-------FOOTINGS AND FOUNDATION FIRST------

In this blog, as the title suggests, I will be expressing personal thoughts concerning the Gospel of Jesus Christ. A bit of background about the vocabulary in the blog title might be appropriate.

EUAGGELION or GOOD TIDINGS or GOSPEL

Euaggelion is Greek and is pronounced ay-you-ang-gay'-lee-on — There is a double gamma in the word accounting for the glottal "n" sound.). It's meaning in English is roughly translated as "good message" or "good tiding." The prefix eu- is an adverb and means "well." But, a literal translation of the word — "well message" — is not idiomatic English. (Agathos is the Greek equivalent to "good" —I just knew that you were dying to know that important and salient fact...) The "aggelion" means message or tiding and is related to the verb "aggelo", which means to carry a message. In English, we have the word Gospel as the equivalent to euaggelion, which comes from the old English, God-spell. ( I apologize that I am unable to use the Greek alphabet for Greek words. It is just part of the inadequacies of BLOGGER.)

MORE FOOTINGS AND FOUNDATION — And, a necessary word about the above picture.

First: MY APOLOGIES

1. My apologizes to the World Book Encyclopedia Company, their Childcraft division, and the artist David Cunningham for rudely borrowing the illustration on pages 296 and 296 of volume 12 (LOOK AND LEARN) for this blog. It's just that I've never seen a better illustration of perspective.

2. My apology to you — I scanned the image above from an open book — not desiring to cut the pages out and tape them together. This particular volume made it through seven "rug rats/house apes" (four boys and three girls) in marvelous condition, considering the book's usage since 1981. So, I hope that you will overlook the imperfect copy of the illustration.

Perspective is a concept that entered the western world via the humanities, specifically art and artists. Rushing past a treatise on perspective's development in the arts — the word perspective has taken on more meaning and application than just trying to display three dimensions on a two dimensional surface. Perspective also deals with how human beings "view" things, whether real or abstract. It has everything to do with the process of creating an inner "picture" of reality — whatever that is — and interpreting the world around us. Sometimes, one's perspective can be anywhere from "slightly out of whack" (such as viewing the speed indicator in the dash of a moving car while sitting in the passenger's seat) to "royally screwed up" (the proverbial committee of sight challenged gentlemen trying to arrive at an accurate description of an elephant while only feeling one portion of the pachyderm).

So, to sum up, my reason for including PERSPECTIVE in the title was to suggest that my 65 plus years on this planet with the accompanying experiences have suggested some alternate ways of viewing the world that have benefited me and just might benefit others.

LASTLY (well, almost) — principles are nothing new to Latter-day Saints. We begin our childhood learning about "FIRST PRINCIPLES" as soon as we can talk and understand. An Article of Faith of the Church talks about "first principle and ordinances" belonging to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the necessity of living the principles as well as receiving the ordinances. So, I will also be touching on many principles as a part of this blog — and, hopefully I will not be wresting or mangling those principles.

Finally (really), we Latter-day Saints have our own religious vocabulary — someone (I think it was Orson Scott Card) called it Mormon Speak. One of the mainstays of our vocabulary includes the word TESTIMONY. That word out in the world usually is used in a judicial setting, in front of a judge and sometimes jurors. What we Mormons mean by testimony is the personal witness which has come to each of us through the ministration of the Holy Ghost. So, when we say that we have a testimony, we mean that we have received this personal witness concerning Christ, etc. Further, when we "bear our testimony," usually what we are doing is witnessing concerning Jesus Christ and his atoning mission here in mortality. There is a passage of scripture that relates very well to what I mean. It is taken from the Bible, specifically from REVELATION 19 and states:

10 And I afell at his feet to bworship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy cfellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the dtestimony of Jesus is the spirit of eprophecy.
(copied from Mormon.org, scriptures app -- quote from KJV)

When John was about to fall at the feet of the angel and worship him, the angel stopped him and reminded him that he, himself was one of the former prophets and his fellow servant and of his brethren who had the TESTIMONY of Jesus. Then he explains to John that the testimony (witness Gk. martyrese) of Jesus is the SPIRIT OF PROPHECY. (If you don't know us Latter-day Saints, you must realize that we wholeheartedly accept Paul's statement to the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 12, about not having us ignorant about spiritual gifts. We believe in them, we accept them. WE EXPERIENCE THEM, just as the former-day saints did.)

Additionally, the Apostle Paul told the saint in Corinth:

1 Cor. 12:3 Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can asay that Jesus is the bLord, but by the cHoly Ghost. (quote from KJV)

There are currently millions of Latter-day Saints around this fair globe who have the witness of Jesus Christ through the ministration of the Holy Ghost. We all KNOW that he is God the Son, the Redeemer of mankind. As the above scriptures say, this witness is the spirit of Prophecy.

(A parting thought: What of those who witness of Christ without knowing it by the spirit of prophecy, id est, the Holy Ghost? Would that make said witness a false prophet?)

Saturday, September 28, 2013

YOUR WAY OR THE HIGHWAY

OBEDIENCE AND AGENCY -- NOT MY WAY BUT YOURS, LORD.

I heard Elder Boyd K. Packer give this talk about OBEDIENCE back in December of 1971 at Brigham Young University. He was, I believe, the junior member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles at the time. Then, I heard him talk about the same subject the next summer at the Faculty and Staff summer dinner. The subject he addressed was something that the Lord definitely wanted me to hear and to strive for. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get to the point President Packer talks about until about seven years ago.


President Boyd K. Packer

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The following is a excerpt from the talk


Obedience–that which God will never take by force–He will accept when freely given. And He will then return to you freedom that you can hardly dream of–the freedom to feel and to know, the freedom to do, and the freedom to be, at least a thousandfold more than we offer Him. Strangely enough, the key to freedom is obedience.

I would expose you this morning to some tender, innermost feelings on this matter of agency. Perhaps the greatest discovery of my life, without question the greatest commitment, came when finally I had the confidence in God that I would loan or yield my agency to Him–without compulsion or pressure, without any duress, as a single individual alone, by myself, no counterfeiting, nothing expected other than the privilege. In a sense, speaking figuratively, to take one's agency, that precious gift which the scriptures make plain is essential to life itself, and say, "I will do as thou directs," is afterward to learn that in so doing you possess it all the more
.

I Want to Do What You Want Me to Do

I illustrate with an experience. When I was president of the New England Mission, the Tabernacle Choir was to sing at the world's fair in Montreal. The choir had one day unscheduled and suggested a concert in New England. One of the industrial leaders there asked for the privilege of sponsoring the concert.
Brother Condie and Brother Stewart came to Boston to discuss this matter. We met at the Boston airport and then drove to Attleboro, Massachusetts. Along the way Mr. Yeager asked about the concert. He said, "I would like to have a reception for the choir members. I could have it either at my home or at my club." He wanted to invite his friends who were, of course, the prominent people of New England–indeed, of the nation. He talked of this, and then he asked about serving alcoholic beverages.

In answering, Brother Stewart said, "Well, Mr. Yeager, since it is your home and you are the host, I suppose you could do just as you want to do."

"That isn't what I had in mind," this wonderful man said. "I don't want to do what I want to do. I want to do what you want me to do."

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That is the point that we all need eventually arrive to -- I DON'T WANT TO DO WHAT I WANT TO DO, LORD. I WANT TO DO WHAT YOU WANT ME TO DO.



Draw a large "X" on a piece of paper. The top part of the letter is the area that you are moving around in as you have the "I want to do what I want to do." attitude.Going down the "funnel" toward the crossing point describes you moving toward complete surrender, to the "I want to do what you want me to do." attitude. Speaking from my own experience, the nearer you get to the bottom of the funnel, the hotter it becomes spiritually -- white hot as a matter of fact. Moving down the funnel is full of refining and purging -- repentance and sacrifice (broken heart and contrite spirit). The Law of Sacrifice is the spiritual acceptance that nothing in mortality is ours, including ourselves (we have sold ourselves in sin and Christ has redeemed us [bought us back] through his infinite suffering). It also involves TRUST in Heavenly Father and the Savior -- that no matter what they put you through, you will trust that it is necessary.

Going through the focal point into the bottom side of the X represents our spiritual acceptance of the principle that we only want to do what the Lord wants. But, you need to understand that going though that focal point, as President Packer says, is to gain agency and freedom in magnified abundance. IT IS, WITHOUT A DOUBT, THE MOST LIBERATING THING I HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED IN MY LIFE! It brought with it, the realization that all service is accepted and expected of us. And, everyone who comes into our sphere of influence, no matter how short or long the time, is a part of our stewardship. We don't need an official call from the ward or stake. The call to service came automatically with our baptism.
The sooner you arrive at that point, the less the Lord has to direct you and the more you are attuned to everyone who is around you. And, the silly striving for position, attention, and power also goes away. At least, that is what I experienced. I didn't need to worry about my worth anymore, because I KNOW from the Lord whom I am. I didn't need anything to lean on for that knowledge anymore.
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