Redeeming Grace and the 16 Stones

I devote this post to the remarkable hidden metaphor of redeeming grace in the account of the brother of Jared and the 16 stones.

Here is the relevant excerpt from the Book of Ether:

And he cried again unto the Lord saying: … I have prepared the vessels for my people, and behold there is no light in them. Behold, O Lord, wilt thou suffer that we shall cross this great water in darkness?

And the Lord said unto the brother of Jared: What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels? For behold, ye cannot have windows, for they will be dashed in pieces; neither shall ye take fire with you, for ye shall not go by the light of fire.

…

And behold, I prepare you against these things; for ye cannot cross this great deep save I prepare you against the waves of the sea, and the winds which have gone forth, and the floods which shall come. Therefore what will ye that I should prepare for you that ye may have light when ye are swallowed up in the depths of the sea?

And it came to pass that the brother of Jared, (now the number of the vessels which had been prepared was eight) went forth unto the mount, which they called the mount Shelem, because of its exceeding height, and did molten out of a rock sixteen small stones; and they were white and clear, even as transparent glass; and he did carry them in his hands upon the top of the mount, and cried again unto the Lord, saying:

… Now behold, O Lord, and do not be angry with thy servant because of his weakness before thee; for we know that thou art holy and dwellest in the heavens, and that we are unworthy before thee; because of the fall our natures have become evil continually; nevertheless, O Lord, thou hast given us a commandment that we must call upon thee, that from thee we may receive according to our desires.

…

And I know, O Lord, that thou hast all power, and can do whatsoever thou wilt for the benefit of man; therefore touch these stones, O Lord, with thy finger, and prepare them that they may shine forth in darkness; and they shall shine forth unto us in the vessels which we have prepared, that we may have light while we shall cross the sea.

Behold, O Lord, thou canst do this. We know that thou art able to show forth great power, which looks small unto the understanding of men. (Ether 2:22-23, 25; Ether 3:1-2, 4-5; emphasis added)

We Latter-day Saints know this story.

Under the guidance of heaven, the brother of Jared, along with close family and friends, is preparing to travel from the Old World to the promised land of the Americas. The problem is that the eight barges, the “vessels” for the trip, are pitch black inside.

The Lord has prohibited the use of windows and fire, so the brother of Jared is very much in the dark.

What to do?

He decides to venture up “the mount Shelem” and “molten out of a rock sixteen small stones” that are “white and clear, even as transparent glass.” He takes the 16 stones to the summit of Shelem, calls on the Lord, and asks him to touch the stones so that they “may shine forth in darkness.”

The Lord approves the proposal, touches the stones, and the problem is solved.

Now, what is going on theologically behind this narrative?

Like many Latter-day Saints, I recently attended a Gospel Doctrine class in which we discussed the story of the brother of Jared and the 16 stones. The well-prepared instructor cited a quotation that caught my attention. Here is the source material from Chapter 50: Ether 1-5 of the Book of Mormon Student Manual (2009):

• The Lord wants us to grow and learn as we make our own decisions. He also wants us to take our conclusions to Him frequently for His confirmation. When the brother of Jared asked the Lord about the matter of light for the vessels, the Lord answered with a question of His own: “What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels?” (Ether 2:23). According to President Harold B. Lee (1899–1973), the Lord’s question was similar to saying the following:

“‘Well, have you any good ideas? What would you suggest that we should do in order to have light?’ …

“Then the Lord went away and left him alone. It was as though the Lord were saying to him, ‘Look, I gave you a mind to think with, and I gave you agency to use it. Now you do all you can to help yourself with this problem; and then, after you’ve done all you can, I’ll step in to help you.’”

After considering the possibilities, the brother of Jared demonstrated his great faith by asking the Lord to touch 16 stones and supply light. The Lord answered this plea and not only provided light for the vessels but gave this faithful man a vision unlike any other.

President Lee concluded: “This is the principle in action. If you want the blessing, don’t just kneel down and pray about it. Prepare yourselves in every conceivable way you can in order to make yourselves worthy to receive the blessing you seek” (Stand Ye in Holy Places [1974], 243–44).

According to President Lee, the Lord wants the brother of Jared to “do all [he] can to help [himself].” Once he has done all he can, the Lord will “step in to help” the brother of Jared.

President Lee is not alone in this interpretation. In the Book of Mormon Student Manual’s very next entry, there is a quotation from Elder McConkie, who very much agrees with President Lee and goes even further:

• Elder Bruce R. McConkie (1915–85) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles explained that the Lord requires us to use our agency as we seek His help. Regarding the brother of Jared’s experience, Elder McConkie said: “The Lord talked to him about it a little and then he said this: ‘What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels?’ (Ether 2:23.) In effect, ‘What are you asking me for? This is something you should have solved.’ And he talked a little more, and he repeated in essence the question: ‘What will ye that I should prepare for you that ye may have light when ye are swallowed up in the depths of the sea?’ (Ether 2:25.) In other words, ‘Moriancumer, this is your problem. Why are you troubling me? I’ve given you your agency; you are endowed with capacity and ability. Get out and solve the problem’” (“Agency or Inspiration?” New Era, Jan. 1975, 40–41).

According to Elder McConkie, the same Lord who provides or approves the plans and specifications for the construction of the barges (Ether 2:16), which plans and specifications the brother of Jared faithfully executes, informs him that the lack of light “is [his] problem.” McConkie argues that the brother of Jared is “endowed with capacity and ability” and therefore should be able to “solve the problem” himself.

Great.

From President Lee we get another erroneous appraisal of 2 Nephi 25:23, the most misinterpreted passage in the canon of the Restoration, which pervasive wresting has been with us for at least 40 years, and from Elder McConkie we get a healthy dose of so-called spiritual self-reliance.

Are these explanations truly compatible with the story of the brother of Jared and the 16 stones?

Do all you can do, after which the Lord fixes it?

Or, if you prefer—

Just do it yourself?

These two explanations sound an awful lot like the gospel we routinely preach today.

Put yourself in the shoes of the brother of Jared. You go into the barge, shut the door (or hatch, or whatever), and you are in absolute darkness, a total blackout.

You say to yourself, “I know how I can help solve this problem. I will carefully prepare some very shiny, translucent stones, and maybe they will help me see a little better.”

Is this how the brother of Jared does all he can do to solve the problem?

Is this how the brother of Jared actually solves the problem?

What do you think? Do your shiny rocks bring any light to the darkness? Does your alleged solution do anything at all to illuminate the deathly gloom?

The brother of Jared might as well bring his shoe to the Lord, or a lump of coal, or a chicken, because all these solutions, along with a handful of sparkling diamonds, fail equally badly. They all have at least one thing in common—they do absolutely nothing to solve, in a direct and casual sense, the problem.

Might the brother of Jared know something that President Lee and Elder McConkie do not mention or otherwise marginalize?

What is the remarkable hidden meaning of redeeming grace and salvation in the account of the brother of Jared and the 16 stones?

The Lord expressly forbids the brother of Jared from using the works of his hands or his efforts to provide the requisite light.

What might this imply with regard to salvation?

Might this not propose that the works of our hands and the efforts of fallen, mortal beings are useless with regard to the successful completion of our itinerary to heaven?

Might we not find ourselves in most unusual circumstances in fallen mortality, which circumstances, by nature, not only grant us true freedom, but also strip from us any and all ability to effectively confront and overcome the monumental problems of the Fall and its aftermath of sin and imperfection?

The brother of Jared recognizes the immanent futility of his own works. Where he comes with the 16 stones before the Lord, the brother of Jared declares: “[W]e know that thou art holy and dwellest in the heavens, and that we are unworthy before thee; because of the fall our natures have become evil continually.”

He acknowledges that he is “unworthy” by virtue of “the fall.” He is inherently, intrinsically, innately unable to solve this problem. Moreover, the brother of Jared does not pretend that he contributes in any way to the ultimate solution to this problem.

The enlightened man does, however, avail himself of the one thing that fallen, mortal beings can do: “O Lord, thou hast given us a commandment that we must call upon thee, that from thee we may receive according to our desires.”

What do you want, brother of Jared?

What do we want, fallen, mortal beings?

Do we want the righteousness of heaven provided for us in the Son of God, or do we want something else?

The brother of Jared takes his meager but meaningful offering of otherwise useless faith and places it before the Lord. By so doing, the wise man demonstrates what he wants.

And in like manner, so do we.

What a pleasing, glorious illustration of the redeeming grace of Jesus!

The Lord—not the brother of Jared, not fallen, mortal human beings and the sum total of all our ingenuity, resourcefulness, and talent—the Lord God of Israel, alone, unaided, reaches out and gives light, divine light, the light of redeeming grace to us, if that is what we want.

The brother of Jared testifies: “O Lord, thou canst do this.” The brother of Jared knows how to distinguish the cause of salvation from the conditions on which it comes to fallen, mortal beings.

Should we not do the same?

The brother of Jared can build seaworthy barges (Ether 2:16-18) and provide for their ventilation (Ether 2:19-20). Were these two examples applicable to the matter of redemption, then they would effectively argue for the shared burden of salvation that regularly sounds from the pulpits of the Restoration.

Only in the miraculous provision of light do we find an apt metaphor for our salvation in Christ.

We can with heaven’s help build all the earthly barges we want and in them put as many holes as we desire, but if we want eternal life, then we must come, according to the word of the Lord, with an offering of faith to him, for only he possesses the infinite offering of that most valuable of all gifts.

What is the soteriological meaning of the account of the brother of Jared and the 16 stones?

Come to Christ and find salvation in him.

For a more comprehensive discussion of the roles of the Savior and us in the plan of salvation, see Chapter 4: Distinguishing the Cause from the Conditions in the book Redeeming Grace in the Canon of the Restoration (Amazon CreateSpace and Kindle).

A Baptismal Talk for Sydney

I devote this post to memorialize the talk given by my daughter Sydney at her baptism on November 10, 2012.

Sydney, always remember the astonishing tree of life, the preeminent symbol of redeeming grace in the canon of the Restoration.

Here is the complete text:

In the Book of Mormon, we have Lehi’s account of his vision of the tree of life. Please note, however, that the tree Lehi sees is not the tree of life in Eden, but another tree of the same name, which tree God plants outside Eden so that the tree can be available to everyone who is a fallen, mortal being. This second tree of life, whose fruit is “most sweet” (1 Nephi 8:11), is actually very different from the first tree of life, whose fruit is bitter.

But that is the subject for another talk. What is important now is that Lehi sees a tree whose fruit is “desirable to make [us] happy” (1 Nephi 8:10).

Now, in his dream, Lehi finds himself in a “large and spacious field” (1 Nephi 8:9). Once there, he sees the tree, “that tree of life” (1 Nephi 15:36), the tree with the desirable fruit. He wants to eat the fruit because he wants to be happy. So what does he do? He walks to the tree, reaches for the fruit, and takes a bite, probably several bites. The fruit is wonderful. It makes him happy.

Lehi wants his family to try the fruit. He looks around and sees his wife, Sariah, and two of his children, Nephi and Sam. They are close enough to hear Lehi, so he yells at them to come where he is so they can get a taste of the wonderful fruit. They listen to him and come and eat the fruit.

Lehi realizes that there is actually a path that leads to the tree. This path has a rod of iron that acts as a kind of handrail. Apparently, Whoever planted the tree in the large and spacious field wants everyone to be able to come to the tree, whether they are marathon runners, mountain climbers, or bus drivers. Whether they are survivalists, extreme-sports enthusiasts, or short-order cooks. Whoever they are or whatever they do, the One who planted the tree wants everyone to be able to come to the tree.

Lehi looks at the path. It is not particularly difficult. It apparently begins no more than a shout away from the tree. It does not go on for miles and miles and miles. It is not steep (if anything, the path might actually be slightly downhill, since a river flows toward the tree). It does not lead up the frightening slopes of an imposing and formidable mountain. It is not a treacherous path. It is not covered with slippery ice or slick oil. It does not have broken glass, rusty nails, or other things that might hurt us if we stepped on them. It is not uneven or jagged. It does not have any hidden pitfalls, dangerous cracks, or telltale signs of neglect.

Sure, the path leading to the tree is a “strait and narrow path” (1 Nephi 8:20), but the purpose of this design is to get us from Point A to Point B, not to make the journey any more difficult than it has to be. Consequently, the path is not a trail of tears or a thoroughfare of thorns. This path is the “path of the low valley” (2 Nephi 4:32). This path is a “plain road” (2 Nephi 4:32). It is a pleasant path.

And this pleasant path leads to the tree of life. An angel tells Nephi that the tree represents the love of God. Of course, for us fallen, mortal beings, the love of God is manifest in Jesus. For us, Jesus is the tree of life. Lehi wants to go to the tree because the tree is Jesus. Lehi knows that only Jesus has the fruit that makes us happy. That fruit is eternal life: a life with God, a life of happiness, a life that goes on and on in the long day of eternity.

You will remember from Lehi’s vision that Lehi does not pay for the fruit. He doesn’t buy it with money. He doesn’t purchase a ticket to eat the fruit. He doesn’t argue or bicker over the price, because for Lehi, there is no price. Lehi doesn’t have the kind of money required to buy this fruit. But Jesus does, and the fruit costs him more than we can imagine. What’s more, he gives it away for free, if we come to him.

Maybe you’ve wondered why Jesus is a tree in Lehi’s vision. Why a tree? Why not a soaring eagle who brings the fruit in a basket to us while we wander all over the great and spacious field and do whatever we want? Why not a ferocious grizzly bear, a swift horse, or a roaring lion? In Lehi’s vision, Jesus is a tree because the whole reason we are in a great and spacious field to begin with is for us to be able to choose what we want. If we want to be happy, then we will freely choose to come to the tree, and the tree will freely give us its fruit. In other words, if we want the righteousness of heaven made available to us in Christ, then we will freely choose to come to him, and he will freely give us eternal life.

But we have to choose. That’s why Jesus is a tree firmly rooted in the earth. That’s why he remains still while we move around in Lehi’s vision. True, Jesus comes down to us in our fallen world, but we have to come to him.

Finding the path that leads to Jesus is important. Entering that path is even more important.

I am happy that today I formally enter that path through the ordinance of baptism, just like Jesus showed us during his life on earth.

May we all find the path, walk in it, arrive at the tree, eat the fruit, and be happy.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Of Regrets and Resolutions (Part 2)

I devote this post to a translation of a portion of the October 6, 2012 General Conference address, Of Regrets and Resolutions, given by Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

President Uchtdorf:

Discipleship is the pursuit of holiness and happiness. It is the path to our best and happiest self.

…

The more we devote ourselves to the pursuit of holiness and happiness, the less likely we will be on a path to regrets. The more we rely on the Savior’s grace, the more we will feel that we are on the track our Father in Heaven has intended for us.

Translation:

Modify the first sentence by adding two important capital letters, and the definition passes canonical muster, as follows: Discipleship is the pursuit of Holiness and Happiness.

That is, discipleship is the pursuit of Christ in the attainable path of his gospel, and Christ is indeed “the path to our best and happiest self.”

There is a stark but usually overlooked distinction between pursuing “holiness and happiness,” and pursuing Christ, because the former is unattainable independent of Jesus (or even with his help), and the latter is attainable (faith, repentance, gospel ordinances, and enduring to the end).

In the restored church of Christ, we routinely replace the pursuit of Jesus with the pursuit of his divine qualities. We acknowledge the intercession of Christ as making available the possibility of our personal ascent to heaven, a quest empowered by divine assistance (as needed) but propelled by our refining accomplishment and individual progress.

This is the inescapable implication of replacing the invitation to come to Christ with the imperative to acquire his holiness and happiness.

I credit President Uchtdorf with one of the most startling non sequiturs I have ever heard from the pulpit of the Restoration. First, Uchtdorf observes that “[t]he more we devote ourselves to the pursuit of holiness and happiness, the less likely we will be on a path to regrets.” Then, he asserts that “[t]he more we rely on the Savior’s grace, the more we will feel that we are on the track our Father in heaven has intended for us.”

For Uchtdorf and many in the restored church of Christ, these two statements are perfectly complimentary because, the argument goes, when we pursue holiness and happiness, we are relying on the Savior’s enabling grace that comes to us in a lengthy process of self-purification and self-perfection.

For me, these two statements cry out in irreconcilable conflict.

If I come to Christ in the path of his attainable gospel, then I am indeed wholly relying on the Savior’s redeeming grace. Although I fully expect him to help and strengthen me (enabling grace) as I choose righteousness, I understand that only he has the power to purify and perfect me in a celestial resurrection.

If, however, I attempt to pursue “holiness and happiness” apart from Christ, then what exactly do I end up with? What good are a handful of superlative spiritual qualities residing at the upper end of the spectrum of fallen, mortal achievement, whether or not they are allegedly co-authored by Christ? Do they permit me to dwell in the presence of a holy, perfect God in eternity?

Is the gospel of personal ascension through accelerated fallen, mortal effort the gospel of the Restoration?

Is the gospel of Tony Robbins the gospel of Christ?

Lehi refers to the “happiness which is affixed, to answer the ends of the atonement” (2 Nephi 2:10), which happiness comes to us because of the atonement and its power to elevate us in a celestial resurrection to a divine state.

Jacob mentions “that happiness which is prepared for the saints” (2 Nephi 9:43), which happiness is prepared for the saints, not by them.

Abinadi proclaims “the resurrection of endless life and happiness” (Mosiah 16:11), the endless happiness of the celestial resurrection.

Mormon contemplates the time when those who come to Christ “are raised to dwell at the right hand of God, in a state of never-ending happiness” (Alma 28:12), the happiness of being raised in a celestial resurrection to a state of happiness.

Alma acknowledges the “state of happiness” that the “spirits of those who are righteous” (those who come to Christ) receive in the “paradise” of the spirit world (Alma 40:12), which happiness is a precursor to the permanent happiness of the celestial resurrection.

Alma also affirms that the righteous (those who come to Christ) are “raised to endless happiness to inherit the kingdom of God” (Alma 41:4), which happiness comes by being raised in a celestial resurrection.

Unless and until we independently or cooperatively develop the faculty to raise ourselves in glory from the ashes of the Fall, we must embrace discipleship as the call to come to Christ in the attainable path of his gospel.

Consider again Lehi’s vision of the tree of life (1 Nephi 8). Lehi’s quest is to come to the tree and freely partake of its fruit, not to continue on past the tree or arrive at the tree only to then climb an infinite ladder that ascends into heaven.

Uchtdorf explains that “[w]hen we are young … the future looks to us like an unbroken road stretching endlessly before us.” This observation may well be true, but it is precisely the attitude and outlook of those who perceive the gospel as empowered individuals exercising agency to acquire for themselves the accoutrements of heavenly perfection and the divine nature.

The question is not whether we should grow and progress spiritually during our earthly probation, but whether we correctly understand the function of the spiritual growth and progression that flows to us as we come to Christ.

King Benjamin teaches his people, who have just been born again, that if they remember the Lord’s goodness and their own nothingness, and endure in their faith, then they will “always retain a remission of [their] sins … and … grow in the knowledge of the glory of him that created [them], or in the knowledge of that which is just and true” (Mosiah 4:12; emphasis added).

The point of this progress is, among other things, to gain strength to endure to the end, to arrive and remain at the tree of life in Lehi’s dream, not to incrementally become everything God wants us to be.

Alma compares the word of the Lord to a seed:

But behold, as the seed swelleth, and sprouteth, and beginneth to grow, then you must needs say that the seed is good; for behold it swelleth, and sprouteth, and beginneth to grow. And now, behold, will not this strengthen your faith? Yea, it will strengthen your faith: for ye will say I know that this is a good seed; for behold it sprouteth and beginneth to grow.

…

And now, behold, because ye have tried the experiment, and planted the seed, and it swelleth and sprouteth, and beginneth to grow, ye must needs know that the seed is good.

…

And behold, as the tree beginneth to grow, ye will say: Let us nourish it with great care, that it may get root, that it may grow up, and bring forth fruit unto us. And now behold, if ye nourish it with much care it will get root, and grow up, and bring forth fruit.

…

But if ye will nourish the word, yea, nourish the tree as it beginneth to grow, by your faith with great diligence, and with patience, looking forward to the fruit thereof, it shall take root; and behold it shall be a tree springing up unto everlasting life. (Alma 32:30, 33, 37, 41; emphasis added)

This is the function of exercising enduring faith in the gospel of Jesus during the short day of fallen, mortal life.  The point of it all is to choose to come to Christ and remain with him. Although the seed metaphor breaks down with regard to the source of our salvation (we plant the seed, nurture the tree, and partake of its fruit), the metaphor expresses the importance of receiving and believing the word of God (and, of course, the Word of God, the Son of God).

There is no question that Alma knows who saves him. At the conclusion of the metaphor, he corrects the ambiguity concerning the causality of salvation (the Lord plants the seed, nurtures the tree, and we freely partake of its fruit) because Alma plainly refers to the actual source of salvation, the tree of life in Lehi’s dream (Alma 32:42; see 1 Nephi 8:10-12), which tree is Christ.

Discipleship is the pursuit of Christ, who is our path to our best and happiest self.

If we pursue Christ and trust in his redeeming grace, then we will come to him, find him, and at last receive a fullness of the blessings of his atonement, which blessings constitute everything God wants us to be.

For a more comprehensive discussion of the attainable gospel of Jesus, see Chapter 12: The Attainable Standards of Salvation in the book Redeeming Grace in the Canon of the Restoration (Amazon CreateSpace and Kindle).

Of Regrets and Resolutions (Part 1)

I devote this post to a translation to a portion of the October 6, 2012 General Conference address, Of Regrets and Resolutions, given by Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

President Uchtdorf:

Another regret people expressed was that they failed to become the person they felt they could and should have been. When they looked back on their lives, they realized that they never lived up to their potential, that too many songs remained unsung.

I am not speaking here of climbing the ladder of success in our various professions. …

Rather, I am speaking of becoming the person God, our Heavenly Father, intended us to be.

…

When it comes to living the gospel, we should not be like the boy who dipped his toe in the water and then claimed he went swimming. As sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, we are capable of so much more. For that, good intentions are not enough. We must do. Even more important, we must become what Heavenly Father wants us to be.

…

Let us resolve to follow the Savior and work with diligence to become the person we were designed to become. Let us listen to and obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit. As we do so, Heavenly Father will reveal to us things we never knew about ourselves. He will illuminate the path ahead and open our eyes to see our unknown and perhaps unimagined talents.

…

Resolve to strive more earnestly to become the person God wants us to be.

…

His [Christ’s] Atonement allows us to leave the past behind and move forward with … a determination to do better and especially to become better (emphasis added in all quotations).

Translation:

The word become is fashionable today in the restored church of Christ.

As you can readily see above, President Uchtdorf uses the word to describe discipleship, even the mechanism that fallen, mortal beings employ to acquire salvation.

We must “become” the person we should be.

We must become “the person God, our Heavenly Father, intended us to be.”

We “must become what Heavenly Father wants us to be.”

How?

We “work with diligence to become the person we were designed to become.”

We “strive more earnestly to become the person God wants us to be.”

We “move forward with … a determination to do better and especially to become better.”

We do it. We become. In the gospel of incremental salvation, we amass one divine coin at a time until we possess an infinite, heavenly treasure.

Otherwise, the unstated implication is quite clear and replete with eternal regret. If we do not “become” the person we should be, “the person God, our Heavenly Father, intended us to be,” or “what Heavenly Father wants us to be,” then how can we dwell with him in heaven?

For Uchtdorf and many others who speak from the pulpit of the Restoration, the word become denotes a lifetime of transforming self-improvement (a sort of empowering spiritual Kaizen)—perhaps additionally, a lengthy postscript of continuing effort in the pre-resurrection spirit world—maybe even an eternal sentence of the refining, enhancing, and elevating endeavor.

What about the writers of the canon of the Restoration? Do they use become the same way Uchtdorf uses the word?

Become is a potentially significant theological word that occurs in 227 verses in the Book of Mormon. My question is simply this: In how many of the 227 verses do the preachers of righteousness in the Book of Mormon teach us to embark on a lifelong quest of personal improvement to (1) avoid regret at the end of our mortal lives, (2) make ourselves suitable to a heavenly environment, and (3) “become the person God wants us to be”?

Not one.

None.

Zero. Zilch. Zip.

Instead, become almost always denotes a definite, discrete, distinct event or shift, and never conclusively designates a gradual process that unfolds over a lifetime. Become signals the realization of a significant change. Become does not describe the alleged process leading to the change.

For example, in Helaman 6, there are five verses (5 of the overall 227) that contain one form or another of the verb become—

#1:

And it came to pass that when the sixty and second year of the reign of the judges had ended, all these things had happened and the Lamanites had become, the more part of them, a righteous people, insomuch that their righteousness did exceed that of the Nephites, because of their firmness and their steadiness in the faith. (Helaman 6:1; emphasis added)

How much time does the “more part” of the Lamanites require to “become … a righteous people”? Less than a year. Their conversion occurs during the “sixty and second year of the reign of the judges.”

#2:

For behold, there were many of the Nephites who had become hardened and impenitent and grossly wicked, insomuch that they did reject the word of God and all the preaching and prophesying which did come among them. (Helaman 6:2; emphasis added)

How much time do “many of the Nephites” require to “become hardened and impenitent and grossly wicked”? Probably a year or two. After Moronihah (a Nephite military leader), Nephi (Nephite chief judge), and Lehi (Nephi’s brother) “preach many things unto the people” and “prophesy many things unto them concerning their iniquities,” the vacillating Nephites “repent” (Helaman 4:15) in the “sixty and first year of the reign of the judges” (Helaman 4:17). However, the time of the Nephites’ transformation to being “hardened and impenitent and grossly wicked” is at most 12 years, given that there is “continual peace and great joy in the fiftieth year of the reign of the judges” (Helaman 3:32).

#3:

And it came to pass that they became exceedingly rich, both the Lamanites and the Nephites; and they did have an exceeding plenty of gold, and of silver, and of all manner of precious metals, both in the land south and in the land north. (Helaman 6:9; emphasis added)

How much time do the “Lamanites and the Nephites” require to “[become] exceedingly rich”? Less than a year. The economic and wealth-accumulation boom occurs in the “sixty and fourth year” (Helaman 6:13) and is the result of peace and free trade between the Nephite and Lamanite peoples, the peace precipitated by the mass conversion of Lamanites to the gospel of Jesus during the “sixty and second year of the reign of the judges (Helaman 6:1).

#4:

And behold, there was all manner of gold in both these lands [the Lamanite land of Lehi to the south, the Nephite land of Mulek to the north], and of silver, and of precious ore of every kind; and there were also curious workmen, who did work all kinds of ore and did refine it; and thus they did become rich. (Helaman 6:11; emphasis added)

How much time do the Lamanites and Nephites require to “become rich”? Less than a year. They “become rich” in the “sixty and fourth year …” (Helaman 6:13).

#5:

And now behold, he had got great hold upon the hearts of the Nephites; yea, insomuch that they had become exceedingly wicked; yea, the more part of them had turned out of the way of righteousness, and did trample under their feet the commandments of God, and did turn unto their own ways, and did build up unto themselves idols of their gold and their silver. (Helaman 6:31; emphasis added)

How much time do the Nephites require to “become exceedingly wicked”? Not long. The Nephites succumb to “all these iniquities … in the space of not many years …” (Helaman 6:32). The “more part” of the wickedness occurs in the “sixty and seventh year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi” (Helaman 6:32). Indeed, “in the commencement of the sixty and seventh year the people [begin] to grow exceedingly wicked again” (Helaman 6:16).

In these passages, become describes a definite, discrete, distinct shift, not a lengthy, lifelong process.

Elsewhere in the Book of Mormon, become describes the Fall (2 Nephi 2:5, 2 Nephi 2:21, 2 Nephi 9:6, 2 Nephi 9:9, Mosiah 16:3, Alma 12:22, Alma 12:24, Alma 12:31, Alma 42:3, Alma 42:6, Alma 42:7, Alma 42:10, Ether 3:2), the atonement (2 Nephi 2:26, 2 Nephi 9:5, 2 Nephi 22:2, Mosiah 15:7), and the resurrection (2 Nephi 9:13, 2 Nephi 9:15, Alma 11:45, Mormon 6:21), all definite, discrete, and distinct events.

The writers of the Book of Mormon desire above all else to convince us to come to Christ and endure in faith on his name so that we can obtain the hope and ultimate fulfillment of rising in the glory of a celestial resurrection. These two mighty shifts—exercising enduring faith and rising in a glorious resurrection—constitute two watershed soteriological events of transcendent consequence in the lives of fallen, mortal beings.

The twin earnest objectives, the former a type and shadow of the latter, explain why the writers of the Book of Mormon do not (1) attempt to persuade us to piecemeal acquire divine attributes until we literally become like Christ is—resurrected, glorified, and heavenly, and (2) use become like Uchtdorf uses the word.

For example, the concept in scripture of becoming the sons and daughters of God illustrates how become designates a definite, discrete, distinct shift.

How do we become the sons and daughters of God? Uchtdorf implicitly argues in favor of the efficacy of an ambitious lifetime process of dedicated effort and tireless exertion. Alma, son of Alma, however, has a decidedly different view. Explaining his choice to turn to the Lord, the erstwhile persecutor of the church of God recalls:

And the Lord said unto me: Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters; (Mosiah 27:25; emphasis added)

Alma becomes a son of God when Alma is “born again,” “born of God” in the moment Alma cries out to Christ for deliverance.  In other words, when Alma genuinely turns to the Lord, he comes under a fullness of grace, and because Alma remains with the Lord, Alma remains under that fullness of grace.

This mighty shift evidenced by become—turning to the Lord—is the first soteriological event of consequence.

The voice of the resurrected Lord to the Nephite survivors of his judgments declares the same doctrine:

And as many as have received me, to them have I given to become the sons of God; and even so will I to as many as shall believe on my name, for behold, by me redemption cometh, and in me is the law of Moses fulfilled. (3 Nephi 9:17; emphasis added)

How do we fallen, mortal beings “become the sons [and daughters] of God”? We “receive” the Lord and “believe on [his] name” because “by [him] redemption cometh.” Our enduring belief in Christ is a mighty shift. Although we are not yet raised up in glory in the person and stature of Christ when we first believe, we come under a fullness of his grace and thereby acquire the hope of eternal life.

The Lord God of Israel, Jehovah, proclaims the same doctrine:

Behold, I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people. Behold, I am Jesus Christ. I am the Father and the Son. In me shall all mankind have life, and that eternally, even they who shall believe on my name; and they shall become my sons and my daughters. (Ether 3:14; emphasis added)

How do we fallen, mortal beings “become [Christ’s] sons and … daughters”? We “believe on [his] name,” a mighty shift. We turn to the Lord, we endure in our decision, and we literally become the Lord’s “sons and … daughters” in a glorious resurrection in which we have “life, and that eternally.”

Mormon uses become the same way Jesus uses the word:

And after that he came men also were saved by faith in his name; and by faith, they become the sons of God. And as surely as Christ liveth he spake these words unto our fathers, saying: Whatsoever thing ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is good, in faith believing that ye shall receive, behold, it shall be done unto you. (Moroni 7:26; emphasis added)

How do we fallen, mortal beings “become the sons [and daughters] of God”? We exercise “faith in his name.” We come “by faith” to the Lord. Our enduring faith in Christ is a mighty shift. Our perseverance in the path of faith seals the validity of our choice for Christ.

Mormon conveniently addresses both watershed soteriological events of consequence. Having already discussed faith in the Lord, Mormon next describes the transformation of the celestial resurrection promised to those whose faith endures:

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen. (Moroni 7:48; emphasis added)

Mormon is speaking to his people several centuries after the resurrection of Christ, which means that for his believing “beloved brethren,” the hoped-for celestial resurrection will occur at or near the time of the Lord’s public return in glory to the earth. When these “true followers of … Jesus Christ” rise in the resurrection, they will indeed “be filled with this love” and “be like him,” “see him as he is,” and “be purified even as he is pure” because the celestial resurrection marks the realization of the elevation of the faithful saints to the glory that the Son of God has prepared for them. Rising in a celestial resurrection of eternal glory is the mightiest of shifts, a state of happiness that is the “hope” of those who come to Christ.

The objective of fallen, mortal beings who want righteousness is to choose Christ at some point during their short lives, not to spiritually self-actualize. But the children of the Restoration seem to believe differently. Uchtdorf encourages us to “move forward with … a determination to do better and especially to become better” (emphasis added), despite the fact that no one in the Book of Mormon speaks this way. For Lehi, Nephi, Jacob, and all the rest, the gospel is about turning to the Lord, remaining with the Lord, and then rising in a celestial resurrection, which is why neither they nor any of their fellows ever utter the word better or entertain the notion of becoming better in the context in which Uchtdorf and many of his contemporaries talk about becoming. Better is not necessarily saved. The writers of the Book of Mormon want us to be saved.

Nephi declares:

And I pray the Father in the name of Christ that many of us, if not all, may be saved in his kingdom at that great and last day. (2 Nephi 33:12; emphasis added)

Mormon invites:

And I would that all men might be saved. … (Helaman 12:25; emphasis added)

Jesus, during his post-resurrection visit to the Americas, commands:

Therefore come unto me and be ye saved; … (3 Nephi 12:20; emphasis added)

Moroni explains:

Wherefore, I, Moroni, am commanded to write these things that evil may be done away, and that the time may come that Satan may have no power upon the hearts of the children of men, but that they may be persuaded to do good continually, that they may come unto the fountain of all righteousness and be saved. (Ether 8:26; emphasis added)

(Distinguish the commandment of the perfect day, the ideal instruction “to do good continually,” which is, at its core, an invitation to come to Christ, from the attainable invitation to “come unto the fountain of all righteousness and be saved.”)

Mormon, quoting Christ, affirms:

And he [Christ] hath said: Repent all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me, and be baptized in my name, and have faith in me, that ye may be saved. (Moroni 7:34; emphasis added)

Why are the followers of Jesus in the Book of Mormon not obsessed with continual and continuous mortal improvement, development, and progress, the misplaced spiritual Kaizen that allegedly brings about our suitability to heaven?

Maybe these enlightened souls know better than the children of the Restoration know how we (1) confront regret at the end of our mortal lives, (2) become acceptable to God, and (3) become what “God wants us to be.”

Maybe the ancients understand that what fallen, mortal beings do during the short period of our probation does not bring about our ultimate salvation and elevation to heaven.

Maybe the prophets of the house of Joseph realize that all fallen, mortal beings can do is exercise agency and come to Christ.

On what justifiable basis is the view from the pulpit of the Restoration not the view from the plates?

In his vision of the tree of life, does Lehi steadily improve until he become like Jesus, or does Lehi find the short path that leads to the divine tree, Christ, and freely eat of its fruit, the hope and promise of eternal life?

Which is it?

With all this talk of personal progress and piecemeal perfection, what are we doing?

What do we think we are doing?

Are we Later-day Saints trying to arrive at the tree and enjoy its fruit, or are we trying to supplant the tree, circumvent the tree, or otherwise render it irrelevant?

Is our earthly quest to come to Christ, or is our earthly quest to be Christ?

Do we want to be saved, or do we want to save ourselves?

In our apparent desire to forcibly affix the industrial philosophy of William Edwards Deming to the body of Christ, are we doing a good thing?

In the restored church of Christ, an unnoticed and unacknowledged war rages between the doctrine of legalism and the doctrine of Christ. As I contemplate this conflict, I am still not sure who is in worse shape—those who believe that they can become everything, or those who have given up trying.

For a more comprehensive discussion of how we become, see Chapter 8: Saved by Grace and Chapter 12: The Attainable Standards of Salvation in the book Redeeming Grace in the Canon of the Restoration (Amazon CreateSpace and Kindle).

Election 2012

I confess that I cannot watch much of the election coverage. When I consider what is at stake, the thought makes me physically ill.

The choice this year is not between two men who share the same love of country but differ in their personal policy preferences (Mark Levin).

The choice this year is between someone who loves the Constitution and someone else who sees nothing but flaws in it.

The choice this year is between the foundational, grounded concepts of limited government and personal liberty, and the speculative, fanciful sophistry of unlimited government and personal coercion for the alleged good of the collective.

Although the analogy is not perfect, this year the Federation and the Borg may as well be on the ballot.

On one hand, there are the children of the inspired founders of the Constitution and Declaration, the mortal authors of freedom, and on the other, the perpetually dissatisfied, aggrieved radicals and entitlement-minded who will gladly burn this nation to the ground in order to properly rebuild it in their own image.

When the fires go out, there will be little left, a fitting tribute to a grand delusion of unparalleled arrogance.

The choice this year is between competent management, binding budgets, and thoughtful strategy, and incompetent mismanagement, endless continuing resolutions, and childish tactics born of exigency.

The choice this year is between a shining city on a hill (Ronald Reagan) and just another sprawling, unremarkable shanty town lost in a vast slum of tyranny.

The truth is that we get the government we deserve.

But if we choose poorly this year, then we may never be able to undo the damage.

I fear the coming wrath, whether by divine censure and abandonment, or the logical, inevitable consequence of so many breaches of natural law.

I find no relief from the Book of Mormon account of the harrowing words of King Mosiah, a former inhabitant of the Americas:

Now it is not common that the voice of the people desireth anything contrary to that which is right; but it is common for the lesser part of the people to desire that which is not right; therefore this shall ye observe and make it your law—to do your business by the voice of the people.

And if the time comes that the voice of the people doth choose iniquity, then is the time that the judgments of God will come upon you; yea, then is the time he will visit you with great destruction even as he has hitherto visited this land (Mosiah 29:26-27).

Given the apparent results this evening that give Obama the victory and a new handful of delusional Democrat simpletons their own keys to the Senate, I am afraid that a thin majority now resides in this diminishing, damaged Republic, a thin majority so entrenched in the state, so utterly ignorant of history and our history, and so astonishingly foolish that we citizens of the United States of America are guaranteed the preservation of the new normal of Obama’s first term, along with the assurance of steady, inexorable decline.

My God, my God, why have we forsaken the principles of our founding?

Please, Sovereign Obama, give us this day our bread and pottage of lentiles, for we have gladly sold our birthright.

Oh, and if it would not be too much to ask, may I also have one of those nifty Obama phones?

Temple Standard

I devote this post to a translation of portions of the October 6, 2012 General Conference address, Temple Standard, given by Scott D. Whiting of the First Quorum of the Seventy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Elder Whiting:

A few months prior to the completion of the extensive renovation work, I was invited to tour the temple [Laie Hawaii Temple] … The purpose of the tour, in part, was to review the progress and quality of the work performed. …

… On occasion I observed one man running his hand along the walls as we moved from room to room. A few times after doing this, he would rub his fingers together and then approach the general contractor and say, “I feel grit on this wall. Grit is not temple standard. You will need to re-sand and buff this wall.” …

… [T]he same man … pointed to a small two-inch (5 cm) colored-glass square that was part of the simple pattern and said, “That square is crooked.” I looked at the square, and to my eyes it looked evenly placed. However, upon closer inspection with a measuring device in hand, I could see there was a flaw and that this little square was indeed one-eighth of an inch (3 mm) crooked. Direction was then given to the contractor that this window would need to be replaced because it was not temple standard.

…

Why would walls with a little grit and a window with a little asymmetry require additional work and even replacement when few human hands or eyes would ever know? Why was a contractor held to such high standards?

As I exited the temple deep in thought, I found my answer as I looked up at the refinished exterior and saw these words: “Holiness to the Lord, the House of the Lord.”

…

I learned that even though mortal eyes and hands may never see or feel a defect, the Lord knows the level of our efforts and whether we have done our very best. The same is true of our own personal efforts to live a life worthy of the blessings of the temple. …

…

Like the contractor, when we become aware of elements in our own lives that are inconsistent with the teachings of the Lord, when our efforts have been less than our very best, we should move quickly to correct anything that is amiss, recognizing that we cannot hide our sins from the Lord. We need to remember that “when we undertake to cover our sins, … behold, the heavens withdraw themselves; [and] the Spirit of the Lord is grieved” (Doctrine & Covenants 121:37).

I also learned that the high standards of temple building employed by this Church are a type and even a symbol of how we should be living our own lives. …

…

… [A]s we move past the age of accountability and step onto the battlefield of sin and temptation, our own temple can become in need of renovation and repair work. Perhaps there are walls within us that are gritty and need buffing or windows of our souls that need replacement in order that we can stand in holy places. Gratefully, the temple standard that we are asked to meet is not that of perfection, although we are striving for it, but rather that we are keeping the commandments and doing our best to live as disciples of Jesus Christ. It is my prayer that we will all endeavor to live a life worthy of the blessings of the temple by doing our best, by making the necessary improvements and eliminating flaws and imperfections so that the Spirit of God may always dwell in us. …

Translation:

Legalists in the restored church of Christ, rejoice, for you have another soul firmly planted in your corner and enlisted in your cause.

Chalk up another enthusiastic endorsement of the impossible Mormon gospel.

After again contemplating the ambitious discipleship metaphor of temple standard, I realize that Elder Whiting has one-upped Elder Nash’s discipleship metaphor of Huayna Piccu, notwithstanding its uprooting of Lehi’s vision of the tree of life and raising of Babel from the dust. (Third time is the charm.) Despite Nash’s admirable effort, Whiting is the clear victor in the questionable contest. Of course, if both men are on the right track, then we are all losers.

In case you did not make it all the way through the lengthy quotations at the beginning of this post, I will summarize the gist of Whiting’s use of temple standard:

1. The phrase temple standard describes the strict and exacting construction specifications for the temples of the Restoration.
2. Latter-day Saints build temples of the Restoration according to the temple standard to show our love and devotion for the Lord.
3. Latter-day Saints should also strictly and exactingly adhere to the temple standard of “keeping the commandments and doing our best to live as disciples of Jesus Christ” by “making the necessary improvements and eliminating flaws and imperfections so that the Spirit of God may also dwell in us.”

Here is an even shorter summary—

One reason we Latter-day Saints build temples is to remind us that we are required to achieve the worthiness mark of temple standard in our own lives in order to be acceptable to the Lord.

The implication is clear.

Got a little grit? You had better fix it.

Got slightly misshapen windows? You had better fix them.

Got a damaged foundation? Broken floorboards? Cracked concrete? A passé color scheme? A leaky roof? A flooded basement? You know what to do. Fix everything that is wrong. Fix it right. Fix it all.

For those ambitious souls who take up Whiting’s challenge, I have a few questions:

Do you always flawlessly execute your obligation of “keeping the commandments” (all the commandments, mind you, not just a convenient subset)?

Do you always (24-7-365—366 on leap years) do your “very best” to “live as [a disciple] of Jesus Christ”?

Have you made every conceivable “necessary improvement” in your life?

Have you eliminated all your “flaws and imperfections” that are humanly possible to correct?

According to Whiting, this is our mortal best-efforts punch list. Complete it and enter into the joy of the Lord. Fail to complete it and go somewhere else.

Per the subtle, undeclared tenets of legalism, the temple becomes a crushing symbol of just how far we are from Holiness to the Lord, a nagging reminder of all we must do to make ourselves acceptable to God. After all, if the Almighty strains at a little grit and recoils at slightly defective geometry, then what will he do with us?

Legalism holds that we personally fall when we commit sin, a notion captured by Whiting: “[A]s we move past the age of accountability and step onto the battlefield of sin and temptation, our own temple can become in need of renovation and repair work” (emphasis added). The universal Fall is transformed into a mere formality that does not really apply that much to us, given that we can personally overcome our own fall by simply not sinning anymore. If we do sin, however, legalism reminds us that we can repent if anything is amiss in our fallen, mortal lives. Of course, by repent legalism means fix. Everything. All of it. Temple standard.

Can you imagine the disappointment? After witnessing certain friends, a few family members, and multitudes of fellow mortals plunge to their deaths, you finally summit Huayna Piccu only to realize that you are still not temple standard. Consequently, the Lord must find another place for you.

Which reminds me—who is this anonymous man who rubs his hands in search of grit along walls and employs meticulously calibrated precision instruments to detect faulty geometric shapes that deviate from their regular and perfect proportions? Is he like the divine TSA agent who will inspect with his hands our persons and administer our fearful passage through an invasive and revealing heavenly body scanner in the day of judgment?

Is this the restored gospel of Jesus? Is this the good news of the Restoration? Complete a comprehensive, likely interminable punch list and live?

God forbid.

Do you know what I see when I look at the beautiful temples of the Restoration?

I was in St. George, Utah last weekend. I had the chance to walk the grounds of the St. George temple. The stone is exquisitely white. The building is otherworldly. It does not seem to belong there in the desert.

And that realization is the key to understanding one meaning of the symbolism of the temple—condescension. The divine Christ condescends from his throne, dwells among fallen, mortal beings, and makes intercession for us. In him we find the promise of divine acceptance, elevation, and ultimate perfection.

Temple standard describes and symbolizes Jesus of Nazareth, not the impossibly “high standards” fallen human beings are allegedly required to meet in order to make ourselves worthy of heaven.

Temple standard represents the hope and promise of the ideal—the holiness, righteousness, and happiness of the perfect day of salvation that the Son of God singularly provides for those who come to him in the path of his attainable gospel.

Whiting has it backwards.

We do not conform ourselves to the ideal.

The Ideal conforms us to him.

This is the difference between the unattainable gospel of legalism and the attainable gospel of condescension.

In the blessed day that the gospel of condescension triumphs, once and for all, over the gospel of legalism in the restored church of Christ, best-efforts and temple-standard justification, along with all their maddening iterations, will also come to a long overdue demise.

At that day, hopefully no one will shed a tear when we collectively come to the conclusion that God does not expect us to ascend—either with his help or without it—to heaven.

At that day, hopefully neither the practitioners of spiritual self-reliance nor the faithful would-be finishers of punch lists will be disappointed in the reality that indeed we must rely “wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save” (2 Nephi 31:19).

Come on, Latter-day Saints, why is the doctrine of condescension so hard for us? Why? This is Christian doctrine. This is New Testament doctrine. This is the doctrine of the canon of the Restoration. This is our doctrine.

For a more comprehensive discussion of the condescension of Christ and the purpose of the ideal in the gospel, see Chapter 10: By Condescension or by Contract?, Chapter 11: The Commandments of the Perfect Day, and Chapter 12: The Attainable Standards of Salvation in the book Redeeming Grace in the Canon of the Restoration (Amazon CreateSpace and Kindle).

A Talk in Primary on Grace

I devote this post to memorialize the talk given by my son Andrew in Primary on October 21, 2012.

Andrew, with remarkable understanding, unerring precision, and unexpected enthusiasm, you delivered this child-sized discourse. I was amazed how well you spoke and I am extremely proud of you. I hope that you have occasion to remember and review the substance of your remarks when you are older.

Here is the complete text:

Understanding the beautiful doctrine of grace can sometimes be difficult, especially if you happen to be a rambunctious nine-year-old. However, with some help, even nine-year-olds can begin to understand grace. There are two foundational passages of scripture that address the big picture.

The first scripture is from the New Testament.

Here is what the Apostle Paul says:

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).

The second scripture is from the Book of Mormon.

Here is what the prophet Nephi says:

For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do (2 Nephi 25:23).

Since there is a lot of old English in both of these passages, I will attempt to explain the important phrases. But before I do, please remember that both Paul and Nephi are saying the exact same thing, even though they use different words.

Let’s start with Paul and go one phrase at a time—

“For by grace are ye saved …” To be saved is to be raised up in glory in a celestial resurrection to dwell in perfection in heaven with God forever and ever. Because Jesus is the only one who can do this, Paul explains that we are saved by grace. To be saved by grace is to be saved by Jesus.

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; …” In the plan of salvation, Christ’s job is to save us, and our job is to choose to come to him through faith. Paul uses the word faith to summarize the entirety of the gospel. Everything in the gospel of Jesus is designed to bring us to him, so what Paul is saying is that Jesus will save us if we come to him through faith in the path of his gospel. My dad likes to add the word attainable before gospel, but what I have already said on the matter is sufficient.

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; …” So far, so good. Jesus saves us if we come to him. Now, sometimes people get all confused about what comes next: “… and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Why is this confusing? It shouldn’t be. If Jesus saves us, then we do not save ourselves, right? It’s that simple. We can’t save ourselves. We can’t resurrect ourselves in glory and ascend in perfection to heaven. So Paul is reminding us that what we do brings us to Jesus so that he can save us.

Piece of cake, right?

Now, let’s return to Nephi in the Book of Mormon.

Let’s go through Nephi one phrase at a time, just like we did with Paul—

“For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; …” Why does Nephi write? What does he want to tell us? He wants us to believe in Christ. Nephi wants us to believe. Paul wants us to have faith. Same thing, right? You bet.

Why does Nephi want us to believe in Christ? Well, Nephi explains why: “… for we know that it is by grace that we are saved …” Why should we believe in Christ and come to him through his gospel? Because Jesus is the only one who can save us. So if Jesus saves us, then our job is to believe in him and come to him in the path of his gospel, right? This is exactly what Paul says.

Then Nephi adds something that can be really, really, really difficult to understand. He tacks on five words that sometimes cause a lot of trouble: “… after all we can do.” Let’s revisit that entire phrase again: “… for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do” (emphasis added).

Now, Nephi has already told us to believe in Christ because Christ is the only one who can save us. So what does “after all we can do” mean? Does it mean that we save ourselves a little bit and that Jesus saves us the rest of the way? Do we raise ourselves in glory just a little bit? Do we resurrect ourselves just a little bit? Do we make ourselves just a little bit pure and holy enough to dwell in heaven?

Not really.

Because Nephi has already said that we are saved by grace (saved by Jesus), Nephi means that “all we can do” is “believe in Christ” and come to him through his gospel! That’s “all we can do.” After we come to Christ in the path of the gospel, he promises to save us—to raise us up in glory and perfection to dwell with God in heaven forever and ever.

I hope that we all choose to believe in Jesus and come to him through his gospel.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

By Faith All Things Are Fulfilled

I devote this post to a translation of a portion of the October 7, 2012 General Conference address, By Faith All Things Are Fulfilled, given by Marcus B. Nash of the First Quorum of the Seventy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Elder Nash:

Not long ago several of us in the Nash family hiked to the top of Huayna Picchu, a tall peak adjoining the ancient Incan ruins of Machu Picchu in the mountains of Peru. It is a very steep climb with breathtaking views and precipitous drop-offs. Sadly, some hikers have lost their lives by falling off that narrow, steep trail. To avoid such tragedies, strong cables have since been secured to the solid rock along the mountainside of Huayna Picchu. We held to those cables as we climbed, and they enabled us to safely reach the summit, where the view was majestic!

Like the path on Huayna Picchu, our mortal journey is a steep and difficult climb, one that requires our Heavenly Father’s help to successfully complete. For this reason, He established the principles and ordinances of the gospel to bring us unto the Savior and His saving power (see Doctrine and Covenants 84:19-21). The first of those principles, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (see Articles of Faith 1:4), is like the cables on Huayna Picchu: if strong and securely attached to “the rock of our Redeemer” (Helaman 5:12), faith will help us to safely climb the gospel path, overcome every challenge of mortality (see Doctrine and Covenants 76:53), and return to the majestic presence of our Heavenly Father. All things are fulfilled by faith (see Ether 12:3).

Translation:

The imagery of the first paragraph is striking and provocative.

Nash compares “our mortal journey” to a “steep and difficult climb” like the one required to ascend Huayna Picchu. He speaks about the enabling and protective importance of the “strong cables … secured to the solid rock” along a “narrow, steep trail” and compares the cables to “faith in the Lord.” His description is accentuated by pictures of beautiful and dangerous Huayna Picchu and a section of the strenuous path to the summit momentarily displayed on the monitors during his address.

The “narrow … trail” with its “strong cables” necessarily evokes another poignant and extraordinarily meaningful image of the gospel of the Restoration: Lehi’s vision of the tree of life.

But Nash’s metaphor of Huayna Picchu is radically different from Lehi’s dream. The glaring, substantive discrepancies between the two appraisals of the gospel create all kinds of pragmatic and symbolic trouble and also unfailingly and unmistakably reveal the legalism that runs rampant, unseen and unacknowledged, down the clean hallways and through the tidy chapels of our expressed Latter-day Saint theology.

What Nash does is no less than remove the “strait and narrow path” (1 Nephi 8:20) from its “low valley” and “plain road” (2 Nephi 4:32) and awkwardly reposition the pleasing horizontal thoroughfare on its end so that the other end extends vertically to heaven. Few if any other transformations do more violence than what Nash’s Huayna Picchu does to the meaning of Lehi’s dream and the restored gospel of Jesus.

Moreover, by comparing our “mortal journey” to a “steep and difficult climb” that leads to the “majestic presence of our Heavenly Father,” Nash inadvertently dredges up another disturbing image: misguided believers building a new Babel to reach heaven.

Nash compares the “strong cables” to “faith in the Lord Jesus Christ” and concludes that “[a]ll things are fulfilled by faith.” In other words, we fallen, mortal beings exercise faith and make our way to the “majestic presence of our Heavenly Father.” One step after another, we acquire the ability, skill, knowledge, holiness, and purity to at last dwell with a perfect God in his perfect heaven. We practice emulating the life of Jesus so well that we finally become just like him when we reach the summit.

What does faith in the Lord Jesus Christ do?

Nash’s metaphor implicitly claims that faith enables us to “climb the gospel path” to heaven. I suspect, however, that we would have about as much success attempting to climb to heaven as we would making bricks and forging steel girders to construct our very own glimmering skyscraper to the divine.

Does the prophet Ether in the Book of Mormon truly assert that “[a]ll things are fulfilled by faith”?

Ether writes in the verse following the one Nash quotes:

Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God (Ether 12:4).

Does our faith create a “better world”?

Does our faith secure for us a “place at the right hand of God”?

Does our faith directly empower us to ascend to heaven?

What is missing in Nash’s cause-and-effect sequence?

What does faith in the Lord Jesus Christ really do in the plan of salvation?

The inherent legalism embodied in Nash’s presentation of Huayna Picchu cannot help but mistake the conditions for the cause of salvation. In the soteriological sense, faith in Christ is neither faith in ourselves nor faith in ourselves enabled by Christ. Faith in Christ is exactly what the phrase plain suggests and exactly what is missing in the metaphor of Huayna Picchu.

Where is Jesus in the story of hiking to the top of Huayna Picchu? Is he the cables? Is he the path?

No.

So where is he?

Jesus is the frightfully precipitous and inherently dangerous mountain that we climb and conquer to arrive at the “majestic presence of our Heavenly Father.” (Nash might as well have used the creaky, snaking flight of stairs to which Frau Blücher refers in the film Young Frankenstein:  “Stay close to the candles. The staircase … can be treacherous.”) Legalism holds that once Christ makes atonement and prepares a perilous path to heaven, we really only require his enabling assistance from time to time during our ascent to the glorious destination.

With regard to our salvation, the Lord is not at all like Huayna Picchu.

Where is Jesus in Lehi’s vision of the tree of life? Is he the “rod of iron” (1 Nephi 8:19)? Is he the “path of the low valley” or “plain road” (2 Nephi 4:32) by the river? Is he the “straight and narrow path” (1 Nephi 8:20)?

No.

So where is he?

Jesus is the focal point of Lehi’s dream. Jesus is the tree of life, whose branches bring forth the fruit symbolizing the “greatest of all the gifts of God” (D&C 14:7), gifts freely offered to everyone who will come to the tree and partake of its gifts.

The victorious climbers of Huayna Picchu rise high above the ground during their “mortal journey” and eventually reach the summit, the “majestic presence of our Heavenly Father.”

What about the intrepid hikers who traverse the “strait and narrow path” (1 Nephi 8:20)? Where are we at the conclusion of our journey? Heaven?

No.

We find themselves at the best possible destination fallen, mortal beings can hope for—the calming company, life-giving fellowship, and redeeming grace of the Son of God.  We enjoy the blessed assurance that he will raise us up to heaven in the perfect day of salvation.

This is the essence of the beautiful doctrine of condescension, a doctrine conspicuously absent in the metaphor of Huayna Picchu.

In Lehi’s dream, we walk a lowly path precisely because we fallen, mortal beings cannot ascend to the high places of heaven. Instead, we must choose to seek out and find our Redeemer, who mercifully comes down from his divine throne to be directly accessible to us. He condescends and plants himself in the midst of the “low valley” and at the end of the “plain road” (2 Nephi 4:32), and patiently waits for us to come to him. This is the test of our earthly probation.

The question we face is simply this: Once we are truly free, will we choose the righteousness of heaven freely offered to us in Jesus?

The prophet Mormon makes the critically important connection between faith and Christ that Nash fails to recognize and explain—

Mormon commands us to “lay hold on every good thing” (Moroni 7:19), but concedes that since we are “fallen … there could no good thing come unto [us]” (Moroni 7:24). So what is the solution to this conundrum? What is the answer to the riddle? Fortunately for us (and those afflicted with an acute case of legalism in the restored church of Christ), Mormon teaches that “in Christ there should come every good thing” (Moroni 7:22) and that by exercising faith in Christ, we “lay hold upon every good thing …” (Moroni 7:25).

Faith does not bring us to heaven.

Faith brings us to Christ.

And Christ brings “every good thing” to us. He elevates us to a “better world …” (Ether 12:4). He gives us a “place at the right hand of God …” (Ether 12:4). For us, “all things are fulfilled” indirectly by faith because our faith brings us to Christ, who directly provides us the riches of eternity.

We do not climb Christ to heaven.

We come to Christ, and he alone elevates us to heaven.

For a more comprehensive discussion of the condescension of Christ, see Chapter 10: By Condescension or by Contract? in the book Redeeming Grace in the Canon of the Restoration (Amazon CreateSpace and Kindle).

2 Nephi 25:23

If I had one wish with regard to the restored gospel of Christ, then my wish would be to start an exegetical avalanche to demolish, destroy, and forever bury the pervasive institutional, cultural, and popular wresting of the most misinterpreted passage in the canon of the Restoration: 2 Nephi 25:23.

Using as many different approaches as I can formulate, all of which converge in the same ultimate explanation, I will probably be expounding 2 Nephi 25:23 for the rest of my life.

Here is one more approach in three steps, another variation on what I have previously written on this blog and in my first book.

But first, Nephi’s famous words:

For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do (2 Nephi 25:23).

Step 1:

Q. Why does Nephi write? What is his overriding point? What does he want to communicate?

A. Nephi writes to persuade us “to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God …”

Q. Why? Why Christ? Why not also believe in ourselves and all the good and righteous things that we do?

A. As fallen, mortal beings, we cannot reconcile ourselves to God because we are already subject to the terrible judgments of the Fall. Only Christ has the power to reconcile us to God. Therefore, if we want to be reconciled to God (and to have the hope of eternal life), then we must come to Christ.

Step 2:

Q. How does Nephi believe that we are saved?

A. Nephi proclaims that “it is be grace that we are saved …”

Q. Wait a minute! You conveniently edited that last quote. Everyone in the church knows that Nephi corrects Paul (Ephesians 2:8-9) and teaches that we are saved by the blessed partnership of grace and what we do.

A. No. Not even close. Nephi never argues that we are saved by grace and something else. He writes that we are saved by grace and that we come under that grace when we do the only thing that we fallen, mortal beings have the power to do if we want salvation—come to Christ.

Step 3:

Q. If Nephi wants us “to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God,” and if Nephi encourages us to do so because “it is by grace that we are saved,” then what does Nephi mean by “all we can do”? What is “all we can do” if we find ourselves in the aftermath of the terrible Fall but mercifully and miraculously bound to the atonement of Jesus?

A. “[A]ll we can do” is “believe in Christ, and … be reconciled to God.” Nephi uses the word believe as a summary for the attainable gospel of Jesus, just like Lehi uses the phrase a broken heart and a contrite spirit (2 Nephi 2:7) as a summary for the attainable gospel of Jesus. In essence, Nephi is explaining that because Jesus alone possesses the power of salvation, we must believe in him and come to him.

That the above explanation captures the correct meaning of 2 Nephi 25:23 will be borne out from the pulpit of the Restoration in future generations of Latter-day Saints.

Currently, however, and for more than 40 years, legalism in the restored church of Christ has implicitly rewritten 2 Nephi 25:23 to read as follows:

For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ and to do everything possible within their own power to elevate themselves heavenward through their own righteousness, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace and the continual, unending, and unfaltering exertion of our best efforts that we are saved, after all we can do to save ourselves.

If you think that I am exaggerating the effect of how we Latter-day Saints interpret 2 Nephi 25:23, then you are not paying attention.

Maybe we should all pay more attention.

I am not a fan of Eminem, but my oldest son has recently taken a liking to a lot of this rapper’s stuff (the so-called clean versions, right Jonathan?). I finish this posting with a modified quote from the otherwise regrettable “The Real Slim Shady”:

May I have your attention please?

May I have your attention please?

Will the real Nephi please stand up?

I repeat, will the real Nephi please stand up?

We’re gonna have a problem here …

…

‘Cause he’s Nephi, yes he’s the real Nephi

All you other Nephis are just imitating

So won’t the real Nephi please stand up, please stand up, please stand up?

If the real Nephi of 2 Nephi 25:23 does not “stand up” in the hearts and minds of Latter-day Saints, then we are going to continue to suffer from the same unacknowledged exegetical problem that has plagued us for more than a generation, damaged the otherwise sturdy soteriological bridge between the Book of Mormon and the New Testament, and constructed an unnecessary and foolish barrier between us and many non-Mormon Christians.

Families under Covenant

I devote this post to a translation of a portion of the March 31, 2012 Priesthood Session address, Families under Covenant, given by Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

President Eyring:

There is a father listening tonight who has come back from inactivity because he wants the assurance of that gift [eternal life] with all his heart. …

That father listening with us tonight knows the path to that glorious destination. It is not easy. He already knows that. It took faith in Jesus Christ, deep repentance, and a change in his heart that came with a kind bishop helping him feel the Lord’s loving forgiveness.

Translation:

Is choosing eternal life hard?

Is the path to eternal life intrinsically difficult?

Is the willing exercise of agency to come to Christ “not easy”?

We Latter-day Saints seem to think so.

Many of us routinely characterize the quest for the greatest of all the gifts of God as a vexing, precarious, nearly impossible feat, which conclusion is one of the many bitter byproducts of the pervasiveness of legalism in the restored church of Christ. Like an incessant downpour of acid rain, the process view of sanctification, fueled by piecemeal personal righteousness and the allegedly attainable mastery of divine law, eats away at our faith, optimism, and spiritual well-being.

After all, if we are to become like Jesus by force of our own will and effort (enabled from time to time by divine help), then we have a long way to go. And only a select few, we rightly reason, will likely reach their destination.

How hard is it to believe?

How hard is it to turn to the Lord?

With its often violent, tragic, and iniquitous history, the world offers numerous and plentiful examples of people who do not believe and who do not turn to the Lord. Why should we not rationally infer from their multitude of apparent failings that coming to Jesus is just plain unworkable?

In the Book of Mormon, Lehi has a vision of a divine tree that bears supernatural fruit with the power to make him happy (see 1 Nephi 8).  Finding himself in a “dark and dreary waste” (1 Nephi 8:7) in the dreamscape, he calls on the Lord for help. Then Lehi sees the tree. He walks to the tree. He freely takes its fruit. And he is happy.

Given the way many of us understand the path to salvation and the manner in which we receive the gift of eternal life, we seem to want to modify Lehi’s dream to more accurately reflect the reality of redemption.

Instead of walking across a field, Lehi should summit Everest to find the tree.

Instead of reaching out and taking the fruit, Lehi should obtain it by his compliance with the strict and oppressive terms of capacious contract (at the very least he should pay for the fruit).

Instead of stealing the fruit from someone else’s tree, Lehi should plant his own tree and eat its fruit (spiritual self-reliance).

If anyone in the Book of Mormon knows just how difficult believing in and turning to the Lord is, Alma, son of Alma, should know (see Mosiah 27, Alma 36). Contrary to his own knowledge, he spends his youth persecuting the church of Christ.  Wicked Alma almost crosses the point of no return. He comes just short of incurring the full wrath of God.

After an extended period of willful iniquity followed by a life of devotion to the Lord, Alma tells his son Helaman:

O my son, do not let us be slothful because of the easiness of the way; for so was it with our fathers; for so was it prepared for them, that if they would look they might live; even so it is with us. The way is prepared, and if we will look we may live forever (Alma 37:46).

True, Alma explains to his son Corianton that “whosoever murdereth against the light and knowledge of God, it is not easy for him to obtain forgiveness …” (Alma 39:6). Alma foolishly embraces such a flight plan prior to his one-sentence plea of faith that releases him from a terrifying vision of hell. But the “not easy” part arises from being in a condition in direct opposition to the light and love of God, not in the actual path to salvation, a course Alma begins where he cries out: “O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death” (Alma 36:18).

I do not deny the horrors of the coliseum, the dispiriting misery of months of unjust imprisonment in the “jail” at Liberty, Missouri, the suffering and death of saints in all ages of the world. The sum total of the hardship and persecution heaped on disciples of Jesus of Nazareth defies comprehension.

Rather, I affirm the blessed hope of Christ found in the attainable gospel of Jesus:

Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me (3 Nephi 9:14).

We may find ourselves subject to the evil machinations of others and the vicissitudes of fallen mortality, but I suspect that we make coming to Jesus as easy or as hard as we choose to make it.

For a more comprehensive discussion of the attainable gospel of Christ, see Chapter 12: The Attainable Standards of Salvation in the book Redeeming Grace in the Canon of the Restoration (Amazon CreateSpace and Kindle).