Moroni's Promise

For the next series of posts I plan on focusing on different stories from the Book of Mormon and the lessons we can learn from them.  In trying to decide where to start, I thought that the best place to start would be the promise that Moroni gives us when we read the Book of Mormon. 

In Moroni 10:3-5 it reads:

"3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how ^amerciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ^bponder it in your ^chearts.

 4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ^aask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not ^btrue; and if ye shall ask with a ^csincere heart, with ^dreal intent, having ^efaith in Christ, he will ^fmanifest the ^gtruth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

 5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may ^aknow the ^btruth of all things."

What a beautiful promise.  It follows the Lord's teachings that we "receive no witness until after the trial of our faith" (Alma 32:21).  Moroni clearly teaches us that is we read the Book of Mormon we can remember how merciful the Lord is.  How merciful He is in showing His children the way, in providing a way for the children of men to know who Jesus Christ is and to know that He is "the way, the truth and the life" (John 14:6).

So, first step, read.  Read and treasure up the words.  Recognize that the message of the Book of Mormon is a message of love, a message of mercy from the Lord.

Next, ask God if these things are not true.  I have read the Book of Mormon a number of times and I would think it safe to say that anyone who does sincerely read this book would at least hope that it would be true.  The message is so sweet.  Jesus Christ is our Savior.  He has provided a way for us to return to live with Him.  His way brings happiness and peace.  He will guide us throughout our lives if we let Him.  He will forgive us.  He loves us.  So once we have read these sweet messages, the next step is to ask God. 

Not just ask God though, we must ask with a "sincere heart, with real intent, having faith."  That's probably the hardest part I would think.  We just can't ask God casually.  We have to REALLY want to know, to the point that we will act on the answer we get.  We have to be willing to follow Christ once we have received a confirmation that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, just as the Bible is.  We have to be intent on doing what the Lord asks of us in answer to our prayer.  Like I wrote about last week, faith is a principle of action.  If we are sincere, have intent and have faith in Christ, we will act.

And finally, our answer will come by the Holy Ghost.  We can know the truth of ALL things.  Not just some things, not just an occassional truth here or there.  The introduction to the Book of Mormon tells us just a few of the truths we are promised we can know if we follow the pattern Moroni described.  It says:

"Those who gain this divine witness from the Holy Spirit will also come to know by the same power that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, that Joseph Smith is his revelator and prophet in these last days, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord’s kingdom once again established on the earth, preparatory to the second coming of the Messiah."

I would like to echo many prophets in inviting everyone to read the Book of Mormon.  You don't have to take my word for it, you don't have to take your parent's word for it, you don't have to take the missionaries' word for it, you don't have to take the prophet's word for it.  Test it.  Take Moroni's promise as a challenge.  Read the Book of Mormon sincerely and with real intent and I know the Holy Ghost will testify to you that the Book of Mormon is the word of God.

I love the Book of Mormon with all my heart and I know it is true.  I am so grateful for the prophets that wrote the teachings of Christ for our day.  I am so grateful that Joseph Smith humbled himself before the Lord and translated the Book of Mormon through the power of God.  I am grateful to have a prophet on the earth today.  Read the Book of Mormon and let it change your life.

Just some thoughts on Faith

Alma 32:21: "And now as I said concerning faith - faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for thinsg which are not seen, which are true."

This topic has come up a lot for me this last week and the question for me has been why is that one of the first principles of the gospel?  (See Articles of Faith 1:4).

First, what is faith?  Well, Alma gives us a pretty good definition.  Chapter 32 is wonderful to give us a foundation on how to build faith.  We must give place for the seed, and if it be a good seed, it will grow. (v. 26-31)

Faith is a verb.  In James 2:17-18 states: "Even so ^afaith, if it hath not ^bworks, is dead, being alone.

 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my ^afaith by my ^bworks." 

We see examples of faith throughout the Bible and the Book of Mormon.  Abraham had faith in offering his only son, Isaac.  Nephi had faith in building a ship to take his family across the water.  Abinadi had faith to share the gospel.  Joseph Smith had faith to pray.  Faith is a principle of action and it is really neat to see it in action.

When I think of faith, I think of something that is contantly changing.  It can grow, and it can shrink. When we exercise faith in something good we see the good fruit that comes of it.  For example, if we exercise faith in prayer we can receive spiritual witnesses from God that He is there, that He is listening, and that He wants to bless us.  As we exercise faith to read the scriptures we can receive answers to our prayers as well as increased knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  As our knowledge about Jesus Christ increases, our faith in Him and His Atonement also increases.

One might argue, how can you really have faith?  Alma say we have faith in things "which are true."  How can we know if something is true?  Easy, we have to give place.  This presents a lot of controversy though.  Where do we draw the line?  Do we allow every single possible thought to give place and see which ones are good?  This type of thinking is flawed, because there are so many different things to give place for, where do you even start?

Let me create an analogy that may help this make more sense.  The left end of the diagram represents all of the things we can have faith in.  Faith in money, faith in people, faith in scriptures, faith in family, faith in Jesus Christ.  If we use the definition of Alma, we need to have faith in good things in order for faith to grow.  As we exercise faith in good things we are able to see more clearly what things are good.  For example, if we have faith in Jesus Christ and we see that's a good thing and we exercise it, we can see that having faith in His teachings is also good, while having faith in the wealth of the world may not be such a good thing.

You still with me? We have to start broad.  We must exercise faith in Jesus Christ.  That truly is the first step.  We must come to understand that His teachings and His example really are good and true, that it is through Him we can find happiness.  When we have exercised faith in Him our faith is stronger and we have the courage to narrow in a little more and have faith in His teachings, faith in His prophets, etc.

This may have answered questions, or it may have created more, but I would just like to add that I know that faith is the first principle of the gospel for a reason.  We have to exercise faith to do something.  If we don't have faith, meaning a willingness to act on things we believe are right, then our faith can't grow.

The Bible Dictionary states: "Faith is to hope for things which are not seen, but which are true (Heb. 11:1; Alma 32:21), and must be centered in Jesus Christ in order to produce salvation."  I know this is true.  If you don't know where to start, start with Jesus Christ.  Pray to know if He is your Savior.  Study the scriptures, learn for yourself.  The Spirit will testify to your heart.  You will feel happy.  You will want to know more.  You will want to ACT.  Once you know that much, learn His teachings, and continue to let your faith grow.

I know Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world.  I know His gospel brings true happiness.  I am so grateful for the gospel in my life and I want everyone to know the good news.  Give place for the seed!

The Dirty Window

"A young couple, Lisa and John, moved into a new neighborhood. One morning while they were eating breakfast, Lisa looked out the window and watched her next-door neighbor hanging out her wash.

“That laundry’s not clean!” Lisa exclaimed. “Our neighbor doesn’t know how to get clothes clean!”

John looked on but remained silent. Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry, Lisa would make the same comments. A few weeks later Lisa was surprised to glance out her window and see a nice, clean wash hanging in her neighbor’s yard. She said to her husband, “Look, John—she’s finally learned how to wash correctly! I wonder how she did it.” John replied, “Well, dear, I have the answer for you. You’ll be interested to know that I got up early this morning and washed our windows!” "

President Thomas S. Monson shared this little anecdote in the October 2010 General Conference.  I love this!  When President Monson gave this talk, his topic was "Charity Never Faileth."  Charity is the pure love of Christ.  When we have charity, we are willing to look past the dirty windows and see each other as children of God.

One of the blessings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that our dirty windows can be clean.  Heavenly Father sent us here to earth and gave us our agency so we could choose.  Because we had the ability to choose, Heavenly Father knew that many of us would make incorrect choices.  We would ALL make mistakes, therefore dirtying our window.

Remember though, Heavenly Father loves us.  He wants us to return to live with Him forever.  That is why He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to pay the price for our sins.  Christ came to earth and overcame death, both physical death and spiritual death.  He overcame physical death in that after we die, we will be resurrected.  Our body and our spirit will be reunited again.  He overcame spiritual death in that we can be cleansed of our sins and return to live with God again.

The Atonement is real.  We are important to God.  He loves each of us and He wants us to return to live with Him.  We have dirty windows to clean, and I know they can be cleaned through the Atonement of Christ.  President Dieter F. Uchtdorf in the October 2011 General Relief Society Broadcast said:  "I want to tell you something that I hope you will take in the right way: God is fully aware that you and I are not perfect. Let me add: God is also fully aware that the people you think are perfect are not."  None of us are perfect in life and none of us will be, but through the Atonement of Christ, we ultimately can become perfect, even as Jesus Christ is perfect.