The Doctrine of Christ—2 Nephi 32:1-6

Revised on 4-30-2021: 

1 And now, behold, my beloved brethren, I suppose that ye ponder somewhat in your hearts concerning that which ye should do after ye have entered in by the way. But, behold, why do ye ponder these things in your hearts?

2 Nephi 32 is Nephi’s attempt to clarify some things he taught in chapter 31, and reading it fills me with so many thoughts and emotions that I considered not even making an attempt at a blogpost. I don’t know that I can do my feelings justice on this chapter, so I just want to give the reader fair warning that any of the next few posts that discuss chapter 32 will in no way be complete. It is highly likely that they will be revised from time to time as I find better ways to communicate more clearly the things in my mind and heart. 

In verse 1, Nephi says that he “supposes” something. He doesn’t know this thing for sure, but he has every reason to present it as a possibility. That something is the idea that his brethren “ponder somewhat in [their] hearts concerning that which [they] should do after [they] have entered in by the way.”

It is interesting to me that the Hebrew word for “way” is דרך (de•rech)—which is the same word for “path.” Nephi is talking to a specific group of people in this chapter. He is talking to those who have, through their sincere repentance and by God’s grace, undergone that mighty change of heart and who are in the strait and narrow path. If you have not yet received that change of heart, what he goes on to say will neither make sense to you nor help you. Even if you have, you might not get it. That’s why he provides clarification.

The reason why Nephi supposes what he does is because he knows that the transition from a proclivity towards physical things to a proclivity towards things of the spirit can be somewhat of a challenge.

Progress along the path can be stalled for several reasons. First and foremost, being reborn can be such an incredible and overwhelming experience, it will be easy to think that you are “saved” by experiencing that one event. You will be tempted to go no further. It has been my experience that being reborn opens up such a newness of possibility that it can be difficult and overwhelming to determine what to do at that point. It is also very easy to be distracted by physical things that interested you before your rebirth, to the point that little to no forward spiritual movement is made along the path. It is also difficult to break away from false traditions. You can also be misled. Nephi’s question at the end of verse one calls on us to evaluate why we might be experiencing any lack of progress on that path—an inherently difficult thing to do because we won’t necessarily know what progress on the path looks like.

It has been beyond helpful for me to remember what put me on the path in the first place. It was information—information that gave me reason to believe that any new actions based on that information would yield an outcome that brought my character closer to that of Christ.

2 Do ye not remember that I said unto you that after ye had received the Holy Ghost ye could speak with the tongue of angels? And now, how could ye speak with the tongue of angels save it were by the Holy Ghost?

Remember that a person initially arrives at the state in which he can receive the Holy Ghost by fully and honestly submitting to God and by being cleansed and forgiven of their sins, “relying wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save.” (2 Nephi 31:19) Consequently, a person can only continue to enjoy the gift of the Holy Ghost by maintaining that state. This state of perfection can only be maintained by our reconciliation to any new information the Lord may impart to us. It is in this state that we are able to “speak with the tongue of angels” and we are able to have greater and greater amounts of information given to us. Nephi asks us, specifically, to remember that there is an association here—the reception (and retention) of the Holy Ghost invariably leads to speaking with the tongue of angels. For anyone who truly has the gift of the Holy Ghost, speaking with the tongue of angels should be commonplace.

So, do you speak with the tongue of angels? And if you don’t, can you claim to have received the Holy Ghost? And if you can’t, have you actually had a baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost? If you haven’t, you can “in nowise inherit the kingdom of God.” (Mosiah 27:26) Remember, “nowise” means “to any degree.“

Harsh, but true.

At this point, it will be helpful to understand what it means to “speak with the tongue of angels.” I believe that Nephi gives us some clues as to what that means back in chapter 31:

For my soul delighteth in plainness; for after this manner doth the Lord God work among the children of men. For the Lord God giveth light unto the understanding; for he speaketh unto men according to their language, unto their understanding. (2 Nephi 31:3)

“Plainness” is the manner after which the Lord works among the children of men. This is so critical. The Lord gives “light unto the understanding.” He speaks unto men “unto their understanding.”

This is what he does. This is what his angels do. They communicate knowledge and information plainly to people to bring them to the point of increased understanding about God and what is required to be more like him.

Some people believe that speaking with the tongue of angels is accompanied by an actual spoken language that is different from any used here in this world. Personally, I haven’t experienced that, and I don’t feel inclined to take a strong position against the claim on its own, but I will say that if you are babbling some foreign language without a noticeable, accompanying increase in the knowledge of God, in you or others around you, odds are you aren’t speaking in tongues. You are just babbling.

God doesn’t save us by causing us to babble. He doesn’t even save us by granting us the ability to speak foreign languages. He saves us by teaching us what it takes to become more like him, and we can only become more like him as we reconcile ourselves to the information he gives us. You speak with the tongue of angels when you understand this information in plainness. You don’t have to do mental gymnastics to try to figure out what God is trying to teach you. The mysteries of God are made plain to you.

People can only speak with the tongue of angels when they have demonstrated a willingness to open their ears and understand what God is trying (and will try) to communicate to them. It is that willingness that opens the channel to receive a greater understanding through the Holy Ghost. That is why angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost and why you can only speak with the tongue of angels after you have received the Holy Ghost. 

3 Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.

New information will come through messengers. Angels are messengers, and they speak by the power of the Holy Ghost. There are actually messages from God all around you. The “Holy Ghost” has power to make that new information accessible to you and to enable you to comprehend it. An angel can take many forms. A message might be delivered through a writer of scripture from ages long ago. It might be delivered by someone who plays a major role in your life or someone you meet in passing. A message can be communicated to you through your surroundings. It might be delivered by an actual angel or by the Lord himself. Whatever form the messenger takes, the information is communicated “by the power of the Holy Ghost.”

I feel strongly the need to very quickly address the fact that the mainstream LDS concept of the “Holy Ghost” is incorrect. I’m not to make a case for that in detail in this post. I will likely do that in another one. I will say that one can gain a greater and more correct understanding of the Holy Ghost by pondering on what is imparted to the individual when he/she receives the Holy Ghost, as well as temple symbolism in the names, signs, and tokens received in the endowment and figure 7 of facsimile #2 from the book of Abraham.

Going back to verse 3, let’s quickly define the word “wherefore.” It isn’t a word we frequently use nowadays, but it’s used twice in verse 3, so we might want to know what it means. “Wherefore” means “for which reason.” In common modern English, one might say, “that’s why.” Let’s break verse 3 down into parts and substitute “wherefore” with its definition:

Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; [that’s why] they speak the words of Christ.

The mechanism used to convey the words of Christ to us is the Holy Ghost. One role of the Holy Ghost is to communicate truth to us. The words of Christ are truth. The information we receive from and about Christ—the information that we must gain and reconcile ourselves to in order for us to move forward along the strait and narrow path—is truth and is the natural consequence of the Holy Ghost and its power.

[That’s why] I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.

Nephi is saying: “Hey, you know when I told you to feast upon the words of Christ back in chapter 31? I said that because that is what you should be receiving if you actually have the Holy Ghost. You should be receiving the words of Christ (or truth) as delivered to you by angels through the power of the Holy Ghost. And if you are feasting upon the words of Christ in this way, the words of Christ will tell you what you need to do to move forward on the path.”

At this point, I need to take issue, once again, with mainstream LDS belief and practice. I believe that there’s a reason why Nephi dedicates a whole chapter to clarifying the doctrine of Christ to people who should be making progress along the strait and narrow path, but aren’t.

The teachings of the church effectively sideline the Holy Ghost in the lives of its members. First, it is widely taught that members receive the gift of the Holy Ghost at confirmation. This leads members to assume that they have access to the Holy Ghost when they don’t. Second, members are taught that church leadership cannot lead the membership astray. This teaching is damning because it gives the membership no reason to verify what is being taught. It is cult mentality. Any message from God sent by any messenger should be transmitted by the power of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is something that dwells within the individual. It will authenticate any message from God by communicating additional knowledge about God to the individual, in plainness, and that knowledge will always be greater than what is already possessed because we should already be reconciled to the knowledge he has already given us. This information from God does not consist of shallow platitudes, or a repetition of institutional obligations prescribed by church leadership to its members, or a plethora of self-help quotes comparable to what you can find in books on the New York bestseller list—all of which, arguably, constitute most general conference addresses. Members are taught to look to church leadership when they should be being taught to entertain angels and other messengers by discerning who those messengers are and the truthfulness of their messages by the power of the Holy Ghost.

4 Wherefore, now after I have spoken these words, if ye cannot understand them it will be because ye ask not, neither do ye knock; wherefore, ye are not brought into the light, but must perish in the dark.

We are in the dark by default, and we need to be brought into the light. If we are not brought into the light, we perish because we are not asking for the light (or knowledge) that saves us. How can you reconcile yourself to what you do not know?

Verse 5 is a nice little snapshot of Nephi’s admonitions: 

5 For behold, again I say unto you that if ye will enter in by the way, and receive the Holy Ghost, it will show unto you all things what ye should do.

Describing this whole process and how it is perceived by the individual is extremely difficult to do. There is dimension to it and so describing it one way doesn’t do justice to all of the other ways in which it could be described, even if you are aware of each dimension. I certainly don’t feel like what I have written here does justice to what I have experienced. The best way to understand what Nephi is describing is to experience it yourself.

You can’t experience it for yourself if you think that you have been reborn when you actually haven’t. You can’t experience it for yourself if you assume that your rebirth is the end of your journey. It isn’t. Not by a long shot. You have to actively pursue more information. You have to learn how to sort that information into what is conveyed to you by the Holy Ghost and what isn’t. You have to act on what you think is conveyed to you by the Holy Ghost to test and to prove it, and sometimes you won’t want to. Even when you do, you have to learn how to evaluate whether or not your actions moved you closer toward an end that you are not even fully aware of. It is a harrowing journey and frequently causes many to fall by the wayside, and yet, for those who would lay hold to the word of God and walk this path, this is the process by which we are shown “all things what [we] should do.”

6 Behold, this is the doctrine of Christ...

The Doctrine of Christ—2 Nephi 31:17-21

Though the path is long and arduous, Nephi encourages us along: 

17 Wherefore, do the things which I have told you I have seen that your Lord and your Redeemer should do; for, for this cause have they been shown unto me, that ye might know the gate by which ye should enter. For the gate by which ye should enter is repentance and baptism by water; and then cometh a remission of your sins by fire and by the Holy Ghost.

18 And then are ye in this strait and narrow path which leads to eternal life; yea, ye have entered in by the gate; ye have done according to the commandments of the Father and the Son; and ye have received the Holy Ghost, which witnesses of the Father and the Son, unto the fulfilling of the promise which he hath made, that if ye entered in by the way ye should receive.

I love these two verses! I love Nephi’s plainness. If you didn’t get it before, he lays it out again. Repentance and baptism constitute a gate and then comes “a remission of sins by fire and by the Holy Ghost.” Remission is such a great word. Not only does it mean “forgiveness” or “pardon,” but it also means “abatement” or “diminution of intensity.” That is so accurate!

It is only after this that you are in the strait and narrow path. Did you catch that? You should not assume that you are on the strait and narrow path unless you have had a “remission of sins by fire and by the Holy Ghost.” You can’t be on that path without it. Continuing along that path requires you to obtain a portion of God’s spirit that fallen, carnal people do not have. You must be changed and obtain that portion of God’s spirit because, without it, God cannot give you the additional knowledge about him that moves you forward on that path.

Arguably, the most important reason why you need to have this change affected in you is because it serves as a witness.

The operations of the Spirit are unseen by our physical eyes, and it can be difficult to believe in things that are not physically tangible. The latter part of verse 18 is a good thing to hold in remembrance as you continue on the strait and narrow path:

...and ye have received the Holy Ghost, which witnesses of the Father and the Son, unto the fulfilling of the promise which he hath made, that if ye entered in by the way ye should receive.

God keeps his promises, and the fact that he does, first and foremost, proves his existence. If you doubted his existence before repentance, you will have no reason to after the outpouring of a measure of his spirit to you. That outpouring will give you the evidence of both his existence and his character that you will need as you encounter new information about him and about more and more unseen operations of the spirit.

I’m going to recommend a two-part series of blogposts here. Part 1 can be found here and part 2 can be found here. Those two posts are about the “covenant path” that is talked about so much in the church today. If you want a preview of those blogposts, run a scripture search on the term “covenant path.” Spoiler alert: you won’t find the term in scripture. It’s a catch phrase that has made its way into LDS jargon, and, in my opinion, it has negative effects on how members of the church view the path to eternal life.

19 And now, my beloved brethren, after ye have gotten into this strait and narrow path, I would ask if all is done? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for ye have not come thus far save it were by the word of Christ with unshaken faith in him, relying wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save.

20 Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.

Once you know that you are in the strait and narrow path (and not before), you must walk that path. It is not an easy endeavor. There is a reason why Nephi says that you must “press forward.” You will have to lean into the new things that you encounter, but that should neither be a surprise nor a deterrent from continuing along the strait and narrow path. “Steadfastness in Christ” means that you retain in your spirit that same image of submission that caused you to repent after initially learning about Christ. You maintain your willingness to be completely reconciled to any new information that God may give you. The same willingness that moved you to reconcile yourself to his word in the first place is what propels you along the strait and narrow path as he sends you new information. Your rebirth—the gift of the Holy Ghost to you—is what enables you to have “a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men.” Knowing that he has kept his promise to you will give you the hope that he will continue to keep his promises to you, and the manifestation of his love to you will fill your heart with love for him in return. You will understand that his love for you is extended to all who will come unto him, and you will have a greater desire to share that love with others—becoming like Christ in the process.

The latter half of verse 20 sums it up quite nicely: we “press forward,” meaning we continue in our state of submission to God; “feasting upon the word of Christ,” meaning we anxiously seek out and incorporate new information from and about Christ; “and endure to the end,” meaning we do this until we reach the “end”—a topic for a separate blogpost. This process leads to eternal life. The Father promises us this. It is the only process that leads to eternal life. It is how we fully take upon us the name of Christ and we cannot be saved in the kingdom of God without it.

21 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.

The Doctrine of Christ—2 Nephi 31:14-16

So, you’ve had that mighty change and now you’re good, right? Nope, that mighty change is just the beginning of a journey, and it is a journey that should be taken very seriously: 

14 But, behold, my beloved brethren, thus came the voice of the Son unto me, saying: After ye have repented of your sins, and witnessed unto the Father that ye are willing to keep my commandments, by the baptism of water, and have received the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost, and can speak with a new tongue, yea, even with the tongue of angels, and after this should deny me, it would have been better for you that ye had not known me.

Once again, I am going to recommend another blogpost, but here I will say that the long journey we embark upon will afford us new information about God. We will get to know him better, and discipleship will require us to emulate him as our knowledge of him increases. When we are given more knowledge, we are accountable for our reconciliation to that knowledge or our lack of reconciliation. While this is no small matter, it shouldn’t scare us. Continued submission to the knowledge that we receive is “enduring to the end,” and it is the only way to be saved:

15 And I heard a voice from the Father, saying: Yea, the words of my Beloved are true and faithful. He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.

16 And now, my beloved brethren, I know by this that unless a man shall endure to the end, in following the example of the Son of the living God, he cannot be saved.

Salvation demands that we do more than just profess a belief in Christ. It demands more than our adoration of him. Did Christ only profess to believe in the Father or did he actually do his will? How can we say that we are following Christ if we are not as willing to do the will of Father as he is? Christ showed us the way to obtain salvation. It is to follow his example—to submit to and do the will of the Father in all things to the end. 

The Doctrine of Christ—2 Nephi 31:13

Before we proceed, I want to go back to verse 10 of chapter 31.

And he said unto the children of men: Follow thou me. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, can we follow Jesus save we shall be willing to keep the commandments of the Father?

The Lord commands us to follow him, and Nephi’s question at the end of verse ten is so relevant! How do we actually “follow Jesus?” Well, we need to get our heads out of the physical realm and into the things of the spirit. You are more than the sum total of your physical body’s parts. The actuating part of you is spirit. Consequently, it isn’t enough to immerse your physical body in water to follow Jesus. The outward ordinance isn’t what saves you. That LDS children’s song that says, “I know when I am baptized my wrongs are washed away?” Umm...nope. By itself, water baptism does nothing but get you wet. Baptism must be accompanied by the same condition of heart that Christ had or we cannot honestly say that we are following him. Repentance requires all of our actions be done with the same condition of heart as Christ’s. Our spirit needs to be in the image of his spirit.

So let’s take a closer look at what that image looks like:

13 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I know that if ye shall follow the Son, with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent, repenting of your sins, witnessing unto the Father that ye are willing to take upon you the name of Christ, by baptism—yea, by following your Lord and your Savior down into the water, according to his word, behold, then shall ye receive the Holy Ghost; yea, then cometh the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost; and then can ye speak with the tongue of angels, and shout praises unto the Holy One of Israel.

For extra credit on this one verse, I am going to recommend this blog post. There is so much being communicated in verse 13, but I’ll try to make my commentary here as brief as possible. Nephi is trying to explain to us what being “baptized in the name of the Son” looks like. He is trying to describe the condition our hearts should be in, in order for us to honestly say that we are following our Savior. It is only when we meet the same conditions Christ met that we experience the same result—the Holy Ghost. 

I do want to spend a little bit of time in the latter part of verse 13 because it is my opinion that this is one place where mainstream LDS belief deviates the most from what we find in scripture regarding the doctrine of Christ.

It has been my experience that most members of the LDS church think that the gift of the Holy Ghost is conferred upon a person at the time of confirmation following one’s baptism—that confirmation makes the Holy Ghost accessible to you. This is not the case. Not necessarily, anyway. And because every member of the church goes through the ordinance of confirmation, members of the church assume that they, and all other members, have access to this gift, to at least some degree, based on their righteousness at any given time.

You will notice that nowhere does Nephi mention or discuss anything resembling the LDS ordinance of confirmation when he talks about receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. He does, however, mention a “baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost,” and we can draw upon modern LDS temple symbolism to help us understand this better.

The baptism of fire occurs when you are forgiven of your sins. It is a cleansing process that is analogous to the “washing” that happens in the initiatory portion of endowment. You are pronounced clean, every whit, by heaven, and this is a necessary prerequisite for what follows.

The baptism of the Holy Ghost happens when a portion of God’s spirit is imparted to you. It is analogous to the “anointing” that happens in the initiatory portion of endowment ceremony. This cannot come to you without you first being cleansed of your past sins because God’s spirit will not dwell in unholy temples. It enables you to receive progressively greater measures of glory, truth, light, and knowledge.

The “baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost” changes a person  “...from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters; And thus they become new creatures; and unless they do this, they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God.” (Mosiah 27:25-26) This change is called by other names in scripture: being reborn, being born of God, having a mighty change of heart. Whatever it is called, you “can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God” without it. “Nowise” means “to any degree,” and so an extremely important question to ask is “have I been born of God?”

Hallmarks of this change are found sprinkled throughout scripture: a change in your disposition where you no longer desire to do evil, but to do good continually; an increased understanding of Jesus Christ and his gospel; a physical sensation of the flesh being “consumed”; freedom from the guilt of past sins. Two hallmarks are named at the end of verse 13: the ability to speak with the tongue of angels and the ability to shout praises to the Holy One of Israel.

The source of these hallmarks will feel external to the individual. That is because, while submission is up to the individual, this change is not. I hope that this is clear. If you have had this happen to you, it will be. A person who has had this change doesn’t have to try to convince himself that he has been forgiven of his past sins. He also doesn’t have to wonder if his disposition has been changed. The internal change is so dramatic that the individual can easily recognize that it was not something he had any part of. It is truly a gift given by the Father.

The Doctrine of Christ—2 Nephi 31:1-12

As a follow-up to my last post, I would like to share some of what I understand about the doctrine of Christ. There is a lot that I feel to share. I’m likely to forget some of it. When I remember things, I will edit this series of posts on the doctrine of Christ. They will be a work in progress, so you might want to revisit them from time to time.

Chapters 31 and 32 of 2 Nephi are two of my most favorite chapters in all of scripture. Nephi’s writings in these two chapters are simply priceless. Imagine, for just a moment, being in Nephi’s place: you are older and approaching death; you are fully aware of the future of your posterity (and it’s not good); you have spent a good portion of your life creating and engraving metal plates to pass down a record of your history to what will be a mostly ungrateful posterity who will reject what is written on them; you are running out of both space on those plates and time here on earth; and you want to write what will be of most worth to whomever may read and take to heart what you choose to write in what little space remains.

1 And now I, Nephi, make an end of my prophesying unto you, my beloved brethren. And I cannot write but a few things, which I know must surely come to pass; neither can I write but a few of the words of my brother Jacob.

2 Wherefore, the things which I have written sufficeth me, save it be a few words which I must speak concerning the doctrine of Christ; wherefore, I shall speak unto you plainly, according to the plainness of my prophesying.

With the beginning of this chapter, Nephi’s prophesying in the previous chapters (his expounding of Isaiah) comes to a close, as do the few included writings of his brother, Jacob. Could Nephi have continued prophesying? Undoubtedly, but he doesn’t. A finite world requires an end to things. With the remaining space, he “must speak concerning the doctrine of Christ.” Why “must” he? Must be important. Not only that, but he says that he is going to speak “plainly, according to the plainness of my prophesying.” What does he mean by this?

Isaiah’s writings are filled with prophecies that not only applied to ancient Israel, but that also apply to our day. They are not easy to understand because Isaiah’s imagery only makes sense to those who are either familiar with Israelite culture and thought or who have the spirit of prophecy (see 2 Nephi 26:1-9).

The doctrine of Christ is similar. It is couched in much of ancient scripture and ritual. However, because we are not well-versed in ancient culture or symbolism, we have a difficult time seeing it. Nephi knows this, and, because he knows how fundamental the doctrine of Christ is, he lays it out for us in plainness. 

Knowing that he takes the time to lay the doctrine of Christ out in plainness on the last few plates that he has at the end of his life should tell us something about how Nephi feels about this important subject. I cannot emphasize enough how important the doctrine of Christ is. It is Gospel 101. It is the basis for a life of Christ-centered discipleship. You, literally, cannot be a disciple of Christ without it. The doctrine of Christ is a topic so simple that its application can be understood by little children, and so rich and full of potentiality that, when fully, intentionally, and continuously implemented, it invariably leads to eternal life.

3 For my soul delighteth in plainness; for after this manner doth the Lord God work among the children of men. For the Lord God giveth light unto the understanding; for he speaketh unto men according to their language, unto their understanding.

I love this scripture! It’s like this little vignette in the chapter that gives us some insights into the Lord’s heart and into the heart of his servants. “The Lord God giveth light unto the understanding.” So do his servants. And they delight in it—in spite of what it costs them to impart that understanding to others.

4 Wherefore, I would that ye should remember that I have spoken unto you concerning that prophet which the Lord showed unto me, that should baptize the Lamb of God, which should take away the sins of the world.

And, here we go. Nephi reminds us of his account of Christ’s baptism (see 1 Nephi 11:27). It is an important thing to recall. There are many who debate the “necessity” of baptism. They would do well to note that an account of Christ’s baptism is made in each of the four gospels, in addition to Nephi’s account in the Book of Mormon. Five witnesses right there. Why?

5 And now, if the Lamb of God, he being holy, should have need to be baptized by water, to fulfil all righteousness, O then, how much more need have we, being unholy, to be baptized, yea, even by water!

6 And now, I would ask of you, my beloved brethren, wherein the Lamb of God did fulfil all righteousness in being baptized by water?

7 Know ye not that he was holy? But notwithstanding he being holy, he showeth unto the children of men that, according to the flesh he humbleth himself before the Father, and witnesseth unto the Father that he would be obedient unto him in keeping his commandments.

I’m not actually going to go into these verses in detail in this post. You can find details in another blogpost that I wrote about this here. In short, we are commanded to be baptized. Baptism is a commandment that is specific and set apart to demonstrate our willingness to be obedient to all of God’s other commandments. Christ was baptized as a witness of his willingness to obey all of the Father’s commandments and our baptism should witness the same. For Christ, what did that level of willingness yield? Nothing less than complete obedience to the Father. Our level of willingness should yield the same in order for us to honestly claim that we follow him.

8 Wherefore, after he was baptized with water the Holy Ghost descended upon him in the form of a dove.

An observable sign was given to testify of the Holy Ghost’s descending upon Christ as a result of his obedience to the specific command of being baptized.

9 And again, it showeth unto the children of men the straitness of the path, and the narrowness of the gate, by which they should enter, he having set the example before them.

10 And he said unto the children of men: Follow thou me. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, can we follow Jesus save we shall be willing to keep the commandments of the Father?

Here we are introduced to concepts of a path and a gate. It is unwavering obedience that makes the path strait. Baptism is a narrow gate because it is a clearly prescribed command that we are to obey in order to witness our willingness to obey all of God’s other clearly prescribed commands.

11 And the Father said: Repent ye, repent ye, and be baptized in the name of my Beloved Son.

12 And also, the voice of the Son came unto me, saying: He that is baptized in my name, to him will the Father give the Holy Ghost, like unto me; wherefore, follow me, and do the things which ye have seen me do.

These verses are fascinating to me for several reasons, but here we have Nephi recounting the Father’s command for us to be baptized in the name of his Son and the Son’s promise to us that, when we are baptized in his name, the Father will give us the Holy Ghost just as he did to Christ. The sign of the dove mentioned in verse 8 served as a witness to others that the gift of the Holy Ghost is, indeed, the consequence of full submission to God. When we become fully submissive, and with the gift of the Holy Ghost, Christ can lead us to do all the things that he does.

Faith, repentance, baptism by immersion, gift of the Holy Ghost, enduring to the end—these are, indeed, the first principles and ordinances of the gospel. We exercise faith in Christ when we hear, believe, and act upon the information that Christ has something to offer us that is better than what we have now. Repentance is a fruit of faith in Christ. It is submission to him and a complete turning away from that which does not improve us in Christ. Repentance leads to baptism by immersion in the name of Christ.  The reception of the Holy Ghost—the promised blessing of true repentance and of initially conforming the image of our spirit to the image of Christ’s spirit—prepares a person to truly follow Jesus and to do the things that he does.

Time To Cut to the Chase

I want to begin this post by first saying that it may come across as, well, a lot of things, actually—judgmental, critical, over-sensitive, condescending. I’ve found that people are really good at assigning motivations to me when I say things they don’t want to hear.  But that’s ok. It doesn’t change the fact that what I am saying is based on my understanding of truth and on my love for God and all people.

I also want to say that, while God has been helping me gain an unconditional love for all people, I have a special place in my heart for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I was raised in that church and I understand its teachings. I have also made a serious study of LDS scripture, and I believe much of what comes from it, but I see places where teachings from LDS church leadership do not align well with LDS scripture. Most members of the church tend to not see this as a problem, but, for me, it is a big one. Perhaps, for some, it is enough to take the teachings of the church and live by them and call that “integrity” while being completely ignorant of (or completely at-odds with) what we find in scripture. To me, that’s unwise. God obviously allows men to corrupt his teachings and make the claim that those teachings are still from God. Even scripture can be misinterpreted or misunderstood, as can revelation. The fact is that every avenue that we have to learn more about God can be counterfeited or corrupted. Discovering truth is a difficult process, so it makes me incomprehensibly sad when I hear things passed on from the church’s leaders to its membership that make it more difficult for members to discover and live the amazing gospel that the Lord has given to us. So many will believe what they are told without honestly investigating it, and that is, quite literally, a crying shame.

It’s Stake Conference this weekend where I live. The Saturday evening session was broadcast in a couple of different formats to members of the stake and I tuned in to listen. I don’t think that it’s a coincidence that the majority of the meeting was focused on membership retention. Contrary to the “all is well, so stay in the good ship Zion” message that the church is always trying to publicly put forth, there is a lot of evidence to indicate that the church is hemorrhaging when it comes to membership—especially “valiant” membership. I actually commend church leaders for finally coming out and addressing this, though I will say that you won’t be able to fix the problem until you accurately pinpoint the cause.

What a terribly sad thing it was to listen to one of the leaders tell the membership that it was their fault that others were leaving the church—that it was their lack of compassion for those “sitting on the fence” that was resulting in people walking away from the church. He didn’t make this claim that obvious, and perhaps he wasn’t completely wrong in assigning some blame to the members in that regard, but leadership would do better to ask further questions. If there is a lack of compassion in members, why is that the case and how do you fix it? Is it enough to tell the members that they aren’t doing enough or is there a level of culpability that lies with the leaders themselves? Furthermore, is it the compassion of “stalwart” members (and that, alone) that should be expected to keep the less-stalwart people in the church? Shouldn’t the doctrine itself and the fruits that are supposed to be found in it be enough to keep people on the strait and narrow path? The gospel is supposed to produce people like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and too many others to name here who, at various times of their lives, did not enjoy the compassion of others, yet their dedication to God did not waver.

What if the actual cause for the decrease in church membership is something so fundamentally and radically different from what you might think that you will have to rethink your positions on a great many things? Are you able to withstand new ideas no matter how jarring they might be, or would you take offense to them and see them as micro-aggressions?

In my opinion, the main reason why people are leaving the church is the one reason that was conveniently overlooked in the evening session of Stake Conference last night—the fact that the church and its leadership err in doctrine.

That’s going to tip over a few sacred cows for people, I’m sure, but it is what it is, and, frankly, it’s time to stop skirting around issues and cut to the chase. While members might be guilty of complacency and blind obedience, leaders are arguably just as guilty of pride and dereliction of duty.

Members are leaving the church because the church, as an institution, doesn’t correctly teach the doctrine of Christ and because the membership doesn’t study their scriptures enough to know better. I feel great sorrow for the members of the church. I know what it is like to trust your leaders based only on the supposed promise that they will never lead you astray, but let’s be honest, people—leaders can lead you astray. 

As I think back at what was presented last night, I was probably incorrect in saying that the speaker overlooked the main reason why people are leaving the church. He did worse than that. He actually made the assumption that the church does not err in doctrine and presented that as a given, effectively pre-empting any claim that church teachings might be incorrect.

This. Is. A. Big. Deal.

He went to chapter 31 of 2 Nephi—one of the best chapters on the doctrine of Christ to be found in scripture—and then basically gutted most of the chapter that talks about the doctrine of Christ. He jumped to the scriptures that are addressed to people who have applied the doctrine of Christ and who have entered into the strait and narrow path. Those scriptures do encourage those people to “press forward” steadfastly, but that’s only because they are on the path to begin with. Anyone who presses forward on an alternate path is going to encounter disinterest, doubt, suffering, sorrow, weariness, depression, anxiety, and a whole bunch of other negative consequences, and that is exactly what we are seeing in the church today. Unfortunately, both leaders and members alike refuse to make this connection and, as long as they do, they will get the same results they have been getting all along—more and more.

True conversion is difficult enough to obtain even when the doctrine of Christ is being taught in its fullness, but it absolutely cannot happen outside of the doctrine of Christ, and it is a matter of critical importance to make sure that that doctrine is being taught and applied correctly. It will take a lot of humility on the part of church leadership to admit that they aren’t teaching correct doctrine, and it will take critical thinking and honesty on the part of membership to find out that they haven’t applied it. I sincerely hope that they will, but if they, like the Jews, fail to realize that what they believe and practice as a church deviates from what the Lord attempted to give to us, even when the evidence is right before them, they can only look forward to the same fate. And it is my love for members of the church that motivates me to warn them of that.

In the next several posts, I hope to present my understanding of the doctrine of Christ.