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.

How to tell if you have faith

Assessing the level of our faith can be difficult to do. As I was reading a while ago, I came across a verse that gives a good example of what someone with strong faith does. See this from Luke 17:

3 ¶Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother ^atrespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, ^bforgive him.

4 And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I ^arepent; thou shalt forgive him.

5 And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.

It appears that when Jesus told the disciples the requirement to forgive, the disciples said, "that's tough. In order for us to do that, we need to have more faith." Faith is requisite to forgiving because you need to believe that Christ has already done what's necessary for all justice to work out in the end. Thus, what's required of us is to forgive all men that we might be forgiven ourselves. There's a great book on this topic called The Peacegiver.

Oftentimes we think that someone with a lot of faith can do great miracles, or speak impressive words. While that may be true, perhaps one of the best tests of faith is one's ability to forgive others. If you can forgive, your faith is real. If there is someone who appears to be trying but continues to stumble, and you don't forgive him/her, your faith is weak. I know of someone who goes to church regularly but has bad feelings for her/her parents and will not forgive them (despite the parents not trying to do anything bad). That person has no faith, regardless what else he/she is doing in life.

The disciples recognized how true this is and asked for more faith when hearing Jesus' lesson.

Those who confess not and repent not

So a couple verses regarding what happens to church members who don't confess and repent - D.C. 64:

12And him that ^arepenteth not of his sins, and ^bconfesseth them not, ye shall bring before the ^cchurch, and do with him as the^dscripture saith unto you, either by commandment or by revelation.

13And this ye shall do that God may be glorified—not because ye forgive not, having not compassion, but that ye may be justified in the eyes of the law, that ye may not ^aoffend him who is your lawgiver—

So it sounds like we have to meet two requirements when considering what happens to those who don't repent of their sins (and violate larger commandments - I mean, we all sin.) We need to forgive them and love them and have compassion on them (verse 13), but we also need to show God, our lawgiver, that we pay attention to his rules and commands. When we enforce his rules, that shows we care about his rules.

Not to focus too much on the Brandon Davies issue, but fornication/adultery is a rule that clearly most people don't concern themselves with, and it's important for us to show God we believe Him when he says it is a terrible sin. That's another core piece of the reason for suspending someone for that sin. It's been made clear to us that God says it's a grave error, and we will try to live as if that's true.

These are definitely God's words - confess and forsake

As I read and learn more and more about the Doctrine and Covenants, I become absolutely convinced that these are the words of God, given through a prophet. There's no other explanation.

Consider these relatively famous verses on repentance:

40And also let my servant ^aWilliam W. Phelps stand in the office to which I have appointed him, and receive his inheritance in the land;

41And also he hath need to repent, for I, the Lord, am not well pleased with him, for he seeketh to excel, and he is not sufficiently meek before me.

42Behold, he who has ^arepented of his ^bsins, the same is ^cforgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more.

43By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins—behold, he will ^aconfess them and ^bforsake them.

It's interesting that some of the most famous verses on God forgiving sins and what a person needs to do to receive forgiveness was given to W.W. Phelps, probably the biggest apostate to come back to the church relatively quickly.

At the time of these verses Phelps is sent to Zion to work as a printer (he printed hymnals and scriptures). Also, it's interesting that he of all people is told about how to receive forgiveness. He was one of the 3 apostates that signed a letter to the Governor of the state swearing that Joseph did things he did not do which helped land Joseph in the Liberty Jail which also led to the Saints getting kicked out of Missouri and having the extermination order placed.

Then, when Orson Hyde came back around several years later, WW Phelps asked to be rebaptized. Orson said, "Joseph will have to decide on this" since WW Phelps had betrayed the prophet and the church (pretty much one of the worst things you could do).

WW wrote Joseph a letter, confessing his mistakes and mentioning that he would like to join the Saints again (effectively forsaking his previous sins by joining the group he'd betrayed). Joseph responded, "come on dear brother, now that the war is past for friends at first are now friends again at last." WW rejoined the Saints without further punishment. He was faithful the rest of his life. He also wrote "Praise to the man" about Joseph Smith after Joseph was killed.

It must not be a coincidence that the person who is perhaps the most famous example of confessing and forsaking sins received this counsel. This verse was received many years before those problems happened. Only God could have known to give this advice to WW Phelps. It may have also helped Joseph connect the dots and forgive WW. Plus, this example teaches us that even the worst of sins can be forgiven by confessing and forsaking those sins. This is an inspired book.

Also, quick comment on Brandon Davies.

1) We love Brandon Davies. We hope he has a great life. It does not help people who break rules to let them think that those rules don't apply to them. Because in real life, all rules apply. The only reason there is punishment is to help people understand the seriousness of decisions so that they can make better decisions. There is only punishment because there is love. And, we don't want to punish any more than is needful. Few people love basketball more than I do, and I'm glad he was suspended. It has the potential to help him (and other people as well - though I never believe in making an example out of someone, only doing the right thing for that person) more than not suspending him. No question about that. Honor matters.

I was very pleased to hear BYU fans cheering loudly for him when he cut down the nets. I hope we can love all people who make mistakes just as much. Easier said than done but it's the right way to live.

Faith - how do we judge it?

Like a lot of things, I think it's easy to misjudge how much faith we have or someone else has. For instance, some things are very noticeable and people probably think that's a good indicator of faith. For example, people who bear their testimonies often in church might have a lot of faith or might bear their testimony a lot in church. Bearing your testimony could be a result of a lot of faith, but it might not. Certainly the Savior mentions a lot of these examples in Matthew 6 - praying on the street corners, letting people know you're fasting, writing a blog that shows you read scriptures (oh wait, he didn't mention that did he? but maybe he could have - I guess my point is, don't think I or anyone who knows a fair amount about the scriptures has more faith than you or is better than you; this isn't a great way to show faith).

So what is a great way to show faith? I think these verses teach us:

3¶Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother ^atrespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, ^bforgive him.

4And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I ^arepent; thou shalt forgive him.

5And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.

Some thoughts: I don't think rebuke means yell. Perhaps it means, "let him know". If he trespass 7 times in a day, and says, "I'm sorry", forgive him. Now clearly if someone does something negative to you 7 times in a day, you'd probably not believe them. Doesn't matter - forgive him.

The Apostles understood how difficult this was. So they said, "Increase our faith." Why? Reading "The Peacegiver" is a book that will explain that concept very well, but in a few words, it's the following:

1) Jesus paid the price for sin and all mistakes and has paid for all of them.
2) Therefore, because he has stood in for everyone, it is as if he did the sin or the mistake.
3) Those who suffered as a result of mistakes or sins of someone else are told by Jesus that he requires us to forgive Him (who has taken the place of the sinner or mistake doer).
4) It takes a lot of faith to believe Christ has literally paid the price for others' sins. Forgiving others because you literally believe in the Atonement is true faith in action. Very hard. That's why the Apostles said, "Lord, Increase our Faith." This is one of the tests of life.

(If you're thinking, but what about the person that offends through sin (or mistake or because they had a tough life and were taught bad habits)? What happens to them? Jesus decides that. And I think we should trust his decision. He requires them to believe in his actions as well, change, and follow his example of baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost, and continuing faithful to the end.)

So, if I can't forgive people and don't love people, I don't have that much faith, even if I can heal others, or prophecy, or dunk :)

Or as Marvin Ashton said, "the best and fastest way to tell how you're coming unto Christ is the way you treat other people."

Have a good night.

LaDon