Mormon 9:21-27
9:21 - Verse 21 is a really interesting concept for me, when Moroni says, “Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth.” This is something that I’ve really struggled with, because I know that if I have a righteous desire and I truly believe that the Lord can deliver it to me, and I ask for it, I just feel like my answer is always “no.” I understand that he says that whatever we ask for, he will give to us, if we believe, I think it’s implied that it has to be according to His will, and I’ll ask for things, and I truly do believe that God can do anything, I’ve seen him do it many, many times, but it just seems that the answer is almost always, “no.” And I understand that, if it’s not his will for me to receive that thing, then it’s not good for me to receive it, but I get really really frustrated that the answer is always “no.” I pray for more time with my kids, the answer is “no,” but also the answer is “do more with the time that you have maximize it.” I pray for a great man to be my husband and to love my children like his own, and the answer is “no,” but also the answer is to get rid of a lot of the toxic behaviors that would be detrimental to a relationship. I pray for a successful business, and the answer is “no,” but also the answer is to be a better steward of the money that I already have. I pray to look like Barbie, and the answer is “no,” but the answer is also, learn to love yourself the way I love you, and learn to take care of yourself, learn to cook and learn to love exercise. I pray for happy children, and the answer is to be a better steward over my time with them. I pray to move to another state and get a great job, and my answer is “no,” but my answer is also “I need you here, learn to bloom where you’re planted.” It’s interesting because when I started writing about this, I fully intended on moaning about how my prayers are never answered so I’m going to give up, but even while I’m writing, the Lord has shown me “his hand in all things.” My answer might be “no” to specifically what I want, but the answer is “yes” to who I want to become. I’ve said many times that I make poor choices, and that would probably include what I ask the Lord for. I don’t know how to run my own life, I don’t know how to become the kind of person that I want to become, I probably don’t even know what kind of person I need to become to have the fullness of joy that the Lord promises, I have no idea what that is or what to do or how to make these changes. So when I ask for things, it’s from a place of complete ignorance, a place of frustration and desperation, so of course what I ask for, the answer should be “no” because I don’t know what I need, HN says that many times. But the Lord will take what I want and show me how I can get it, how I can learn and embody the principles behind the blessing. For instance, I pray for a different shift so that I can spend more time with my kids, and my answer is “learn how to maximize the time you already have with the kids,” it’s because if I don’t learn how to make the most out of my time with the kids when I have very little of it, then when I have lots of time I will not be able to use that fully either, basically, if I let the kids watch tv all day when I have them now, because I “don’t have time”, then when I have them all the time, I’ll still only let them watch tv. This week I was grumpy on Tuesday and when my mind asked me why I was grumpy I was like “I have no help, I’m alone, I’d be happy if I had a good husband.” And my answer was, “No, if you had a good husband , you’d still be grumpy, and then how would that make him feel? If you can’t make yourself have a good attitude when you’re alone, then you won’t be able to make your self have a good attitude when you’re married." That was very powerful for me, I saw that not only would I not just automatically be happy once I was married, but that my bad attitude that I didn't learn to control beforehand could aggravate a good marriage, causing unnecessary problems, and how could I expect the kind of man I was to marry to put up with a moody woman all the time. The man I want to marry won't be moody, and so I could only expect that he wouldn't want to be with a wife that was moody either. This realization was very much like all the other lessons that the Lord is trying to teach me. If I can't spend good quality time with my kids now, a new shift at work won't make it happen. If I can't learn to be healthy, a smokin hot body won't make it happen, it's why so many people who do gastric bypass end up at the same weight they started with a few years later, because nothing outside will solve the problem, only internal solutions will, and that's the lesson that Jesus is trying to teach me.
9:22-27 - Moroni says that the Lord tells all his disciples "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. And he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned... And whosoever shall believe in my name, doubting nothing, unto him will I confirm all my words, even into the ends of the earth." Back to the topic of personal revelation, and maybe that's why Moroni talked about it in the beginning to set the stage for "God talks to people" so that when he presented the idea that "God will confirm all (his) words," then it will have a foundation for acceptance. In the beginning of the chapter, Moroni tells us that God always has and always will give revelation to his people, both collectively as a church and individually, and now he asks us to ask God for confirmation, he doesn't say "it's true, trust me," God wants us to each have an individual testimony. Interestingly, today on my way to work, I listened to an article from the April 2009 general conference address entitled, "What Does the Atonement Mean to You?" in which Elder Cecil O. Samuelson taught, "His Atonement does indeed cover the world and all people from the beginning to the end. Let us now forget, however, that in its comprehensiveness and completeness it is also intensely personal and uniquely crafted to fit perfectly and address perfectly each of our own individual circumstances. The Father and the Son know each of us better than we know ourselves and have prepared an Atonement for us that is fully congruent with our needs, challenges, and possibilities." This fits so perfectly into what we are talking about in this whole chapter, it seems to me that this chapter has the underlying theme of individual worth, that we are all beloved children of God and that he wants our relationship with him to be personal and deep. Very interesting. Moroni teaches that "he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned." I think that our society, and religious history at large, has associated the word "damned" in the scriptural context as meaning "going to hell" or "fire and brimstone" but I heard another definition that I liked much better, that in this context "damned" means the same thing as water that is "damned," in that it is stopped, it cannot progress any further, and really that's true, if someone refuses baptism, then they cannot progress any further, if someone refuses repentance, they cannot progress any further, in essence, they are damned. Anyway, that was a good definition that gives a little bit of some other perspective to think about. Last thing, Moroni asks "Who will despise the works of the Lord? Who will despise the children of Christ? Behold, all ye who are despisers of the works of the Lord, for ye shall wonder and perish. O then despise not, and wonder not, but hearken unto the words of the Lord, and ask the Father in the name of Jesus for what things soever ye shall stand in need." HN has some insight into the use of the word "despise" when is says "Why that word despise? What does despise mean? Descicio, which means look down upon, hold as inferior, hold yourself as above that sort of childish nonsense. That's what despise means, and that's the only way you can reject the word of the Lord. You can't be neutral. You can't laugh it off exactly, and you can't aruge with it and get angry. No, just despise it. We don't even consider that stuff. That's for children; that's guff (you might say). And as I say, the only way you can reject it is to despise it, so that's why he's talking this way. Then 'work out your own salvation with fear and trembling before him.' This is the great issue, the fearsome decisions we have to make here. Notice how personal it is." Back to the personal element, how important it is to have that personal relationship with the Savior. It also references Joseph Smith's concept of neutral ground.
9:22-27 - Moroni says that the Lord tells all his disciples "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. And he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned... And whosoever shall believe in my name, doubting nothing, unto him will I confirm all my words, even into the ends of the earth." Back to the topic of personal revelation, and maybe that's why Moroni talked about it in the beginning to set the stage for "God talks to people" so that when he presented the idea that "God will confirm all (his) words," then it will have a foundation for acceptance. In the beginning of the chapter, Moroni tells us that God always has and always will give revelation to his people, both collectively as a church and individually, and now he asks us to ask God for confirmation, he doesn't say "it's true, trust me," God wants us to each have an individual testimony. Interestingly, today on my way to work, I listened to an article from the April 2009 general conference address entitled, "What Does the Atonement Mean to You?" in which Elder Cecil O. Samuelson taught, "His Atonement does indeed cover the world and all people from the beginning to the end. Let us now forget, however, that in its comprehensiveness and completeness it is also intensely personal and uniquely crafted to fit perfectly and address perfectly each of our own individual circumstances. The Father and the Son know each of us better than we know ourselves and have prepared an Atonement for us that is fully congruent with our needs, challenges, and possibilities." This fits so perfectly into what we are talking about in this whole chapter, it seems to me that this chapter has the underlying theme of individual worth, that we are all beloved children of God and that he wants our relationship with him to be personal and deep. Very interesting. Moroni teaches that "he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned." I think that our society, and religious history at large, has associated the word "damned" in the scriptural context as meaning "going to hell" or "fire and brimstone" but I heard another definition that I liked much better, that in this context "damned" means the same thing as water that is "damned," in that it is stopped, it cannot progress any further, and really that's true, if someone refuses baptism, then they cannot progress any further, if someone refuses repentance, they cannot progress any further, in essence, they are damned. Anyway, that was a good definition that gives a little bit of some other perspective to think about. Last thing, Moroni asks "Who will despise the works of the Lord? Who will despise the children of Christ? Behold, all ye who are despisers of the works of the Lord, for ye shall wonder and perish. O then despise not, and wonder not, but hearken unto the words of the Lord, and ask the Father in the name of Jesus for what things soever ye shall stand in need." HN has some insight into the use of the word "despise" when is says "Why that word despise? What does despise mean? Descicio, which means look down upon, hold as inferior, hold yourself as above that sort of childish nonsense. That's what despise means, and that's the only way you can reject the word of the Lord. You can't be neutral. You can't laugh it off exactly, and you can't aruge with it and get angry. No, just despise it. We don't even consider that stuff. That's for children; that's guff (you might say). And as I say, the only way you can reject it is to despise it, so that's why he's talking this way. Then 'work out your own salvation with fear and trembling before him.' This is the great issue, the fearsome decisions we have to make here. Notice how personal it is." Back to the personal element, how important it is to have that personal relationship with the Savior. It also references Joseph Smith's concept of neutral ground.
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