Just Keep Teaching

My wife told me a great story last night. She was at a meeting for Sunday School teachers and a friend of ours made the following comment. When he was on his mission, Elder Scott (one of the 12 Apostles in the church) came and spoke to them and also held a Q&A session. One of the missionaries asked the question, "I have heard that roughly 50% of returned missionaries stop actively attending church at some point in life after they return home. I believe the gospel strongly now, but how do I keep from falling away as one of those 50%?"

Pretty good question. Our friend thought that Elder Scott would give a detailed answer outlining how to not fall away. However, the answer was one line: "Just keep teaching."

Interesting. I have learned that teaching brings the Spirit, and the Spirit brings faith. For instance, consider this verse from D.C. 50:

22Wherefore, he that preacheth and he that receiveth, understand one another, and both are ^aedified and ^brejoicetogether.

The teacher and the learner (when taught by the Spirit) understand the message well and are edified and rejoice (i.e., are happy and learn something new or something that strengthens their faith). Always participating in the gospel by teaching will consistently bring happiness and edification, which makes it unlikely one will ever fall away.

Keep teaching :)

Humanitarian Work - Something We Care About

My sister's father-in-law joined the church because he was invited by a guy named Don Clarke to church while the two were getting MBAs at Washington State University. Don Clarke has been the area president of the church in Guatemala (and the rest of Central America) the last couple years. I served my mission there from 2003 to 2005.

I just read an article in the church news about a humanitarian project being done there. A humanitarian missionary helped the community get running water into a town of 2,000 (the church bought the supplies but got the town to volunteer almost all of the labor) and also build a school there as well as other projects. It was great to hear what was accomplished as well as the approach the church used to get the entire community involved so that the project could be larger but also have greater long-term effects.

I love being in this church and look forward to seeing more and more of these projects get done as a greater number of senior couple missionaries serve in the church. We look forward to being missionaries ourselves.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700150533/LDS-Church-helps-as-Guatemalans-bring-water-education-to-their-village.html?pg=1

Getting Answers to Questions, Big and Small

A friend of mine at work was talking to me about life and religion a few months ago. He said that life is very grey and there are few clear cut answers in difficult/complex decisions. And there are many of those kinds of decisions.

I thought about that for a while. At its face, I agreed. There are many complex decisions that affect many outcomes, and yet I have made many of those decisions relatively easily. I got married quickly and it turned out great. I went on a mission (decision to "give up" two years - actually it was a tremendous investment in so many ways) without any hesitancy. I changed jobs/industries pretty quickly. We've had kids young and its worked out very well. I realize that these are tremendous blessings and people who are better than me in every way haven't had the same outcomes necessarily, but I personally know a lot of people in the same situation. The Lord has some advice for those who are "ignorant" of what to do and need to find answers to questions:

D.C. 136: 32Let him that is ^aignorant ^blearn ^cwisdom by ^dhumbling himself and calling upon the Lord his God, that his ^eeyes may be opened that he may see, and his ears opened that he may hear;

33For my ^aSpirit is sent forth into the world to enlighten the^bhumble and contrite, and to the ^ccondemnation of the ungodly.

The explanation that some would give concerning my blessings would be, "but I can't see how you made those decisions", or like Laman and Lemuel, "God doesn't reveal such things to us" (1 Nephi 15), does not hold water. God helps us have eyes to see and ears to hear as we ask for his help to see and hear and understand.

I know God will help his children. I loves us all very much. (1 Nephi 11:17) However, we must come to him and call upon him in order to be enlightened. I am not great at doing this but hope to be and have certainly enjoyed the blessings of doing it at times.

Believing in religion/God, Does it mean ignoring truth or understanding more?

In the Book of Mormon musical, apparently there's a point where the actor playing a Mormon missionary is having trouble believing. The play then has the actor try to ignore his doubts and "just believe." In an article on CNN Richard Bushman (a Mormon professor and writer of several books about Joseph Smith) explains that for him and those that he knows in the church, just believe meant searching harder for truth, not ignoring truth. Below is his take on this subject - it's very good, particularly the last line:

http://inthearena.blogs.cnn.com/2011/06/27/richard-bushman-the-book-of-mormon-is-like-looking-into-a-fun-house-mirror-the-reflection-is-hilarious-but-not-really-you/

The main characters in the musical travel to a mission in Uganda and you did interrupt your studies at Harvard to serve as a missionary in New England and Canada. You have also held a number of positions within the LDS Church . Are you concerned that “The Book of Mormon” may be sending a mixed message to the general public about what Mormons believe?

Yes, I did leave college to serve a mission, and my experience then bears on my reaction to Price’s song. Specific doctrines aside, the lines that will most distress Mormons in the Price lyrics are the repeated phrase “just believe.”

Poor Elder Price has had his confidence shaken and doesn’t know how to react to his dawning disbelief. All he can do is repeat over and over “just believe.” To prove himself valiant, he must turn off the lights and shut the door on his doubts.

Price’s response to uncertainty leaves the impression that Mormons may be happy on the outside, but are hollow at the core. They recognize their beliefs are preposterous but stubbornly hold on.

I suppose it seems obvious to many people that a moment’s reflection about personal planets, Kolob, and the Garden of Eden in Missouri will plant doubts. Any rational person in the modern world who thinks about such outlandish ideas for one second will see they are preposterous. Mormons can’t think about their faith; they must “just believe.”

But for Mormons themselves, the process of just believing is not so simple.

I had my Elder Price moment, as many Mormons do, but during my sophomore year at Harvard. Writing a paper on Nietzsche and Freud had raised lots of questions about religion in general.

When I went off to Halifax to preach the gospel, I was pretty shaky in my belief. For three months I wrestled with questions about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. Was it a hoax, a bold, fraudulent effort to create a myth? Had Joseph Smith hoodwinked his friends—and the rest of his followers including me?

I studied everything and prayed hard for some kind of light. In time I arrived at a rational explanation that allowed for a miracle in the book’s production, but along the way I experienced something more important than the book itself. I caught a glimpse of a higher form of human flourishing, something forceful and ennobling which I can only call sacred. It was this encounter with a kind of elevated goodness in the book that won me over.

For me “just believing” meant turning the light on, not turning it off.

My experience is that when I have questions, I think harder, not less, pray more, not less, study more, not less, and as a result, I find a good answer for my question. This process has happened enough, that I'm very trusting of it. God always comes through in one way or another.

I believe :)

CEO Succession / Sign of the True Church

Two things happened this week that led to a realization that helped strengthen my testimony of the reality of a living prophet called of God.

1) I was listening to some thoughts by A.G. Laffley, the former chairman of Proctor & Gamble. He talked about CEO succession and that companies generally do a very poor job of choosing the right CEO to lead them. One metric showing this is the average tenure for a CEO has been cut in half over the last couple decades. Now it's only 4 years. Clearly, choosing the leader of the company is very difficult.

2) I was reading D.C. 135 about the martyrdom of Joseph Smith. It got me thinking about how Brigham ended up being a wonderful second prophet. I remembered that I'd heard once that the LDS church was lucky that they got the leader they did after Joseph because it was certainly a crisis to lose their first leader. It certainly was a crisis, but it wasn't luck that Brigham Young was the next prophet.

These two things got me thinking about how remarkable it is that the Church has always had a terrific leader. In fact, I would argue that it's unprecedented in business or religion to have had such strong leaders consistently over a period of 181 years. A few of our Church Presidents/Prophets haven't lived long, but here's just a few examples from most of their lives:

Joseph Smith - founded the church, moved it several times, gave hundreds of revelations and translated the Book of Mormon - both of which we still rely on to guide the church, etc...

Brigham Young - moved the church to Utah, built temples, solidified church in Utah

John Taylor - short time as prophet; nothing jumps out at me, but he was a tremendous missionary in his lifetime

Wilford Woodruff - made the move away from Polygamy; greatest record keeper of early church history; dedicated Salt Lake Temple

Lorenzo Snow - saved the church financially in pushing for tithing again

Joseph F. Smith - made many doctrinal statements, first to suggest FHE, a staple of the church now

Heber J. Grant - prophet for 27 years, strengthened church adherence to word of wisdom, developed welfare program during his leadership - partially a result of dealing with the great depression

George Albert Smith - prophet for 6 years - nothing comes to mind immediately, but he was widely known for loving people (a great trait for a leader, particularly a prophet)

David O. McKay - increased church emphasis on FHE, missionary work, temples

Joseph Fielding Smith - great doctrinal writer for the church, also church historian for 60 years and Apostle for 60 years

Harold B. Lee - convinced Spencer Kimball to have surgery even though Spencer was old; Spencer ended up out-living Harold B. Lee for 12 years; remarkable foresight by the prophet

Spencer W. Kimball - first talk was about every young man going on a mission, prior to this it was considered a "good option" but not a requirement for young men, greatly expanded missionary work; greatly expanded temple building - temples announced for Latin America (Mexico, Guatemala, Argentina, Chile) for first time

Ezra Taft Benson - great emphasis on The Book of Mormon, convert baptisms grew to 300K during his time as prophet

Howard W. Hunter - emphasized every member having a temple recommend, timely preparation for President Hinckley's great expansion of temple building

Gordon Hinckley - growth in temple building (from ~40 to ~115 during his time), shift in missionary presentation and qualifications to serve a mission, great emphasis of retention of converts

Thomas Monson - just starting but looking great so far :) tremendous emphasis on loving/serving others

I don't find a weak leader among the group. My comments are without notes, just things I know/remember. There's clearly more that could be written about them and more examples of great trials or challenges each of them led the church through.

In the past, I thought that perhaps you could say, "but since the longest tenured Apostle becomes the next Prophet, is it really God choosing them and done through revelation?" I think the fact that the next leader of the church was chosen 30-50 years before he actually becomes the Prophet only further shows that revelation is clearly involved and that these are remarkable men. Plus, we never drop people from the quorum of the 12 (in the past it only happened because of unworthiness - the last time was in 1943, over 70 years ago). Those who become Prophet only do so because they were chosen before any other current living Apostle. That's a miracle that the system has consistently created great prophets.

It is an incredible string of leaders that we've had. It has become very clear to me in the last few days that this streak of great leaders is probably unprecedented in the world, either in business or religious organizations. I expect and know that this string of great leaders will only continue going forward. We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet and know that God is choosing these leaders and helping them lead his church in our time. Another sign that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church - look at the prophets, they've done a remarkable job; they've been chosen by God.

Why Certain Prayers aren't Answered...

I listened to David McConkie give a talk from the October 2010 General Conference, and he gave a terrific quote.

"Brothers and sisters, it is contrary to the economy of heaven for the Lord to repeat to each of us individually what He has already revealed to us collectively. The scriptures contain the words of Christ. They are the voice of the Lord. Studying the scriptures trains us to hear the Lord’s voice."

This makes a lot of sense. Sometimes we may have questions for the Lord about things but may not be receiving answers because the answers are very available to us in the scriptures. I have not taken time to ponder instances of when this would be true (as I believe God is very desirous to always answer the prayers of his children), but I'm certain that there are instances where this is the case. It's vital to know the scriptures well (and the handbook in the case of leaders) in order to have answers to some prayers.

Scripture Explaining What Christ has Done for Us

D.C. 133 explains about missionary work and the Second Coming. I enjoyed one section which talks about Christ's coming and explains that it will be a great day for those who have followed Him. In particular, it mentions what he did for them:

52And now the year of my ^aredeemed is come; and they shall mention the loving kindness of their Lord, and all that he has bestowed upon them according to his ^bgoodness, and according to his loving kindness, forever and ever.

53In all their ^aafflictions he was afflicted. And the angel of his presence saved them; and in his ^blove, and in his pity, he^credeemed them, and bore them, and carried them all the days of old;

Notice that those who follow the Lord will:

1) be redeemed

2) mention his loving kindness

Also, it is true that in all their afflictions he was afflicted. A great verse explaining that Jesus knows all way go through. Also, he bore and carried his redeemed, always.

I think these are my favorite verses describing what Jesus does for us. He redeems us at the end, but he knows us very well including all our afflictions, and he will bear our afflictions and carry us always if we come to him.

There's other famous verses describing what Jesus has done for us (D.C. 45 about why the marks are in his hands, 3 Nephi 9 saying he gathers the righteous as a hen gathers her chicks, and others), but I think D.C. 133:52,53 are my favorite. I believe he knows us perfectly, helps now and will redeem completely then.

Have a great day.