2 John 1; 3 John 1; Jude 1

(September 1, 2015)

                I had two, relatively quick, thoughts from here.  The first was that bidding God speed to someone engaged in wickedness makes you a partaker in the evil deeds they perform.  I think, in our desire to avoid conflict (in part because of our lack of confidence in our own relationship to the truth), we are permissive or encouraging of behavior contrary to the will of the Lord.  I thin, as with saying God speed, this makes us partakers in the evil around us – at least, in my life, this is something I need to repent of.

                Secondly, so many people (in and out of the Church) attempt to turn the Grace of God into lasciviousness.  This can happen both literally, or metaphorically.  Literally, Grace is the enabling power of the Atonement and if we are not being changed for the better we are not partaking of Grace.  So to excuse lasciviousness with Grace is foolishness.

                Figuratively, we sometimes think that because we are in the right Church (or because we have a particular calling) we must be righteous and on the right track (even as we are uncharitable, or dig a pit for our neighbor, or whatever else we happen to want to do).  Being a member of the Lord’s Church does not justify unrighteous behavior, but rather demands more exacting behavior – where much is given, after all.

Mosiah 13-14

(September 1, 2015)

                I had a good friend who would often say that the deeper doctrine is to take the words of the Lord literally.  I think that there is a lot of truth to that.  The problem with that truth, though, is that so often the words of the Lord (and the truth of God) appears as madness.

                This causes two problems for us that we each need to be vigilant to prevent.  First, if we are going to stand boldly for the truth, we must get over any fear of being looked down upon or pride in our social status.  Telling the truth, by definition, means speaking against conventional wisdom.  Because that wisdom is conventional, it means that the truth in opposition to it will appear as madness.

                Second, when the truth is presented to us (when we are blinded by conventional wisdom), it will appear as madness in us.  Only by careful consideration, and determined prayer to be free of the blindness of our generation, can we have sufficiently open minds to recognize the truth and adopt it even when it goes against our political, social, moral, or cultural beliefs.

1 John 3-5

(August 31, 2015)

                These chapters contain, once again, a commonly misread scripture.  Whosoever is born of God sinneth not, but this is not a justification of sin in the slightest.  If we are born of God, we consecrate our wills and our lives over to Him.  We have no more desire to do evil, but to do good continually.

                In such a state, where we are determined to fully turn our wills over to Him, we may make mistakes from time to time.  Whether through weakness or ignorance, we may err (it is just part of the growing process).  But note that if we are doing our very, very best to do everything that God asks of us (being born of God), then the mistakes that we make are transgressions rather than sins.

Mosiah 12

(August 31, 2015)

                It is pretty clear, when looking at what we know of Abinidi and King Noah, that we are looking at a proto-Disciplinary Council.  Noah was the head of the Church, and appointed the High Priests that sat with him on this council.  What’s more, Noah represented the Priesthood leader (consecrated by his father) over this area.  So in effect, what we are reading about is Abinidi being wrongfully excommunicated from the Lord’s Church.  We may rest assured that the Lord has corrected (or will correct) such issues in the hereafter.

                Understanding that Noah was a Priesthood leader, in addition to being a political leader, becomes illuminative.  In particular, I was struck by how vulnerable he was to flattery.  Noah, reluctantly (and for the wrong reasons) was about to make the right choice and let Abinidi live.  But the flattery of those around him (‘how dare he say such things about the king!’) swayed him and he chose to sentence Abinidi to death.

                I have seen this vulnerability both in myself and in other Priesthood leaders.  In my life, I have seen a Priesthood leader who surrounded himself with those who repeatedly told him that whatever he decided, they were certain it would be the will of the Lord (which even the Brethren make no claim to – mistakes are inevitable because mortal men inevitably make them).  This flattery, in part, led this leader to make a serious mistake.

                We should support and sustain our Priesthood leaders, yes.  But we should not idolize them – both because of the damage it does to us and also the damage it does to them.  And, when we are in positions of responsibility, we must be cautious to include voices that are not voices of flattery but rather pricks to our conscience to ensure we remain on the path we are supposed to be on.

1 John 1-2

(August 30, 2015)

                We once again have absolute language, and this absolute language is very interesting.  We read that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of Him.  In some ways, this appears at first glance as the exact opposite of Paul’s approach that when we are born of Him our works are righteous.

                But my purpose in bringing this up isn’t to dwell on that but rather to notice how inclusive the Gospel is.  Everyone, whether they consider themselves Christian (or even religious) or not, is born of God if they do righteously.

                We know the ordinances are important, and faith is necessary to hold to the truth and obey, but our actions in choosing to follow the light we have been given in many ways is the most important part of all.  If we develop a pattern of following what we know to be right, without selfishness or guile, then in the hereafter the Lord can quickly bring us to a knowledge of the truth and of our error (to the extent we all have errors in our understanding of the truth) and our desires to follow and be righteous will naturally transition into following the new light we have received.  In contrast, someone who knows 99% of the truth and yet lives 50% of what he has been given will not benefit, on the other side, for receiving that last 1%.

Mosiah 11

(August 30, 2015)

                Two thoughts again with this chapter.  The first was once again seeing the unreliable narration – in this case, almost certainly corrected by Mormon in his switch to a third-person narrative).  The official record of Noah (and his official Court record) likely read very differently than what we have in this chapter – speaking of economic prosperity and difficulties brought about by religious dissidents deviating from the proper order before they were excommunicated and executed.

                The second thought was on the phrase delight in shedding blood.  I think, even though we rarely shed blood nowadays, that there is a common modern equivalent.  Sometimes, in our arguments, we delight when someone is stung by a clever retort or exposed by a vicious attack (especially if the one so hurt is our “enemy”).  I have seen this in myself, and frankly it is not something that I am particularly fond of seeing in myself.  

2 Peter 2-3

(August 29, 2015)

                I love Peter’s turn of phrase in these chapters – there truly are those who promise liberty through corruption, which inevitably brings them down into bondage.

                I have noticed that most of us don’t truly want liberty.  Instead we want power, which (as we see it) is freedom from consequence.  Frankly there is very little that I cannot do if I want to, law or otherwise notwithstanding.  The hedge on rampant behavior (excluding morality, of course) is that my actions have consequence.

                So when some speak of liberty (really license), they are asking for the capacity to do what they want (which they could anyway) but to not suffer the negative consequences for it.  Liberty, on the other hand, demands truth and consequences by allowing us to pick the blessings we want and allowing us to choose to obey the law that the Lord conditions the receipt of those blessings upon.