Posted on 04/21/2004 9:40:18 PM PDT by restornu
An honest man was being tailgated by a stressed-out woman on a busy boulevard. Suddenly, the light turned yellow, just in front of him. He did the right thing, stopping at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection. The tailgating woman hit the roof, and the horn, screaming in frustration as she missed her chance to get through the intersection with him.
As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer. The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up. He took her to the police station where she was searched, fingerprinted, photographed, and placed in a cell.
After a couple of hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the door. The woman was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects. He said, "I'm very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn and cussing a blue streak at the guy in front of you. I noticed the 'Choose Life' license plate holder, the 'What Would Jesus Do' bumper sticker and the chrome-plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk. Naturally, I assumed you had stolen the car.”
The story may or may not be apocryphal. But it illustrates the challenge we all face: making sure that our behavior squares with our professed values.
Personal Responsibility
Personal responsibility is a virtue we all want in others, and most of us claim as a defining characteristic of ourselves.
That’s not a casual statement. I have hard data on it. Over the years I’ve interviewed and surveyed hundreds of thousands of people regarding the culture in their organizations. I always ask questions about performance – the performance of the respondent and the performance of others. Virtually without exception, individuals regard themselves as reliable and responsible. They believe they are held accountable to high standards. But when the same questions are applied to others, respondents usually have a different story. They believe that at least some of their colleagues provide less than robust performance.
For example, in one company where I recently did a culture diagnostic, 76% of employees agreed with the statement “I am always held accountable for performing at a high level.” Among the same employee force, however, only 9% agreed with the statement “At (name of company), people who don’t pull their fair share of the load are promptly held accountable.”
Aside from the logical incongruity of that finding, it underscores a common malady: a blind spot for one’s own foibles or mistakes.
Years ago we kept the following note on the family bulletin board:
That’s Not My Job
This is the story about four people. Their names were Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody.
There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it.
Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did. Somebody got upset about that, because it was Everybody’s job.
Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody didn’t do it.
It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have.
The behavior described in that little ditty is painfully common. It reminds me of when I was growing up as a kid. We kept a water bottle in the refrigerator. The rules, of course, were that (1) you never drank out of the bottle, and (2) you always filled it up after using it.
In reality, of course, my brothers and I often violated the rules. It was not unusual to open the frig and find the bottle not only with just a quarter inch of water in it but with bread crumbs floating on the top. Everybody blamed Somebody when … well, you get the idea.
Living What We Profess
In a recent Gospel Doctrine class, we discussed a number of scriptures that directly apply to the notion of living what we profess:
· Nephi’s admonition that we “must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ.” (2 Nephi 31:20)
· The importance of asking God, in the name of Christ, to consecrate our performance. (2 Nephi 32:9)
· Jacob’s wonderful teachings on magnifying our callings. (Jacob 1:17-19)
Regarding that last point, we gain further insight and instruction in D&C 58:26-28. In this revelation we’re reminded that we should not need to be commanded in all things (a heavenly twist on “That’s Not My Job”), and that by our own free will we should be anxiously engaged in good causes.
In Jacob 4:10 we’re reminded that we should “seek not to counsel the Lord” but rather to “take counsel from his hand.” In an intellectual sense, that doctrine is easy to grasp. In actual practice, however, it’s sometimes a challenge. On occasion we ask the Lord to guide us, then we grab the steering wheel.
In Jacob 5 we read of Zenos’ allegory of the olive tree. A central theme in the allegory is stewardship. A stewardship is a job with a purpose. (See an earlier column, “Think Like a Steward, Perform Like a Patriot.”)
When we are faithful in our stewardships, we magnify our callings. We don’t need to be commanded in all things. We are proactive. We go the second mile. And, of course, faithfulness in our own callings is an integral part of our genuine sustaining of others in their callings. Ask any bishop how important good home teaching and visiting teaching are to the effectiveness of his service as the ward’s shepherd.
Then we studied the Book of Enos. Here we see one of the finest examples of personal religion in the scriptures. The fervent prayer offered up by Enos illustrates the expanding concern of a righteous person – first for himself, next for his own people, and finally for his enemies. Enos provides a model of humility and openness to the Lord’s teaching.
Doctrines Pure and Simple
These doctrines are pure and they are simple. So pure and simple, in fact, that they can easily be missed.
Years ago while serving as a stake president I sought out a high priest who had been completely inactive in the Church for more than a decade. I asked him why he had chosen that path. He said he was called to serve as stake mission president and he developed a plan for the calling. His stake president had a different vision for missionary efforts in the stake, and asked him to adjust his plan.
“I felt really strongly about the plan I had developed, and I resisted the stake president’s instruction,” the man told me. “When it because obvious that my approach would not be followed, I asked to be released. Then I just drifted away from the Church.”
“Well, I guess you really showed him, didn’t you?” I said. “To demonstrate your independence, you’ve estranged yourself from the faith you once defended. Meanwhile, your wife and children have been denied the benefits of your participation, and your temple blessings are held in suspension while you ignore your covenants.”
It was very straight talk, and fortunately the man came to his senses and returned to activity.
Living what we profess requires a special kind of commitment. The doctrines of the Restoration are not always easy, and the natural man frequently gets in the way. Our challenge, of course, is to emulate the strength and faith of people like Nephi and Jacob and Enos.
What is stolen (and redefined, the same way a stolen car might be disguised to camouflage its plain interpretation of what it is) is the very language--the heritage of the body of faith delivered once for all to the saints (Jude 3):
eternal Hell is usurped to = a temporary spirit prison; salvation for "narrow is the way that leads to life" is redefined as "salvation" for almost all in 3 degrees; sin is co-opted to mean a "fall upward"--whatever that means (as if war, murder, abortion, rape, abuse, etc. were spiritual advances upward); "Jesus" is redefined as the elder spiritual brother of Lucipher who didn't create anything; Elohim is redefined in our image--body parts and all; Gospel is redefined as dos and don'ts, rules and ordinances; the atonement is redefined as to what Jesus did in Gethsemane vs. what He did on Calvary; etc. etc. etc.
"I repent and turn to the Christ of the bible":>)
That is precisely what we Latter-Day Saints have done.
I like that definition--it's refreshing.
How would I sum up distinctions between how Mormons tend to live the faith they profess vs. Evangelicals/Protestants/born-agains...failings within each of our camps?
Mormons:
...tend to focus on living responsibly--the heart of stewardship; they focus on the myriad of precepts and ordinances woven from multiple sources; they focus on the policies, advice, counsel and dictums of general authorities; they focus on doctrines & covenants; they focus on principles; they focus on the 16 things you need to do to become eligible for exaltation [without ever putting it together as a single list]; they focus on serving via missionary ventures.
But servants don't always know the Father's business purposes, as John 15:15 indicates: "I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business."
Mormons misstep here, making it their ultimate purpose in life--and thinking it's God's primary purpose for them--to one day approach Elohim and say, "I'm glad you've welcomed me to the neighborhood; you may refer to me as Lord XYZ...when's the next godhood council meeting?"
When godhood is riding upon performance that translates into worthiness, then even most good things done on behalf of others is ultimately self-centered & thereby self-defeating in the quest...Can you imagine if Jesus Christ did not share the Father's glory from eternity (John 17:5)? Were His goal merely manhood to godhood, then even the cross would have been a self-centered stairway to heaven, wood constructed more for His divinity than for our sins.
Evangelicals, born-agains & Protestants...
...tend to misstep on the previous verse--John 15:14--a verse many Mormons probably know by heart but one our encampment so easily forgets: "You are my friends if you do what I command."
We tend to engage in licentious behavior, so easily forgetting that obedience is a natural by-product of friends who know their father's business purposes.
We also tend to forget the warning Jesus gave us long ago: "You search the Scriptures for you think that in them, you have eternal life. But I tell you they testify to me." The book is not eternal life--His words are not--He, Himself is eternal life.
We are like Mary when we tell Jesus, "Yup, we'll rise again at the last day" (see John 11:24). Jesus gently rebukes us by reminding us that He, Himself is the resurrection and the life (v. 25)...a resurrection and new life we can encounter now! "He who believes in me will live, even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
We think heaven is primarily a place when in actuality what is the place is the Person: "I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almight and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its Lamp." (Rev. 21:22-23).
We think of eternal life as being future tense when we die when the Bible describes it as present tense (John 3:36; John 5:24)...because Jesus defined eternal life as knowing Him (John 17:3), which is a now relationship.
Jesus is looking for new wineskins to pour Himself--the Holy Spirit--into...will our traditions & religious tenets stand in the way?
So you claim -- for the moment. But I would be more circumspect. The day will come when everything the Lord has done in every age of the world will be made known to you, and you will be reminded of all the people the Lord has sent to you to bear witness of these things, and what your response to them was.
The prophet Moroni wrote this, about 420 AD, as he was preparing to entrust the Book of Mormon plates to the Lord's care and keeping, to come forth to the world centuries later:
Book of Mormon, Moroni 10:27-30The prophet Moroni bears witness, the Holy Spirit bears witness, and I bear witness.
27 And I exhort you to remember these things; for the time speedily cometh that ye shall know that I lie not, for ye shall see me at the bar of God; and the Lord God will say unto you: Did I not declare my words unto you, which were written by this man, like as one crying from the dead, yea, even as one speaking out of the dust?
28 I declare these things unto the fulfilling of the prophecies. And behold, they shall proceed forth out of the mouth of the everlasting God; and his word shall hiss forth from generation to generation.
29 And God shall show unto you, that that which I have written is true.
30 And again I would exhort you that ye would come unto Christ, and lay hold upon every good gift, and touch not the evil gift, nor the unclean thing.
Take heed lest the stone you reject now becomes the head of the corner. As with the Lord Himself (Matthew 21:42), so with His Word, sent forth anciently, and sent forth in our day.
Pray for the gift of discernment, that you may know what is the Word of God and what are the doctrines of men, and be polite and respectful to all, so you will not be haunted at the last day by memories of treating people poorly.
Matthew 25:40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
I haven't run across any Latter-Day Saints of the kind you describe, but you do a good job proclaiming the Word of God as the standard we all should live by.
I encourage you to exhort everyone to study it prayerfully and live accordingly.
Jesus had given signs and wonders aplenty, yet the doubters still asked for a sign. Jesus has given a lot of Scripture to the world in the latter days, should you not receive it first, before you insist on more?
The Lord gives frequent guidance to His apostles today without asking them to publish and canonize it.
2 Peter 1:21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
The Lord decides when He wants something added to the canon of Scripture.
There is, however, a wealth of new material each year to study and ponder, as the apostles and other leaders expound upon the wealth of Scripture that we have. We hold a General Conference every six months, at which each of the apostles speaks, emphasizing those things we need to bear in mind and attend to during the next six months. They write books, articles in the Church magazines, etc.
But if you look through all that only seeking occasion to find fault, then supposed faults is all you will come up with. Check those supposed faults against the Scriptures they are expounding before you proclaim (as many endlessly do) that we believe something faulty.
If you insist that they must break new ground each time they get up to speak, you will come to know that is not the Lord's way.
We all need to appreciate better, live better, that is, believe better, what the Lord has already given us, and we need to hear the Word of God each week, at Church on Sunday and in family and individual Scripture study at home.
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