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.
That was a response to a post by another freeper.
Define "doctrinal".
The guys who wrote it were the bishops of the different churches, were they not? No apostles left among them?
Each item is simply a restatement of Scripture.
I believe that there are three beings, united in purpous and equal in love and understanding (they are all infinite), but they are nonetheless individuals.
"Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord."
Indeed. So how about this...living responsibly in the public square? Kudos to California LDS folks who were, of their own free will, involved in the good cause of passing the proposition a few years back that defined marriage as between one man and one woman. The LDS Church in CA then was a key ally in getting that passed.
Unfortunately, as someone who has been involved in the pro-life movement, I have seen much less involvement in this arena by Mormons--both at the church authority level and at the grass roots level.
You would think that the only church body on the planet that has the doctrine that there are baby spirits up there having been hatched by MomGod and they are simply awaiting bodies down here to inhabit would be leading the line of pro-life activists. Sadly that is not the case.
Lds folks are generally pro-family and pro-life; but like too many other church bodies, it often is "paper tiger" status beyond their immediate families. Worse, and I've seen the LDS-sanctioned book published for its bishops (someone placed it online)...bishops are given the "okay" by Salt Lake City to allow for LDS members to have abortions for reasons of "health" without even bothering to define what "health" is.
And, that, my friends, is notliving responsibly amidst the overseers of any church body...(not that the Christian denominations can easily point fingers given that the insurance policies for the Presbyterian Church-USA and Evangelical Lutheran Church-ELCA both pay for abortions in targeting offspring of churchworkers!).
I would say those whose heritage has evolved from 19th century Protestant evangelists have been given a faith to responsibly pass down to the next generation--what some call the biological commission. That would be living out what we profess generation unto generation.
Someone once said that children are missionaries we send to a time we will never see. For Mr. Duncan, a break occurred somewhere in that heritage. [Someone could say the same thing in reverse about me re: a heritage-break: My triple-great grandfather was a polygamous bishop in the LDS church]; Mr. Duncan openly concedes he is now not living what his ancestors professed. The Bible says "you shall know them by their fruits" and one fruit we can evaluate in others' lives is: Do we responsibly honor the faith of the saints of the 18th century, the 17th century, the 16th century, and on and on previously, before us? And so the question arises: How do latter-day Saints, who typically fail to honor most saints who lived between the third and 18th centuries, live out what they profess to believe in Jude 3? How can they broad brush so many previous generations as outright heretical apostates when the Bible clearly says it was a "once and for all" delivery unto a church who would prevail vs. the gates of hell?
Some of the shortest books of the Bible can teach us some of the greatest lessons for living out what we profess. Jude 3 is a primary example:
"...I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for allentrusted to the saints."
Notice that Jude says the faith was delivered once for all, not once for a while upon earth, only to be totally lost and need to be restored. Latter-day saints say they honor and revere the King James version of Jude 3. How do they live out what they profess to believe here? Do they take scissors to the "once for all" by simply ignoring it? I'm truly interested in knowing a response.
He then goes on in Jude 4 to talk about "certain men" have "secretly slipped in among you" who deny Jesus as "our only Sovereign and Lord." Some people treat modern-day prophets as pseudo-sovereigns; some people treat modern-day revelations as pseudo-sovereigns; some people treat modern-day church authorities as pseudo-sovereigns; and some people fail to acknowledge the sovereignty of our Lord Jesus Christ by not praying to Him as the Nephites allegedly did; by not recognizing Him as Creator as John (1:3), Paul (Col. 1:16), and the writer of Hebrews (1:2-3) did; and by not believing Him when He said "wide is the road that leads to destruction; narrow is the way that leads to life" (Matt. 7:13)
Being disagreeable
Some folks wonder what the purpose is even for books like 3 John in the Bible. For one thing, John names names: saying both positive things about Demetrius (12) and negative things about Diotrephes (9)...I guess John wouldn't pass muster from some posters for he openly said negative things about Diotrephes.
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