AGENCY

 

“Despite great efforts to do so, no one has been able to cast serious doubt on the authenticity of the Book of Mormon. So why doesn’t everybody believe in its divine origins? Because God does not allow the case to become so compelling that we are forced to believe. Man’s agency is too fundamental to be so compromised.” (Elder Bruce C. Hafen, “The Believing Heart” p 27)

I have always believed that our freedom to choose was God given out of His respect for us but there is so much more to it than that. I have been impressed by His restraint in seeing so many of us make so many foolish choices. One would almost wish He would interfere to the point of compelling us to believe in the Gospel and especially, in salvation through His Son. But there is a very good reason for His restraint and once again, it is for the good of us, His children. In fact, Elder Hafen points out: “It was all part of a plan carefully and deliberately designed NOT TO COMPEL BELIEF.” (ibid p 6)

This is the very first reason why man’s agency is too fundamental to be compromised: “Hugh Nibley has described this principle as the “policy of reticence”, which the Lord has always followed “to protect sacred things from common misunderstandings and to protect the unworthy from damaging themselves with them.” (ibid p 6)

Instead of compelling us to believe, God has given us the principle of “line upon line, precept upon precept”, in other words, God gives us what and when we are ready to hear, for our   protection, because we are tried on what we know and understand (D&C 98:12).

The second and more important reason is this: “A key reason for the Lord’s unwillingness to compel our belief is suggested by those scriptural phrases about doing the will of the Father and “receiving him”. Something happens to people who receive him – who do his will. They learn. They develop Christlike capacities and skills beyond the reach of other people.

“Following his will changes them. These changes do not occur within the lives of those who merely see the sign or hear the word. Such changes in character and spirit also do not happen without our active, voluntary participation. Thus by being believing, by receiving the Lord, and by following him, the process of becoming LIKE HIM is set into motion. That is a point he does not want us to miss.”  (ibid 7)

I am beginning to think that our most pressing priority in life should be coming to know God. The more we know Him, the more we will yearn to be with Him. I know people who have no desire to know Him and because they do not know Him, they do not love Him. It’s the greatest tragedy that they will get through this life without experiencing the greatest love of all.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: The Everlasting God by Spencer Rasmussen)

 

BEAUTY FOR ASHES

 

“Some Church members feel weighed down with discouragement about the circumstances of their personal lives, even when they are making sustained and admirable efforts. Frequently, these feelings of self-disappointment come not from wrongdoing, but from stresses and troubles for which we may not be fully to blame.

“Atonement of Jesus Christ applies to these experiences because it applies to all of life. Saviour can wipe away all of our tears, after all we can do. In Luke 4:18, Jesus quotes part of a passage from Isaiah that describes the heart of His ministry. The Isaiah passage reads:

“The Spirit of the Lord….hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion….beauty for ashes.” (Isaiah 61:1,3)  The Saviour’s Atonement is thus portrayed as the healing power not only for sin, but also for carelessness, inadequacy, and all mortal bitterness.”  (Bruce C. Hafen, “Beauty for Ashes”, Ensign April 1990)

One of the hardest things in life can be the suffering of injustice. It is difficult to imagine and understand that the Atonement of Jesus Christ covers the sins and actions of those who hurt others. I remember some years ago listening to a sister in the Church of her experience with her now ex-husband who chose to leave her and their two sons because “he didn’t want the responsibility of a family anymore”.

This sister prayed in her darkest moments hoping to avert the disaster but the answer she got was not something she wished for. She was given to understand that even though Heavenly Father disapproved of her husband’s actions vehemently, He still loved her husband and had to respect his freedom of choice. Instead of becoming bitter, this sister understood that not even God can interfere in unjust treatment some of us get at the hands of another. This understanding set her on the path of forgiveness which gave her the power to survive.

This story is in stark contrast to the experience of another sister in the Church that I know who could not accept her divorce and who went around to different wards expounding her ex-husband’s faults. She was not looked at in a favourable light by others who found it distasteful and eventually she stopped coming to Church.

Justice comes to all of us for our wrongdoings but it certainly does not come in this life time. This time is the time for repentance and restitution to those we have put in the state of pain and hardship. This is a huge indication of the mercy of Christ. If we were all judged immediately after our wrongdoings without the chance of repentance, we would all be lost.

The beauty that rises from the ashes is one of repentance and saving grace for the perpetrator and one of developing the forgiving Christ-like nature for the victim. This proves unfathomable love of God for all his children who struggle with the weakness of mortality.

“Each of us will taste the bitter ashes of life, from sin and neglect to sorrow and disappointment. But the Atonement of Christ can lift us up in beauty, not only from our own ashes but also from the ashes of him who fathers the rebirth of our spirits. We then soar toward the sun on the wings of a sure promise of immortality and eternal life. Thus may we be lifted up, not only at the end of life but in each day of our lives.

“Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth….giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run, and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:28-29, 31) (ibid)

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Christ's Light by Land of Dreams)

A BIRD IN A CAGE

 

Like Israel of old

I foolishly sought man's protection

And trusted in the shadow of the flesh

Until You showed me the strength

Of Your invincible arm

And how easy You can make

My journey's difficult path;

How foolish I was to trust in man's might

How foolish to seek mortal comfort

And settle for feeble sentries of the heart

In studying the history of the House of Israel, I am always amazed at man's propensity to place his trust in 'the arm of the flesh' rather than exercise faith in God. Ancient Israel was particularly prone to this futile habit. Over and over they made political alliances with heathen nations around them for their protection.....very often resorting to Egypt, the very nation they were rescued from. Even King Hezekiah in 705 B.C. who tried so desperately to turn the nation from idolatry to proper worship of Jehovah made a terrible mistake of seeking such an alliance. Because of it Assyrian king Sennacherib, the successor to Sargon, swept into the land of Judah and captured forty-six cities. This is how he described his siege of Hezekiah: "Himself I made a prisoner.....like a bird in a cage" (Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Texts, p. 288). This is exactly what happens when you put your trust in man...you always owe somebody something and it never quite satisfies and often you end up in a cage.

The nations of this earth have replaced God with governments. We have put our trust in the arm of the flesh....to lead us, to instruct us, to protect us. Individually, however, we can choose to place our ultimate trust in Him to whom trust truly belongs.

The Saviour, the Creator, our Sovereign and our God, puts no bird in a cage.....He who created us gave us freedom of choice, of thought, of speech. He is the protection from the storms of life and the guardian of our hearts. In this day of uncertainty, of calamities and threats of our freedom, He is the only choice we can make to keep us truly free.

- Cathryne Allen

(art by Liz Lemon Swindle, "The Creator")