on growth statistics. The Church makes no statistical comparisons with other churches and makes no claim to be the fastest-growing Christian denomination despite frequent news media comments to that effect.
It took 117 years—until 1947—for the Church to grow from the initial six members to one million. Missionaries were a feature of the Church from its earliest days, fanning out to Native American lands, to Canada, and, in 1837, beyond the North American continent to England. Not long after, missionaries were working on the European continent and as far away as India and the Pacific Islands. The two-million-member mark was reached just 16 years later, in 1963, and the three-million mark in eight years more. This accelerating growth pattern has continued with about a million new members now being added every three years or less. Growth consists both of convert baptisms and natural growth through the birth of children. Church membership today is over 14 million."
I recently received an email from my mom that included the following (I cannot guarantee that the following statistics are accurate, but they are probably pretty close):
"61,000 missionaries serve in 165 countries; 93 percent are college-age;
22 percent are female.
The church has 5.5 million members in the U.S., making it the fourth
largest individual U.S. denomination.
For the last 15 years, every day an average of 800+ people worldwide
joined the LDS church.
In 1984 a non-LDS professor estimated 265 million members by 2080; so
far growth has been faster.
As this growth has been steady, he said it will be the "first 'new'
major world religion since Islam.""
We have more than 50,000 full time missionaries in the Church, serving all over the world. The missionary program of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the most effective and efficient missionary program of any church in the world. Every year hundreds of thousands of people are taught and baptized into the Lord’s Kingdom.
But we will never be completely successful in bringing our brothers and sisters to a knowledge of the Savior and His Gospel until the members of the Wards and Branches of the Church begin to participate more fully in the work. Over the past several months I have come to realize and understand the importance of fellowshipping our Investigators—local members teaching alongside the missionaries; inviting Investigators into their homes to be taught, to read the scriptures, or for Family Home Evening.
Over the past several months we have been inviting the members of our ward to become more involved in the missionary work by doing the things mentioned above. We have found that Investigators are more likely to enter into the waters of baptism when the members have been part of the process. We have also seen that after Investigators are baptized, they are more likely to stay active in the Church when they have developed friendships with ward members.
We have just recently begun a program in our ward in which we will be assigning brothers and sisters who have been endowed and have current Temple Recommends to serve as Home Teachers and Visiting Teachers for recent converts and recently reactivated members. The goal is that endowed members will help prepare the non-endowed members to receive their Temple blessings. We have come to believe that the goal of all our members should be the Temple. As important as baptism and confirmation are, it is only through the ordinances of the Temple that we have the hope and promise of Eternal Life. No matter how good a life a person lives, he or she cannot be exalted without having received the blessings available in the Temple.
We are coming to realize that saving souls is very labor intensive. We do believe, however, that the results will be worth our efforts.
Last week we attended a Worldwide Leadership Training broadcast, at which several Apostles, Seventies, and other Church leaders spoke. From the things we were taught during this meeting, several of us that attended felt that we received confirmation that we are trying to move our ward in the direction that the Lord wants us to go. I tell you this, not to boast, but to bear witness to you that if we pray sincerely to know the Lord’s will concerning His work, He really will make it manifest to us, even if we are living in South Texas (or Southern Peru, or Danville, Illinois).
The Elders Quorum President in our ward has been working on an electronic form on which we can track the progress of our recent converts and newly reactivated members from the time of their baptism or reactivation to their receiving their endowments. This form will be used in conjunction with a program called “Drop Box,” which is available with Google Mail.
With this program, all of our ward leaders will be able to view and update the progress of the members so we can know immediately what needs to be done next. This form is based on the “New and Returning Member” form which you are probably already using. The main difference is that all the new and returning members are listed on one form instead of a number of individual sheets. As soon as we have this program up and running, I will be glad to email a copy of it to anyone who requests it. Perhaps it will be helpful to you in you wards and branches.
Whether we are sharing the Gospel with non-members, re-activating or strengthening baptized members, or performing ordinances for the dead in the House of the Lord, it is all one work--bringing souls unto Christ. We have been given the opportunity as well as the responsibility to be instruments in the hands of the Lord in His work, which is "...to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." I testify to you that our own eternal lives are dependent on our being diligent in this work.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Temple Work and Second Chances
I have been thinking recently about the work we do in the temples (for a brief explanation of temple ordinances, see my Blog posting of October 31, 2010, "They Called Me a Pig"). The idea of performing ordinances vicariously for people who have died is a new concept to most of our investigators and recent converts. I am afraid that even many of our long-time members, including some of those who have received their temple ordinances, do not completely understand Heavenly Father’s purpose in allowing this work to be performed.
I have found that many members of the Church believe that after a person who has not received temple ordinances dies, his or her name can be taken to the temple, the ordinances can be performed, and then that person can be exalted in the Celestial Kingdom. This is not in keeping with the Law of Justice or the Law of Mercy.
The fact of the matter is that, at some point in time, either during their own lifetimes or after they have died, all of Heavenly Father’s children will have the opportunity to be taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to receive the ordinances necessary for exaltation in the Celestial Kingdom. This is according to the Law of Justice—all people will have an equal opportunity. The great majority of this work will be done during the Millennium, when temples will dot the Earth and Satan will not be allowed to tempt the children of men.
Despite the fact that every individual will have his or her work completed, each will, nevertheless, be judged according to the life he or she lived. Even though many people that were born into this world lived during a time or in a place that the Gospel was not available to them, they all had the opportunity to live according to the truth that was available. No matter what the circumstances of the time or the place, there have always been good people and there have always been evil people. Those people who lived good lives will be judged and rewarded accordingly. Those people who lived evil lives will also be judged accordingly.
According to the Law of Mercy, the Atonement of Jesus Christ will answer for all the sins for all those who have repented sufficiently. According to the Law of Justice, the Atonement will be of no affect to those who have not repented. Despite the fact that all will have their temple work completed, those who lived lives worthy of receiving Celestial glory will go to the Celestial Kingdom, those who lived lives worthy of receiving Terrestrial glory will go the Terrestrial Kingdom, those who lived lives worthy of receiving Telestial glory will go to the Telestial Kingdom, and those who lived lives worthy of no glory will go to Outer Darkness. It is generally believed that most people will end up in the Terrestrial Kingdom.
A fair question to ask is: “Why do we do Temple work for everyone if everyone will not go to the Celestial Kingdom?” The answer, of course, is that we do not know how anyone will be judged; we assume that all of Heavenly Father’s children will return to His presence; therefore, the work needs to be completed.
Sometimes when people learn about this doctrine of salvation for the dead, they come to believe that God gives everybody a “second chance” to be saved. This is not the case. All will have an opportunity, either in this life or in the next. It is my understanding that those who receive their opportunity in this life will not have a second opportunity after they die (See McConkie, Bruce R., Mormon Doctrine, 1966, p.685-687; see also Doctrine and Covenants 128:5).
You may ask: “What constitutes an opportunity?” I do not have a good answer to that. I do feel very certain that those who have been taught and have received a testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel have had their opportunity. If, after having the Holy Ghost bear witness of the truthfulness of the Gospel, they do not enter into the waters of baptism, but do accept proxy baptism after they are dead, they will go to the Terrestrial Kingdom, not the Celestial Kingdom. I hope that having had missionaries knock on their doors does not count as the opportunity for those people who told the missionaries, “I’m not interested.”
I am very concerned about the members of the Church who have the opportunity to receive their Temple blessings, but, for reasons of their own, do not receive them. I fear that if they go through their entire lives without these ordinances, after having had the opportunity, receiving them after they have died will not be of the same affect. Having known the importance of these ordinances, what excuse will be sufficient for not having received them? I wonder if those husbands and wives who know and understand the principle of Eternal Marriage but are not sealed, should expect to a proxy sealing after death to be effective.
As we teach the Gospel to all who will listen, we must always keep in mind that baptism is only the beginning. Baptism is the key to the Celestial Kingdom, but it is from the Temple ordinances that we become exalted. Our goal, as missionaries, is not merely to baptize and confirm. As important as these ordinances are, our goal is to help God’s children to receive the ordinances of the Temple, which lead to Eternal Life.
I have found that many members of the Church believe that after a person who has not received temple ordinances dies, his or her name can be taken to the temple, the ordinances can be performed, and then that person can be exalted in the Celestial Kingdom. This is not in keeping with the Law of Justice or the Law of Mercy.
The fact of the matter is that, at some point in time, either during their own lifetimes or after they have died, all of Heavenly Father’s children will have the opportunity to be taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to receive the ordinances necessary for exaltation in the Celestial Kingdom. This is according to the Law of Justice—all people will have an equal opportunity. The great majority of this work will be done during the Millennium, when temples will dot the Earth and Satan will not be allowed to tempt the children of men.
Despite the fact that every individual will have his or her work completed, each will, nevertheless, be judged according to the life he or she lived. Even though many people that were born into this world lived during a time or in a place that the Gospel was not available to them, they all had the opportunity to live according to the truth that was available. No matter what the circumstances of the time or the place, there have always been good people and there have always been evil people. Those people who lived good lives will be judged and rewarded accordingly. Those people who lived evil lives will also be judged accordingly.
According to the Law of Mercy, the Atonement of Jesus Christ will answer for all the sins for all those who have repented sufficiently. According to the Law of Justice, the Atonement will be of no affect to those who have not repented. Despite the fact that all will have their temple work completed, those who lived lives worthy of receiving Celestial glory will go to the Celestial Kingdom, those who lived lives worthy of receiving Terrestrial glory will go the Terrestrial Kingdom, those who lived lives worthy of receiving Telestial glory will go to the Telestial Kingdom, and those who lived lives worthy of no glory will go to Outer Darkness. It is generally believed that most people will end up in the Terrestrial Kingdom.
A fair question to ask is: “Why do we do Temple work for everyone if everyone will not go to the Celestial Kingdom?” The answer, of course, is that we do not know how anyone will be judged; we assume that all of Heavenly Father’s children will return to His presence; therefore, the work needs to be completed.
Sometimes when people learn about this doctrine of salvation for the dead, they come to believe that God gives everybody a “second chance” to be saved. This is not the case. All will have an opportunity, either in this life or in the next. It is my understanding that those who receive their opportunity in this life will not have a second opportunity after they die (See McConkie, Bruce R., Mormon Doctrine, 1966, p.685-687; see also Doctrine and Covenants 128:5).
You may ask: “What constitutes an opportunity?” I do not have a good answer to that. I do feel very certain that those who have been taught and have received a testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel have had their opportunity. If, after having the Holy Ghost bear witness of the truthfulness of the Gospel, they do not enter into the waters of baptism, but do accept proxy baptism after they are dead, they will go to the Terrestrial Kingdom, not the Celestial Kingdom. I hope that having had missionaries knock on their doors does not count as the opportunity for those people who told the missionaries, “I’m not interested.”
I am very concerned about the members of the Church who have the opportunity to receive their Temple blessings, but, for reasons of their own, do not receive them. I fear that if they go through their entire lives without these ordinances, after having had the opportunity, receiving them after they have died will not be of the same affect. Having known the importance of these ordinances, what excuse will be sufficient for not having received them? I wonder if those husbands and wives who know and understand the principle of Eternal Marriage but are not sealed, should expect to a proxy sealing after death to be effective.
As we teach the Gospel to all who will listen, we must always keep in mind that baptism is only the beginning. Baptism is the key to the Celestial Kingdom, but it is from the Temple ordinances that we become exalted. Our goal, as missionaries, is not merely to baptize and confirm. As important as these ordinances are, our goal is to help God’s children to receive the ordinances of the Temple, which lead to Eternal Life.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Latter-day Saints Believe in Revelation and Prophecy
As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God” (9th Article of Faith). We believe that revelation from God is as necessary in the twenty-first century as it was in the times of Adam, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and Peter, James, and John.
I do not know if our belief in modern-day revelation is unique among Christian churches, but I would venture to say that the official doctrine of most Christian denominations is that prophecy and revelation ended with the deaths of the Twelve whom Jesus called as His Apostles. Even though that may be the doctrine of their churches, I have found that many of my friends and family actually do believe in revelation; they just don’t realize that they believe.
Part of the reason for the confusion is a misunderstanding of what revelation is. Most people tend to think of revelation as marvelous visions, visits from heavenly messengers, voices from heaven, etc. While these types of manifestations do, occasionally, occur, they are not typical of the revelation we speak of in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The book of Matthew provides a wonderful example of what would be considered the most typical form of revelation: “He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven” (Matt. 16:15-17).
Peter’s knowledge that Jesus of Nazareth was “…the Christ, the Son of the living God…” was revealed to him by “…my Father which is in heaven.” I would submit to you that anyone who has the same testimony that Peter had, had to have received it through revelation from the Holy Ghost. In other words, anyone who has a true testimony of the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ has received revelation (even those who have received it in this, the twenty-first century).
In Mormon Doctrine (2nd Edition, 1966), Bruce R. McConkie writes, “Nothing more than the testimony of Jesus (meaning the receipt of personal revelation from the Holy Ghost certifying that Jesus is the Christ) is needed to make a person a prophet…” (p.605). With that as the basis for the definition of a prophet, I would submit that many of you reading this article could, in fact, be designated as prophets.
The Holy Ghost has the power to reveal much more than the divinity of the Savior. He is available to provide guidance and direction in our daily lives. Most of the people I know, who claim to be Christians, pray (some more than others) when they have needs or problems. How many of you, at various times in your lives, have prayed to know which school to attend, which job to accept, whether or not to marry the person you have been dating, etc? How many of you parents have prayed to know how to deal with the problems your children were facing? How many of you prayed to know who to vote for during the last election? If you received answers, you received revelation.
How many of you have been driving down the street, on your way to somewhere, and felt a prompting to go a different direction or to a different place. How many of you have felt a sudden need to call or visit a friend, and when you did, he or she told you that you were an answer to a prayer? This is another form of revelation which most of us have experienced.
Of those of you reading this article who are not Latter-day Saints I ask, “What is your church’s doctrine concerning modern-day revelation?” If the doctrine is that revelation from God has ended, I invite you to investigate more fully the doctrines and teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Please visit the Website at http://www.lds.org/?lang=eng for more information or the Website at http://mormon.org/worship/ to find a Church meetinghouse near you.
I do not know if our belief in modern-day revelation is unique among Christian churches, but I would venture to say that the official doctrine of most Christian denominations is that prophecy and revelation ended with the deaths of the Twelve whom Jesus called as His Apostles. Even though that may be the doctrine of their churches, I have found that many of my friends and family actually do believe in revelation; they just don’t realize that they believe.
Part of the reason for the confusion is a misunderstanding of what revelation is. Most people tend to think of revelation as marvelous visions, visits from heavenly messengers, voices from heaven, etc. While these types of manifestations do, occasionally, occur, they are not typical of the revelation we speak of in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The book of Matthew provides a wonderful example of what would be considered the most typical form of revelation: “He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven” (Matt. 16:15-17).
Peter’s knowledge that Jesus of Nazareth was “…the Christ, the Son of the living God…” was revealed to him by “…my Father which is in heaven.” I would submit to you that anyone who has the same testimony that Peter had, had to have received it through revelation from the Holy Ghost. In other words, anyone who has a true testimony of the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ has received revelation (even those who have received it in this, the twenty-first century).
In Mormon Doctrine (2nd Edition, 1966), Bruce R. McConkie writes, “Nothing more than the testimony of Jesus (meaning the receipt of personal revelation from the Holy Ghost certifying that Jesus is the Christ) is needed to make a person a prophet…” (p.605). With that as the basis for the definition of a prophet, I would submit that many of you reading this article could, in fact, be designated as prophets.
The Holy Ghost has the power to reveal much more than the divinity of the Savior. He is available to provide guidance and direction in our daily lives. Most of the people I know, who claim to be Christians, pray (some more than others) when they have needs or problems. How many of you, at various times in your lives, have prayed to know which school to attend, which job to accept, whether or not to marry the person you have been dating, etc? How many of you parents have prayed to know how to deal with the problems your children were facing? How many of you prayed to know who to vote for during the last election? If you received answers, you received revelation.
How many of you have been driving down the street, on your way to somewhere, and felt a prompting to go a different direction or to a different place. How many of you have felt a sudden need to call or visit a friend, and when you did, he or she told you that you were an answer to a prayer? This is another form of revelation which most of us have experienced.
Of those of you reading this article who are not Latter-day Saints I ask, “What is your church’s doctrine concerning modern-day revelation?” If the doctrine is that revelation from God has ended, I invite you to investigate more fully the doctrines and teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Please visit the Website at http://www.lds.org/?lang=eng for more information or the Website at http://mormon.org/worship/ to find a Church meetinghouse near you.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Latter-day Saints Believe in Jesus Christ
For some reason, many people believe that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not a Christian church. Nothing could be further from the truth. Unlike many churches, the Savior’s name is part of the name of our church. Our beliefs are centered on His teachings. We study and read the Holy Bible and believe it to be the word of God.
We believe that Jesus Christ is the only begotten son of God, our Heavenly Father. We believe that God, the Father; the Son, Jesus Christ; and the Holy Ghost are three separate individuals, each with His own assignment, but are one in purpose, namely, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of mankind. God is the Father, the Supreme ruler of all that exists. Jesus Christ is His son, who, under the direction of the Father, has created everything that has been created. The work of the Holy Ghost is to bear witness of the Father and the Son.
We believe that Jesus Christ condescended to leave His heavenly throne on the right hand of the Father, to be born of Mary, to take upon Himself a physical body so that He could experience everything that we, Heavenly Father’s spirit children, experience, and so that He could offer Himself as a sacrifice to be ransomed for our sins.
We believe that on the final night of His mortal existence, the Savior, Jesus Christ, met with the twelve whom He had called to be His special witnesses. To teach them humility, the Savior washed the feet of each one. He gave them bread and wine as tokens of His body and blood and instructed them that this was now established as the means by which they should remember Him.
After that, the Savior took the twelve to Gethsemane. While they waited outside the gate, Jesus went alone into the garden. There He knelt down on the ground, and in a way that no mortal can understand, He took upon Himself the sins of all the world. Somehow, He experienced the horror and terror and guilt and shame of all the murders, adultery, tortures, and cruelty, all the evil and depravity that had or ever would take place from the time of Adam until the end of the world.
He suffered as no man had suffered before or will ever suffer again. How great was His suffering? Luke tells us: “And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: andhis sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:44).
Later, after His ordeal in Gethsemane, He was taken before the chief priests, where he was spit on, mocked, and buffeted. He was then taken to the Romans where He was beaten and made to wear a crown of thorns. He was presented to the people He had come to save, and they rejected Him and demanded His life.
He was made to carry His own cross to Calvary, where His feet and His hands were nailed to the cross, and He was crucified. While on the cross, He asked Heavenly Father to forgive those who had done this to Him. And then, because those who had placed Him on the cross had not the power to take His life (but He had power to lay down His life and to take it back up again), He allowed His spirit to leave His body, in other words, He gave up the ghost. His body was placed in a tomb, but on the third day, His spirit reunited with His body, never to be separated again.
Jesus Christ went through all that for two reasons. The first is because it was an assignment He accepted voluntarily from Heavenly Father. The second reason is because He loves us.
Christ’s resurrection brought about the resurrection of all mankind. The atonement makes it possible for our sins to be forgiven and for us to become worthy to someday return to the presence of our Father. The first of these two gifts, resurrection, is unconditional—every individual that has ever lived will rise from the dead with an immortal body (see 1 Corinthians 15:20-22). The atonement is conditional, however, so far as each person’s individual sins are concerned, and touches every one to the degree that he has faith in Jesus Christ, repents of his sins, and obeys the gospel.
Every sin that has ever been committed or ever will be committed has been paid for. No matter what evil any of us have done or are going to do, the Savior has already suffered for it. But His pain and suffering, His atonement is of no effect to us unless we accept Him as our personal Savior.
No matter what you might have been told by your uninformed friends, this is what we, the Latter-day Saints believe and teach about Jesus Christ. I submit to you that this surely qualifies us to be considered a Christian people.
We believe that Jesus Christ is the only begotten son of God, our Heavenly Father. We believe that God, the Father; the Son, Jesus Christ; and the Holy Ghost are three separate individuals, each with His own assignment, but are one in purpose, namely, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of mankind. God is the Father, the Supreme ruler of all that exists. Jesus Christ is His son, who, under the direction of the Father, has created everything that has been created. The work of the Holy Ghost is to bear witness of the Father and the Son.
We believe that Jesus Christ condescended to leave His heavenly throne on the right hand of the Father, to be born of Mary, to take upon Himself a physical body so that He could experience everything that we, Heavenly Father’s spirit children, experience, and so that He could offer Himself as a sacrifice to be ransomed for our sins.
We believe that on the final night of His mortal existence, the Savior, Jesus Christ, met with the twelve whom He had called to be His special witnesses. To teach them humility, the Savior washed the feet of each one. He gave them bread and wine as tokens of His body and blood and instructed them that this was now established as the means by which they should remember Him.
After that, the Savior took the twelve to Gethsemane. While they waited outside the gate, Jesus went alone into the garden. There He knelt down on the ground, and in a way that no mortal can understand, He took upon Himself the sins of all the world. Somehow, He experienced the horror and terror and guilt and shame of all the murders, adultery, tortures, and cruelty, all the evil and depravity that had or ever would take place from the time of Adam until the end of the world.
He suffered as no man had suffered before or will ever suffer again. How great was His suffering? Luke tells us: “And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: andhis sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:44).
Later, after His ordeal in Gethsemane, He was taken before the chief priests, where he was spit on, mocked, and buffeted. He was then taken to the Romans where He was beaten and made to wear a crown of thorns. He was presented to the people He had come to save, and they rejected Him and demanded His life.
He was made to carry His own cross to Calvary, where His feet and His hands were nailed to the cross, and He was crucified. While on the cross, He asked Heavenly Father to forgive those who had done this to Him. And then, because those who had placed Him on the cross had not the power to take His life (but He had power to lay down His life and to take it back up again), He allowed His spirit to leave His body, in other words, He gave up the ghost. His body was placed in a tomb, but on the third day, His spirit reunited with His body, never to be separated again.
Jesus Christ went through all that for two reasons. The first is because it was an assignment He accepted voluntarily from Heavenly Father. The second reason is because He loves us.
Christ’s resurrection brought about the resurrection of all mankind. The atonement makes it possible for our sins to be forgiven and for us to become worthy to someday return to the presence of our Father. The first of these two gifts, resurrection, is unconditional—every individual that has ever lived will rise from the dead with an immortal body (see 1 Corinthians 15:20-22). The atonement is conditional, however, so far as each person’s individual sins are concerned, and touches every one to the degree that he has faith in Jesus Christ, repents of his sins, and obeys the gospel.
Every sin that has ever been committed or ever will be committed has been paid for. No matter what evil any of us have done or are going to do, the Savior has already suffered for it. But His pain and suffering, His atonement is of no effect to us unless we accept Him as our personal Savior.
No matter what you might have been told by your uninformed friends, this is what we, the Latter-day Saints believe and teach about Jesus Christ. I submit to you that this surely qualifies us to be considered a Christian people.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Dr. Miller and Peter the Apostle
One of the great blessings of my life was being able to attend Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. I began classes there in the fall of 1989 at the age of 39. I graduated in April 1992 with a Bachelor of Science degree. I majored in Psychology and minored in History. My first year there I participated in the Honors Program, and that is where I became acquainted with Dr. Dean Miller. Dr. Miller was a professor who generally taught Psychology courses, but I first met him as the instructor for my Honors History of Civilization course.
By the time I arrived at BYU I had already completed two years of college at community colleges. History of Civilization was a 200-level course, but it was required for graduation, so I was taking it even though I was a junior, not a sophomore. I passed the course with a grade of B. During that semester, Dr. Miller was named Dean of the BYU Honors Program.
For a number of reasons, I did not stay in the Honors Program, so I did not see Dr. Miller again until the spring of 1991. Dr. Miller taught a course that I needed for graduation, Senior Seminar in Psychology. It was a course that discussed all the various psychology courses we had completed during our undergraduate studies. One afternoon, towards the end of the term, Dr. Miller began class by telling us the following:
“The Apostle Peter is one of my heroes. He could be stubborn and rash, but he was completely devoted to the Savior. He had faith enough to walk on the waters of the Sea of Galilee, but he was also human enough to realize when he saw the waves that what he was doing was physically impossible. On the night before the crucifixion, Jesus told the Apostles that they would all be offended and scattered like sheep.
“Then ‘Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended. Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee’ (Matthew 26:33-35).
Dr. Miller then told of the three occasions that Peter did, indeed, deny being a follower of Christ. Dr. Miller said, “Immediately after Peter denied the Savior the third time, the cocked crowed, and Peter wept…” He paused, and then stated, “…because he knew he had done what the Savior had told him to do.”
I’m pretty sure that I was not the only one in the class that was thinking, “That’s not how it happened.”
But after another short pause, Dr. Miller said, “That was from a talk given by President Kimble, presented at a seminar for BYU instructors at the beginning of the 1975 school year.” He then added, “Things are not always the way they seem.”
President Spencer W. Kimball was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, sustained by the members of the Church as a prophet, seer, and revelator. I don’t know whether or not President Kimble actually said that about Peter (but I can’t think of a reason why Dr. Miller would make up such a story). Hearing the story has made me view Peter from a different perspective than I had in the past. It has also helped me to try to examine all the possibilities before making a decision. It has helped me resist the urge to make judgments about others without knowing all the facts. Perhaps reading this will help you, too.
By the time I arrived at BYU I had already completed two years of college at community colleges. History of Civilization was a 200-level course, but it was required for graduation, so I was taking it even though I was a junior, not a sophomore. I passed the course with a grade of B. During that semester, Dr. Miller was named Dean of the BYU Honors Program.
For a number of reasons, I did not stay in the Honors Program, so I did not see Dr. Miller again until the spring of 1991. Dr. Miller taught a course that I needed for graduation, Senior Seminar in Psychology. It was a course that discussed all the various psychology courses we had completed during our undergraduate studies. One afternoon, towards the end of the term, Dr. Miller began class by telling us the following:
“The Apostle Peter is one of my heroes. He could be stubborn and rash, but he was completely devoted to the Savior. He had faith enough to walk on the waters of the Sea of Galilee, but he was also human enough to realize when he saw the waves that what he was doing was physically impossible. On the night before the crucifixion, Jesus told the Apostles that they would all be offended and scattered like sheep.
“Then ‘Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended. Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee’ (Matthew 26:33-35).
Dr. Miller then told of the three occasions that Peter did, indeed, deny being a follower of Christ. Dr. Miller said, “Immediately after Peter denied the Savior the third time, the cocked crowed, and Peter wept…” He paused, and then stated, “…because he knew he had done what the Savior had told him to do.”
I’m pretty sure that I was not the only one in the class that was thinking, “That’s not how it happened.”
But after another short pause, Dr. Miller said, “That was from a talk given by President Kimble, presented at a seminar for BYU instructors at the beginning of the 1975 school year.” He then added, “Things are not always the way they seem.”
President Spencer W. Kimball was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, sustained by the members of the Church as a prophet, seer, and revelator. I don’t know whether or not President Kimble actually said that about Peter (but I can’t think of a reason why Dr. Miller would make up such a story). Hearing the story has made me view Peter from a different perspective than I had in the past. It has also helped me to try to examine all the possibilities before making a decision. It has helped me resist the urge to make judgments about others without knowing all the facts. Perhaps reading this will help you, too.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Commitment
One of the problems we sometimes encounter when we share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with others is their unwillingness or inability to keep the covenants they made at the time of their baptism and confirmation. After reading Chapter 11: “How Do I Help People Make and Keep Commitments?” in the missionary handbook, Preach My Gospel, I came to the following conclusion:
As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and as holders of the Melchizedek Priesthood, we have been given the commission to call the sinner to repentance. I am suggesting that it is time to do what we have been called to do. Every person that we will ever meet has the need to repent (some more than others, but all need to repent). The great majority of people we contact do not realize their need to repent. Most of the other people—those that know they need to repent—do not know how to do it.
The Spirit has revealed a very important truth to me: Most people will never make a real commitment to the Lord until they have a real understanding of their need to repent and they feel what President Kimball called The Miracle of Forgiveness. It is only after someone comes to a full understanding of the seriousness of his/her sins that he/she will make the changes in his/her life to be forgiven. After the individual gains an understanding of the reality of the Savior’s atonement and tastes the sweetness of the Lord’s forgiveness, he/she will have a desire to do the Lord’s will out of gratitude to the Savior for His great atoning sacrifice.
There have been, and always will be, people that will hear the message of the restoration of the Gospel and will be baptized without ever having had the experience I described above. Many of these people will become strong, active members of the Church. Many of these people will have experienced what can be called an “intellectual conversion”—their minds tell them the Church is true. Many others are baptized to participate in Church activities, or because of a desire to please a friend, a missionary, or a spouse. Unfortunately, until they experience the miracle of Christ’s Atonement, they are like the seeds in the Lord’s parable of the sower.
There are numerous examples to illustrate what I am writing about. It was not until Alma and the sons of Mosiah came to the knowledge of their sins that they dedicated their lives to serving the Lord. When King Lamoni’s father understood the seriousness of his sins, he prayed, “O God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day” (Alma 22:18).
When I was being taught the Gospel by the missionaries many years ago, I was told that I would be expected to pay tithing, live the law of chastity, the Word of Wisdom, etc., and I made a commitment to do those things. But the sister missionaries that taught me never really explained the need to repent. As a result, I did not realize the need to go through the steps of repentance for the sins I had previously committed. I had been an active member of the Church for two years in November 1974 when I attended a Saturday night session of Stake Conference at which Bishop Vaughn J. Featherstone of the Presiding Bishopric spoke very plainly about our need to repent.
Once I understood the seriousness of my sins, with the help of the Bishop of my ward, I made an honest effort to repent. In time, I felt the forgiveness of the Lord. I have been fully committed to the Church since that time. I would venture to say that many of you did not dedicate your lives to the Savior until you, too, had realized a forgiveness of your sins.
We teach of the Restoration of the Gospel. We teach that families can be together forever. We teach of the joy of service. These are all important aspects of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But central to it all is the fact that Jesus Christ atoned for our sins; forgiveness is available to all that will truly repent.
Now, am I suggesting that we should stand on a street corner and tell everyone that passes by, “You’re a sinner, and you need to repent”? No, of course not. I am suggesting that as we have the opportunity to teach people the principles of the Gospel, the Holy Ghost will tell us how to discuss with them the need and the way to repent. Listen for those promptings. Follow the advice on page 196 of Preach My Gospel:
“Be bold and confident as you invite people to make commitments (see Alma 38:12). Boldness shows your faith that obedience to the Lord’s commandments brings blessings,
People will not likely change unless they are invited to do so.”
I will also add that people often will not try to repent if they do not believe that forgiveness is really possible. It may be appropriate at times, under the direction of the Spirit, to do as Alma did on a number of occasions and share with investigators our own experiences with forgiveness. (I would suggest, however, that we do not tell investigators the nature and extant of our own transgressions.)
One of the great blessings in my life has been having the knowledge that my past sins have been forgiven and that as I continue to repent daily, Heavenly Father will forgive the sins I commit each day. I pray that we can be instruments in the Lord’s hands in helping our brothers and sisters to have this same blessing.
As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and as holders of the Melchizedek Priesthood, we have been given the commission to call the sinner to repentance. I am suggesting that it is time to do what we have been called to do. Every person that we will ever meet has the need to repent (some more than others, but all need to repent). The great majority of people we contact do not realize their need to repent. Most of the other people—those that know they need to repent—do not know how to do it.
The Spirit has revealed a very important truth to me: Most people will never make a real commitment to the Lord until they have a real understanding of their need to repent and they feel what President Kimball called The Miracle of Forgiveness. It is only after someone comes to a full understanding of the seriousness of his/her sins that he/she will make the changes in his/her life to be forgiven. After the individual gains an understanding of the reality of the Savior’s atonement and tastes the sweetness of the Lord’s forgiveness, he/she will have a desire to do the Lord’s will out of gratitude to the Savior for His great atoning sacrifice.
There have been, and always will be, people that will hear the message of the restoration of the Gospel and will be baptized without ever having had the experience I described above. Many of these people will become strong, active members of the Church. Many of these people will have experienced what can be called an “intellectual conversion”—their minds tell them the Church is true. Many others are baptized to participate in Church activities, or because of a desire to please a friend, a missionary, or a spouse. Unfortunately, until they experience the miracle of Christ’s Atonement, they are like the seeds in the Lord’s parable of the sower.
There are numerous examples to illustrate what I am writing about. It was not until Alma and the sons of Mosiah came to the knowledge of their sins that they dedicated their lives to serving the Lord. When King Lamoni’s father understood the seriousness of his sins, he prayed, “O God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day” (Alma 22:18).
When I was being taught the Gospel by the missionaries many years ago, I was told that I would be expected to pay tithing, live the law of chastity, the Word of Wisdom, etc., and I made a commitment to do those things. But the sister missionaries that taught me never really explained the need to repent. As a result, I did not realize the need to go through the steps of repentance for the sins I had previously committed. I had been an active member of the Church for two years in November 1974 when I attended a Saturday night session of Stake Conference at which Bishop Vaughn J. Featherstone of the Presiding Bishopric spoke very plainly about our need to repent.
Once I understood the seriousness of my sins, with the help of the Bishop of my ward, I made an honest effort to repent. In time, I felt the forgiveness of the Lord. I have been fully committed to the Church since that time. I would venture to say that many of you did not dedicate your lives to the Savior until you, too, had realized a forgiveness of your sins.
We teach of the Restoration of the Gospel. We teach that families can be together forever. We teach of the joy of service. These are all important aspects of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But central to it all is the fact that Jesus Christ atoned for our sins; forgiveness is available to all that will truly repent.
Now, am I suggesting that we should stand on a street corner and tell everyone that passes by, “You’re a sinner, and you need to repent”? No, of course not. I am suggesting that as we have the opportunity to teach people the principles of the Gospel, the Holy Ghost will tell us how to discuss with them the need and the way to repent. Listen for those promptings. Follow the advice on page 196 of Preach My Gospel:
“Be bold and confident as you invite people to make commitments (see Alma 38:12). Boldness shows your faith that obedience to the Lord’s commandments brings blessings,
People will not likely change unless they are invited to do so.”
I will also add that people often will not try to repent if they do not believe that forgiveness is really possible. It may be appropriate at times, under the direction of the Spirit, to do as Alma did on a number of occasions and share with investigators our own experiences with forgiveness. (I would suggest, however, that we do not tell investigators the nature and extant of our own transgressions.)
One of the great blessings in my life has been having the knowledge that my past sins have been forgiven and that as I continue to repent daily, Heavenly Father will forgive the sins I commit each day. I pray that we can be instruments in the Lord’s hands in helping our brothers and sisters to have this same blessing.
Monday, July 11, 2011
That's Life
I work at Home Depot in Mission, Texas from 4:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Monday through Friday. They play different types of music in the store on different days. Sometimes they play Country and Western, sometimes Rock and Roll. I recently heard a Country song that I thought was interesting, titled Sounds Like Life. I found the words on the Internet and have pasted them below:
Got a call last night from an old friend’s wife
Said I hate to bother you
Johnny Ray fell off the wagon
He’s been gone all afternoon
I know my buddy, so I drove to Skully’s
And found him at the bar
I say hey man, what’s going on
He said, I don’t know where to start
Sarah’s old car’s about to fall apart
And the washer quit last week
We had to put momma in the nursing home
And the baby’s cutting teeth
I didn’t get much work this week
And I got bills to pay
I said I know this ain’t what you wanna hear
But it’s what I’m gonna say
(Chorus)
Sounds like life to me, it ain’t no fantasy
It’s just a common case of everyday reality
Man I know it’s tough, but you gotta suck it up
To hear you talk you’re caught up in some tragedy
It sounds like life to me
Well his face turned red and he shook his head
He said you don’t understand
Three kids and a wife depend on me
And I’m just one man
To top it off I just found out
That Sarah’s 2 months late
I said hey bartender set us up a round
We need to celebrate
(Chorus)
Sounds like life to me, plain old destiny
Yeah the only thing for certain is uncertainty
You gotta hold on tight, just enjoy the ride
Get used to all this unpredictability
Sounds like life
Man I know its tough but you gotta suck it up
To hear you talk you’re caught up in some tragedy
Sounds like life to me
Sounds like life (End of Song)
Life is not always easy. Very few of us get through this life without some difficulty or even some tragedy. Much of the difficulty that we face is the result of choices that we have made, but a great amount of our problems are the result of other people’s choices and decisions or circumstances that we cannot control.
Sometimes we think that we are experiencing hard times because we have offended God in some way. This may sometimes be the case, but even the most righteous people have gone through great suffering. Prior to becoming President of the Church, Spencer W. Kimball contracted throat cancer, necessitating the removal of his larynx. He spent his entire term as President speaking through a hole cut into his windpipe. Moses spent forty years in the wilderness, looking after 600,000 of the children of Israel, who, for the most part, behaved like children.
From the morning of the First Vision, Joseph Smith’s life was filled with difficulty. Numerous times he was tarred and feathered. At least one of his children died from exposure during a tarring and feathering. Some of his closest associates deserted him and called him a fallen prophet. Numerous times he was illegally imprisoned.
While in the Liberty, Missouri jail he became so discouraged that he called upon God for relief. The answer he received was this:
5If thou art called to pass through tribulation; if thou art in perils among false brethren; if thou art in perils among robbers; if thou art in perils by land or by sea;
6If thou art accused with all manner of false accusations; if thine enemies fall upon thee; if they tear thee from the society of thy father and mother and brethren and sisters; and if with a drawn sword thine enemies tear thee from the bosom of thy wife, and of thine offspring, and thine elder son, although but six years of age, shall cling to thy garments, and shall say, My father, my father, why can’t you stay with us? O, my father, what are the men going to do with you? and if then he shall be thrust from thee by the sword, and thou be dragged to prison, and thine enemies prowl around thee like wolves for the blood of the lamb;
7And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.
8The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?
9Therefore, hold on thy way, and the priesthood shall remain with thee; for their bounds are set, they cannot pass. Thy days are known, and thy years shall not be numbered less; therefore, fear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever. (D & C 122:5-9)
I don’t know why some people have to struggle everyday of their lives while others seem to live in relative ease. I do believe that if we strive to obey the commandments and follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost that we will be provided with the opportunities for the experiences that will be the most beneficial to us and that will lead us back to the presence of our Heavenly Father.
At this point in my life, life is a struggle. My body is beginning to feel the effects of its age; I can’t always do the things I would like to do. Our nation’s economy is such that I am not able to earn as good of a living as I have been used to in the past. My wife and I have had to sacrifice and do without things we would like to have in order to meet our daily needs. Gasoline is about $3.50 per gallon, and we cannot always afford to go to places we would like to go. Life is a struggle.
But I testify to you that despite these struggles (or maybe because of these struggles) I have never felt closer to the Spirit than I do right now. Everyday I have to call upon the Lord to get me through the day. Everyday I ask the Lord to bless me that my old blue truck will get me to work and back and the other places I need to go. Everyday I have to put my trust in the Lord that my needs and the needs of my family will be met for that day. He has always blessed me with what I have asked.
Maybe one of these days the washing machine will break down or my old blue truck will stop running. That’s life. When those things happen, we’ll just have to find ways to deal with them. But they’re just things. What’s important is that my wife and I love one another and that we are working to have an eternal marriage. What's important is that our daughters and their husbands and children and grandchildren are healthy and live happy and productive lives. What’s important is that our son serves an honorable mission in Peru then comes home and devotes his life to his family and the building up of the Lord’s kingdom. What’s important is that we experience the things that Heavenly Father wants us to experience so that we can someday become like Him. That’s life. That’s Eternal Life.
Got a call last night from an old friend’s wife
Said I hate to bother you
Johnny Ray fell off the wagon
He’s been gone all afternoon
I know my buddy, so I drove to Skully’s
And found him at the bar
I say hey man, what’s going on
He said, I don’t know where to start
Sarah’s old car’s about to fall apart
And the washer quit last week
We had to put momma in the nursing home
And the baby’s cutting teeth
I didn’t get much work this week
And I got bills to pay
I said I know this ain’t what you wanna hear
But it’s what I’m gonna say
(Chorus)
Sounds like life to me, it ain’t no fantasy
It’s just a common case of everyday reality
Man I know it’s tough, but you gotta suck it up
To hear you talk you’re caught up in some tragedy
It sounds like life to me
Well his face turned red and he shook his head
He said you don’t understand
Three kids and a wife depend on me
And I’m just one man
To top it off I just found out
That Sarah’s 2 months late
I said hey bartender set us up a round
We need to celebrate
(Chorus)
Sounds like life to me, plain old destiny
Yeah the only thing for certain is uncertainty
You gotta hold on tight, just enjoy the ride
Get used to all this unpredictability
Sounds like life
Man I know its tough but you gotta suck it up
To hear you talk you’re caught up in some tragedy
Sounds like life to me
Sounds like life (End of Song)
Life is not always easy. Very few of us get through this life without some difficulty or even some tragedy. Much of the difficulty that we face is the result of choices that we have made, but a great amount of our problems are the result of other people’s choices and decisions or circumstances that we cannot control.
Sometimes we think that we are experiencing hard times because we have offended God in some way. This may sometimes be the case, but even the most righteous people have gone through great suffering. Prior to becoming President of the Church, Spencer W. Kimball contracted throat cancer, necessitating the removal of his larynx. He spent his entire term as President speaking through a hole cut into his windpipe. Moses spent forty years in the wilderness, looking after 600,000 of the children of Israel, who, for the most part, behaved like children.
From the morning of the First Vision, Joseph Smith’s life was filled with difficulty. Numerous times he was tarred and feathered. At least one of his children died from exposure during a tarring and feathering. Some of his closest associates deserted him and called him a fallen prophet. Numerous times he was illegally imprisoned.
While in the Liberty, Missouri jail he became so discouraged that he called upon God for relief. The answer he received was this:
5If thou art called to pass through tribulation; if thou art in perils among false brethren; if thou art in perils among robbers; if thou art in perils by land or by sea;
6If thou art accused with all manner of false accusations; if thine enemies fall upon thee; if they tear thee from the society of thy father and mother and brethren and sisters; and if with a drawn sword thine enemies tear thee from the bosom of thy wife, and of thine offspring, and thine elder son, although but six years of age, shall cling to thy garments, and shall say, My father, my father, why can’t you stay with us? O, my father, what are the men going to do with you? and if then he shall be thrust from thee by the sword, and thou be dragged to prison, and thine enemies prowl around thee like wolves for the blood of the lamb;
7And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.
8The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?
9Therefore, hold on thy way, and the priesthood shall remain with thee; for their bounds are set, they cannot pass. Thy days are known, and thy years shall not be numbered less; therefore, fear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever. (D & C 122:5-9)
I don’t know why some people have to struggle everyday of their lives while others seem to live in relative ease. I do believe that if we strive to obey the commandments and follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost that we will be provided with the opportunities for the experiences that will be the most beneficial to us and that will lead us back to the presence of our Heavenly Father.
At this point in my life, life is a struggle. My body is beginning to feel the effects of its age; I can’t always do the things I would like to do. Our nation’s economy is such that I am not able to earn as good of a living as I have been used to in the past. My wife and I have had to sacrifice and do without things we would like to have in order to meet our daily needs. Gasoline is about $3.50 per gallon, and we cannot always afford to go to places we would like to go. Life is a struggle.
But I testify to you that despite these struggles (or maybe because of these struggles) I have never felt closer to the Spirit than I do right now. Everyday I have to call upon the Lord to get me through the day. Everyday I ask the Lord to bless me that my old blue truck will get me to work and back and the other places I need to go. Everyday I have to put my trust in the Lord that my needs and the needs of my family will be met for that day. He has always blessed me with what I have asked.
Maybe one of these days the washing machine will break down or my old blue truck will stop running. That’s life. When those things happen, we’ll just have to find ways to deal with them. But they’re just things. What’s important is that my wife and I love one another and that we are working to have an eternal marriage. What's important is that our daughters and their husbands and children and grandchildren are healthy and live happy and productive lives. What’s important is that our son serves an honorable mission in Peru then comes home and devotes his life to his family and the building up of the Lord’s kingdom. What’s important is that we experience the things that Heavenly Father wants us to experience so that we can someday become like Him. That’s life. That’s Eternal Life.
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