Strait, Straight Up

What seems like an eternity ago, I wrote a series of blogposts on the topic of “the strait and narrow path.” If you haven’t read those, I suggest you do. I won’t re-visit them here. This blog will just share some follow-up thoughts.

First, the Lord wasn’t kidding or mistaken when he used the word “strait,” and not “straight.” It’s like driving around the Ozarks. Sometimes, a road is cut straight through one of the hills. Other times, the best road is built up over the hills, down in the valleys, or around a body of water. There are so many constraints, in both us and the world around us, and God knows how to navigate them perfectly. Not only does he facilitate safe passage through this world we live in, he also knows where the best overlooks and vantage points are—where everything around you is exactly what you need in that moment to teach you more about him, if you will let it.

Which brings me to my second point. I want to just briefly state how stupid the whole concept of “saved by grace” is. Is grace a thing in the gospel? Absolutely! Not going to say it’s not. Without grace, what a wretched state we would all be in! But this notion that works are not as necessary as grace is just inane! God doesn’t drag you along the path while you shout praises to him! He calls you to walk the path, and he makes you capable of doing just that because he has done it and has shown us the way. Those who have truly partaken of God’s grace perform works that are commanded by him. They don’t have reason to boast because they know that, without his guidance, direction, and example, they would still be floundering in this world instead of improving and becoming like him, which is the whole point of this life. God is good not only because of who he is, but also because of what he does (which is, actually, an extension of who he is, but I think it’s nice to tease those apart to make it more easily recognizable). He improves things, and his greatest miracle is to take us, who start as individuals unlike him, and to change our perspectives about reality such that they become like his and we become like him in all things. If you have ever tried to permanently improve the perspectives of another human being in a fundamental way, you know how difficult and painful that endeavor is, you know how great a miracle it is when you are successful, and you know how good God is for all that he does and for how long he does it. People are saved through a combination of grace and works, both of which we could neither experience nor comprehend were He not the source of both.

And that’s probably a good segue into the last part of this post. In the past, I have been accused of boasting of myself, and anyone who truly knows me knows that this is something I could never do with the understanding I have about God and my relationship to him. In fact, God showed me in a dream once how, without him, I was just a worm (an interesting topic for study, btw). Of all the things he has taught me, that was one of the easiest things for me to believe, and so I will end with a few of Ammon’s words from the book of Alma:

Yea, I know that I am nothing⁠; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things⁠; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever. (Alma 26:12)

A Prophet Like Unto Moses—An Unplanned Part II

I wasn’t planning on making this a series, but recent experiences in my life have spurred me to say a few more words about Joseph Smith and about servants of God, in general.

One of the things a servant of God can pretty much count on is to be misunderstood by others. To the degree that he/she is like God, anyone less like God will misunderstand his/her thoughts, feelings, and actions. This implies a continuum on which every individual can be found, and because most human beings do not like to see themselves in a negative light, they will typically and incorrectly assume that anyone different than the way they are is less like God than they are. They will assume and believe the worst things about an individual before they even take a moment to honestly investigate the possibility of the other individual’s greater likeness to God.

Living in the Bible Belt, I have had the very sad experience of seeing many people reject the Book of Mormon out of hand. With that comes the rejection of Joseph Smith as a prophet of God and all the slander and defamation of his character that accompanies that rejection.

Even sadder has been the observation of people who once claimed (or still claim) to believe in the Book of Mormon and who also defame the character of Joseph Smith to justify their unbelief in any or all of his other teachings. Quite a travesty.

Servants of God are sent by God to help us aim better—to teach us more of reality and of God’s character so that we may become more like Him. Joseph Smith is not an exception.

What prompted my last blogpost was a realization of just how critical some of Joseph Smith’s teachings are to understanding parts of the Law of Moses. The feasts and sacrifices, in particular, are designed to teach us about aspects of reality, and there are things that Joseph Smith taught that are preliminary and foundational to understanding things that were given to the Israelites through Moses, such as the Day of Atonement and the sacrifice of the Red Heifer.

Mark my words. In the future, people will be surprised by the correct meaning of these things because they will have refused to believe other, more foundational, ideas based solely on the fact that Joseph Smith taught them.

Sprinkling, indeed.

A Prophet Like Unto Moses

As Passover approached this year, much of my study time was spent in the Old Testament. Specifically, it was spent in the Torah, and even more specifically, it was spent pondering certain verses about a few of the sacrifices in the law of Moses.

Perhaps because of that, this blogpost feels very appropriate right now.

I have mentioned in other posts that I spent a number of consecutive years teaching a Gospel Doctrine Sunday School class. Through that calling, and not unlike every other thing He has made a part of my life, God taught me many things.

One of the things He taught me came as a consequence of the order of the yearly curriculum. I started teaching in 2012 when the Book of Mormon was the subject matter, then went through the Doctrine and Covenants, Old Testament/Pearl of Great Price, and New Testament, and rounded out my years as teacher by revisiting the Book of Mormon, in its entirety, and the Doctrine and Covenants, in part, before I was released.

It was while I was teaching Old Testament that I could not help but notice similarities between the ministries and experiences of Joseph Smith and Moses. Having recently taught the Doctrine and Covenants, I didn’t even really have to look for them. They were both conspicuous and striking, and in detail, they went beyond those foretold by Joseph of Egypt through Lehi in 2 Nephi, chapter 3. The following list of similarities is not exhaustive.

Both began their ministries with significant theophanies. Moses had his “burning bush” experience, Joseph his first vision.

Both were called at a time when the minds of the people had been darkened and brought into captivity by ideas not in line with the everlasting gospel. Though they remembered, in a very superficial way, the promises of deliverance made to them through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Israel had 400 years to adopt the false beliefs, practices, and culture of the Egyptians. Likewise, Christian sects held to an idea of salvation through Jesus Christ, while falling prey to concepts, creeds, and philosophies that corrupted the idea of the nature of God and his gospel. 

Both attempted to bring a people into God’s presence. Both failed to do that. Instead, Moses was increasingly called to “speak unto the children of Israel,” just as there were increasing “revelation[s] given through Joseph Smith the Prophet to…” individuals and groups of people.

Both were relegated to encoding gospel principles and ordinances into routines and rituals deemed important by the people they were trying to teach. In Moses’ day, those included animal sacrifice, and in Joseph’s day those included Masonry—neither one having any power to save, apart from the understanding both men were trying so desperately to teach in the first place.

Both men knew the people weren’t getting it, and both interceded for them. 

Both groups of people they taught slowly drifted away from seeing the need to obtain a knowledge of God and, instead, institutionalized religious practices and ceremony, in whose participation the people could presuppose a knowledge of God that they didn’t actually have.

Teaching the Old Testament immediately after teaching the Doctrine and Covenants opened my eyes to the ways in which Joseph Smith was “a prophet like unto Moses,” and it helped me see just how much the people who claim to descend from Joseph’s restoration of the gospel are really just Israel 2.0.

Both men have been instrumental in helping me better understand God, His purposes, and my place in God’s plan. When I consider the set of things that I could not have understood, experienced, or endured without first comprehending other sets of things that were revealed to me because of their efforts, I am left to marvel in the best of ways and to praise God for his goodness and mercy in making their influence and teachings accessible to me, in spite of the distance in time and space that would have otherwise so easily separated us.

Isaiah 32

1 Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment.

2 And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.

3 And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken.

4 The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly.

5 The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful.

6 For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the Lord, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.

7 The instruments also of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right.

8 But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand.

9 Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless daughters; give ear unto my speech.

10 Many days and years shall ye be troubled, ye careless women: for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come.

11 Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones: strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins.

12 They shall lament for the teats, for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.

13 Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city:

14 Because the palaces shall be forsaken; the multitude of the city shall be left; the forts and towers shall be for dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks;

15 Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest.

16 Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field.

17 And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.

18 And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places;

19 When it shall hail, coming down on the forest; and the city shall be low in a low place.

20 Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass. (Isaiah 32)

“It Must Needs Be” — A Short Commentary on 2 Nephi 11-12

The phrase “it must needs be” occurs 35 times in LDS scripture. It is an interesting phrase. If you only take a quick glance at the definitions for “must” and “needs,” you might think that someone is just repeating himself by using it:

MUST, v.i.

1.  To be obliged; to be necessitated. It expresses both physical and moral necessity.

2.  It expresses moral fitness or propriety, as necessary or essential to the character or end proposed.

NEEDS, adv.  Necessarily; indispensably; generally used with must. 

I’m going to highlight the first definition for “must” and dig up the definition for “necessitated,” too:

NECESSITATED, pp.  Made necessary, indispensable or unavoidable.

 

“It must needs be” is a very emphatic phrase. It basically says that something is necessarily and indispensably made necessary and indispensable. (Just typing that makes me laugh. ☺️)

In other words, there are conditions that exist that make a certain course of action unavoidable, and using a verb form and an adverb with related meanings drives home the point. What conditions and what course of action are necessitated, and why? Well, that depends a great deal upon the desired outcome. Notice the second definition for the word, “must.”

2.  It expresses moral fitness or propriety, as necessary or essential to the character or end proposed.

If there is a good outcome desired, the conditions of any given situation are going to necessitate a certain course of action that is morally fit towards that outcome.

For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. (Moses 1:39)

This is the outcome God desires for us. In it, he finds his greatest joy, because in it we find our greatest joy, and everything He does is done to further that purpose.

More than one Christian has asked the question, “Why did God put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden?”—the implication being that God is somehow less than omniscient or somehow doing less than everything He can for the benefit of man, knowing that Adam and Eve would eventually partake of the fruit of the very tree that he put there and commanded them not to partake.

What they don’t realize is that immortality and eternal life are outcomes. They are the result of choices that lead to them. They have opposites, and that is an inescapable fact of reality. Learning how to recognize those opposites—to see them for what they really are—and to choose the better part is the primary purpose of this life. God does this and desires for us to do the same, but that cannot happen if He withholds from us opportunities to make the best choices while being enticed by any and all choices that are less than what is best.

11 For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my firstborn in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility.

12 Wherefore, it must needs have been created for a thing of naught; wherefore there would have been no purpose in the end of its creation. Wherefore, this thing must needs destroy the wisdom of God and his eternal purposes, and also the power, and the mercy, and the justice of God. (2 Nephi 2)

There is a lot more to this, and that is one of the reasons why 2 Nephi 2 is so good. However, a short commentary on these two verses will have to suffice for now.

Every person who has ever lived on this earth, save Jesus Christ, has made some choice that led to death. And yet, in order for us to become righteous, it required us to be given the opportunity to choose a course of action that is righteous, as opposed to one that is not. Without opposition, “there would have been no purpose in the end of…creation.” God ever makes it possible for us to overcome all things. How? —By placing before us the things that currently overcome us because we see them incorrectly and by persuading us to change how we see them, to the point where we overcome them instead. 

Isaiah 61

1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.

4 And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.

5 And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.

6 But ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.

7 For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them.

8 For I the Lord love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.

9 And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed.

10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.

11 For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. (Isaiah 61) 

Psalm 30

A Psalm and Song at the dedication of the house of David.

1 I will extol thee, O Lord; for thou hast lifted me up, and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me.

2 O Lord my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me.

3 O Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.

4 Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.

5 For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

6 And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.

7 Lord, by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong: thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled.

8 I cried to thee, O Lord; and unto the Lord I made supplication.

9 What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?

10 Hear, O Lord, and have mercy upon me: Lord, be thou my helper.

11 Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;

12 To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever. (Psalm 30)

The Faithfulness of Pahoran

One of my favorite scripture stories is the story of Captain Moroni and Pahoran in the book of Alma. It comprises chapters 60-62, and I don’t remember how old I was when I first read it, but I was pretty young, and I remember being thoroughly moved to tears.

The many “war” chapters in the book of Alma provide a necessary backdrop for the exchange of epistles between these two men. The chapters inform us of the significance, duration, and intensity of the war in which they are engaged and of the struggles they, and others, experience in waging that war. Word of a short-lived victory led by Helaman prompts Captain Moroni to pen his first epistle to Pahoran in chapter 59, wherein he requests aid to be sent to Helaman, in order that the gains made by Helaman might not be regained by the Lamanites. When Pahoran fails to send that aid, Captain Moroni is “angry with the government, because of their indifference concerning the freedom of their country.” (Alma 59:13)

Moroni is prompted to write a second epistle to Pahoran, which I will not quote here, but if you would like to read it, you can find it in chapter 60. When I was young, I thought it quite sad how Moroni assumed the worst in Pahoran, but now I see Moroni as a realist and an honest person. He understood human nature, and he didn’t have time to play nice with anyone who might be fighting against righteousness and facilitating the death of so many and the collapse of his society.

However, when reading the Book of Mormon straight through, the reader has no idea, at that point, why Pahoran failed to send aid to Helaman and his armies. While Moroni’s suppositions are not extreme, they are just that—suppositions, and to his credit, Moroni addresses Pahoran directly and demands a direct response from him in return.

In that response (found in chapter 61), we discover that Pahoran has had battles of his own to fight, so much so that his ability to send aid to Helaman has been effectively eliminated. He is certainly not traitorous. He is not even in a “thoughtless state” with regard to the Nephite nation and his obligations to it. He is doing his best to navigate the flood of opposition crashing in on him. Moreover, in what could be seen as the greatest evidence of his dedication to their shared purpose, Pahoran takes no offense to Moroni’s epistle:

And now, in your epistle you have censured me, but it mattereth not; I am not angry, but do rejoice in the greatness of your heart. (Alma 61:9)

Whatever misunderstandings existed between the two as a consequence of the distance between them had no effect on Pahoran. He could have replied in anger. In fact, Moroni’s letter could have been the thing that made him throw in the towel on the whole situation, but truth displaces offense, as it should. The shared purpose expressed in Pahoran’s response gives Moroni reason to believe that there is something to work with, instead of against.

And now it came to pass that when Moroni had received this epistle his heart did take courage, and was filled with exceedingly great joy because of the faithfulness of Pahoran, that he was not also a traitor to the freedom and cause of his country. (Alma 62:1)

There are many good things to learn and apply from this story. Maybe a series is warranted. 🤔

We’ll see.

 

 

 

 

Psalm 103

1 Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.

2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:

3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;

4 Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;

5 Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

6 The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed.

7 He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel.

8 The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.

9 He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever.

10 He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

11 For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.

12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

13 Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.

14 For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.

15 As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.

16 For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.

17 But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children;

18 To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.

19 The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.

20 Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.

21 Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts; ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure.

22 Bless the Lord, all his works in all places of his dominion: bless the Lord, O my soul. (Psalm 103)