Doctrine and Covenants 41

(October 7, 2015)

                We tend to organize and gatekeep and do so many other things when it comes to our brothers and sisters.  But the Lord is pretty clear on discipleship – whosoever keepeth the law is His disciple.  To the extent we are keeping His law, we are on the path.  To the extent we deviate from keeping his law, we are deviating from that path.  And, since we cannot know fully the path that another is to walk (they are, after all, ultimately outside of our stewardship and answerable only to him).  But just as we cannot put someone else beyond the pale, we cannot be put beyond the pale ourselves.  If we walk the path Christ lays out for us, that is all that we need to worry about.

                The other thought was on Christ saying that these words were pure before Him and we must beware how we hold them.  I think this was a commandment to us in our day, just as it is to the people at the time the revelation was given.  There are those who would claim that Joseph Smith manipulated others to get ‘stuff.’  Reading this Section, they would undoubtedly find evidence of their belief.  But the Lord’s warning, I think, is applicable to them now – we must be cautious to not impugn the motivations of prophets (present or past).