Imperfect People can be made Perfect!

Many years ago, when BYU was considerable smaller and my student number indicated that I was almost the fifty fourth thousandth student to attend that university, I was asked to teach a Sunday school class in the student ward in which I was attending.

For reasons, which I shall never fully know, the Bishop of the ward gave me great latitude in the selection of my lessons. I was not constrained to the use of a lesson manual or study guide. Rather, I was to importune the Lord and teach whatever came to mind and heart. Time and time again, I could be seen, during opening exercises, feverishly writing my lesson outlines. Many joked that I was doing last minute preparation, little knowing that I had already had a relatively intense lifetime for preparation and was only doing my last minute organizing.

As the inspiration flowed, I was relegated to the task of scribe, writing down the outline that the Lord would have me share with His class. He wrote the script and I became the player upon His stage. Wonderful as those experiences were, the true marvel always came after class when one student or another would come up and thank me, not for saying anything new but for saying the same old thing in a new way so that the old things had new meanings.

It has been my prayer that in my preparations for this talk, I might say the old things in a new way so that they would have new meaning for you.

I should first like to give thanks and acknowledgment to three authors and their works for many of the ideas and quotes contained herein. Many a tender lesson was gleaned from Bruce C. Hafen’s book, “The Broken Heart”, Stephen E. Robinson’s “Believing Christ" and W. Cleon Skousen’s “A Personal Search for the Meaning of the Atonement”. If you find anything worthwhile in this talk, please read their materials.

I believe in the Adam and Eve story. I do not profess to know how Adam and Eve came to be, that is something that we will probably have to wait on the Lord for. However, Brigham Young had many theories as to their origins. The one that I particularly like is where God the Father and one of His Wives came to the Garden and charged their bodies with the elements of the Earth by eating of the fruits of the Earth. Then, when they had offspring, their children’s bodies were made of the elements of the Earth rather than being made of Intelligence (Discourses of Brigham Young, pp. 76, 77). Bodies thusly created needed only to have spirits of intelligence infused into them and they became living beings of flesh and bone. But these living physical beings were not mortal because they were not subject to death. To become mortals they needed a special type of physical transformation.

Having been thusly created, the children Adam and Eve required nurturing as they grew and developed. I believe they had the ideal parents. Who better could teach them how to be Man and Woman, Husband and Wife, than the Man of Holiness and His Queen? I like this theory for many reasons. But the one best reason is that it ties me back to the Lord God Almighty through a direct genetic link. We know that our Spiritual bodies are the offspring of a Heavenly Father and Mother. This knowledge is plainly proclaimed in our Hymn, “Oh My Father”. But according to Brigham Young, my physical body is also genetically linked to those same parents. Even the scriptures allude to this, for when Luke traces the genealogy of Jesus Christ back, Adam is called the “Son of God”, (Luke 3:38).

It is evident that Adam and Eve grew up in a paradisiacal setting. They lived in the actual presence of the Father. They knew no want or fear; they knew only the pure righteousness of the Father. In such a setting, evil could not possibly exist. It is therefore understandable that Adam and Eve were not free to make an independent decision or choice. Although Adam and Eve knew of Gods’ plan whereby His children could come to a place where they could grow and develop Godly attributes, they as yet did not understand the full mechanics of it.

To assist them in this growth process, Adam and his wife Eve were to be left alone in the Garden. Commandments were given to them. They knew they were to be the physical parents of the children of God, the Father and Mother of all humankind. They also knew that there was a special tree within the confines of the Garden, which bore a fruit, which had the properties to genetically change their bodies. They were told that the eating of that fruit would bring death to the bodies they possessed. It was then left to them to decide if they would partake of that fruit or not.

With our Heavenly parents absent from the Garden it was now possible for Lucifer to enter therein and try to persuade Adam and Eve to partake of the forbidden fruit. Adam stubbornly refused the temptations of Lucifer and was determined to obey the Father. What he did not understand was that he had to make an independent decision, which would enable the process of mankind to begin.

Lucifer was more subtle with Eve. He reminded her that the gods already knew the difference between good and evil and that she was placed here to learn it for herself. He tempted her with the idea that she could learn the difference through the partaking of the forbidden fruit and become like the gods. Eve partook of the fruit, perhaps thinking that she could hasten the journey. Adam, on the other hand, was not deceived. He made a conscious decision, a deliberate action to partake of the fruit when offered it by Eve, so that they, Adam and Eve, could bring about the family of man. As a result of the partaking of the forbidden fruit, chemical changes began to take place within the bodies of Adam and Eve. As their bodies became mortal, some of these changes became the seeds of death and were passed on to their children’s bodies. With each succeeding generation, these seeds multiplied and proliferated so that the days of a man became shorter, making room for more of Gods’ children to enter into this school of life.

We are all aware that the purpose of our Earthly existence is so that we may become like the gods. It was for this cause that we needed a physical body: We needed appetites and passions so that we could overcome them through self-mastery. We needed to have agency so that we could develop self-determination and moral character. God allowed us to have weaknesses so that we could develop our strengths. We needed to build within us the Godly attributes of pure and unconditional love, perfect self-control and consistency.

You develop muscles through exercise.
You develop character through suffering.
You develop love through sacrifice.
You develop gods through mortality.

We knew all this! We had lived for eons of time though time did not exist as we know it. We had viewed worlds without number, being created and being exulted. We had seen many brothers and sisters going through this development process, some to become gods and we wanted the opportunity to do the same, (John Taylor, “The Mormons”, August 29th, 1857, NYC).

A great council was held for those of us who had developed sufficiently to warrant coming to a planet for our personal growth. Details of the world, which was to be built, were discussed. The concepts of ”free agency” and “accountability” were explained. Some of our brothers and sisters were troubled that there might be some who would become lost.

One of our elder brothers proposed a plan whereby none of his brothers and sisters could be lost. He suggested that the right to be agents free to choose for ones self be withheld and that he, an elder brother would cause that each one of us would live righteous and obedient lives. Thus, we would gain our necessary physical bodies while at the same time remaining sinless and therefore we would be able to return to the presence of the Father.

To many of our brothers and sisters this plan seemed to have merit. It alleviated the dangers of mortality while guaranteeing an eternal home with our Father.

Another Brother arose and presented a different plan. In His presentation, He explained the necessity of having freedom of choice. He knew that we would all make mistakes. However, He had already achieved perfection and self-mastery. He explained that because of our own shortcomings and failings, He would enter into a covenant with each of us, so that through His perfection and because of a great redeeming sacrifice, which He would take upon Himself, each and every one could be cleansed from our sins and return to God with the potential of becoming gods ourselves. The champion of the first plan was our brother Lucifer, “The Son of the Morning”. Though his name bears great promise, I do not believe that he championed his plan because he loved us. It is apparent that he did not care for our growth or our potential. His sole purpose was in furthering his own aggrandizement. Lucifer wanted to become a god and possibly, he doubted he could do it through his own personal development. He wanted the glory but he was not willing to pay the price. With his plan, he would return us to God with bodies but we would have wasted our time here upon the Earth. We would have had no personal growth or development. Our experiences would have been shallow and meaningless. And for accomplishing this thing, he wanted the glory, power, majesty, and dominion of the Father!

I see Adam and Eve as great people – perhaps second only to Jesus Christ. While in the Garden with the Father, they never knew disobedience. They did not know what it was like to be outside of the presence and influence of the Father. They did not know what pain, suffering and the bitterness of life was. And yet, Adam and Eve, having an understanding of the plan, chose the unknown to provide you and me with the opportunity of attending the University of Earth! To me, that is true greatness.

Because of their independent acts, Adam and Eve found themselves cast out of the Garden. This was not a punishment – it was merely the beginning of their education.

The natural consequences, which followed their eviction from the garden, have set a precedent for each of us as to how we may learn from our disobedience, grow in knowledge, receive forgiveness and a cleansing and again have unity with the Father.

We must always keep in mind that there was a multiplicity of purpose for building the Earth. This life was not provided so that we might only gain a body. If that were true, most of us would have died at birth and been done with it. I would venture to say that the main purpose of this mortality is to gain experience and to learn how to use that experience to become one with God.

Adam learned that it was an independent action, which removed him from unity with God and placed him in a state of rejection. The rejection caused the full weight of bitterness and pain to come upon him. The pain of being separated from the Father caused Adam to become humble, suffer a broken heart and a Godly sorrow and this lead him to repentance. Once he repented, great hope set in and then reconciliation to God was brought about through the atonement of Jesus Christ. With the reconciliation came also an outpouring of the Holy Ghost, which gave Adam a greater understanding, which lead him to a greater personal development. And again Adam was in unity with God but now he was improved: He had learned, he had gained experience, he had deepened his understanding. We call this learning cycle the “Adamic or Universal Life Cycle”. Just as Adam entered into it and emerged a better person from it, so each of us will find ourselves within this Life Cycle and if we follow it to it’s completion, we shall be the better for it also.

Some time after their expulsion from the garden, Adam built an alter and offered sacrifices to the Lord. He did this by way of commandment, not knowing what the reason or its’ symbolism. However, because he dutifully did that which he had been commanded, an angel appeared unto him and explained that portion of the plan, which we call “the redemption” of Christ.

What is the redemption of Christ? Does it have personal meaning to you? Can you rejoice, as did Adam and Eve when you hear of it? Does it bring you great comfort and joy?

Adam and Eve knew what justification by the law meant. They had just recently been the recipients of that law. Simply stated it means that if we are able to live all 613 commandments the Lord has given us and NEVER break any of them, we can go back to the presence of the Father. This means that from the moment of birth until the moment of death we must live a perfect record. But according to Paul, none of us has ever done that. Each of us has sinned and according to justification by the law, we have all failed.

Well, I do not know about you but when I contemplate these thoughts, I realize that it is not justice that I want. Justice can only condemn me. What I want is mercy! I want a way back to God even though I have sinned. Perhaps the most beautiful and moving words of the bible are the ones spoken in Isaiah where it says, “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow”.

“The good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not that perfect people can be reconciled to God, but that imperfect people can be. If we believe only in Christ without believing that He can make us clean and acceptable to God, then we are like people sitting in cold, dark houses surrounded by unused lamps and heaters, people who believe in electricity but who never throw the switch to turn on the power”.

If we are going to throw the switch and turn on the power so that we may be reconciled to God, we must enter into a covenant relationship with Jesus Christ. This covenant is very simple. Perhaps that is why so few of us really understand it. We want something that is complicated. Like Naaman of old, dipping himself into the Jordan seven times was too simple a cure for Leprosy. Naaman wanted some great command or sacrifice, some grandiose charge, an impossible task so that he could prove himself worthy and he therefore became incensed by Elishas’ direction. It was too simple! Brothers and sisters, the covenant we make with the Lord Jesus Christ is equally as simple.

If we want to be freed from our mistakes, our poor judgments, our faulty independent actions, then this is what we must do: We must covenant with Jesus Christ that we will try our very best. And if we fail, we will repent and try again. In return, Jesus agrees to lend us His perfection until we can become perfect in our own right and time. He also agrees to forgive us for our failures and He will completely forget them. How this actually works may be likened to a partnership. One person is deep in debt and may be described as having finite liabilities. In a business sense, this person cannot survive. Along comes another person with infinite assets. A proposition is made wherein the two form a partnership where the liabilities on the one will be covered by the assets of the other. Now, because of the partnership, the one with the liabilities is solvent. The same holds true when any one of us enters into a partnership with Jesus Christ. Taken together as a single entity, the two of us, Jesus Christ and you or me, we are perfect. This does not mean that we may become perfect, it means that from the moment that partnership is formed in good faith, from that moment the partnership is celestial. The merits of the Senior Partner make it so. It really is simple; all we must do is enter into that covenant with Jesus Christ.

In ancient Israel, Old Testament covenants were validated and made binding by shedding the blood of a sacrificial animal. Afterward, the blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled upon the children of the covenant to show acceptance. Today, when we enter this covenant with Jesus Christ, we are washed in the blood of the lamb. As long as we live under this covenant and do our part, we will be freed from our sins and pronounced clean before God.

If however you fall into the trap of thinking that you can perfect yourself through better living of the commandments, paying more tithing, helping needy people, attending the temple more frequently or anything else you may lay upon yourself, you have failed. As long as you try to justify yourself through the law, the law will condemn you. You have already sinned in some small or large way and by the law of justification - you lost! But, if you will fulfill your part of the covenant with Jesus Christ, He will declare you INNOCENT and you will stand GUILTLESS before the law.

Mother Teresa put it so simply when she said, “God never asked that I succeed, only that I try”. All of us will enter into the Adamic Life Cycle, many times. If we will use it the way it was intended to be used, we will be better for it. All we must do is to try our very best.

But you ask, how can Jesus’ suffering and dying upon the cross make all this possible? In fact, why was it necessary for Him to suffer at all? We say that God is all-powerful, why could He not just say, “I forgive you for your shortcomings, your imperfections, your mistakes and your sins”. Why did Jesus have to suffer? If I am going to suffer a broken heart and a godly sorrow for my sins, shouldn’t that be enough? Why must someone else suffer also? How does Jesus’ pain and suffering allow God to forgive me but my own suffering will not?

I guess if we are to understand how this all works and why it is necessary, we must understand something about the very nature of God. Perhaps the best place for us to start is with a quotation from a book by Ursula K. Le Guin: “As a man’s real power grows and his knowledge widens, ever the way he can follow grows narrower: until at last he chooses nothing, but does only and wholly what he must do”. If this statement is true, then God lives His life in a very narrowly defined parameter.

We can see applications of this statement among various peoples of the Earth today. For example, look at the houses of Royalty. Though they be the monarchs, yet the way they live, the people they associate with, even the people they are allowed to marry are strictly dictated by the expectations of their subjects. We see the very same thing in the lives of our Apostles and Prophets. We pedestalize them and demand of them a life style, which does not do them justice. Because we tend to deify our leaders, we expect them to live up to our expectations. I imagine that they feel the tremendous pressures the membership of the church puts upon them. They feel the obligation to live up to our expectations.

I have often wondered if it is our own expectations of God, which limits the way in which He is able to deal with us. If I am only willing to accept that God will “cause a burning within my bosom”, can He give me a revelation by some other means and have me accept it as a revelation and coming from God?

In Alma, chapter 42 we learn of a very interesting concept about God. In verses 13, 22 and 25 it specifies that if certain conditions are violated, that God will cease to be God. That is amazing! I believe that we are the only church upon the face of this Earth that preaches that it is possible for God to cease to be God. According to these verses, He is bound to observe certain laws and if He violates them, He will cease to be God.

For many people who believe in a God, this might be somewhat confusing. We think of God as being all-powerful and capable of doing anything that He wants. Yet, here in His revealed word, we are told that He has some guidelines, which He must follow, or He will cease to be God. How is this possible? If God is God by the usurpation of His power, position, birthright, or authority, then the proposition that He could cease to be God is meaningless. However, what if God is God by acclimation? What if He is God because He is revered, honored, respected and loved?

In 2nd Nephi, 2:14 we read: “…there is a God, and he hath created all things, … both things to act and things to be acted upon.” Could this mean that there are only two types of creations? If this is so, all of Gods creations are a type of building blocks: there are ones to act and exercise value judgments, and there are others, which will be acted upon, and carry out commands. Could this mean that they each have independent judgments, that each has conscious awareness?

To test this hypothesis, let us turn to the 93rd section of the Doctrine and Covenants and read. In verse 29, it says, “… Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be.” Therefore, Intelligence, the building block of the universe, was not created or made, it is eternal. But why did I say that Intelligence is the building block of the Universe? Well, Brigham Young said, “There is light or Intelligence in all matter throughout the vast extent of all eternities. It is in the rock. It is in the sand, in water, air, in gases, and in short, in every description or organization of matter, whether it be solid, liquid, or gaseous. Particle operating with particle.”

When the Gods looked down and saw unorganized matter, what were they looking at? Was it gas clouds and dust particles floating in outer space waiting for someone to move them into proximity so that natural laws could attract them to each other and compress them to form solids and gasses, fusion and fission, exploding sun and spinning planets? Or, were they seeing corporeal elements, finite particles of matter, which had not yet been combined, with the infinite eternal element of Intelligence.

I would like to suggest to you that the organization of matter is not the smushing together of elements as one would do with clay, but is the exercising of a priesthood ordinance wherein eternal Intelligence and finite matter are combined into “organized matter” which the gods can direct. Once such matter is organized, it is capable of taking directions, of carrying out demands, of being obedient! I believe this is what Brigham Young meant when he said there was Intelligence in the Rock. Perhaps this was also what President Spencer W. Kimball had in mind when he said, “While we are in the mortal body we cannot fashion kingdoms or organize matter, for that is beyond our capacity and calling . . . In the resurrection, the sons of God will be ordained to organize matter”.

Now, with this background, let us turn back to the Doctrine and Covenants, section 93. In verse thirty, we read; “All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligence also; otherwise there is no existence.” If I understand what I have just read, the light of truth or Intelligence is eternal, is independent, and has agency in and of itself. This means that all organized matter has independent agency and will act of its own free volition in the sphere in which God has placed it. This idea is further supported in the book of Abraham where in chapter 4, verses 18 and 21 it says, “And the Gods watched those things which they had ordered until they obeyed” and “that they would be obeyed”. That certainly sounds like there is free agency involved in being obedient to the Lord even though it was the very elements, which were under command to obey.

There are many passages of scripture which tell us of the elements of the universe being obedient to the will of the Lord; Nephi telling his brothers that he could turn the water into earth and walk to the promised land, the Brother of Jared commanding the mountain Zarin to be removed and cast into the sea, Enoch commanding a mountain to fall upon his enemies, a river to change its course and the very earth to open that it might swallow up the enemies of the children of God, Moses placing his hand within his breast and withdrawing it afflicted with leprosy, then doing the same thing and withdrawing it cleansed and whole. The miracles of the New Testament are resplendent with these same types of examples: Jesus turning water into wine, commanding the fig tree to whither, commanding the raging storm to cease, or feeding the 10,000 with some loaves of bread and some fishes or Peter walking on the water and Paul raising a man from death.

Here-to-fore I had thought that to do great miracles as these I needed some type of miraculous power in addition to priesthood authority. We all have made this common mistake. Remember Simon the Sorcerer? , he offered money that he might have the power to bestow the Holy Ghost. Simon knew in his heart that he could not do that which he had seen the Apostles do and there are many of us today who are certain that we cannot do the miracles that the prophets have done in the past.

Why is it that one person can walk into a hospital ward and command a miracle and it is done and another can go into that same ward and likewise command a miracle and the patient dies? Is it the patients’ fault? Could it be the fault of the person giving the blessing? What seems to be the difference? From the scriptures we have cited, we have referenced many instances where miracles have taken place so we know that miracles themselves are possible.

I believe that the problem lies in the fact that the elements, the organized matter of the universe, have agency and may choose to obey whom they will. The “organized matter” of the universe is obedient to God because they love and revere Him. He is their God because of acclamation. When they find a servant of God who is sufficiently worthy, they are obedient to that servant also. The Intelligences of the universe cannot be lied to, they cannot be fooled. They respond to perfection, goodness, charity and love. They respect and trust God because He is perfect. He is consistent in all that He does. They know that they will never be betrayed. For these reasons and many many more, the elements of the universe are obedient to God because God is Honorable. Moreover, it is the Honor of God that gives Him His Power. This is mentioned in the scriptures. You will remember that Lucifer demanded the Honor of God as his reward for his plan. Furthermore, God Himself has said that His power IS His Honor.

So there we have it. God is God because the Intelligences of the Universe Honor and Revere Him, and they do so because He is Honorable. However, if He ever did anything to betray that perfection, He would cease to be God because the Intelligences of the universe would no longer revere Him. Herein lies the great dilemma which made it necessary for there to be an Atoning One: If the only way for Gods children to become gods themselves was to go through mortality and develop the attributes of self mastery and perfection, then they would have to learn by making mistakes and that would disqualify them from being saved through the law of justification!

Once the Father agreed to allow us to enter into a state of mortality, He lost the ability to save us from our independent actions. If He were to try saving us from the law, He would cease to be God! The reason for this is that the Intelligences demand justice! The law requires that all who have sinned come short of the Glory of God.

Alma tells us that no person can suffer for the sins of another, yet he turns right around and tells us that the atonement is to bring about “the bowels of mercy and overcome Justice. The Father already has mercy, what we need is something to create mercy in those who are demanding justice.

To make it a little easier for us to understand this last part, I should like to borrow a story from Brother Scousen:

During the Civil War, there was a nineteen-year-old soldier who went to sleep on guard duty. A whole section of the Union Army was wiped out in that particular sector. He lost many of his very best friends all because he fell asleep and the enemy was able to make a surprise attack on one flank of that particular defense effort. He survived the battle, was court martialed and sentenced to be hanged for neglect of duty and going to sleep while serving as a guard. Such is routine military law. The death sentence and order of execution was placed on the desk of President Lincoln and he was prepared to sign it. He had lost many valuable men because a nineteen-year-old soldier went to sleep.

A little old woman communicated with President Lincoln. This little mother said to President Lincoln; “When this war started, I had a husband and six sons. First, I lost my husband. Then I lost my sons, five of them. I have just one son left and he is about to be executed for neglect of duty. He feels terrible about what he did. He knows he deserves to die; He is expecting to die President Lincoln, but I was wondering, because you have pardoning power under the constitution, if you could find it in your heart to let me have the last of my family, for my sake?”

President Lincoln said, “Little Mother, for your sake I pardon your son. Pray God that he will survive the war and be a blessing to you all the days of your life.”

No one criticized President Lincoln for pardoning the lad. In the minds of the public, compassion had overcome the demands of justice and mercy prevailed.

You see, brothers and sisters, the mission of Jesus Christ, from the very first, was to qualify under the law of justice, to so live His life that He could return to the presence and unity of the Father and then, being perfect, clean and pure, to suffer such humiliation and degradation, such pain and suffering, to have such a hideous injustice perpetrated upon Him that the Intelligences of the universe would be moved with compassion and mercy when He made His plea on our behalf. To the Intelligences, mercy can satisfy their demand for justice only to those who believe on Jesus Christ and exercise Faith in Him. To him who exercises no faith unto repentance, that person is exposed to the whole law and to their demand for justice.

Listen to the words of our Lord and Master, our champion before all eternity; “Listen to Him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before Him – saying: Father, behold the sufferings and death of Him who did no sin, in whom Thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of they Son which was shed, the blood of Him whom Thou gavest that Thyself might be glorified; Wherefore, Father, spare these My brethren that believe on My name, that they may come unto Me and have everlasting life.”

What more can I say? When the time comes that each of us is to stand before the Judgment Bar of God, our advocate the Savior will be there pleading for us. It is because of Him and Him alone that each of us may return to our Father. So great is the debt that words cannot express our gratitude. It is my prayer that with this new understanding, we may go forth and live the Gospel of Christ with a new dedication and a new hope, having a new appreciation for Him who has made it all possible.

Grace Versus Dualism

Because I have spent so many years in the field of industrial maintenance and building engineering, I find that I usually view things in a somewhat different and more pragmatic way than do others. As a result, I sometimes gain insights with a different slant from the norm. Such an insight came recently as I was attending services in celebration of Yom Kippur, the Jewish Holy Day of Atonement.

The Sanctuary, in which we were seated, was very comfortable. The air conditioning was doing an excellent job. The discussion was on the love of God and that perhaps “His punishments” were really our own personal inflicted misgivings as we chastise ourselves because of our own disobedience.

Recently I had been reading a book about the dualistic nature of religions. By dualistic I mean the elements of reward and punishment, heaven and hell, right and wrong, good and evil. The question arose in my mind that perhaps not all opposites are equal or even real. In dualistic thinking, there is a harshness, which seems to be excessive if we truly accept that God is loving and that He is a father. The idea that a loving father would deliberately condemn a son or a daughter to a lake of fire and brimstone, to burn forever without ever being consumed, is irrational. A father loves his children and wishes for them the very best. A father is long-suffering and patient, over indulgent and compassionate. At least that is the “ideal”, which we believe a father should be.

If a father is vengeful, hates the child as well as the misdeed, meters out extreme punishments and is incapable of forgiveness, we say of that father, he is mentally ill and desperately in need of therapy.

God on the other hand is not only a father but He is also all-powerful, all knowing, all loving and perfect. I do not believe that He is in need of therapy. So where does this dualism in our religious thinking come from? To answer this question I need to share a short and hopefully simple explanation of a principle of physics.

On a hot summer day, we all enjoy going to a shopping mall or a movie theater because it is cold there. If someone happens to be standing beneath an air conditioning vent they might exclaim, “Just feel that cold air pouring in”. But cold does not exist. Cold is not a quantity that can be packaged and poured out when needed. Cold is merely a term, a name which we have invented for a condition of the absence of heat. Heat on the other hand is a quantifiable substance. In physics, we measure heat in British Thermal Units or BTU’s. When we feel BTU’s pouring into us, we say we are getting hot. When we feel BTU’s pouring out of us, we say we are getting cold. It is the presence or absence of BTU’s which we refer to when we speak of hot and cold.

So it was, that as I sat in that sanctuary, with the air conditioning doing an excellent job and hearing a discussion on the Love of God that I discovered a possibility. Perhaps the opposite of reward is not punishment but only a “lack of reward?” After all, we believe that the greatest reward God has for us is the Celestial Kingdom. Lesser rewards are the Terrestrial and Telestial. Why then could not Outer Darkness be a place of no reward instead of a place of punishment?

Light is a quantifiable substance. We can measure light. We have an idea of what the composition of light is. We can define light in terms of physical quantities. Darkness on the other hand is not a measurable quantity. Darkness is the absence of light. It is not something we can package and on demand produce to counter the presence of light.

Love is also quantifiable. It can be felt! It radiates. It makes changes. In the book, “My shadow ran fast” by Bill Sands, the author, tells of an experience where he was able to witness the intensity and power of love. The author tells about Warden Duffy who was a remarkable man, one who truly loved the prisoners in his care. He believed that even the most hardened criminal could be changed through the effects of his love for them. Warden Duffy practiced what he believed and never allowed armed guards to protect him as he walked the prison yard with the prisoners. Because the prisoners could feel the love the Warden had for them, protection was never needed. Bill Sands tells of the many times he watched the other prisoners, men convicted of violent killings, and saw in their faces the effects of the love coming from the Warden as he passed them by.

I cannot imagine God withholding His love from any of His children but I think it is conceivable that He might withhold His approval. If, as one of His children, I do not feel worthy of His love because of the way I have chosen to live, and knowing that His love is actually a radiation of great power, it would be excruciatingly painful to me if I were to be in His presence. Outer Darkness would relieve me of the pain, which His love would cause me. But without the radiation of His love, I would not be able to grow and develop. Over some period of time, I might convince myself that I do not need His love but this would only be a defense mechanism. It is His love that nurtures us just as light nurtures a plant. With this thinking it appears that “Outer Darkness” is not a place of punishment and condemnation but merely a place of refuge for those who do not feel they are worthy of God’s love.

Many years ago, when I was a college student and a lot younger, I drove my car to New York City from Utah for the Christmas vacation. I had five passengers who were sharing the expenses and helping with the driving. On our return trip, we found ourselves driving through New Jersey. We needed to connect to a particular highway that would take us West instead of the Southerly direction we were going in. Several times my passengers asked me, “are you sure you are on the right road?”

Along with being young comes a tendency to believe that the world revolves around us and that we are always right. I was no exception. Of course we were on the right road. Why would I be on the wrong road – I wanted to get back to Utah just as much as did my passengers.

Eventually, after four hours of travel, the car needed fuel. I was forced to stop at a service station. At the insistence of my passengers, I inquired how I could hook up to the highway we needed to get us home. The service station attendant said, “You can’t get there from here!”

I asked him, “Why not?” He explained that we were on a peninsula and there was no bridge or ferry.

He said, “You’re going to have to turn around and go all the way back so you can pick up the right road!”

That was an expensive lesson. It cost us eight hours of our valuable time. Those eight hours were a terrible waste, all because I was too proud to concede that I might have been wrong. Not only did it cost me, it also cost the people who were with me.

With my new found questioning of the dualistic nature of religion I cannot help but think that there is a wonderful gem of truth in that story. Often, we go down a particular path in life, convinced that it will take us to a specific destination. God knows that it won’t get us there and gently nudges us, trying to get us to re-think the course we are on.

Eventually we will discover that there is no bridge or ferry and we cannot get there from where we are. We must turn around and go back. We must go all the way back to where we first deviated and there make our course correction.

God does not punish us for having taken a wrong turn. He does not punish us for having traveled so far off of the correct path. But it has cost us in lost time, lost experiences, gained hardships and hundreds of other pluses and minuses. The natural consequences of our deviations are ours to live with and sometimes to suffer from.

For many years I have been fascinated with NDE’s or Near Death Experiences. It was Doctor Raymond Moody who first collected and published peoples near death experiences in book form. His book “Life After Life” was a huge success and many such books followed.

In many of the accounts, people tell of a “life review” which they experience immediately following their “death” experience. In nearly all such reviews, the most common question asked of them is if they have learned to love other people. That question was phrased in many different ways but the central core was always about loving others. No one ever reported being asked about their business prowess or the academic accolades they received.

In the New Testament, the book of Matthew, chapter 22, we read the following:
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

According to the words of the Lord as recorded in the book of Matthew, all the commandments are dependant upon loving God and loving our fellow beings. If we would only live our lives according to those principles, just think of how our world would be.

Several nights ago, I attended a concert of a choir with which I was a member. We sang in the Logan Tabernacle. While being positioned on risers at the front of the tabernacle, I had the vantage point of allowing me to watch a small group of women seated in the balcony. Two women in particular caught my attention. The older of the two women appeared to me severely retarded. Her companion appeared to be several years younger and totally absorbed in the care of the other.

Because they appeared to be so close in age and because the younger woman was so overly solicitous of the other, I assumed they must be sisters.

Throughout the concert, the younger woman continually kept in physical contact with her companion. Sometimes it was placing her arms around her and giving her hugs or kissing her on her cheek. Occasionally she would caress the older woman’s face with a loving touch or whisper into her ear. Sometimes she would lay her head upon the older woman’s shoulder while encircling her with a loving embrace.

As I watched these two women, I could not help but remember the words of the Savior: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
(New Testament | John 15:13) This younger woman radiated love, tenderness, compassion, understanding and caring. Such love and devotion is all encompassing and all consuming. She was in fact, dedicating her life to the other. If only all people could show such love and dedication to one another.

After the concert, I went up to the balcony to speak with this woman. I told her I had been watching them and how deeply touched I had been by her actions. Her response was one of embarrassment. I was curious to know what relationship they shared and so I asked. To my great surprise she explained that she worked in a “sheltered” home for the mentally retarded and this woman was her charge and responsibility.

As I have rehearsed this experience in my mind, I can not help but think that the two women who had sat before me would pass their life review with flying colors. The one, by virtue of a damaged brain would be free from criticisms and sin. The other appeared to have met and exceeded all expectations.

In the past, I have contemplated the expanse of Gods kingdom. The scriptures tell us it is infinite. I have trouble contemplating infinite – especially when the theology of the church specifies there are many gods – each with their own kingdoms and dominions. In fact, if any of us ever achieves godhood, we will have our own individual areas of influence also. It is only natural then that while I contemplated the vastness of the realm of the gods, I wondered where outer darkness was. If God’s radiation of power is infinite and fills the immensity of space, where is there room for Outer Darkness?

Several thoughts have come to me. There is the possibility that the term infinite is actually a noun. I believe there is a real possibility that the kingdom of any god has as its expanse, the radiation of his power or presence. In a parsimonious existence, god’s dominion, his kingdom’s infinite expanse, would be the extent of his radiation of power to envelop his creations. The more creations, the greater the expanse. The problem then still remains, if there are many gods and each has varying dimensions to their own kingdoms, where is there room for outer darkness?

A number of years ago I read an article in the Readers Digest about experimentations being done with the human brain. They found that the brain actually secretes various chemicals based upon the psychological mood. For example, when one is angry the brain secrets a specific chemical which causes multitudinous reactions in the body. The emotion of love triggers the secretion of a different chemical and its associated reactions in the body.

From my own experience and from the words of the prophets, I have learned that how we live can either enhance or hinder our communication with the Lord. The usual advice given is, “If you want to be in tune with the Lord you must live your life as He has commanded”.

In the book, “Return From Tomorrow”, the author, Doctor Richey, tells of an experience he had of seeing disembodied spirits in various conditions or states. One such group was filled with hatred and rancor toward each other. Had they possessed physical bodies they would have been in mortal combat but in their ethereal or spirit form, they were unable to physically hurt each other though they continually attempted to do so. While they were in their combatant state, beings of light hovered above them, patiently waiting, in hopes that they would be noticed and allowed to assist them in overcoming their rage. But until those enraged spirits were able to make a change for the better within themselves, they were unable to see the beings of light.

Somehow I do not see God sitting at a giant computer controlling the amount of communication each of us gets based upon our performance. What makes more sense to me is that His radiation of power, His thought consciousness, permeates his creations and I, as one of his creations, can determine how much of His power I am able to tap into. I think that our brains actually manufacture chemical filters which can either enhance or inhibit our use of Gods radiant power. If this concept is correct then outer darkness may be a place within ones own soul where we have blotted out any reception of that Holy Spirit.

Although plants require light to live, if a plant is placed in the dark, it will grow exceptionally fast for a season. Its rapid growth is a mechanism built into plants for the purpose of seeking its life-source, light. If one places a seed in soil, the moisture and warmth of the soil will cause the seed to germinate. As the tiny seed sends forth its roots and shoots, its energy to sustain growth is limited. The newly germinated plant must find light if it is to be able to sustain life. If the seed is planted too deep within the soil, it will die because it has expended all of its life-force without finding light.

If we are capable of generating chemical filters to inhibit our reception of the radiance from God, is it possible that those who have chosen to block out all of God’s light will someday cease to exist because they have expended their own life-force? Perhaps this is what Brigham Young had in mind when he taught that the second death was the disillusionment of the body and spirit into its eternal form of Intelligence so that the specific identity or intelligence could try again rather than be lost forever.

My sister used to call me on the phone and query me as to what was wrong with the idea of reincarnation. To her it seemed very logical and she thought there was great merit to it. Some of what she said seemed to make a lot of sense. After all, one of the purposes of our coming to the earth is to gain experience. And I would say that one lifetime is not long enough for us to gain all experience. However, the only real objection I could find in reincarnation was that it removed the need for the Redeemer. In reincarnation, we keep coming back and living our lives over and over, until we get it right, until we have perfected ourselves.

When I have gone through a particularly trying time and seen my testing, and my frustrations, and my learning coming to fruition, I have gone to the Lord in prayer and thanked Him for the growth experience. Then I have offered to do it all over again if I could learn as much the second time around. Much to my chagrin He has taken me up on my offer though the specific elements of the test are different this time and I have difficulty identifying the principles He is trying to teach me until the test is completed.

There are many truths which we may find in folklore, superstition, dogma and traditions. Many are cloaked and disguised within their present telling. For example: Ponce Deleon came to the New World seeking the Fountain of Youth. He believed that by partaking of its waters, one would live forever. Why did he come to the New World seeking it? Could it be that he was actually seeking the Tree of Life and the reason he came to the New World was because the Garden of Eden had actually been located here instead of in Mesopotamia?

In the theology of the LDS Church, we speak of three kingdoms of reward and another place or kingdom referred to as Outer Darkness. In the Roman Catholic Church, they speak of four kingdoms: Heaven, Hell, Purgatory and Limbo. Each believes in four kingdoms.

The onus of the graduate’s modern-day “Cap and Gown” are the ancient Temple Robes as is also the fashion design of some men’s hats. Hidden truths are all around us, hidden in subtleties disguised in folklore and superstition.

At one time, in my early twenties, I worked for a pipe organ builder named Wayne C. Wayne had been born into a polygamous family when polygamy was still legal. He shared many fascinating stories with me. His doctrines were sound and his testimony sure. Wayne had an inquisitive mind and he was slow to condemn an idea which might traverse uncharted beliefs.

One day as we discussed the myriad possibilities for the creation of mankind, Wayne shared a most provocative story. Wayne had an older brother who had died shortly after birth. Wayne’s mother grieved for the loss of her son for many years. Although she had more children following her son’s death, her living children were unable to console her loss.

One of Wayne’s cousins was a visionary. He had the gift of the sensitivity of the spirit. Visions into the spirit world were common for him. And so it was that on one particular night, this cousin found himself in the spirit world where he met and talked with Wayne’s older brother.

The cousin explained to the dead brother that his mother had grieved for him for many years and was yet grieving. The brother explained that he was very busy in preparing for his calling and that his mother must stop her grieving. Questioning him further as to the nature of what he was preparing for, Wayne’s brother stated that he “Was preparing to become an Adam”.

As Wayne told me that story that was the first time I had ever contemplated the possibility that someone might be able to come to an Earth more than once. After all Wayne’s brother had been born and had lived a short time. Now, according to the cousin, he was preparing to go through the experience of mortality a second time and possibly, even a second physical birth.

I have searched the scriptures to see if there was a definitive statement limiting mankind’s journey through mortality to only one time. I can find nothing where the holy writ precludes more than one mortal experience. Hebrews 9:27 is often quoted in defense of man making the mortality experience just once but the whole chapter is making the argument that Christ died once for our sins as the fulfillment of the old law of “blood sacrifice” of animals. In the Old Testament, repeated sacrificing of animals was required but Christ was the final sacrifice of all men, for all sin.

Edgar Cayce was a nineteenth century psychic who gained great fame through his “readings” of people. Many of the physiological treatments his readings prescribed for peoples ailments were later vindicated through scientific discovery.

Many who went to Cayce were preoccupied with the idea that they might have lived a previous mortal existence and wanted verification of such. The Cayce files are filled with transcriptions of readings Cayce gave for such people. In reading those files, one gets the impression that many people do not attain sufficient growth and development while upon the Earth as mortals so they are given another chance to come again to try to gain greater self-mastery and personal growth. The movie, Defending Your Life, used that very premise.
One Edgar Cayce story was particularly interesting to me. Edgar Cayce had been traveling by train. For some reason, the train was going to have a “lay-over” for several hours. Cayce found himself in a town in a state where he had never been before. Having several hours to kill, he decided to search for a local barbershop and have his hair cut.

The barbershop was crowded and Cayce found it necessary to sit and wait his turn. While thusly seated, a young child climbed onto his lap and began speaking to him. The child’s father immediately removed the child and apologized to Cayce for the intrusion. Then turning his attention to his child, the father said, “We mustn’t bother the man”.

The child’s response to the father shocked Edgar Cayce. The child said, “It’s all right father, that man and I were hungry at the river together”. You see, several years previous, Edgar Cayce did a reading of his own life and/or previous lives. He discovered that in a previous life he had been in an American pioneer party that had been attacked by Indians. They had been forced to the edge of a swift river. The Indians laid siege for an extended period and the pioneers all starved to death. Cayce had never revealed that information to anyone. Only he and his scribe knew of the incident yet here he was in a town he had never been in before and a young child there made a specific reference to information contained in that reading.

Could it be that the “doctrine” of reincarnation has a tiny seed of truth hidden within it? Is it possible that some spirits are so intent on gaining personal growth and development that they sought special permission to go through an earth experience more than once? I don’t know the answer but the question is stunning and thought provoking. Inasmuch as we have come to the Earth for the purpose of gaining experience and developing self mastery, could we not multiply our efforts through repeated journeys rather than only this one blink in time?

Science versus Religion

The following material came to me as an forwarded email. I have no idea who wrote the original. I find it brilliant and thought provoking. I have included it for your pleasure and edification. I hope you enjoy it as much as did I.

A science professor begins his school year with a lecture to the students, 'Let me explain the problem science has with religion.' The atheist professor of philosophy pauses before his class and then asks one of his new students to stand.

'You're a Christian, aren't you, son?'
'Yes sir,' the student says.

'So you believe in God?'
'Absolutely.'

'Is God good?'
'Sure! God's good.'

'Is God all-powerful? Can God do anything?'
'Yes.'

'Are you good or evil?'
'The Bible says I'm evil.'

The professor grins knowingly. 'Aha! The Bible!' He considers for a moment. 'Here's one for you. Let's say there's a sick person over here and you can cure him. You can do it. Would you help him? Would you try?'

'Yes sir, I would.'

'So you're good...!'
'I wouldn't say that.'

'But why not say that? You'd help a sick and maimed person if you could. Most of us would if we could. But God doesn't.'

The student does not answer, so the professor continues. 'He doesn't, does he? My brother was a Christian who died of cancer, even though he prayed to Jesus to heal him. How is this Jesus good? Hmmm? Can you answer that one?'

The student remains silent.

'No, you can't, can you?' the professor says. He takes a sip of water from a glass on his desk to give the student time to relax.

'Let's start again, young fella. Is God good?'
'Er...yes,' the student says.

'Is Satan good?'
The student doesn't hesitate on this one. 'No.'

'Then where does Satan come from?'
The student falters. 'From God'

'That's right. God made Satan, didn't he? Tell me, son. Is there evil in this world?'
'Yes, sir.'

'Evil's everywhere, isn't it? And God did make everything, correct?'

'Yes.'

'So who created evil?' The professor continued, 'If God created everything, then God created evil, since evil exists, and according to the principle that our works define who we are, then God is evil.'

Again, the student has no answer. 'Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things, do they exist in this world?'

The student squirms on his feet. 'Yes.'

'So who created them?'

The student does not answer again, so the professor repeats his question. 'Who created them?' There is still no answer. Suddenly the lecturer breaks away to pace in front of the classroom. The class is mesmerized. 'Tell me,' he continues onto another student. 'Do you believe in Jesus Christ, son?'

The student's voice betrays him and cracks. 'Yes, professor, I do.'

The old man stops pacing. 'Science says you have five senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Have you ever seen Jesus?'

'No sir. I've never seen Him.'

'Then tell us if you've ever heard your Jesus?'
'No, sir, I have not.'

'Have you ever felt your Jesus, tasted your Jesus or smelt your Jesus? Have you ever had any sensory perception of Jesus Christ, or God for that matter?'

'No, sir, I'm afraid I haven't.'
'Yet you still believe in him?'
'Yes.'

'According to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your God doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son?'

'Nothing,' the student replies. 'I only have my faith.'
'Yes, faith,' the professor repeats. 'And that is the problem science has with God. There is no evidence, only faith.'

At the back of the room another student stands quietly for a moment before asking a question of His own. 'Professor, is there such thing as heat?'

'Yes,' the professor replies. 'There's heat.'

'And is there such a thing as cold?'
'Yes, son, there's cold too.'
'No sir, there isn't.'

The professor turns to face the student, obviously interested. The room suddenly becomes very quiet. The student begins to explain. 'You can have lots of heat, even more heat, super-heat, mega-heat, unlimited heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat, but we don't have anything called 'cold'. We can hit up to 458 degrees below zero, which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold; otherwise we would be able to go colder than the lowest -458 degrees.'

'Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (-458 F) is the total absence of heat. You see, sir, cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat we can measure in thermal units because heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.'

Silence across the room. A pen drops somewhere in the classroom, sounding like a hammer.

'What about darkness, professor. Is there such a thing as darkness?'

'Yes,' the professor replies without hesitation. 'What is night if it isn't darkness?'

'You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is not something; it is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light, but if you have no light constantly you have nothing and it's called darkness, isn't it? That's the meaning we use to define the word.'

'In reality, darkness isn't. If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn't you?'

The professor begins to smile at the student in front of him. This will be a good semester. 'So what point are you making, young man?'

'Yes, professor. My point is, your philosophical premise is flawed to start with, and so your conclusion must also be flawed.'

The professor's face cannot hide his surprise this time. 'Flawed? Can you explain how?'

'You are working on the premise of duality,' the student explains. 'You argue that there is life and then there's death; a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can't even explain a thought.'

'It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life, just the absence of it.'

'Now tell me, professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?'

'If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, young man, yes, of course I do.'

'Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?'

The professor begins to shake his head, still smiling, as he realizes where the argument is going. A very good semester, indeed.

'Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you now not a scientist, but a preacher?'

The class is in uproar. The student remains silent until the commotion has subsided.

'To continue the point you were making earlier to the other student, let me give you an example of what I mean.'

The student looks around the room. 'Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the professor's brain?' The class breaks out into laughter.

'Is there anyone here who has ever heard the professor's brain, felt the professor's brain, touched or smelt the professor's brain? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, with all due respect, sir.'

'So if science says you have no brain, how can we trust your lectures, sir?'

Now the room is silent. The professor just stares at the student, his face unreadable.

Finally, after what seems an eternity, the old man answers. 'I guess you'll have to take them on faith.'

'Now, you accept that there is faith, and, in fact, faith exists with life,' the student continues. 'Now, sir, is there such a thing as evil?'

Now uncertain, the professor responds, 'Of course, there is. We see it everyday. It is in the daily example of man's inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil.'

To this the student replied, 'Evil does not exist sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God's love present in his heart. It's like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light.'

The professor sat down.

The Importance of Obeying the Laws of the Lord

Many years ago I had the opportunity of teaching in the church seminary system. One of my fellow teachers gave me some interesting advise which I have since discovered to be the very approach Matthew Cowley used in all of his talks. “If you can’t teach them - entertain them.” That way, when the meeting is over, one might ask, “who spoke?”
The other would answer, “Brother Cowley”.
Then the first would ask, “what did he talk about”? And the other would answer, “I don’t know - but I sure had a good time!”

It is my hope that if you don’t remember what we talked about today, at least you will say that you had a good time.

I have been asked to speak on the topic of the importance of obeying the laws of the Lord. I am not sure that I can say anything new pertaining to this topic but if I say the same old things in a new way, perhaps someone may find new meaning in them.

We have a very big dictionary at home. It’s one of those dictionaries that is so big that you need a special table to put it on. If you tried lifting it you might injure your back. Certainly you wouldn’t want it on your lap because it would cut off the blood circulation in your legs. Anyway, I decided I would look up the word “LAW”. This is what I found:

LAW: The binding custom or practice of a community; Rules or mode of conduct made obligatory by some sanction which is imposed and enforced for their violation by a controlling authority; also, any single rule of conduct so imposed and enforced.



It is obvious that the dictionary is speaking about man’s law. It states that rules of conduct are obligatory and the violation of those rules have punishments affixed and are imposed by the ruling or governing body.

As long as the ruling body is righteous, the laws are just and will establish peace and tranquility among the people. However, there are many examples in the Book of Mormon where wicked men have risen to power and have enacted laws according to their own wicked natures. Such laws and the enforcement thereof have brought destruction to those societies.

Man’s law can establish harmony, peace and prosperity or it can foster wickedness - depending upon those who enact the laws. It can do this because man’s law is restrictive in its enforcement. If you violate man’s law there is a punishment and you loose your freedom.

In school I was taught there are four elements of control. I am guessing that most parents have figured this out for themselves but for the sake of clarification, here they are:

There are internal and external controls.
There are positive and negative controls.

By combining these elements we come up with four different ways of imposing control over others. Let me give you some examples using a parent and child scenario:

The external negative: If you do that again I am going to slap you!
The external positive: If you will pick up your dirty clothes I will give you a cookie!
The internal negative: If you do that again Mommy will be sad!
The internal positive: If you do that, Mommy will be surprised.

When I thought I had a pretty good understanding of the nature of man’s law, I turned my attention to “natural law” or the laws of nature.

I discovered that in the realm of natural law, there are no enforced punishments - only consequences. Did you know that falling off of a tall building will not kill you? It’s the sudden stop at the bottom that does it. The sudden stop is not a punishment - it is a natural consequence which is inseparably connected with the law of gravity.

There are no negative or positive internal and external controls. Natural laws work harmoniously together. Violations of those laws result in consequences which remove the violators.

This finally brings me to the realm of God’s law.

There are those who feel that the “thou shalt” and “shall not” aspects of the laws of the Lord are confining and restrictive. I suggest to you that an injunction against a particular act is not restrictive but is liberating. With that act comes certain consequences. Obedience to that injunction liberates us from those consequences. When you tell a child “don’t touch that stove or you’ll get burned.” Are you restricting that child or are you trying to liberate that child from pain? And if he or she touches the stove, are you punishing the child?

In the field of thermodynamics there is a concept which will help me explain my next point. When we speak of heat we refer to it in the term BTU’s, standing for British Thermal Units. Some of you may have air conditioners and we all have furnaces. The capacity, or size of these devices is rated in btu’s per hour. I used to wonder how much heat was in one btu. In case anyone is interested, one btu is the amount of heat you would get if you completely burned one wooden match stick. Or, if you happen to be scientific in your thinking, one btu is the amount of heat it takes to raise one pound of water one degree centigrade.

On a hot summer day, when you are wishing there were fewer btu’s around you, you go to the mall where it is cold. Boy, that feels good. That delicious cold all around you - it’s wonderful!
Now I don’t want to ruin your next trip to the mall but there is no such thing as cold. BTU’s have no opposites. You either have an abundance of heat or you have a lack of heat.

The commandments of the Lord have not been given to us for His pleasure. He is a loving Father. He cares for us. It is His desire to have us develop into great and wonderful beings. We are gods in embryo and He wants to help us fulfill our destinies. His commandments, when obeyed, results in our personal growth and development. Quite often the Lord will bribe us with an oath and a promise. He does not want us to suffer. But when we disobey His commandments, natural consequences follow and we experience the full weight of those consequences. It’s just like with the BTU’s. Obedience yields an abundance of blessings and disobedience results in the loss of those blessings.

If you were on a “game show” and you had just won $64,000 and the moderator gave you a chance to double that amount, would you do it? Imagine with me: You are on the stage of that show. There are two doors in front of you. If chosen, one of them will double your winnings. You could walk away with $128,000. If you choose the other door, you walk away with nothing! The audience is screaming their advice. Some want you to pick door number 1 and others want door number 2. Some are trying to tell you not to go for doubling. A 50/50 chance isn’t good enough! How would you feel if you chose the wrong door?

The Lord will not need to punish us for our disobedience. When we discover what we could have had and what we lost through our disobedience - that alone will be a punishment greater than we can bear.


Perhaps this is why when the Lord gives us His “rules of conduct”, He doesn’t mention threats, punishments and injunctions. He does reveal the consequences though and this is out of love for us.


As near as I can tell, there are three reasons for us to be obedient to the Lord. The first would be that we want a blessing. Hence, you will hear someone say, “Boy, I just have to pay my tithing or my pay-check won’t last”.

The second would be that we want to avoid a consequence. Hence, you will hear someone say, “There’s no way I’m going to smoke - I don’t want to get lung cancer!”

The third reason is best typified in the account of an angel appearing to Father Adam and asking why he was offering sacrifice. Adam’s response was that he did not know except that the Lord had commanded him to do so. Adam knew that the Lord would not ask him to do anything unless it was good for him. He loved the Lord enough that he would do whatsoever the Lord commanded him. The third reason for us to be obedient to the Lord is that we love Him!


I have a pocket computer with a puzzle program in it. It is called “Box Jockey”. In this program, a little person is in a type of maze. There are boxes and obstacles in the maze with this person. There are also targets to which the “box jockey” must push the boxes to. The box jockey cannot move more than one box at a time and it is not possible for the boxes to be pulled, they can only be pushed. Thus, if I have the Box Jockey move a box into a corner, the box cannot be removed from there and I have lost the game.

The first few puzzles are easy. Then they begin to get progressively harder. Many of them, at first glance appear impossible. I have been assured by the creator of the game that each puzzle has a solution. I just need to keep trying different solutions until I solve the puzzle.
Sometimes the Lord’s commandments appear to be overwhelming to us. We need to persevere.

I think Nephi would have been good at “Box Jockey”. Listen to what he says: “I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them” (I Nephi 3:7).

Jesus demonstrated the greatest tool to assist us in our perseverance. The apostles are on a ship in the middle of a vast body of water. It’s stormy and they are wondering how Jesus is going to catch up with them. Peter looks out and sees Jesus walking on the water, coming towards them. Peter cries out, “Master, bid me to come unto thee”. Jesus answers Peter and says, “come”! Peter immediately climbs over the ships’ railing, jumps down upon the water and begins walking towards Jesus.

Perhaps it was the enormity of the waves or perhaps it was just the realization that he was violating natural laws. Whatever it was, suddenly Peter’s faith waned and he began to sink. Fearing for his life he cried out, “Master, save me”. Jesus walked over to him and reaching down, grasped Peter by the arms and pulled him up. Then Jesus chastised Peter for his lack of faith.

We must have faith that the Lord loves us, that He wants what is best for us and that whatever He commands - it is doable. With that kind of faith we will strive to live all of His commandments.

Sometimes we fail. But the Lord keeps giving us new chances. I sometimes feel like He has put me on a ladder. My task is to climb to the top of the ladder. But each rung has some new spiritual attribute that I must develop before I can reach the next rung. As I experience and fail the test for the rung I am on, the Lord gives me another ladder and places me on the same rung as I was previously on. The ladder is new and the test I now face seems different than the previous one but I soon learn that the spiritual attribute He wants me to learn is the same one that I had failed to do on the previous ladder. It’s like the movie, “Groundhog Day”, I just keep doing it over and over again until I get it right. I want you to know that I have gone through a lot of ladders!

Moroni was feeling down because of his weaknesses and he expressed himself to the Lord. Listen to the answer he was given: “If men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

Don’t get discouraged. The commandments are schoolmasters. The Lord is showing us how to become like He is. When we fail, He will give us many more opportunities to succeed. He is a kind and loving Father. He knows what it takes to become a god. We are His children and He is infinitely patient with us.

Some of us will keep the commandments of the Lord because we want a blessing. That’s O.K. Some of us will keep the commandments because we want to avoid a consequence and that’s O.K. too. The important thing is that we strive to keep the commandments. As we do and we develop the spiritual attributes the commandments were designed to develop within us, our reasons for keeping the commandments will change. We will become greater in our understanding and wiser in our virtues.

Heber J. Grant said “That which we persist in doing becomes easier, not that the nature of the thing changes but that our ability to do it increases”.

Let us keep the commandments of the Lord. It is easy to live God’s laws. The hard part is to make up our minds to live them. We cannot be double minded with the Lord. He knows our hearts.

The Lord knows what we are capable of becoming. He knows what will make us happy. We must commit ourselves to Him and depend upon Him. Then, when the way becomes bumpy, He will help carry us.

Many years ago I heard Hugh B. Brown recite the following:
We ask for strength and God gives us difficulties which make us strong.
We pray for wisdom and God sends us problems, the solution of which develops wisdom.
We plead for prosperity and God gives us brain and brawn to work.
We plead for courage and God gives us dangers to overcome.
We ask for favors - God gives us opportunities,
This Is The Answer!

He loves us. His commandments are blessings waiting for the gleaning. The alternative is darkness and misery. Just look at the rest of the world. They have abandoned their birthright. They have forgotten who they are and why they are here. Let us not lean upon our own understanding but rather commit to the program of the Lord. It is He who has our best interests at heart.

This day, make a conscious decision to serve the Lord and keep His commandments.

AN EXPERIENCE

I made my entrance onto the stage of life at Lenox-Hill Hospital in June of 1939. As far as I know there was no big fanfare or any cataclysmic event to mark the occasion. Just a simple stay in the hospital, a taxi ride home, the adoration of my big sister and my parents, formula and diapers.

Although my parents were Jewish they did not practice the tenants of the faith of their fathers but did maintain the high moral ethics of their own upbringings and passed them on to their children.

My mother’s father attempted to keep a Kosher household but in our own home we relished the succulent flavors of ham, bacon, crab, shrimp, lobster and clams. Grandpa was a kindly man, soft spoken and quit handsome for a man of seventy years. As a young man he had been a Cantor in his synagogue in Vilna Lithuania. I inherited his singing voice and musical talent.

Living in a Judaeo-Christian neighborhood gave me the benefit of celebrating both the Jewish and Christian holidays. Christmas, Chanukah, Passover, Easter – all were fun but for me they were meaningless as far as having any religious meaning.

New York City was an exciting place during the closing years of World War Two. How well I remember my mother taking my sister and me to the Planetarium Park to be entertained by the military as they would stage their mock or “Sham” battles for us. . The sham battles always ended with the Nazis’ being defeated and a massive smoke screen covering the staging grounds.

A neighbor in our apartment building was the Block Air-Raid Warden. Whenever the sirens would sound, he would rush outside to turn off the street lamps and make certain everyone’s windows leaked no light. Inside, we would quickly lower a thick curtain over our windows and then open a Hide-a-Bed which we would get under for protection.

Now it all seems so silly, remembering how we would squeeze under that bed. I suppose to a four or five year old it seemed like the thing to do but just how much protection could a Hide-a-Bed afford us seeing as how we lived on the ground floor of a ten story apartment building. But there we would lie until the “All Clear” signal was sounded.

Almost any night one could see the dancing shafts of lights above the city as search lights crisscrossed the night sky seeking enemy airplanes.

Every Friday evening we would go to a Chinese Restaurant for dinner and then go to the neighborhood movie theatre where we would watch the latest filmed footage of the war in the “Movietone News”. It didn’t really matter what the feature was, the important thing was the newsreel.

To my young and formative mind, Germany represented the dark side of life. With their aggressive march through Europe and the persecuting of my people, Germany seemed to be a place for me to fear and mistrust.

I was in camp during the summer of 1945 when the announcement came over the P.A. system that the war was over with Germany. I can remember how we frolicked and rejoiced as only children can do, at hearing the news.

Soon after came the knowledge of the atrocities of the death camps; Baden-Baden, Bergen Belsen, Dachau, Auschwitz, Treblinka, Buchenwald, Sobibor.

In the years that followed I was caught up in the excitement of the birth of the Jewish state of Israel. In my junior High School we received new films each week showing the slow and bitter fight for Jewish autonomy in the Middle East. Occasionally there would be news of another war criminal being brought to justice.

After the war I can remember the Berlin Air Lift and the great Eastern wall. Although I felt sorry for a people being held captive in their own land, I still had the negative feelings of my youth hidden away in some dark recesses of my soul.

In the years that followed I discovered that I had many relatives and friends who harbored intense emotions regarding Germany. My own feelings were of mistrust and apprehension.

Our apartment building was situated next to an old church. Originally it had been built as a Jewish synagogue. I first became aware of the existence of the building when it was purchased by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. A large Bronze plaque bearing the name of the Church caught my attention. I knew who Jesus Christ was from a historical perspective but the plaque also said, “Manhattan Ward, New York Stake”. Now I knew I lived in Manhattan and it didn’t bother me that the word “ward” was used in conjunction with the borough in which I lived but I was convinced that the word stake had been misspelled. Everyone knew we lived in the STATE of New York! I was convinced that the people there either did not know they spelled their sign wrong or they were too cheap to buy a new one.

As the years passed, my Sister and I felt a need for greater spiritual nourishment. What we sought did not seem to exist within our own faith. At one time I asked my parents if there was a God. I am ever so thankful for their unbiased answer. I was told that when I grew older I could find out for myself. Eventually my sister led me to the church next door which we came to accept as the Restored Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Many years later I had the opportunity to travel to Germany with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in concert tour. Although our performance schedule was hectic, we did have some time for sight seeing. One of the places we visited was Dachau. There, old wounds were opened, old fears drawn out from dark recesses and paraded before my minds eye. Tears were shed, tears of pain and sorrow, tears of fear.

There was a large marble wall with cast letters mounted on it. The message read something like this: “In memory of the brave men, women and children who died in this camp”. My reaction to the memorial when I first saw it was surprising to me. I remember thinking “If they were truly brave, they would have died in their homes and in the streets, fighting bravely for their freedoms, not here, huddled together like sheep waiting for their slaughter!”

In the many years since the war years of my childhood I have made many friends, many of whom are of German origin. On an individual basis I had no problem: It is easy to love a person based on their own merits. But always, in that dark recess – hidden away in a labyrinth of memories was the fear, the mistrust, the apprehension of that place my childish mind remembered as “Germany”.

When my eldest Son turned nineteen, he was called to serve a voluntary two year proselytizing mission for our church. I can still recall the excitement and anticipation we felt as we waited for him to open his mission call letter and read to us where he was to serve. Somehow, in my heart, I knew he would be called to Germany and it was therefore no surprise when he read he was being called to the Germany Dresden Mission. I was excited for him but deep inside I could feel the churnings of the old apprehensions and fears.

Because of the latest “news expose” on the rising anti-Semitism in Germany, I suggested to my Son that he not tell people of his ancestral origins. It seemed ironic to me that a boy of Jewish extraction should be called to preach the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ in the land which had once attempted to eradicate all Jews from the face of the Earth.

Two years passed quickly. We decided to meet our Son in Germany and tour the land he had learned to love. Again, I found the child hiding inside – remembering the catastrophic evils of the nineteen forties.

On the morning of the third day we were in Germany I had an experience which changed my life forever.

It was early. I was lying in bed listening to a beautiful violin concerto being broadcast over a television channel. The music was incredibly delicate and sweet. All at once, it seemed a vision opened to my mind. Perhaps it was just my imagination but it seemed like I could see a moving picture in my mind while at the same time I could witness my own surroundings.

I saw a man standing in front of a basin, shaving. My vantage point was from behind him, a little above and just to his left. I could see his face in the mirror before him.

He was of dark hair and quite handsome. He held a shaving mug in his left hand and with a brush in his right, he worked up a lather and daubed it on his face. Then, with a straight edged razor he proceeded to shave himself. When he was finished shaving, he padded his face dry with a white towel, then patted on some cologne. The sequence finished with him dressing into his uniform.

While viewing this entire shaving sequence, I kept seeing a series of flash-backs of scenes from the war. I saw German troopers searching door to door for Jews. Troops with bayonets were running after Jews fleeing down the streets. I saw Jews being herded into cattle cars for relocation. I saw the death camps, the gas chambers, the burial pits and the ovens. All these images flashed before my minds eye, interspersed in this vision of a man shaving. All the time I could hear the violin concerto in the background – giving an air of sophistication and detachment to what I was seeing.

Somehow, I knew that it was this man who was the one responsible for these atrocities. He was not the Fuhrer or even an officer. He was just a soldier with a job to do. But he had seared his own conscience so that whatever he did to the Jews meant no more to him than the fate of a mosquito.

Suddenly my perspective changed. Instead of seeing this parade of grotesque snapshots from the past, I was now feeling the emotions and fears of my own people. I could feel their utter hopelessness at having nowhere to turn for help. I felt their abandonment and the pain of their betrayal. I began to weep uncontrollably. Then, as suddenly as it had begun – it ended. The violin concerto had ended and so had the vision. But what I had learned shall live on.

I was wrong about the Jews who died in the death camps, they were hero’s. When your captor shows no mercy, do you allow him the victory over your dignity as well? No! Those brave Jews went to the death camps knowing full well there was no way out. The only way left for them to fight that great evil madness was to maintain their dignity to the very last.

I was also wrong about the German people. Germany was not a nation of people against the Jews. It was a handful of madmen who were devoid of all conscience!

Several days later we were visiting with a member family of our faith. We had had a wonderful reunion with our Son and had just spent a lovely evening with these newly made friends. The father of this German family asked me if I would offer a prayer. I heard myself praying, “Father, we are so grateful for the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and that it binds us together as brothers”.

And indeed it had! No more were their opened wounds of the past. The old pains and sores of my childhood had been healed. It is my prayer that such a healing may take place throughout the whole Earth.

A New Years Day Talk on Service

A New Years Day Talk on Service

Today is the first day of a new year. Some of us have made our traditional resolutions in an effort to improve ourselves. It will only be a matter of time when we become discouraged because we have not reached that stage of accomplishment we had anticipated and our dedication to those resolutions will wane.

During this past month we were all caught up in the preparations for the Christmas holidays. Occasionally we thought of the Lord Jesus Christ. We remembered that this was the time we celebrated His birth but mostly we were seeking our own pleasure and happiness with the decorations, dinners, presents and family companionship's. It was a time of peace and tranquility in a very troubled world - a respite from ideological confrontations and the pains resulting from them.

It is good to have a season of peace, a relief from the realities of pain and sorrow. It is good to have a time to rest from the troubles of the world. But the make-up of mankind is such that we do not learn and grow and develop while we are at rest. The Lords' children were not created to be static. We are active, growing through the various stages of life, learning new concepts, developing new ideas, testing what we have learned and choosing the better part.

After Adam and Eve had make their conscious choice and were cast out of the Garden of Eden and after the Gospel plan had been explained to them, Eve spoke these poignant words:

"Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should
have known good and evil."
(Pearl of Great Price I Moses 5:11)

Ever since then the sons of Adam and the daughters of Eve have concerned themselves with what is good and what is evil. Most of us have incorrectly assumed that good is pleasurable and evil is painful. Adam however, after learning of the whole gospel plan said:

"because of my transgression my eyes are opened, and in this life I shall have joy."
(Pearl of Great Price I Moses 5:10)

If then the purpose for us in this life is to have joy - how must it be accomplished?

Many of us have mistakenly assumed that joy is something synonymous with pleasure and fun. But as we look at the masses of people who have sought the physical pleasures of mortality, they are not happy and joy has eluded them. The world is filled with fun seekers who are miserable.

Most people believe that great wealth will bring with it great happiness yet how many a rich person has said, "I would give it all away if I could have the happiness I had when we were young and struggling to make ends meet".

The holy scriptures have much to say about mankind having joy. In nearly every instance the scripture couples joy with serving God and serving others.

The scriptures tell us that Adam taught his children the Gospel Plan all the days of his life and although the going was tough and his children were rebellious and disobedient, Adam did as God commanded and Adam had Joy.

Abraham was called upon to sacrifice his son Isaac and although it brought great pain to his heart, Abraham made all the preparations with obedience to the Lords command and Abraham had joy.

Job found himself in the most dire of circumstances and unable to change anything - only to suffer the excruciating conditions as each painful loss and tortures were heaped upon him. Even his friends suggested that he revile against God for the injustices he had suffered. Yet Job found joy in his travail and expressed it thusly:

"though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God"
(Old Testament I Job 19:26)

We find throughout the scriptures the injunction for us to serve one another as well as to serve the Lord. We are told to nurse the sick, clothe the naked, feed the hungry and in every way to love our fellow beings as we love ourselves.

Each month Readers Digest publishes a feature entitled "Everyday Heroes". In its' pages the Digest tells us about ordinary people doing extraordinary things. People who without any thought for their own safety or comfort, risk life and limb to save someone else from imminent danger.

When 9/11 happened, we witnessed some of Gods finest sons and daughters knowingly make the ultimate sacrifice in an attempt to save anyone in need. Those heroes were not necessarily religious. Not all of them attended a church regularly. Perhaps some of them did not believe in prayer. Yet those ordinary men and women knew something that we all need to learn; joy comes to those who serve.

I have a cousin who told me of an experience he treasures above all else. For the last two years of his Aunt's life, he took care of her every need. She was totally incapacitated. He had to feed her, clothe her and in a hundred other ways, provide for her every need. Of this experience he said: "Providing for my Aunt was the most spiritually satisfying experience of my life".

When people have gone back and interviewed such heroes and asked them if they had to do it all over again, would they still do the same thing? Unequivocally the answer is yes! It does not matter that some have lost arms or legs. It makes no difference that some are scared from burns or crippled from injuries. The personal pains these heroes have suffered had been turned into joy in their souls.

Many years ago I came across a book entitled "The Mystery of Pain". It was written by James Hinton, a British Doctor who devoted the latter part of his life in helping people understand the nature of pain and how to use it to fill their lives with joy. Doctor Hinton suggests there is a simple formula for doing that.

When we make a sacrifice for someone else, regardless of how trivial or grandiose it may be, the sacrifice itself is an encroachment upon us - a pain of some sort. The greater the sacrifice - the greater the pain. But when that sacrifice is made in love, the pain ceases to exist and the sacrifice becomes a joy. I quote:

"Man's perfect life could use all suffering for joy; that is, a love for others should be so
powerful within us, and a consciousness of others' good should be so fully ours, such
rapture should possess us, that all loss, all grief's, should be to us the trivial sacrifices
which love delights to have the opportunity to make."

He then goes on to state his conclusion:

"The evil of our pains should make us say, not how evil is this that we are called to bear,
but how far short we fall - man falls - of the true human life, that this sacrifice is an evil to us..
It should prompt us to seek deliverance, but deliverance by cure: the deliverance that
is brought by a perfected life; the joy that is the joy of love, and finds its necessary food
in sacrifice."

Jesus not only commanded us to love one another, he revealed to us by what method we could achieve and maintain joy in this life. As the Master hung from the cross he uttered these words:
"It is finished"! These were not the words of a defeated dying mortal but a grand and glorious pronouncement of joy, knowing that He, the Son of God, had accomplished the salvation of His beloved brothers and sisters.

Now what of us today? Are our lives filled with joy or are we complacently sitting by in an attempt to avoid any discomfort which domes from any degree of sacrifice we may be called upon to bear.

Do we gladly do our home and visiting teaching because we love the ones who have been vouchsafed to us or do we belligerently go begrudging the time spent.

Are we loath to volunteer when a need arises or do we race one another to see who will have the privilege of service? When the Master comes again, He will not magically change our attitudes. He has told us how we may have joy in this life but we must change ourselves.

Someone once said, "Don't ask God to guide your steps unless you are willing to move your feet". Well - He has revealed to us how we might have joy all the days of our lives. Let us be wise enough to follow His directions.

Another book I came across many years ago is called "Mr. Anonymous". It is the story of William Volker, a young German immigrant to this country.

William had been raised by good Christian parents. Among the many Christian attributes they taught him was the need to help those who were less fortunate than himself.

Simple unbidden acts of kindness became a way of life for him.

During the great depression, William would open his office doors from five A.M. until eight A.M. six days a week, to anyone who was in need. Each day, hundreds who had suffered the devastating effects of the depression would come to his office in search of the financial means to rescue their lives.

One time an interviewer asked William how he accounted for the phenomenal success of his business. He answered: "I have a shovel which I use to distribute my wealth to those in need. God has a bigger shovel."

In his lifetime he single-handidly financed hospitals, universities and libraries. He gave away millions to the needy. Shortly before his death he set up charitable foundations for the remainder of his wealth. When asked if he had any regrets he said he wished he could have done more.

It is my wish and prayer that each one of us today might inculcate into our lives this method the Lord has shown to us as to how we may have joy in our lives. The scriptures tell it to us so simply: Charity is the true love of Christ and Charity never faileth.

Andy