Book of Mormon, part 1

Zion and Babylon are polar opposites.  They are scriptural symbols of two different ways or paths.  Babylon represents the ways of the world. 

When Nebuchadnezzar was the king of Babylon, he dreamt of a great image with a head of gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron, and feet of iron and clay.  (Daniel 2:31-33)  Babylon, as an empire, fell over 2,500 years ago.  It was followed by the Medes and the Persians, the Greeks and the Romans, and then the Holy Roman Empire and later the kingdoms of Europe.

What is interesting about the dream and its interpretation is that the great head of gold (Babylon) isn’t broken and crushed and blown away in the wind until the last days.  Why is that?  Babylon, the city and the empire, has been gone for over two millennia yet the head of gold remains with us. How? 

Babylon’s culture had a huge influence on the subsequent cultures.  The Medes, Persians, Greeks, Romans, etc. were all influenced by Babylon. Likewise, so were the Jews during their captivity.  Our culture also has foundations in Babylon.  Babylon surrounds us, intricately woven into the cultural smog we breath on a daily basis.  So much so, that we fail to even recognize its presence or its source.  How are we to escape?  How does one flee Babylon?

Enter the Book of Mormon. 

Lehi and his family left Jerusalem around 600 BC a few years before Nebuchadnezzar invaded and destroyed it.  The capture of the Jews who remained and the time they spent in Babylon had an influence that can hardly be understated.  (Imagine if some foreign invaders captured Salt Lake City, tore down the temple and destroyed the Church and you can get an idea of how those Jews might have felt.)  They were God’s chosen people.  Delivered out of Egypt by Him. Freed by Him.  Led by God.  God fought their battles.  Now all of that was reversed. Once again, they found themselves in captivity.  This time in Babylon.  What had gone wrong?  Why didn’t God protect them as he had in the past?  What of their prophecies?

Well about 70 years passed.  Babylon was eventually conquered by the Persians. The Persian King Cyrus gave permission for the Jews to return to their homeland.  Many chose to remain in Babylon, but Zerubabbel led a group of about 42,000 Jews back to begin rebuilding the temple which had been destroyed by Babylon.  This rebuilt temple (which was later expanded by Herod) was the temple which stood in Jerusalem during the Savior’s ministry.

A few Jews, who had fled during the Babylonian invasion, had remained in the area and intermarried with other peoples thereby becoming “impure”.  Their descendants came to be known as the Samaritans.  They offered to help with rebuilding the temple but their offers were spurned and they ended up opposing and trying to frustrate the work.

During their captivity and in the years that followed many of the Jewish records, scriptures, and prophecies were altered.  Some things just didn’t make sense to them.  Some prophecies didn’t seem to fit with what had just happened.  History was rewritten and the revised versions found their way into our Biblical record.  These revisionist Jews are called Deuteronomists by modern scholars. This group of priests / scribes is responsible for many of the books that we have today in the Old Testament. 

Jewish culture was also influenced by 70 years in Babylon and was never the same thereafter.  Future Jewish records continued to reflect Babylon’s taint.  All of this influenced our Old Testament.  And that is all BEFORE the great and abominable church gets hold of it.  (We’ll get to that next week.)

Now, let’s skip ahead in time to Joseph Smith.  In the sequence of God’s latter day work—right behind the First Vision—He introduces the Book of Mormon.  Why?  One reason is that the Book of Mormon is scripture untouched by Babylon’s influence.  The Nephites never spent time in Babylon.

God intends the Book of Mormon to grind the great Golden Head to dust. 

“Few men on earth,” said Elder Bruce R. McConkie, “either in or out of the Church, have caught the vision of what the Book of Mormon is all about. Few are they among men who know the part it has played and will yet play in preparing the way for the coming of Him of whom it is a new witness. … The Book of Mormon shall so affect men that the whole earth and all its peoples will have been influenced and governed by it. … There is no greater issue ever to confront mankind in modern times than this: Is the Book of Mormon the mind and will and voice of God to all men?” (Millennial Messiah pp. 159, 170, 179.)

If we are to flee Babylon it must be through following the Book of Mormon’s teachings.  

Letter from Nathan

I received a birthday letter from Nathan.  He's grown a lot through his mission experience and is enjoying Georgia.  He is currently working in the mission home.  We get an email from him each week, but I enjoyed this letter from him.  The last part made me laugh.  You might enjoy it as well.


Dad,

Hey dad sorry this letter is late.  I just wanted to say Happy Birthday.  Sorry I can't get you anything.  This letter is probably the only thing you would get anyway even if I was home. Haha. But anways I hope you had a good birthday.  I wish I could be there to celebrate with you.  I miss all of the food that you make.  The tri-tip, ribs, risotto, ice-cream, pasta, carne asada and that pumpkin bread pudding you made a couple of times.

I guess you will be in Seattle by the time this gets to Utah.  Hope you had fun.

Thanks for being the best dad ever! I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for you.  Thanks for everything.  (Except the freakin, stupid, retarded, dumb, gay, idiot cows)

Love,

Elder J

Chastity

One of my favorite parts of our home is our wood-burning stove.  As a child, I didn’t appreciate the fact that we heated our home primarily with a wood stove instead of our gas furnace.  It meant a lot of extra work for me.  But now, every fall, we carry on a longstanding Jensen tradition of traipsing up to the mountains for firewood.  I really enjoy it and hope that my boys will continue when they have sons of their own.   To me there is nothing that feels better on a cold winter day than coming in from the weather to get warmed by the heat from our wood-stove.

When my kids were younger I used our wood-stove as an analogy for human intimacy.  Obviously, we don’t just build a fire in the middle of the room because of the great damage it would do to our house. 

Because we are all red-blooded mortals, the Lord’s law of chastity is something we all encounter as we mature from childhood and into adulthood.  It is one of the areas we are tempted and often struggle with.

When we are young, sometimes the commandments might seem restrictive. But like the wood-stove, when we keep these things within the bounds the lord has set then sexual intimacy becomes a great blessing.  In like manner, any other use becomes destructive and leaves lives filled with pain, regrets and sorrow. 

Alma taught his son that these things are “most abominable above all sins save it be the shedding of innocent blood or denying the Holy Ghost” (Alma 39:5).  Satan has done an incredible job in our society of taking this most serious offense and making it seem acceptable, normal and no big deal.  He has taken something incredibly sacred and profaned it.  We are all constantly bombarded by his lies throughout our society.  Many have been deceived.  Sadly this is not limited solely to those outside the church.  Many within also lose sight of how serious a matter this law is with the Lord.

Proverbs 6:32 states “But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.”  Our bodies and spirits are more closely linked than we probably realize.  Those who transgress these physical laws suffer spiritual consequences.  One of the reasons that adulterers seek signs and disbelieve is a result of the spiritual damage their actions have wrought in their lives.  We tend to lose sight of the gravity of this matter.  Perhaps one of the reasons this offense was punishable by death under the law of Moses was to impress upon their minds continually the seriousness of this law (Leviticus 20:10).  If we still had this penalty today, we would have a lot less immorality in our society.  (And probably a lot fewer politicians, lawyers and judges, as well.)

On the positive side, the Lord has two great blessing in store for us through the proper use of our sexuality.  First is the blessing of children and of becoming parents.  And second, sex is intended to create a bond between a husband and wife.  The two are to become one.  This bond is more than physical, it is also an emotional and spiritual bond.  It is sacred.  When we see these things, we begin to understand why you can’t mess around with this and walk away unscathed—contrary to what the world teaches.

I taught a lesson today to our BYU students on this topic.  Some have struggles in this area.  The pain in their lives is far greater than any momentary satisfaction or pleasure they derived from their transgressions.

On the positive side, I used Jess and Devin as an example.  While they were engaged and in the months prior to their wedding, they sat down together and made a few rules that they decided to follow.  I don’t remember exactly what they were but it was something like they would only kiss on Saturday night and then only 2 kisses.  They had fun with it and teased each other a bit but stuck to it.  They entered the temple clean and worthy of the blessings the Lord had for them there.

Sometimes people want to see how close they can get to the line.  The Savior admonished us to stay so far away from the line that we don’t even allow improper thoughts into our lives.  (3 Nephi 12: 27-30)  This is where the battle should be fought--keeping our thoughts pure. 

How many marriages and lives would be spared heartache and misery if this commandment were observed?  How many lives have been destroyed by the ocean of pornography and filth that surrounds us?  Mom and dad have a great saying that says in effect:  ‘All the water in the world cannot sink a ship unless it gets inside.’  Likewise, although we live in an immoral, filthy world we are okay unless we let it inside.

The law of chastity is one of the things we specifically covenant to live in the temple.  This law is given by a Father who knows and understands the weaknesses inherent in mortality, who knows the pain and suffering and consequences of violating this law, and who gives us this commandment to bless us and to insure our happiness.  Solomon with all his “wisdom” failed to observe this law.  On the other side of the failures of his life, he finally did gain true ‘wisdom’.  May we be wise without the painful experience.

I really like how one author put it.  I close with his words:

Of all the powers given to mankind by God, the one most like God Himself is the power to create offspring. The sexual union of the man and woman resulting in children is a power so great it is called God's reward. (See Psalms 127: 3.) God's covenant with Abraham was based upon a numerous posterity. (Gen. 22: 17.)

Sex involves not only "knowing" (i.e., intercourse) between a man and woman (Gen. 4: 1), but also the woman "conceiving" a child (Id.). Sex also includes the woman bringing forth the child, and the father then naming the child (Matt. 1: 25.) It includes teaching the child the ways of God (Deu. 6: 6-7). It extends to a parent's duty to provide care, food, clothing and shelter for the child as well. (1 Tim. 5: 8.)

When the child is raised, the child then is obligated to honor and care for the parent. (Deu. 5: 16.) The cycle binds together generations in care, nurture and honor, altogether a godlike process. (Enos 1: 1.)

In a word, sex is life. It is the entirety of life. It produces and provides for generation after generation in a godly connection between man, woman and God.

If sex is separated from the entire scope of the Divine order, and redefined to be nothing more than orgasm, then it ceases to be life and becomes chaos and death. For example, if the ability of a homosexual union to produce physical gratification for the participants is regarded as the same thing, it not only fails to comply with the Divinely ordained order, it results in death. Homosexual unions produce no offspring and the participants go down to the grave childless. Their sexual powers have failed to result in creation, order, or fulfilling the pattern for life to continue.

If sex is separated from the entire scope, then children are born unwanted and are not raised with the care, love and sacrifice of the parents. They are not taught in the ways of God. They become less than what they were intended to be because they have inherited less than God intended for them to inherit.

Our society has largely confined its understanding of sex to nothing more than physical gratification. It is an orgasm and nothing more. Once we loose that single component from the Divine order, we have changed godlike creation into disorder and chaos. Ultimately it is the difference between life and death.

Pride, part 4

Nephi quoting Isaiah states: “For, behold, I have refined thee, I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.” (1 Ne. 20:10).

What does it mean to be chosen?

Chosen for what?

Chosen by whom?

Why does the choosing occur in the furnace of affliction?

Why are many called but not chosen?  (D&C 121:34-35)

It is easy to point to the failures of past dispensations and feel that we would have done better if we had lived then.  Many in the Savior’s time felt the same way.  He condemned them for this. (Matt. 23:29-34)  But are we doing any better?

“But behold, verily I say unto you, that there are many who have been ordained among you, whom I have called but few of them are chosen.  They who are not chosen have sinned a very grievous sin, in that they are walking in darkness at noon-day.” D&C 95:5-6

Is affliction a necessary part of the process?  Is this partly why the natural man is an enemy to God (Mosiah 3:19)? Because we resist the very trials and difficulties needed to refine us?  Do we plead for relief from the very circumstances that God has carefully orchestrated for our benefit?  Can we be stripped of pride without our trials? Does God afflict us unnecessarily?  

Purpose of the temple

Are the temple ordinances ends in themselves? Or are they means to an end? Are they both?

Moses sought diligently to bring the ancient Israelites into the Lord’s presence so they could be redeemed, but collectively they would not enter. (D&C 84:23-24)  The tabernacle and the ordinances thereof were designed to prepare them. Sadly, only a few received what was intended.

One of the reasons the ancient Israelites failed to receive what the Lord wanted to give is found in Exodus 20:18-21.  If you read these verses, the Israelites in essence said: Moses, YOU go talk to the Lord for us and then tell us what he says.  They had a choice and, unfortunately, chose not to receive what the Lord offered them.

Many years later, after Moses was long gone, Lehi, another Israelite, had the same choice yet with a very different outcome.  He undoubtedly had received ordinances through the temple at Jerusalem.  In the opening chapter of the Book of Mormon, we find Lehi pleading on behalf of his people and then being brought into the Lord’s presence (1 Ne. 1:8).  Lehi received what the ancient Israelites, under Moses, would not.  We rightly regard Lehi as a prophet, but sometimes forget that the Lord had an ‘official’ prophet in Jerusalem at the time, namely Jeremiah.  Lehi heeded Jeremiah’s warning, but proceeded to connect with heaven for himself and his family.

Nephi has the same choice and, like his father, eventually is brought into the Lord’s presence.  As the Lord is no respecter of persons, Laman and Lemuel had the same privilege and opportunity, but like the ancient Israelites they would not receive that which was offered.

We face the same choice.  We also have an opportunity to seek the face of the Lord and to receive our redemption.

D&C 93:1 – “Verily, thus saith the Lord:  It shall come to pass that every soul who forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my name, and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments, shall see my face and know that I am.”

“The purpose of the endowment in the house of the Lord is to prepare and sanctify his saints so they will be able to see his face, here and now, as well as to bear the glory of his presence in the eternal worlds.”  - Bruce R. McConkie

Will we be any more successful than the ancient Israelites at knowing the Lord?  As a people, probably not. Individually, however, it is up to each of us to receive what is offered.  We need to repent.  Repent of all the things that are keeping us from Christ and from receiving what he promises.  Everything is conditioned upon our faithfulness.

Joseph Smith taught:  After a person has faith in Christ, repents of his sins, and is baptized for the remission of his sins and receives the Holy Ghost, (by the laying on of hands), which is the first Comforter, then let him continue to humble himself before God, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and living by every word of God, and the Lord will soon say unto him, Son [or daughter], thou shalt be exalted.

When the Lord has thoroughly proved him, and finds that the man [or woman] is determined to serve Him at all hazards, then the man [or woman] will find his [or her] calling and his election made sure, then it will be his [or her] privilege to receive the other Comforter, which the Lord hath promised the Saints....

Now what is this other Comforter? It is no more nor less than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself; and this is the sum and substance of the whole matter; that when any man obtains this last Comforter, he will have the personage of Jesus Christ to attend him, or appear unto him from time to time, and even He will manifest the Father unto him, and they will take up their abode with him, and the visions of the heavens will be opened unto him, and the Lord will teach him face to face, and he may have a perfect knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God; (TPJS 150-151)

If we give heed to the light of Christ we are eventually prepared and led to receive the Holy Ghost.  By following the Holy Ghost we will be prepared to receive the Son.  He will in turn prepare us to be re-introduced to the Father.

Happy Birthday Mom

Today is mom's birthday.  Of all the blessings in my life, she is one of the greatest.  I have her and dad to thank for teaching me the gospel, teaching me to work, and establishing a foundation for my life.  Their love and sacrifice for me and for my brothers and sisters mirrors the Saviors.

Thanks Mom for everything.  I hope you have a special, wonderful day.

I love you

Pride, part 3

President Benson also identified enmity towards our fellowmen as a part of pride.  Jacob admonishes us to “think of your brethren like unto yourselves.” (Jacob 2:17).  Alma laments, “yea will ye persist in supposing that ye are better one than another?” (Alma 5:54)

The gospel unites.  Pride divides, sorts and ranks.

Nephi and Jacob both identify riches and learning as two sources of pride (2 Ne. 28:15, 2 Ne. 9:42).  People, puffed up by riches and learning, are those whom the Lord despises (2 Ne. 9:42).  We tend to esteem them.  We laude the hard work, discipline, and persistence required to obtain riches or learning.  Some view those blessed with riches as favored by heaven.  We hear preached the gospel of success.

I love being on the campus of BYU.  I love the sense of learning and excitement and of young inquisitive minds seeking to expand and understand the world.  There is a good spirit there and much that is very good.  

But there is also found in the halls and ivory towers of academia at times a suffocating, insufferable pride.  BYU is not exempt.  Those who have worked hard to gain some esoteric knowledge sometimes think themselves better than others who do not possess their particular understanding.

We see the same in business, in sports and in all other areas of life where competition divides and grades us.  When we have sacrificed years of hard work to gain mastery of a particular skill or thing, it is so very easy for that to become a source of pride for us.  Anything, which distinguishes us from others, can be a source of pride. 

The Nephites didn’t have different styles and models of cars.  And one grass hut or stone house was probably much like any other.  They often distinguished themselves by their clothing.  Wearing costly apparel set one apart from others who couldn’t afford it.  Though we like to think ourselves more advanced, we can see the same thing in any of our high schools today.  Kids can’t fit in without the right label on their pocket.

Our entire society is built upon pride.  It is all around us every day.  Where would we be without competition?  It is hard for us to imagine such a place.  It seems so foreign.  Isn’t competition good? Doesn’t it push us to improve? Don’t market forces balance out and foster innovation?  Isn’t capitalism good?  It is, after all, the best economic system the world has ever known, isn’t it?  Survival of the fittest seems to be the law of nature (our telestial world).

In the D&C, the Lord rebuked William Phelps and admonished him to repent, ‘because he seeketh to excel’. (D&C 58:41).  Well what’s wrong with that? Shouldn’t we excel?  Look at communism or socialism, where no one has an incentive to excel.

The big problem in all of this is that too often it interferes with keeping the second commandment, that of loving our neighbor.  We can’t feel smugly superior to someone else and go about humbly serving them at the same time.  We can’t be seeking recognition and praise from the world for ourselves and at the same time bring honor and glory to God.  Our motives and intentions matter.

Our entire society is founded upon pride.  It is manifest in every part of our modern culture.  It will one day fall.

It is not the culture of heaven.  We get glimpses of what the society of heaven is like in the temple.  There we find joy, peace, order, unity, and equality. Service replaces competition.  Humility replaces pride.  We find rich symbolism, ritual, instruction and edification. 

When the Lord finds a people sufficiently pure that he can dwell with them there you find Zion—the society of heaven.  It is the antithesis of our world.  No wonder President Benson identified pride as the great stumbling block to Zion.

I have had far too much pride in my life.  It is something I am seeking to set aside and to be stripped of.  Often that requires challenges and difficulties as a gift from the Lord.  In fact, we are told that we are given weakness precisely to help us learn humility (Ether 12:27).  It is one of our purposes in coming here.  It is hard to do on our own.  But it is a defect that the Lord can correct in us if we will let him.

If we awaken and begin to see things as they really are, we can let go of our insecurities and begin to accept ourselves and our lives and our limitations and find a measure of peace and contentment.  Our value lies not in our accomplishments.  Our true value lies in the divinity that resides in each of us.