Justice v. Mercy

A while ago I posted about the importance of showing mercy unto others. I felt that it was important to do this in order to receive mercy from others and from the Lord. However, in recent conversations the question arose about mercy's relation to justice, and which was more important to understand. When I posted several weeks ago, I definitely leaned toward the indipensibility of mercy, but now have decided to consider the other side.

Justice is Primordial

We see evidence of justice at the dawn of man, when Adam and Eve were given commandment in the Garden of Eden to not eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. They were given the ultimatum that if they so did, they would "surely die." (Moses 3:17) This was the punishment affixed to disobedience, and as we all know, Adam and Eve did disobey, bringing forth necessary imperfection to the whole human race.

Wherefore, he has given a law; and where there is no law given thee is no punishment;and where there is no punishment there is no condemnation; and where there is no condemnation the mercies of the Holy One of Israel have claim upon them, because of the Atonement; for they are delivered by the power of him.

--2 Nephi 9:25

Laws are demanding. They are cut-and-dry. Furthermore, with the collective and individual imperfection that we present with, there is no way we can meet the demands of those laws. Alone we would be inevitably overwhelmed. Luckily the Atonement exists to help us through mortality, which time is an essential passkey to our eternal reward. Luckily our days were "prolonged" (2 Nephi 2:21) that we may ultimately put ourselves on Christ's side, and with Him satisfy those demands.

The painting above by Jonathan Linton shows another aspect of the justice-mercy relationship: penitence. Only through sincere and humble repentance may we be able to take hold of the light that comes through forgiveness and mercy. Then and only then will we truly abide the law that has been given us, and be able to stand blameless at the last day. It is my prayer that we might be able to understand the truem meaning of the laws that we agree to abide, and realize that it is only through the Atoenment that we may be able to ever fully abide by them.

Have a Great Week!!

Helaman--Wise Beyond His Years

For this week I decided to branch out into the biographical realm. Helaman is one that I wanted to learn more about, and so here goes!

The first that we learn of Helaman is when is father, Alma the Younger, gives him counsel in Alma 36-37. I gleaned two imprtant points that we should note: 1) The importance of conversion and 2) the importance of record keeping. The bulk of chapter 36 is dedicated to the relation of Alma's conversion story, and one must wonder why he used the space to include it in such detail, and why it was directed to Helaman. My thoughts are that Helaman needed to understand what it took to arive at full conversion, so that he could help others, and have confidence in his impending calling as prophet. In like manner he needed to understand the sacred nature of the records, because he would be their keeper upon Alma's death.

We see that the main purpose for writing to Helaman was to prepare him. Interesting to note is that this occured apparently while Helaman was still "in his youth" (Alma 37:35), which made me wonder what it was about "youth" that makes it such a pivotal time. I looked at the footnotes which led me to Ecclesiastes and Lamentations. From those scriptures I surmised that youth is a time when we are able to change perspectives, and when we can carry more burdens. The biggest burden is "learn[ing] to keep the commandments of God," which takes repenting and refining and learning to trust in the Savior. Suffice it to say that Helaman did learn in his youth, and refined his character into a person who is still quite worthy of emulation. Here are some traits that we can emulate from Helaman:

• He acted upon instruction that he received (Alma 45:22)
• He was a stalwart leader even in times of strife and turmoil (Alma 45:22-24)
• He had a knowledge of the importance of covenants (Alma 53:14-15)
• He was a kind, loving patriarch (Alma 56-57)
• He put others before himself (Alma 53:22)
• He saw the Lord's hand in his life (Alma 57:26)

I encourage you to search these scrptures, and find out for yourself about the man behind the 2000 Stripling Warriors. It i my testimony that we may look to the prohpets of old as well as the living prophets to guide our lives.

Have a Great Week!!

Testing...1,2,3...

So this week I have thought on what it means to be tested, and why we need to be tested of the Lord. I thought on great stories from the Scriptures, including those of Helaman, the Brother of Jared, Abraham, and the Prophet Joseph Smith. Note the account of the most former:

Behold, now it came to pass that the people of Nephi were exceedingly rejoiced, because the Lord had again delivered them out of the hands of their enemies; therefore they gave thanks unto the Lord their God; yea, and they did fast much and pray much, and they did worship God with exceedingly great joy.

And it came to pass in the nineteenth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi, that Alma came unto his son Helaman and said unto him: Believest thou the words which I spake unto thee concerning those records which have been kept?

And Helaman said unto him: Yea, I believe.

And Alma said again: Believest thou in Jesus Christ, who shall come?

And he said: Yea, I believe all the words which thou hast spoken.

And Alma said unto him again: Will ye keep my commandments?

And he said: Yea, I will keep thy commandments with all my heart.

Then Alma said unto him: Blessed art thou; and the Lord shall prosper thee in this land.

But behold, I have somewhat to prophesy unto thee; but what I prophesy unto thee ye shall not make known; yea, what I prophesy unto thee shall not be made known, even until the prophecy is fulfilled; therefore write the words which I shall say.

And these are the words: Behold, I perceive that this very people, the Nephites, according to the spirit of revelation which is in me, in four hundred years from the time that Jesus Christ shall manifest himself unto them, shall dwindle in unbelief.

Yea, and then shall they see wars and pestilences, yea, famines and bloodshed, even until the people of Nephi shall become extinct—

Yea, and this because they shall dwindle in unbelief and fall into the works of darkness, and lasciviousness, and all manner of iniquities; yea, I say unto you, that because they shall sin against so great light and knowledge, yea, I say unto you, that from that day, even the fourth generation shall not all pass away before this great iniquity shall come. And when that great day cometh, behold, the time very soon cometh that those who are now, or the seed of those who are now numbered among the people of Nephi, shall no more be numbered among the people of Nephi.

But whosoever remaineth, and is not destroyed in that great and dreadful day, shall be numbered among the Lamanites, and shall become like unto them, all, save it be a few who shall be called the disciples of the Lord; and them shall the Lamanites pursue even until they shall become extinct. And now, because of iniquity, this prophecy shall be fulfilled.

--Alma 45: 1-14

We see that Alma was only willing to divulge one of his most important recorded prophecies after Helaman was tested of his faith. It seems that this is a common thread, that greater blessings and commandments are only awarded after we have proven ourselves worthy of the "next level." Another example is when the Savior petitioned Peter ad nauseum (well, to Peter, at least), "lovest thou me?" Only after Peter confessed his love for Jesus did Peter receive further instruction on how to more effectively manifest that love.

So what is the take-home point? I think it lies in first realizing that Heavenly Father has plans for us that we are not even close to conceptualizing. After that (yes, it is easier said than done), we must relish in difficulty and trial (also easier said than done). We must realize the following that we receive no witness until after the trial of our faith (Ether 12:6), and that we surely do want to receive more knowledge, more responsibility, and more blessings. But it must always come through the refining process that tosses and turns us, until our faith is "finished" (Hebrews 12:2) sufficient for us to be instruments in the hands of the Lord. It is my hope that this week we may more objectively look at our trials, and see them as tests that we must pass so that the Lord may bless us even more. Have a great week!

Learning to Seek His Will

This week's conceptualization comes straight out of the August First Presidency Message, found in the Ensign magazine. Written by President Henry B. Eyring, it outlines the importance of teaching our children to pray so that God may "Write Upon Our Hearts." President Eyring explains that this comes through sincerely praying, serving, and seeking God's will over our own as a practice. As I to date have no children, I decided to apply the article in the form of attributes that I personally should attain and develop. Of these, I was struck the most by the admonition to seek God's will through prayer, understanding that those things we want may not necessarily be on Heavenly Father's docket for us.

Such a thing takes might preparation. Seeking Heavenly Father's will involves having a heart open to Him, which comes from experience of seeing His will in our lives, which experience comes from exercising faith. We need to be willing to let Him in, as President Eyring explained through quoting George Q. Cannon:

“I should enter that assembly with my mind entirely free from all influence that would prevent the operation of the Spirit of God upon me. I should go in a prayerful spirit, asking God to write upon my heart His will; not with my own will already prepared, and determined to carry out my will … , regardless of everyone else’s views. If I were to go, and all the rest were to go, with this spirit, then the Spirit of God would be felt in our midst, and that which we would decide upon would be the mind and will of God, because God would reveal it to us. We would see light in the direction where we should go, and we would behold darkness in the direction we should not go.”

I echo President Cannon and Eyring's words. I know that sometimes it seems that the path ahead is treacherous and rocky, and often times it is, but as we seek to ask the Lord's will, we will see further than the forest thicket, the impenetrable canyon wall, or the boundless sea. I believe that if we seek the Lord's will, He will write upon our hearts, and therefore have no need to fear.

Have a Great Week!!

Being Prepared for the Guest

For almost two months I have managed to keep this blog from being personal in almost every way, aside from my own bias that frames what inherently is the essence of my "conceptualizations." However, in light of not being particularly inspired toward one thought (there are many topics I contemplated over the course of the week, but was unable to settle on one), I have decided to share a spiritual experience of my own, in hopes that the reader will be able to apply its principles.

Many of you know that I will soon be moving away from Utah, to a new career in the Philadelphia area. A couple of Mondays ago I was at the post office sending off some final forms in connection with the new job, when a grizzled man started talking to me, trying to be my friend. I was cordial with him, but soon realized he was asking for money to fix the radiator hose on his Chevy Silverado that was broken down somewhere along the highway. He only needed about $6, and so I reluctantly searched my wallet, and gave him a dollar, as that was all that I was willing to offer. However, he must have seen the $20 bill also inside, and pleaded that I go to the register to make change. I again did so with some reluctance, wondering why I had just contributed to what was likely a couple packs of cigarettes or a bottle of vodka.

Curious and a little incredulous, I designed to follow the man after he walked out of the post office, knowing that smoke and liquor shops lied just blocks away. I began to tail him in my car, and passed by as he crossed over Provo's main drag. However, as I rounded the block to catch back up, he was nowhere to be seen. I rounded the block again, paying close attention to the insides of the shoppes, but could still not find the man with my $6. I then got this feeling that my search was absolutely ridiculous, and so returned home without a knowledge of how he used the donation.

Sitting at home, I was left with time to ponder on the things that had transpired. My first thoughts were that I was getting soft, and that I should have stood my ground to this man who looked an addict, and likely was one. But then thoughts of the Savior flooded my mind, and especially of the old Christian tale of the man who prepared a feast for the Lord, only to push Him away in the form of beggars that came by the man's door.

Was this experience a test? Undoubetdly it was in some way. Likely it was a precursor to greater sacrifice that I will have to make in the name of Christ and of being Christlike.

Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

--Revelation 3:20

It is my prayer that we all my hear the call of the Savior in whichever form it presents itself. I hope that this experience has served to help you in your personal dedication to Christ, and that you may always see opportunities to serve. Have a great week! A new conceptualization next week!