Meeting the Challenges of Today

This post consists of excerpts from an October 10, 1978, BYU devotional given by Elder Neal A. Maxwell. I highly recommend that talk to anyone and everyone that is a citizen of any country, but especially to U.S. Citizens that belong to the Church. 

Elder Maxwell says: "Discipleship includes good citizenship; and in this connection, if you are careful students of the statements of the modern prophets, you will have noticed that with rare exceptions--especially when the First Presidency has spoken out--the concerns expressed have been over moral issues, not issues between political parties. The declarations are about principles, not people, and causes, not candidates. On occasions, at other levels in the Church, a few have not been so discreet, so wise, or so inspired. "But make no mistake about it, brothers and sisters; in the months and years ahead, events will require of each member that he or she decide whether or not he or she will follow the First Presidency. Members will find it more difficult to halt longer between two opinions (see 1 Kings 18:21)." 

"...not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ includes not being ashamed of the prophets of Jesus Christ."

"We are now entering a period of incredible ironies. Let us cite but one of these ironies which is yet in its subtle stages: we shall see in our time a maximum if indirect effort made to establish irreligion as the state religion. It is actually a new form of paganism that uses the carefully preserved and cultivated freedoms of Western civilization to shrink freedom even as it rejects the value essence of our rich Judeo-Christian heritage." "This new irreligious imperialism seeks to disallow certain of people's opinions simply because those opinions grow out of religious convictions. Resistance to abortion will soon be seen as primitive. Concern over the institution of the family will be viewed as untrendy and unenlightened." "In its mildest form, irreligion will merely be condescending toward those who hold to traditional Judeo-Christian values. In its more harsh forms, as is always the case with those whose dogmatism is blinding, the secular church will do what it can to reduce the influence of those who still worry over standards such as those in the Ten Commandments. It is always such an easy step from dogmatism to unfair play--especially so when the dogmatists believe themselves to be dealing with primitive people who do not know what is best for them. It is the secular bureaucrat's burden, you see."

"Am I saying that the voting rights of the people of religion are in danger? Of course not! Am I saying, 'It's back to the catacombs?' No! But there is occurring a discounting of religiously-based opinions. There may even be a covert and subtle disqualification of some for certain offices in some situations, in an ironic 'irreligious test' for office." "Notice the terrible irony if this trend were to continue. When the secular church goes after its heretics, where are the sanctuaries? To what landfalls and Plymouth Rocks can future pilgrims go?" "It may well be, as our time comes to 'suffer shame for his name' (Acts 5:41), that some of this special stress will grow out of that portion of discipleship which involves citizenship." 

There is much, much more in this talk. In fact, I've left the best, most inspiring parts out because I felt they would be most beneficial read in the context of his remarks. Of course he teaches the kinds of doctrines that will protect us and lift us up. However, for the purposes of this post let me add just one final quote: "If the challenge of the secular church becomes very real, let us, as in all other human relationships, be principled but pleasant. Let us be perceptive without being pompous. Let us have integrity and not write checks with our tongues which our conduct cannot cash."

Mere Christianity

Originally posted on August 22, 2008, on my personal blog.

I've been reading lately in C.S. Lewis' book Mere Christianity. I had read The Chronicles of Narnia earlier in the summer, and was interested to hear what C.S. Lewis', who is by far the most quoted non-Mormon in conference, had to say in a nonfiction setting. I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone, but thought I'd include a few excerpts here of things I've read so far:

"The most dangerous thing you can do is to take any one impulse of your own nature and set it up as the thing you ought to follow at all costs. There is not one of them will will not make us into devils if we set it up as an absolute guide. You might think love of humanity in general was safe, but it is not. If you leave out justice you will find yourself breaking agreements and faking evidence in trials 'for the sake of humanity,' and become in the end a cruel and treacherous man (p.12)."

"Progress means getting nearer to the place where you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turning, then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man (p. 28)."

"You find out more about God from the Moral Law (which, as he describes it earlier, could safely be called the Light of Christ) than from the universe in general just as you find out more about a man by listening to his conversation than by looking at a house he has built (p. 29)."

"Confronted with a cancer or a slum the Pantheist can say, 'If you could only see it from the divine point of view, you would realise that this also is God.' The Christian replies, 'Don't talk damned nonsense. (...I mean exactly what I say--nonsense that is damned is under God's curse, and will lead those who believe it to eternal death.)' For Christianity is a fighting religion. It thinks God made the world--that space and time, heat and cold, and all the colours and tastes, and all the animals and vegetables, are things that God 'made up out of His head' as a man makes up a story. But it also thinks that a great many things have gone wrong with the world that God made and that God insists, and insists very loudly, on our putting them right again (p. 38)."

"If Dualism is true, then the bad Power must be a being who likes badness for its own sake. But in reality we have no experience of anyone liking badness just because it is bad. The nearest we can get to it is in cruelty. But in real life people are cruel for one of two reasons--either because they are sadists, that is, because they have a sexual perversion which makes cruelty a cause of sensual pleasure to them, or else for the sake of something they are going to get out of it--money, or power, or safety. But pleasure, money, power, and safety are all, as far as they go, good things. The badness consists in pursuing them by the wrong method, or in the wrong way, or too much. I do not mean, of course, that the people who do this are not desperately wicked. I do mean that wickedness, when you examine it, turns out to be the pursuit of some good in the wrong way (pp. 43-44)."

"...free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having. A world of automata--of creatures that worked like machines--would hardly be worth creating. The happiness which God designs for His higher creatures is the happiness of being freely, voluntarily united to Him and to each other in an ecstasy of love and delight compared with which the most rapturous love between a man and a woman on this earth is mere milk and water. And for that they must be free (p. 48)."

"How did the Dark Power go wrong?...The moment you have a self at all, there is a possibility of putting yourself first--wanting to be the centre--wanting to be God, in fact. That was the sin of Satan: and that was the sin he taught the human race. Some people think the fall of man had something to do with sex, but that is a mistake. (The story in the Book of Genesis rather suggests that some corruption in our sexual nature followed the fall and was its result, not its cause.) What Satan put into the heads of our remote ancestors was the idea the idea that they could 'be like gods'--could set up on their own as if they had created themselves--be their own masters--invent some sort of happiness for themselves outside God, apart from God. And out of that hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we call human history--money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery--the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy (p. 49)."

Apocalyptic Revelation, Jewish Symbolism and the Revelation of St. John the Divine

Originally published on my family blog on April 10, 2008; introduction updated for context.

Several years ago, while an undergraduate student at BYU, I took a New Testament class from Dr. Steven Robinson. Dr. Robinson was a doctor of biblical studies who had worked with the Dead Sea Scrolls, led religion departments at two Christian universities and was a widely read author with many publications.

One particular class was titled, "Apocalyptic Revelation, Jewish Symbolism and the Revelation of St. John the Divine." What follows are my notes from that class on the final book of the New Testament.

First, the Revelation of St. John the Divine is like a play. Whether played out on Broadway, in community theatre, or at the local high school, a play does not change. The actors may change, but the characters do not, nor do the events of the play.

In a similar fashion, many of the same events occur in each dispensation. For example, Revelation 11:8, speaking of a prophecy that refers to two prophets lying dead in the street, reads, "And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified." Sodom, Egypt and Jerusalem have a very striking similarity: Each was the Babylon of its dispensation. In theatrical terms, these three cities were the actors that played the role of "Babylon" in the play.

The important point to understand is that the events described in Revelation don't necessarily refer to one particular event, but rather describe a recurring cycle that plays itself out in each dispensation.

Viewed from this perspective, we can see additional characters in our play include Zion, the woman, the deliverer, the whore, and others. As with Babylon, each of these and the other characters is played by a different actor in each dispensation-- Zion, as a second example, has been the cities of Enoch, Jerusalem, and Independence. The actors are new, but the story is still much the same in each dispensation.

John writes by way of introduction in Revelation 1:3, "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand." We might say, "The time is now," or, "Hey, Stupid, this is what is happening right now all around you." This, along with the apocalyptic nature of the revelation described, suggest there is much more symbolic than concrete, and present than future being explained.

For a final example of the grand play, Revelation 11 contains the prophecy of the two prophets that will die in the streets and rise after 3 1/2 days. But pay close attention to how these prophets are described in Revelation 11:6, "These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will." Sound familiar? Keeping the Jewish context in mind, didn't Elijah have power to shut heaven so it didn't rain? Didn't Moses turn water to blood and smite the earth with numerous plagues?

Interestingly, Moses and Elijah often appear together, most often symbolizing the Aaronic and Mechizedek priesthoods, respectively. In addition, 3 1/2 is a symbolic number that represents a time when Satan has power to reign on Earth. Using these symbols, we could also read that the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods will die, leaving a period of time when the devil will rule.

If you need a smack on the forehead here, this sounds a lot like an apostasy. And, as the two prophets rise after 3 1/2 days, each apostasy ends with the return of priesthood keys and authority to the earth. In a final return to the theatre analogy, though the story is often the same, there have been repeated apostasies and restorations throughout time-- none exactly the same, but always very similar.

Here's a few other notes on Hebraic symbolism-- freebies, if you will. I'll try to keep this part brief, but I'm interested to hear what anyone thinks about the book Joseph Smith once called the easiest to understand.

Eyes = Wisdom
Horns = Power
Wings = Mobility
12 = Priesthood or Power
24 = 2 x 12, or two powerful beings/persons (Revelation 4:4, 11:16)
144,000 = 12 x 12 x 12 a whole lot of times…. A lot of people, God’s elect
7 = Perfection
6 = Satan, Imperfection
666 = Antichrist-- almost but not 7
40 = Purification/Preparation (How many people spent 40 days in the wilderness....)
3 ½ = A time when Satan is in charge, his reign

See also: http://farms.byu.edu/display.php?table=transcripts&id=90