Snippets for Relief Society 2014 :) Use search term Joseph Fielding Smith to view more for this week or for other weeks.
I’m on a plane. My life is pretty irregular as of late and it looks to be that way for a few more weeks. This won’t be as structured as other lessons but some of the ideas and thoughts will be what you're used to (I’m hoping).
This lesson addresses one of the concepts of the gospel which has been a mystery to me most of my life!
Over and over I’ve heard how we have to “turn our hearts to the fathers” or the whole "earth would be wasted at His coming,” or some variation of that. In fact D&C 128:15 says we can’t have perfection “without our dead” But why? Just how does that work? And how can our level of salvation and/or eternal well-being be contingent on someone else’s salvation? Aren’t we judged based on the merits of our own life?
Not only that - trust me, it is hard enough to manage my own chance at salvation and I often wonder how it’s going to work out for me with all of my challenges, shortcomings and the repeated moments I fall flat on my mortal face. Then there are my children...my thought space and fretting capacity are fully occupied over just these few souls.
Nonetheless, I’m getting it. This welding link concept is a bit spiritually abstract but let’s see if we can break it down into some connecting ideas that work for classroom discussion. Or at least we'll get some interesting thought trains going for you as you prepare to walk up in front of your group.
What I believe is the essence of this lesson:
First of all, this starts with the most basic gospel understanding: that we need the saving ordinances ourselves. Starting with baptism (the gateway into heaven), then the gift of the Holy Ghost (the guide), and then temple endowments (the elevation to greater vows and planes of existence) and then on to being sealed as marriages, parents to children, and children to parents, etc.
President JF Smith said:
"There are thousands of Latter-day Saints who … are willing to go to meeting, willing to pay their tithing and attend to the regular duties of the Church, but they do not seem to feel or understand the importance of receiving the blessings in the temple of the Lord which will bring them into exaltation. It is a strange thing. People seem to be content just to slide along without taking advantage of the opportunities presented to them and without receiving these necessary covenants that will bring them back into the presence of God as sons and daughters."
Kind of a sobering quote but let’s think about what this statement means.
We spend so much energy getting folks into the waters of baptism, and we hear so much about this end of the necessary gospel ordinances and its significant symbolism, that most of us have the concept of repentance, baptism and the Holy Ghost down.
What we talk far less about is the sealing, as well as the endowments – we especially don’t openly discuss their tremendous power and the deep meaning of it all. So it may surprise some that they are not only divine, they are necessary just like baptism. Yet it isn’t always taught or explored as much, which leaves someone like me scratching my head as I read certain verses.
So here is the simple version. As baptism and being born again is a gateway to heaven - endowments and being sealed are the gateway to the top degree of the celestial kingdom.
Baptism is just the beginning of the path – the end game is to make it to the temple. Elder Bednar really expounded on this idea when he referred to the temple endowments as the baptism by "fire” which comes after the baptism of water. Elder Bednar is always opening up those mysteries of the kingdom. This talk would be excellent lesson prep! (Conference April 2009)
It occurred to me - on top of that, not only are we sealed to each other, but we are sealed to Him through our endowments – now destined to a partnership with Christ and the Father and to partake of their great glory and live as they now live.
Trying to grasp this future possibility can be an abstract, distant idea, which may be why temple ordinances are a powerful yet often underestimated event. We accomplish something rather significant when we take out our endowments and then (someday) are sealed to another chosen mortal. The marriage is eternal. The partnership with Christ and the Father is forever. These are associations forged, which will never be dimmed or broken up except by our choice. They are guaranteed without end. Pretty deep concept here.
"Temple work is so interwoven with the plan of salvation, that one cannot exist without the other. In other words, there can be no salvation where there [are] no temple ordinances peculiarly belonging to the temple."
If this quote is still not ringing crystal clear - I suggest reading Elder Bednar's talk linked above.
Now I’m in SLC at “Pig and a Jelly Jar.” Awesome breakfast place.
It’s the celestial ticket to be so bonded to each other and to Him.
And that’s how we all work best – to be bonded to someone. It is the richest, most satisfying mortal state we experience as opposed to being lonely and disconnected. First, we yearn to be linked with that special someone, and then also to have friends and family relations we hold dear. It is richness itself to belong, to know, to be known, to be fond of others, and then to be cherished and appreciated back!
Is it any wonder the heavens would be based on this kind of networking - to be closely knit and connected to each other? It’s such an enlightened state of being.
Nonetheless, in mortality we also will experience the opposite – separation, isolation, awkward social settings, persecution, mean or passive-aggressive souls, unscrupulous agendas, feeling unwanted, passed over and misunderstood. Truthfully, I think we were meant to experience those phases in life so we understand deeper down, the reality and essence of existence in heaven. We acquire wisdom and the mysteries of the kingdom by comparing opposites here on earth.
That we unfortunately learn best by opposites, is an eternal gospel truth.
So do we really want anyone to experience such loneliness or an eternal solitude forever and ever?
Just as everyone needs baptism, everyone ultimately needs to be sealed up…together.
We’re not very connected here on earth. We’re still “strangers and foreigners” but someday we’re going to be very aware and into each other with much greater levels of affection. Brigham Young said our relationships and associations will be far dearer and deeper and with many more people than what we experience here.
That makes a lot of sense to me.
Now I’m sitting in Deseret Book Store at City Creek while my daughter and her girlfriend experience Nirvana.
As we become more and more in tune with the Spirit and as we become more knit with the Savior and as our hearts become inseparably connected with Him – we realize His heart is also inseparably connected with everyone else now and clear back to Adam – and through Him, we come to love and esteem the worth of all souls and yearn after them as well.
We would want for them what we have…all the saving ordinances.
If we understand how important it is for us to have those ordinances – then we also realize how important and essential it is for everyone else to get them too. And on the other side of the veil, it won’t sit well if we see someone not get those chances. In fact, it will strike us in a more poignant, dramatic way than it affects us here.
Question: What level of being are we if we understand these principles, have the chance to help save others though genealogy and temple work and don’t take the time – even though the opportunity literally sits in our lap and on our hand-held devices? Would that be at a telestial, terrestrial or what level of existence is that? (I don’t know, but I know it’s not an enlightened place.) And how would Christ feel about us at the Second Coming that our hearts didn’t turn towards those who so desperately needed us? Could we really be His and not engage in the work of the dead? Can we be made perfect when the opportunity to be the Good Samaritan repeatedly happens right on our own road and we don't cross it to help out? Would we then be celestial worthy?
Most likely not.
So now President Smith's statement makes more sense, as well as some of the verses we refer to:
"Why would the earth be wasted? Simply because if there is not a welding link between the fathers and the children—which is the work for the dead—then we will all stand rejected; the whole work of God will fail and be utterly wasted. Such a condition, of course, shall not be."
I hope this helps make sense of the connection we have to all mankind who ever existed and the obligation as well.
Now here comes the powerful verse from D&C 128:15 which brings itself to life here in this lesson:
15 And now, my dearly beloved brethren and sisters, let me assure you that these are principles in relation to the dead and the living that cannot be lightly passed over, as pertaining to our salvation. For their salvation is necessary and essential to our salvation, as Paul says concerning the fathers—that they without us cannot be made perfect—neither can we without our dead be made perfect.
My computer is about to die and I've held off my family a little more than I meant.
My love and heart goes out to you as you prepare this beautiful lesson. Good luck with it.
Timshel.
 |
| Our little Medford, Ore. Temple |
I’m on a plane. My life is pretty irregular as of late and it looks to be that way for a few more weeks. This won’t be as structured as other lessons but some of the ideas and thoughts will be what you're used to (I’m hoping).
This lesson addresses one of the concepts of the gospel which has been a mystery to me most of my life!
Over and over I’ve heard how we have to “turn our hearts to the fathers” or the whole "earth would be wasted at His coming,” or some variation of that. In fact D&C 128:15 says we can’t have perfection “without our dead” But why? Just how does that work? And how can our level of salvation and/or eternal well-being be contingent on someone else’s salvation? Aren’t we judged based on the merits of our own life?
Not only that - trust me, it is hard enough to manage my own chance at salvation and I often wonder how it’s going to work out for me with all of my challenges, shortcomings and the repeated moments I fall flat on my mortal face. Then there are my children...my thought space and fretting capacity are fully occupied over just these few souls.
Nonetheless, I’m getting it. This welding link concept is a bit spiritually abstract but let’s see if we can break it down into some connecting ideas that work for classroom discussion. Or at least we'll get some interesting thought trains going for you as you prepare to walk up in front of your group.
What I believe is the essence of this lesson:
First of all, this starts with the most basic gospel understanding: that we need the saving ordinances ourselves. Starting with baptism (the gateway into heaven), then the gift of the Holy Ghost (the guide), and then temple endowments (the elevation to greater vows and planes of existence) and then on to being sealed as marriages, parents to children, and children to parents, etc.
President JF Smith said:
"There are thousands of Latter-day Saints who … are willing to go to meeting, willing to pay their tithing and attend to the regular duties of the Church, but they do not seem to feel or understand the importance of receiving the blessings in the temple of the Lord which will bring them into exaltation. It is a strange thing. People seem to be content just to slide along without taking advantage of the opportunities presented to them and without receiving these necessary covenants that will bring them back into the presence of God as sons and daughters."
Kind of a sobering quote but let’s think about what this statement means.
We spend so much energy getting folks into the waters of baptism, and we hear so much about this end of the necessary gospel ordinances and its significant symbolism, that most of us have the concept of repentance, baptism and the Holy Ghost down.
What we talk far less about is the sealing, as well as the endowments – we especially don’t openly discuss their tremendous power and the deep meaning of it all. So it may surprise some that they are not only divine, they are necessary just like baptism. Yet it isn’t always taught or explored as much, which leaves someone like me scratching my head as I read certain verses.
So here is the simple version. As baptism and being born again is a gateway to heaven - endowments and being sealed are the gateway to the top degree of the celestial kingdom.
Baptism is just the beginning of the path – the end game is to make it to the temple. Elder Bednar really expounded on this idea when he referred to the temple endowments as the baptism by "fire” which comes after the baptism of water. Elder Bednar is always opening up those mysteries of the kingdom. This talk would be excellent lesson prep! (Conference April 2009)
It occurred to me - on top of that, not only are we sealed to each other, but we are sealed to Him through our endowments – now destined to a partnership with Christ and the Father and to partake of their great glory and live as they now live.
Trying to grasp this future possibility can be an abstract, distant idea, which may be why temple ordinances are a powerful yet often underestimated event. We accomplish something rather significant when we take out our endowments and then (someday) are sealed to another chosen mortal. The marriage is eternal. The partnership with Christ and the Father is forever. These are associations forged, which will never be dimmed or broken up except by our choice. They are guaranteed without end. Pretty deep concept here.
"Temple work is so interwoven with the plan of salvation, that one cannot exist without the other. In other words, there can be no salvation where there [are] no temple ordinances peculiarly belonging to the temple."
If this quote is still not ringing crystal clear - I suggest reading Elder Bednar's talk linked above.
Now I’m in SLC at “Pig and a Jelly Jar.” Awesome breakfast place.
It’s the celestial ticket to be so bonded to each other and to Him.
And that’s how we all work best – to be bonded to someone. It is the richest, most satisfying mortal state we experience as opposed to being lonely and disconnected. First, we yearn to be linked with that special someone, and then also to have friends and family relations we hold dear. It is richness itself to belong, to know, to be known, to be fond of others, and then to be cherished and appreciated back!
Is it any wonder the heavens would be based on this kind of networking - to be closely knit and connected to each other? It’s such an enlightened state of being.
Nonetheless, in mortality we also will experience the opposite – separation, isolation, awkward social settings, persecution, mean or passive-aggressive souls, unscrupulous agendas, feeling unwanted, passed over and misunderstood. Truthfully, I think we were meant to experience those phases in life so we understand deeper down, the reality and essence of existence in heaven. We acquire wisdom and the mysteries of the kingdom by comparing opposites here on earth.
That we unfortunately learn best by opposites, is an eternal gospel truth.
So do we really want anyone to experience such loneliness or an eternal solitude forever and ever?
Just as everyone needs baptism, everyone ultimately needs to be sealed up…together.
We’re not very connected here on earth. We’re still “strangers and foreigners” but someday we’re going to be very aware and into each other with much greater levels of affection. Brigham Young said our relationships and associations will be far dearer and deeper and with many more people than what we experience here.
That makes a lot of sense to me.
Now I’m sitting in Deseret Book Store at City Creek while my daughter and her girlfriend experience Nirvana.
As we become more and more in tune with the Spirit and as we become more knit with the Savior and as our hearts become inseparably connected with Him – we realize His heart is also inseparably connected with everyone else now and clear back to Adam – and through Him, we come to love and esteem the worth of all souls and yearn after them as well.
We would want for them what we have…all the saving ordinances.
If we understand how important it is for us to have those ordinances – then we also realize how important and essential it is for everyone else to get them too. And on the other side of the veil, it won’t sit well if we see someone not get those chances. In fact, it will strike us in a more poignant, dramatic way than it affects us here.
Question: What level of being are we if we understand these principles, have the chance to help save others though genealogy and temple work and don’t take the time – even though the opportunity literally sits in our lap and on our hand-held devices? Would that be at a telestial, terrestrial or what level of existence is that? (I don’t know, but I know it’s not an enlightened place.) And how would Christ feel about us at the Second Coming that our hearts didn’t turn towards those who so desperately needed us? Could we really be His and not engage in the work of the dead? Can we be made perfect when the opportunity to be the Good Samaritan repeatedly happens right on our own road and we don't cross it to help out? Would we then be celestial worthy?
Most likely not.
So now President Smith's statement makes more sense, as well as some of the verses we refer to:
"Why would the earth be wasted? Simply because if there is not a welding link between the fathers and the children—which is the work for the dead—then we will all stand rejected; the whole work of God will fail and be utterly wasted. Such a condition, of course, shall not be."
I hope this helps make sense of the connection we have to all mankind who ever existed and the obligation as well.
Now here comes the powerful verse from D&C 128:15 which brings itself to life here in this lesson:
15 And now, my dearly beloved brethren and sisters, let me assure you that these are principles in relation to the dead and the living that cannot be lightly passed over, as pertaining to our salvation. For their salvation is necessary and essential to our salvation, as Paul says concerning the fathers—that they without us cannot be made perfect—neither can we without our dead be made perfect.
My computer is about to die and I've held off my family a little more than I meant.
My love and heart goes out to you as you prepare this beautiful lesson. Good luck with it.
Timshel.