Pride Preceedeth the Fall

I’ve been thinking a lot and pondering on how I feel and what I think of all the controversy that’s been discussed recently regarding certain positions of the church. I’ve read many posts and comments and seen many different points of view and have considered each one that I’ve read. I believe that all this controversy can be boiled down to one thing; pride.

Let me explain why I believe pride is the reason behind all this contention. I’ll start with an experience I had while on my mission. While I was serving in Bilbao we would often come across Jehovah Witnesses or as we came to call them TJ’s (for Testigos de Jehovah). We would frequently get into discussions with them with each of us sharing our points of view. We even had some regular TJ’s that we would speak to and we would quite often frustrate them such that they always wanted to bring their leaders to our discussions. My companion and I even went to attend one of their baptisms ceremonies. After having a few of these discussions in which they would often bring up some very valid points I found myself one day questioning if perhaps they were right and we were wrong. So I went to my Father in Heaven in prayer for answers to know if the gospel I was teaching was correct. I had always had a testimony before of the gospel but because of these encounters I found myself questioning that testimony. Because I took the matter to my Father in Heaven in prayer, I received reassurance through the Holy Ghost that the gospel we were teaching was correct and it dispelled any doubts I had been having. I mention this experience because it illustrates an important process that each of us should go through anytime we question our faith. We should make it a matter of prayer and involve our Father in Heaven and ask Him to help us find the answers. But, we need to go in an attitude in which we would be willing to accept whatever that answer will be. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a personal matter and is something that we must each discover for ourselves.

Recently I found myself again questioning aspects of my understanding of the gospel. These questions ate at me for days and once again culminated in me questioning some basic tenets of my faith. Once again I took the matter to my Father in Heaven in prayer and once again I received answers that helped reassure me. The current controversies helped solidify the answers that I had been receiving and strengthened my testimony and faith in my Father in Heaven.

Let me explain the answers that I received. We have a tendency as human beings to want to be able to understand the reason for everything. We want answers, we want to know why. When we don’t understand something or why something is the way it is, we try to find a justification. For example, in the early days of the church blacks were not allowed to hold the priesthood. Without understanding a true purpose for why this may have been, people tried to make up reasons to try to explain it. Such as, they were decedents of Cain. Currently, with the feminist movement people try to come up with reasons why women aren’t ordained to the Priesthood. The fallacy in all this is that sometimes we may not know why the Lord institutes certain policies. There are times when the Lord asks his servants to do things that to us just do not make sense. They may contradict our best reasoning. They may contradict previous commandments he has given.

For example, consider Abraham when he was commanded to sacrifice his son, Isaac. This went beyond all reasoning and made no sense. Abraham could have easily reasoned, “I just don’t understand this, it makes no sense. I don’t agree with it and I’m not going to do it.” But Abraham trusted in the Lord and was obedient and humbly did as he was asked. Another example; when the Israelites entered the Promised Land they were commanded to slay all that inhabited that land, including the women and children. This contradicts the commandment, “Thou shalt not kill.” One more example; Nephi, contrary to that same commandment was constrained by the Spirit to kill Laban. Each of these commands was given for a specific purpose known to the Lord but not known to those to whom they were given. I believe that each of us, if we are to receive the same blessings that Abraham will receive will have to go through our own trial of faith and obedience, just as Abraham did. The point in each of these examples is that sometimes we don’t understand why the Lord gives certain commandments and sometimes we just have to put our trust in Him and obey.

Just as King Benjamin taught we must “put off the natural man … and be willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon (us), even as a child does submit to his father.” Which brings us to where we started: pride is the cause of the current controversies. If someone disagrees with current policy or doctrine of the Church and voices that disagreement and receives an answer from the leaders of the Church that is contrary to his or her position and the person then continues to advocate and push that position, it is due to pride. As members of the Church we sustain the Prophet and the Apostles as Prophets, Seers and Revelators. By doing so we agree to accept and support their decisions as the will of the Lord. If we continue to push an agenda or a position which is contrary to the direction of the leaders of the church then we are not submitting ourselves to the will of the Lord. We don’t have to know why they have taken the position they have taken, we may not even agree with it but just as Abraham, we need to be obedient and accept it. If we cannot, then it is due to our own pride.

As my thoughts were turned towards pride I also began to discern that these factions in the church are following the same cycle that we read about so clearly in the Book of Mormon. As the Nephites prospered and enjoyed peace they began to grow proud and then contentions would arise. I can imagine that these contentions weren’t much different than what we are experiencing today where the members of the church would contend with their leaders, and because they did not agree with everything their leaders, disputations would arise. Rather than humble themselves and accept the will of the Lord, many would fall away. This would then be followed by a time of great trial in which they would be compelled to be humble once again. If we cannot learn from the many examples we have been given then we are no better than these people of old who would stone their prophets while claiming that they would have followed the prophets before.

What saddens me the most is being able to recognize that all of this is just another tool used by Satan to wage his war against our Father in Heaven’s children. There are many tactics that he uses today to destroy our souls and to keep people away from the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is very disheartening to see him leading away those who have already found it. As I said before this was my answer that I have received over the last few days through the influence of the Holy Ghost. I testify that the Holy Ghost will help bring light to the darkness that many will face. As I’ve pondered on these things and thought upon the things I have described here, I could feel that light. But as I would direct my thoughts to trying to understand the contrary positions of the church, all I would find is darkness. I testify that if you will go to our Father in Heaven in prayer, humbly seeking for answers and willing to accept whatever those answers will be, the Holy Ghost will help you find the truth and the answers that you need. Once again, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is personal. I’ve shared with you the answer I’ve received. I hope in some way I can help others but ultimately, it’s up to each individual to find his own answers.

“O then despise not, and wonder not, but hearken unto the words of the Lord, and ask the Father in the name of Jesus for what things so ever ye shall stand in need. Doubt not, but be believing and begin as in times of old, and come unto the Lord with all your heart, and work out your own salvation with fear and trembling before him.” Mormon 9:27

 

Do we just blindly believe in God?

I read a post by someone on an online article about James Cameron harping on Glenn Beck. Somehow, the chain of comments focused on religions. This individual posted a message in all capitals (I suppose to seem more adamant) decrying all followers of any religion. The gist of his post was that all religions are bad and that anyone who believes in one is naive and just blindly following myth and superstition. He urged all religious people to just THINK and free yourself from the oppression of religion. OK, so let's think and apply some simple logic and common sense do determine who is really naive and needs to think through his beliefs.

Let's start with the assupmtion that all religions are the same with naive followers. While it is true that many people have had some bad experiences with religions and their practices, the conclusion that all would be wrong based on a select sample is not valid. It not anymore valid that saying all apples are rotten if you have only seen a batch of bad apples. However, the fact that there are differing religions and bad experiences with them merits further investigation as to why.

To answer that, we need to get down to the very basis of religion. The basic belief of any religion is that there is a Supreme Being or Essence that represents all truth, power and morality. So, what we really need to determine in this argument is if there is a Supreme Being or God. We'll get to that later. For the sake of the current point, I will take the position that there is an ulitimate, final source for all truth, power and morality; in short, a God.

With God as the source of all truth, it follows that all truth must be consistent in one whole. However, any thinking person would realize that not all religions have the same beliefs. How can there be only one truth, but many religions with varying beliefs about that truth? The only conclusion is that not all religions are correct. It also means that only one religion can be correct and that would be the one that contains the one truth. If only one can be correct, then that means there are many more that are not. This leads many people today, such as the poster mentioned earlier, to believe that all religions are false and that the people who follow them are just naive. It's not that all religions are bad, the person just hasn't found the ONE religion that contains all of the truth and thus can provide the good and fulfillment that religion should provide.

Now, again following my position that there is a God and one truth and one true religion, it would make sense that they most important thing we could do in this life would be to find that religion. Nothing else in life could have as much import or meaning as finding our God in His one true religion so that we can receive the true joy and blessings that are available to us.

So, lumping all religions together and saying they are all wrong just doesn't make sense. In fact, the only thing that does make sense is that there is one true religion and the others false, or at least not fully correct. Many religions may have part of the truth, but it's obvious that they cannot all be right because they have differing beliefs. So the conclusion must be that there can be one good, true religion even though many seem wrong.

Of course, to make this argument, I had to take the position that there is a single, Supreme source of truth; a God. The poster obviously did not believe in a God or he could not reasonably beleive what he stated. So, we needed to visit the basic belief in God.

The poster and atheists take the position that there is not a God because you cannot see Him or touch Him. They believe that anyone who believes in God is just naive and blindly following silly traditions. This simply is not true. While it may not be possible to scientifically prove there is a God, I contend that this is necessary in His plan and not need to verify His existence.

First, let's just apply reasonably thought as the poster suggested. If there is no God and Supreme Creator, all that we know on this earth would have to be explained as a random accident that just happened to present all the right conditions to end up in a planet that can support life. And then, all the right conditions just happened to occur that would allow life to begin AND all the right evolutions would have to occur to bring us to the extra ordinary consciousness and abilities of human beings. The odds of this occuring randomly are astronomical. The time it would take for all of this to happen randomly would be far more than the billions of years of the earths existence. The only thing that make sense is that there is a Supreme Being that coordinated the conditions so that they could occur as necessary to provide a planet that can support life and to lead to human beings. In short, a Creator and a creation.

However, this is not the only nor the best evidence that there is a God. And if this is all we had, I would concede my position. What we have that assures us of the existence of a God is faith. Now, the poster and his kind would say, "I told you, it's just blind belief." Again, that is false. Faith is not blind belief. Faith is based on evidence. Faith is belief in evidence that is not seen, but most assuredly is felt. This is were it gets difficult for the poster. He has never felt faith and has not comprehension of it. Explaining the evidence of faith to someone who has not taken the time to find it and THINK or ponder about it is nearly impossible. It is similar to trying to explain the taste of salt to someone who has never tasted salt. But, everyone can experience it IF they will seek it and ask for it. This is the poster's problem. He is comfortable in his non-belief and probably afraid of the truth if he were to find it.

Faith may be difficult to explain without a common frame of reference, but there are analogies that can help us understand that it is possible to believe without seeing. Have you ever seen the wind blow? No? But you have seen the trees sway in the wind. And you have felt the wind on your face. Have I ever seen God? Maybe not, but I have seem evidence of His power and felt the assurance of His presence.

Have you seen oxygen? Probably not, but you now it is there because you can breath. Now, you may say, but people have seen oxygen molecules using scientific equipment, so we have witnesses to support our "belief" in oxygen.

This brings us to another point. I believe not only that there is a God but that He is a loving God and wants what is best for us. That being the case, He would not want to leave us here blind and not knowing Him or why we are here. To that end, He has communicated with men and women on earth through His voice and through angels. These people have even more evidence of the existence of God through visual and physical proof as the scientist who uses equipment to see oxygen molecules. These people are our witnesses to the truth about God. Many of these people are known has prophets and have recorded there testimonies in sacred books we call scriptures. How do we know there testimonies are true? Faith.

So, it all comes down to faith. So is faith just a blind belief in silly traditions as the poster would have us believe? I think I have made my case that it is not. And I promise you that there is a way that everyone can know that it is not true. Everyone can receive the assurance that comes with faith and experience this evidence of things not seen. But, it does not come free. You have to want it and seek it. If you really want to know, and I assert that there can be nothing of greater importance in this life than to know, you must approach God in prayer and humble ask if He is there. But, I warn you, if you do, with real intent and in sincerity, you will feel something in your heart and mind that you may have never felt before. You probably won't understand it at first, but it is the seeds of faith. And then you will have experienced the evidence of faith that is the foundation of all of our belief in God.