Come, follow me

"VERILY, thus saith the Lord: It shall come to pass that every soul who forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my name, and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments, shall see my face and know that I am;" - D & C 93:1

His call in the new testament was "come, follow me"(Luke 18:22). What better way to follow the Savior than to strive to be more like him by applying his counsel and teaching? Those that seek to follow the Savior in this way will "see [his] face and know that [he is]". This is a remarkable promise.

Unity and Children of God

I would like to share some of my thoughts on President Eyring's talk last October (2008), entitled Our Hearts Knit as One.

"The Lord Jehovah will return to live with those who have become His people and will find them united, of one heart, unified with Him and with our Heavenly Father." - President Eyring

I have typically thought of the Lord's people as some discrete group, that may differ based on the context. It is interesting that President Eyring indicates that the Lord will come to "those who have become His people." This poses the question, What must we do to qualify ourselves as His people? President Eyring offers an excellent explanation. The Lord "will find [His people] unified, of one heart, unified with Him and with our Heavenly Father." If we want to become the Lord's people, we must be unified with each other, with the Lord, and with our Heavenly Father. Just as Christ is unified with the Father. This is the unity that will ultimately establish Zion.

"And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them.": - Moses 7:18

In Mosiah 18:22 we read that Alma's people "became the children of God." How did they become the children of God?

"Everything Alma and his people were inspired to do was pointed at helping people choose to have their hearts changed through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. That is the only way God can grant the blessing of being of one heart." - President Eyring

Alma loved the Savior. Alma loved his people. He wanted them to experience the joy and blessings of becoming a child of God.

"That is why Alma commanded the people to teach faith and repentance. That is why my children came to expect in every lesson in family night that I would find a way to encourage someone to testify of the Savior and His mission. Sometimes the parents did it. On our best nights we found a way to encourage the children to do it, either by presenting the lesson or answering questions. When testimony about the Savior was borne, the Holy Ghost verified it. On those nights we felt our hearts being knit together." - President Eyring

Our families can be united as we teach and practice faith in Jesus Christ and repentance through His atoning sacrifice. Together we will help each other along the path to become the children of God.

Righteous Choices

"And now it came to pass that Alma did walk in the ways of the Lord, and he did keep his commandments, and he did judge righteous judgments; and there was continual peace through the land." - Mosiah 29:43

This is part of why we are counseled to let our light shine. Our righteous influence will bless not only us, but those around us as well.

Blessed, Protected, and Directed

"We are promised that if we pray sincerely for that which is right and good and in accordance with God’s will, we can be blessed, protected, and directed." - Elder David A. Bednar, Pray Always, October 2008

Notice he did not say that we are granted what we want just by praying about it. He said that "we can be blessed, protected, and directed" (in what ways he did not say) if we seek to do the will of God in our prayers. The blessings and protection come according to the will of our Heavenly Father. The direction comes to align our will to the will of the Father. What a remarkable promise we have as we pray sincerely!

See also 3 Nephi 18:20 and D&C 19:38.

Obedience, Repentance, and the Atonement

This post is in response to a comment on my last post.

Obedience does not lessen the atonement. Obedience to God's law shows our love for him (John 14:15). In the book of Leviticus we read "And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins." (Leviticus 26:21). In Matthew 7:21 the Savior says, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."

You mentioned that God justifies by faith. How is that faith manifested if not by obedience and repentance? Certainly it is not a mere belief. We read in James that even the devils believe. Why are they not saved by Christ? They rebel against him. If we were to continue reading in James we would see that Abraham was justified by his obedience. He was not justified by his faith in God alone, but because he was willing to offer his son as a sacrifice to God as he had been commanded to do. Obedience it not a trivial thing. We cannot be saved while we refuse to obey the word of God. We must allow him to save us.

Amulek bore a powerful testimony of the atonement. I will share part of it with you. "And behold, this is the whole meaning of the law, every whit pointing to that great and last sacrifice; and that great and last sacrifice will be the Son of God, yea, infinite and eternal. And thus he shall bring salvation to all those who shall believe on his name; this being the intent of this last sacrifice, to bring about the bowels of mercy, which overpowereth justice, and bringeth about means unto men that they may have faith unto repentance. And thus mercy can satisfy the demands of justice, and encircles them in the arms of safety, while he that exercises no faith unto repentance is exposed to the whole law of the demands of justice; therefore only unto him that has faith unto repentance is brought about the great and eternal plan of redemption. Therefore may God grant unto you, my brethren, that ye may begin to exercise your faith unto repentance, that ye begin to call upon his holy name, that he would have mercy upon you; Yea, cry unto him for mercy; for he is mighty to save." (Alma 34:14-18) From this we learn that our faith in Christ and his atonement will lead us to repentance.

The question we must ask now is, What is repentance? The LDS Bible Dictionary defines the word repentance as, "The Greek word of which this is the translation denotes a change of mind, i.e., a fresh view about God, about oneself, and about the world. Since we are born into conditions of mortality, repentance comes to mean a turning of the heart and will to God, and a renunciation of sin to which we are naturally inclined. Without this there can be no progress in the things of the soul’s salvation, for all accountable persons are stained by sin, and must be cleansed in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. Repentance is not optional for salvation; it is a commandment of God. The preaching of repentance by John the Baptist formed the preparation for the ministry of our Lord." It is through repentance, when we have failed to be obedient that we are brought to God. Our repentance is the way that Christ's infinite atonement is made to work in our life.

I know that I am nothing without the atonement of Christ. He enables me to be more than I am on my own. For me this has been accomplished though prayer. I have poured out my whole soul to him and acknowledged my own nothingness and unworthiness before him. I have plead for the mercy and the power of Chist's atonement to change my heart. I have felt an actual change it my heart. I cannot say that I never sin, but I can say that with the help of Jesus Christ I do better everyday. I feel sorrow at the thought that my disobedience has caused my Lord and Savior to suffer intolerable pain. I know that I will be saved in the kingdom of God. I have accepted the great sacrifice of Jesus, been obedient to his commandments, and repented when I have fallen short. I know that God lives. Jesus Christ is the Savior of us all. He atoned for us, and with his stripes we are healed.

Good bye religious freedom

In 2000 the state of California voted that marriage should be defined as between a man and a woman. This year (2008) the California Supreme Court decided that the voice of the people was unconstitutional. (LA Times Article) Now that same sex marriage is legal things are changing.

It has now been ruled by the California Supreme Court that a doctor in California cannot decline to give reproductive medical assistance based on religious belief. (LA Times Article)

I don't like where things are going. I thought there was supposed to be a system of checks and balances in our government. There is no balance here. The court is imposing itself on the people. It is taking away the freedoms this country was built on.

Unfortunately, this sort of thing is happening in other places as well. In Massachusetts, Catholic Charities have stopped their adoption services. (Boston Globe Article) This is another case where religious freedom is being taken away from the people.

Here are some other articles:
Attempt to force Methodist group to use private church camp for lesbian civil union rites
Bible publishers sued
Our children really will be taught about same sex marriage in school
Massachusetts Supreme Court calls for same sex marriage
Connecticut legalizes same sex marriage

Prop 8 Video Marriage Discussion

Elder David A. Bednar and a group of young adults from California discuss Proposition 8.



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