Repentance unto Life; Follow the Prophet

In Acts 11, Peter tells the story of Cornelius and the decision he made (after being clearly guided by God) to allow Gentiles to receive the gospel. I think it's critical to consider the context. Jews were not allowed to be around Gentiles at certain points of the day. I'm pretty sure Jews weren't allowed to eat with Gentiles. Now, salvation, the thing considered most precious by the truly devout, was being offered to them. And, it didn't take a long time for the change to happen. It took 1 day. The chief Apostle was guided to change the practice, and it happened.

I'm impressed by Peter's willingness to change so quickly and follow the Lord. I'm also impressed by the other church leaders who believed Peter and supported him with change. I'm sure it would have been easy to disbelieve Peter's experience, but they didn't.

This is a great lesson for us about willingness to support and expect changes in the "true and living church." Also, it's a great lesson about what Jesus gives to us. He gives us the gift of Repentance unto life.

Here's the verse in Acts 11 saying how the Church leaders responded to Peter's story:

18 When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the ^aGentiles granted^brepentance unto life.

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.

Stick with it

D.C. 64:

33Wherefore, be not ^aweary in ^bwell-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of ^csmall things proceedeth that which is great.

34Behold, the Lord ^arequireth the ^bheart and a ^cwilling mind; and the willing and ^dobedient shall ^eeat the good of the land of Zion in these last days.

It's always worth it to stick with hard things. Consistently doing good things brings great rewards.

Also, I remember being on the mission teaching one girl in particular who was studying theology. She was very nice and good to talk to, but she never really committed to attending church. I thought, "just wait 20 or 40 years and it will become very plain to you that this church is everything we say it is." I really believe that. Anytime there's an inactive member I speak with who mentions concerns (often somewhat legitimate) about the church, I am willing to concede that it isn't perfect, but that it continually improves. It really does just get better and better over time. We will continue to see this happen over the next 20, 40, and 60 years.

A couple more verses illustrating this point: D.C. 64:

41For, behold, I say unto you that ^aZion shall flourish, and the^bglory of the Lord shall be upon her;

42And she shall be an ^aensign unto the people, and there shall come unto her out of every ^bnation under heaven.

43And the day shall come when the nations of the earth shall^atremble because of her, and shall fear because of her terrible ones. The Lord hath spoken it. Amen.

Also, D.C. 1 - the only "true and living church". Living church means it grows and adjusts:

30And also those to whom these commandments were given, might have ^apower to lay the foundation of this ^bchurch, and to bring it forth out of obscurity and out of ^cdarkness, the only true and living ^dchurch upon the face of the whole earth, with which I, the Lord, am well ^epleased, ^fspeaking unto the church collectively and not individually—

Also, Jacob 5:

66For it grieveth me that I should lose the trees of my vineyard; wherefore ye shall clear away the bad according as the good shall grow, that the root and the top may be equal in strength, until the good shall overcome the bad, and the bad be hewn down and cast into the fire, that they cumber not the ground of my vineyard; and thus will I sweep away the bad out of my vineyard.

The bad is unlikely to be the bad in the world because we know they aren't cleared away until the Second Coming. However, the bad in the church apparently is slowly cleared away as the good grows.

So, it is very unwise to judge the church too harshly. It continues to improve and get better and better. And besides, "the church" isn't who gets judged in life. We do. "The church" is a vehicle to help all of us live better and receive a greater reward. So, enjoy your church experience, and don't worry, it'll keep getting better (even if it's already really good, or if it's been bad); God has told us so.

As if for years.......

This is something taught to me by Brother Esplin in his D.C. class (which was so good I took it twice; I'm not even kidding; I learned so much the first time in fall 2006 I took the exact same thing in summer 2009. He taught the gospel the way it's meant to be taught: lots of class participation, humble, great context around the verses to help us understand; and always with a message that could be applied to our lives, always)

In May 1831 the Saints received Sections 50, 51, and 52. They were just moving to Kirtland, Ohio from the New York region. They also knew that a Zion existed and that they would be asked to move there, and that Kirtland wasn't Zion. Certainly, a tendency could be to not invest much into their work, neighbors, or church in Kirtland. However, here's what the Lord told them in D.C. 51:17:

17And the hour and the day is not given unto them, wherefore let them act upon this land as for years, and this shall turn unto them for their good.

Act on the land as if you'll be there for years. In the strict farming sense, clear the same amount of land to plant fields as if you were going to be around for years. Also, build relationships with people as if you'll be around for years.

Think about how much a better job you'd acted as if the place you worked would be the place you would work forever and that if you did poorly today you'd probably always be stuck in the worst job in the company rather than moving up.

This principle applies to so many of us. For instance, when we're in college, it's temporary, so maybe we think we shouldn't get to know people extremely well, particularly if we know we'll be moving to a new apartment soon or that we'll be getting married soon. Or, at our first job, perhaps the same applies. Or perhaps on a mission if we only have 6 weeks left in an area. Or, perhaps I shouldn't work as hard in this ward since I'll likely be going to grad school in a couple of years.

That isn't the right approach. It's important to always, "act upon this land as for years, and this shall turn unto them for their good."

Also, I went to church today. It was very good. The two speakers were very honest about some struggles they had had in the past, and that was very refreshing. Sometimes we're scared to talk about our struggles, but I think it really helps someone around us when we do. I always admire that. Our church just continues to improve and improve (as Jesus said it would in D.C. 1:30)

30And also those to whom these commandments were given, might have ^apower to lay the foundation of this ^bchurch, and to bring it forth out of obscurity and out of ^cdarkness, the only true and living ^dchurch upon the face of the whole earth, with which I, the Lord, am well ^epleased, ^fspeaking unto the church collectively and not individually—

Living means it'll grow, improve, meet the demands of its development/members, etc. I like it :)

Have a good week!