The Experiential Gospel

Walking into a lighted room is a different experience than walking into a dark room. We experience the difference not only through sight, but also through what we feel by the presence or lack of light. God has revealed to us that He is the light of the sun, moon and stars and the power by which they were made, and so everyday we experience the light of God in our lives. This is true even though we may not understand or believe that He is the light of the sun, moon and stars.

I have asked several members of the Church to tell me, using one word, the way they have experienced or experience the Holy Ghost or the Spirit of God in their lives. Usually the words are comfort, peace, and warmth. I have yet to have someone use the word light. And yet He describes Himself as light, and Christ says that He is the light that we should hold up.

I wonder if we are trapped by the words that we use and thereby limit our experiences with the Holy Ghost and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And if we are trapped by our own words, is it because we have limited them to what we have heard others say? If this is true, we limit the Gospel of Jesus Christ to our limited experiences of it.

Alma, on the other had, describes many experiences as he retells his story to his son Helaman in Alma 36. He says he was ¹struck with great fear. He ²fell to the earth and was ³racked with eternal torment because of his sins. He ⁴remembered all his sins and was ⁵tormented with the pains of hell. The very ⁶thought of coming into the presence of God ⁷racked his soul with ⁸inexpressible horror. He ⁹remembered his father prophesy concerning Jesus Christ. His mind ¹⁰caught hold of the thought, and he ¹¹cried within his heart: O Jesus have mercy on me. When he ¹²thought this his pains went away. He could ¹³remember his sins no more. And then he said: "And oh, ¹⁴what joy, and what ¹⁵marvelous light I did behold." His ¹⁶soul was filled with joy. He had been ¹⁷born of God. He ¹⁸tasted of exceeding joy and ¹⁹desired others to taste of it.

Alma describes many more experiences, but the point is our experiences should be like his. We should all experience our lost and fallen state and be racked with torment because of our sins. Without these experiences we will never experience the joy of the atonement in our own lives. We must experience ourselves as sinners before we can ever taste of the exceeding joy of which Alma tasted.

Experiencing God's word as truth and light is to experience His spirit because His word is His spirit. And it is only through His word that we can experience a 'mighty change' in our hearts. "And behold, he preached the word unto your fathers, and a mighty change was also wrought in their hearts, and they humbled themselves and put their trust in the true and living God." (Alma 5:13)

Judged According to Your Works, Whether They be Good or Evil

I believe that the scriptures which reference that we are judged according to our works, can be misunderstood. Let me illustrate by asking a question: Do you want God to be fair with you when you are brought to stand before Him to be judged of your works? Most of us, without thinking, would probably say yes. But if you really think about it, the last thing we should want is God's justice, but rather His mercy. So the question becomes: How do we obtain the mercy of God? And understand that it is an either/or: You either receive the Justice of God or His Mercy.

Christ said "my Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross; and after that I had been lifted up upon the cross, that I might draw all men unto me, that as I have been lifted up by men even so should men be lifted up by the Father, to stand before me to be judged of their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil--And for this cause have I been lifted up; therefore, according to the power of the Father I will draw all men unto me, that they may be judged according to their works" (3 Nephi 27:14-15 emphasis added).

This seems very straight forward and most of us would think that we better have some good works to be judged by. But we must understand that we never want to be judged by our works, since we have all sinned and have all fallen short of the glory of God.

Christ goes on to tell us how to avoid the judgment of God. "And it shall come to pass, that whoso repenteth and is baptized in my name shall be filled; and if he endureth to the end, behold him will I hold guiltless before my father at that day when I shall stand to judge the world" (3 Nephi 27:16 emphasis added).

Alma said that mercy claims the repentant and justice claims the unrepentant. Through the plan of redemption, we have been granted the blessing of repentance, "which repentance mercy claimeth; otherwise, justice claimeth the creature" (Alma 42:22). He goes on to say that "mercy claimeth the penitent, and mercy cometh because of the atonement; and the atonement bringeth to pass the resurrection of the dead; and the resurrection of the dead bringeth back men into the presence of God; and thus they are restored into his presence, to be judged according to their works, according to the law and justice" (Alma 42:23). But the penitent are not judged according to their works because they are held guiltless before God because of the mercy of God.

"...justice exerciseth all his demands, and also mercy claimeth all which is her own; and thus, none but the truly penitent are saved" (Alma 42:24 emphasis added).

So don't make the mistake of thinking that because of all your 'good works' you will be saved. We don't even want to be judged by our 'good works' since that invites the Justice of God. Good works do not save us. Only Christ does through repentance.

A Follower of Righteousness

Abraham understood the difference between being righteous and being a follower of righteousness, and it was because of his knowledge of God that he knew he could not be righteous, because he knew that only God is righteous.  

He did know, however, that he could be "a follower of righteousness" and "also be one who possessed great knowledge." But the knowledge he had obtained from God made him want "to be a greater follower of righteousness, and to possess a greater knowledge" (Abraham 1:2). He understood that his fathers had "turned from their righteousness" unto the worshiping of false gods because they had "turned their hearts" away from righteousness and towards evil.  (Abraham 1:5-7 emphasis added)

God called upon Adam "by his own voice, saying: I am God; I made the world, and men before they were in the flesh. And he also said unto him: If thou wilt turn unto me, and hearken unto my voice, and believe," repent, and be baptized, he would receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. God also tells Adam that he should do this in the name of "mine Only Begotten Son, who is full of grace and truth, which is Jesus Christ, the only name given under heaven, whereby salvation shall come" (Moses 6:51-52).

Both Adam and Abraham understood that only God is righteous, full of grace and truth, and that we repent by turning to Him in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Paul gives us some examples of how people miss the mark by trying to become righteous through good works or the works of the law, and in doing so become self-righteous instead of followers of righteousness. He describes the Gentiles as people that had "followed not after righteousness" but after having the Gospel of Jesus Christ taught to them, they "have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith" (Romans 9:30). And by contrast he describes Israel "which followed after the law of righteousness" but had "not attained to the law of righteousness" (Romans 9:31). And he tells us why Israel could not attain to righteousness by following the law, "Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law" (Romans 9:32).

Paul helps us understand that "no man is justified by the law in the sight of God" (Galatians 3:11), and that the purpose of the law is to bring us to Christ, being our "schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith" (Galatians 3:24). Paul makes it clear that we cannot live the law, and it is because of the law that sin comes, and because we sin we need a redeemer and our Redeemer invites us to follow after His righteousness and put our faith in Him, and therefore become greater followers of righteousness.

How We React to Words of Christ Determines Our Fate

There are multiple references in the scriptures that how we react to the words of Christ (or the word of God) will determine our fate. I want to list just a few of them here.

We are judged by the word of God. Christ said   "I am come a light unto the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. And if any man hear my words, and believeth not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: that word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And I know that his commandment is everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak" (John 12: 46-50 emphasis added).

"Behold, I am God; give heed unto my word, which is quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword, to the dividing asunder of both joints and marrow; therefore give heed unto my words" (D&C 6:2). D&C 33:1 adds the words after joints and marrow, "soul and spirit; and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." 

We learn here that His words will be a divider between those who accept them and those who do not.

"And at that day, when I shall come in my glory, shall the parable be fulfilled which I spake concerning the ten virgins. For they that are wise and have received the truth, and have taken the Holy Spirit for their guide, and have not been deceived--verily I say unto you, they shall not be hewn down and cast into the fire, but shall abide the day" (D&C 45:56-57 emphasis added). What is the truth they have received? "The word of the Lord is truth, and whatsoever is truth is light, and whatsoever is light is Spirit, even the Spirit of Jesus Christ" (D&C 84:45).

The difference between the house of Israel (Jews, 10 Tribes and Lehi's descendants) receiving and believing the word of God and the Gentiles not believing and rejecting the word of God is found in the Savior's prophecies concerning the house of Israel and the Gentiles in the last days in 3 Nephi 20-21.

Nephi's discourse concerning those who enter and stay on the straight and narrow path focuses on the word of Christ.  "...after ye have gotten into this strait and narrow path, I would ask if all is done? Behold, I say unto you Nay; for ye have not come thus far save it were by the word of Christ, with unshaken faith in him, relying wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save" (2 Nephi 31:19 emphasis added). Then he further admonishes us to "...press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life" (2 Nephi 31:20 emphasis added).

And further he tells us what it means to endure to the end: "Wherefore I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ, for behold the words of Christ will tell you all things what he should do" (2 Nephi 32:3) emphasis added).

There are many other references to the receiving or the rejecting of His words and the consequences in doing so in Alma Chapters 5 & 12.  In fact by not receiving His words Alma tells us we are bound by the chains of hell. (Alma 12:11).