Here are two personal mottos that I follow and try to live by:
1. Make good things happen
I will live in a world of action, not talk or reflection. I will only promote things of positive value.
2. I read to learn, I write to think.
I have determined that I am a visual learner and I need the written word to really understand ideas. I use writing to fully express my thoughts and conclusions.
Early in my college time at BYU (perhaps about 1956), I took a religion class from Henry Nicholes on world religions where he taught a concept that I have not forgotton. Dr. Nicholes was an old but highly respected chemistry professor. He taught us that the communist movement of those times had a lot of characteristics of a religion, even though it claimed to be atheistic and to dislike religions. He pointed to the fact that Communism seemingly had prophets (leaders who should be revered and followed without question, Marx, Engels, etc.), scriptures (writings to be accepted without question, such as Das Capital), dogma (basic doctrine to be followed) and a belief system requiring a faith commitment of its followers. Its dogma included belief that it was inevitable that the proletariat (working class persons) would rise in rebellion against their masters (capitalists) and establish their own ideal or utopian system of government (with a dictatorship of the proletariat), including the collective ownership and management of all vehicles of production/business/sources of wealth, in which all of the workers of the world would share its benefits. Communist Party members were like converts and were brought into associations (cells) with other disciples, to spread the faith.
What really sold me on the idea that communism was a pseudo-religion was the faith commitment that there exists some kind of higher power or rule or law of human nature that drives human societies to create a certain type of government, in this case, a “dictatorship of the proletariat,” for all workers to share in a utopean dream. The “arc of history bends” in a particular direction.
In an op-ed piece published by the Deseret News, BYU-I history professor Hyrum Lewis (no relation) finds applications in current political thinking of this same kind of magical thinking, having characteristics of religious faith, that there is some overarching power that drives political and societal trends in particular ways. You might think that he goes too far to make his point, yet I think there is some validity in his argument. Here it is.
Op-ed: Latter-day Saints — Beware the False God of 'History'
“If man stops believing in God, he will start believing in anything.” — attributed to G.K. Chesterton
The Judeo-Christian tradition has many prohibitions against idolatry but few against atheism. Perhaps early theists understood that humans are homo religious — religious beings by nature who will always seek out an object of worship. Joshua did not say, “Choose you this day whether you will serve,” but, “Choose you this day whom ye will serve.” According to novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky, “If a man rejects God, he will have to worship an idol of wood, gold, or ideas.” Since we all need meaning and higher purpose in our lives, there is no way out of worship, there is only a choice of what to worship (something even evolutionary biologists are now acknowledging).
In our current society, worship of the Judeo-Christian God is being replaced by the worship of a “God of History,” the deity of the “Religion of Progress.” This religion permeates our culture, largely shapes public discourse, and has a major impact on popular thinking. It can be summarized in a three-part creed:
1. History is unfolding in a pre-determined direction
2. The enlightened know what that direction is
3. That direction is good
In the past, the Religion of Progress was embodied in movements and theories such as Marxism, fascism, and Hegelianism; today it is alive and well on both sides of our political spectrum. The “left” pays overt homage to the God of History with the “progressive” label, while many on the “right” believe history inevitably points to peace and prosperity under the free market or to universal democracy through American military intervention. In the Religion of Progress, History is an omnipotent, omnipresent force that acts in and through all things, and will bring eventual salvation to society. The “arc of history,” we are often told, “bends towards justice.”
But unlike other deities, the God of History makes few demands; just make sure you’re “on the right side of history.” Individuals can’t change the God of History’s doings, they can only align themselves with his will, thereby proving themselves to be among the elect.
For most versions of the Religion of Progress, another sign of virtue is powerlessness. This view replaces the mistaken 19th century imperialist maxim — “might makes right” — with the opposite but equally mistaken maxim — “might makes wrong.” People who belong to historically powerful or advantaged groups — males, whites, the wealthy, Americans, [REL: Jews] — are often viewed as inherently evil by virtue of their perceived position of privilege, while anyone who belongs to a historically disadvantaged group — women, racial minorities, the poor, inhabitants of the Third World [REL: indigenous populations, LGBT people, obese persons, the list keeps getting longer--this notion is sometimes labeled "Identity Politics"] — are righteous by virtue of their perceived lack of power. Being born into “privilege” is the Religion of Progress equivalent of original sin.
Those willing to approach the question of power rationally rather than dogmatically realize that belonging to a group does not, in itself, confer any moral standing on someone — there are good and bad people in all groups — but the God of History denies agency. People are saved either through identification with an oppressed group or through identification with the Religion of Progress — being on the right side of history.
Like most religious believers, history worshippers don’t arrive at their beliefs through rational inquiry, but through a faith commitment. The doctrines of the Religion of Progress are final, absolute and closed to further discussion. Just as Christians don’t question the will of Christ, history worshippers don’t question the will of history. Since those disagreeing with any of these dogmas are clearly “on the wrong side of history,” they are not to be engaged and debated, but marginalized and silenced.
Since young adults are particularly given to religious zeal, it’s understandable that the most fanatical history worshippers would be found on college campuses. The high priests of the Religion of Progress (the faculty) convert and instruct their acolytes (students) in seminaries (classrooms) and then turn them loose to stop anyone from polluting the church (university) with blasphemy (dissenting ideas). You can’t debate God (history), you can only shut down those who oppose his will.
Accordingly, Charles Murray, Heather Macdonald, Christina Hoff Sommers, Bret Weinstein and others who dissent from the Religion of Progress are heretics to be driven from the temple — by violence if needs be. The same religious zeal that led Puritans to persecute innocents as witches in 1690s Salem is leading students to persecute innocents as heretics today. The problem with colleges is not — as is commonly believed — that they have become secularized; the problem is that they have become temples of a new religion.
History worship is attractive and growing for two primary reasons: permissiveness and popularity. As a matter of doctrine, the Religion of Progress denies human agency and therefore absolves people of responsibility for their actions. Since virtue comes from being on the “right side of history,” rather than from repentance, adherents to the Religion of Progress can freely indulge in substance abuse, sexual promiscuity and general hedonism. Anyone who condemns such behavior is clearly an opponent of the Religion of Progress and can be accordingly dismissed as, “intolerant,” “bigoted,” “reactionary,” “racist,” “sexist,” “fascist,” “imperialist,” etc. This gives history worshippers a sense of moral superiority to go along with their hedonism.
The Religion of Progress is not only false but also dangerous. The great bulwark of religious freedom in America has been pluralism, but history worship is approaching dominant status and we increasingly see it imposing itself on society. People who dare “defy history” (by, say, opposing same-sex marriage) have been harassed, threatened, persecuted and fired from jobs. God’s will must be enforced, they believe, and once a majority concurs, religious freedom will be subject to majority whims.
Since it does not acknowledge itself as a faith, history worship poses dangers that other religions do not. History worshippers, seeing themselves as the enlightened vanguard for a better world rather than the religious zealots they are, feel justified in oppressing and silencing those who disagree. While other religions are subject to legal constraints, such as the separation of church and state which (rightly) denies them public funding, we are all compelled to subsidize the Religion of Progress through taxation (e.g., public funding of universities, media and art).
Because the Religion of Progress combines the authority of reason with the zealotry and dogmatism of faith, we should all be concerned about its growth. History worship threatens to make our society less rational, more politicized and, ultimately, less free. (Hyrum Lewis, Deseret News Aug 22, 2017)
Although he focuses primarily of the political left, there is some reason to believe that the political rights has also erred in the direction of believing that there is an inevitability about some of its hopes, such as, if we could just get rid of that dictator Saddam Hussain, the people of Iraq would quickly move to an American style democracy and freedom.
I would like to add something to Hyrum Lewises three-part creed for the Religion of Progress. I think for some there may be a fourth part, and I see this in some of the anger and frustration on the left. 4. Persons who are enlightened about the Religion of Progress are ordained and entitled to rule.
Somehow this reminds me of Laman and Lemuel in the Book of Mormon “For behold, your fathers did wrong their brethren, insomuch that they did rob them of their right to the government when it rightly belonged unto them. (Alma 54:17) Is there somehow a sense of entitlement among some of the progressive politicians in America, given their enlightment about the Religion of Progress, that they were robbed of their rightful position to lead our country in 2016? Does this possibly help explain the frustration and anger on the left to be denied the Presidency of our country in 2016 and their obsessive focus on non-cooperation and removal of our current president.
[Robert Lewis--Written in 2017]
For the last two years in our Come Follow Me curriculum, we’ve been studying scriptures about peoples who had less than ideal Church arrangements.
The Old Testament Church as an Aaronic Priesthood Church. It lacked the Melchizedek Priesthood, except for prophets specifically called for their own lifetime, but without the higher Melchizedek ordinances and prophetic succession (see D&C 84:19-27, Hebrews 7) .
The New Testament church was an immature or “Kirtland” church made up of new converts, who were drawn to the new religion, but seemed easily swayed by competing ideas and contention. It had the same challenges as the restored church in its first few years in our day. A pattern for succession for overall church leadership (see Acts 1) was initiated but not sustained, perhaps partly due to distance, persecution, lack of communication resources in that day, the killing of the apostolic leadership, but also because of divisions and rebellions within the church itself (see Noel B. Reynolds, Early Christians in Disarray, 2005, FARMS, Mosiah 27:13).
While leading the saints toward the mountain west, Brigham Young was said to have given his assessment of the restoration, “If the Church’s enemies will leave us alone until we have raised a generation in the Church, it will last forever.” (This is a recollection of mine. I do not have a further source.)
What do we have in the mature Church today?
1. A organizational pattern in the succession of the presidency and leadership of the Church which provides for a continuation of prophetic and apostolic leadership, and is sustained by Church membership across the whole general body of the Church who are supportive of this pattern of leadership.
2. Stakes and temples, to provide and unify, gather, and provide higher level priesthood instruction and ordinances to members in their local geographic area. We might characterize these gatherings as localized mini-Zions.
Here is a Jewish write-up that temple going Latter-day Saints might find interesting, especially that statement that "prophets are in short supply."
Why Haven’t Jews Rebuilt the Temple Yet?
By Yehuda Shurpinon, from the website Chabad.org
For thousands of years, Jews have yearned and prayed for the rebuilding of the Holy Temple. Now, finally, Israel is in Jewish hands again. Why don’t I see the rabbinic leaders in Israel spearheading a building campaign?
Before We Begin
As anyone who has been to Israel knows, the country is nothing short of a modern-day miracle. At the same time, there are very real political and security issues—issues that get even more heated when there is any discussion about the Temple Mount, let alone actually building anything there. That being the case, this entire conversation is purely theoretical, with no relation to the current sociopolitical state of affairs. [REL:The current site contains an Islamic structure, The Dome of the Rock. Its removal would undoubtedly cause the start of a holy war against the country of Israel.] Additionally, there is much rabbinic debate surrounding the building of the Third Temple. To keep things short and simple, we’ll just touch on some of the issues that may be involved.
Who Must Build?
When discussing the question of rebuilding the Temple, it is important to keep in mind that, in general, this mitzvah is not an individual obligation, like the mitzvot of tefillin or Shabbat. Rather, it is a communal obligation. The obligation to rebuild the Temple may apply only when the majority of the Jewish nation resides in Israel, which currently is not the case. In addition, it may apply only when there is a Jewish king or prophet.
How to Build?
Even if we’re not obligated, should we build the Temple anyway, restoring God’s home one earth? Truthfully, we don’t even know how to construct it. The dimensions of the Third Temple are somewhat described in the book of Ezekiel, but the interpretation of many verses is subject to debate. In fact, when it came time to build the Second Temple, the Jews built it according to the dimensions of the First Temple, and included only certain aspects that are explicitly stated in Ezekiel. It is only the third and final Temple that will be built entirely according to the prophecy of Ezekiel.
Perhaps the most challenging aspect of all is the placement of the altar, which must be in a very specific location, as the verse states, “This is the altar for the burnt offerings of Israel.” According to tradition, the altar is to be placed on the exact spot from which the earth to create Adam was taken and where he later offered sacrifices to God, and where Abraham built the altar to sacrifice Isaac. The altar’s location is so essential that when they built the Second Temple, they needed three prophets to vouch for the location they had planned. Accordingly, we’d need at least one prophet to help us in our construction project, and prophets seem to be in short supply nowadays.
Who Can Go There?
Assuming that somehow we did get the exact dimensions figured out, there is still one big issue: It is forbidden to enter the Temple area in a state of ritual impurity. The only way to become ritually pure is with the ashes of a red heifer, which presents its own set of challenges.
HR Woes
The Temple was (and will be) staffed by kohanim, descendants of Aaron through a direct line of males. In order for a kohen to actually work in the Holy Temple, his genealogy would need to be verified with certainty, a test very few of today’s kohanim would pass. Additionally, they would need to wear the priestly garments, made of materials such as threads dyed with the special techeilet (blue) dye, and a selection of precious stones for the high priest’s breastplate—but the specifics of both are a matter of great debate.
So How Is It Going to Happen?
As for how the Temple will ultimately get rebuilt, it is a matter of dispute between the classic commentators. Maimonides teaches that the Temple will be built by Messiah himself, and in fact its construction will be one of the signs that he is indeed the Messiah. One of the Messiah’s first orders of business will be to use his spirit of prophecy to discern who is a priest, as well as the tribal affiliation of each Israelite. Additionally, we will have the ashes of the red heifer to purify those who are impure. Others are of the opinion that in the messianic era, the Temple will descend ready-built from heaven.
So Is There Nothing We Can Do?
Despite the above complications, without even lifting a trowel, we can actually fulfill the mitzvah of building God’s home. How so? Our sages tells us that after God revealed the dimensions of the future Temple to the prophet Ezekiel, Ezekiel turned to God and asked, “Why should I tell this to the Jewish people, if they are in exile and will not build the Temple now? Let me wait until they are redeemed, and then I will tell them this prophecy.”
God replied: “Just because My children are in exile, should there be no building of My house?! Learning about the description of My house is as great as the building of it. Go and tell the Jewish people to occupy themselves in learning about the Temple, and in that merit I will consider it as if they engaged in building it.”
Based on this, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, strongly encouraged learning the laws of the Holy Temple, especially during the period known as the “Three Weeks,” during which we mourn the destruction of the Temple. For through this learning, not only do we fulfill the commandment to build the Holy Temple (even during the exile), but we actually weaken the concept of its destruction—and we ultimately merit its rebuilding with the coming of the messianic era, may it be speedily in our days.
The actress Lindsay Lohan made a new post on Instagram, following the birth of her new baby. Here is commentary by Kylee Griswold August 10, 2023 on a blog on thefederalist.com.
Lindsay states “I am so proud of what this body was able to accomplish during these months of pregnancy and now, recovery. Having a baby is the greatest joy in the world!”
Good on Lohan for stating what should be obvious both biologically and socially... Bringing new life into the world and cultivating a family is one of life’s fullest joys. While most celebrities try to convince themselves and the watching world that the path to success is paved with abortion, it’s always refreshing to hear the true message that embracing what our bodies were designed to do brings the utmost fulfillment.
Women have a totally unique... ability to incubate a human life from the moment of conception and then labor through the intense task of bringing that whole new person into the outside world. Ladies literally create families and communities and nations — all with the insane power that is our bodies. Oh, you made partner? That’s nice. She made people!
How did multiple generations get duped into thinking our uteruses gave us the raw end of the deal? That’s what happens when you convince yourself and the rest of your sex that C-section scars are less admirable than C-suites and that managing a household is lame compared to managing a marketing department.
Radical feminists don’t just lie about what babies do to careers, though. They resent what babies do to bodies: Goodbye, hourglass. Hello, saggy, puffy, human burp cloth. Ever notice how “body positivity” feminists love obesity but loathe the idea of a little baby weight?
...But there’s nothing ugly or unhealthy about a postpartum body. Lohan gets this right, too, showing off her new figure because it’s really about “what this body was able to accomplish” — and that’s something to be proud of.
Robert was raised in a small farming and logging community in Washington state at the foot of the beautiful snow-capped Mt. Adams. His father, Clarence Lewis, was born in the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia and as a small boy came west as his parents migrated to Washington State. His mother, Hazel Davenport Lewis, was from a family whose ancestors had been early converts to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Utah pioneers, and who had left their homes in the Logan, Utah area to establish a large lumbering enterprise in Hood River, Oregon.
Robert came from two separate religious traditions. His evangelical Christian background introduced the value of the Bible, the Ten Commandments, the Golden Rule, and being a disciple of Jesus Christ. Early in his life he also gained a conviction that the Book of Mormon was true and found no reason to deviate from faith in the Bible, the Ten Commandments, and the Golden Rule, but in fact found his faith and commitment to Christian discipleship enhanced and confirmed through the Book of Mormon and Latter-day Saint teachings. When he was an older teen he was able to be baptized as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day-Saints. He was a dedicated student of the scriptures and especially the Book of Mormon. He served as a missionary in the North Central States Mission, the majority of the time in the Province of Manitoba, Canada. He served in many Church assignments, including Bishop of the Taylorsville Gardens 2nd Ward in Taylorsville UT. He worked for a number of years with Church programs for persons who were Vietnamese refugees. With his wife Wendy, he served a senior mission in Raleigh North Carolina. He served as a temple ordinance worker in the Jordan River, Provo, and Payson temples, and loved to study and perform the temple ordinances.
He became interested in family history research through the influence of his Aunt Dorothy when he enrolled at Brigham Young University as a young men and began a life-long study of his Lewis and Agee ancestors, which eventuated in the publishing of 20 volumes of research findings about these people and many hours performing their temple work. After retirement, he volunteered many hours of service as a consultant at the Spanish Fork FamilySearch Center and also taught classes about family history book publishing and organizing effective family history work in LDS wards and stakes.
Robert was a registered scout leader for over 40 years, and loved the association with the young men and the Utah outdoors and lakes and mountains. He worked with almost every age group, Scouts, Varsity, Exploring/Venturing, and was the leader of an eleven year old scout patrol and advisor to a Venturing Officers Association until close to his 80th birthday. He gave service at the district and council levels and on a advisory committee to the Church’s general Young Mens organization. He was a co-leader for many years of a popular yearly youth training camp, E2/Priests Leadership Conference, in the Taylorsville Utah area. With his son Matthew, he maintained for many years a popular website, LDSScouting.org, which emphasized helps to leaders of the older boy scouting programs.
From his early youth, Robert was attracted to music. In high school he played trumpet and other brass instruments in the band and sang in the choir. During his college years, he studied voice and sang with BYU Mens Chorus. Over the years he participated in ward choirs and directed a choir for a time. He also sang with small groups or soloed for church occasions. He was self-taught on the piano and guitar and had an interest in folk music from the South and from the early Church. He composed a number of songs for his children and family.
He also participated in sports and in exercise throughout his life. He played football, basketball, and baseball in high school, and team sports when available in his wards. He jogged and walked and tried to keep fit. He followed Cougar and (to a degree) Ute sports, the Red Sox and the Rockies.
Robert was valedictorian in his high school and acquired Bachelors and Masters degrees in psychology from BYU and Master and Doctor of Social Work degrees from the University of Utah. He spent his entire working career with the Utah Department of Social Services, largely with Family Services, in administrative positions, doing planning, research and evaluation work, with a focus on social work manpower utilization, and service integration and effectiveness. He did pioneering research on home-based services to strengthen neglectful families. In the last years of his service he led a project to computerize child welfare management and reporting for the state. He also had an adjunct teaching appointment at the U of U School of Social Work for a time.
Above all, Robert loved his family. He was privileged to marry two wonderful women...
Recently, I have heard a lot of pessimistic reports about religious faith in our country such as: “In this negative world, church attendance has plunged, intolerance of traditional religious values has skyrocketed, and Christians have been dragged into court for their faithfulness — many into the court of public opinion, if not an actual courtroom.”
I have heard some of the same pessimism and negativism and worry in recent conversations with members of the Church of Jesus Christ, especially about the current activity and faithfulness of the youth of the Church. But, a recent news article provided a differing and much more positive view. (Deseret News article, June 28, 2023, “The number of Latter-day Saint missionaries is rising rapidly”)
I was thrilled and excited by Elder Quentin L. Cook’s press announcement that “Despite fewer missionary-age Latter-day Saints, the Church has seen an increase in the number of full-time missionaries from 56,000 at the end of 2021 to 68,000 [this month]. And we really do feel like we’ll exceed 72,000 by the end of the year,” Elder Cook added.
“And so, with fewer available, more are going out,” he continued. “If you look at the youth, their activity rate is higher than it has been. So they have responded in a wonderful way to the clarion call of a Prophet — both in his April 2022 general conference address and in his invitation as president of the Church for youth to gather Israel on both sides of the veil.”
“...young people who are signing up to go on missions ... in higher numbers, and higher percentages, than previous generations, Elder Cook said.
According to research by professor Justin Dyer at Brigham Young University, “the most recent generation [in this country], overall, places less importance on religion and attends religious services less frequently than previous generations. However, this does not hold for youth of some denominations, including Latter-day Saints, where attitudes among the recent generations... are on par with or actually more favorable to religion than some earlier generations.”
This contradicts the popular notion of young people being less beholden to faith. “In comparing the generations when they were high school seniors, millennial Latter-day Saint youth feel religion is more important than all other generations.”
Professor Dyer concludes that this trend is “notable and significant.”
As Elder Marcus B. Nash, a General Authority Seventy and the executive director of the church’s missionary department, concluded, “There’s just something going on, and I don’t know how to explain it other than the prophet spoke in April 2022, and this rising generation — that he teaches us was held in reserve — [is] responding.”
I am excited and proud of the youths in our family who are part of this trend.
Sacrament Meeting talk, February 26, 2023
I was raised in a tiny farming-logging community in the Cascade Mountains of Washington state. My family was split on the subject of religion. My father had been born in the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia, and his parents had migrated to the Northwest when his was a tiny boy. His father’s family, the Lewises, were not very religious. His mother came from a Primative Baptist tradition, a religion common in the South, which had a strong Calvinist leaning. My mother was from an Latter-day Saint family that had migrated from Utah some years before to satisfy her grandfather’s entrepreneurial ambitions to build a large logging, lumbering business. My parents had married during the early days of the great depression and we lived on a small farm on which my father eeked out a living with odd jobs and a little dairy operation.
The nearest branch of the LDS church was in Hood River, Oregon, at least an hour and half or so drive over bad mountain roads and we did not have the cars or money to make the trip. Plus my mother didn’t drive. We attended the only church nearby, a small non-denominational Sunday school, loosely connected to the Presbyterians, having a Bible emphasis.
When I was about 7 years old, something happened that had very significant effect on my life. My mother had a subscription to one of the Church magazines and saw a note that Deseret Book was republishing a little book for children about the Book of Mormon that William A. Morton had written many years before and that her mother had read to her when she was little. It was called “Mother Stories From the Book of Mormon.” She felt that she needed help in exposing my little sister and I to the beliefs of her family’s church. She wrote to her father who had retired and relocated to Utah. She asked if he would buy a copy and send it to her, which he did.
I remember a day when I was sitting beside my mother, leaning against her arm, as she read to my little sister and me these Book of Mormon stories. At one point she paused and said the Lord has promised that He will testify through the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon and the gospel are true. She asked if we had ever felt such promptings of the Holy Ghost. I started to say, “No, I don’t think I have ever felt any of these things” when the most unusual feeling came over me.
A warmness and excitement came into my heart and breast that I had never felt before and I felt a sort of thrill go up and down my spine. I came to recognize there feelings as being like those described by the two disciples of the Lord in Luke 24:32, “did not our hearts within us burn?”
Seven years old. I had a witness of the Spirit and my own conviction that the Book of Mormon was true.
I looked forward to when I would have my eighth birthday and could be baptized, but it didn’t happen. My father maintained that my sister and I could join the Church when we were grown and could decide for ourselves. My 9th birthday passed. In my nightly prayers, I asked to be able to be baptized, but still nothing happened.
Years went by. When I reached early high school age, a school teacher who I greatly admired and who was a committed churchman, asked me if I would like to be baptized in the Presbyterian Church. I thanked him, but said “No. I intend, when I can, to be baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”
The Church grew closer to us. Hood River became a ward and they were blessed to be able to build a Utah-type ward house. A Sunday school and then a branch was established in White Salmon, a hour drive away, which we attended once or twice a year. The branch president assigned himself as our home teacher. He started to make monthly visits. At age 15 when I started to have summer jobs with local farmers, I paid him my tithing.
The day after I graduated from high school, President Burles showed up at our house. He had an invitation for us. He said that the branch had reserved the Hood River baptismal font for a branch baptismal service next Saturday at 5 pm. Would my sister and I like to come and be baptized? My mother somehow got approval from my dad, and we made the drive and were baptized. I was 17. It was so wonderful. I recall that for a week or so it seemed like I was walking in the air without my feet touching the ground.
I was a pretty good student and had been looking at attending college. I had a scholarship offer from Washington State. As soon as I had been baptized, the Spirit began to whisper strongly that I needed to go to school where I could learn more about being a member of the Church. So I dropped plans to attend Reed College, Lewis and Clark, or Washington State, and came to BYU. There I learned much more about our religion and especially I increased my appreciation and understanding of the Book of Mormon.
Next, I began to have a strong sense of gratitude and that I needed to return something back to my Heavenly Father. I determined to serve a mission. As a young, new, Naive and inexperienced missionary serving in Minnesota and Manitoba, Canada, I had a couple of experiences that suggested that among ordinary members of our Church at that time there were some problems in our usage of the Book of Mormon and other modern scripture. I recall my experienced companion teaching a Plan of Salvation lesson, and he apologized to the investigator for using modern scripture to teach about our premortal existence, as if our modern scriptures were inferior to or inappropriate to teach our doctrines to non-members.
Shortly after that, a second new missionary experience occurred as we met a Protestant man who asked sort of loaded question about what our Church believed about salvation by grace. My experienced companion responded that we believed that we will all be resurrected through the grace of Christ but we have to earn our salvation. I quietly thought, “But what about forgiveness?” Through this and other experiences I concluded that there was a time in the Church when ordinary members often had a shallow understanding of the work of Christ and of his atonement. Sometimes this understanding seemed to based more on staking out a position different than beliefs of other churches as opposed to the real, true doctrines contained in our Latter-day scriptures. For example, professor Robert Millet tells a story when as a teenager growing up in the Bible-belt South, he asked his father who was at the time a Latter-day Saint Branch President whether we believed in the grace of Christ. His dad said “No.” Brother Millet then ask asked “Why not?” And the answer was “Because they do.”
Just after that time, there was a wonderful prophetic correction that in my opinion has made a very significant correction in and through the use and study of the Book of Mormon in the Church. In the 1986 General Conference, the then prophet of the Lord, Ezra Taft Benson, recalled verses from a 1832 revelation in section 84: “And your minds in times past have been darkened because of unbelief, and because you have treated lightly the things you have received—Which vanity and unbelief have brought the whole church under condemnation. And this condemnation resteth upon the children of Zion, even all. And they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon...” (D&C 84: 54-57)
President Benson stated his long standing belief that the Church was still under some condemnation for taking the Book of Mormon too lightly. He announced that the Lord had revealed to him the need to reemphasize the Book of Mormon. This was the time that the Church began to emphasize the four year cycle of the study of all the Latter-Day Saint scriptures in our Church meetings, seminary and institutes. President Benson also gave the challenge, which our President Nelson has repeated, “Nothing opens the heavens quite like ... daily feasting on the words of Christ in the Book of Mormon...”
I believe that especially since that 1986 challenge from our prophet, the church as a whole has made significant progress in its utilization and study of the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon also has become much more central in our missionary teaching efforts. Ordinary members also have gained a much greater appreciation for Christ and a fuller understanding of his atonement and how to access its blessings.
I am grateful that, first, the Book of Mormon provide a strong spiritual witness to me, and to us all, that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God and that our Church is the restored Church of Jesus Christ, and second, that the Book of Mormon is the greatest scriptural witness that Jesus Christ is our Savior. It is extremely Christ-centered. Or as a pair of Catholic scholars concluded after they studied the Book of Mormon, “It has a very high Christology.” Our mission president in Raleigh North Carolina challenged his missionaries to read from a clean copy of the Book of Mormon and mark every reference to the Savior. Our missionaries found that they needed to mark almost every page in the entire book.
The Book of Mormon is the best of all sources in this world for learning the doctrines of Christ’s atonement. We have been taught that the 1st principles of the gospel are faith and repentance. Read Alma 32 to really know about faith and how to grow it. “But if ye will nourish the word, yea, nourish the tree as it beginneth to grow, by your faith with great diligence, and with patience, looking forward to the fruit thereof, it shall take root; and behold it shall be a tree springing up unto everlasting life.”
What about repentance? When I was called as bishop, one of the first things I noticed was that there was a cabinet in the Bishops office with several copies of a book by Pres Kimball, which prior Bishops had purchased to give to persons who had come to their office to confess serious sins and seek forgiveness. I found a preference for using the Book of Mormon to teach this process. The repentant Alma the younger in Alma 36, in the midst of his extreme feelings of guilt, recalled his father’s teachings about Christ’s atonement and prayed, “O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me...” And at that very moment, he reported “when I thought this, I could remember my pains [of guilt] no more... And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain...”
Lehi described the very purpose of our lives: “men are that they have joy”
Even the sacred and exalting doctrines of the temple are found in the teachings of Jacob and King Benjamin and Christ himself when he taught them at the temple in Bountiful, recorded in 3rd Nephi.
The several blessings for us of the atonement of Christ are described in great detail:
The Resurrection in Alma 40: “The soul shall be restored to the body, and the body to the soul; yea, and every limb and joint shall be restored to its body; yea, even a hair of the head shall not be lost; but all things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame.”
Redemption from sin 3 Nephi 27: “[The Savior says] whoso repenteth and is baptized in my name shall be filled; and if he endureth to the end, behold, him will I hold guiltless before my Father at that day when I shall stand to judge the world.”
Strengthening blessings, Alma 7: “[Christ] will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.”
Perfecting blessings: “Come unto Christ, that ye may be perfected in him” “what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am”...and “that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we may be like him...”
I testify that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and is truly foundational for our faith in Christ and his restored gospel. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen
Easter Message by Robert Lewis,
April 17 Taylorsville Gardens Ward Sacrament Meeting talk.
When Bro. Stone asked me to prepare this talk, he pointed me toward an address by Pres. Nelson two years ago in April conference, “Hear Him,” in which he presented a proclamation by the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles entitled “The Restoration of the Fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: A Bicentennial Proclamation to the World.” This proclamation was issued at the time which marked the 200 year anniversary of the visit of the Father and the Son to Joseph Smith, calling Joseph as the prophet of the Restoration, the beginning the work of this dispensation in which all gospel keys and powers would be restored in order to gather scattered Israel in preparation for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
Also as a part of this restoration process, this month is also the 192nd anniversary on April 6th of the re-establishment of the Church of Jesus Christ on this earth.
So April is a great month of celebrations.
Of even more significance and giving us even more reason for celebration, this is the very week of the Hebrew holiday of Passover, which was also the time at which our Savior, Jesus Christ, suffered, was crucified, died, and rose from the dead, working out the centerpiece of the whole gospel plan, the atonement, enabling what Alma called, the “great plan of happiness” (Alma 42:10) to be fully effective and fully available to all of us.
Happiness. Joy.
In lives which are often filled with misery, anxiety, loss and grief, pain, weakness, failure, betrayal, guilt, conflict, the power and blessing and joy of the atonement of Christ shines through. In fact, Father Lehi in the Book of Mormon concludes that the purpose of our whole earthly existence, the primary objective of the whole gospel plan and its atonement, is joy: “Men are that they might have joy” he said. (2 Nephi 2:25)
Happiness. Joy.
Let’s look further at joy in our existence through the lens of the marvelous atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ, which were are celebrating this very Easter day. Several Church authorities and authors have suggested that there are at least four major blessings that derive from the atonement of Jesus Christ. These are the resurrection, forgivenesss, strengthening, perfecting. Let us consider the happiness and joys that come through each of these blessings:
First, the joys of the blessing of Resurrection: All human kind will suffer physical death, but Christ broke the bands of death, the restrictions and limitations of death, to provide the blessing of the resurrection. I am grateful for the present joys of a physical body and the prospect of having this body and physical capability eternally through the blessing of the universal resurrection provided by our Savior. For me there was joy in running, of playing in a good basketball game, in putting on a backpack and hiking in the High Uintas with my scouts when I was scoutmaster, for the joy of seeing the God of Nature’s beautiful creations, flowers, birds and animals, mountains, streams, lakes, sunsets.
There is joy in hearing great music. Many years ago, as a young, newly baptized Latter-day Saint from a distant place, I had the joy of singing in a choir for General Conference. I also was especially joyful when as a young member of a BYU choir performing Handel’s Messiah, I was taught about the atonement, while singing the frivolous and lightminded “all we like sheep have gone astray-uh-aye-aye” immediately followed by the somber, dissonant and agonizing “and the Lord has laid on him the iniquities of us all.”
I am grateful for the joys of human relationships, of marriage, of family, of children, of grandchildren, of hugs, thank yous, of seeing others’ growth and progress and I am grateful for Christ’s “loosening of the bands of death” (Alma 7:12) with the prospect of all these bodily joys continuing forever and ever and in a heavenly environment, through the resurrection and other blessings of the atonement.
Second, the joys of the blessing of Forgiveness: I am grateful for the joy of having the Spirit return after I have sorrowed and made a decision to repent. I am grateful for peace of conscience, for the joy of having guilt pardoned and washed away. I am grateful for the wonderful joy of having resolved a problem with another person and restored a damaged relationship that I have harmed by my own mistake. I am grateful for the joy of a heart changing. I am grateful for the joy I feel when I am clean before the Lord. I feel joy when I have carried out some duty to the best of my ability. I feel joy when I have passed some test successfully, such as reporting to the bishop about my tithing status each year, or renewing my temple recommend, or taking the sacrament with a clean feeling and with gratitude that I can somehow be counted as a disciple of Jesus Christ, along with all of you.
I am grateful for the joy of anticipating an eventual reunion with my Heavenly Parents, through the redeeming and forgiving power of the atonement of Christ.
Third, I am grateful for the Strengthening joys of the atonement, the promised succoring for my pains and infirmities and sickness promised by Alma in the Book of Mormon. Alma says, speaking of Christ, 11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.
12 ... he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities. (Alma 7:11-12).
Succor meaning relief or support in times of distress or affliction.
My afflictions and infirmaties may arise from my own weaknesses and mistakes, or from others’ actions, or simply be from the nature of this fallen world, the co-mingling of evil and good in the experiences of this world, but I am grateful that through the atonement of Christ and the gifts of his Holy Spirit, that there are means provided, even joys, in enduring and overcoming the hard things of this life.
I recall an experience I had as a young father. With my first wife, JoAnn, we were expecting a baby. He was born, a beautiful little boy, whom we named Michael. We brought him home, but he did not seem to be thriving. JoAnn determined to take him back to our Dr. I went to work at my office in downtown Salt Lake. Midmorning, I received a call from JoAnn, saying “meet me at Primary Children’s Hospital. Michael has serious heart problems.”
At the hospital we learned that the problems with Michael’s heart were congenital and his very life was threatened. The doctors wanted to operate the very next morning to bring at least partial relief. JoAnn wanted to stay with him through the night, and felt the need to return home before that to get cleaned up and prepare for the night. She suggested that I go home to be with the our older kids and then return to the hospital early evening while she went home to make preparations to stay the night.
So I went home midafternoon. My mind was in such turmoil and my heart was heavy with worry. The older kids were OK so I decided a walk around the block might be helpful. When I was about half way around the block, I had a strange experience. Something in my heart had changed. My mind was still registered the shock and worry and agony, but in my heart I was at peace. “God knows and is in charge and things will work according to plan.”
I thought, “How can this be? My mind is still in turmoil, but my heart is at peace.” I experienced such a strong sense of spiritual support and strengthening and succor which continued, and allowed me to function and be a strength to my family in the challenging days and years that followed.
Finally, I am grateful for the joys associated with the Perfecting power of the atonement, the joys of progressively mastering the divine nature, potentially of becoming like our Savior:
“Beloved now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2) Also, “...that when he (Christ) shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may be purified, even as he is pure.” (Moroni 7:48)
I am grateful for the joy of learning to appreciate Christ’s virtues and perfections as a example.
I am grateful for the joy of being chastened and stretched by the Spirit so I can improve.
I am grateful for the joy of feeling the call of the temple and to feel God’s love in the temple, the joy of learning to worship God in the temple.
I am joyful through the temple to deepen my understanding of the higher laws of the gospel, the Savior’s perfecting and sanctifying laws, those that define and reflect divine nature that I need to emulate and acquire.
I am grateful through the temple to enjoy a greater sense of His hope for me, to feel He knows me personally, to somehow feel the Savior’s embrace, and the evidences of His sacrifice for me.
I feel an incomprehensible joy in contemplating eternal companionship and relations with those persons I have learned on earth to love the most.
“And that same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there, only it will be coupled with eternal glory, which glory we do not now enjoy.” (D&C 130:2)
With all my heart I testify of the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ restored in our day and the power of his atonement to bless us as we follow him. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
One of the great doctrines of the Restorations brought back to us through the prophet Joseph Smith is that in His relationship to us, God is paternal. He is not primarily a sovereign, a king, a ruler, a master. Our relationship to Him in familial. We are His children, spirit sons and daughters. (See Doctrine & Covenants 76:24, Moses 3:3-5, 6:51, Abraham 3:22, The Family: A Proclamation to the World). His motivations toward us are primarily that of a Divine Parent. I think of the motivation and love I experience as a father, a grand-father, and now as a great-grandfather. I have hopes for my descendants, that each will achieve his or her highest potential and make their best personal contributions to life around them, as they develop their talents and values, as they give service, as they meet challenges, as they themselves establish family relationships and contribute to the lives of others. I sense this is the best in myself, even with my imperfections, and that the highest calling a man may receive is that of Father. Of course, our Heavenly Father is perfect in his fatherly hopes and desires for us.
Many years ago, in preparing a paper for a BYU religion class, I noticed evidence for the above in the teachings of Christ in the four synoptic gospels of the New Testament, by the language he used when he referred to God our Heavenly Father. There were times when there was a marked difference in the names or titles he used in referring to God. It appeared that often when he was addressing persons who were antagonistic to him, scribes, Pharisees, etc., he typically referred to deity as “God.” But when he was with his apostles or other persons who were responsive to him, he tended to call God “Father.”
This difference seems to me to suggest that Christ was teaching a higher concept of life and religion to his followers, concerning the nature of God and our relation to him and having an emphasis on love and family and the source of our greatest joys both in time and in eternity.
In comparing this distinction in the four synoptic gospels, the difference is most pronounced in the book of Matthew. Matthew was one of Christ’s original apostles and was with the Savior throughout his ministry. This difference is less pronounced in Mark and Luke, both of whom we understand had less personal contact with Christ while living, and who wrote their summaries from a somewhat third-hand position. In the book of John, the use of the parental name for God, “Father,” is dominant. We understand that John was writing from the vantage point of a very close and caring relationship with the Savior and seems to recognize and define the fatherly role of God as primary. Here is what I found in the four gospel writings:
The Book of Matthew
Term Followers Not Sure Antagonists Total
“Father” 18 0 0 18
“God” 4 1 9 14
The Book of Mark
Term Followers Not Sure Antagonists Total
“Father” 2 0 0 2
“God” 15 2 15 32
The Book of Luke
Term Followers Not Sure Antagonists Total
“Father” 4 0 0 4
“God” 21 13 19 53
The Book of John
Term Followers Not Sure Antagonists Total
“Father” 20 10 14 44
“God” 1 2 4 7
Totals for all Synoptic Gospels
Term Followers Not Sure Antagonists Total
“Father” 44 10 14 68
“God” 41 18 47 106
Note: References by Christ to his personal father, i.e., “my Father,” are not included.
I am summarizing some ideas about the Latter-day Saint theology of family love. Our human and more especially our family connections encompass a significant part of the eternal products of our mortal experience.
“What we are most certain of, is that “Our natural affections... are the cement of all virtuous and heavenly society”[from Orson Pratt]. Ultimately we understand God’s nature, and human salvation, to be the simple amplification of that which is most elemental, and most worthwhile, about our life here on earth. The divine nature of man, and the divine nature of God, are shown to be the same– they are rooted in the will to love, at the price of pain, but in the certainty of joy. Heaven holds out the promise of a belonging that is destined to extend and surpass any that we have ever known in this wounded world.
“So we learn, and we love. What we have learned, and how we have loved, endure. These are the two constants in our continuing existence.” (Terryl and Fiona Givens, The God Who Weeps: How Mormonism Makes Sense of Life, Salt Lake City: Ensign Peak, 2012, 105-106)
The family is the critical laboratory for learning and establishing loving interpersonal relationships. The Givens suggest how Restoration scriptures document this concept in a way that resonates deeply in my soul, especially as I contemplate my own family and its individual members:
“Jesus named love of God first in the hierarchy of heavenly commands, with love of others second (Matt 22:38-39). Yet, when Enoch [in Moses 7] asks a weeping God the Father... the cause of His tears, His answer has three astonishing dimensions. The first appears when God prefaces His response by reciting the two great commandments in reverse order. “Unto thy brethren have I said, and also given commandments, that they should love one another, and that they should choose me, their Father.” The second [dimension] is that though God’s children have clearly broken both commands, God’s grief is over their violation of the second. He is not weeping because they have failed to worship, honor or obey Him: “Behold, they are without affection, and hate their own blood.” Third, His tears flow, indeed , “the whole heavens shall weep over them... seeing these shall suffer.” Three times the account affirms, and Enoch marvels, that God’s weeping is over human “misery.”
“These verses are the clearest prism through which to see our Divine Parents’ true nature and greatest concern. It is not for themselves, for Their glory, or for Their priority in our hearts that they labor. Their greatest longing made manifest in those verses accords with the deepest desire we know as parents... that our children live in love and harmony with one another. That we would be jealous of our children’s love for each other is simply perverse. Love in a community of perfect sociability is not competitive– it is mutually reinforcing. How could we have missed this lesson? To serve each other is to serve [God]... To succor the thirsty or feed the hungry is to succor Christ, to feed Christ. We may make distinctions, but God does not. We cannot contribute to the heavenly community, the Zion of perfect sociability, if our relationships with each other are fractured...” (Fiona and Terryl Givens, All Things New, Rethinking Sin, Salvation, and Everything in Between, Faith Matters Publishing, 2020, 143-144)
“In Enoch’s vision, heaven shocks by its familiarity. God it would appear, is first and foremost a relational Being, and the heaven toward which we aspire consists of loving relationships that are eternal... When God created man and women, he brought them together. That a man should cling to his wife and she to him, on the way to becoming “one flesh,” was a pattern and order He established... It was... a sacramental union established in paradise, and anticipated no end. Marriage is a heavenly order, modeled on a divine template– a relationship that may be sealed on earth, in order to be “bound in heaven.” “Divine families encircled by the fire and light are the very essence of life and eternal life; without them this earth– indeed this cosmos– will have missed the measure of its creation.” [Truman Madsen quote]
“We pass through birth and death as individuals. But the years in between are filled with the unceasing search for community, for companionship, for intimacy... Affection, friendship, romance, and charity [storge, philia, eros, and agape, Greek words encompassing our English word love]... dominate our social existence, revealing our lives to be an ongoing, comprehensive effort to find and secure relationships and connections on every conceivable level.
“Relationships are the core of our existence because they are the core of God’s, and we are in His image. God’s nature and life are the simple extension of that which is most elemental, and more worthwhile, about our life here on earth...” (Terryl Givens, The God Who Weeps, 106-109)
And the highest, most significant ordinances of the restored Church, temple sealings, bind together loving families, husbands and wives, parents and children, across the generations, for the eternities.
Speaking more broadly, elements of family connection help define our entire religious commitment. In our church, why do we call each other Brother or Sister? Because we by baptism have each become new creatures or Covenant Children of Jesus Christ. As King Benjamin states,
“And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters.” (Mosiah 5:7)
Therefore, we have entered by adoption into the family of Christ. He is our covenant or spiritual father, and we have acquired a multitude of spiritual brothers and sisters. Our relationships with these covenantal siblings should model and follow after the best of our nuclear or biological family connections.
Our scriptures also suggest an even broader church, and, by implication, family connection. Beyond our institutional church, there may exist a larger holy invisible church of God, in the wilderness. “Holy men [and women] that ye know not of"(D&C 49:8), persons that might fit under a broadly defined “Church of the Lamb of God” (1 Nephi 14:10), who are kept from the fulness of God’s truth, only because “they know not where to find it” (D&C 123:12).
President Dallin Oaks has suggested that this broader church encompasses those who believe in God and seek to serve Him according to their best understanding. (“Witnesses of God”, devotional address, Brigham Young University–Idaho on February 25, 2014.) And President Russell M. Nelson has urged us to “expand our circle of love to embrace the whole human family.” (Russell M. Nelson, “Blessed Are the Peacemakers,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2002)
According to a recent Deseret magazine article, Don Bradley was a religious historian and scholar, who had been raised in the Church but who somehow lost his faith at about age 29 but recently regained it. He left the Church for a time but has now returned in full faith. As he describes his return, there were four progressive steps and insights that were stages in his reconversion:
1. An awareness of how infinitesimal were the odds that the earth and life upon it could have existed by chance, and God’s existence was the most convincing explanation.
2. At the time of the death of a dear relative, reconnecting to Christ as the source of a universal resurrection.
3. Recognizing Joseph Smith as a sincere seeker after truth and a magnanimous soul.
4. Experiencing that forgiveness, love, and fellowship are basic in the Lord’s Church.
In Latter-day Saint theology and usage, the term “God” may refer to more than one heavenly being.
1. Heavenly Father, God the Creator
He a single being, sometimes called by the name Elohim in a Latter-day Saint context (although that name may not be personal but a description of His status– it is a plural noun meaning Gods, or possibly God of Gods, or Head of the Gods, majesty, or supreme or mighty one). This name is used to reference God over 2,000 times in the Torah (first five books of the Old Testament). He is the father of our spirits, and the earthly father of Jesus Christ.
He is to be the recipient of our prayers, as instructed by Jesus Christ.
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. (Matthew 6:6)
And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.
And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven...
(Luke 11:1-2)
2. Jesus Christ, God the Son, God the Redeemer
Jehovah is a name Latter-days Saints apply to the premortal Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the God of Israel. Most Biblical scholars believe this name (also transliterated as Yehowah) to be a hybrid form that first appeared in the Middle Ages. It was derived by combining the Hebrew consonants (YHVH, later rendered in the Latin alphabet as JHVH) with the vowels of Adonai (The Lord). The latter was the name the ancient Hebrews used to avoid the too frequent use of the more sacred name for their God. In the Hebrew Bible, the personal name of God, YHVH or Yahweh, appears over 6,800 times, but in the King James the name Jehovah appears only 7 times.
3. God the Holy Ghost, God the Testator
4. The Godhead
This group of three beings constitute a Heavenly Presidency or “Board of Directors” made up of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Sometimes the Godhead as a body is described by the singular term “God”, and sometimes each individual is described themselves as God, as above. In the scriptures, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost also often speak for and in the name of the Father, so it is not always readily apparent in the scriptures which member of the Godhead is speaking.
We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost. (Article of Faith 1)
And now, behold, my beloved brethren, this is the way; and there is none other way nor name given under heaven whereby man can be saved in the kingdom of God. And now, behold, this is the doctrine of Christ, and the only and true doctrine of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, which is one God, without end. Amen. (2 Nephi 31:21)
Which Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are one God, infinite and eternal, without end. (D&C 20:28)
And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.
The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit. Were it not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us. (D&C 130:21-22)
...the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost are one; and I am in the Father, and the Father in me, and the Father and I are one.
And thus will the Father bear record of me, and the Holy Ghost will bear record unto him of the Father and me; for the Father, and I, and the Holy Ghost are one. (3 Nephi 11:27, 36)
5. The Parental Partnership of Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother
This is demonstrated by these creation scriptures:
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness...:
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. (Genesis 1:26-27)
...And this was the book of the generations of Adam, saying: In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;
In the image of his own body, male and female, created he them, and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created and became living souls in the land upon the footstool of God. (P. of G. P., Moses 6:8-9)
6. An exalted, post-mortal being with eternal family relationships (usually we do not capitalize the “g”)
They are they who are the church of the Firstborn.
They are they into whose hands the Father has given all things—
They are they who are priests and kings, who have received of his fulness, and of his glory;
And are priests of the Most High, after the order of Melchizedek, which was after the order of Enoch, which was after the corder of the Only Begotten Son.
Wherefore, as it is written, they are gods, even the sons of God—
Wherefore, all things are theirs, whether life or death, or things present, or things to come, all are theirs and they are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.
And they shall overcome all things. (D&C 76:54-60)
And again, verily I say unto you, if a man marry a wife by my word, which is my law, and by the new and everlasting covenant, and it is sealed unto them by the Holy Spirit of promise, by him who is anointed, unto whom I have appointed this power and the keys of this priesthood; and it shall be said unto them—Ye shall come forth in the first resurrection...and shall inherit thrones, kingdoms, principalities, and powers, dominions, all heights and depths... and they shall pass by the angels, and the gods, which are set there, to their exaltation and glory in all things, as hath been sealed upon their heads, which glory shall be a fulness and a continuation of the seeds forever and ever.
Then shall they be gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting, because they continue; then shall they be above all, because all things are subject unto them. Then shall they be gods, because they have all power, and the angels are subject unto them. (D&C 132:19-20)
Dear Bishop and others:
Here is a little informal report about the ward temple night on Wednesday this week. There were 9 ward members in attendance, from four families, Sister Lewis and I, the Stamms, the Tanner Petersons, and the Seelys plus Richard. The session went well and we felt a nice sense of love and fellowship in this little group. Someone saw the Fultons in the temple doing Initiatories at this same time, but reported that they said they had forgotten the ward event and were there doing their own thing.
A total of 72 persons were in attendance at the scheduled 6:40 pm session, so we counted 20 empty seats. The Seely’s had forgotten to get appointments until the night before, and when they logged on to the scheduling program there were still 5 listed vacancies, and they took three of these seats. We understand that the on-line scheduling program cuts off appointments at about 85, so we are guessing that there were about 10 “no-shows” for the session whose seats might have been filled at that very time. The Fultons probably could have attended the session if they had asked permission when they arrived. That might have been the case for others from the ward who might have made a last minute choice to attend. Certainly, if ward members had made appointments when the temple night was first announced, perhaps 40 or 50 persons or more from our ward could have reserved spots and enjoyed the session together.
Wendy and I made our appointments about 5 weeks ago on the same day that we first learned that the ward had scheduled this activity. At that time most all of the seats were yet unreserved.
It was a little surprising to consider who was not represented at the session. There were no members of the Bishopric (or wives). As far as we know, none of the attendees were members of our Ward Council (or spouses). There were no members of the Elders Presidency (or wives). There was one member of the Relief Society Presidency, Sister Peterson. I was the only member of the ward Temple and Family History Committee present.
In the ward Temple and Family History Committee we have applauded the choice to schedule a ward temple night and have proposed that this be done quarterly or more often. It is concerning that apparently the word of the scheduled temple night did not get out to ward members sufficient to take action. Do we need to find more ways to publicize ward sponsored events? Or do we need more reminders? We also wonder why this event was not better supported by those in leadership callings? What else might have held persons back? Do families need help with child care? Transportation? Understanding how to use the on-line temple appointment program?
Temple participation is a great blessing that we all need. [e-mail from about Sept 2022]
When Dalles Jenkins, the producer of the movie series “The Chosen,” was asked about the Church, he made an interesting and insightful response. Jenkins is an intense and committed Evangelical Christian, but had been dealing with our Church as he used our Goshen, Utah Jerusalem sets for some of his movies. Acknowledging that many of the Latter-day Saints he had become acquainted with in this endeavor were true Christians and in the face of some criticism from some of his fellow Evangelicals, he stated that their Church was, compared to other churches, “the most controversial, but the least confrontational.”
In similar fashion, I was reminded of the response of our Church to the recent negative and deceptive Broadway musical “The Book of Mormon.” Rather than argue over the falsehoods, the Church put out a press release that said, “Read the real Book of Mormon.”
Most controversial– This probably says more about our Evangelical critics that it does about our church. Perhaps Jenkins had to say this to fend off criticism he has received for working cooperatively with the Church to film some recent episodes of The Chosen.
Least confrontational– Perhaps this indicates the high level of security in their faith possessed by members of the Church he has worked with on this project.
I love the ideas about family in a small set of verses in the Book of Isaiah:
“And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
“And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in." (Isaiah 58:11-12)
In our Lewis family, we often recite what we call our Lewis Family Creed: “We seek successive generations of grandparents, parents and children who are grounded in the Gospel of Christ and sealed in his holy temple.” Here is the original Lewis Family Creed in its full form: “Raise up the foundation of many generations. We seek successive generations of grandparents, parents, and children who are grounded, rooted, settled, and established (Ephesians 3:16-19) in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and sealed in His Holy Temple.”
To “raise up the foundations of many generations”, have the faith and courage to marry and build a family. Find your Rebecca or your Isaac (Julie Beck CES talk, Aug. 4, 2009), who is your eternal marriage and family partner. Try your best to establish and possess a family culture which emphasizes Godly qualities such as compassion, appreciation, and forgiveness (Elder Bragg 2017 Conference talk) and in which people thrive and are motivated to be their best.
Sometimes people wander away from the way of God. If needed in your generation, be an Abraham or Sarah and seek again, for your own family, “the blessings of the fathers” and your “appointment unto the priesthood.” (Abraham 1:2,4)
Sometimes families fracture or sever relationships. Be a “repairer of the breach” in your family and establish and maintain caring, supportive relationships with all.
In some families, bad choices are learned and repeated in successive generations. Be a “restorer of paths to dwell in” by erasing toxic practices or attitudes in your family line in your generation.
I have come to believe that there are two components or levels that exist in the relationship we have as individuals with our Heavenly Father and our standing with Him. I see this as analogous to growing a garden.
First, in a garden one must prepare the soil including pulling or removing weeds that may encroach upon the garden space. In a characterlogical sense, pulling weeds might be called repentance. The initial process for our coming to God is to arrive at a belief in him and his commandments, recognize those areas in which we fall short, make needed changes (repentance), and be baptized. This step entitles us to membership in His Church, to the forgiveness for the sins we have committed, and to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost will then confirm the remission of our sins and bless us in a great many other ways, including support for all the steps in our progress toward God.
We will never outgrow the need to continue to pull weeds (repent) as we make mistakes or as we deepen our understanding of Heavenly Father’s commandments. And as we do this, the companionship of the Holy Ghost will continue with us and testify of our continuing standing with God as being in a state of grace or forgiveness.
This initial step on the strait and narrow path is foundational for all other kinds of spiritual growth. It is described by the prophet Alma in the Book of Mormon as planting the seed of faith (Alma 32:28) and confirming that this was a “good seed” (Alma 32:30-32). But that is just a successful beginning. According to Alma, there is a second process that the gardener must undertake to reap the fruit of this initial planting. Otherwise, “if you neglect the tree and take no thought for its nourishment, behold it will not get any root, and when the heat of the sun cometh and scorcheth it... it withers away and ye pluck it up and cast it out.” (Alma 32:38)
So, there exists a second process that is required so as create “a tree springing up unto everlasting life,” in order for us to reap and feast upon the fruit of our spiritual gardening.
“But if ye will nourish the word, yea, nourish the tree as it beginneth to grow, by your faith with great diligence, and with patience, looking forward to the fruit thereof, it shall take root; and behold it shall be a tree springing up unto everlasting life.
“And because of your diligence and your faith and your patience with the word in nourishing it, that it may take root in you, behold, by and by ye shall pluck the fruit thereof, which is most precious, which is sweet above all that is sweet, and which is white above all that is white, yea, and pure above all that is pure; and ye shall feast upon this fruit even until ye are filled, that ye hunger not, neither shall ye thirst.” (Alma 32:41-42)
This is the process of full salvation (or better stated, exaltation), the progressive development available to each of us to become “a just and holy being,” as Joseph Smith taught in the Lectures on Faith. It is learning how to become “partakers in the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4), and to acquire the very characteristics of Christ, “but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.” (1 John 3:2-3, also see Moroni 7:48)
There is often a difference in the way that these two processes are expressed. The first might be thought of as represented by the Ten Commandments, the majority of which are presented as “Thou Shalt Nots,” while the second is generally stated more positively as “Thou Shalts”, succinctly defined by Christ as the Great Commandment, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart...[and] thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matt 22:37-39). This difference is suggestive of the Mosaic law as opposed to the higher law of Christ and also of the distinction between the Aaronic priesthood or preparatory gospel and that which is administered by the Melchizedek priesthood:
“And this greater priesthood administereth the gospel and holdeth the key of the mysteries of the kingdom, even the key of the knowledge of God.
“Therefore, in the ordinances thereof, the power of godliness is manifest.
“And without the ordinances thereof, and the authority of the priesthood, the power of godliness is not manifest unto men in the flesh;
“For without this no man can see the face of God, even the Father, and live.” (D&C 84:19-22)
Regarding the second process, there are specific laws and principles which allow us to master and incorporate into our very being the essential characteristics that encompass the two broad Thou Shalts of the Great Commandment. These detailed instructions are found in the principles or laws, ordinances and covenants of our temple endowment. President Ezra Taft Benson has taught, “The celestial kingdom, residence of God, our Eternal Father, is comprised of men and women who have complied with divine law... They are just men [and women] made perfect through the mediation and atonement of Jesus Christ... They are obedient to celestial law... Celestial laws, embodied in certain ordinances belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ, are complied with by voluntary covenants. The laws are spiritual. Thus, our Father in Heaven has ordained certain holy sanctuaries, called temples, in which these laws may be fully explained, the laws include the law of obedience and sacrifice, the law of the gospel, the law of chastity, and the law of consecration.” (Ezra Taft Benson, A Vision and Hope for the Youth of Zion, April 12, 1977 BYU address)
So, the progressive mastery of these highest celestial laws, aided by the Spirit and supported by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, constitute the second component of our progress toward a divine destiny. In our quest for spiritual development and progress, we must both pull the weeds that sprout and grow in our personal garden and we must also plant and nourish our tree of eternal life.
I have concluded that our temple endowment is very important and is designed by our leaders under inspiration to provide the necessary and sufficient tools, understanding, and most importantly, the spiritual growth required to become Christ-like and live ultimately in celestial glory. Along with temple sealings, these Melchizedek Priesthood ordinances manifest and are enabling to us to access the power of godliness (D & C 84:19-21). The high celestial laws associated with covenants of the endowment ceremony are the very attributes of Christ that will allow us to live eternally with him.
These temple ordinances have been a regular part of the spiritual offering of the restored Church since its early history and been administered to thousand, perhaps millions, of living persons and also for many more individuals who have died. There is a question one might ask about prophets ancient and more modern as to how they themselves participated in and perhaps acquired the understanding to administer these ordinances which we understand to be essential. This especially might be asked in regard to prophets who were heads or instigators of new dispensations or who lived as many of the Old Testament prophets did in a time when the Aaronic Priesthood administered the Church, making the Melchizedek Priesthood ordinances and instruction to not be routinely available though the currently existing Church structure. Most of the ideas that follow come from a presentation by Stephen Smoot in a 2021 Interpreter Foundation conference on the Book of Moses.
1. The Divine Council, Heavenly Ascension, and other prophetic Revelatory Experiences
Ancient Israelites believed that God resided in heaven, surrounded by his heavenly council, a variety of heavenly beings, sons of god (Psalms 89:7, Job 38:7), gods (Psalms 58:1, 82:1, 97:7, 138:1), the stars (38:7), members of the council of God (Job 15:8), members of the assembly of holy ones (Psalms 89:5-6, Job 5:1), and angels.
The divine council in ancient Israel could admit mortal prophets with whom were shared heavenly secrets (Amos 3:7) and with whom God consulted regarding earthly affairs or commissions to carry out the will of the council (Gen. 1:26, I Kings 22:19-23, Job 1-2, 15:8, Psalms 82, Isaiah 6:1-8). In becoming members of God’s council, Old Testament prophets become in effect angels (messengers). Several prophets experienced divine theophanies or “heavenly ascension” experiences that introduced them into the divine council: Micaiah (1 Kings 22), Isaiah (Isaiah 6), Zechariah (Zechariah 1,3), Daniel (Daniel 7-8), Jeremiah (Jeremiah 23:16-22).
Some of the “heavenly ascensions” of these prophets occurred on or from “exceedingly high mountains” (for example, see Moses 1:1, 1 Nephi 11). Also see the Mount of Transfiguration experience of the former-day First Presidency Peter, James, and John (Matthew 17). The scriptures identify other intense but parallel experiences of ancient prophets , Abraham (several occasions Abraham 1, 3, 4), Jacob (being shown the heavenly ladder/staircase/covenant path, Genesis 28), Lehi (1 Nephi 1), Nephi (1 Nephi 11-14). Recognize that it was not unusual for prophets to not provide all the details of their revelatory experiences (see for example 1 Nephi 14:25-30), so many details and specifics of the experiences may have been withheld.
The prophet Joseph Smith referenced such a divine council in his King Follett discourse, “The head God brought forth the Gods in grand council... The grand counsellors sat in yonder heavens, and contemplated the creation of worlds that were created at that time.” There are references to such a council in each of our standard works, although we might believe that the purposes and membership of the council might differ from the ancient Israelite view, in that at the large pre-mortal council just prior to the start of our earth we all participated and sustained the Father’s plan for mortal life.
2. The Divine Council and Heavenly Ascensions in relation to the temple
The Divine Council and prophetic Heavenly Ascension experiences were both symbolically linked to the temple in ancient temple rituals. These tended to portray a figurative journey into the presence of God. Elder Bruce R. Mcconkie’s Temple doctrine of “Three Pillars of Eternity”:
1) Understanding the Creation of this world
2) Understanding the Fall, and the challenges, purposes, and blessings of mortal life.
3) Accessing the Atonement of Christ, including instruction and covenants to lead us in the process of mastering the specific celestial laws or principles that will enable us to grow to be like Christ and achieve exaltation and eternal life.
John Welsh and other scholars have suggested that there are also scriptural passages that specifically cover these three Pillars of Eternity. They have called the passages “Temple Texts”.
Specific examples are 1) the Book of Moses in the Pearl of Great Price, 2) Christ’s sermon at the Temple in 3 Nephi 12-14, and 3) King Benjamin’s sermon at the temple recorded in Mosiah 2-5.
Brother Smoot suggests that these prophetic Divine Council or Heavenly Ascension experiences might include or serve as an ancient counterpart to the our current temple endowment and described them using the term “proto-endowment”, “Proto”, meaning original, earliest or foremost model.
3. Was the First Vision a proto-endowment for Joseph Smith in some sense?
Note that in the 1835 account of Joseph’s First Vision, when he received his prophetic call, he described seeing many angels in addition to the Father and the Son.
It seems reasonable that Joseph would have received the Three Pillars instruction and preparation.
If we turn our attention to the present religious world, what do we see? men holding communion with God, and receiving revelations from God, verily nay! the heavens to them have become brass, and God's mouth is closed; nay worse; the idea of revelation is scouted by them, and those who would believe in it are branded as impostors; and they virtually cut themselves off from all communication with, or from, God, and can know nothing of or about God, "but what they know naturally, as brute beasts," as saith the apostle. What sort of a spectacle does the Christian church present at the present? Torn, and split up, divided, and disjointed by the fiery zeal of religious bigots, and hypocritical partizans [partisans], it presents a picture of ruin and desolation; like a forest torn by a mighty tempest, or uprooted by a furious whirlwind, that once stood in grandeur and majesty, and its beautiful foliage was admired by every observer; but now its withered leaves, its broken boughs, and shattered limbs, are the sad memorials of its overthrow and destruction. Or like some ancient palace that stood proudly aloof from other inferior buildings, magnificently adorned with all the beauty of ancient architecture; its towers, and columns, and statuary, and beauty, was the pride of princes, and its strength and fortresses bid defiance to the hand of the desolator; but the revolution of ages have despoiled the noble edifice; the corroding hand of time has destroyed its beauty, and all that is left of its former magnificence is here and there a few broken fragments, that very imperfectly shew [show] to the enquiring [inquiring] traveler the ruins of its former splendour [splendor], and ancient glory. So stood the church, once indeed beautiful, pure and intelligent;-clothed with the power and spirit of God; endowed with the gift of the Holy Ghost; possessed of prophets, apostles, pastors, teachers, helps, governments, tongues, interpretations, gifts, visions, and the ministering of angels; having the heavens opened, the purposes of God unfolded, the future destiny of man made known, and "life and immortality brought to light." Basking in the beams of eternal truth, and holding communications with God and angels, it stood proudly erect, in the strength of Israel's God; it was sustained by the mighty hand of Jehovah, and was indeed "fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners;" but ah! alas! a change has come over the dream; the flower has been nipt [nipped] in the bud; its glory has departed; the deadly influence of heresy has penetrated to its very vitals. The withering power of priestcraft has disrobed it of its beauty; and disjointed by sectarian strife, and schismatic influence, it lays in broken fragments scattered, rent, and disjointed; with nothing to point out its original, but the shattered remnants of its ancient glory, on which are scarcely traceable any of the marks of its former magnificence, or original grandeur. And how can it be otherwise? when men are destitute of revelations from God, and absolutely deny the principle.
Times and Seasons MARCH 15, 1842 p.136
http://www.centerplace.org/history/ts/v4n09.htm
I find statistics about the growth of the Church interesting, especially comparisons between the time I was baptized and came to Utah for college with the present. There is amazing progress. Using statistics published 14 May 2022 in the Church News, in 1954-55 Church membership was well under 2 million, compared to the 2021 figure of 16.8 million. We have moved from 9 to 170 dedicated temples. In 1954 there were approximate 3,000 wards and branches, which has increased now to over 31,000 and the number of stakes has increased from just over 180 to about 3,500.
While we probably never will have in this dispensation the majority of people as members, except perhaps in Utah, Tonga, and Samoa, there has been huge progress in achieving Nephi’s Book of Mormon prediction: “And it came to pass that I beheld the church of the Lamb of God, and its numbers were few, because of the wickedness and abominations of the whore who sat upon many waters; nevertheless, I beheld that the church of the Lamb, who were the saints of God, were also upon all the face of the earth...” (1 Nephi 14:12).
