Hope though the Atonement of Jesus Christ as an Antidote to the Denethor Syndrome

Posted on by nathanwritesstuff

In J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic fantasy trilogy, The Lord of the Rings (LotR), the character Denethor is an inheritor of a powerful, but dangerous magical artifact, a palantir. The palantir were a set of crystal balls that allowed the user to browse images from anywhere around the world and to chat with other people who also had palantir. Unfortunately, Sauron, the supreme representative of evil in the LotR, had a palantir and used it to feed Denethor fearful images. Denethor’s fears and anxieties, constantly fed and updated by Sauron, “overthrew [Denethor’s] mind.” (1) Denethor not only decides to accept the false futures on his magic feed, but also attempts to kill his own son to bring one of these fears to life.

This story, although only fantasy, is tragically moving to read. This misery of avoidable despair becomes even more poignant as we observe the exact thing happening to so many of us today. Like Denethor, many of us have access to a seemingly magic artifact that feeds us information through a glass surface. As humans, we are often drawn to sensation and tragedy; accordingly, our social media and news feeds increasingly feed us more sensation and tragedy slowly educating our choices. Soon we willingly search out doom and gloom. The internet has dubbed this condition, “doomscrolling.” (2) Like the situation in the LotR, Satan has access to our magical devices too and as taught by Lehi, “[the devil] seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself” (2 Nephi 2: 27). He wants us to be afraid; he wants us to be depressed.

Like Denethor, our increased access to information can convince us that we are wise and far-knowing. We may believe that we are preparing for a current or future threat, but when we are confronted with fears that we are unable or unwilling to do anything about, our fears won’t only not help us, but will surely hurt us. Fear leads to failure, is a principle culled from a prophecy by the prophet Joseph Smith: “men’s hearts shall fail them; for fear shall come upon all people” (D&C 88:91). Fear is a tool of the adversary, not the Lord. “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). Power, love, and a sound mind are gifts we should seek from the Lord.

We have to use the word to check the information from the world, the internet, or our social media feeds. Our prophet counseled us, “I plead with you today to counter the lure of the world by making time for the Lord in your life—each and every day. If most of the information you get comes from social or other media, your ability to hear the whisperings of the Spirit will be diminished. If you are not also seeking the Lord through daily prayer and gospel study, you leave yourself vulnerable to philosophies that may be intriguing but are not true. ” (3)

Unfortunately, the feeling of despair is so thick today you can feel it. Everyone is talking about how terrible the world is, and almost no one is talking about how great it is. Is our situation really as bad as the internet depicts, or as Satan wants you to think it is? No. It is not. Yet, regrettably, even our youth, the ones who have the most to be excited about for the future, are afraid; they are depressed. A recent study from BYU highlights this growing fear in our youth, “anxiety and depression is becoming increasingly prevalent among young adults in the US. with both disorders increasing by 63% from 2005 to 2017.”

Sadly, social media platforms, the very tools used to connect us, also isolate us, which leads us to anxiety and depression. This same study finds that “young adults who use 7 or more social media platforms are statistically 3 times more likely to experience increased levels of depression and anxiety than young adults who use 2 or less. Although more research needs to be done. individuals may be up to 46% more likely to have depression if they are using social media more than 60 minutes per day.” (4) Our prophet is aware of this phenomenon and has taught: “The Lord has declared that despite today’s unprecedented challenges, those who build their foundations upon Jesus Christ, and have learned how to draw upon His power, need not succumb to the unique anxieties of this era.” (5) It is beneficial to realize that people are unique with unique problems that require individually-tailored solutions.

For example, my father and I dealt with fear and anxiety differently. Fear motivates him to action and I admire his courage. In contrast, fear demotivates me; it paralyzed me. I have unknowingly struggled with anxiety my whole life. What I have to do is rid myself of fear first. I have found that humbling myself before the Lord and surrendering to him helps me conquer fear. After Christ’s atoning power helps me dispel my fear, I can move. And so, in the words of Moroni, I say “I would commend you to seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written” (Ether 12:41). Faith in Jesus Christ will give us hope.

Alma taught: “faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true” (Alma 32:21). Faith and hope are connected in this definition. The apostle Elder Neal A. Maxwell expounded upon this connection, “Faith and hope are constantly interactive and are not always easily or precisely distinguished…Yet in the geometry of the restored theology, hope corresponds to faith but sometimes has a greater circumference. Faith, in turn, constitutes ‘the assurance of things hoped for’ and the proof of ‘things not seen’ (JST, Heb. 11:1; see also Ether 12:6). Thus hope sometimes reconnoiters beyond the present boundaries of faith, but it always radiates from Jesus.” (6) Jesus is the center of our faith, our faithful acts create a radius as we confidently walk the “straight and narrow” out from him towards the circumference of our hopes’ edges.

Our hopes are strengthened as our faith increases in Christ. Jacob instructed his people, “we search the prophets, and we have many revelations and the spirit of prophecy; and having all these witnesses we obtain a hope, and our faith becometh unshaken” (Jacob 4:6). As we study the gospel, we find that the most important victory has already been won; Christ broke the chains of sin and death. When we meditate on Christ’s atonement, the spirit can increase our awareness of the resurrection’s reality. We will begin to hope more fully for the moment when we will meet Him. We might begin to “look forward with an eye of faith, and view this mortal body raised in immortality, and this corruption raised in incorruption, to stand before God” (Alma 5:15). We might imagine the Lord saying to us in that moment, “ye shall have eternal life” (2 Nephi 31:20). This moment should excite us!

As our “confidence [waxes] strong in the presence of God,” we will be more confident in our day to day lives too. Because of Christ’s resurrection, we will be able to have hope even when it is hardest to hope. Near the end of the LotR series, when darkness seemed poised to overcome the world, some found hope through one of the three types of Christ in the story. The resurrection of the wizard Gandalf in the following vignette helps two soldiers after they beheld one of the supernatural enemies flying over their head.

“‘What was that?’ Asked Beregond, ‘You also felt something?’

‘Yes,’ muttered Pippin. ‘It is the sign of our fall, and the shadow of doom, a Fell Rider of the air.’

‘Yes, the shadow of doom,’ said Beregond. ‘I fear that Minas Tirith shall fall. Night comes. The very warmth of my blood seems stolen away.’

For a time they sat together with bowed heads and did not speak. Then suddenly Pippin looked up and saw that the sun was still shining and the banners still streaming in the breeze. He shook himself. ‘It is passed,’ he said. ‘No, my heart will not yet despair. Gandalf fell and has returned and is with us. We may stand, if only on one leg, or at least be left still upon our knees.’” (7)

As it was for Pippin, so can it be with us. Our testimonies of Christ and His resurrection can sustain us in our trials and challenges. It can bring us hope. We know how our stories end. We know who wins. All our trials will end and we will enter into His rest. Because of Christ, we can also know what we are supposed to be doing right now. And having this knowledge can bring us confidence and hope. The prophet Joseph Smith taught, “such was, and always will be, the situation of the saints of God, that unless they have an actual knowledge that the course they are pursuing is according to the will of God they will grow weary in their minds, and faint.” (8) We are entitled to know by revelation what the Lord’s will is for us specifically. This is how we “live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God” (D&C 84:44).

This is my favorite part about the story of Ammon and the servants at the water of Sebus. Ammon is confident and full of so much hope, he can see opportunity in trials. He is this way because of revelation. He knows what God wants him to do. His father, king Mosiah, prayed and received direction from the Lord (Mosiah 28:6-7). Ammon and his brothers were sent by revelation (Alma 17:11) to the Lamanites and they were given promises (Mosiah 28:6-7). When difficulties arose, Ammon was not shaken, because he knew he was on the Lord’s errand. His confidence compared to the other servants at the waters of Sebus is so stark, it is comical.

Therefore, as Ammon and the servants of the king were driving forth their flocks to this place of water, behold, a certain number of the Lamanites, who had been with their flocks to water, stood and scattered the flocks of Ammon and the servants of the king, and they scattered them insomuch that they fled many ways. Now the servants of the king began to murmur, saying: Now the king will slay us, as he has our brethren because their flocks were scattered by the wickedness of these men. And they began to weep exceedingly, saying: Behold, our flocks are scattered already. Now they wept because of the fear of being slain. Now when Ammon saw this his heart was swollen within him with joy; for, said he, I will show forth my power unto these my fellow-servants, or the power which is in me, in restoring these flocks unto the king, that I may win the hearts of these my fellow-servants, that I may lead them to believe in my words. And now, these were the thoughts of Ammon, when he saw the afflictions of those whom he termed to be his brethren. (Alma 17:27-30)

Our experiences living by revelation will also give us faith and hope. When we have proven how “faithful” the Lord is to His servants (1 Corinthians 10:13), us, we will also become more faithful to Him. These experiences with God can inform our hopes, so when new trials come upon us, we can see them as opportunities to manifest God’s power. We can also see this at work in the story of the young shepherd David. When he sees the giant Goliath defying the armies of the Lord, he volunteers. He knows that the Lord will deliver him. He has history with the Lord. When Saul expressed doubts about sending a youth out to battle Goliath, David rehearsed two experiences when the Lord delivered David from harm: once against a lion and once against a bear (see 1 Samuel 17:34-37).

We too can compile our past successful experiences with the Lord into a portfolio of sorts, to bring out when we need to encourage ourselves or others. In this way, we can “be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh [us] a reason of the hope that is in [us]” (1 Peter 3:15).

However, even with the memories of our previous successes, sometimes when we face Goliaths, we can still “misread” the situation. In fact, the scholar Malcolm Gladwell has argued that we may even be reading the David and Goliath conflict all wrong. (9) David with his sling actually had the advantage on that battlefield. A stone in the right person’s sling could have the equivalent “stopping power” of “a fair-size modern handgun.” Goliath has brought a sword to a metaphorical gun fight; it is actually the giant who should be terrified, not David. Gladwell reminds us that “the powerful and the strong are not always what they seem.”

The story of David teaches us repeatedly to look beyond the surface (1 Samuel 16:1-13). In this story, we can see ourselves as David, but we can also see Jesus as David. When we are up against giants in our lives, like the Israelite army, we can become scared. We may even doubt that Jesus has the power to deliver us from our challenges. But in the same way that David had the obvious and clear advantage over Goliath from the beginning, we can misread our own situations and forget that Christ is God. And “with God nothing shall be impossible” (Luke 1:37). He is “mighty to save” (2 Nephi 31:19). We can trust Him and have a “perfect brightness of hope” through his atonement (2 Nephi 31:20).

ENDNOTES

(1) J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King (New York; Houghton Mifflin Company, 1994), 838.

(2) https://www.polygon.com/platform/amp/lord-of-the-rings/22353128/denethor-lotr-movies-story-doomscrolling

(3) Russell M. Nelson, “Make Time for the Lord,” (October 2021).

(4) https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1018&context=ballardbrief

(5) Russell M. Nelson, “The Temple and Your Spiritual Foundations,” (October 2021)

(6) Neal A. Maxwell, “Hope through the Atonement of Jesus Christ,” (October 1998).

(7) J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King, 749.

(8) Joseph Smith Jr., Lectures on Faith, 6:4-7.

(9) Malcolm Gladwell, David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2013),6.

(10) Gladwell, David and Goliath, 11.

(11) Gladwell, David and Goliath, 14-15.

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Yet It Pleased the Lord to Bruise him (Isaiah 53:10)

Posted on by nathanwritesstuff

As narrated in holy writ, Christ’s suffering in Gethsemane and death in Golgotha are traumatic to read; these are moments fraught with a perturbing welter of emotions: poignant grief, calming peace, fearful anxiety, quivering joy, suffocating guilt, and tearful gratitude. The “awful arithmetic of the atonement” is an incomprehensible calculus for humans1. Truly, “how sore,” “how exquisite,” and “how hard to bear,” “[we] know not” (D&C 19:15). As unfathomable as it is to contemplate Jesus’ atoning experience, it may also lay beyond our capacities to empathize with the Father during these moments. 

In the case of Christ, modern revelation has given us a first-person account from the Savior about his torment in D&C 19; however, there isn’t very much in scripture, modern or ancient, to describe the Father’s experience observing the death of his “only begotten Son” (John 3:16). There is at least one scripture that describes a sentiment that contradicts the natural response that a human reader may imagine for the Father. In Isaiah’s poetic prophecy of Christ’s atoning anguish, the emotion attributed to the Father during His son’s suffering was pleasure and satisfaction: “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him”2 and “He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied”3 (Isaiah 53:10 and 11). What Isaiah’s prophecy seems to suggest is that Heavenly Father was proud of his Son; He was pleased with Jesus’ choice to sacrifice for humanity, and satisfied with Christ’s salvific suffering. This sentiment is also shared at Christ’s baptism, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). 

Although it is often assumed that Heavenly Father suffered4 as He witnessed Christ “[pour] out his soul unto death” (Isaiah 53:12), I feel it is instructive to hypothesize this alternative view suggested by Isaiah. If the Father felt proud of Jesus during His terrifying travails, the feeling exuded by the Father was likely a confidence in his son, who was proving that he “[was] mighty to save” (Alma 7:14). Perhaps, it might be helpful at times to imagine a God who is confident in me as well, when I go through my human-sized sufferings or face my seemingly Goliath-sized temptations. I think part of understanding God’s confidence in us comes through discovering that although we don’t “know the meaning of all things,” we can know that “[God] loveth his children” (1 Nephi 11: 15). The discovery of God’s love for us can improve our confidence in him and in ourselves.

It is easy to become bitter during an especially long series of trials and think, “haven’t I done enough?” “Why is God still testing me?” It may be comforting at those times to avoid thinking of God as someone trying to “prove [us],” and instead imagining a Father who is watching us, confident that we can handle our current trials or temptations (Abraham 3:25). The goal of our tests, ultimately, is not for him to learn what we will do, he already “know[s] the end from the beginning” (Abraham 2:8), but for us to “prove ourselves”5 and find faith in Him. In a sense, we are actually proving God through our ordeals, to learn that “God is faithful” (1 Corinthians 10:13) even when we are not faithful to Him. It is also through our trials that we can feel God’s confidence in us and therefore gain confidence in Him, His processes, His plan, and even in His “presence” (D&C 121:45). 

Our life is less about us performing perfectly in our trials and more about us relying on Christ’s atoning power to help us overcome our trials. As we humbly “apply the atoning blood of Christ” we will find “[his] grace is sufficient for [us]” (Mosiah 4:2 and Ether 12:27). Although our life may lead us into situations where the “elements combine to hedge up the way” (D&C 122:7), we can find comfort in knowing that the Lord is with us cheering us on, much like he did for Jesus. 

Endnotes

  1. Neal A. Maxwell, “Willing to Submit,” April 1985. 
  2. In Hebrew, the verb חפץ means to “delight in” or “have pleasure in.” Francis Brown, S.R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon: Coded with Strong’s Concordance Numbers (Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 2003), 342-343. 
  3. In Hebrew, the verb שבע means to “be sated, satisfied, surfeited.” The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon, 959-960. 
  4. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/new-era/1976/01/classic-discourses-from-the-general-authorities-the-sacramental-covenant?lang=eng “In that hour I think I can see our dear Father behind the veil looking upon these dying struggles until even he could not endure it any longer; and, like the mother who bids farewell to her dying child, has to be taken out of the room, so as not to look upon the last struggles, so he bowed his head, and hid in some part of his universe, his great heart almost breaking for the love that he had for his Son.” 
  5. “Now is the time to prepare and prove ourselves willing and able to do all things whatsoever the Lord our God shall command us.” (Elder David A. Bednar, “We Will Prove Them Herewith (Abraham 3:25),” October, 2020. 

Al Caminar con Dios y La Imaginación Espiritual

Posted on by nathanwritesstuff

José Smith enseñó que en el jardín, “[Adán] recibió instrucciones, y anduvo y conversó con [Dios], como un hombre habla y se comunica con otro…” (1) Esta imagen de andar con Dios es muy poderoso para mi!

Recientemente tuve una experiencia de caminar con Dios. Recientemente tuve la oportunidad celebró La Pascua. Por “Anastasi,” una celebración por la Resurrección de Jesus, hay una llama de Jerusalem que fue traído a Grecia y esa llama se uso para encender a todos las velas en todas las iglesias en Grecia. Recibí esa llama en una vela pasado por la congregación durante “Anastasi.” Después tenia el desafío de caminar a mi hotel con el fuego. El viento no soplaba violentamente, pero si intenté a caminar de prisa, o no cubrí bien la llama con la mano, o mantuve la vela demasiado lejos de mi cuerpo, la llama bailaba e iba a apagarse. Sentí que esta llama fue un símbolo de mi fe en Cristo. Al caminar cuidadosamente, mi atención fijado en la condición de la llama, pensé, “¿cuido yo mi testimonio con la misma nivel de atención que estoy dando a esta llama?” Y esta experiencia caminando con la llama era una oportunidad de caminar con Dios!

Habían otras veces cuando estaba a solas caminando y pensando acerca de la vida, me imaginaba que Dios estaba conmigo caminando. Este pensamiento me daba un montón de paz. Pueden imaginar el gozo que podríamos sentir, si Dios caminaba con nosotros en realidad como lo hizo con Adán y Eva. Infortunadamente, la situación por Adán y Eva cambio después de la caída. Las escrituras nos explica que “Adán y Eva, su esposa, invocaron el nombre del Señor, y oyeron la voz del Señor que les hablaba en dirección del Jardín de Edén, y no lo vieron, porque se encontraban excluidos de su presencia” (Moisés 5:4).

Aunque nosotros todavía viven en un mundo caído, Dios no espera que permanezcamos caídos y excluidos de su presencia. De hecho, después de la caída, había dos personas, Enoc y Noé, de quien las escrituras dicen que caminaron con Dios (2). Es decir, que ellos ya no eran excluidos de su presencia. Quizás ustedes recuerden de la vida del hermano de Jared, quien vio al Señor. Cuando Cristo se le mostró al hermano de Jared, dijo a el, “eres redimido de la caída; por tanto, eres traído de nuevo a mi presencia” (Éter 3:13). Esta es nuestra meta, vencer este mundo caído y regresar a la presencia de Dios.

Por medio de su hijo amado, Dios nos ha dado un método de ser redimido de la caída y regresar a su presencia. Este método simplemente requiere que seamos humildes y tengamos fe en El. Jesus nos invita, “[caminen] en la mansedumbre de mi Espíritu.” Este es un camino que empieza con nuestras debilidades. Escuchen por favor a las siguientes palabras del Salvador:

Y si los hombres vienen a mí, les mostraré su debilidad. Doy a los hombres debilidad para que sean humildes; y basta mi gracia a todos los hombres que se humillan ante mí; porque si se humillan ante mí, y tienen fe en mí, entonces haré que las cosas débiles sean fuertes para ellos (Éter 12:27).

En la ultima Conferencia General Elder Hamilton nos enseñó acerca de esta escritura en Éter: “Observemos más detenidamente lo que el Señor nos enseña. Vemos que primero dice que da a los hombres y a las mujeres debilidad —en singular—, lo cual es parte de nuestra experiencia terrenal como seres caídos o carnales. Nos hemos vuelto hombres y mujeres naturales debido a la caída de Adán, pero mediante la expiación de Jesucristo, podemos vencer nuestra debilidad, o naturaleza caída.

Luego dice que Su gracia es suficiente y que si nos humillamos y tenemos fe en Él, entonces Él ‘har[á] que las cosas débiles [en plural] sean fuertes para [nosotros]’. En otras palabras, a medida que primero cambiemos nuestra naturaleza caída —nuestra debilidad—, entonces podremos cambiar nuestro comportamiento, nuestras debilidades.” (3) Así vemos que nuestra debilidad, al fin, no es una debilidad verdadera, sino más bien es un paso importante para nuestro progreso a regresar a las presencia de Dios. Pablo lo dijo bien, “cuando soy débil, entonces soy fuerte” (2 Corintios 12:10).

Hay otra manera en que una debilidad nos da fuerza. La fe, en un nivel básico es una debilidad porque es limitada. Según su definición de Alma, “La fe no es tener un conocimiento perfecto de las cosas; de modo que si tenéis fe, tenéis esperanza en cosas que no se ven, y que son verdaderas” (Alma 32:21). Aunque la fe es un conocimiento limitado y es ciega, y entonces se parece que es una debilidad, en realidad, es una fuerza. Al “ejercitar [nuestra] fe para arrepentimiento” (Alma 34:17) llegaremos a ser mas fuerte en maneras que el mero conocimiento no puede hacer. De hecho, tenemos que andar en fe, antes de andar con Dios.

Pablo enseñó que “por fe andamos, no por vista” (2 Corintios 5:7) y cuando andamos por fe estamos “and[ando] en el Espíritu” (Galatas 5:16). Tener fe es tener más acceso al Espíritu Santo, quien testifica de Cristo. Es por medio del Espíritu que podemos ver Dios “con el ojo de la fe” (Alma 32:40) —en singular— en preparación por el día en que lo veremos “con [nuestros] propios ojos” (Éter 12:19) —en plural. Es posible que el ojo de la fe es singular, porque el objeto de nuestra fe, Cristo también es singular. Alma enseñó, “hay otro modo o medio por el cual el hombre pueda ser salvo, sino en Cristo y por medio de él” (Alma 38:9). Así fue el progreso del hermano de Jared y muchos otros, según Moroni:

Y hubo muchos cuya fe era tan sumamente fuerte, aun antes de la venida de Cristo, que no se les pudo impedir penetrar el velo, sino que realmente vieron con sus propios ojos las cosas que habían visto con el ojo de la fe; y se regocijaron (Éter 12:19).

Alma considera el ojo de la fe equivalente con nuestras imaginaciones espirituales. Cuando Alma pregunta a su gente, “¿Miráis hacia adelante con el ojo de la fe y veis este cuerpo mortal levantado…para presentaros ante Dios…?” Alma también pregunta “¿Podéis imaginaros oír la voz del Señor…diciéndoos: Venid a mí, benditos?” Y “¿podéis imaginaros llevados ante el tribunal de Dios…? (Alma 5:15-18) ¿han imaginaron ustedes este escenario antes? ¿El día en que nosotros estamos arrodillados ante el Señor? La imaginación espiritual es un instrumento eficaz para el arrepentimiento. Nuestro Profeta, Presidente Nelson, han dicho, “El caminar por la senda de los convenios, en combinación con el arrepentimiento diario, aviva el ímpetu espiritual positivo” (4).

En el tiempo del Nefita Jarom, los profetas, los sacerdotes, y los maestros enseñaron a la gente “persuadiéndolos a mirar adelante hacia el Mesías y a creer en su venida como si ya se hubiese verificado.” (Jarom 1:11). Así que los Nefitas imaginaron que el Mesías ya vino a ellos, y se ajustaron sus comportamientos según esta realidad imaginada. El Espíritu puede guiar nuestras imaginaciones para que nos sentamos la realidad de un encuentro con Dios. ¿Han tenido ustedes algunas oportunidades de sentir la realidad de Dios?

Me recuerdo cuando era un joven, a veces durante las oraciones de my padre, me sentí que Dios realmente estaba en el cuarto con nosotros. En estas ocasiones pensé que si abriera los ojos yo vería a Dios. Así me sentía que Dios estaba tan cerca a nosotros. Y a veces cuando leo las escrituras con el Espíritu, me siento como estoy recibiendo las escrituras por la primera vez, es decir estoy el que recibe la revelación originalmente. Es como si “es [su] voz la que [me] las declara” (DyC 18:35). Y según las palabras de Doctrina y Convenios sección 18, “[puedo testificar] que [he] oído [su] voz y que [conozco sus] palabras” (DyC 18:35).

Testifico como Alma que “hoy es el tiempo y el día de [nuestra] salvación” y “es cuando el hombre debe prepararse para comparecer ante Dios” (Alma 34:31-32). Si andamos por la senda de los convenios, “hasta al fin,” podremos oír la voz del Padre diciéndonos: “Tendréis la vida eterna” (2 Nefi 31:20). Espero que todos nosotros podamos imaginar esta escenario, pero te garantizo que ninguno de nosotros podemos imaginar todo lo que Dios nos dará en esa ocasión. Por que, “Cosas que ojo no vio, ni oído oyó, ni han subido al corazón del hombre, son las que Dios ha preparado para aquellos que le aman” (2 Corintios 2:9).

Esta publicación es parte de un discurso dado en Mayo 2022.

(1) Enseñanzas de los Presidentes de la Iglesia: José Smith, capítulo 2

(2) En el antiguo testamento, Enoc y Noé también fueron traídos de nuevo a la presencia de Dios, pero las escrituras describen esta situación así; “caminó Enoc con Dios” (Génesis 5:22) y “con Dios caminó Noé” (Génesis 6:9).

(3) Kevin S. Hamilton, “Entonces haré que las cosas débiles sean fuertes” April 2022 o https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2022/04/28hamilton?lang=spa

(4) Presidente Nelson, “El Poder de Ímpetu Espiritual,” Abril 2022 o https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ftsoy/2022/05/04-the-power-of-spiritual-momentum-excerpts?lang=spa

The Interpreter Published “Count Your Many Mormons”

Posted on by nathanwritesstuff

The Interpreter published the article, “Count Your Many Mormons: Mormon’s Personalized and Personal Messages in Mosiah 18 and 3 Nephi 5” on November 20th, 2020.

For the full article, please see: https://journal.interpreterfoundation.org/count-your-many-mormons-mormons-personalized-and-personal-messages-in-mosiah-18-and-3-nephi-5/.

Abstract: The present work analyzes the narrative art Mormon employs, specifically Mormon’s unique strategies for personalized and personal messaging, which can be seen in how Mormon connects the narration of the baptism at the waters of Mormon in Mosiah chapter 18 with his self- introductory material in 3 Nephi chapter 5. In these narratives, Mormon seems to simultaneously present an overt personalized message about Christ and a covert personal connection to Alma1 through the almost excessive repetition of his own name. Mormon discreetly plants evidence to suggest his intention for the careful re-reader to discover that Mormon was a 12th generation descendant of the first Alma. Mormon’s use of personalizing and personal messages lends emotive power to his narratives and shines a light on Mormon’s love for Christ’s church.

[Author’s note: The title of this article makes a play on the popular hymn, “Count Your Many Blessings,” found at https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/music/library/hymns/count-your-blessings. In the spirit of counting blessings, I am grateful to my friend Katherine and my brother David for their efforts in wordsmithing my first drafts and my rewrite. Similarly, thank you to the Interpreters’ peer reviewers for their helpful suggestions that guided this paper to be the best it could be. Additionally, I express a heart-felt thank you to Leslie Reynolds, whose constant encouragement brought this paper to life. And finally, thank you to my friend Spencer, who first introduced me to the academic world of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints two decades ago.]

I was grateful to note that this article with such a focus on giving thanks #givethanks came out the same day as President Nelson’s global prayer of gratitude. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlcILxGmVrI

Finding Christ Together

Posted on by nathanwritesstuff

Sometimes in life, we face things before which we don’t just bend or break, but shatter. And all that we are fractures and falls upon the floor of our own worlds come to naught. Our stories that make up who we are, the contradictory puzzle pieces of our personalities, cease to unify us, but splinter us into bits. We lose the satisfaction of knowing who we really are. Being lost, truly lost, is terrifying. We grasp at our stories that reflect the brighter moments in our lives; they are brilliant, comforting, and full of hope. However, they are connected to those villainous vignettes that mirror the darkness, times when we chose deceit, betrayal, violence, and malice, or someone chose these for us. We don’t want these stories anymore, but they cling to us anyway, even as we fragment because of them. Our very efforts to deny them pull us down into an abyss of sorrows.

We may cry out for help or we may sit in the stillness of our secret sadnesses alone. Either way, we need someone to identify us, to tell us who we are, and to remind us of our value that we have meaning. We don’t just need a savior, we need the Savior; however, despite his promise, “I will not leave you comfortless, I will come for you” (John 14:18), he doesn’t seem to come. Instead, we may only receive an encouraging smile from a stranger, an unprecipitated kind word from a co-worker, or the listening ear of a friend or a family member. As appreciated as these gestures are, they are not Christ’s infinite and perfected empathy. So, we are puzzled when, in his place, he sends the broken to the broken to find wholeness again.

And there, scattered and broken, but together in our imperfect attempts to help each other, we find the Savior. “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matt 18:20). And there he is moving between the creases of our broken pieces bringing us all together into his wholeness. With Christ, our brokenness allows us to fit together like a puzzle; our broken pieces become the mosaic, the portrait of the Messiah’s infinite love for us. Our many seemingly separate lives become one story of how we each find him together. He came, he was always there, and he will always be there when we are there, with and for each other. Let’s find each other, and we will find him together.

Thanks to my friend Katherine and brother David for their helpful comments in grammar and content!

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When Facing Doom, There is Room for Opportunities

Posted on by nathanwritesstuff

Paul prophesied that “in the last days perilous times shall come” (2 Timothy 3:1). Especially in our current pandemic experience, it feels like those perilous times are already here. At times like today, it is important to remember that with every prophecy of doom there is room for opportunity; opportunities to bring salvation to you, me, and others. While “the whole earth shall be in commotion” (D&C 45:26); and “many hearts shall fail” (D&C 45:26), we should “sanctify the Lord God in [our] hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh [us] a reason of the hope that is in [us] (1 Peter 3:15). Hope is always in short supply, when fear barks out its demands. 

Sustained anxiety and fear have a powerful effect on the human psyche. The continued commotion caused by sensationalized media from news outlets and social media feeds can blind people to the truth. “[T]here are many yet on the earth…who are blinded by the subtle craftiness of men…who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it” (D&C 123:12). In this age, we can easily confuse truth with information and be “ever learning,” but “never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7). Being inundated with data is not the same thing as having “[our] whole bodies [being] filled with light” (D&C 88:67). What I am suggesting today is for you and me to find our light. If we have “misplaced” it under a bushel (see Matt.5:15), then let’s get it back, and rush out into the darkness to those who feel alone on an island of isolation surrounded by a sea of fear.

One need only to crack open the scriptures to feel that heavenly light chase away the darkness. Elder Boyd K. Packer taught that “[t]he scriptures hold the keys to spiritual protection…they offer hope.”[1] Sharing this hope through the scriptures can open up the “windows of heaven” (Malachi 3:10) to those “walking in darkness at noon-day” (D&C 95:6). The Book of Mormon is particularly relevant to our chaotic circumstances. As pointed out by the church scholar Grant Hardy, Mormon spends most of the Book of Mormon’s space on times of conflict.[2] It is informative to note that it is in those same times of conflict in the Book of Mormon that there are so many narratives about miracles. Mormon and the other narrators in the Book of Mormon knew our day, they knew we needed to know how to find miracles within the most dysfunctional times of our lives. Somehow, the Book of Mormon creatively blends stringent didacticism and literary artistry into a piercing message of hope in the face of the tragedy of its own narrative—the entire destruction of its own people. It is a miracle in its own right that we can read this heart-rending narrative and come away healed, full of hope, and rejoicing because of the Savior. I know the Savior, because of the Book of Mormon. He is real and I love him.  

It was during the years of continuous warfare between the Nephites and Lamanites that the sons of Mosiah convert thousands of their mortal enemies to Christ. This once bloodthirsty people, have such a mighty change in their hearts that they end up burying their weapons of war as well as “the weapons of their rebellion, that they did not fight against God any more” (Alma 23:7). They make an oath never again to take up arms against another soul—an oath they never break. Their conversion was so thorough that despite all the trials that continuously materialized on their covenant path,[3] they “never did fall away” (Alma 23:6). Such is the power of a Christ taken seriously. Christ was not an abstract concept to these converts. He visited them. They were “washed bright through the blood of the Son” (Alma 24:13). They came to know personally that “[God] love[d] [their] souls” (Alma 24:14). I often use the following pleading from their king as a spiritual ruler to measure my own devotion to the Savior:

What shall I do that I may have this eternal life of which thou hast spoken? Yea, what shall I do that I may be born of God, having this wicked spirit rooted out of my breast, and receive his Spirit, that I may be filled with joy, that I may not be cast off at the last day? Behold, said he, I will give up all that I possess, yea, I will forsake my kingdom, that I may receive this great joy. (Alma 22:15)

And then this same king prays:

O God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day. (Alma 22:18)

When was the last time I prayed with such fervor? Am I willing to change, to give up the me of today in order to follow God? I love Alma’s question to the people of Zarahemla, “if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love…can ye feel so now?” (Alma 5:26). If quarantine has caused you to distance yourself not only from others, but from God, “now is the time and the day of your salvation” (Alma 34:31). “Draw near unto [him] and [he] will draw near unto you” (D&C 88: 63). We are at our closest to God when we are on our knees. We don’t even need to don a mask before we “call on his name,” he will “converse with [us]” anyway (Alma 12:30).  

It is in a population of defiant dissidents that Alma and his group of missionaries rescue a group of humble converts for Christ. For these converts, “their afflictions had truly humbled them, and that they were in a preparation to hear the word” (Alma 32:6). Our current quarantine has likewise humbled many and prepared us for the word. The word is Christ. And we have no idea how many people our words about Christ could change. His redemption is “immediate[…]” (Alma 34:31) and life altering. Although the converts from Alma’s party at this time were limited, their effect was lasting. 

In a dark prison 40 years later, a man recites their words to a cowering crowd, who asked “what shall we do, that this cloud of darkness may be removed from overshadowing us?” He responds:

You must repent, and cry…even until ye shall have faith in Christ, who was taught unto you by Alma, and Amulek, and Zeezrom; and when ye shall do this, the cloud of darkness shall be removed from overshadowing you. (Helaman 5:41) 

As a result of this dialogue and the ensuing miracles that followed, the “more part of the Lamanites were convinced” and “did lay down their weapons of war” (Helaman 5:50-51). On top of this, the Lamanites “did yield up unto the Nephites the lands of their possessions” (Helaman 5:52). Church scholar Michael Perry points out that this recovery of territory was something that years of war could not bring about (compare with Helaman 4:18-19).[4] This is the power of the word, which “had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else” (Alma 31:5). Like Alma, we “should try the virtue of the word of God” (Alma 31:5) in our own lives and share this power with others.  

As it was with them, so it is with us. Under our despairing circumstances, living in a world prophesied to be the end of days with commotion, contention, persecution, disasters, diseases, and the worst of human behavior, we can expect to see most clearly the tender mercies of the Lord. And even more, we can expect to be the instruments of his tender mercies delivered to others! Serving the Lord has never been comfortable, but sometimes God needs to discomfort us so we will bring comfort to the comfortless. We can be emboldened to “cheerfully do all things that lie in our power…with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed” (D&C 123:17). Let’s let the Lord into our lives to lead us to reach out to someone today and every day his voice comes to us. If we listen, he will call us on his errand. I know this. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. 

Endnotes:

[1] Elder Boyd K. Packer, “The Key to Spiritual Protection,” October 2013: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2013/10/the-key-to-spiritual-protection?lang=yap

[2] Grant Hardy, Understanding the Book of Mormon: A Reader’s Guide (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 107-108.

[3] “My dear brothers and sisters, Jesus Christ invites us to take the covenant path back home to our Heavenly Parents and be with those we love. He invites us to ‘come, follow me.’” President Nelson described it this way in his talk: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2019/04/46nelson?lang=eng

[4] Michael F. Perry, “Supremacy of the Word: Alma’s Mission to the Zoramites and the Conversion of the Lamanites,” in Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, v. 24 (2015), 135-136. 

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The Interpreter to Publish, “Joseph Knew First: Moses, The Egyptian Son”

Posted on by nathanwritesstuff

The Interpreter will publish my article “Joseph Knew First: Moses, The Egyptian Son” soon on their website (https://www.mormoninterpreter.com) and in print. Here is the abstract for the article:

After about 1500 years of slumber, ancient Egyptian was brought
back to life in the early 19th century, when scholars deciphered hieroglyphs.
This revolutionary success opened the door to a  reevaluation of history
from the viewpoint of ancient Egypt. In the wake of this new knowledge,
the first scholar posited the idea in 1849 that the name of Moses stemmed
from the Egyptian word for child. Subsequently, this idea was refined,
and currently the majority of scholars believe Moses’s name comes from
the Egyptian verb “to beget,” which is also the root for the Egyptian word
for child, or in the case of a male child, a “son.” Before this discovery and
certainly before a scholarly consensus formed on the Egyptian etymology
of the name of Moses, Joseph Smith restored a prophecy from the patriarch
Joseph that played upon the name of Moses and its yet to be discovered
Egyptian meaning of “son.” This article explores the implications of this
overt Egyptian pun and its role as a key thematic element in the restored
narratives in the Book of Moses.

Love First, Love Last

Posted on by nathanwritesstuff

As powerful as human love can be, it cannot compare with the unique love Jesus taught and exemplified. In fact, Christ’s love is so specialized the scriptures sometimes employ a different word to distinguish it from the ordinary concept. This word in the English scriptures is Charity. Unlike Charity, “which never faileth”, but “endureth forever” (Moroni 7:45, 47), worldly love is fickle, prone to fall in and out of our hearts depending on circumstances. Like ordinary love, Charity needs to be experienced to be understood. God shares his love with us, and after realizing how deeply he loves us, we might be inspired to reciprocate or even emulate His love. “We love him because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).  

Charity does not come naturally to the natural man. Instead it is a gift we receive through prayer. Prayer is a form of work, something we must exercise regularly; this is especially true for the reception and retention of Charity. The scriptures urge us to “pray unto the father with all the energy of heart” to be “filled with this love” (Moroni 7:48). The exercise of this type of prayer can have a cardiovascular effect, which increases the capacity of our hearts to love with more breadth and depth for longer. Receiving Charity trains us in the art of loving first. 

Although very common, measuring another’s interest in loving us as a condition to loving them is more shallow than the love we are capable of through Christ. Christ “first loved us” and his love pushes us to do the same (1 John 4:19). So before we have enough information about someone to judge whether they merit our time and effort, we can choose to love them first. We don’t have to wrap our minds around someone else’s world until we find common ground in order to love. We can push past loving people just because we can see in them things we understand and love about ourselves to loving them just because. When we pray for Charity, we can include an object, a specific person, for whom we can learn to love first. Sometimes this object we are praying to love should be ourselves.

Being “filled with Charity” is not an ability limited to loving others despite their weaknesses, but also ourselves. Sometimes we can learn to appreciate the sordid pasts of others and love them today regardless, but find ourselves loathing our own history so much that we become restlessly uncomfortable in our own skin. Christ’s love comes to us as a comfort, precisely because it comes to us through the “Comforter” (Moroni 8:26). The reception of Charity reminds us that we are not only meant to be the messenger of Christ’s love, but also a receptacle; we are meant to believe the message too. When we read that “[Christ has] loved the world, even unto the laying down of [his] life for the world” (Ether 12:33), the world is not some wholly abstract phrase here, we are the world to him. Spiritual syntax demands that his loving us first not only move us to love him in return, but also love ourselves more completely, which multiplies our ability to love, period.

When we believe Christ’s love for us, we naturally want to love like him (see John 13:34). Our role as an appreciative consumer of his love prepares us to become a distributor too as Christ’s Charity drives us to pour out our hearts in love for others; a marvelous work, from which we can grow weary. As we continue our commitment to loving others, we might fear to expend our coveted reservoir of God’s love, a reservoir carved out originally by our fervent prayers and miraculously filled by the Lord. Just like the widow of Zidon, when we faithfully use up our all for others, we will witness how God will not allow our reservoir to fail (see 1 Kings 17:8-16). Prayer, our connection to the power of loving first, will also enable this love to last, because “perfect love…endureth by diligence unto prayer” (Moroni 8:26). 

It can be overwhelming to realize the implications of an infinite love, but this weighty gift of Charity mercifully comes with a manual. The same Comforter that delivers the package of perfect love to us also is the manual for its correct application. Charity is not a mandate to become a perpetual doormat or an unflinching punching bag. The Spirit “will show unto [us] all things what [we] should do” (2 Nephi 32:5), including what we should do with this most precious gift of His love. The Holy Ghost will prompt us not only to turn the other cheek at times (see Luke 6:29), but also to “[reprove] betimes with sharpness” (D&C 121:43). This repeated spiritual process of seeking Christ’s love and wandering through paths unknown to deliver it, will one day walk us back to Him. In this way, “when he shall appear we shall be like him,” because Charity, above all other gifts, sculpts us most closely into Christ’s image (see Moroni 7:48). After all, Christ’s image needs to be seen on more than paintings and sculptures, it needs to be witnessed in our acts and on our faces as we choose to love first and love last. 

Special thanks to the editing wizardry of my friend Katherine.

The Perils surrounding the Nativity Narrative

Posted on by nathanwritesstuff

 The story of Christ’s birth is always in danger of becoming too pedestrian, so familiar it becomes trite. Sadly, the very commemoration of this story every year can sometimes lead us to bury it further into the dark recesses of our dormant memory instead of making it new again. We know how the narrative ends, so we often overlook the inherent peril in Christ’s coming to the world as a baby. 

 The whole process of bringing a savior to earth was fraught with inconceivable risk. Mortality rates for child birth and the probability of any child making it to adulthood in the ancient world were huge risks for an only begotten son; God only had one chance. In addition to the natural causes of death, Herod awaited the birth of Christ and, according to our Bible story, murdered the male infants of a whole town for the possibility to end the story of Christ prematurely. The world loomed so large and powerful in comparison to the fragility of the situation for the young Mary, Joseph, and child. At any point, the terrors of the world seemed poised to swallow the entire enterprise whole.

 The odds were against Christ then, and they certainly oppose him now. The story of Christ is still in danger. The world is still so large and seems bent on trying to stamp out any belief in the Christ. Many media voices spout out a logic that makes belief seem ridiculous. We cannot escape the megaphone of Christmas commercialism that can keep us so busy we don’t have time to savor the thought of the Savior. A Savior who lived and died to not only help us believe in him, but to enable us to be like him. With all the pressures of the season, we can spend so much time celebrating Christmas that we forget to be Christians.

 Our faith in Christ may begin as a fragile, faint glimmer in the terrifying darkness of the night sky, but as we follow the light of the savior in the service of each other, we can #lighttheworld with hope. 

 Check out this video for inspiration. https://www.mormon.org/christmas/light-the-world?play=hero

Message inspired by the faithful scholarship of Brevard S. Childs, see his The Book of Exodus: A Critical, Theological Commentary (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1974), 24-25.

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Christ: The End Worth Enduring For

Posted on by nathanwritesstuff

Presented at the SMPT Conference held at Brigham Young University, October 2016.

It may seem like an understatement of sorts to say, “In the world ye shall have tribulation” (John 16:33), when hardship is the state of man in the world. Suffering is not supposed to be the end state for us though, “men are, that they may have joy” (2 Nephi 2:25). Christ is the end of our sorrows, not because he removes our sorrows, but through him “[our] sorrow shall be turned into joy” (John 16:20). It is a process. As we sample life’s buffet, we will inevitably “taste the bitter”, not just so we can learn to “prize the good”, but so we can learn to metabolize the bitter and convert into something “for [our] own good” (Moses 6:55 and D&C 122:7). In life, we are meant to do more than just endure.

“Endur[ing] to the end” is the critical last leg of our overall journey to salvation (3 Nephi 15:9); however, when we talk about it, we often focus on endurance, as if white-knuckling the “rod of iron” was tantamount to enduring to the end. In actuality, understanding what the end is empowers us to “stand still” when “all things shall be in commotion” (D&C 123:17 and 88:91). More than merely understanding the end, the scriptures insist that we can know or even view the end through revelation. It is the through revelation’s lens that we can gain perspective on the end that is death, the end of our immediate sufferings, and the end who is Christ.

The scriptures, which are revelations themselves, beget further revelation for those seeking truth. It is important to know that the scriptures are living documents. We sometimes confuse the life we bring to the words as the only life the scriptures possess; as if the only voice the scriptures have is ours when we read. In addition to the ancient authors’ voices whispering from the dust, the “still small voice” of God’s spirit breathes life into the scriptures with words we can “feel” (1 Nephi 17:45). As a result of this interaction, we “can testify that [we] have heard [His] voice, and know [His] words” (D&C 18:36). The Lord entrusts us with revelation, so we will trust his words and follow him, especially in those times when we are confused.

Although not always evident and certainly not always appreciated, the precursor for revelation is often confusion. The promise “ask, and ye shall receive” presupposes a question. Life has a way of forcing questions on us that the scriptures seem ill-equipped to answer. Often solutions from the scriptures seem binary, where things are only right or wrong. Fortunately, revelation can convert scriptural binary, so it can be applied to solve the equations of our own suffering. The scriptures hold a power to transport us into an abstract world that can match the abstract confusion in our lives. A place where “all things whatsoever God has seen proper to reveal to us” he can “[reveal] to us in the abstract”. [1]

It is precisely through continuing personal revelation that the gospel is made “inexhaustible” [2] and we can begin to fathom such a thing as an “infinite atonement” (2 Nephi 9:7). Without the assistance of the spirit, we are easily confined to a finite world defined by the relentless rhythm of time. In his atoning act, Christ’s condescension to this world connected us to the infinite. We worship a God, before whom “past, present, and future…are continually” (D&C 130:7); therefore, God can and does “declar[e] the end from the beginning” to us (Isaiah 46:10). It is worth all the spiritual sweat we expend in understanding revelation from the scriptures and persistent prayer, if we can gain a glimpse of the sweet eternal perspective that the Lord can provide. Eternal perspectives enable us to correctly scope our current crisis.

The End that Is Death

Often our present problems can find relief through simply knowing that death is not the end. Christ “[is] the…life” that made immortal life possible for us (John 14:6). Christ’s infinite atonement not only extends our individual stories passed the finality of death, but also allows us to attain to a “knowledge…of the world to come” (Jacob 4:12, see also Mosiah 5:3). Our “hope and views” of the post-mortal world can allow us to face trials, suffering, and especially death knowing that we don’t have to face them alone.

When a loved one departs this earth, part of our solace can come from this knowledge that death is not the end of life. Additionally, understanding that death is not the end of our relationships can help us deal with life. The scriptures teach that “that same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there” (D&C 130:2). This principle is one of the more regularly confirmed revelations in scripture. The spirit hallows our daily precious moments with the people we love by adding a feeling of permanence that is nearly palpable to our associations. This spiritual witness of our enduring relationships is also part of our “knowledge…of the world to come” (Jacob 4:12). Our spirit-touched eyes can see what heaven will be like as we love others right now. This love, though not always “perfect”, can still cast out some of the fear that our vessels of faith take in as we traverse the swells of life (1 John 4:18).

Revelation offers us the awareness that we are not alone, especially at those times that we most fear that we are. “Our loved ones who have passed on are not far from us” [3]; they are in the spirit world here “on earth, around us” [4]. By doing genealogy we generate more than lists of names and dates, we generate eternal relationships. Our efforts in family history invite the spirit to thin the veil that separates us from the dearly departed, so that our own ancestry can be the unseen ministering angels that “speak by the power of the Holy Ghost” to us in our times of need (2 Nephi 32:3) [5]. Genealogy generates power for us to overcome our difficulties. No matter how steep the odds we face in our trials here, the arithmetic of our own ancestry is such that we can count on there being “more with us than with [any of our figurative enemy armies]“ (2 Chronicles 32:7). It is very empowering to realize that the hosts of heaven, the great angelic army of the Lord, are our ancestors. [6]

Christ has “trodden the winepress alone” so we do not have to (Isaiah 63:3). His atonement can make our relationships eternal. The relationships we create here and through the veil are our “cloud of witnesses” to God’s love for us, a love that is perfect and “casteth out all fear” (Hebrews 12:1 and Moroni 8:16).

The End of Our Sufferings

Despite a growing knowledge of the world to come, when we are caught in one of life’s “mighty storm[s]” (Helaman 5:12), the end we tend to care about most is the end of our immediate sufferings. Trapped within the confines of our present circumstances, we are unable to see that there is “a way” prepared for us to “escape” (1 Corinthians 10:13). Christ “[is] the way” (John 14:6). His infinite atonement is the only way to escape the chains of the finite now to spiritually see “things as they really are, and…as they really will be” (Jacob 4:13).

The Holy Ghost is a comforter, because he is a revealer. Through the spirit, our faith and anxiety can qualify us to know what “things should happen” (Jacob 1:5). Revelation can comfort us; however, even knowing how something will occur does not necessarily trivialize the experience of living through it. Christ, who knew cognitively before hand what his suffering would be like was still “astonished” when his agony began in the garden of Gethsemane [7]. Because of Christ’s astonishing sorrow we can also be astonished at how personal a figure Christ can be in the path out of our own sufferings.

The Spirit’s witness of Christ is another way that the Holy Ghost fulfills his role as a comforter. The Spirit begins by confirming basic truths about Christ; that he exists and that he is the savior. Over time, the Holy Ghost personalizes Christ’s reality to us in ways that will deepen our awareness of the personal relationship we have with him. His reality can become so tangible, we will begin to feel “as though he had already come among [us]” (Mosiah 3:13, see also Jarom 1:11). This consciousness of his reality, his personal presence in our lives, gives us lasting comfort in our times of need. The numerous tender mercies we receive from God become more tender through an intimate relationship with their giver.

While speaking of theophanies, Moroni explained that the brother of Jared was one of those who “truly saw with their eyes the things which they had beheld with an eye of faith, and they were glad” (Ether 12:19). The spirit helps us imagine the presence of God with our spiritual senses well before the day when “[we] shall see him” with our eyes (D&C 88:68). In this way, the Spirit, as the comforter, prepares us for the Second Comforter, who is Christ [8]. Coming into the presence of God is a process in which we experience his presence gradually as we learn to feel and follow the Spirit. Our sufferings are a vital part of this process.

When we are in pain, it is very easy to focus on causes instead of purposes for our trials. We can wallow in a multitude of why questions, before we begin to think about how to get through the quagmire of a particular problem. We often treat our problems like ends unto themselves, when really to the Lord our trials are a means to an end. Getting through a tribulation, though admirable, is not as important eternally as what we get out of it and who we become because of it. Life, including our sufferings, is a means to an end, and that end is for us to become like Christ. He is the end of our sufferings.

The End Who Is Christ

Christ himself said “I am…the beginning and the end” (Revelation 21:6, italics added for emphasis). Christ is the end worth enduring to and his grace [9] supplies the power we need to reach him. It is our knowledge of Christ and our personal relationship with him that brings fuller purpose to our mortal pains and additional power to meet our trials. The spirit allows us such an intimacy in our relationship with Christ; however, this feeling of intimacy with Christ and a certainty of his existence, though related are different concepts. The scriptures use various senses to suggest progressive levels of certitude in our awareness of Christ’s reality; we can feel his spirit, we can hear his voice, and finally we can see his face. The scriptures similarly describe different degrees of divine intimacy or nearness, but the senses are ranked differently. From a distance we can hear him “as the voice of one crying in the wilderness” and we can glimpse him with an eye of faith, but the spirit allows a closeness beyond sound or sight, where we can feel his presence, and even “[taste] of his love” (D&C 88:66 and Mosiah 4:11).

The Lord does not want us to just know that he is, he also wants proximity to us. In scripture, he insists on intimacy, “draw near unto me, and I will draw near unto you” (D&C 88:63). The idea that we can taste of his love or goodness is a symbolically shocking way to describe how close we can come to the Lord through the spirit (see Mosiah 4:11 and Alma 36:24-26). To taste something, you have to be close enough to touch it with your tongue. As a brief aside, this is exactly what we do with the emblems of Christ in the Eucharist or the Sacrament, we put them in our mouth; it is supposed to be this intimate. Sometimes it is during suffering’s suffocating grip that we come to know Christ most intimately. His nearness can distance us from our pain, so that we can see our trials differently. At these moments, we can more easily enter into a Gethsemaneic mindset, where we are willing to accept the Lord’s will over our own. And having emptied out our wills, we will have more room for more of God’s power to do what was previously impossible.

Our sufferings can find their end in Christ, where his will can drive us to “finish[…]” our trials in a way that can also add finishing touches to us (D&C 19:19). Our submission allows the Lord to use our trials as tools to engrave his image in our countenances (see Alma 5:19). Our harrowing experiences prepare our hearts to receive the word, so that it can be planted there. Alma defines this word as Christ and his atonement, the capitalized Word, and suggests that as Christ grows in us, God may then “grant unto [us] that [our] burdens may be light, through the joy of his Son” (Alma 33:23, 22-23) [10]. Our suffering can lead us to such intimacy with the Lord that we end up becoming “like him” (Moroni 7:48). He is the end we endure life’s pains to reach and the end we can become. He is worth it and so are we.

Endnotes

To see the abstract for this paper, see “The End Worth Enduring for“.

[1] The Words of Joseph Smith: The contemporary accounts of the Nauvoo discourses of the Prophet Joseph, Andrew F. Ehat and Lyndon W. Cook, ed. (Kindle Edition), 112.

[2] This phrase comes from a devotional address given at Brigham Young University on 18 August 1992 by Elder Neal A. Maxwell published in “The Inexhaustible Gospel”, in The Inexhaustible Gospel: A Retrospective of Twenty-One Firesides and Devotionals Brigham Young University 1974-2004 (Intellectual Reserves, Inc., 2004), 211-225.

[3] Ezra T. Benson, “Life is Eternal”, Ensign, June 1971. https://www.lds.org/ensign/1971/06/life-is-eternal?lang=eng

[4] Gospel Principles, “Chapter 41: The Postmortal Spirit World” (2011). https://www.lds.org/manual/gospel-principles/chapter-41-the-postmortal-spirit-world?lang=eng

[5] Dallin H. Oaks, “The Aaronic Priesthood and the Sacrament”, Ensign, January 1999. https://www.lds.org/liahona/1999/01/the-aaronic-priesthood-and-the-sacrament?lang=eng

[6] This is based on the principle that “there are no angels who minister to this earth but those who do belong or have belonged to it” (D&C 130:5). Joseph F. Smith also stated that “When messengers are sent to minister to the inhabitants of this earth, they are not strangers, but from the ranks of our kindred, friends, and fellow-beings and fellow-servants.” https://www.lds.org/ensign/1988/03/i-have-a-question?lang=eng

[7] “Later, in Gethsemane, the suffering Jesus began to be ‘sore amazed’ (Mark 14:33), or, in the Greek, ‘awestruck’ and ‘astonished.’ Imagine, Jehovah, the Creator of this and other worlds, ‘astonished’! Jesus knew cognitively what He must do, but not experientially. He had never personally known the exquisite and exacting process of an atonement before. Thus, when the agony came in its fulness, it was so much, much worse than even He with his unique intellect had ever imagined!” (Elder Neal A. Maxwell, “Willing to Submit”, Ensign, May 1985) https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1985/04/willing-to-submit?lang=eng This idea is also hinted at in Alma 7: 11-13.

[8] The LDS Bible Dictionary defines the Second Comforter as the personal privilege of receiving the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bd/comforter?lang=eng&letter=c

[9] The LDS Bible Dictionary entry for Grace: “It is likewise through the grace of the Lord that individuals, through faith in the Atonement of Jesus Christ and repentance of their sins, receive strength and assistance to do good works that they otherwise would not be able to maintain if left to their own means.” https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bd/grace?lang=eng&letter=g I also like this article on Grace by John Gee http://publications.mi.byu.edu/fullscreen/?pub=1466&index=10

[10] I am reading Alma 33:23, where Alma says “plant this word” as a referrer to Alma 33:22 for a definition of “the word” used in the famous allegory of Alma 32, which, from this point of view, is a process of certainty and intimacy with the Savior himself.

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