There are two scriptures in the Book of Mormon where it talks about the Lamanites to scourge Nephites to stir them up in remembrance (1 Ne. 2:24, 2 Ne. 5:25).
What does the Lord use today to scourge us to remembrance of Him?
Before answering that, its important to know how a scourge might help us to remember God. From the Book of Mormon we see time after time of when the righteous were prosperous and then felt as if they were untouchable. Its the same iceberg of pride that sank the Titanic. When we enter that mode of thought that we're immune to failure or beyond the reach of danger, then we are straight for a course into an iceberg.
The Lord uses these scourges to keep us on our toes, to keep us watchful, diligent and humble. We don't have these scourges to keep us in grief or despair. The Lord's purposes are always to edify us, even if that means tearing down pride from time to time.
Helaman 5:12
And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.
The reason we fall is because we're not built on the sure foundation. We can't sustain ourselves through the storm without an anchor of faith in Christ. We'll lose ourselves in the storm that is guaranteed to come our way.
Here in Utah, many talk of the sheltered lives Mormons live. "The Bubble" they say. As if to say a large population of active Mormons are ignorant to the outside world. Could be true. Doesn't matter though really. I mean when we start to evaluate and judge we seem so easily persuaded to start thinking we're better than so and so or that so and so thinks they're better than us. Its real easy to make the wrong things the enemy and real easy to take comfort or pride in the distorted views.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not easy. It is never ending and it is demanding of all that is you. How is one expected to give so much?
Satan always sets up his kingdom in opposition to the Lord. He does that through a false justification of our imperfection. Where Christ turns our imperfections into perfection through our repentance, Satan tells us that we need not repent because our sins aren't sins. In other words, Christ changes us by us accepting His laws and gospel, Satan changes the laws to be more accepting of us in our sins. Its kind of confusing but lets try it again- The Lord wants us to accept Him so that He can make us happier, stronger, cleaner, and all around perfect and He does this by showing us our weaknesses so that we can see the need for our repentance and thus turn to Him for our source of life which helps us begin to live a new life with a new heart from the Lord. Satan just wants us to be miserably enslaved to our passions and pleasures so that they overpower our morality and we become lifeless and shallow in our sins.
Which is why in the verses before Helaman 5:12 it read:
...for he said unto him that the Lord surely should come to redeem his people, but that he should not come to redeem them in their sins, but to redeem them from their sins.
And he hath power given unto him from the Father to redeem them from their sins because of repentance; therefore he hath sent his angels to declare the tidings of the conditions of repentance, which bringeth unto the power of the Redeemer, unto the salvation of their souls.
The Lord's work and glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. He is a Gardner. Trimming the hedges, pruning the trees, working the fields etc. all in order to make sure we have every chance to grow spiritually. He doesn't want us to grow in our sins but in our righteousness. The message of the scriptures is always to repent of our sins and come unto the Lord. We must repent and become better or we are as the salt that lost its flavor or the fruit that went bitter and just good for nothing but to be hewn down.
Its our duty to repent and turn to Christ to help us change who we are into something greater. If we aren't doing that then we aren't repenting and we are losing our flavor.
Back to the original question, what are the scourges of today? Our weaknesses. We have plenty to choose from. Nothing to grieve about. The Lord uses them so we remember we aren't perfect but vulnerable and in His hands.
Ether 12:27
And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.
If we are humble about our weaknesses and seek not to justify them as Satan would have us do, then we are in a position to gain strength and mercy from the Lord and He will then help us to make these weaknesses be replaced with strengths. Whenever the Nephites were righteous, a group of them would go and preach the word of the Lord to the Lamanites in hopes of helping them have peace and prosperity together. I can imagine the burden they felt living next to an idolatrous people that knew not the Lord. When they were humble they faced this burden with the word, when they were wicked they faced it with the sword. Which way is more effective?
Alma 31:5
And now, as the preaching of the word had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just—yea, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them—therefore Alma thought it was expedient that they should try the virtue of the word of God.
How we choose to deal with our righteous responsibilities will determine so much of our spiritual growth. We can hide from it, attack it, justify ourselves, or simply stand vulnerable before the Lord and accept His will over ours. Until we do that, we cannot call ourselves Christians.
12.2.11
19.1.11
Nothing in Return
C.S. Lewis quote from the Screwtape Letters-
"I know we have won many a soul through pleasure. All the same, it is His invention, not ours. He made the pleasures: all our research so far has not enabled us to produce one. All we can do is to encourage the humans to take the pleasures which our Enemy has produced, at times, or in ways, or in degrees, which He has forbidden. Hence we always try to work away from the natural condition of any pleasure to that in which it is least natural, least redolent of its Maker, and least pleasurable. An ever increasing craving for an ever diminishing pleasure is the formula. It is more certain; and it's better style. To get the man's soul and give him nothing in return—that is what really gladdens our Father's heart."
I can't believe it took me this long to quote the great C.S. Lewis. Probably the most quoted non Mormon by Mormons.
This quote is from a the evil Screwtape in regards to how to capture men's souls. I find it quite insightful into the process of losing our souls.
Its an interesting distinction between losing our souls and losing ourselves. The Lord calls for us to lose ourselves in the service of others. The Adversary whispers to us to lose our souls in the service of ourselves.
By pleasure, does the devil work. He lures us with the promise of it. We sin a little and feel instant pleasure and then we are in debt. The only one with a credit card to pay it is Jesus Christ. We have no way of accumulating any credit to pay for our own sins. Only He can remove the stain of sin. But, He will only remove it, if we promise to not sin again. Thats repentance.
The Satan has tricks to make us think that we are in control and happy, but they are just tricks. After the smoke is cleared we are left without a soul and in debt. The scriptures refer to it as being in the "gall of bitterness" or in the "chains" of the Devil.
The distinct between Christ again is a solid opposite of the Devil. We willfully choose to serve others and not ourselves. We chain ourselves to the will of God and we are free. We have our souls and lost ourselves. What I mean by having a soul is that we have all we need and then some.
Another illustration of how Satan works is when we choose evil we seek after all we want but end up being a slave to those things rather than a master. When following Satan, we are surrounded by a great deal of waste. Why? Because we sought happiness in that which cannot sustain or fulfill our souls.
The Lord knows what we need and by giving up our will for His, He will bless us with all we need and then some. Usually though we just need to suffer through the hard part and then realize all the Lord has done and all the blessings we have after converting to the Lord's will. Its a process of repentance that is hardly an easy feat for the mortal man.
Through the subjecting of ourselves to God, we gain through suffering. We have to kill the natural man within us and make the spirit conqueror. We rejoice in sacrifice for God's sake, as we know that the Lord is way to eternal life. No other way can one achieve the potential of the human. We have to unlock this potential through faith. He will remake in us something great and noble and eternal. Its a process of giving up the now, for the eternal. The Lord doesn't forget His promises. He will glorify Himself in us.
Satan seeks to mock God through destroying us. He seeks to cause pain to God through our disobedience and then will accuse us before God. The Savior will be our advocate and pay for our wrong doings. The Lord cannot deny Justice and we will be grieved for our sins unless we repent and turn to Christ to pay for our sins. Then we will receive mercy and the Savior will present us clean before the Father and He will say "Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord." -Matthew 25:21
"I know we have won many a soul through pleasure. All the same, it is His invention, not ours. He made the pleasures: all our research so far has not enabled us to produce one. All we can do is to encourage the humans to take the pleasures which our Enemy has produced, at times, or in ways, or in degrees, which He has forbidden. Hence we always try to work away from the natural condition of any pleasure to that in which it is least natural, least redolent of its Maker, and least pleasurable. An ever increasing craving for an ever diminishing pleasure is the formula. It is more certain; and it's better style. To get the man's soul and give him nothing in return—that is what really gladdens our Father's heart."
I can't believe it took me this long to quote the great C.S. Lewis. Probably the most quoted non Mormon by Mormons.
This quote is from a the evil Screwtape in regards to how to capture men's souls. I find it quite insightful into the process of losing our souls.
Its an interesting distinction between losing our souls and losing ourselves. The Lord calls for us to lose ourselves in the service of others. The Adversary whispers to us to lose our souls in the service of ourselves.
By pleasure, does the devil work. He lures us with the promise of it. We sin a little and feel instant pleasure and then we are in debt. The only one with a credit card to pay it is Jesus Christ. We have no way of accumulating any credit to pay for our own sins. Only He can remove the stain of sin. But, He will only remove it, if we promise to not sin again. Thats repentance.
The Satan has tricks to make us think that we are in control and happy, but they are just tricks. After the smoke is cleared we are left without a soul and in debt. The scriptures refer to it as being in the "gall of bitterness" or in the "chains" of the Devil.
The distinct between Christ again is a solid opposite of the Devil. We willfully choose to serve others and not ourselves. We chain ourselves to the will of God and we are free. We have our souls and lost ourselves. What I mean by having a soul is that we have all we need and then some.
Another illustration of how Satan works is when we choose evil we seek after all we want but end up being a slave to those things rather than a master. When following Satan, we are surrounded by a great deal of waste. Why? Because we sought happiness in that which cannot sustain or fulfill our souls.
The Lord knows what we need and by giving up our will for His, He will bless us with all we need and then some. Usually though we just need to suffer through the hard part and then realize all the Lord has done and all the blessings we have after converting to the Lord's will. Its a process of repentance that is hardly an easy feat for the mortal man.
Through the subjecting of ourselves to God, we gain through suffering. We have to kill the natural man within us and make the spirit conqueror. We rejoice in sacrifice for God's sake, as we know that the Lord is way to eternal life. No other way can one achieve the potential of the human. We have to unlock this potential through faith. He will remake in us something great and noble and eternal. Its a process of giving up the now, for the eternal. The Lord doesn't forget His promises. He will glorify Himself in us.
Satan seeks to mock God through destroying us. He seeks to cause pain to God through our disobedience and then will accuse us before God. The Savior will be our advocate and pay for our wrong doings. The Lord cannot deny Justice and we will be grieved for our sins unless we repent and turn to Christ to pay for our sins. Then we will receive mercy and the Savior will present us clean before the Father and He will say "Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord." -Matthew 25:21
26.12.10
“Because if this is gonna be a Christian nation that DOESN’T help the poor, either we’ve got to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we’ve got to acknowledge that he commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition — and then admit that we just don’t want to do it.”
— Stephen Colbert
— Stephen Colbert
24.12.10
16.12.10
Faith and Humility
There is a team effort between Faith and Humility. You must have both or you won't have either. To be humble you must have faith and to have faith you must be humble.
If you have faith without humility then your faith turns into overconfidence and arrogance. Without faith then your humility turns to doubting yourself and having no confidence.
If you have faith without humility then your faith turns into overconfidence and arrogance. Without faith then your humility turns to doubting yourself and having no confidence.
5.12.10
Holiness of Being
I hope in the future as this blog continues that my knowledge will increase and that my notes become more insightful. As for now, I make do with what I have.
My grammar sucks. Often my wife corrects my omission of better words or punctuation. My work ethic could be much better. I've left many jobs with seemingly great reasons only to find out through time that it was just laziness. I can keep going with this theme of my faults and lacking but the point is I have so much to be damned about me and yet I have so much to give.
Through out my life its been a downhill battle of quick fixes and reactionary feelings to the world around me. This isn't as it should be. Our lives should not be lived on the mercy of the moment but the justice of eternity. We will always be on the mercy of God but mercy gives way to justice when we become lazy and weak, like a boat with no engine is subject to the waves. It is our duty of existence to live up to our potential and as Mormons believe, as we are God once was and as God is, man may become. Perfection of holiness is the aim of God for us and falter as we will, what must never falter is that shared will with God for our holiness of being.
The scriptures say "Be Perfect" continually through out each time the Lord called prophets or even came down in Person Himself. He demands we obey His commands but not by phony proposals of perfection as in the case of Cain whose offering was rejected by the Lord due to the lack of propriety. You can't fake it. You have to truly become the person and not just on the outside. As if a police officer was never off duty, we must be continually devoted to Christ. This doesn't mean every activity has to be centered on Christ, but we must be centered. As Brigham said of dancing and singing that you can do all these activities just as long as we're saints doing them. The Lord desires the best things for us and so we must realize that He knows best and trust that through Him we'll have all we need but if we try to cheat or leave Him out in our pursuits then truly we will not be satisfied and will not be saints.
My grammar sucks. Often my wife corrects my omission of better words or punctuation. My work ethic could be much better. I've left many jobs with seemingly great reasons only to find out through time that it was just laziness. I can keep going with this theme of my faults and lacking but the point is I have so much to be damned about me and yet I have so much to give.
Through out my life its been a downhill battle of quick fixes and reactionary feelings to the world around me. This isn't as it should be. Our lives should not be lived on the mercy of the moment but the justice of eternity. We will always be on the mercy of God but mercy gives way to justice when we become lazy and weak, like a boat with no engine is subject to the waves. It is our duty of existence to live up to our potential and as Mormons believe, as we are God once was and as God is, man may become. Perfection of holiness is the aim of God for us and falter as we will, what must never falter is that shared will with God for our holiness of being.
The scriptures say "Be Perfect" continually through out each time the Lord called prophets or even came down in Person Himself. He demands we obey His commands but not by phony proposals of perfection as in the case of Cain whose offering was rejected by the Lord due to the lack of propriety. You can't fake it. You have to truly become the person and not just on the outside. As if a police officer was never off duty, we must be continually devoted to Christ. This doesn't mean every activity has to be centered on Christ, but we must be centered. As Brigham said of dancing and singing that you can do all these activities just as long as we're saints doing them. The Lord desires the best things for us and so we must realize that He knows best and trust that through Him we'll have all we need but if we try to cheat or leave Him out in our pursuits then truly we will not be satisfied and will not be saints.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)