Self-Imposed Limitations

For today’s column I am reprinting, with a few minor changes, one of the monthly newsletters I wrote for the full-time missionaries in the California Roseville Mission in August of 2004. It is a vital topic, especially for youth and young adults.  I hope you enjoy it.

SELF-IMPOSED LIMITATIONS 

Introduction

Have you ever really thought about a bumble bee?  Really thought about one?  How in the world do they fly?  Actually, for a long time scientists have said that aerodynamically the bumble bee was too big to fly, and its wings were too small. It should never fly. But I guess nobody ever told the bumble bee he couldn’t fly, because kids in every backyard in the world have seen them. It is interesting what you can do if you don’t know you can’t do it!  In recent articles we have considered self-confidence and self-control. But there is also a negative side to what the self can do. One of the worst is what we call “self-imposed limitations” which are common. In this article we will consider what they are, how we get them, some of their consequences, and how we can overcome them. 

Letter From The Assistants

Christopher Columbus was an excellent example of overcoming self-imposed limits.  During a party, shortly after Columbus’s discovery of the new world, a jealous Spanish nobleman approached the admiral and said: “Senor Cristobal, even if you had not undertaken this great enterprise, we should not have lacked a [Spaniard] who would have made the same discovery that you did.”

Columbus said nothing in reply, but instead placed an egg on the table and challenged all the men present to stand the egg  up on end by itself, without the aid of any support. When they failed, Columbus tapped one end on the table crushing that end flat and stood it up on end.  The message is that when someone shows you how to break beyond self-imposed limits, anyone can copy the great feat. It takes a person of vision, determination, and courage to do something that has never been done before. We hope that each of us will decide to break through any and all self-imposed limits and achieve what we are really capable of.

Much love-

Elders Jensen and Gorbutt (Assistants to the President)

What Are Self-Imposed Limitations?

Self-imposed limitations are ceilings we set upon ourselves.  Limits, of course, are a good thing when we are exercising self-discipline and refuse to violate God’s commandments or engage in foolish, immature and destructive behavior. But too often the limits we place on ourselves prevent us from doing positive, necessary or productive things. Though we may be limited by certain disabilities, self-imposed limits are a handicap of a different sort. They arise in the mind. So, we may believe we were not born to achieve, succeed or be great. The most frequent expression of this mind set is “I can’t.” Self-imposed limitations are a case of conditioning ourselves to only try so hard because we have placed a cap on our effort and an imaginary lid on our potential.

How Do We Get Self-Imposed Limitationitis?

Why is this phenomenon so common? Well, it starts when we are children. Frequently parents and peers begin to label children. When labels place inappropriate limits on us, it has become hurtful. Insecurities and lack of confidence are sometimes ingrained in children by harsh or over protective parents. Society also reinforces our fears and doubts about ourselves. Over the years we are conditioned to accept these limits and believe ourselves unable to rise above them. We often hear: “It’s never been done before.”  “Take it easy.”  “It won’t work.”  “It’s too hard.”  “It can’t be done.”

There are many illustrations of these kinds of limits which we allow to be imposed upon ourselves. One famous example is the barrier of the four-minute mile. For a long time people believed that it was physically impossible for a man to run a mile in four minutes. And for the better part of a century they were right. In 1865 the world record was 4:36.5 minutes. For the next ninety years the record crept ever so slowly toward four minutes. In 1895 it was 4:15.6, but only 4:15.4 by 1911. It wasn’t under 4:10 until 1931 and remained in the single digits for another 23 years.  Then in 1954 Roger Bannister ran a sub-four minute mile at Oxford, England. His barrier shattering record was 3:59.4. Amazingly, the next year 37 others ran the mile in under four minutes. Within two years 167 people  did it! A few years ago in a single race in New York, thirteen out of thirteen runners broke the four-minute mile.  As of 1999 the record is 3:43.13. This story is a legendary  illustration of the liberation that comes when someone breaks through a barrier once thought impossible.  Similar stories can be told of other notable obstacles such as the sound barrier, the seven-foot mark in high jumping or putting a man on the moon.

An even more insidious source of limits are those we impose upon ourselves.  Such restraints may arise from feelings of inferiority, fear, doubt, insecurity, and laziness. Sometimes the “Circle Of Fire” seems so intimidating and hard to penetrate that we don’t want to extend the effort. At other times our pride keeps us from doing things. We hear comments like, “I can’t memorize.”  “I’m just a farm boy, I’m not interested in intellectual things.”  “I’ll never try that again.”  “I can’t do that. ” “I have a learning disability, so I can’t read, or remember” or whatever.  A worse form is, “I don’t want to do that” or  “I’m not interested in that.” And the worst of all, “I won’t.” Recently, I learned of one missionary who defiantly told his companion he wouldn’t change unless Jesus Christ came and told him to!  That is real pride!  It reminds me of the guy who applied to the welfare office. They asked why he needed financial assistance. “I’m having trouble with my eyes,” the man said. “I can’t see myself going to work!” Nor could the unjust steward in the parable in Luke 16:1-8. When facing the realities of unemployment, he said, “I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed.”  (vs. 3)

What Are The Consequences Of Self-Imposed Limitations?

Well, it doesn’t always lead to failure, because in many instances people won’t even try. Many will not try things that are perfectly within their ability, thus losing opportunity for growth and achievement.  Sometimes we unconsciously buy into a philosophy which is contrary to the spirit and teachings of the gospel. It shows a lack of understanding and/or belief in the law of eternal progression. It also displays a certain lack of faith in Christ. Those who impose limits on themselves are unlike Paul who said, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” (Phi. 4:13.)  And to Moroni the Lord said, “If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me.” (Moro. 7:33.) Obviously self-imposed limitations put the lid on our potential and make it almost impossible to truly magnify our callings. Like the classical flea circus, we continually live below our self-imposed limits, like this illustration:

Our Potential

Self Imposed Limits

Our Living

How Do We Overcome Self-Imposed Limits?

It requires a physical and emotional price to actually break through those perceived limitations and enter into a new area of further potential. Leadership guru John Maxwell, wrote, “One of the great discoveries we make, one of our great surprises, is to find we can do what we were afraid we couldn’t do. Most of the prison bars we beat against are within us; we put them there and we can take them down.”(1)You may be only an attitude away from becoming the person God wants you to be! Here are a few suggestions of how to do this:

∙ Turn your self-concept around. Through prayer and study gain a correct understanding of your potential and capabilities and begin living up to them.

∙ Through prayer and faith develop a desire and the courage to change.

∙ Focus on your positive qualities and soon they will begin to powerfully affect your actions and behavior.

∙ Once you realize that most of your limitations come from within your own mind you have the key to change.

∙ To reach beyond that which you have accomplished, you must eliminate negative thinking and speaking–especially about yourself. 

In these ways we can begin to live above our self-imposed limits in the rarefied air of greater potential, like this illustration:

Our Potential

Our Living

Self-Imposed Limits

Veteran Elder Hafen Learns A Lesson

I once had an experience that taught me a great lesson about the way a highly developed tolerance for "being realistic" can inhibit the workings of the Spirit in our lives. When I had been on my mission in Germany about a year, I was assigned to work with a brand new missionary named Elder Keeler, who had just arrived fresh from converting--or so he thought-all the stewardesses on the plane from New York to Frankfurt. Within a few days of his arrival, I was called to a meeting in another city and had to leave him to work in our city with another inexperienced missionary whose companion went with me.  I returned late that night.

The next morning I ask him how his day had gone. He broke into a big smile and said that he had found a family who would surely join the Church. In our mission, it was rare to see anybody join the Church, let alone a whole family. I asked for more details, but he had forgotten to write down either the name or the address. All he could remember was that the family lived on the top floor of a big apartment house. "Oh, that's great," I thought to myself as I contemplated all those flights of stairs. He also explained that he knew so little German that he had exchanged but a few words with the woman who answered the door. But he did think she wanted us to come back--and he wanted to go find her and have me talk to her that very minute. I explained to him that the people who do not slam the door in missionaries' faces are not all planning to join the Church. But off we went to find her, mostly to humor him. He could not remember the right street either, so we picked a likely spot in our tracting area and began climbing up and down those endless polished staircases.

After a frustrating hour, I decided that I really needed to level with him. "Based on my many months of experience," I said, "it is simply not worth our time to try any longer to find that woman. I have developed a tolerance for the realities of missionary work, and I simply know more about all this than you do."

His eyes filled with tears and his lower lip began to tremble. (That elder was no dummy--he recently graduated from Boalt Law School at Berkeley.) I remember it so well--he said to me, through those tear-filled eyes, "Elder Hafen, I came on my mission to find the honest in heart. The Spirit told me that that woman is going to join the Church, and you can't stop me from finding her."

I decided that I had to teach him a lesson. So I raced him up one staircase after another until he was ready to drop, and so was I.  "Elder Keeler," I asked, "had enough?"

"No," he said.  "We've got to find her."

I began to smolder. I decided to work him until he plead with me to stop--then maybe he would get the message.

Then, at the top of a long flight of stairs, we found the apartment. She came to the door. He thrashed my ribs with his elbow and whispered loudly, "That's her, elder. That's the one. Talk to her!"

Not long ago, brothers and sisters, up on Maple Lane a few blocks from here, that woman's husband sat in our living room. He was here for general conference because he is the bishop of the Mannheim Ward. His two boys are preparing for missions; his wife and daughters are pillars of the Church. That is a lesson I can never forget about the limitations of the skepticism and the tolerance for ambiguity that come with learning and experience. I hope that I will never be so aware of "reality" that I am unresponsive to the whisperings of heaven.(2)

_____

It is our duty as men and women to proceed as though limits to our abilities do not exist.  We are collaborators in creation.

–Tieilhard de Chardin

WORDS

Did is a word of achievement,

Won’t is a word of retreat,

Might is a word of bereavement,

Can’t is a word of defeat,

Ought is a word of duty,

Try is a word of each hour,

Will is a word of beauty,

Can is a word of power.

–Anonymous

ATTITUDE

If you think you are beaten, you are;

If you think you dare not, you don't;

If you'd like to win, but you think you can't,

It's almost certain you won't.

If you think you'll lose, you've lost;

For out in the world you'll find

Things begin with a fellow's will;

It's all in the state of mind.

If you think you are outclassed, you are;

You've got to think high to rise;

You've got to be sure of yourself before

You can ever win a prize.

Life's battles don't always go

To the stronger or faster man;

But sooner or later the man who wins

Is the man who thinks he can.  

–Anonymous

NEVER SAY CAN’T

Can’t is the worst word that’s written or spoken; doing more harm than slander and lies; on it is many a strong spirit broken, and with it many a good purpose dies.  It springs from the lips of the thoughtless each morning and robs of courage we need through the day.  It rings in our ears like a timely-sent warning and laughs when we falter and fall by the way.

Can’t is the father of feeble endeavor, the parent of terror and half-hearted work; it weakens the efforts of artisans clever, and makes of the toiler an indolent shirk.  It poisons the soul, the person with a vision; it stifles in infancy many a plan; it greets honest toiling with open derision and mocks at the hopes and the dreams of anyone.

Can’t is a word none should speak without blushing; to utter it should be a symbol of shame; ambition and courage it daily is crushing; it blights a person’s purpose and shortens their aim, despise it with all of your hatred of error; refuse it the lodgment it seeks in your mind; arm against it as a creature of terror, and all that you dream of you some day shall gain.

Can’t is the word that is foe to ambition, an enemy ambushed to shatter your will; its prey is forever the person with a mission and bows but to courage and patience and skill.  Hate it, with hatred that’s deep and undying, for once it is welcomed it can break you; whatever the goal you are seeking, keep trying and answer to this unwanted thought by affirming,

“I CAN!”  

–Edgar A. Guest

Let’s think together again, soon.

Notes:

1. John Maxwell, The Winning Attitude, (Nashville:Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1993), p. 131.

1. Bruce R. Hafen, "Love Is Not Blind" address of 9 January 1979 in 1979 Devotional Speeches Of The Year, pp. 14-15.

Why I Believe: Evidence Twenty-three: Joseph Smith and the Baptism of Jesus Christ

101 Reasons Why I Believe Joseph Smith was a Prophet.

Evidence Twenty-three: 
Joseph Smith and the Baptism of Jesus Christ© 

There is a passage in the Matthew account of the baptism of Jesus Christ that has puzzled students since the time of Christ. Matthew records that when Jesus came to John to be baptized, John demurred saying he needed to be baptized of Jesus. “And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he suffered him.”  (Mt. 3:3, my emphasis.)

Many years ago I had a marvelous experience when I read Alfred Edersheim’s, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah. There I encountered a discussion of this issue that has been important to me ever since. Edersheim writes that “From earliest ages it has been a question why Jesus went to be baptized.” He observed, “Objections lie to most of the explanations offered by modern writers.” He listed a dozen contemporary (to him) explanations: Jesus came:

1.  “For His personal sinfulness.”

2.  “As the Representative of a guilty race.”

3.  “As the bearer of the sins of others.”

4.  “Acting in solidarity with His people.”

5.  “To separate Himself from the sins of Israel.”

6.  “Surrendering Himself thereby unto death for man.”

7.  “To do honor to the baptism of John.”

8.  “To elicit a token of His Messiahship.”

9.  “To bind Himself to the observance of the Law.”

10.  “To commence His Messianic Work.”

11.  “To consecrate Himself solemnly to” his Messianic work.

12.  “To receive the spiritual qualification for” his Messianic work.(1)

Edersheim objected to all of the above for two reasons:

“...the most reverent of these explanations involve a twofold mistake. They represent the Baptism of John as one of repentance, and they imply an ulterior motive in the coming of Christ to the banks of Jordan. ... As applied to sinful men it was indeed necessarily a ‘baptism of repentance;’ but not as applied to the sinless Jesus. Had it primarily and always been a ‘baptism of repentance,’ He could not have submitted to it.”  (2)

In other words, for Edersheim baptism was not just for repentance. It had another purpose, but here too the scholars had missed it.

“Again, and most important of all, we must not seek for any ulterior motive in the coming of Jesus to this Baptism. He had no ulterior motive of any kind: it was an act of simple submissive obedience on the part of the Perfect One–and submissive obedience has no motive beyond itself.” (3)

Say what you may about Alfred Edersheim, the man was a true believer and he could think! But is he correct in his analysis where the others went wrong? Enter Joseph Smith, Junior as translator of The Book of Mormon. 2 Nephi 31 contains a marvelous discussion of this same issue.  Here it is:

5) And now, if the Lamb of God, he being holy, should have need to be baptized by water, to fulfill all righteousness, O then, how much more need have we, being unholy to be baptized, ye, even by water! 6) And now, I would ask of you, my beloved brethren, wherein the Lamb of God did fulfill all righteousness in being baptized by water? 7) Know ye not that he was holy?  But notwithstanding he being holy, he showeth unto the children of men that, according to the flesh he humbleth himself before the Father, and witnesseth unto the Father that he would be obedient unto him in keeping his commandments. 8)Wherefore, after he was baptized with water the Holy Ghost descended upon him in the form of a dove. 9) And again, it showeth unto the children of men the straitness of the path, and the narrowness of the gate, by which they should enter, he having set the example before them. 10) And he said unto the children of men: Follow thou me. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, can we follow Jesus save we shall be willing to keep the commandments of the Father?  (My emphasis.)

In one verse (7), Nephi solves the age-old issue of the meaning of Christ being baptized to fulfill all righteousness.  Jesus began and finished his ministry by submitting to the will of God.(4) God’s will is wholly righteous and embraces all righteousness. For the Savior to covenant with the Father to obey his commandments is therefore, the very essence of righteousness itself. Mankind, on the other hand, “...seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god...”(5) Thus, Jesus “showeth unto the children of men the straitness of the path, and the narrowness of the gate, by which they should enter, he having set the example before them.”

So far so good, but what about the “ulterior motive” of which Edersheim spoke?  He said obedience had no other motive. Does Nephi have anything to say about this?  Indeed, he does.  In his commentary about the passage cited above, Nephi continues,

13) Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I know that if ye shall follow the Son, with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent, repenting of your sins, witnessing unto the Father that ye are willing to take upon you the name of Christ, by baptism, yea, by following your Lord and your Savior down into the water, according to his word, behold, then shall ye receive the Holy Ghost; yea, then cometh the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost....(6)

Nephi mentions three things the candidate for baptism must do. Follow the Son, 1) with full purpose of heart, 2) acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God, 3) with real intent. If that is not a description of not having an “ulterior motive” I do not know what the phrase means. Though this counsel is given to baptismal candidates, surely, Christ of all God’s children would have been baptized with full purpose of heart. Surely, he would have done so “acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God.” Surely, he would have come to John with “real intent.” As Christ had no “ulterior motives” behind his baptism, neither should we.

I love Alfred Edersheim. I love Nephi. And I love Joseph Smith. I have said before in this column, and I am sure I will say it again, one of the things which I love most about the Prophet Joseph Smith is his uncanny ability to answer spiritual questions which have plagued the religious world. He most often does so simply, directly, and clearly. It is almost as if he went through the Bible and made a list of all the problems people have encountered and then set out to answer them. This, of course, is foolishness. The answers we find such as this are interwoven into various narratives through about 900 pages of new scripture which he produced. There is not a scintilla of evidence that he made such a list or had such a goal. But it is not impossible, nor improbable, that God himself may have had such a list and such a goal to be achieved in the Restoration of all things until we may eventually enjoy the “fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” Joseph Smith was his instrument in bringing about much of this restoration and fullness.

Thank God for Joseph Smith.

Let’s think together again, soon.

Notes:

1. Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1977, part one p. 279.

2. Ibid., 279-280, emphasis in original.

3. Ibid., 280, emphasis in original.

4. Jesus began his ministry at his baptism, which as we have argued above was a submission to the will of God.  He finished his mortal ministry by dying on the cross, once again in submission to the Father’s will.  See Mt. 26:39-44 in reference to the atoning suffering in Gethsemane which carried over to the cross. But the idea is made explicit, even on the cross in JST Mt. 27:54 which reads "...a loud voice, saying, Father, it is finished, thy will is done, yielded up...."  Among his first recorded words in the pre-mortal life were, "Father, thy will be done...."  (Moses 4:2)  At age twelve he told his mother, "It must needs be that I be about my Father's business." (Lk. 2:49) I might add that we have several statements in John showing that Jesus maintained this commitment to his Father's will.  See, for example, Jn. 8: 16, 19, 28, 38, 42, and 49.  See also 3 Ne. 27:13.  Among his first words to the Nephites is this statement, "I have suffered the will of the Father in all things." (3 Ne. 11:11.)  Relative to this last point, Elder Jeffery Holland has observed:  

“I cannot think it either accident or mere whimsey that the Good Shepherd in his newly exalted state, appearing to a most significant segment of his flock, chooses first to speak of his obedience, his deference, his loyally, and loving submission to his father.  In an initial and profound moment of spellbinding wonder, when surely he had the attention of every man, woman, and child as far as the eye could see, his submission to his Father is the first and most important thing he wishes us to know about himself.

Frankly, I am a bit haunted by the thought that this is the first and most important thing he may want to know about us when we meet him one day in similar fashion.  Did we obey, even if it was painful?  Did we submit, even if the cup was bitter indeed?  Did we yield to a vision higher and holier than our own, even when we may have seen no vision in it at all?” [Jeffrey R. Holland, “The Will of the Father in all Things,” Brigham Young University 1988-89 Devotional and Fireside Speeches, (Provo: BYU Publications, 1989), pp. 76-77.]

5. D&C 1:16, emphasis added.

6. 2 Nephi 31:13.

Why I Believe: Evidence Twenty-two: Joseph Smith and Consistent Visionary Leadership

101 Reasons Why I Believe Joseph Smith Was A Prophet

Evidence Twenty-two: 
Joseph Smith and Consistent Visionary Leadership© 

The following quotations from Joseph Smith constitute my twenty-second evidence that he was a Prophet of God. In his unassuming, straight-forward manner, Joseph recorded the following as he convened a Church council on the morning of 15 January 1836:

At nine a.m., met in council agreeable to adjournment, at the Council room in the Temple, and seated the authorities of the Church agreeable to their respective offices. I then made some observations respecting the order of the day, and the great responsibility we were under to transact all our business in righteousness before God, inasmuch as our decisions will have a bearing upon all mankind, and upon all generations to come.(1)

From today's perspective it seems like such a simple, self-evident thing that the presiding councils of the Church should conduct business righteously because of the long-range implications their decisions can have. Despite perhaps stating the obvious, I remind readers that Joseph was 31-years-old when he said this. That, of itself, betokens the extraordinary vision and wisdom of the passage.  

But what appeals to me most is the fact that Joseph Smith never lost sight of who he was–an instrument in the hands of the Lord–he never took his eye off of the objective and its importance–he led God’s only true Church on earth which could guide people to salvation, therefore, their work must be marked by a serious righteousness consistent with that purpose–and he constantly kept those objectives before his people–that what they were doing involved truly awesome consequences. All of this, therefore, imposed the “great responsibility ... to transact all our business in righteousness before God.” In Joseph’s mind, Church leadership did not just depend upon the cumulative knowledge and intelligence of the council; there was a more important spiritual qualification required to lead God's Church.

The business before the council that morning was consideration of a draft of rules of conduct while in the Kirtland Temple.  It was read three times and the minutes of the meeting state that there were "a few queries, answers, and debates" but the several quorums finally voted unanimously to accept the rules "as a law to govern the House of the Lord in Kirtland."  Of even more interest is another passage from those minutes explaining additional teaching by Joseph Smith regarding making decisions in righteousness. The investigation of the subject, the minutes said, showed that many who deliberated were "darkened in their minds."  That drew the following from the Prophet:

... respecting the privileges of the authorities of the Church, that each should speak in his turn and in his place, and in his time and season, that there may be perfect order in all things; and that every man, before he makes an objection to any item that is brought before a council for consideration, should be sure that he can throw light upon the subject rather than spread darkness, and that his objection be founded in righteousness, which may be done by men applying themselves closely to study the mind and will of the Lord, whose Spirit always makes manifest and demonstrates the truth to the understanding of all who are in possession of the Spirit.(2)

Joseph’s critics gainsay many things he said and did, but reading his history in detail reveals to this writer that he possessed a constant and consistent clear vision of his purpose and role in life as the Prophet of the Restoration, and one is extremely hard pressed to find a time or times when that mission was set aside, forgotten, ignored, or trifled with in any way.   He also understood the principles whereby those in councils were to act in righteousness.  He not only taught Church leadership to act righteously, but he taught them how to do so.  Answers to such practical questions were a hallmark of his ministry. That fact is that acting in “righteousness before God” could be considered his personal motto and guided his brief but miraculous and marvelous work.  I do not believe that can be successfully challenged.

God be praised for the leadership example and teachings Joseph Smith provided for all subsequent prophets and leaders in this the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times.

Let’s think together again, soon.

Notes:

1. Joseph Smith, HC 2:370, Friday, 15 January 1836, emphasis added.

2.  Ibid, emphasis added.

Conscious or Casual Our Preparation is Cumulative

A story from the life of David O. McKay

[Today's blog is devoted to sharing with you a little-known story about David O. McKay which I first encountered last week while preparing a Sunday School lesson.  Sister Smith's profound commentary before and after invite further reflection.  I encourage readers to read the entire talk.  DWB.]

"Preparation may be conscious and skillful or casual and undirected, but, in either case, it is cumulative.

...

We may not realize it at the moment of choice, but our response is an infallible index of what we have become.

One of our favorite Church stories is that of President McKay when he was a young man loading stock for market with his brothers.

The McKay brothers, unlike many of their neighbors, did not dress in overalls and heavy boots when they were working. By rural standards they were elegantly turned out as they loaded calves, sheep, and hogs into the waiting wagons with speed and grace before an admiring crowd of small boys. Nearing the end of their labor, young David O. decided he would hoist the last hog aboard all by himself.  As he started the mighty heave it would take, he slipped–and ended with the hog on top of him and both of them deep in the loading corral mud.  The boys on, and peering through, the fence waited expectantly.

Slowly, David extricated himself, wiped futilely at the muck that now almost covered him, and then said to the assembled youngsters, “No use waiting, boys; I’m not going to swear!” His decision not to swear on this occasion was the same as it had been on many occasions.  The control of his tongue, in a moment of stress and humiliation, was reinforced by the countless other times when he had resisted the easy and insecure recourse of profanity.

We rarely succumb to temptation in one overpowering moment.  The strength of living by a principle is built line upon line, time upon time, of facing a moment of challenge and responding appropriately. Every important choice is the inevitable result of a hundred earlier choices."

Barbara B. Smith, “‘...For Such a Time as This,’” devotional address, 16 February 1982, in Brigham Young University Fireside and Devotional Speeches (Provo, UT: University Publications 1982), p. 92, emphasis added.  Also available on the web at: http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=1109

Let's think together again, soon.

Taps Or Reveille?

TAPS OR REVEILLE?

Early in 1833, the Prophet Joseph Smith wrote a letter to N. E. Seaton editor of a newspaper. He did so he said, “to contribute my mite at this very interesting and important period.” His missive quickly turned into a warning to the nation.  He was “carefully viewing the state of things” in the United States, “and ... looked at it with feelings of the most painful anxiety.” Two things were evident to the observant Prophet. The “manifest withdrawal of God’s Holy Spirit, and the veil of stupidity which seems to be drawn over the hearts of the people....”  The ancient covenants of God with Israel and the Gentiles were broken and the earth stood defiled. “The plain fact is this,” he wrote, “the power of God begins to fall upon the nations.” He went on to say that “the Gentiles are like the waves of the sea, casting up mire and dirt, or all in commotion, and they are hastily preparing to act the part allotted them, when the Lord rebukes the nations, when He shall rule them with a rod of iron, and break them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Joseph is evidently speaking of the famous dream of King Nebuchadnezzar recorded in Daniel 2, wherein he saw a large statue representing the nations and the kingdoms of the world.  It was hit and destroyed by a large stone rolling down out of the mountains. The stone represented the kingdom of God which “shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.”(1) 

Joseph went on to say that the Lord revealed to him 18 months previously

“...that He was then withdrawing His Spirit from the earth; and we can see that such is the fact, for not only the churches are dwindling away, but there are no conversions, or but very few: and this is not all, the governments of the earth are thrown into confusion and division; and Destruction, to the eye of the spiritual beholder, seems to be written by the finger of an invisible hand, in large capitals, upon almost every thing we behold.(2)

This statement is representative of a large number of similar predictions by the Prophet about the destruction of the nations and kingdoms of the world, including the United States, prior to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. These have been echoed by numerous other predictions and warnings by subsequent Apostles and Prophets.(3)

More recently Elder Neal A. Maxwell, made a comment similar to that of Joseph Smith, and like the Prophet he also looked toward the Kingdom of God. In 1975 he spoke to a group of genealogists at a symposium at BYU.  He told them:

As one who has spent a little time in public service, when I am around the secular institutions very long (however sincerely people may be trying to improve these important institutions and to make them work), if I listen closely, what I hear is the sound of taps–a kind of sense of sadness, in which they may not be able to arise to the occasion, though I hope they do. However, when I am around the Kingdom of God, if I listen closely, what I think I hear is the sound of reveille–a kind of giant awakening, in which we are deliberately being stirred to do the things that are ours to do.(4)

Wikipedia tells us that “Reveille” is a bugle, trumpet, or pipes call associated with the military “to wake military personnel at sunrise.” It comes from the French word for “wake up.” What are “the things that are ours to do”? Rather than succumbing at the death knell of Taps, Latter-day Saints are to awake and arise at Reveille and go to work building God’s kingdom–first. The JST version of Mt. 6:33, which in the JST is verse 38, is insightful.  It reads, “Wherefore, seek not the things of this world but seek ye first to build up the kingdom of God, and to establish his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Lets think together again, soon.

Notes:

1. Dan. 2:44.  The letter from Joseph Smith to N. E. Seaton, 4 January 1833, may be found in HC 1:312-16 and TPJS, 13-18.  I recommend reading the entire document.

2. Joseph Smith, TPJS, 16, emphasis added.  The revelation of which he spoke concerning the withdrawal of the Spirit may be found in D&C 63:32-33, given 30 August 1831.

3. A collection of many such statements may be found in, N. B. Lundwall, comp., Inspired Prophetic Warnings to all Inhabitants of the Earth: Being a Compilation of Ancient and Modern Prophecies, Sixth edition enlarged, (Salt Lake City: Publishers Press, n.d.).  See also the very interesting and specific predictions in, Orson Hyde, “A Timely Warning from an Apostle of Jesus Christ,” letter from Orson Hyde to the editor of the Missouri Republican, 1 January 1862, in Millennial Star 24 (May 3, 1862), p. 274-275.

4. Neal A. Maxwell, “Devotional Address.”  In Eleventh Annual Priesthood Genealogical Research Seminar, compiled by the Priesthood Genealogy Division of the Genealogical Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Provo, UT: Brigham Young University, 1976, p. 275, emphasis added.

Why I Believe: Evidence Twenty-one: Joseph Smith’s Daily Spirituality

101 Reasons Why I Believe Joseph Smith Was A Prophet

Evidence Twenty-one: 
Joseph Smith’s Daily Spirituality© 

During this morning’s reading in Joseph Smith’s history of the Church, I once again heard and felt the promptings of the Spirit bear witness of Joseph Smith’s prophetic calling. I am reading in late December 1835, and on just a couple of pages two simple items stood out.

First, his devotion to his calling.  On Monday 21 December his history reads: “Spent this day at home, endeavoring to treasure up knowledge for the benefit of my calling.” The next day he wrote: “Continued my studies. O may God give me learning, even language; and endue me with qualifications to magnify His name while I live.”  What was he studying? Subsequent entries tell us that he was trying to learn Greek and Hebrew. On the 23rd he recorded, “In the forenoon, at home studying the Greek language. The day after Christmas he said, “Commenced again studying the Hebrew language, in company with Brothers Parrish and Williams.”

The simplicity and directness of these unadorned statements carries their own power.  Here we find a prophet of God dedicated to treasuring up knowledge “for the benefit” of his calling, accompanying his labors with a prayer that God would endow him “with qualifications to magnify” the name of God.  Whatever else one may say about Joseph Smith, one thing is not said often enough–he recognized the importance of knowledge and labored regularly through his brief life to acquire such information as would assist him in fulfilling his calling.  We never hear anti-Mormons talk about this positive quality in his personality.  Nor do they acknowledge the second one that permeates this period of his history.

How often do you write prayers in your journal or history?  I venture to guess that for most of us it is a rarity.  Just notice these half-dozen examples in late December 1835 from Joseph’s history. On Sunday the 20th he was visited by brothers Palmer and Taylor. He showed them the Egyptian records he possessed and at day’s end he wrote, “O! may God have mercy upon these men, and keep them in the way of everlasting life, in the name of Jesus. Amen.” Monday he spent studying as noted above and thanked the Lord in his history “for His blessings to my soul, His great mercy over my family in sparing our lives. O continue,” he prayed, “Thy care over me and mine, for Christ’ sake.” Tuesday, as we have already read, he prayed “O may God give me learning, even language; and endue me with qualifications to magnify His name while I live.” Later that day he noted that his scribe was “unwell” and this prayer followed: “O may God heal him. And for his kindness to me, O my soul, be thou grateful to him, and bless him. And he shall be blessed of God forever, for I believe him to be a faithful friend to me, therefore my soul delighteth in him. Amen.”  Again on Monday the 28th he attended a council meeting of the Seventy, after which he recorded this plea: “...my heart was made glad while listening to the relation of those that had been laboring in the vineyard of the Lord, with such marvelous success. And I pray God to bless them with an increase of faith and power, and keep them all, with the endurance of faith in the name of Jesus Christ to the end.”(1)

As fond as Joseph’s enemies are of finding every wart, every supposed iniquity, every slight, every manifestation of pride or temper, these simple but powerful daily expressions of dedication and spirituality are never discussed by them. One wonder’s why, with the frequency with which they are sprinkled through his writings, they are so conveniently overlooked. To me they bear witness, not only of the nature of his private religiousness, but of his calling as well.

Thank God for Joseph Smith.

Lets think together again, soon.

Notes:

1. All of these entries may be found in HC 2:344-46.

Why I Believe: Evidence Twenty: Joseph Smith and the “New Heart” Promised for the Last Days

101 Reasons Why I Believe Joseph Smith Was A Prophet

Evidence Twenty:  

Joseph Smith and the “New Heart” Promised for the Last Days© 

Last Sunday I taught the Gospel Doctrine lesson in Sunday School.  The material came from the book of Jeremiah. For me, Jeremiah in some ways is an interesting contrast to Isaiah.  While Isaiah is obscured by the metaphorical language of Hebrew poetry, Jeremiah is rather plain and straight forward, though he too uses a lot of symbolism. In any case, last week’s lesson gave rise to another “evidence” for the prophetic calling of Joseph Smith. It is one I felt was worth sharing more widely than Sunday School.

The lesson combined two seemingly unrelated topics–the gathering of Israel and Jeremiah’s great prophecy about how in the last days the Lord would write God’s law in their hearts. Many modern Mormons find the “gathering of Israel” a fairly dry if not boring subject. That is sad because Joseph Smith said it was one of the more important doctrines in the last days. Indeed, he returned to the subject numerous times and his commentary on the parables in Matthew 13 on that subject is a masterpiece.  But that is for another day. It was an important topic for Jeremiah as well.  Fifteen of the fifty-two chapters (29%) in his book contain significant statements about the gathering. Of those fifteen, three entire chapters and significant portions of three more are devoted to the subject. In each instance prophecies of the scattering and gathering of Israel are generally found together. Judah would have found his prophecies of the scattering and the judgments and destruction attendant to it as disheartening and depressing messages. But, it is as if Jeremiah felt compelled to hold out hope for the future by also  predicting a glorious gathering attendant with the supreme blessings of the Lord.  

According to Jeremiah and Ezekiel the judgments and scattering came upon Judah because of the extreme corruption and wickedness of the society, caused by corrupt and wicked leaders.  In Jeremiah 16 following a litany of accusations and a prediction of the scattering, the people have the temerity to question the prophet as to why those judgments were to come upon them. He mentions the wickedness of their fathers, and then in verse twelve he says, “And ye have done worse than your fathers; for behold, ye walk every one after the evil imagination [Heb. reads “stubbornness” or “hardness”] of his evil heart, that they may not hearken unto me....” So, the important principle to mention here is that one of the major reasons for the scattering in 587 BC, was because of the hard and evil hearts of the people. This phrase appears thirteen times in the Old Testament, eight of which are in the book of Jeremiah.(1) Obviously the stubborn or hard hearts of the leaders and the people were at the root of the wickedness of Israelite society in this period.

Jeremiah was a prophet for 40 years and during part of that time he was contemporary with Lehi, who also predicted judgments upon and scattering of the people because of the wicked state of their society. Lest we think Lehi may have overdone things a bit when he claimed that he fled because the people were seeking his life because of his predictions and accusations, Jeremiah himself tells of the prophet Urijah who was also their contemporary. He fled to Egypt because they also sought his life.  Jeremiah says that Jehoiakim sent men after him. They tracked him down and brought him back to Jerusalem. Then Jeremiah reports that Urijah was brought unto Jehoiakim “who slew him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people.”(2) That qualifies as exhibit “A” for a hard heart, and shows us that the accounts of the conditions in Jerusalem given to us by Jeremiah and Lehi are accurate.

But, Jeremiah said a day would come when things would be different.  His famous prophecy is found in chapter 31: 31-33:

31) Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 32) Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: 33) But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

The prophet Ezekiel spoke similarly:(3)

19) And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

Here is the main point of this essay. If the problem was a hard and wicked heart, the solution is a soft, open, willing, and obedient heart. The statements of both Jeremiah and Ezekiel state that in the latter day the soft open hearts of the people would be due exclusively to the action of God–he would give them a soft heart of flesh and write his law in their hearts. This is perfectly acceptable to many Protestants, particularly those who closely follow Luther and Calvin. Reformed Calvinists in particular would say this is exactly in line with the  “by grace ye are saved, not by works” doctrine.

Some reflection, however, raises the question as to how meaningful that changed heart would really be if it is caused solely by the actions of God without anything being done on the part of the individual to assist in its development. Predestination or the fickle will of God could be the only explanation for God holding one group of people accountable for having obdurate hearts and giving a soft heart to another, completely different group and promising them glorious blessings.  But this only heightens how meaningless a discussion of a new heart really is with those who deny any requirement or value of  personal effort. Moreover, how can prophecies about a new heart on those conditions give any hope to Jeremiah’s contemporaries with hard hearts? It also ignores an imperative passage in Ezekiel 18:31 which says, “... and make you a new heart and a new spirit....” This implies some effort on the part of the individual. But it is not as Elder Bednar once characterized the beliefs of some Saints that “we must make the journey from good to better and become a saint all by ourselves, through sheer grit, willpower, and discipline....”(4)  It is not an “all-or-none” situation either way.

If we accept this latter statement from Ezekiel it suggests that the process of having a new heart is dual in nature, it requires effort on our part as well as the actions of God in our behalf. If we assume with Paul, that we really do have to do something in working out our own salvation, then unfortunately, we look in vain  for any detailed discussion of this issue in the Bible as we have it. The problem is correctly identified and the Lord promises it will be reversed in a future day, but there is no explanation as to how man carries out his role in the process.

Enter the Book of Mormon.  The incomparable Alma speaks of the “mighty change” which took place in his own heart and that of his people, but later he asks his audience if they have experienced this mighty change.(5)  Yet, even that important reference is superceded by the great temple sermon of King Benjamin early in the book of Mosiah. There it becomes evident that there are several spiritual steps leading up to the mighty change of heart and it is clear that both the Atonement of Christ and the actions of the people are necessary for the mighty change of heart to take place. Here are just four pertinent passages from that sermon, beginning with Mosiah 2:9, 3:19 and 4:2 (my emphasis added):

Preparation:   

9) My brethren, all ye that have assembled yourselves together, you that can hear my words which I shall speak unto you this day; for I have not commanded you to come up hither to trifle with the words which I shall speak, but that you should hearken unto me, and open your ears that ye may hear, and your hearts that ye may understand, and your minds that the mysteries of God may be unfolded to your view.

Put off the natural man, put on Christlike qualities :  

19) For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, for ever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.

Pray for mercy and the benefits of the Atonement:  

2) And they had viewed themselves in their own carnal state, even less than the dust of the earth.  And they all cried aloud with one voice, saying: O have mercy, and apply the atoning blood of Christ that we may receive forgiveness of our sins, and our hearts may be purified... (6)

There follows a lengthy discussion about the proper treatment of the poor and then in Mosiah 5:2 we are instructed about,

The Spirit’s work:  

2) And they all cried with one voice, saying: “yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually.(7)

The above process may be perfectly summarized by this passage found in Helaman 3:35:

35) Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God.

As I said above, I do not know of any comparable discussion about the changing of the heart in any Biblical passage! Yet, that, according to Jeremiah and Ezekiel is what will be needed in the last days when Israel and Judah are gathered again and the temple built. Does anyone really believe that young Joseph Smith read the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel and discovered the major reason for the Lord’s displeasure with Judah about 600 B.C. was that the people had hard hearts which led them into all sorts of spiritual difficulties, so he went searching through the Bible for an explanation how to correct the problem–how to soften people’s hearts–but he couldn’t find any; so, he presumed to make up a story in the Book of Mormon that would provide it? Really? That explanation for the passages in Mosiah 2-5 and Alma 5 does not wash with me. So, we are faced with the wonderful reality of those remarkable chapters which so seamlessly answer the need expressed in Jeremiah and Ezekiel! To me it is another evidence of the Lord’s almost imperceptible guiding hand, bringing together in one in this dispensation all important things from all previous dispensations. As I have pointed out before, Joseph Smith is a man with the answers to many of the most important spiritual questions of all time. Yet sometimes those answers are so subtly woven into the fabric of the Standard Works and the Gospel that it is easy for us to overlook their uniqueness, to miss the singularity of their existence and appreciate the depth of their importance.

For me, of course, this kind of thing simply adds to the evidences we are considering in this topic. It adds evidence and testimony that Joseph Smith was a prophet, inspired by God to bring forth the scriptures and revelations which he did and of their superlative importance in these last days as the Lord prepares the earth for its glorious conclusion.

Thank God for Joseph Smith, man with the answers.

Lets think together again, soon.

Notes:

1. See, 3:17, 7:24, 9:14, 11:8, 13:10, 16:12, 18:12, and 23:17.

2. See Jer. 26:20-23.

3. Ezek. 11:19-20.  See also  Ezek. 36:24-28.

4. David A. Bednar, “The Atonement and the Journey of Mortality,” Ensign (May 2012), p. 42. 

5. See Alma 5:2, 12-14.

6. In connection with items 2 and 3 above from Mosiah, it is evident we must repent.  According to Elder Russell M. Nelson, “Each personal imperfection is an opportunity to change–to repent.  Repentance, at any age, provides needed progress.  It leads to a mighty change of heart, which leads to a love of God and your neighbor, especially that neighbor to whom you are married.  Repentance includes forgiveness, and forgiveness is a commandment.”  See, Russell M. Nelson, “The Doctrinal Importance of Marriage and Children,” address to The Worldwide Leadership Training meeting, February 2012, Internet edition.

7. The reader will also benefit greatly by reading, Wilford W. Andersen, “Receiving and Retaining a Mighty Change,” Ensign, (April 2012): 35-37, in which he stresses that it is the process of entering into the covenant of baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, the agent that sanctifies and purifies us, whereby we experience this mighty change of heart.  What he teaches and what I have added from King Benjamin, are in my mind saying essentially the same thing.   However, Elder Andersen goes on to point  out that we "retain" that mighty change by partaking of the Sacrament weekly.  This growth and change for most people is “slow, almost imperceptible.”  See, Ezra Taft Benson, “A Mighty Change of Heart,” Ensign (October 1989), p. 5.