laronius

I would also add 2 Nephi 10:24 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, reconcile yourselves to the will of God, and not to the will of the devil and the flesh; and remember, after ye are reconciled unto God, that it is only in and through the grace of God that ye are saved. Here it equates the all we can do with "reconcile yourselves to the will of God" which is a major component in the repentance process. It is only in our willingness to align our wills with God that we create an environment where his grace can actually be used. When you think about it, what can we do without God's grace when His grace supports us in our very breath? Absolutely nothing, EXCEPT make the decision to accept or reject God's will for us. That is literally "all we can do." That is the full extent of our independence from God. And to the extent that we are able to do this we are able to receive of His grace, little by little until we are perfectly aligned with God's will and thus living as he does.

Perfection is not a gift that is simply handed to us, rather it is the gift of becoming something, becoming like God. God does not command us to be obedient because that is the prerequisite he has set for him blessing us with eternal life but because obedience to law is a big part of what it means to live like God. An essential part of God's identity comes from his complete conformity to divine law. So for us to become like him we too must conform to divine law. Commandments are basically God saying "Here's what I do, so you need to do this too." So like Elder Wilcox says, it's not about earning heaven so much as it is about learning heaven. But our impure natures (or I would say our incomplete intelligence) does not allow us to always live just as he does and so this is where grace comes in as spoken of by @Midwest LDS. Grace is an enabling power, an increase in light/intelligence that increases our desire and willingness to conform to divine law. But it still remains in our court to apply this grace and to act accordingly. So in answer to your question, yes. Appreciation really lies at the heart of our ability/willingness to receive what God is offering to us. If we do not sufficiently value what God is offering we will not be willing to conform to the higher law of the Celestial Kingdom but will elect to conform to the laws of a lesser existence. D&C 78:17 Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye are little children, and ye have not as yet understood how great blessings the Father hath in his own hands and prepared for you; 18 And ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer, for I will lead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours. 19 And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more.

In the scriptures the Lord talks about the ability to "receive" a gift. When it comes to things of a spiritual nature receiving is not simply about willingness. D&C 88:33 For what doth it profit a man if a gift is bestowed upon him, and he receive not the gift? Behold, he rejoices not in that which is given unto him, neither rejoices in him who is the giver of the gift. 34 And again, verily I say unto you, that which is governed by law is also preserved by law and perfected and sanctified by the same. When God perfects us we are the ones being acted upon but because God compels no one to obey (or in this case receive) we must allow it to happen. The way we do this is through conformity to law. As we act in accordance to law we invite the sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost into our lives. This power both cleanses us of past sins and over time completely changes our nature and disposition from a carnal sensual man/woman to a man or woman more like God. So while perfection is a gift we can only through obedience develop the capacity to receive it.

This has definitely become a divine mandate in recent years. In the dedication of the new Provo MTC building Pres Eyring said that this doesn't mean changing the Lord's timeline. So I take it that it simply refers to us preparing ourselves and others in a faster manner. Just out of curiosity, does anyone feel that the rate of preparation for themselves or those around them has been noticeably hastened in the past few years since the hastening officially got rolling? If so what does that look like? I'm trying to more fully implement this principle in my own life and would like some practical application.

I think a lot of us have the same regrets. Even now I will come away from a family event and think why didn't I take any pictures or write anything down about it. Even the things we think are common place and nobody would be interested in can be of great value. My grandmother kept a journal for exactly one year in her life. I never really knew her so it was fascinating to read about what she did day in and day out. Just fifty years ago things were quite different from today. But when we consider how different things will be during the Millennium from how they are now just imagine how intriguing our boring daily lives will be to those of our posterity who will live in a terrestrial world. Reading our dull journal could be like reading The Lord of the Rings or some other dark fantasy, good versus evil book.

Thanks @anatess2 for the historical context. That definitely helps in explaining the big picture of what Paul what trying to communicate about charity. Though I do question your assertion that faith and hope can be done away with and that at some point we have no need of them. The Lectures on Faith make it pretty clear that faith is still operative in God's actions, so much so that it says if you were to take that attribute away from God he would cease to exist.

Thank you @zil that does help in understanding verse 8 better. If I understand Nibley correctly Paul is prophesying of a time when the apostasy would take place and the gifts of prophecy, tongues and spiritual knowledge would be taken away but faith, hope and charity would still be around, which is interesting because in verses 1-2 Paul makes it clear that charity trumps the other gifts. Not that the other gifts are unimportant but that charity gives it all meaning. So do verses 9-12 pertain to Paul's time or the apostasy?

https://youtu.be/qBIEYAfoEz0 In case you want to see this chapter dramatized. The rendition makes me view the words differently than when I read it alone.

1 Corinthians 13 would seem to be all about charity but I am a little stumped as to the meaning of the following verses (9-12) as they relate to charity (I leave verses 8 and 13 in as context): 8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. 11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. 13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. Any thoughts as to their meaning and connection to charity?

I have always been fascinated by the business branch of the Church. The Lord is not just setting up a Church but a kingdom on earth, which in my opinion encompasses all things both temporal and spiritual. I think those who criticize the Church for its business ventures are those who have compartmentalized their religious beliefs from their so called non-religious beliefs and interests. To them religion is a Sunday thing or perhaps a while you are at church thing. But the Lord doesn't see it that way. He has given us a temporal existence to help us work out our salvation and his Church helps to facilitate that "working out" both temporally and spiritually.

I think the difficulty lies in the lack of connection we feel towards these people. Names and dates on a piece of paper alone don't mean a whole lot to us. I think the best remedy is to learn about the lives of our ancestors. Obviously we aren't going to know much if anything about some of the names but if we learn about those we do know something about I think we invite the spirit of Elijah into our lives in a greater degree that will result in a natural desire to seek out our lost ancestors.

You make a great point @brlenox. The law of opposition is perhaps more active and further reaching then we at times realize. It's not simply about having opposing choices but there are also opposing forces that seek to help us make those choices. In any engagement (speaking in war terms) two focus are needed. One is discovering and exposing the enemy's weakness in order to gain advantage over them and the second is to commit sufficient resources to confront the enemy's strength so they don't gain any more advantage over you. So whenever we receive "reinforcing" experiences from the Lord we should expect equal measures of resistance from the enemy. Though sometimes it happens in reverse, the enemy increases their resistance and the Lord in turn gives us the strength we need to push back.

Well then dang-it, he better start using his emojis correctly!

I can appreciate your question @prisonchaplain. First of all you need to see it from our perspective. We don't believe that these decisions are simply our leaders deciding who they think will do the best job. It is our belief that the Lord makes the choice and then inspires them to call that individual to serve in that capacity. p.s. I take my hat off to you @prisonchaplain sounds like you are doing great work (even if you aren't a Mormon)

Well there is that prophecy of the two witnesses who are raised up to the Jewish nation who would stand against Jerusalem's enemies during Armageddon....

Since there is an article in this month's Ensign magazine about really young Apostles it is quite clear that they are preparing us for a 25 year old to be called next.

I've wondered about this. About the time the whole idea of hastening the work started gaining steam the Church lowered the age of missionaries from which we saw a huge influx in missionaries. But beyond that I've been somewhat befuddled as to how we are supposed to personally respond to hastening the work. Is it simply a call to spend more time doing those things or is there something we can utilize that actually does speed things up? What exactly is that principle supposed to look like in our daily lives that is different from before?

It is interesting how certain Apostles/Prophets have a theme or two they always seem to come back to. Duty is definitely one of Pres. Monson's. Another one would be "to the rescue."

So what did/will you tell your family this time? I'm always interested to hear people's general takeaway from GC.

Well if that book was the Book of Mormon and you actually spent the time to read it you would have found that it mentions Christ's name in one form or another 3,925 times or once every 1.7 verses. So that "LDS theory" must have originated with someone who was more interested in badmouthing someone's beliefs rather than to learn the truth. But of course no true follower of Jesus Christ would do such a thing so it must have originated from someone not involved with this forum. I wouldn't listen to them if I were you, they clearly don't know what they are talking about.

In the not too distant past I remember hearing in a training I attended the need to study the prophetic priorities. I think at the time there may have been some trainings take place on an area level that specifically mentioned 5 prophetic priorities. The way I would define a prophetic priority are those topics that seem to receive a lot of attention, over a short period of time (relatively speaking), by our leaders especially at General Conference. Lately there are 2 that come to mind: sabbath/sacrament observance and studying the Book of Mormon. Are there other topics that seem to be receiving increased attention over the last few years that anyone can think of?

It only took the Israelites 40 years in the desert. Then again that whole generation died before they made it to the promised land. Well here's hoping your promised land is just over the next sand dune.

My official conclusion is that there are some things we just don't understand at his point. For example, while we do know that gender was part of our premortal identity we don't know how much our physical bodies play into attraction. Perhaps the seed of hetero-attraction is there spiritually but the chemical processes in some bodies or even the wiring in the brain could be skewing that divinely instilled element. If that is the case then we simply can't choose for our bodies to operate as they should. Unless we can trace the cause its only guess work as to the solution. As to your comment on changing our nature, I question the extent to which we can change our own nature. Surely God can and does but I am prone to believe that the most we can do is make ourselves available to be changed. So if you are saying God can change a person's attraction then I whole-heartedly agree. If you are saying a person can simply choose who they are attracted to I would say the evidence does not support that idea.

I can understand your frustration with the Bible. Although it is"scripture" it is scripture that has come under the influence of uninspired man and hence the need for additional revelation to reveal the things that have been lost or changed. From our perspective (Mormons that is) the gospel being written anew as you put it actually has happened. That's really the foundation of our whole belief system, a restoration of all things. If you haven't already I would recommend exploring our beliefs and seeing if they don't answer some of the questions you have.

That's kind of what I was implying @The Folk Prophet for the normal day to day sins I think the Lord is pretty frank in just forgiving us if we are sincere but when it comes to the more grievous sins I think the Lord wants to see us make good (to one degree or another) before he extends forgiveness. But this brings up another question. Just what does it mean for the Lord to forgive us? Does forgiveness entail a complete restoration of ALL blessings lost through the sin or can the Lord forgive us (in the sense that Christ has paid for it) and yet withhold those blessings until we have qualified for them? I would normally use the Spirit as a gauge in deciding when I'm forgiven. But does that mean a person under disciplinary action can never have peace until the action is concluded or can the Lord forgive the person and yet leave the disciplinary action in force to help reinforce the needed change?