Retaining a Remission of your Sins

King Benjamin lets us know how to retain a remission of sins. He gives a great checklist of what's important in order for this to happen.

First some broad points:

6 I say unto you, if ye have come to a knowledge of the goodness of God, and his matchless power, and his wisdom, and his patience, and his long-suffering towards the children of men; and also, the atonement which has been prepared from the foundation of the world, that thereby salvation might come to him that should put his trust in the Lord, and should be diligent in keeping his commandments, and continue in the faith even unto the end of his life, I mean the life of the mortal body—

7 I say, that this is the man who receiveth salvation, through the atonement which was prepared from the foundation of the world for all mankind, which ever were since the fall of Adam, or who are, or who ever shall be, even unto the end of the world.

The Atonement was prepared from the time the Earth's foundation was started. It comes to those who put their trust in the Lord, are diligent in keeping the commandments and continue in the faith. What does it look like to do these 3 things? He gives guidance in the rest of the chapter.

8 And this is the means whereby salvation cometh. And there is none other salvation save this which hath been spoken of; neither are there any conditions whereby man can be saved except the conditions which I have told you.

1) Believe in God

2) repent of your sins and forsake them

3) humble yourselves before God

4) ask in sincerity of heart that he would forgive you

5) always retain in remembrance

a) greatness of God

b) humble yourselves

c) calling on the name of the Lord daily

d) standing steadfastly in the faith of that which is to come (Christ coming)

6) live peaceably

7) teach them (children) to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another

8) ye yourselves will succor those that stand in need of your succor; ye will administer of your substance unto him that standeth in need; and ye will not suffer that the beggar putteth up his petition to you in vain, and turn him out to perish

9) should impart of your substance to the poor, every man according to that which he hath, such as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and administering to their relief, both spiritually and temporally, according to their wants

But also a piece of wisdom regarding being overly exuberant in accomplishing these things:

27 And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order.

Also, a guide about watching yourself, not just depending on a list of "do's and don'ts".

29 And finally, I cannot tell you all the things whereby ye may commit sin; for there are divers ways and means, even so many that I cannot number them.

30 But this much I can tell you, that if ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish. And now, O man, remember, and perish not.

Great chapter. I appreciate the guidance on how to retain the remission of sins granted through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ on all those that believe.

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?

How much love did Jesus have?

The defining characteristic of God and Jesus is love. That's most evident by Jesus' sacrifice and death for us. He became like us, felt our sorrows and pains, died for us that we might be allowed to resurrect, all because he loves us. That must be a lot of love.

Paul describes it this way in Romans 5:

7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.

8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet ^asinners, ^bChrist died for us.

Power of the Atonement - bringing us to God

I'm reading "The Infinite Atonement" right now, and Tad Callister makes an interesting observation about Alma's attitude towards entering God's presence. In Alma 36, Alma makes to different, opposite statements about wanting to be with God.

First -
14 Yea, and I had amurdered many of his children, or rather led them away unto destruction; yea, and in fine so great had been my iniquities, that the very thought of coming into the presence of my God did rack my soul with inexpressible horror.

15 Oh, thought I, that I acould be banished and become extinct both soul and body, that I might not be brought to stand in the presence of my God, to be judged of my bdeeds.

Then -
22 Yea, methought I saw, even as our father aLehi saw, God sitting upon his throne, surrounded with numberless concourses of angels, in the attitude of singing and bpraising their God; yea, and my soul did long to be there.

It's instructive to see that his desire to be with God changed very quickly, likely in a matter of hours or less as he came to accept and follow Jesus Christ. I am impressed by the power of the Atonement and its ability to cleanse the follower of the Savior. Also, I appreciate the Book of Mormon's clear evidence of this power. There is not a more clear story in the scriptures expressing the power of the Atonement in cleansing sins and bringing us to God.

Jesus' life - Foreshadowing the Atonement

In Matthew 8, Matthew applies a verse we usually use to show what Jesus did in the Atonement to the act of healing someone.

16¶When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with ^adevils: and he cast out the ^bspirits with hisword, and ^chealed all that were sick:

17That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, ^aHimself took our ^binfirmities, and bare our^csicknesses.

In this instance Matthew says Jesus healed people to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah from Isaiah 53. Jesus performed the Atonement to heal people, but it appears that he also showed during his life the things that the Atonement would help him perform for all people. Jesus can heal all of us, just as he healed those in this verse thanks to his Atonement. His life was in many ways a foreshadowing of all the things the Atonement would allow him to do for us, including provide us comfort, heal us, and bring us closer to God.

I love the new Testament which teaches us of Jesus.

Showing Strength in Tough Situations - Impacts Others Forever; Power of the Aaronic Priesthood

My mom spoke in Church this week in Sunnyside where I grew up. She told the story of a man who I didn't know, although I know his daughter who is now probably about 70. The man had one son and was a Sunday School teacher at church. One day he went sledding with his son and the son was killed. His sled crossed the road and a car hit him. Tragic.

The next day, one of his students was wondering what would happen at church. Would the Sunday School teacher be there? He was, but just with a "slightly sadder smile". That day he taught about the Atonement (Sacrifice, Suffering, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ) and what it meant to him. The girl never forgot that lesson.

Sometimes the difficult things in life give the opportunity to show others how much we believe the things that we say we believe. While we would never wish for such difficulty, it is nevertheless impactful when we push through with faith and courage. Eventually that faith and courage will be rewarded.

Mom also mentioned that they've been working with a family for over a year to get them back to church. The family is a good one but has had some trials, such as losing a baby (stillborn) a year ago. The kids have been very receptive, but the parents (especially mom) has not been interested. However, the church continued to show interest.

They came to church today, and the mom spoke with my dad (the current Bishop - local congregational leader). She said that even though many ward members have been over to invite them and help them, the one that really touched her was a few weeks ago the deacon's quorum presidency (12 and 13-year old young men; the presidents come from that age group, they aren't adults.) came by to check on her son and invite him to church. She was touched that such young boys cared about her son.

This story means a lot to me because my dad's family didn't go to church much when he was 14. They had just moved to Oregon and were working on their dairy a lot. As a result, they didn't go to church. However, the presidency of the teacher's quorum, other students attending his middle school, came and invited him to church. He has attended church faithfully since that time.

Power exists in Young Men who hold the priesthood and do their duty, exercising the keys they've been given.

Providing Hope - A key goal of the Savior's life and Atonement

My good friend Dale sent me the following email, and I was so impressed with the message I wanted to post it here. Sorry if you didn't want me to Dale. I'll remove this post if you'd like. He heard this idea in one of the talks at church:

One of the talks in
church was on the hope that is in Jesus Christ. It was really good.
The brother did a really good job of isolating different instances in
the life of the Savior in which he provided hope to people. One that
stuck out to me is in Luke 23 when Christ is hanging on the cross
between the two thieves, he turns to one and says "Verily I say unto
thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise." In that moment (a
moment of much doubt, worry, guilt, grief, etc) he gave that man peace
and hope. I've been thinking about why it is important to be a member
of our Church. More than that even, why do we not believe it is good
enough to live your own life [without a belief in the Savior]? There are a lot of people (some amongst my own
family) that think that living a good life is enough. And that is
great. For those who live high standards because they think it is the
right thing to do, I have a great respect. But what hope does that
bring them? Only through living His commandments and having that
faith in Christ that he died for us and lived his life for us can give
us that hope. I also think that hope is in more things than we can
comprehend. It is a hope of things that I probably have not even
thought of before. That because of the Atonement I will enjoy so many
blessings for eternity. Anyways, I hope I was able to make my point.

Two great ideas here:

1) Jesus tried/tries to provide hope to people. Probably the most famous other instance that comes to mind is the woman taken in adultery in John 8 (note that in the Joseph Smith Translation - not in our current version because it was of questionable authenticity in the late 70's but is not questioned now - the next verse says that she went away rejoicing; in other words, she was very hopeful after her interaction with Jesus)  

10When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?

11She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I^acondemn thee: go, and sin ^bno more.

I'm sure every healing (both spiritual healing - forgiveness from sins - and physical healing) provided great hope to those Jesus blessed.

Secondly, those who don't believe in a Savior likely have no concrete reason for hope. Many believe living a good life is enough, and frankly, they're right in some ways. Living a good life is enough to reach a very wonderful glorified place: the terrestrial kingdom. It will allow them to reach a better place than others. However, if you want to take advantage of the blessings of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, it's important to have a belief in him because that's what he requires, and he welcomes all to come unto him and believe. That actually seems fair. If you want to live life without a dependence on the Savior and a hope in him, that's fine. You'll still get a good reward if you're a good person. However, you won't have access to the full blessings of the Atonement: the chance to, with Christ's help, become an eternal family and live with Heavenly Father, you need to believe in him and follow him (i.e., live a good life). Why would those who don't come to Christ to receive his help get access to all of the blessings that those who do come to Christ, especially when all are welcome to "experiment on the word" and determine if Christ's message is true? 

Great thoughts Dale. Plus, going to church is great. You just might learn something tremendous from one of your fellow friends who's just trying to do the best they can.

LaDon

True and Living Church

The Word of Wisdom is a great example of how the church is both True and Living.

When first given this was counsel, not a commandment:

1A ^aWord of Wisdom, for the benefit of the council of high priests, assembled in Kirtland, and the church, and also the saints in Zion—

2To be sent greeting; not by commandment or constraint, but by revelation and the ^aword of wisdom, showing forth the order and^bwill of God in the temporal salvation of all saints in the last days—

3Given for a principle with ^apromise, adapted to the capacity of the ^bweak and the weakest of all ^csaints, who are or can be called saints.

This has changed over the course of time, probably for a few reasons. If the rule was as strict as it is now when it came out, a large % of the members wouldn't be able to enter the temple or participate in the full blessings of the gospel. That wouldn't have been very wise for the Lord to do. Instead, over the course of a few decades, this rule became more and more standardized.

In 1851 Brigham Young mentioned following the Word of Wisdom in conference and said it should be considered more of a commandment than it was previously. At other times he also brought this subject up, but it certainly wasn't a commandment. There's a fairly famous story of when he saw spittle in the St. George temple (maybe Manti) and slammed his cane into the ground so hard that it left an inch deep imprint. He was very mad someone would do that in the temple. It's still there now (hasn't been removed).

In 1894 Brigham's son (an apostle) said from the pulpit in conference that he understood that the Word of Wisdom had been made a commandment 20 years earlier when preached from the pulpit (presumably by his dad, perhaps John Taylor who also brought it up more often). Then Joseph F. Smith and Heber J. Grant also said they believed it was a commandment. The younger generation of church leaders pushed for it to be a commandment. This makes sense as the church had time to adapt to the counsel and get rid of the addictions in younger generations.

Also, President Grant spoke about it a lot during his time as prophet. This was in part to an experience he had earlier in life. (From the Prophets manual of his)

Quotes from Heber J. Grant:

Much of President Grant’s motivation for preaching the Word of Wisdom came because he had a friend whose life was ruined by cigarettes and liquor. This young man gave up smoking so he could serve a mission, but he started to smoke immediately after his release from full-time missionary service. Smoking led to liquor drinking, and liquor drinking led to a loss of virtue and to excommunication from the Church. He died at a young age, and Heber J. Grant went to visit his grave. “As I stood at his grave,” President Grant recalled, “I looked up to heaven and made a pledge to my God that liquor and tobacco would have in me an enemy who would fight with all the ability that God would give me until the day of my death.” 2

Some members of the Church in President Grant’s day complained about the numerous sermons they heard on the Word of Wisdom. President Grant commented: “There is seldom a conference when someone does not take it upon himself to tell us: ‘Please do not speak on the Word of Wisdom. We hear it so much, we are sick and tired of it.’ ” President Grant responded to such complaints by saying: “No mortal man who is a Latter-day Saint and is keeping the Word of Wisdom is ever sick and tired of hearing it. When a man leaves a meeting and says … ‘Can’t they find something else to talk about besides the Word of Wisdom; I am sick and tired of it’—of course he is, because he is full of stuff that the Word of Wisdom tells him to leave alone.” 3

It was in his time that the Word of Wisdom became a definite commandment.

Interesting that at one time the prophet spoke about this topic a lot. Now it is only mentioned as one of the commandments to follow and rarely if ever the subject of a talk in a SAcrament meeting. It's because this isn't a huge issue in the church anymore. In many ways we've moved past it. We love those with addictions and most of our people don't have them.

This is an example of how the church is living and has progressed. If any of you have an issue with how a current topic is discussed and hope the approach to that topic will change, don't worry, if it should change it will as the church and its members progress.

Another quick example: I remember hearing that Sister Johnson in my ward was taught when she was a kid in primary that when you repented from a sin it was similar to this: imagine you have a nail in a board and pull it out. The hole is still there after you pull it out, but at least the nail is pulled out. When you sin, after you have repented the nail is removed, but the hole is still there.

That's completely wrong and shows a poor understanding of the doctrine of the Atonement. However, not very many people would teach that today. The church's collective understanding of the Atonement is improving.

The church was still true back then, but it's living and growing as members become better and better and as our leaders guide us to improve in the critical areas for the time.