Creeds Strongly Riveted

A recent experience with a fellow brother, followed by several conversations relating to what we need and/or want as members of the Church of Jesus Christ, from both other members and from our 'church' meeting experiences, caused me to ponder and focus on, what for me, has been a mixture of frustration, sadness, and a lone voice in the wilderness.  I use the phrase, 'lone voice in the wilderness' because I have separated myself from the group by searching and feasting upon the words of God.

For me, the member or fellowship experience has always been good and positive. I do not expect people to be more than what they are, because, like me, they are persons in progress. I love that they are not perfect and have challenges. I can love them more because of it.  

There is an exception. I do expect more from fellow members when it comes to what God has revealed to us, i.e. His words. I share Nephi's frustration that they do not "search great knowledge when it is given unto them, even as plain as word can be." This lack of knowledge of truth (and the word of the Lord is truth), has caused many of my meeting experiences to be lacking an important ingredient--nourishment--which for me has been and continues to be lacking.  

My General Conference experience, however, has in the last several years been, with some exceptions, very nourishing, enlightening and makes me want to repent and turn to my Savior because I have heard the word of God spoken, but not by everyone. There are still a lot of precepts of men and women mingled with scripture, taught at conference. He tells us, concerning the word of God, that it is the same whether spoken by Him or by His servants (D&C 1:38). Note that he does not say that just because they are His servants they speak the word of God. And it is up to us to know the difference.

The experiences for me that cause me to be concerned happen in our local meetings and gospel discussions with each other. Even when discussing the 'gospel' it seems to me that we are speaking different languages, even though we use the same words. This is because what we think and believe the gospel is, is not necessarily how the Lord defines His gospel. For example, assume a class was asked "why is repentance the first and last commandment?" A discussion would follow, and most comments would be an opinion or a parroting back of what they think they have heard. The teacher asking the question would, more than likely, just assume that everyone would know what it means to repent and there would be no discussion on how the Lord defines repentance.

A class member who knows the Lord's answer and how the Lord defines repentance may comment, and give the answer the Lord has revealed, but most would not "hear" because they were too busy conversing among themselves, sharing their ideas and opinions or the ideas and opinions of others, and did not recognize or "hear" the word of God.  To them it was just another comment lost in the mix of all the other ideas and opinions.  

I have been in meetings where real and heartfelt experiences were shared-- addictions, challenges, tragedy, illness, etc, and I experienced the bonding that comes from honest expression. But how much more meaningful if we all understood the conditions that the Lord has put us in on this earth, and how He has revealed how we can and should respond to these conditions.

Does it, however, have to be this way? Should it be this way? Following my discussion with this brother I formed four questions: 

1) What, if anything, should we in the church expect from each other? 

2) What, if anything, should we expect from our local meetings? 

3) What, if anything, should be our contribution to our meetings? and

4) What, if anything, should be our contribution to our fellow members? 

At first these may seem like simple questions, but they are not. First, just asking these questions will likely solicit multiple responses, but in multiple languages. In other words, we all speak different languages, or at least have differing definitions of the words we use, and because of these differing definitions, our communications and discussions usually miss the mark.  

I believe 'missing the mark' is the correct description of many of our classroom discussions and Sacrament Meeting talks, as well as our other so called 'gospel' discussions.  Jacob describes 'blindness' as looking beyond the mark (Jacob 4:14).  Because we are blind to the Lord's meaning of the words we use, we miss the mark, or His words and how He defines His words, in our discussions.  Words have meanings, and unless there is a standard by which to compare the words spoken and expressed, the words that we use will mean different things to different people and no connections will be made, and we will not be one in Him. "I say unto you, be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine" (D&C 38:27). When His words are the standard, then we begin to be one in Him. But who monitors our responses with the standard?  Only those who speak and understand the Lord's words.

Let me give you an example. I was teaching a High Priests Group and had prepared a lesson on being able to recognize truth (His revealed words to us) regardless of who said it.  To illustrate, I had found a talk given by Elder Boyd K. Packer to a group of Regional Representatives, where he said that if he had his way he would do away with all the church programs because he said they made us too dependent. This talk was based on the Lord's counsel to Joseph Smith to teach correct principles and let the people govern themselves. 

But I didn't tell the group who had written the talk. I did, however, tell them that I found a copy of the talk in Sunstone Magazine (which I had). I then proceeded to read some of what Elder Packer had said, and asked for the groups' response. Knowing that I had purposely 'tainted' the source for some because I mentioned Sunstone, I wanted to make it more difficult to respond honestly. The result was that the class was divided into three groups. Group one consisted of those who took issue with what was said and strongly disagreed. This was the largest group. Group two consisted of those who took the time to think about what was said but just could not manage to take a position one way or the other. Group three consisted of one brother who from the very start agreed with what was said, gave reasons for why he thought it was true, and was willing to challenge those who disagreed while encouraging those sitting on the fence to really listen to what Elder Packer was saying.  

When I finally revealed the source, Group one was upset with me, I guess because had they known it was Elder Packer, they would have agreed or at least given it more thought, not because of what was said but who said it. This group definitely missed the mark. 

Group two was a little embarrassed because they wanted to believe what Elder Packer was saying was true but couldn't get over the Sunstone stigma, which caused them to also miss the mark. (Again the source and not what was taught.) 

One note about the brother who made up Group three. He had only recently become active after having spent many years away from the church. He was not institutionalized. The source was not what mattered to him, but what was said.

My point in using this example is to show that in any given church classroom discussion at any given time, there are many who refuse, or perhaps are unable, to go beyond their traditional thinking, others who are afraid, others who are just not interested, and still others, almost always the minority, who listen to what is being said in light of what he or she knows the Lord has said (the standard). If he or she does comment, it is received by a few, but disregarded by the majority because the majority does not have the truth and light (the standard) by which to compare, having only partial or watered down truths.

For example, a discussion on love may seem to be connecting with everyone, but there are so many definitions of what love is and what love is not, that no meeting of the minds or hearts is achieved, and the most that could be hoped for would be a sharing of what we think or believe love is.  

A discussion on truth, however, should be different because the Lord has given us a clear definition of truth--the word of the Lord is truth (D&C 84:45), but unfortunately many are not aware of this definition, including the teacher, discussion leader or speaker. In a classroom setting, almost always the discussion centers around a talk or a lesson, and the comments are generally institutional responses or a parroting back of what others have said. Sometimes the answer is designed to let others know that we know the 'correct' answer, or to cause others to believe that we actually read the talk. As a result most in the classroom are left hungry and wanting more, having been given only fluff or as Elder Holland says, Spiritual Twinkies which do not edify or nourish.  

Perhaps Hugh Nibley said it best when he said that in the church we give "young people and old awards for zeal alone, zeal without knowledge--for sitting in endless meetings, for dedicated conformity and unlimited capacity for suffering boredom." Why is this the case when we are teaching and discussing the church approved curriculum? Because we are only teaching what we think the curriculum says, and not what the Lord has said even though the 'curriculum' tells us to teach the word of God, and because we don't know the word of God, we cannot teach it! 

Let's go back to my four questions. Notice that the questions ask what, if anything, 'should' be our expectations and contributions? 

What do we need to know to answer these questions? We can say what we think or what we want, but shouldn't we answer based on what we need? And who knows what we need? Only the Lord. Let's look at a few scriptures and see what He says we need. By using the Lord's words as the standard, we can all look to His words to see if what we or others are saying meets the standard or misses the mark.

"And now I speak 

concerning baptism.  

Behold, elders, priests and teachers 

were baptized; 

and they were not baptized 

save they brought forth fruit 

meet that they were worthy of it.  

Neither did they 

receive any unto baptism 

save they came forth 

with a broken heart 

and a contrite spirit, 

and witnessed unto the church 

that they had truly 

repented of their sins.  

And none were received 

unto baptism save 

they took upon them 

the name of Christ, 

having a determination 

to serve him to the end.  

And after they had 

been received unto baptism, 

and were wrought upon 

and cleansed 

by the power of the Holy Ghost, 

they were numbered 

among the people 

of the church of Christ 

and their names were taken 

that they might be remembered 

and nourished 

by the good word of God, 

to keep them in the right way, 

to keep them continually 

watchful unto prayer, 

relying alone upon 

the merits of Christ, 

who was the author 

and the finisher of their faith.  

And the church 

did meet together oft, 

to fast and to pray, 

and to speak one with another 

concerning the welfare of their souls.  

And they did meet together oft 

to partake of bread and wine, 

in remembrance of the Lord Jesus....  

And their meetings 

were conducted by the church 

after the manner 

of the workings of the Spirit, 

and by the power 

of the Holy Ghost; 

for as the power 

of the Holy Ghost 

led them whether to preach, 

or to exhort, 

or to pray, 

or to supplicate, 

or to sing, 

even so it was done" 

(Moroni 6:1-9).

Imagine that you are in a meeting and discussing these verses recorded by Moroni. The stated purpose of our discussion is to determine if the Lord has, in these verses, answered the four questions and identified what we need, should expect, and what we should contribute. At first glance that doesn't seem too difficult if we just parrot back what Moroni has written.  

The challenge comes, and this is the challenge in every church classroom discussion, what does the Lord mean by the words that He uses (the standard) and once we know, will we hear His voice in His words and believe Him and thereby in our discussion, become one? "Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice" (John 18:37). Maybe we cannot hear His voice because of all the noise we make 'conversing among ourselves' (3 Nephi 11:3-7).  

The question is whether what Moroni has said covers all that we need to know.  Are the four questions answered in these 9 verses?

We won't know the answer to that until we fully comprehend, using His words as the standard, and in some cases, actually experience all that the Lord has said in these 9 verses. As we go through these verses I will italicize the key words that need to be defined and experienced, not by what we think they mean or by what others may think or say they mean, but by what the Lord tells us they mean. And we can only know that through searching His words for all the connections that further define His meaning. 

Verse 1:  "they were not baptized save they brought forth fruit that they were worthy of it."  

What does the Lord mean by fruit? Resist the temptation to jump in and guess at what He means. This is the fare of all classroom discussions--so many opinions and not enough informed (by the Lord) comments. An informed by the Lord comment is as a witness of what the Lord has said, having received His witness of what the Lord means by the word fruit. I might add that even if someone gives an informed comment, most of the others will not 'hear' what the Lord is saying, and until they know how the Lord defines fruit, they will not contribute to the discussion in a meaningful way. This is a hint as to how we should be contributing and what we should expect. But keep in mind that the Lord told us He is the vine and we are the branches, and the branches cannot bring forth fruit of themselves. (John 15:5-8)

Verse 2:  "Neither did they receive any unto baptism save they came forth with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, and witnessed unto the church that they had repented of all their sins."  

You will notice that I am not going to give you these definitions because I have learned that unless you really want to know, my telling you won't be the same as if you searched them out. The danger is thinking that you know without really knowing. Remember that your opinions are not worth much when it comes to defining what the Lord has said. The point is that only those who have come forth with a broken heart and contrite spirit and who have repented of their sins will be prepared to receive what follows.

Verse 3:  "And none were received unto baptism save they took upon them the name of Christ, having a determination to serve him to the end."  

Linking words to other scriptures help to give us a clearer picture of what it means to serve the Lord. Do a search in the scriptures on your Gospel Library (only the scriptures) under the term 'serve him' and see how the many references add to and complete a picture of what He means by serving him. Alma is an outstanding example of serving the Lord by bringing others unto Christ by teaching them the word of God.

Verse 4:  "And after they had been received unto baptism, and were wrought upon and cleansed by the power of the Holy Ghost, they were numbered among the people of the church of Christ; and their names were taken, that they might be remembered and nourished by the good word of God, to keep them in the right way, to keep them watchful unto prayer, relying alone upon the merits of Christ, who was the author and finisher of their faith."

Let me make a few comments here on verse four. Here the Lord is telling us, after having been cleansed by the power of the Holy Ghost and numbered among the people of the church of Christ, how the Lord's words will nourish the church members who have been numbered. (see D&C 10:67-68 for what it means to be a member of His church.) The verb nourish is a key to understanding what the Lord is revealing to us. Anything other than His words will not nourish us! Watered down words will not nourish. Our opinions, now matter how informed, will not nourish us. The knowledge of others will not nourish us. Teachers will not nourish us. Only His words will nourish us!. So if we expect to be nourished when we attend meetings where His words are perverted or watered down, we will be disappointed, and in my case, frustrated, saddened and concerned.

Only His words will enlighten us, taste delicious to us and nourish us. But unless His words are, as Alma says 'found in us' we will not be a conduit for his words. His words are only found in us when the soil [our heart] is receptive to receive them. Keep in mind the Parable of the Sower. Like Alma we need to believe the words of Abinadi, write them down and allow them to become our words. This is the blessing of His words--they can and will become our words, we will hear His voice in His words, and we will stand as a witness of God in all things.  

Furthermore, it will be through His words that we come to know and witness all that He has revealed, and then desire to receive more. We will hunger and thirst after His words and will feast upon them. Through His words we will experience our lost and fallen state and the need for His atonement. We will desire to repent and retain in remembrance His goodness and our nothingness. It will be through His words that we will taste of His goodness and greatness and desire others to taste as we have tasted. We will sing songs of redeeming love and shout for joy 

Verse 5:  "And the church did meet together oft, to fast and to pray, and to speak one with another concerning the welfare of our souls."  

Doesn't this verse summarize our expectations and contributions? 

Note that He did not say the welfare of our person, but the welfare of our souls. There is a difference. Many of us, as we should be, are good at helping others, looking out for their welfare. Only a few, however, are good at looking out for the welfare of our souls. These words give us the purpose of our discussions when we speak (teach) one with another. Who knows what is best for the welfare of our souls?  Our Father in Heaven and He has sent His son to invite us to continually be watchful unto prayer, to give us His Father's words to get us in the right way and keep us in the right way. And we don't have to rely on any of our merits. We can rely alone or wholly upon His merits. Talk about the welfare of our souls! 

Verse 6:  "And they did meet together oft to partake of bread and wine in remembrance of the Lord Jesus."

Verse 7:  "And they were strict to observe that there should be no iniquity among them; and whoso was found to commit iniquity, and three witnesses of the church did condemn them before the elders, and if they repented not and confessed not, their names were blotted out, and they were not numbered among the people of Christ."

No iniquity means a person is repenting or turning to Christ and turning away from the world. Notice how easy it is to put ourselves in the "no iniquity" category because we focus on the performance rather than on faith in Christ.

Verse 8:  "But as oft as they repented and sought forgiveness, with real intent, they were forgiven.

Verse 9:  "And their meetings were conducted by the church after the manner of the workings of the Spirit, and by the power of the Holy Ghost; for as the power of the Holy Ghost led them whether to preach, or to exhort, or to pray, or to supplicate, or to sing, even so it was done."  

Of course relying on the workings of the Spirit requires faith, just as relying on the Spirit to give "you in the very hour that portion (of the words of God that you have treasured up continually) that shall be meted unto every man" (D&C 84:85; see also D&C 50).

Our problem is that the creeds of the fathers are so strongly riveted upon the hearts of the children that the children have inherited lies and filled the world with confusion. (D&C 123:9-13). This is true in the church as well. A lie is an abomination and is contrary to the revealed word of the Lord. Unfortunately these lies are espoused in our classrooms and in our discussions. We don't lie intentionally or maliciously, but the words or guile that comes out of our mouths can be abominations.

A friend of mine wrote to me saying: "To me Satan gets rid of truth by twisting it so that even though you have seventy percent of the concept right, the remaining thirty percent warps it just enough to turn it into a perversion of the right way and of true doctrine. After all it might just be easier for him to get us to imagine a half-truth rather than a complete lie.  It also makes me think that Satan loves to start in the mind before he starts on our behavior...because if he can get us to believe in a half-truth and act on a half-truth, he can get us into believing that according to our vain imaginations we are consistently living right. The result is a people living a perversion, teaching it to their children, and believing they are in the right and need no such thing as repentance."

You can begin to see how difficult it becomes to get people, even those who want to, to change their habits of thinking and feeling. If our habits of thinking are based on what we have heard others say, and if our diet is limited to reading and hearing what others have said or written, we become, in effect, a product of the language and knowledge of others, and we bring those ideas into our discussions. Which is OK if those ideas convey the words of God, but they most often do not. If we use the words of others as a comparison to what the Lord has revealed, like a barometer which measures how we are doing, then they can be useful and meaningful. I have learned to look to Christ as the sole source of light and truth in my life. I am always interested in what others say, but will always compare what others say with the light and truth that I have received. It can change as more is revealed to me through His words.

Bruce R. McConkie said "Wise gospel students do not build their philosophies of life on quotations of individuals even though those quotations come from presidents of the Church. Wise people anchor their doctrine on the Standard Works. When Section 20 says that God is infinite and eternal, it means just that and so on through all the revelations. There is no need to attempt to harmonize conflicting views when some of the views are out of harmony with the Standard Works. This is what life is all about. The Lord is finding out what we believe in spite of the allurements of the world or the philosophies of men or the seemingly rational and logical explanations that astute people make. We have been introduced to the gospel, we have the gift of the Holy Ghost; we have the Standard Works and it is our responsibility to get in tune and understand properly what the Lord has revealed."   

By having the Lord's standard, it does not matter whether we miss it completely or even slightly, the result is the same.  When we miss the mark in our classrooms and other meetings, we perfectly fit the description the Lord used when He addressed Joseph Smith in the Sacred Grove" ...all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrine the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof."  

When this is the rule rather than the exception, we can understand why Joseph Smith echoed the Prophet Isaiah when he said that our meetings are too low, to mean and too condescending for the called and chosen of God. Where is the response to Joseph's charge to "search the scriptures (not read or study)--search the revelations which we publish, and ask your Heavenly Father, in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, to manifest the truth unto you, and if you do it with an eye single to His glory nothing doubting, He will answer you by the power of His Holy Spirit. You will then know for yourselves and not for another. You will not then be dependent on man for the knowledge of God; nor will there be any room for speculation. No; for when men receive their instruction from Him that made them, they know how He will save them. Then again we say: Search the Scriptures, search the Prophets and learn what portion of them belongs to you" (Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith).

Instead I fear we have become as Brigham Young said, "fixed with a very limited amount of knowledge, like a door upon its hinges, and move to and fro from one year to another without any visible advancement or improvement."  

Compare these two statements with our classroom experiences and it is easy to see where we are and where we should be, and why I felt the need to write these thoughts. And remember if you be a good minister of Jesus Christ, you shall be "nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou has attained" (2 Timothy 4:6). "Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine, continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee" (2 Timothy 4:16).

I had the experience of being in my Elders' Quorum in the Power Ranch Ward where the instructor led a discussion on truth. But unlike many discussions, the instructor first used the scriptures to define truth including D&C 84:45 which tells us that the word of the Lord is truth. The class members, without "hearing," jumped in with comments about how hard it is to know truth. Science was mentioned as was one Elder's frustration with having so many choices. But the instructor kept bringing us back to the Lord's definition of truth. Someone said that one truth we know from His words, is that we only have two choices, good (Christ) or evil (everything else), and that we reveal to the Lord what we really want. The instructor then said that "what I love is what I do" which reinforced the truth that where our heart is there will our treasure be. The difference between having the Lord's definition in our discussion, and being reminded of it by the instructor and others in the quorum, kept us from relying on our definitions of truth and kept us focused on His. The result for me was nourishment and connection to my fellow elders.