Plain Teachings

If given the choice between advanced, complex spiritual teachings, and simple, plain spiritual teachings, we would be wise to choose the simple, plain teachings. Teachings that help us know where to go and what to do and that almost anyone could understand. Jacob shares this principle in Jacob 4:13

Wherefore, because of their ^eblindness, which ^fblindness came by looking beyond the ^gmark, they must needs fall; for God hath taken away his plainness from them, and delivered unto them many things which they ^hcannot understand, because they desired it.

When we seek for complex things we apparently can get lost in points that aren't critical. I have certainly seen that in some people. Focusing on timing of certain church events or leaders' positions, geographical evidence of the Book of Mormon, or other speculation often doesn't lead anywhere productive when the key questions are how to follow the Savior and help other people. It appears that the Jews often wondered how they would be dominant and have a Savior that would redeem them politically. This missed the mark in that the Savior was principally someone who would redeem them spiritually as that is what's most important. Jacob's teachings in this chapter focus on that:

11 Wherefore, beloved brethren, be ^areconciled unto him through the ^batonement of Christ, his ^cOnly Begotten Son, and ye may obtain a ^dresurrection, according to the ^epower of the resurrection which is in Christ, and be presented as the ^ffirst-fruits of Christ unto God, having faith, and obtained a good hope of glory in him before he manifesteth himself in the flesh.

12 And now, beloved, marvel not that I tell you these things; for why not ^aspeak of the atonement of Christ, and attain to a perfect knowledge of him, as to attain to the knowledge of a resurrection and the world to come?

Holy Ghost Guides

We should really depend on this promise in 2 Nephi 32:

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

It's important to realize that great knowledge can be given in plain words. Christ is the Savior of the world is a very plain statement, but there's a lot of meaning there.

7 And now I, Nephi, cannot say more; the Spirit stoppeth mine utterance, and I am left to mourn because of the ^aunbelief, and the wickedness, and the ignorance, and the ^bstiffneckedness of men; for they will ^cnot search ^dknowledge, nor understand great knowledge, when it is given unto them in ^eplainness, even as plain as word can be.

Christ came to show us the way. This verse in 2 Nephi 31 helps us know that his example is the one to follow and that came in part to show us how to live:

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

Iniquity in the world: people will be woken up to this through Book of Mormon

The time we live in is a day with great iniquity. Interestingly, it is the scriptures that will help people become better, leave iniquity, and become better. Also, those that fight against the righteous in Zion will not be successful despite their best efforts.

1 But, behold, in the ^alast days, or in the days of the Gentiles—yea, behold all the nations of the Gentiles and also the Jews, both those who shall come upon this land and those who shall be upon other lands, yea, even upon all the lands of the earth, behold, they will be^bdrunken with iniquity and all manner of abominations—

2 And when that day shall come they shall be ^avisited of the Lord of Hosts, with thunder and with earthquake, and with a great noise, and with storm, and with tempest, and with the ^bflame of devouring fire.

3 And all the ^anations that ^bfight against Zion, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision; yea, it shall be unto them, even as unto a hungry man which dreameth, and behold he eateth but he awaketh and his soul is empty; or like unto a thirsty man which dreameth, and behold he drinketh but he awaketh and behold he is faint, and his soul hath appetite; yea, even so shall the multitude of all the nations be that fight against Mount Zion.

4 For behold, all ye that doeth iniquity, stay yourselves and wonder, for ye shall cry out, and cry; yea, ye shall be ^adrunken but not with wine, ye shall stagger but not with strong drink.

Notice that the words of a book written by those who already died will be a witness of God's work and will help those who are iniquitous change their ways.

6 And it shall come to pass that the Lord God shall bring forth unto ^ayou the words of a ^bbook, and they shall be the words of them which have slumbered.

14 Wherefore, the Lord God will proceed to bring forth the words of the book; and in the mouth of as many witnesses as seemeth him good will he establish his word; and wo be unto him that^arejecteth the word of God!

The book and the prophets who represent the Book and the Church are witnesses of God and his work. Also, the book helps people pass through sin and temptation without partaking (Helaman 3:29-30)

29 Yea, we see that whosoever will may lay hold upon the ^awordof God, which is ^bquick and powerful, which shall ^cdivide asunder all the cunning and the snares and the wiles of the devil, and lead the man of Christ in a strait and ^dnarrow course across that everlasting ^egulf of misery which is prepared to engulf the wicked—

30 And land their souls, yea, their immortal souls, at the ^arighthand of God in the kingdom of heaven, to sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and with Jacob, and with all our holy fathers, to go no more out.

This book is a great gift to overcome iniquity and proof of God's work in our day. His words are proof of his work.

Chances for learning; helping all get a good education

This is a little off-topic, but it has some of my recent thoughts on the importance of helping other people learn. My best friend in my grade in high school came from a family in which his parents hadn't graduated from high school, but with the guidance of my mom, he ended up graduating college. His younger sister is getting a Masters at Stanford and his brother in high school has gone to college summer camps and will do great. Here's some thoughts on helping others learn:

Interestingly, in my life now, I'm actually the person that came from the poor family without a lot of understanding of how to get into the best schools in the country. We were at the top of the heap in Sunnyside, but compared to the people I've worked with who went to middle schools that cost $20K+ per year, we had very little in terms of the "best education." Interestingly, those I was with in the Accounting program at BYU usually went to better schools than me and were from richer families than me, and then after that in work people are from better schools than the BYU kids and richer families than the BYU kids. It's a lot easier to end up in the "best" jobs, schools, programs, etc., when you have more guidance. Better schools are better in 2 ways: 1) better teaching 2) better mentorship. I thik #2 is actually more important than #1 in my opinion and harder to get. I've ended up being incredibly blessed and been able to get to the best of jobs, but in many people's opinion, the difference between Angel's family and mine would not be as great as the difference between mine and the families of many of my professional colleagues. (I do not mean this disrespectfully to my parents in any way. They were perfect. I'm talking about perception.)

Helaman 4 talks about a great destruction that came upon the Nephites 60 years before Christ came. This destruction happened for interesting reasons:

11 Now this great loss of the Nephites, and the great slaughter which was among them, ^awould not have happened had it not been for their ^bwickedness and their abomination which was among them; yea, and it was among those also who professed to belong to the church of God.

12 And it was because of the ^apride of their hearts, because of their exceeding ^briches, yea, it was because of their oppression to the ^cpoor, withholding their food from the hungry, withholding their clothing from the naked, and smiting their humble brethren upon the cheek, making a ^dmock of that which was sacred, denying the spirit of prophecy and of revelation, murdering, plundering, lying, stealing, committing adultery, rising up in great contentions, and deserting away into the land of Nephi, among the Lamanites—

Notice that pride led to the destruction, and that it was because of riches and that they withheld things from those who were poorer than themselves. It is our duty to not withhold the gospel and to not withhold our money, and to not withhold educational opportunities from those who want it.

3 Nephi 6 talks about a similar pattern. Just before Christ came, the people once again had great divisions. Read why:

10 But it came to pass in the *twenty and ninth year there began to be some disputings among the people; and somewere lifted up unto pride and ^aboastingsbecause of their exceedingly great riches, yea, even unto great persecutions;

11 For there were many ^amerchants in the land, and also many ^blawyers, and many officers.

12 And the people began to be distinguished by ranks, according to their ^ariches and their chances for learning; yea, some were ^bignorant because of their poverty, and others did receive great ^clearning because of their riches.

13 Some were lifted up in pride, and others were exceedingly humble; some did return railing for railing, while others would receive railing and ^apersecutionand all manner of ^bafflictions, and would not turn and ^crevile again, but were humble and penitent before God.

Notice that pride and riches often go together. Riches are also often accompanied by chances for learning. The entire reason we started the perpetual education fund is to try to level the playing field internationally for those who don't have chances for learning due to a lack of riches. It's just as critical that we try to help those who have limited chances for learning (spiritual or temporal) due to a lack of riches or a lack of mentorship. In Angel's and Juana's case, we had the same level of teaching; the difference between me and them is that I had better mentors (my family and others in the church/community that I knew). It's important to help as much as possible with both, but certainly to give as many people as possible chances for learning so that some are notignorant only because of their poverty. The Lord is very clear on this matter.

Alma 31 is a warning to members to not seclude themselves. Notice that the rich people in one community (so the relatively rich compared to those that were around them) worshipped together. Additionally, they focused on the fact that they were not like their Brethren who weren't as blessed of God as them or as wise as them; their Brethren (the church members) didn't believe the correct things according to them. Here's some key verses:

15 Holy, holy God; we believe that thou art God, and we believe that thou art holy, and that thou wast a ^aspirit, and that thou art a spirit, and that thou wilt be a spirit forever.

16 Holy God, we believe that thou hast separated us from our brethren; and we do not believe in the tradition of our brethren, which was handed down to them by the childishness of their fathers; but we believe that thou hast ^aelected us to be thy ^bholychildren; and also thou hast made it known unto us that ^cthereshall be ^dno Christ.

17 But thou art the same yesterday, today, and forever; and thou hast ^aelected us that we shall be saved, whilst all around us are elected to be cast by thy wrath down to hell; for the which holiness, O God, we thank thee; and we also thank thee that thou hast elected us, that we may not be led away after the foolish traditions of our brethren, which doth ^bbind them down to a belief of Christ, which doth lead their hearts to wander far from thee, our God.

18 And again we thank thee, O God, that we are a chosen and a holy people. Amen.

Critical that we do not separate ourselves from our brethren and that we do not focus too much on being a chosen people but on being an inviting people. We struggle as a church sometimes not inviting others to be with us.