O then, how much more need have we?

"And now, if the Lamb of God, he being holy, should have need to be baptized by water, to fulfil all righteousness, O then, how much more need have we, being unholy, to be baptized, yea, even by water!"(2 Nephi 31:5)


In the "doctrine of Christ" or in other words the only way of salvation, the next step after repentance is baptism.  Baptism is a covenant, or a two-way promise made between God and man.  Think of it as a contract.  God sets the terms, and we either accept them or reject them.  There are many instances where men create their own covenant terms with God, for example when the converted Lamanites (also known as the "Anti-Nephi-Lehies") make a covenant with God that they would never take up arms again against their enemies and they bury their weapons of war as a token of this covenant (see Alma 23-24).  However, although there are instances like these in the scriptures, all terms of the covenants required by every soul for salvation are created by God, and not by men.

The importance of a covenant that I want to emphasize in this blog, however, is that a covenant is a two-way promise, NOT a one-way promise.  Even though we know this, too often we only think about the promise we have to make with God, and neglect the reality of God making a promise with us.  God has such a strong desire to make promises with His children.  Think of it! The greatest, grandest, and most glorious, incomprehensible Being in all of eternity wants to make a promise with YOU! Personally! He wants to promise you the absolute guarantee of eternal life which is THE "greatest of all the gifts" He can possibly offer you (D&C 14:7).  Unfortunately, the only way He can or will make is promise with us is if we come to Him and make a promise on our end.  The only thing that He requires of us to do on our part is to promise Him that we will take Christ's name upon us, always remember Christ, and keep His commandments until the end of our mortal lives (Moroni 4:3), and thus manifest our willingness to enter into this promise by entering into the waters of baptism (Alma 7:15). 

How simple is that? God gives us commandments only for our benefit (2 Nephi 26:23-24) and He promises if we keep those commandments that He'll not only bless us, but give us eternal life!  Think of it in this way, when you're a child your dad tells you "I want you to be healthy so please eat these vegetables (or whatever) and if you eat these vegetables, I'll give you my mansion."  This is just an example, but what God has to offer is much better than an earthly mansion!

There is no other way to salvation except through Jesus Christ.  And to partake of Christ's salvation, Christ requires each of us to make and keep baptismal covenants by priesthood authority, and there is no other way (2 Nephi 31:21).  To everyone who has made baptismal covenants I urge you to keep them.  The anyone who has not made any baptismal covenants I invite you to make them by entering into the waters of baptism. Doing so will show your love for the Lord and your willingness to follow Him and His way.  I bear my testimony that this is true doctrine of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and that the priesthood authority required to admister this covenant has been restored by our loving Heavenly Father through His chosen prophet, Joseph Smith Jr.  I do so in the name of Jesus Christ.

What is Repentance?

What is repentance?  The scriptures say again and again that if you do not repent, you can not inherit eternal life.  If it is so darn important, then what in the world is repentance in the first place?

We are each children of our Heavenly Father.  As such we have incredible potential of what we can become.  God has a vision for each of us to become something far superior than we can even comprehend in ourselves.  His intention is for us to become like Him,  possessing all of His divine qualities and virtues (Matthew 5:48).

The problem is that each of us are human beings, and thus we all sin and fall short of inheriting eternal life (Romans 3:23). Nothing unclean can dwell in God's presence, and sin makes us unclean, so therefore, because all of us have sinned, no one can live with God again...Right?

Well, fortunately, because God foresaw that each of us would sin, and because he wanted each of us to return to Him, He provided a way for us to become clean and forgiven.  That way is through His Son, Jesus Christ.  God sent His Only Begotten Son to pay the penalty for each of our sins, so that we could return back to Him (John 3:16). 

Although God in His great mercy and love sent His Only Son to suffer, bleed, and die for us, so that we could receive mercy, it still requires effort on our part to receive Christ's Atoning sacrifice.  This "effort" is called repentance -- repentance is the means by which we are reconciled to God through Christ.  Because Christ felt our pains, and understands us personally, when we repent, He is able to plead with the Father:

"Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified; Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life."  (D&C 45:3-5).

You're on probation!

I want to share some of the things I've learned about repentence and forgiveness lately.  But first, in this post, I want to set the stage for it.

First of all, personally, what I love about the Book of Mormon, is that it explains that there really is a purpose to our lives here on earth, and we are not simply here just to be born, live, get an education, work, have children, etc. and then die.  This life has purpose and it has meaning.  In the book of Alma in the Book of Mormon, Amulek taught "And thus we see, that there was a time granted unto man to repent, yea, a probationary time, a time to repent and serve God." (Alma 42:4; see also Alma 34:32 and 2 Nephi 2:21)

Basically what that means is that God granted us this time in mortal life as a time to repent so that we can be prepared to live in His presence after this life. So if the biggest purpose of this mortal life is to repent, then don't you think that it is probably pretty important to know first of all what repentance is, and then how to repent?  I would think so.  I'll write more about the "what" and "how" of repentance in my next posts.  Stay tuned!

"Gratitude is the Attitude"

My dad has a little desk-plaque that says on it "gratitude is the attitude".  I definitely agree with that quote, and in fact the Lord does too.  To the Prophet Joseph Smith, He revealed "And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred  fold, yea, more." (Doctrine and Covenants: 78:19)

When the Lord says "all things", how much is "all"? Does He really want us to be grateful for even the "negative" things that happen to us? The short answer, yes!

What I realized the other day is that we always hear about being grateful for the things we have been given (when I say "things" I don't just mean material possessions), instead of pouting about what you haven't been given. That's kind of like "the cup is half-full" analogy.  But the Lord never intended us to have a half-full cup, but a cup that "runneth over" (Psalms 23:5) .  So what I learned is that instead of just thanking Him for everything we have, it is equally as important or even more important to thank Him for everything you don't have as well!  Think about it, can you imagine how spoiled rotten we would be if He gave us everything we ever wanted or if He was a "push-over"?  He gives and withholds things from us for our benefit (2 Nephi 26:24), even when we really want something, because He knows what's best for us better than we do.  In reality, there is really no such thing as God giving a "curse" because any "curse" He gives is still for our benefit! Try this principle of thanking the Lord for everything you have AND don't have.  It can be pretty fun and puts you in a good mood :)

(: Joy :)

So in regards to my last post, I didn't completely finish everything I wanted to write in there, this is kind of the continuation of my last post. 

I know that we as Latter-day Saints are told again and again that the only way to lasting peace and happiness is to obey the commandments of God.  Although there is much truth to that statement, there is more that I would like to add to that.  The reason is because there are many people who, I believe, try earnestly to keep the commandments, but still are not happy.

In my opinion, we are the happiest when we fulfill our desires, or in other words, when we do what we want to do.  However, when what we want is contrary to what the Lord wants for us, and we follow through with that desire, it will only end in short-term pleasure, not true lasting happiness. 

Many people who understand this will do the Lord's will, even though, inside they would really rather do their own will.  When this happens, happiness is not found.  True, lasting happiness then, is found by wanting to do the Lord's will, and then doing it.  This way, you are doing what you want to do, and what you want to do is what the Lord wants you to do, thus you are pleasantly surprised with joy :)
 
Someone might ask, "this sounds great, but how do I change my desires to do what the Lord would want for me?"  Although it sounds difficult to change our desires, it really is quite simple.  The answer is faith.  When we understand and believe that the best way is the Lord's way, because He knows better than we do, and loves us perfectly, then instantly our desire is to do the Lord's will.

Elder Lawrence E. Corbridge of the Seventy said this in his talk "The Fourth Missionary",

"Our nature, our hearts, our desires can be changed almost immediately upon the attainment of knowledge. Our nature can change almost immediately as we come to understand true doctrine. In this instance, as you come to understand that the only way to light, intelligence, strength, capacity, peace, contentment, grace, knowledge, power, happiness, mercy, joy and every other good thing, is to follow Christ, then you will want to follow Him because it is the only intelligent thing to do. Not because you are a saint, not because you are better than others; rather, because you are more intelligent than others. It is the only intelligent thing to do. When you understand that, then you will forget about yourself, and your will. and your only desire will be to do the Lord's will...

"Elder Holland teaches that a great swimmer once said when asked his secret of success: "I kick when I don't want to kick, and I stroke when I don't want to stroke." Like the First, Second and Third Missionaries there are times when the Fourth Missionary doesn't want to kick and doesn't want to stroke either. The difference between the Third and Fourth Missionary is that the Third Missionary will kick and stroke because it is his duty, because that is what is expected of him and he will hate and resent it, while the Fourth Missionary will kick and stroke because he knows that it is the only intelligent thing to do."


 I know that this talk is directed towards missionaries, but it is universally applicable to everyone. I know that when we simply submit to the Lord's will, not because we feel obligated to, but because we understand and believe that "it is the only intelligent thing to do," our desires will change to be more Christlike, and we will find lasting happiness in doing the will of our Heavenly Father and our Savior.

Faith

So I haven't updated the blog in months. . . I kind of gave up on it a while back, but I was prompted by a friend in Jacksonville (Thanks Hannah!) that I should give it another shot.  So here I am!

Anyway part of the reason I gave up was because of lack of time, and not knowing what I should write about.  But the real reason why I haven't is because I didn't believe that having and updating a blog would produce the desired result of helping people through the doctrine of Christ (faith, repentance, baptism, gift of the Holy Ghost, Endure to the End).  Which is the subject I wanted to write about in this post, since it's been on my mind lately -- that is faith and belief.

Let's say that one of your innermost desires is to be physically fit and strong, however you lack the understanding and knowledge of how to achieve this goal.  So you look for someone who can assist you in achieving the goal.  Are you most likely to ask someone who is (a) physically weak and who has minimal experience in fitness, (b) physically strong and experienced, but someone whose intentions might not be trustworthy to you, or (c) someone whos is physically strong, and experienced, and who cares about you and whose intentions you trust?  Odds are you picked (c). Why? because he, in your mind, is the most trustworthy.

You trust person (c) because of his (1) competence and (2) character, and trust that if you will follow his directions to become physically strong and fit, that that desired result will follow.

Faith in Jesus Christ works in a similar way.  In the Lectures of Faith, the Prophet Joseph Smith said that there are three prerequisites to faith in Christ; that is (1) an idea that He actually exists, (2) a correct idea of His character, perfections, and attributes, and (3) a knowledge that the course that one is pursuing is in accordance with His will. 

Every single person on this planet wants joy (2 Nephi 2:25).  You'll find that just about every decision you make (if not every decision) in one way relates to you believing that what you do will bring you more joy (or less misery) than before you had made that decision.  Jesus Christ offers not short-termed, but everlasting joy.  You can either choose to believe that he can give it to you because you know who He is (see (2) above) and you trust him, or you can choose to believe that your own way will bring greater happiness.

So faith is not only believing in Christ, but faith is also believing Christ.  It is believing that His Character is completely 100% good and selfless on His part, and that His only desire is to bless you and bring you true everlasting joy and salvation (2 Nephi 26:23-24).  It is believing that He can make more of you than you can make of yourself, and that His ways are much better than your ways (Isaiah 55:8-9).  When one truly believes that Christ's ways are better than his/her own ways and will lead to true joy, he/she will live in those ways.  Sin then, can be defined as simply a lack of faith in Christ; in other words believing that one's own ways are higher and will bring greater happiness than the Lord's ways.

True, genuine faith in Jesus Christ as explained above will naturally lead one to true, genuine repentance of sin, and an enduring life of following His ways.  This will lead one to everlasting joy and ultimately salvation in God's kingdom!  (Mosiah 2:41)

Faith, Hope, Charity

"Behold, I will show unto the Gentiles their weakness, and I will show unto them that faith, hope and charity bringeth unto me—the fountain of all righteousness."

Ether 12:28