Are We Not All Beggars?

Most of us are aware that Alma gave up his seat as the Chief Judge so that he "might preach the word of God unto (the people)..seeing no other way than bearing down in pure testimony against them" (Alma 4:19). What we may not understand is why Alma believed it was necessary. Alma observed that "the people of the church began to wax proud" because of what they "had obtained by their industry" (Alma 4:6). This "was the cause of much affliction to Alma," and he was "sorely grieved for the wickedness which (he) saw had begun to be among (his) people" (Alma 4:7). 

"He saw great inequality among the people of the church" which he described as "wickedness." It caused Alma to be "very sorrowful." (Alma 4:6-19). In 3 Nephi we also read of "a great inequality" in all the land and in the church which resulted in "Satan leading away the hearts of the people to do all manner of iniquity" and that they "did not sin ignorantly, for they knew the will of God concerning them, for it had been taught them..." (3 Nephi 6:11-18). 

Why is inequality among the Lord's people described as wickedness? Because it is contrary to the law of God. The Lord has taught us "that it is not given that one man should possess that which is above another, wherefore the world lieth in sin." (D&C 49:20). He wants us to be equal that "the poor shall be exalted, in that the rich are made low" (D&C 104:16). "For if ye are not equal in earthly things ye cannot be equal in obtaining heavenly things" (D&C 78:6). This is the Lord's law, His only law, and He has asked us to enter into a covenant to keep it. The truth is every covenant we enter into with the Lord leads up to this covenant.

Let me make something clear. A covenant is not a two way promise. A covenant can be made by only one party, such as God covenanting with Abraham, the Gospel being His new and everlasting covenant (D&C 101:39-40), and the Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood which was made by God and sworn by God with an Oath. We enter into and agree to abide by his new and everlasting covenant through repentance, "faith on the Savior, and remission of sins by baptism, and by fire, yea, even the Holy Ghost" (D&C 19:21;31), and then living the higher law based on loving God and each other with all our, heart, mind and soul, as we desire, pray for with all our heart, and are infused with His love.

 

But we also make covenants or promises to our Father in heaven as did Israel when Moses introduced the Law of Moses (which, by the way, is a performance, based on the right spirit, version of the law of consecration), which was given to the people in remembrance of our God and King. 

Moses asked the people if 

1) they would do things God’s way rather than their own way? 

2) would they be obedient to Him no matter what He asked of them? 

3) would they willingly sacrifice anything He asked for, including their own lives? 

4) Would they at all times, behave morally and soberly? 

5) After answering yes to each, God says, "Very well, this is what I want you to do." (see Deuteronomy 5 & 6). Moses then tells the people what they are to do, and the spirit in which they should do it (e.g. Deuteronomy 15). 

 

However, before we are ready to receive His law, we must hear and believe His words, enter into His new and everlasting covenant, and desire with all our hearts to be filled with His love. Because unlike the Law of Moses, we should want to keep His law, not because we are commanded to, but because we are filled with charity or the pure love of Christ.

Let us go to King Benjamin to discover how this process works. For his great farewell address, Benjamin summoned all the people to gather by families around the temple "that they might rejoice and be filled with love towards God and all men" (Mosiah 2:2-4). He begins his discourse on an economic note: "I have not sought gold nor silver, nor any manner of riches of you" (Mosiah 2:12). "I, myself, have labored with mine own hands" (Mosiah 2:14-15;17). "I, whom ye call your king, am no better than ye yourselves are" (Mosiah 2:26). He is setting the keynote, which is absolute equality. And that follows naturally from the proposition that we owe everything to God, to whom we are perpetually and inescapably in debt beyond our means of repayment: "In the first place....ye are indebted unto him...and will be forever and ever" (Mosiah 2:23-24). Let no one boast that he has earned or produced a thing. "Therefore, of what can ye boast?... Can ye say aught of yourselves? I answer you, Nay," right down to the dust of the earth, it all "belongeth to him who created you" (Mosiah 2:24-25). It is His property, not ours.  

What is more, no one can even pay his own way in the world, let alone claim a surplus: "If ye should serve him who...is preserving you from day to day...and even supporting you from one moment to another--I say if you should serve him with all your whole souls, yet, ye would be unprofitable servants" (Mosiah 2:21).

What do we do, then, to qualify for his blessings? "Behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land" (Mosiah 2:22). To what commandments is he referring? "Now this is the commandment:  Repent,...and come unto me and be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost" (3 Nephi 27:20). In return "ye are eternally indebted to your heavenly Father, to render to him all that you have and are" (Mosiah 2:34), which is simply the law of consecration.

Now keep in mind that these are not Benjamin's words, but were made known to him "by an angel from God" (Mosiah 3:2). Furthermore, the angel assures them that it is all good news, "that thou mayest rejoice; and that...thy people...may also be filled with joy" (Mosiah 3:4), for all this looks forward to the coming of the Lord.

He then delivers the words of the Angel. Eager as they are, the people must again be taught and cautioned before the law itself is set before them. For these people, like those taught by Moses, remain "a stiffnecked people" (Mosiah 3:14), and after all God did for them "yet they hardened their hearts" (Mosiah 3:15). "For the natural man is an enemy to God...and will be forever and ever, unless he...becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things" (Mosiah 3:19). He tells them that "none shall be found blameless before God, except through repentance and faith on the name of the Lord God" (Mosiah 3:21). To prepare them to receive this law by covenant, he first teaches them the Gospel of Jesus Christ (3 Nephi 27:13-21).  

Thus ended the first address of King Benjamin, by which the people were quite overcome, falling to the earth, viewing themselves in their own carnal state, crying out for forgiveness and receiving a manifestation of the Spirit that filled them with joy, "having received a remission of their sins, and having a peace of conscience, because of the exceeding faith which they had in Jesus Christ who should come, according to the words which king Benjamin had spoken unto them (Mosiah 4:2-3).

They were now ready to receive the law and covenant to keep it. Benjamin recognized that they were ready to "hear and understand the remainder of (his) words because at last and because of the knowledge of the goodness of God...(they) were awakened to a sense of (their) nothingness and (their) worthless and fallen state" aware that (they) could only put their "trust in the Lord...keeping his commandments.... Believe in God...believe that (they) must repent...(and) always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God, and their own nothingness, and his goodness and longsuffering... If ye do this ye will always rejoice and be filled with the love of God" (Mosiah 4:5;9-13).

We then see other fruits of our repentance, "ye will not have a mind to injure one another, but to live peaceably, and to render to every man according to that which is his due" (Mosiah 4:13). And "ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked, or ... transgress the laws of God" Mosiah 4:14). "Ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another" (Mosiah 4:15) No more competitive society. No more humanism as taught by Satan through Korihor, that "every man fares in this life according to the management of the creature, (and that) every man prospers according to his genius" (Alma 30:17). No more survival of the fittest. No more inequality.

Moreover, beyond your family, "ye yourselves will succor those that stand in need of your succor; ye will administer of your substance unto him." A beggar is one who asks, for some reason or other, not having what he needs. "Ye will not suffer that the beggar putteth up his petition to you in vain, and turn him out to perish" (Mosiah 4:16). To turn the beggar down may be to sentence him to death. The usual pious appeal to the work-ethic--there is no free lunch--will not do.

"Perhaps thou shalt say, the man has brought upon himself his misery therefore I...will not give unto him of my food, nor impart unto him of my substance that he may not suffer, for his punishments are just" I worked for mine! You work for yours! (Mosiah 4:17). Joseph Smith said it is better to feed ten impostors than to run the risk of turning away one honest petition. Anyone who explains why he denies help to another who needs it, says Benjamin "hath great cause to repent...and hath no interest in the Kingdom of God" (Mosiah 4:18), which kingdom is built up on the law of consecration. "For behold, are we not all beggars?" This is no mere rhetoric--it is literally true. "Do we not all depend upon the same Being, even God, for...food and raiment, and for gold, and for silver and for all the riches which we have? You are dependent for your lives and for all that ye have and are" (Mosiah 4:19-20).

"O then, how ye ought to import of the substance that ye have one to another" (Mosiah 4:21-22). We all give and we all receive, and never ask who is worthy and who is not, for the simple reason that none of us is worthy, all being "unprofitable servants" (Mosiah 2:21). "And if ye judge the man" who asks for your "substance that he perish not" and find him unworthy, "how much more just will be your condemnation for withholding your substance, which doth not belong to you but to God" (Mosiah 4:22). Benjamin says it applies to both the rich and the poor, the poor who want to be rich and who "covet that which (they) have not received" (Mosiah 4:26).

 

Benjamin sums it up that every man "should impart of (his) substance to the poor, every man according to that which he hath" for all have a right to food, clothing, shelter and medical care, "both spiritually and temporally according to their wants" (Mosiah 4:26; 18:29).

He does not tell them what they must not do but what they must do. "I cannot tell you all the things whereby ye may commit sin; for there are divers ways and means, even so many that I cannot number them" (Mosiah 4:29). Instead of telling them what they should not do, he has told them what they absolutely must do. It "doth not belong to you, but to God" (Mosiah 4:22), who wants it distributed equally.

Note that not a word is said from first to last about hard work, thrift, enterprise, farsightedness, and so on, the usual preludes to the no-free lunch lecture. The Lord is teaching them about His Real World, not what we refer to as the real world which belongs to Satan. And as long as we live by the world's economy, we are in the world and of the world, from which we should desire to be delivered. And as Nephi reminds us "The laborer in Zion shall labor for Zion; for if they labor for money they shall perish" (2 Nephi 26:31).

Note the preparation the people had to undergo before they could receive this law and covenant to keep it, and the preparation you must also undergo. In fact your response to His words is a measure of where you are in the process. It is critical for us because we "are not united according to the union required by the law of the celestial kingdom. And Zion cannot be built up unless it is by the principles of the law of the celestial kingdom" (D&C 105-4-5).

Will the Lord say to us: "they were not willing to enjoy that which they might have received.... For what doth it profit a man if a gift is bestowed upon him, and he receive not the gift? Behold, he rejoices not in that which is given unto him, neither rejoices in him who is the giver of the gift."

“Be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine” (D&C 38:27). 

No Other Way

The word of God teaches us that humans are spiritually deficient and that our goodness is flawed goodness. Because God's word is light and spirit, we receive both as we receive His words. We not only come to know that we 'cannot merit anything of ourselves' and that we must 'rely wholly upon the merits' of Christ, but we also experience our own lost, fallen and corrupt state. His words teach us that redemption is not a matter of legislation, moral exhortation, proper examples, rules, regulations and good education. We also learn why this is true--these methods require imperfect people to be in charge of making themselves and others perfect. Certainly there can be human goodness in such efforts, but they cannot bring about our redemption.

We must not only accept but experience that mankind (and each one of us) is spiritually flawed and our plight is beyond human remedy. And we experience this through His words which He has imparted unto us. We also, through His word, experience His goodness and greatness and come to know that our salvation does not come through our good works, but through His righteousness. Rules and regulations cannot empower us. The potential for sin can be clarified by the law, but not eliminated by it. That is why the law can only be a schoolmaster to teach us of our plight and to encourage us to look for the remedy. The remedy is not the law. Redemption comes in and through the Holy Messiah.

This we hear directly from His voice through His words: "There is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God save it be through the merits, and mercy and grace of the Holy Messiah" (2 Nephi 2:8). And you cannot come to him "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).

Why is it then that we insist on thinking that our performance will somehow earn a greater reward? And that we will be able to flash our outstanding report cards at the judgment and all will be well? There is only one answer to this question and that is we have not received the word of God which He has so lovingly revealed to us! Instead we have bought in to the gospel of performance rather than the gospel of repentance. Because we have substituted the word of God with the teachings of men mingled with scripture--a perverted and watered down gospel--we are conditioned that we must do it with our strivings, our efforts, our doing, our goodness, our successes, our virtues, and our activity. But how do we eliminate this from our thinking? We must hear His voice in His words! There is no other way.

Important in the records of the dispensations is that when men depart from God's way and substitute their own ways in its place, they usually do not admit that is what they are doing. Often they do not deliberately or even consciously substitute their ways for God's ways. On the contrary, they easily and largely convince themselves that their way is God's way. The apostasy described in the New Testament is not a desertion of the cause, but a perversion of it, a process by which the righteous are removed and none perceives it.

But this is what happens when we neglect the word of God. Our minds, like a land neglected by the cultivator (us) necessarily produces thorns and thistles, so our sense, by long neglect, produces a plentiful crop of noxious opinions, dogmas, tenets and perverted teachings. There is need now for much care in cultivating the field of our minds, that the word of truth, which is the true and diligent husbandman of the heart (word is what nourishes us), may cultivate our minds and hearts with continual light and truth.

We do not like to think of ourselves or our minds as being corrupt, and yet that is the word the Lord uses to describe us, for when we take strength unto ourselves and boast in our own strength, then we are left to our own strength, and we will not prosper. Our 'own strength' is a state of corruption and we cannot overcome this corruption by our goodness, our virtues and our activity. When the Lord asked His servant "Who is that has corrupted my vineyard?" the servant answers that the vineyard becomes corrupted by corrupted people who take strength unto themselves, or rely on their own strength: "...is not this the cause that the trees of thy vineyard have become corrupted?"

As a result of the fall we are all corrupted and do not merit anything of ourselves. So the problem does not lie solely in the fact that people take strength unto themselves, but that corrupt people take strength unto themselves, and we all are, everyone of us, corrupted as a result of the fall. A corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit.

The Lord also said that men who set themselves up as a light unto the world have corrupt minds, because their minds are filled with corrupt teachings, ideas and opinions. We have all gone out of the way (are not in the way) and have become corrupted.  Because of pride and because of false teachers and false doctrines, even our churches have become corrupted. Why? Again it is corrupt people (the fall) with corrupt minds (the false teachings and false doctrines). Add to this the desire for the things of the world (all corruptible), we are in a very sorry state indeed.

Of course Christ is the remedy, but how do we come to Christ? How exactly do we partake of His goodness, His incorruptible state of righteousness, and His promise to make us incorruptible like He is? 

The answer is through His words. When we are born we are neither good nor evil, but are innocent, but are "conceived in sin, even so when (we) begin to grow up, sin conceiveth in (our) hearts, and (we) taste the bitter, that (we) may know to prize the good." (Moses 6:55) And "it is given unto (us) to know good from evil, wherefore (we) are agents unto (ourselves)..." (Moses 6:56) So with these competing influences--good and evil--how do we learn to prize the good? Before leaving the Garden, Eve told Adam that it was better for them to pass through sorrow so that they could learn to prize the good.  In D&C 84, the Lord makes it clear that we come unto Him through His words, and that "whoso receiveth not my voice (His words) is not acquainted with my voice, and is not of me." 

So we experience the darkness within ourselves and in the world. We should not deny the darkness within or avoid the darkness of the world. We should acknowledge it, accept it, but transcend it by seeking God's light shining in the darkness! And that light is His word!

This plan for us which offers both good and evil requires that we learn to recognize the difference and understand exactly what is good and what is evil. Again we turn to His words which tell us that good is the righteousness of God, and evil is everything else. One way is narrow and the other broad. The Lord tells us that we get in the right way because of His words and we stay in the right way because of His words. We see this by virtue of the word of God being identified as the Rod of Iron, with the word being compared to the Liahona and with the word of God being truth, light, spirit, even the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Why? Because the word of God leads us to the fountain of living waters, the love of God and to the righteousness of God. While ignoring and not receiving His words keeps us in darkness and leads us to wander in strange paths and eventually being captive by the chains of hell. And when we shine the light of His words upon ourselves, we see the corruption, the flawed goodness, the evil. And yet at the same time we see His goodness and righteousness, and willingly rely wholly upon His merits.

Ask yourself this question: Is my faith so little that I cling to the deeds that I do, calling them good, because I am afraid to see the evil in myself? Yet it is only through seeing the evil in us that we can exercise the faith to see the good in Him.

And exactly how do we know to see the good in Him? By what our Father in Heaven has revealed to us about Him and about ourselves. And how do we get this revelation? Through His words that he has spoken and caused to be recorded.

I would that you should take upon you the name of Christ and retain His name always written in your hearts, and that you hear and know the voice by which you are called, and also, the name by which He shall call you. For "how knoweth a man the master whom he has not served, and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart."

Saved From Our Sins

"...and thou shalt call his name Jesus; for he shall save his people from their sins" (Matt 1:21).

The greatest part of our energy in this world's life is spent in the endeavour to rid ourselves of discomfort. We spend vast amounts of time and resources trying to avoid discomfort or to make ourselves more comfortable. Some do it through attempting to escape the discomfort, others with strong and continuous effort to keep moving up into bigger and better and more, only to discover that with each new escape or new ascent, new discomfort. The truth is that we bring our troubles with us. We bring ourselves with us. In our haste to be rich or to escape, we are slow to find the poverty of our souls and no amount of effort at escaping or improving our circumstances can rid ourselves of this poverty.

For the cause of every person's discomfort is evil, or as Alma says 'our awful, sinful and polluted state,' or the evil in ourselves, our own corrupted state, our own unrighteousness, and our flawed goodness. In addition we also have and experience the evil of those we love. And the only way to rid ourselves of this evil is to get rid of our own sin--our sinful and polluted state. And I don't mean the deeds that we do, but the evil that we are. Make note of the irony--it is very uncomfortable to admit that we are evil. Only those bad people who have committed atrocious sins are evil, we tell ourselves. For this reason we cling to the deeds that we do, calling them good, because we are afraid to see the evil in ourselves.

What needs to be changed is us, not our actions or our behaviors. We can, for example, quit doing a particular sinful deed, but what is not changed is our capacity to continue to commit that sinful deed. Foolish is the person who would rid himself and others of discomfort by waging war on the evils around him, while that person neglects his own character and capacity for sin. We, nor others, can be righted from the outside. Wrong is always generated and done by an individual because the wrongness exists in that individual! 

Too often our efforts are directed at treating the symptoms rather than the cause. I call it chopping at the leaves as opposed to going to the root of the problem. Almost all of our efforts are thus directed as if a change in our behavior or the behavior of others is the cure to the sickness. We are only right when there is no wrong in us, not when we have quit doing wrong. We must be set free from the evil within us, not set free from the sins or evil we are doing, nor set free from the sins we have committed. I mean the sins we are capable of doing, the sins or evil which spoil our nature--the wrongness in us--the evil we consent to, the evil we are, the evil which makes us do the sins that we do.

Let's pause here and answer the question you may have--is it really evil that is within us? Is it not just the result of the fall? Isn't it better, or doesn't it make us feel better, to say that nobody is perfect and not that we are evil? We could if that were the case, but it isn't. One of the results of the fall of Adam was that Satan came "among the children of men, and tempteth them to worship him; and men have become carnal, sensual, and devilish..." (Moses 6:49 emphasis added). The Lord also told Adam that "inasmuch as thy children are conceived in sin, even so when they begin to grow up, sin conceiveth in their hearts, and they taste the bitter, that they may know to prize the good" (Moses 6:55 emphasis added). 

"For they are carnal and devilish, 

and the devil has power over them; 

yea, even that old serpent that did beguile our first parents, which was the cause of their fall; which was the cause of all mankind becoming carnal, sensual, devilish, knowing evil from good, subjecting themselves to the devil.

Thus all mankind were lost; and behold, they would have been endlessly lost were it not that God redeemed his people from their lost and fallen state.

But remember that he that persists in his own carnal nature, and goes on in the ways of sin and rebellion against God, remaineth in his fallen state and the devil hath all power over him. Therefore he is as though there was no redemption made, being an enemy to God; and also is the devil an enemy to God." (Mosiah 16:3-5). 

Further, if the definition of Good is the righteousness of God and evil is everything else (Moroni 7 et al), then our capacity or desire to choose anything other than the righteousness of God is evil.

 

To save a man from his sins, or from his awful, sinful and polluted state is the reason Christ was sent by His Father, sent to do the will of the Father. Christ did not come to just deliver us from the consequences of our sinful deeds, while yet our sinful nature remained. But men, loving their sins, pervert the word of God by saying that He came to save us from the punishment of our sins. This teaching has perverted and corrupted the teaching of His gospel. He did not come to just pay the price of our sinful deeds, but to pay the price of our awful, sinful and polluted state--to save us from our sins, from ourselves.

As we learn to acknowledge the evil within us and the evil around us, we realize that we are helpless to make any changes in ourselves that will make our evil nature go away. What we can do is look for the light shining in the darkness. But Oh how we hate the light and prefer the darkness! For the light shining upon us will cause that we see the evil within us, and this we cannot stand. So we prefer the darkness. "This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil."

It is the badness within us, ready to produce bad actions, that we need to be delivered from. As long as this badness remains we are left to be evil, commit evil and suffer the consequences. But to be delivered only from these consequences would be no deliverance from ourselves, but would be damnation. Add to the evil in our being the fact that we do not care and will not obey--we will not repent and turn to Him, because we love the comfort of the darkness rather than the discomfort of the light shining upon us.

Consider that the evil that lives in each of us, our evil judgments, our evil desires, our hate and pride and envy and greed and self satisfaction--these are the souls of our sins, the cause of our sins, and are more terrible than the deeds that we do. They make us as loathsome as the loathsome things that we do.

Christ came to deliver us from the bondage of not just our deeds, but from our awful, sinful and polluted state, and not just from the punishment of any of them. When all our sins are gone and we are changed by Him, the punishment will have departed also. He came to make us good.

One master sin is at the root of all the rest. It is the non-recognition by us, and the consequent inactivity in us. It is the absence of our being in harmony with our Father and His Son. It is the fact that He has given us the choice between Him and His righteousness, and everything else, or evil. Being enticed by one or the other, we choose one or the other. Can you imagine that you can come to align your will with His? Not in the sense that we are better behaved or improved, but in the sense that we become like Him because we have come to recognize the evil within us and turned to Him to change us. It is the will of God that we become like Him. When that becomes our will as well, then we are one with God. The Lord knows what we need; we know only what we want. We want ease and comfort. He wants purity. 

We can begin by acknowledging the evil within us and compare ourselves to His goodness and bring about the godly sorrow that comes as a result of this comparison of His goodness and our nothingness. It is only through seeing the evil within us that we can exercise the faith to see the Good in Him.

As we move about in the shadows of our own darkness and the darkness of those around us we may create fictions of our own goodness by comparing ourselves to others. It is true that we can always find someone worse than we are, or so it seems, because all we measure is the outward manifestations of a people going about to establish their own righteousness. The true God gets distorted, while we assume the authenticities and endorsements that belong only to God. We maintain appearances of true worship and lay stress on outward observances and the need to preserve the exterior of true worship. All of this is caused by avoiding the light and being comfortable in the darkness and avoiding the righteousness of God.

Instead of the righteousness of God we create a fiction that feeds the many as we worship the God of our making, but are now allowed to worship the false gods (our gods) alongside the true God.  

In order to awaken to a sense of our own lost and fallen state, our evil and sinful state, we have a remedy. And that remedy is the "light of the everlasting word." The only problem with this remedy, is that the light of the everlasting word will awaken us to a sense of our awful guilt and the fact that we are encircled about by the bands of death and the chains of hell. Not a very comforting remedy to say the least for those who desire comfort. Nor is it comforting  to be shown our weakness as soon as we come unto Him, or be told that we must lose our life to find it. But it is the only way we can come out of the darkness and into the light. Measuring ourselves by what we do with what others may or may not do may be comforting, but it is not redeeming. 

While it is frightening and certainly not pleasant to see the evil within us, the alternative is much worse and will cause us to wish that we could command the rocks and the mountains to fall upon us to hide us from His presence. Adam and Eve certainly recognized this as they contemplated partaking of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The attached poem that I wrote illustrates our dilemma.

The Lord cannot save us from our sins while we hold on to them.  We must send them away or forsake them. We must begin to cast them out, if we would be delivered from the evil within us. But alone we might labor for all eternity and not succeed. We cannot set ourselves right. Only Christ can do that. He does not even require that we be sorry for our sins, because, until His love is developed in us by Him, we cannot be truly sorry.

As soon as we just desire to forsake or to send our sins away, He will cause that desire to work in us, and immediately we will begin to see some of the fruits of our repentance, fruits which come from Him, such as curing our tendency to turn away from Him and taking away our disposition to do evil. But don't expect all the evil in us to be taken away in this lifetime. Hence the need for continual repentance, for validating our repentance by enduring to the end, with the hope, no the knowledge, that we can be perfected in Him.

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The Net

Something there is that doesn't love safety,

That wants the net removed from under us,

And forces all our timid ones to flee;

And awakens all our senses to the light.

The work of the lifeless is another thing:

I have seen them, cautious and secure,

Staying still, never moving;

Lifeless, helpless, never understanding why.

Never seeing, never feeling. Life I ask:

Is it more than dying? Isn't life for living?

Every year they seek to find their life

On things which have no life and give no life;

Things which give them comfort, make them safe,

And all the while entomb their souls for life.

"Be careful," they're told, "You might get hurt;"

And so they stay away from all that might give life;

As if getting hurt would harm them some.

"You can't get hurt if you are dead," I say.

Why is it that they are afraid to live, afraid to dance?

Wall flowers all, hiding from the real world, turning away;

Behaving themselves, deluding themselves;

Free from the pain of embarrassing failure.

Adam and Eve rejected the set, the garden in which they lived;

Both wanted more than comfort and ease, wanted to be like God.

And yet reseeking Eden, the Garden of Eden, is the work of the day;

"If only life were this or that, wouldn't we be happy?"

"Never suffering is never living," I say, as I remove the net

And see the danger from above, and feel the life within me.

Who Needs to Repent?

What is it about the idea of repentance that is so hard for us to accept? Is it because we have been taught that only 'bad' people need to repent, or, related to this same idea, could it be that the idea of repentance is repugnant to us because we cannot accept that we are in need of repentance? Or could it be that our idea of what it means to repent is not accurate and therefore causes us to pervert the Lord's definition of repentance?

Could it be that we somehow see ourselves as being sufficient as we are? Do we believe in our hearts that we are already good enough, that the Savior may indeed have to forgive us of a few things, but his love and generosity will easily take away those things, and we will then be ushered ceremoniously into the blessings of the great beyond? (2 Nephi 28:7-9). Such a belief is what He defines as pride. It is the belief that we are good, though perhaps our deeds are not. This is the belief that the old us does not need to die and become a new creature, but only our garments need to be cleansed. In pride we see ourselves as eternal creatures who may need to be forgiven and lifted up by Jesus Christ, but who do not need to be totally changed by Him! We perhaps do not believe that we need that new and pure heart which only He can give us. 

Our tendency to grade sins may cause us to deceive ourselves into thinking that we are good because we do not and have not committed the more 'serious' sins. We fall into a trap of thinking that some people need repentance more than others do. As Hugh Nibley reminded us, we can always find someone who is worse than we are to make us feel that we are better. Those terrorists, perverts, adulterers, rapists--they are the ones who need to repent! And there is no question but that they must repent, and for them repentance will be a full-time job, exactly as it is for all the rest of us!

This attitude is consistent with someone who is religious, but not with someone who believes the gospel of Jesus Christ, and certainly not consistent with all that God has revealed to us concerning our condition here, and the need all of us have for His mercy which comes about because of His atonement.

Otherwise we ignore the Lord's words: "Now this is the commandment: Repent, all ye ends of the earth" (3 Nephi 27:20). And why is it that all mankind everywhere must repent? And why is it expedient that an atonement should be made? It is because "according to the great plan of the Eternal God there must be an atonement made, or else all mankind must unavoidably perish; yea, all are hardened; yea, all are fallen and are lost, and must perish except it be through the atonement which it is expedient should be made" (Alma 34:9 emphasis added).

What the Lord is teaching us through Amulek is that all of us are lost and fallen, and because there is "not any man that can sacrifice his own blood which will atone for the sins of another...there can be nothing which is short of an infinite atonement which will suffice for the sins (even ours) of the world" (Alma 34:11-12). And the intent of this "great and last sacrifice" is to "bring about the bowels of mercy, which overpowereth justice, and bringeth about means unto men that they may have faith unto repentance" (Alma 34:14-15 emphasis added). Through His atonement mercy is introduced, which only comes about through repentance. Only mercy will overpower justice, and only the penitent will receive mercy. The idea that we must have faith unto repentance is the idea that we have faith in His mercy, faith in the fact that He will hold us guiltless, and faith in His words, through which we know of His promises of mercy if we repent and of His justice if we do not.

So we find ourselves (all) in a lost and fallen state with sinful natures, unable to merit anything of ourselves, unable to save ourselves no matter the length or nature of our list of good works. "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:22 emphasis added). 

For this reason repentance is the means to turn to Christ and rely wholly upon His merits to save us. It is not a one time process, and is certainly not done a sin at a time. It begins with a desire to turn to Him, a desire to exercise faith in Him, and it is through this faith that we come to repentance, and "only unto him that has faith unto repentance is brought about the great and eternal plan of redemption" (Alma 34:16). 

Amulek's prayer for all of us is: "may God grant unto you...that ye may begin to exercise your faith unto repentance, that ye begin to call upon his holy name, that he would have mercy upon you; Yea, cry unto him for mercy; for he is mighty to save" (Alma 34:17-18). Nephi describes this beautifully in 2 Nephi 31 where he writes that we should come unto Christ with "full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent, repenting of (our) sins, witnessing unto the Father that (we) are willing to take upon (us) the name of Christ..." (vs. 13). 

Of course the no hypocrisy and no deception before God means that we not deceive ourselves or act (no hypocrisy) as if we are righteous and merit anything because of our 'good works.' No we "rely wholly" upon His merits! We know we cannot deceive him, but we can and do deceive ourselves because of our vain imaginations and going about to establish our 'own' righteousness (Romans 10:1-4). It is His righteousness and only His righteousness that saves us! (See the following references: 2 Nephi 2:3, 6, 8, 10; 2 Nephi 31:19; Alma 22:14; Alma 24:10-11; Helaman 13:14; Moroni 6:4; D&C 1:20). 

And this prayer is for all, especially for those who think they need no repentance. Alma reminds us that "he sendeth an invitation unto all men, for the arms of mercy are extended toward them, and he saith: Repent, and I will receive you" (Alma 5:33 emphasis added). Note here that it is the Holy One that sendeth the invitation and it is the Holy One that saith "Repent, and I will receive you." Alma makes special mention to those of us that are "puffed up in the vain things of the world, ye that have professed to have known the ways of righteousness nevertheless have gone astray, as sheep having no shepherd, notwithstanding a shepherd hath called after you, and is still calling after you, but ye will not hearken unto his voice!" (Alma 5:37-38 emphasis added). And His voice is clear: "Repent all ye ends of the earth" (3 Nephi 27:20).

Alma had been commanded of God to "stand and testify" unto the people (including, or especially us). He tells us that "I am called, yea, to preach unto my beloved brethren, yea, and every one that dwelleth in the land; to preach unto all, both old and young, both bond and free; yea, I say unto you the aged, and also the middle aged, and the rising generation; yea to cry unto them that they must repent and be born again" (Alma 5:49 emphasis added).

Now note how many times Alma uses the word 'repent' in the next several verses: "Yea, thus saith the Spirit: Repent, all ye ends of the earth.... And also the Spirit saith unto me, yea crieth unto me with a mighty voice, saying: Go forth and say unto this people--Repent, for except ye repent ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of heaven" (Alma 5:50-51 emphasis added). He then tells us that the "ax is laid at the root of the tree; therefore every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit (fruit meet for repentance) shall be hewn down and cast into the fire..." (Alma 5:52).

And then this: "Behold, and remember, the Holy One hath spoken it" (Alma 5:52 emphasis added). It is not Alma's words but the words of the Lord. It is His voice and He has spoken it. "Can ye withstand these saying; yea, can ye lay aside these things (these words), and trample the Holy One under your feet; yea, can ye be puffed up in the pride of your hearts; yea, will ye still persist in the wearing of costly apparel and setting your hearts upon the vain things of the world, upon your riches? Yea, will ye persist in supposing that ye are better one than another?" (Alma 5:52-53). He warns against persecuting those who humble themselves, "having been sanctified by the Holy Spirit, and they do bring forth works which are meet for repentance--" (Alma 5:52 emphasis added).

"And finally, all ye that will persist in your wickedness (those who will not repent), I say unto you that these are they who shall be hewn down and cast into the fire except they speedily repent" (Alma 5:56 emphasis added).

Alma's message is more timely now than when he gave it. It has been preserved for us. "The good shepherd doth call after you; and if you will hearken unto his voice he will bring you into his fold... I speak by way of command unto those who do belong to the church; and unto those who do not belong to the church I speak by way of invitation, saying: Come and be baptized unto repentance, that ye also may be partakers of the fruit of the tree of life" (Alma 5:62 emphasis added).

After reading this can any of us honestly say we do not need to repent, especially when he, by way of commandment, addresses us who belong to the church? Enduring to the end is to endure to the end in faith in Jesus Christ unto repentance. It is a full time job for us and it is the Father's work that we listen to His voice and repent. Then and only then can He save us through His son.

Again repentance is not a one and done process, nor is it the process of 'repenting' of our sins one sin at a time. Enduring to the end is to fulfill the purpose of repentance. The Latin root for repentance is to turn. The Greek root means to change one's mind. The Hebrew root means to return to God. Repentance is turning from wherever we are, from whatever we are, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. 

We have to want our minds and our hearts to be changed, and be willing to return to God. We have all gone out of the way, we have all sinned and we have all fallen short of the glory of God. Therefore, we must return to God, and that return is by means of His gift of repentance. 

In other words He gives us the blessing of repentance as the way out of our lost and fallen state which leads to the justice of God, and by turning to Him He cures our tendency to turn away from Him. He begins the process of taking away our disposition to do evil, and will bless us with the fruits of our repentance. We then exercise our unshaken faith in Him by relying wholly upon His merits, and in this condition of repentance we endure in faith in Him to the end, feasting upon His words. His arms of mercy are extended to all.

After this post, I wrote a series of posts on Repentance, what it is and what it is not, and more.