More Insights from Adam and Eve

I just keep coming back to this story of Adam and Eve, don’t I? No wonder the retelling of that story is such an integral part of our temple worship—there are so many important concepts to learn from it.

I went to the temple last week, and it hit me again how much the story of Adam and Eve teaches us about agency. Even though a lot of us are still trying to hold onto it, the story of Adam and Eve—especially our latter-day understanding of it as explained by Lehi in 2 Nephi 2 in the Book of Mormon and Moses in Moses 4-5 in the Pearl of Great Price—actually invites us out of our black and white obedience framework of faith and into a more mature, nuanced understanding of what it means to have faith, follow God, and use our agency. 

In the temple retelling of the story, Satan approaches Adam first about eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (which, I had never realized before, is not actually recounted in any scriptural account; in the scriptural accounts Satan just approaches Eve). Adam is very letter of the law obedient and isn’t willing to listen to any of Satan’s arguments about why he should eat the fruit. God told me not to, so I’m not going to. End of story. This is the attitude that someone in the black and white obedience framework of faith really loves and identifies with. With that interpretation of what faith and obedience means, Eve was wrong not to have that same attitude of exact, unquestioning obedience, and because she didn’t, she and Adam were punished for it.

There are a lot of other Christian faiths that accept this interpretation of events: that the Fall of Adam and Eve was a mistake that we are still paying the price for. That things would have been better if Eve had never eaten the fruit and Adam and Eve had stayed in the Garden of Eden. 

Lehi tells us though in 2 Nephi 2:22-25:

22 And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of Eden. And all things which were created must have remained in the same state in which they were after they were created; and they must have remained forever, and had no end.

23 And they would have had no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin.

24 But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things.

25 Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.

Based on Lehi’s teachings about the Fall, the Fall of Adam and Eve was actually a necessary component of God’s plan for His children, not a mistake. If Adam’s unquestioning obedience to the commandment not to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil had ruled the day, progress would not have been possible. Adam and Eve would have been unable to learn and progress, and none of God’s other spirit children would have had the opportunity to come down to earth to get physical bodies and learn and progress.

When Satan approached Eve to try to get her to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, Eve didn’t reject him outright. She questioned his motives, but when he explained what the result of eating the fruit of that tree would be—that her eyes would be opened, and that it would make her wise like God, knowing good and evil, and that this was the only way to attain that knowledge and wisdom—Eve realized that the fruit of that tree was the key to progressing like God wanted them to and that death and suffering were worth the sacrifice to gain that knowledge. Eve did the essential work of agency: she seriously considered her choices and priorities, and she made a decision based on her own understanding of what would be the best choice for her to achieve what she most desired. 

After eating of the fruit herself, Eve approached Adam to offer some of the fruit to him. Approached by his wife rather than a stranger, Adam at first reiterates his stance of exact, unquestioning obedience regarding eating the fruit. Then Eve explains to Adam what the results of him not partaking of the fruit will be—that she will be cast out of the Garden of Eden and he will remain alone in the Garden of Eden, preventing them from following the commandment God had given them to multiply and replenish the earth. Adam is also given the opportunity to think through his choices and priorities and what is most important to him. And he realizes the opportunity to fulfill God’s commandment to be with Eve and multiply and replenish the earth is very important to him—more important than the commandment not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and avoid death. So he also uses his agency to choose to eat of the fruit of the tree.

Then we see the aftermath of Adam and Eve’s use of agency. In the temple film, right after Adam eats the fruit, they hear God’s voice as He prepares to visit them in the Garden of Eden. Satan points out to them that they are naked and encourages them to hide from God. This reminded me of how Satan encourages us to act when we make mistakes. He wants us to feel shame and hide the things we’ve done that we’re not proud of or that we think will make others unhappy with us. God, in contrast, seeks out Adam and Eve and invites them to come talk with Him about the choices they have made. Adam and Eve at first try to shift blame for their choices from themselves to others. God explains to each of them the consequences of the choices they’ve made. Then He provides a Savior for them to ultimately deliver them from the more undesirable consequences of their choices, such as the separation they would experience from God after eating the fruit. 

Once they have left the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve hear the voice of the Lord give them another commandment, as recorded in Moses 5:5:

5 And he gave unto them commandments, that they should worship the Lord their God, and should offer the firstlings of their flocks, for an offering unto the Lord. And Adam was obedient unto the commandments of the Lord.

Again, we have Adam obeying God’s commandments without really understanding why the commandment has been given. This isn’t a bad place to start in our exercise of faith, but as we see in the subsequent verses, God doesn’t want us to stay in that place of ignorance—He wants us to gain our own understanding of the why behind what He asks us to do so that we can follow His commands more intentionally and meaningfully:

Moses 5:6-9

6 And after many days an angel of the Lord appeared unto Adam, saying: Why dost thou offer sacrifices unto the Lord? And Adam said unto him: I know not, save the Lord commanded me.

7 And then the angel spake, saying: This thing is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father, which is full of grace and truth.

8 Wherefore, thou shalt do all that thou doest in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent and call upon God in the name of the Son forevermore.

9 And in that day the Holy Ghost fell upon Adam, which beareth record of the Father and the Son, saying: I am the Only Begotten of the Father from the beginning, henceforth and forever, that as thou hast fallen thou mayest be redeemed, and all mankind, even as many as will.

Now Adam understands the why of what God has asked him to do, and the next verse tells us that coming to his own understanding of the why leads him to be filled with the Holy Ghost and with gratitude towards God and allows him to see more clearly and prophesy about God’s loving plan for His children:

Moses 5:10-11

10 And in that day Adam blessed God and was filled, and began to prophesy concerning all the families of the earth, saying: Blessed be the name of God, for because of my transgression my eyes are opened, and in this life I shall have joy, and again in the flesh I shall see God.

11 And Eve, his wife, heard all these things and was glad, saying: Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient.

This idea that Adam and Eve are grateful for their transgression and that good things have come from their transgression is a really tough concept to swallow for those operating out of a black and white obedience framework of faith. The black and white obedience framework says: if you do what God says, good things happen; if you don’t do what God says, bad things happen. End of story. 

Adam and Eve are presenting a more nuanced idea about how agency and obedience work though. The whole point of the gift of agency God has given us is to give us the opportunity to practice making choices and to learn from the choices we make. We’re here on earth to gain knowledge and experience, and that’s exactly what the process of making choices and experiencing the consequences of our choices, both desirable and undesirable, gives us. 

Our choices here on earth are not going to be perfect. There are going to be both pros and cons to all of the choices we make. It’s through pondering our options and making the best choice we can with the limited knowledge we have that we gain more knowledge about what we want and about what is good for us. We’re not always going to make the best choice. And even when we do make the choice we feel best about under the circumstances, there’s going to be a trade-off; there are going to be consequences of each choice we make that we don’t like. 

God is fully aware that when we use our agency to make choices, we’re going to get it wrong sometimes. He’s also aware that even when we make the choice we feel aligns the best with our highest desires, like Adam and Eve did, there are going to be undesirable consequences to our choice as well. That’s the whole reason God provides a Savior for us: to ultimately deliver us from the undesirable consequences of our imperfect choices as we perfect our ability to use our agency in the best ways. He cares about our intentions and what we’re trying to achieve and create through our choices. He knows that we gain knowledge as we go forward and make choices, however imperfect, rather than just waiting for Him to tell us exactly what we should do in every circumstance. 

As current apostle Dale G. Renlund said in the October 2018 General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:

“Our Heavenly Father’s goal in parenting is not to have His children do what is right; it is to have His children choose to do what is right and ultimately become like Him. If He simply wanted us to be obedient, He would use immediate rewards and punishments to influence our behaviors.

But God is not interested in His children just becoming trained and obedient “pets” who will not chew on His slippers in the celestial living room. No, God wants His children to grow up spiritually and join Him in the family business.”

In order for us to grow up spiritually, we must seek to understand why God and His servants ask us to do certain things, as well as seek to understand our own highest desires and how those match up with all the different invitations God extends to us. We must ponder and study all these things out in our minds and make the choices that seem most in line with both our own desires and with God’s desires for our growth and learning. Because we each are different and have different desires and different things to learn, the choices we feel best about are also going to look different. It’s the process of going forward and making choices and experiencing the consequences of those choices—both good and bad—that allows us to understand the difference between good and evil and grow in our capacity to experience joy. 

Making choices, and inevitably making mistakes, is the plan. Learning through our own use of agency, through our mixed bag of right and wrong choices, is the plan. We shouldn’t be afraid to use our agency or to allow others to use theirs, even when we make choices that don’t lead to the consequences we would have hoped for. That’s how we learn. That’s how we learn to appreciate the joy that is available to us through repentance and the redemption offered to us by our Savior. Transgression is part of the plan. It’s how we learn what choices lead to suffering and what choices lead to peace and joy. It’s through our mistakes, just as much as through our obedience, that we gain the wisdom to become like God. That’s what the story of Adam and Eve teaches us.

God's Goodness

I just wanted to share today about the goodness of God that I have seen in my life. I know many people who question whether God is good or if it is important or worthwhile to follow Him and heed His words that He has given us through His prophets, both in ancient times and now. I must say, based on my own experiences with God, that the answer is unequivocally, yes.

There have been so many times in my life when I have prayed and God has answered my prayers. What is even more amazing to me is all the times that I haven’t prayed, have not known I needed something, but God knew I needed it, and because He loves me He has helped guide me to things that will benefit me and prepared me to receive blessings He wanted to give me. His generosity in giving me gifts I wasn’t looking for or didn’t know were possible lets me know how much He cares for me and how much He really is on my side and wants me to succeed in achieving my divine potential. He hasn’t just left me on my own to blindly flounder about trying to become like Him and guess what He wants me to do, frowning down upon me when I make mistakes. He has taken great care to lead me over and over to the actions and experiences that will bless my life and the lives of those that are within my sphere of influence. He guides me to greater things than I would think to seek for myself.

I could give you so many examples from my life of what I’m talking about, but I wanted to share a recent experience with you. A couple weeks ago I was studying the lesson from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Sunday School manual, “Come Follow Me.” The lesson for the week was on Mosiah 18-24 in the Book of Mormon. One section in the manual about the reading for the week talked about how “God’s people should be united.” As I read that section of the manual and a related sermon by Henry B. Eyring, one of the current apostles of Christ’s Church, I was prompted by the Spirit to focus on having more unity in my family.

As I pondered what more unity in our family would look like, I thought about us all being united in working towards shared family goals, as well as supporting one another in our individual challenges and achievements. Additional pondering led to me creating four common goals we could work towards as a family, as well as coming up with practical, concrete ways for us to work towards those goals on a daily and weekly basis.

I counseled first with my husband about my inspiration and ideas. Then he and I held a family council with our children. We presented our new family goals and discussed our plans for carrying them out, allowing the children to share their own thoughts on each goal and how we could accomplish it. I also created some visual reminders of our goals and what we were going to do to work towards them each day/week, as you can see below.

Our first week of implementing our new system of working together to accomplish our family goals was a great success. The kids were excited and on board with doing their part to achieve our goals each day. They found pleasure in tracking their progress towards each daily goal. These new goals and system for tracking our efforts have been a huge blessing to our family, especially as we have made the transition from the school year to summer break.

Before studying from the “Come Follow Me” manual that day, I had not thought at all about the necessity of having some sort of plan to help us use our time wisely during the summer and had no intention of coming up with such a plan. However, my Heavenly Father knew that such a plan would benefit me and my family, so He took the opportunity during my gospel study to send a gentle prompting about focusing on unity in our family. This prompting led me to the pondering I needed to do to come up with plans to bring more goodness into our lives and give me new opportunities to teach my children important lessons on working together to accomplish good things as a family.

I’m so grateful for my Heavenly Father’s support in helping me find ways to create learning opportunities for my children as I so imperfectly try to accomplish this incredibly challenging task called parenting. I’m so grateful I don’t have to rely solely on my own wisdom to figure out what will be a blessing to my family. I’m so grateful to have a Heavenly Father who also loves my children and wants what’s best for them and is willing to give me inspiration for our mutual benefit. I know He wants me to succeed in being a blessing to my children, and that He will continue to inspire me to know how to do so. I find this knowledge so comforting. I am not alone, and I am not on trial. I am in partnership with a Divine Being, working together with Him to bring about my own salvation and the salvation of those who are dear to both of us. What an incredible blessing and privilege.

God is good, and as we seek Him and strive to know and follow Him, He will guide us to the things that will benefit both us and our loved ones, both when we ask and when we don’t know enough to know what we should be asking for. Following the Lord leads to a bounty of blessings from a loving and generous Heavenly Father. I know and testify of these things in the name of my Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.

Doubt Not, But Be Believing

A while back I was reading in Mormon chapter 9 in the Book of Mormon. I was struck by how many times in that chapter we are exhorted to believe in Christ, “doubting nothing” and promised miracles when we do so. It became very clear to me that God places a high value on faith and belief.

I think this stood out to me so much because it is such a contrast to how we tend to think in our current society. I feel like our current society values skepticism over belief. If you’re skeptical of everything, then you’ll never be tricked into believing something that’s not true. You’ll never risk looking like a fool. It’s interesting to me that this is not God’s approach. He encourages us to believe. To exercise faith and hope in the face of uncertainty. That is what makes miracles possible.

More recently I was reading in chapter 63 of the Doctrine and Covenants. Verses 7-12 discuss people who seek signs before they will believe. It seemed very relevant to this discussion of doubt vs belief:

7 And he that seeketh signs shall see signs, but not unto salvation.
8 Verily, I say unto you, there are those among you who seek signs, and there have been such even from the beginning;
9 But, behold, faith cometh not by signs, but signs follow those that believe.
10 Yea, signs come by faith, not by the will of men, nor as they please, but by the will of God.
11 Yea, signs come by faith, unto mighty works, for without faith no man pleaseth God; and with whom God is angry he is not well pleased; wherefore, unto such he showeth no signs, only in wrath unto their condemnation.
12 Wherefore, I, the Lord, am not pleased with those among you who have sought after signs and wonders for faith, and not for the good of men unto my glory.

What I found most interesting in these verses is God’s discussion of what signs are for. He seems most frustrated with those whose focus is on themselves and their need for a sign from God before they will heed His words, rather than on seeking miracles from God to bless others.

I can think of a couple stories that illustrate the concept that “faith cometh not by signs, but signs follow those that believe.”

I met a man during my full-time missionary service in France who experienced the truth that “signs follow those that believe.” His father was gravely injured and in critical condition. This man prayed and told God that he would quit smoking and not seek revenge on those who had injured his father if God would spare his father’s life. His father lived, and this man kept the commitments he had made to God. This experience of acting in faith to secure blessings from God for another resulted in the miracle of his father’s healing and increased this man’s own faith in God, eventually leading him to the waters of baptism to make further covenants with the Lord.

The story of Laman and Lemuel from the Book of Mormon, however, supports the statement that “faith cometh not by signs.” The prophet Lehi’s two eldest sons saw many signs that God is real, even being visited by an angel at one point, but these signs did not create faith in them. They continued to doubt God and His power. Their brother Nephi asks them at one point, “ye also know that an angel hath spoken unto you; wherefore can ye doubt?” And yet, despite all the signs, somehow they manage it. Faith truly cometh not by signs.

You may wonder if I am promoting the idea of “blind faith” here. Let me respond to that by first telling you part of my own story.

Far from promoting “blind faith,” all my youth leaders at church when I was growing up kept emphasizing the importance of getting your own testimony and finding out for yourself that the teachings of the church were true. The point was brought up so often, that I felt a lot of pressure to find out if my church was the true church of God, not because I needed a sign to continue to live its teachings, but because everyone else seemed so convinced that I needed a sign. So I dutifully prayed and asked God to tell me if the church’s teachings were true. If the Book of Mormon was true. I felt a lot of anxiety over my ability to receive a sign from God that would convince all these other people that I had a real testimony of the gospel.

Not surprisingly, my people-pleasing prayers went largely unanswered. One night, after a particularly poignant lesson on the topic, I prayed even more earnestly, sharing with God my anxiety on the topic. This time I received an answer. The answer I received from God through the Spirit was that it was okay for me to just keep living the gospel like I was doing for now. I didn’t need a sign. I could just keep believing and following the commandments. Relief washed through me. I didn’t need to prove anything to anybody. I could just keep living the gospel like I wanted to.

About fifteen years after this experience, I came to a point in my life where I needed to know for myself that God was there and that I could rely on Him. I needed Him to show me the path to the peace, joy and fulfillment He promises the faithful in the scriptures because my own methods for obtaining those things were failing me. This time when I went to Him in prayer, I was not seeking knowledge from Him that other people thought I needed; I was seeking answers to my own questions and concerns. And when I came to Him with my own questions and concerns, He answered me with a steady stream of personal revelation, teaching me truth after truth after truth. The scriptures had indeed become a feast for me, and I learned for myself that I could rely on the Lord to fill me and help me find joy even in the midst of tribulation.

Looking back over my life, do I feel like all those years I spent believing in God and living the gospel without really knowing 100% it was true foolish? A waste? Not at all. I’m actually super grateful that before I had gained enough knowledge and experience to know for myself what types of choices would be of benefit to me, I was taught to live by many values and form many healthy habits that have blessed my life immeasurably. I see those many years of what some might call “blind faith” more a period of maturation of my faith, of laying a foundation of knowledge of God and His words and His ways that I could draw on when it came time for me to finally put my faith to the test.

There are many stories in the scriptures that follow a similar pattern. Nephi was taught about God by his parents growing up. When his father Lehi had a dream in which God told him to take his family and go on a long journey into the wilderness because Jerusalem was going to be destroyed, it was a crisis moment for Nephi. Suddenly he had to know for himself if these things his father had taught him about God were true because the answer was going to have a significant impact on his life. He prayed, and the Lord visited him and softened his heart, letting him know all the things his father had taught him were true (1 Nephi 2:16, Book of Mormon).

Enos had a similar experience when he was out hunting and pondering on all the things his father had taught him and had a strong desire to know that the atonement was real and that he could be forgiven of his sins. He prayed earnestly “all the day long,” until he finally heard a voice saying, “Enos, thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou shalt be blessed,” and his “guilt was swept away” (Enos 1:3-6, Book of Mormon). He then continued to pray on behalf of his people, the Nephites, and then on behalf of his people’s enemies, the Lamanites, and continued to receive further knowledge from the Lord. Like Nephi, he now had his own testimony of the truth of the gospel, separate from his parents’.

There is another point of insight I think we can glean from Enos’s story as well. In verse 1 Enos says, “I, Enos, knowing my father that he was a just man…” We talk about “blind faith,” but I wonder how “blind” faith that is based on the beliefs of one’s parents or on the words of prophets in the scriptures or in our day actually is. Enos took the words of his father seriously because he knew his father to be “a just man.” Nephi also talks about how he was born “of goodly parents” (1 Nephi 1:1). Both these sons could track the goodness of the people who raised them and the strength and goodness that came into their lives through their beliefs.

Even Alma the Younger, who chose to rebel against his father and his father’s gospel teachings, when he finally came to a recognition of the harm the choices he was making were causing himself and others, remembered his father’s testimony in his hour of need and put it to the test, experiencing, like Enos, the miracle of forgiveness, and coming to know His Savior personally through that experience (Alma 36:8-20, Book of Mormon).

Usually the sincere testimony of other good people who have exercised faith and received their own personal evidence of God’s existence, power and mercy is where our own faith begins. This is why God went to such great lengths to have His prophets write down their revelations and experiences, to preserve those writings, and to inspire people to translate those ancient writings into modern languages. The scriptures provide us the knowledge and evidence we need to kindle our own small flame of faith that can then grow larger as we exercise that faith and have our own personal experiences with God. To see His hand in our personal lives though, we first must be willing to believe.

I can personally testify that “signs follow those that believe.” I have experienced God’s hand in my own life on countless occasions. I know He lives and that He knows and loves each of us personally. I invite each of you to exercise enough faith to seek Him and find out for yourselves. He promises throughout the scriptures, “seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Matt 7:7, Luke 11:9, D&C 88:63). I know God’s promises are true, and that when you sincerely seek Him, you will find Him, for “he hath all power unto the fulfilling of all his words” (1 Nephi 9:6) and “proveth all his words” (2 Nephi 11:3). I bear my personal witness of this, in the name of my Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.

Doing Things the Lord's Way

As the current prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Russell M. Nelson, invited us to do, I am currently in the process of reading the Book of Mormon from beginning to end by the end of the year. This week involved a lot of reading in the book of 2 Nephi where the prophet Nephi quotes extensively from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah. In chapter 24 of 2 Nephi, Nephi quotes from Isaiah 14 in the Old Testament.

Isaiah’s words about Satan in this chapter really struck me. Lucifer was a son of God who, instead of following God’s plan and doing things God’s way, decided he would rather do things his own way. Isaiah tells us in this chapter how that worked out for Lucifer, and I thought it was a nice parallel to how things go in our lives when we choose to do things our own way rather than submitting our will to the Lord and doing things His way.

Starting in verse 12 of Isaiah 14 (quoted by Nephi in verse 12 of 2 Nephi 24), Isaiah says the following:

12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!...
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God…
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

So, Satan’s goals were to ascend into heaven, above the height of the clouds, and be like the most High, or possibly even better than Him. Isaiah tells us what happened instead, when Satan decided to take matters into his own hands and do things his own way to try to attain his goals. His ending, according to the prophet Isaiah, will be much different than what he was hoping to accomplish:

15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
16 They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;
17 That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?
18 All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house.
19 But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet.
20 Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned.

Basically, Satan, by doing things his way, accomplished the exact opposite of what he hoped to accomplish. Instead of being exalted in the heavens like God, his actions will result in him bringing brought down low into hell, where he will be even lower than those he leads astray in mortality.

The ironic thing is that if Satan had chosen instead to submit his will to the Lord and follow God’s plan instead of trying to do things his own way, he would have achieved exactly what he wanted all along. God’s goal is to exalt all His children and bring them to live with Him again in the heavens, glorified like He is. Following God’s plan would have given Satan everything he dreamed of. But he was convinced his way was better and would make him happier than God’s way.

I went through a period of my life when, while outwardly keeping the commandments and doing what God asked, in my heart I was saying, “God, you just stay over there, and don’t interfere, and I’ll take care of making myself happy. I know what I need to be happy, and I’ll take care of it. You just let me do my thing.” And I went on that way for quite a while, until things started to fall apart, and I realized that I was being more successful at making myself miserable than making myself happy. Humbled, I finally came to the Lord with my whole heart and said, “Heavenly Father, I have no idea what I need to be happy. My way is not working. Will you teach me your way?” And He did teach me. And His way was better, and I found the peace and joy I had been seeking all along but could not find while I was insisting on doing things my way. I fought God’s way for so long, when it was the key to my happiness all along.

I think by telling us Lucifer’s story, Isaiah is trying to teach us this truth: that the Lord’s way is always better than our way, and the quicker we submit to His will and do things His way, the happier we will be and the quicker we will achieve our ultimate goals of happiness and exaltation. No matter how convinced we are that our way will make us happier than God’s way, that’s never the way things turn out. It is only by following the Lord and submitting our will to His that we will find the true happiness we seek. I know this to be true from my own personal experience, and I share these words with you in the name of my Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Casting Out the Bitter Fruit

I was reading Jacob chapter 5 during my Book of Mormon study the other day, and the Holy Ghost taught me something new that I had never noticed before when reading that chapter. For those of you who are familiar with the Book of Mormon, Jacob 5 is the very long chapter that gives the allegory of the tame and wild olive trees.

The part of the allegory that I found the most interesting reading through this time starts in verse 64. This is the part where the Lord of the vineyard is going forth to prune his vineyard for the last time, and he says to his servant, “And if it be so that these last grafts shall grow, and bring forth the natural fruit, then shall ye prepare the way for them, that they may grow.” The Lord of the vineyard then goes on in verse 65 to explain to his servant how he should prepare the way for these last grafts to grow and bring forth natural fruit:

“And as they begin to grow ye shall clear away the branches which bring forth bitter fruit, according to the strength of the good and the size thereof; and ye shall not clear away the bad thereof all at once, lest the roots thereof should be too strong for the graft, and the graft thereof shall perish, and I lose the trees of my vineyard...wherefore ye shall clear away the bad according as the good shall grow, that the root and the top may be equal in strength, until the good shall overcome the bad, and the bad be hewn down and cast into the fire, that they cumber not the ground of my vineyard; and thus will I sweep away the bad out of my vineyard” (emphasis added).

I had never noticed these specific instructions from the Lord before, and they helped me understand better the method the Lord is using to establish His kingdom on the earth in our day. He gives us truth line upon line, as we are ready to receive it, strengthening the good before getting rid of more of the bitter fruit that is a product of our society and culture and not in line with His teachings, so as not to kill the tree with more truth and change than it can handle all at once.

Sometimes it is difficult to understand how anything that does not exactly align with God’s view of things could exist in His church. For example, why did it take so long for revelation to come about black people being able to hold the priesthood? According to the words of the allegory, the Lord and His servants in the vineyard had to strengthen the good enough before they could pluck off and cast away the branches containing that bitter fruit, or they risked losing the whole tree. Other examples could be given as well.

I think in many ways the Lord is much more patient with the process of carefully pruning, digging about, and nurturing His vineyard than we are. He is also much more patient with each of us individually than we tend to be, either with ourselves or with each other. Thank goodness this is true. It is this infinite love and patience we must learn if we are to participate with the Lord in His work of salvation, that we may be inspired to say, like the servant in the allegory, “Spare it a little longer.” Give this person another chance. Give the Lord’s church and the people in it more time to learn and grow and align their thoughts and actions with the Lord. Don't give up too soon and throw the good away with the bad. Strengthen the good, until all the bad can little by little be plucked out and cast away, leaving only the natural fruit that the Lord is seeking to preserve.

I can't wait until we reach the part of the allegory in verse 74 that says, “the bad had been cast away out of the vineyard, and the Lord had preserved unto himself that the trees had become again the natural fruit; and they became like unto one body; and the fruits were equal.” What a glorious day that will be when all the bitter fruit and false ideas have been plucked out of the Lord’s vineyard and we are all equal and like unto one body before the Lord, full of love and unity and perfect understanding of the Lord and His truths. May we each labor diligently in His vineyard to bring about that glorious day. I share these thoughts in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

"O Wretched Man That I Am"

My study of the Book of Mormon this week brought me to these verses written by the prophet Nephi:

2 Nephi 4:17-18

17 Nevertheless, notwithstanding the great goodness of the Lord, in showing me his great and marvelous works, my heart exclaimeth: O wretched man that I am! Yea, my heart sorroweth because of my flesh; my soul grieveth because of mine iniquities.

18 I am encompassed about, because of the temptations and the sins which do so easily beset me.

My thought reading these verses this time through was, “I have been there so many times.”

When I was younger I didn't understand Nephi's words in these verses. Nephi was a very righteous man, a prophet even. What on earth was he talking about?

Now I know. No matter how righteous you are, none of us is perfect. We each have our own weaknesses that we struggle with, and sometimes those weaknesses can seem so all-consuming and so difficult to bear. And when we have been working on our weaknesses for a long time and feel like we have made so much progress, and then our weaknesses rear their ugly heads again and knock us down and make us feel like we haven't made any progress at all, it can be so so frustrating and discouraging. We feel like saying, “O wretched man (or woman) that I am! Yea, my heart sorroweth because of my flesh; my soul grieveth because of mine iniquities. I am encompassed about, because of the temptations and the sins which do so easily beset me.” 

It doesn't matter what those temptations and sins are that beset you or how they compare to anyone else’s. Any sin will keep you out of heaven, no matter how small. Every single one of us needs the atonement to overcome the sins and weaknesses that we personally struggle with, that are keeping us personally from becoming more like God. 

Nephi goes on to say, “nevertheless, I know in whom I have trusted,” and talks about all the ways God has supported him in his trials, delivered him from his enemies, given him great knowledge and visions and sent angels to minister unto him. Then, starting in verse 26, he says, 

“O then, if I have seen so great things, if the Lord in his condescension unto the children of men hath visited men in so much mercy, why should my heart weep and my soul linger in the valley of sorrow, and my flesh waste away, and my strength slacken, because of mine afflictions?....Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin. Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for the enemy of my soul….Rejoice, O my heart, and cry unto the Lord, and say: O Lord, I will praise thee forever; yea, my soul will rejoice in thee, my God, and the rock of my salvation.”

Nephi turns the focus from himself and his weaknesses to the Lord and His mercy. He recognizes that it is Satan, “the enemy of [his] soul,” that wants him to “linger in the valley of sorrow” and allow his “strength [to] slacken” as he dwells on his weaknesses and allows discouragement and self-deprecation to consume him. Those feelings of discouragement and despair do not come from the Lord, and Nephi realizes that he must shake them off and instead rejoice in the Lord and His mercy and the power the atonement gives him to repent and be forgiven and change.

The Lord has an infinite amount of love for each of His children and is way more patient with us than we are with ourselves. The Lord says in the book of Ether, “I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them” (Ether 12:27). In the next verse He says, “Behold, I will show unto [my children] their weakness, and I will show unto them that faith, hope and charity bringeth unto me--the fountain of all righteousness.” 

When we are confronted with our weaknesses, we can give in to the enemy of our souls and allow our souls to linger in the valley of sorrow and our strength to slacken, or we can choose the Lord’s way and face our weaknesses with “faith, hope and charity.” When we have faith and hope that we can change and become better and that the Lord will help us, our outlook on our lives and ourselves is so much brighter, and we feel so much more motivated to keep moving forward and striving to become better. The Lord is full of charity and love for us, and He wants us to extend that kind of love to ourselves and to those around us. May we all learn to do that and to “rejoice in the Lord” rather than “droop in sin” is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

The Lord's Perspective

I recently started studying the Book of Mormon from the beginning again, and I just finished the part where Lehi and Nephi each had their vision of the Tree of Life, and I’ve been pondering on the very different ways that Nephi and Laman and Lemuel responded to the words of their father Lehi, the prophet, about the vision he had. 

When Nephi hears his father's account of his vision, his reaction is to immediately go to the Lord in prayer and ask to receive his own personal witness of the things that his father saw and shared. As a result, he received his own vision of the Tree of Life and an explanation of the meaning of the different things which Lehi saw in his vision and gained his own personal testimony and understanding of the prophet Lehi’s words. 

Laman and Lemuel, on the other hand, upon hearing the words of their father, the prophet, did not go to the Lord in prayer for understanding and their own personal witness of the truth of his words, but instead began “disputing one with another concerning the things [their] father had spoken unto them” (1 Nephi 15:2).

Nephi explains that Lehi “truly spake many great things unto them, which were hard to be understood, save a man should inquire of the Lord…” (1 Nephi 15:3)

This is often true of the words of the Lord and His servants. As Jesus explain to Pilate in John 18:36, “My kingdom is not of this world,” and as He says in the Old Testament in Isaiah 55:8-9, “my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

The Lord sees everything from an eternal perspective, while we see things from a finite, mortal, worldly perspective. It makes sense that in order to understand the words of the Lord, we must turn to Him and get help from the Holy Ghost to see and understand things from His greater eternal perspective.

When Nephi approaches his brothers and asks what they are disputing about, and they explain the words their father spoke that they did not understand, the very first thing Nephi says in response to their questions is, “Have ye inquired of the Lord?” (1 Nephi 15:8)

Laman and Lemuel’s response is, “We have not; for the Lord maketh no such thing known unto us” (1 Nephi 15:9).

Nephi reminds his brothers of the promise of the Lord: “If ye will not harden your hearts, and ask me in faith, believing that ye shall receive, with diligence in keeping my commandments, surely these things shall be made known unto you” (1 Nephi 15:11).

Nephi is teaching his brothers that other weak, fallible mortals are not the people they should be going to for greater understanding of the words of the Lord or His prophets; they should be going to the Lord Himself, the source of all knowledge and truth.

There seems to be a growing trend in society that when our modern day prophet and apostles say something that “is hard to be understood,” like the words that Lehi spoke to his family after receiving revelation from the Lord, people’s first reaction is to jump on Facebook and dispute one with another about the words of the Brethren like Laman and Lemuel rather than turn to the Lord in prayer for personal confirmation and understanding like Nephi.

As Nephi explains to Laman and Lemuel, disputations with other people about the Lord’s or His servants’ words is not an effective way of arriving at truth. You must personally go to the Lord Himself and ask with a sincere heart and real intent, with faith that He will answer you and with a willing heart to act on the answer you receive, whatever it is.

I think one of the biggest things that I have noticed that trip people up in following the Lord and His servants is that they have a bigger testimony of certain social agendas that are important to them than they do of the Lord’s prophet and apostles and their calling as prophets, seers, and revelators. They are convinced that their social agenda is equally as important to the Lord as it is to them and that the Lord has the same opinions as they do about the best way to bring it about. Therefore, if the words or actions of the prophet and apostles do not seem to further the cause of their social agenda(s), they have a difficult time believing that those words or decisions could possibly have come from the Lord, who obviously wants social justice just as much as they do and has that as His top priority in everything He does.

I think there is a false belief here that is the cause of so much of the confusion and dissent among members of Christ’s Church. Is social justice important to God? Of course it is. Would God prefer that all His children treat one another with kindness, respect and love and see each other as equally important in His eyes? Of course He would. Is it good for us to strive for greater social justice in our society? Of course it is. However, even though God loves all of His children equally and believes in social justice, I do not think that social justice is His top priority. 

Think of Christ’s mortal ministry. The Jews were convinced that when the Messiah came His top priority would be the same as theirs: to free them from Roman rule. But that was not what Christ did when He came, which is why so many of the Jews had trouble recognizing Him. Christ’s top priority was not their social agenda of being freed from Roman rule. His top priority was something with much greater eternal significance than any social injustices His people were experiencing in mortality. His top priority was, and still is, the eternal salvation of God’s children, and that can be achieved whether or not God’s children experience social injustices during their time on earth. 

We have power to hurt one another during our time here in mortality, but our power to truly harm one another in any way that is eternally significant is actually incredibly limited. We can enslave each other, discriminate against others for one reason or another, do physical harm to one another, say hurtful words to each other, but we have no power over how others choose to respond to our treatment of them. We cannot stop them from continuing to make good choices about how they treat those around them, from finding peace by forgiving us for our harsh treatment of them, from turning to the Lord for love and healing that transcends any amount of harm we could possibly do to them, from choosing to keep commandments and follow the Lord’s will for them in their lives and gain eternal salvation. No matter what we do, other people and the choices that will affect their eternal salvation are out of our reach. We have the power to make others’ journey through mortality more or less pleasant, to help or hinder them on their path to eternal salvation, but ultimately we cannot stop them from turning to the Lord for the love, healing, knowledge and strength necessary to achieve their eternal goal and reach their divine potential, if that is their true desire.

Indeed, challenging circumstances in mortality are often what lead people to humble themselves and turn to the Lord for help when they have nowhere else to turn. When others are cruel to them or do not meet their needs, they learn to rely on the Lord’s love and strength instead of trying to rely on other imperfect people who will always end up letting them down in one way or another. By humbling ourselves and turning to the Lord in our distress and committing to follow His will for us, we are able to feel a peace that transcends the horror of even the very worst of mortal circumstances.

So, while it is good and right for us to treat others the way Christ would and for society to encourage and give everyone the opportunity to achieve their greatest potential during their mortal life, what is most important to the Lord is that His children achieve their greatest eternal potential, and that can only be accomplished if they know the truth of who God is and of the plan He has prepared for them to gain salvation. It is the primary responsibility of the Lord’s servants to teach these truths that are most important for the eternal progress of God’s children. 

When we do our best to act in accordance with God’s laws and use the power of the atonement in our lives, we can continue to learn and grow and progress on our path to eternal life, irrespective of how others are trying to oppress us or limit our potential in this world. We can find peace and joy and a testimony of our eternal and divine worth as we apply God’s teachings in our lives and grow closer to Him. No one has the power to take that away from us when we have a true understanding of who God is and who we are as His children and of the ordinances and other tools God has put in place to allow us to unlock the powers of heaven in our individual lives. 

Without sufficient knowledge of God, His eternal plan for us, and how to access His love and power in our lives, however, we are much more likely to allow the difficulties of this mortal life to lead us to despair rather than to learning and growth. That’s why God places knowledge of eternal truths and of His plan of salvation for His children as His top priority. Rather than trying to achieve a heaven-like existence for His children in mortality, He uses the inequalities and other challenges of mortal life to refine and teach His children the lessons they must learn to qualify for life with Him in heaven after this mortal existence. This refining process includes a lot of lessons on compassion, patience, and forgiveness towards those who treat us poorly in mortality as they also struggle to learn to become more like Christ, achieve their divine potential, and qualify for heaven. We can't control how other people treat us, but we can control how we respond, and that is the true test of mortality and of the people we are becoming as we learn to rely on the Lord and His great love and wisdom.

Back to the story of Nephi and his brothers in 1 Nephi chapter 15. After first teaching his brothers the importance of turning to the Lord when they have questions, Nephi proceeds to address some of his brothers’ confusion about the meaning of their father’s vision using the knowledge he gained from the Lord during his own vision. 

The question that Nephi gets the most passionate about when teaching his brothers is when they ask what the rod of iron that led to the Tree of Life represented. Nephi explains that the rod of iron in the vision “was the word of God; and whoso would hearken unto the word of God, and would hold fast unto it, they would never perish; neither could the temptations and the fiery darts of the adversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead them away to destruction” (1 Nephi 15:24). After Nephi explains this, he then begins to exhort his brethren “with all the energies of [his] soul, and with all the faculty which [he] possessed, that they would give heed to the word of God and remember to keep his commandments always in all things” (1 Nephi 15:25).

Nephi knows that it is by continually  hearkening to and applying the word of God in our lives that we will be protected from Satan and his temptations and lies that can blind us and lead us to destruction. That is why it is so important to study the word of God in the scriptures, listen to the words given to Christ’s current prophet and apostles to speak, and seek the Lord in prayer to understand these words and how He would like us to apply them in each of our individual lives. If we hold fast to God’s words and keep the commandments He has revealed to His prophets, both anciently and in our day, we will be supported in all the trials and suffering of this mortal life, feel God’s immense love for us and the peace and healing only He can give, and be brought safely home to live with Him again after this life. Eternal life is God’s most important goal for us, and it should be our top priority as well, and hearkening to and seeking to understand the words of God and His eternal plan and perspective are what will help us achieve this primary purpose of mortality. I share these things with you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.