Such a busy time! So many things to do at the beginning of a school year. So many events to plan.  We wish you all the best as you do your best to edify and instruct your members in the face of ostacles, knowing that, as you knock, the Lord stands at the door, ready to lift, to strengthen, and to forgive. We hope that this month's selected readings will help. 

How Can I Qualify?

At a recent Elders Quorum meeting, the teacher raised an interesting question: "what are your qualifications for being a parent?" 

He didn't get many responses! It does seem a bit vague, as far as questions go, but  I thought maybe it applies in a larger sense to anything that we do. Our study text for that EQ lesson was Elder Uchtdorf's conference talk "Jesus Christ is the Strength of Parents." Here is the quote from the talk that prompted the question: "Sometimes we might wonder if someone else might be better qualified to guide and teach our children. But no matter how inadequate you may feel, you have something that uniquely qualifies you: your love for your child.

A parent’s love for a child is one of the strongest forces in the universe. It’s one of the few things on this earth that can truly be eternal."

Well, I thought, I have known some people who have taken on the role of parent who really haven't shown paternal love at all. What qualifies a parent to act in love - that love that Elder Uchtdorf speaks of.  Is there in fact anything that we can do to qualify ourselves to act in any capacity in this world or the next? I have experienced, as I suspect you have, great feelings of inadequacy, even approaching anxiety at times, as I have entered into new ventures in the world and in the church. It's very uncomfortable.  What about now when the temple is closed? Am I qualified to act in my calling even when I can't go to the temple once or multiple times each week? I have missed that! My priesthood leaders suggest that I can go the Kansas City temple. True enough. How do I balance that with health issues, financial issues, family issues, etcetera? As per usual, the scritpures are key to understanding this and other matters related to "discipleship." For example, Doctrine and Covenants speaks of this great promise in chapter 4: 

"2 Therefore, O ye that embark in the aservice of God, see that ye bserve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand cblameless before God at the last day....

3 Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God ye are acalled to the work;...

5 And afaith, bhope, ccharity and dlove, with an eeye single to the fglory of God, gqualify him for the work....

7 aAsk, and ye shall receive; bknock, and it shall be opened unto you. Amen. 

The idea that "desire" and "qualify" are juxtaposed here is foundational, I think. Alma talks about that in his sermon to the Zoramites as he helps to understand the concept of faith (Alma 32:27).  Further, "As President Thomas S. Monson promised, “When we are on the Lord’s errand, we are entitled to the Lord’s help. Remember that whom the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies.”3 As we follow the Lord’s example of service and obediently fulfill our callings and Church responsibilities, our lives will be blessed and we can become more like God (see Moroni 7:48; D&C 106:3)". [July 2013 Ensign]. 

From this, I take it that the Lord adds attributes and characteristics to our arsenal which are necessary for our performance of any duty in which we have expressed an interest or desire. If I desire to qualify as a good parent then, and if that desire conforms to the law of heaven, and is expressed in my service to others in the building of the kingdom of God, then I can reasonably expect to see a good outcome in my efforts as a parent, even though I rightly have little control over the agency of my children. If I apply this idea to other areas of my discipleship, I can expect the same. I was qualified for baptism by my desire to repent and come closer to an understanding of Jesus and the Atonement. I qualify for callings because of my desire to serve faithfully as a  disciple of Jesus Christ. I qualify as a disciple of Jesus Christ because of my desire to study from the "best books" and through prayer and reasoned, voluntary service to God and others come closer to a real knowledge of the godhead; I can then testify of its truth in all sincerity. 

As you know, the church has advice for members that are new to the idea of callings. An introduction to church training materials from the church site talks about learning to serve in the Lord's way, and, importantly, receieving the Lord's help!

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Elder Renlund - Observation, Reason, Faith

From time to time we find talks that resonate with us. The BYU devotional talks are all collected at speeches.byu.edu, and they are certainly among those in that category. We know that many of you listen to these regularly, and if not, we can recommended them to many of you for those long drives from one end of the stake to the other. Here are two that we have listened to recently, the first from Elder Renlund.

This devotional address was given on August 22, 2023 during Education Week by Elder Renlund. It is entitled "Observation, Reason, Faith, and Revelation.  Elder Renlund is an engaging and skilled speaker. He finds a synthesis between intellectual pursuits and spiritual pursuits that is not easy to come by except with the guidance of the Spirit.

Here are some main points of the talk, followed by the full video.

We grow our faith by:

1. Studying about Jesus Christ

2. Choosing to believe in Him

3. Acting in faith

4. Partaking of sacred ordinances worthily

5. Asking our Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, for help

Faith can atrophy by:

1. Our choosing to stop building our faith

2. Our active choice to turn the other way and go back down the "faith curve" - when we are disobedient and stop repenting

3. Our choosing to shift our inclination away from faith toward skepticism and doubt

The process of observing and reasoning and then acting in faith in the guidance of the Spirit is based on the following principles:

1. Personal revelation requires work, including learning how the Holy Ghost communicates individually with us.

   1. Consider the example of Oliver Cowdery, He thought that all he had to do to translate was ask. In fact, studying it out in his own mind, then coupling faith with reason, was necessary for spiritual impressions to come. We focus on a problem, study it, and think about it. We formulate various solutions. It seems that only then can personal revelation reliably come.

   2. Recognizing the voice of the Spirit requires observation and practice

2. Personal revelation is facilitated by understanding and formulating questions from multiple angles.

   1. Formulating and reframing questions requires observation, reason, and faith. Sometimes we ask "is this thought my own, or is it from the Holy Ghost?" More appropraitely though "should I act on this thought?" The criteria are stated by Mormon in  Moroni 7:12-18, and are based on its propensity to lead toward Christ.

   2. This different that asking the Lord the same thing multiple times. Consider Joseph Smith's experience with Martin Harris. Would the outcome have been different if the Prophet had asked "Lord, we have a problem. We need Martin's resources, but his wife is opposed to his helping. What can we do to make things easier for Martin?"

3. Personal revelation usually requires depending on and acting on incomplete understanding.

   1. Revelation can be delicate. Trying to put into words that which was not given by words can limit understanding. Rarely does revelation come with clear understanding of why we should do something. Reasoning away a strong prompting of the Spirit may lead to disappointment.

   2. If we don't receive guidance, we should act on our own best judgment. God will not let you go too far without a warning impression if you have made the wrong decision.

4. Personal revelation is iterative.

   1. Line upon line, precept upon precept, we should recognize what God has revealed already, while being open to receiving more revelation.

5. Personal revelation requires humility to corroborate and not concoct impressions.

   1. Observation, reason, and faith compel us to corroborate spiritual impressions. As we pray for inspiration, we compare our impressions with the scriptures and the teachings of living prophets. Inpressions from the Spirit will align with these sources. We rely on spiritual impressions only within our own purview, and not within the prerogative of others. Otherwise, we are easily deceived.

   2. If we concoct a direction, we may be under the influence of an emotion or even the medium of a false revelation.

   3. It is good to grow to be spiritually mature, and able to know when a personal revelation has not been received, and therefore when not to act.

Concluding, "Observation, reason, and faith facilitate revelation and enable the Holy Ghost to be a reliable, trustworthy, and beloved companion. These elements will be key factors in producing "spiritual momentum in our lives," helping us move "forward amid...fear and uncertainty."'

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The Temple and Leadership

Doctor Barbara Morgan Gardner, associate professor of Church history and doctrine at BYU, delivered an address on July 11, 2023, "Endowed with His Power, You ar Ready to Lead." The video and audio of this talk is available at speeches.byu.edu, but the full text has not yet (as of 9/3/23) been transcibed. The main points are listed below, followed by an in-situ YouTube link (you don't have to leave this site to view/listen to it). 

This is chock-full of doctrine. I can't wait to read the full text!

Five principles of leadership:

1. You are a child of God, a child of the covenant, and a disciple of Jesus Christ 

2. Learning to "Hear Him" is necessary to fulfill your unique errand

3. Leading requires courage, effort and power from Christ

4. God's power is gained through keeping covenants

   1. Obedience

   2. Sacrifice

   3. The Law of the Gospel of Jesus Christ

   4. Chastity

   5. Consecration

5. Endowed with His power, we lead as joint-heirs with and perfected in Christ

Sister Gardner offers this cousel as we pursue the goal of leading souls to Christ in the Lord's way:

1. Be aware of Satan's tactic of teaching the philosophies of men mingled with scripture

2. Be aware of any decoupling of God from His proophets

3. Be aware that when we break covenants with God, we are in Satan's power

4. Be aware of pride - adopt its antidote, meekness, a critical quality for leaders endowed with His power

Conclusion:

"It is Christ our Savior who perfectly walked the covenant path and gained all power, and with power and our agency, He selflessly transforms us to become like Him."

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Helpful Notes on Paul's Letters

Like Isaiah, I find at times that I am searching for meaning in the letters of Paul in the New Testament. There are so many oblique references. I want to liken the scriptures to myself, but I wasn't in the original audience, so I miss a lot. Happily, we have scholars in the church who know Greek and can study the scriptures in the light of all the right references, and with the guidance of the Spirit, infer meaning from them according to the author's original intent. 

As an example, I want to lift an entire page from one such commentary. This one from 1 Corinthians chapter 12 expresses Paul's take on the dichotomy between unity and diversity, which argument has presented itself to believers from the beginning of the church. Attribution is incuded at the bottom of each section of the commentary:

Paul’s objective in this pericope is twofold: first, to establish a general criterion for the working of the Holy Spirit in the Church (12:3), and second, to show the wide and varied manifestations of its gifts (12:4–11).

Paul begins by explaining the role of the Spirit in its epistemological aspect (12:1–3). Without its directing power, the gentile Corinthians had been seduced over and over to follow this or that dumb idol. With the Spirit, however, they can now say that Jesus is Lord.

Paul undercuts the idea of a greater holiness and, therefore, a superior divine favor somehow evidenced by certain spiritual manifestations. A specific gift, he clarifies, determines neither the depth of spirituality nor the amount of divine favor a person has. Instead, he shows that all who know that Jesus is Lord, are spiritual—in fact, deeply spiritual—because such knowledge comes only to those who enjoy that endowment. By redefining what constitutes spirituality, the Apostle brings equality and parity back into the Church.

“We preach . . . Christ Jesus the Lord [κύριος, kyrios],” Paul proclaims (2 Corinthians 4:5). That he uses the term kyrios as the title for the Savior shows his understanding of exactly who and what Jesus was and is: the divine Son of God who is also the Messiah and Redeemer (1 Corinthians 12:3; he uses the title some 220 times). “We preach” expressed the belief that Jesus, the one who lived and died, was also the Lord over the Church by virtue of His resurrection from the dead. But behind Paul’s preachment stands a commitment to give service to Him as the supreme authority in one’s life.

The title kyrios also expresses the recognition by the Saint that he or she belongs to Christ as His purchased slave (δοῦλος, doulos; 6:20; 7:23). In this context, the title Lord carries the idea of “Master,” and emphasizes that the Christian is under the Lord’s authority and must do His bidding (compare Luke 6:46; Matthew 7:21). That bidding dictates his or her lifestyle and ethics. The title also carries the idea that the one holding it is responsible for the care and keeping of his people and stands as a warning against any who might in any way deign to humiliate, abuse, or hurt them.

This pericope deals with both diversity and unity, with unity being the major thrust. The diversity consists of the various manifestations of the Spirit found among the Corinthian Saints. The unity consists in the one power that lies behind and allocates the manifold expressions of those manifestations. They are all governed by “the same Spirit . . . the same Lord . . . the same God” (12:4–6). In short, it is the Godhead that is the one and only source of the diversity of gifts, and therefore, multiplicity does not negate unity. By putting stress where he does, Paul overcomes the divisiveness that has grown out of the various valuations some of the Saints have assigned to spiritual gifts, with tongues seeming to be of the highest status. By stressing the unity that stands behind χαρίσματα (charismata)—those “spiritual gifts” that God freely pours upon all the Saints—Paul undercuts the position of the elitist group. He shows that their belief that they have somehow achieved a higher degree of spirituality is mistaken.

Adapted from Richard D. Draper and Michael D. Rhodes, Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians (Provo, UT: BYU Studies, 2017), 580–582, 592–593.

In this pericope, Paul continues to push his point for the need of diversity in unity. To make his point more easily understood, he compares the Church to a human body. His development here is quite Aristotelian, following classical models, and therefore, it would carry considerable weight with the Apostle’s educated gentile readers. Such development gives evidence that Paul was adept at teaching and writing to Gentiles.

He develops his argument in four parts. In the first part, he shows that the Church is like a body that is a single entity but composed of various limbs and organs (μέλη, melē; 1 Corinthians 12:12–14). In the second part, he emphasizes the importance of diversity (12:15–20). In the third part, he emphasizes the need for unity (12:21–26), and in the fourth part, he defines his use of the term Christ, showing he is referring to the Church (12:27–30).

The body is a perfect example of unity in diversity. The body cannot be a fully functioning organism if it is but one organ. The point is that Church members do not all have to have the same talents and abilities, social status, financial state, or spiritual endowments in order to be necessary in getting the whole unit to function as God designed. Everyone is necessary to bring about His purposes.

Paul’s point is that, because God has set the order of His Church, no one can be considered as dishonorable or nonessential to the work. On the extreme end, even those who fall to human weakness or are overtaken by physical ailments or suffer from spiritual problems cannot be counted out, for they give others the chance to serve.

In 12:25–26, Paul teaches his readers how Church members should apply the Atonement in the real world. By toppling the notion current in his day that some parts of the body were more honorable than others, Paul shows that the scheme of a body hierarchy is wrong, being based only on a superficial worldly philosophy. Paul’s position validates the idea of status reversals found in the scriptures. It is best stated by the Savior, who observed that the “greatest among you shall be your servant” and that whoever desires to “be first, the same shall be last of all” (Matthew 23:11; Mark 9:35). The Lord taught firmly that the “first shall be last; and the last shall be first” (Matthew 19:30; compare Matthew 20:16). Status in the Lord’s kingdom is not based on educational opportunity, social privilege, or economic advantage but on sacrifice for the kingdom expressed primarily as sincere service to others. Gospel life is such that though many are called, few will prove themselves chosen (Matthew 19:29; 20:16).

As Paul understood, within the community of Christ there is, strictly speaking, no private suffering (12:26). Everyone shares in the life of the whole. A wrong done to one member, therefore, is a wrong done to all, and since the Savior identifies Himself with the community of the Saints, it is done to Him. But much suffering could be avoided if members would remember Paul’s point in 12:15–18. Saints must not compare themselves with others. Among other problems, it leads to discouragement, jealousy, and blindness to the blessing of what one has (compare 1:10–12; 3:1–4). Often this results in unnecessary feelings of inferiority that lead to loss of joy in service and the hope of eternal life. Too much time is spent grumbling because one person sees himself as the foot having to bear all the weight or another wishes she were the eye that oversees all or yet another wants to be the mouth that directs everything. It must never be forgotten that God knows each one of His children and how to maximize their potential in the one body that is Christ.

Paul’s doctrine centers on an equality of status brought about through a correct understanding of the Atonement and what it means to be “in Christ” and share in the various gifts of the Spirit so graciously given by the Father. In 12:21, we see his delineation of an attitude of self-sufficiency in which certain people feel they have no need for others. Feelings of superiority, self-sufficiency, autonomy, even of a right to do as one wishes are precisely the sin Paul finds so contrary to the attitude true Christians should have in a Church that exists for the mutual benefit of all.

This pericope is, therefore, a strong polemic against factionalism. Some postmodern commentators have insisted that Paul’s words promote the idea “that within certain boundaries everyone ‘does one’s own thing.’”12 That is absolutely not the case. The precise, coordinated, and proper function of all the organs in the body contributes to its overall capacity, ability, and wellness. They do not do their own thing but their assigned thing. If each did not do its indispensable part, the organism would cease to function and likely die. Paul’s analogy is, then, an assurance of the absolute necessity of those in his audience who were either devalued by others or felt inferior to them in either status or gifts. All were indeed a part of the body; and moreover, they played an indispensable role in giving that body the strength, ability, and coherent unity it needed to carry out its divinely appointed destiny.

Adapted from Richard D. Draper and Michael D. Rhodes, Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians (Provo, UT: BYU Studies, 2017), 609–613.

Here is my source for this extract: https://archive.bookofmormoncentral.org/content/1-corinthians-8%E2%80%9313

This commentary and others like it are referenced in the SripturePlus app. Jo and I use that app to supplement "Come Follow Me."

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