Do We Really Know What We Have?

Thank you, Gordon.

 Sorry about the slow response, but I have today off.

How right she is about the knowledge that comes through the gospel, including in a few simple versus in the Doctrine and Covenants.

 You know, I studied philosophy for my undergraduate at BYU, and also for a PhD at the UofU (which I did not complete). In studying the history of philosophy it was interesting to see how much time and thought had been devoted to the question of how the spirit (or mind) could relate to the body. The underlying assumption, going back to Aristotle, is that God is immaterial. If he were to have a body, he could not be omnipotent or all-powerful, because bodies can be moved and acted upon, and to be all powerful, he must not be able to be either moved or acted upon. He also couldn’t have feelings, because that would represent a way in which something external could also act upon him. This very idea influenced the thinking of many of those who met at Nicaea, under Constantine’s direction to settle the disputes about the nature of God. Now, if that argument about the unmoved mover is accepted, and the subsequent conclusion that all spiritual things are then immaterial, the problem becomes how to explain how something immaterial can interact with the material (and hence non-spiritual) aspect of our existence. How can our own spirit interact with our body, and how can God act upon material things. The very distinction that was to make God all powerful seemed to strip him of power, unless some vehicle for that power could be explained. The very existence of a mind or spirit seemed to be in question, unless the way those two relate could similarly be explained. Various philosophers over the centuries grappled with this problem, and proposed solutions, but there always was something that the critics would find wrong with the proposed method of interaction or mirroring , for whatever method was proposed. For once you define the two as distinct, and that the material cannot influence the spiritual, how do you break down that distinction? The other possibility was to deny that either one or the other did not exist. What a problem. Indeed, the definition of God that came out of the Council at Nicaea was one that President Hinckley said he could not understand. And that was only one attempt to deal with the subject. This wasn’t just a small area of philosophy, but was (I believe) the largest tree in the forest—but it was diseased from the moment it was planted. Despite the disease though, many over the years have tried to nourish it and eat of its fruit.

Revelations that the Heavenly Father and the Savior gave to Joseph Smith dealt swift and felling blows to the huge trunk of this diseased tree. The first swing of the ax was the visit of God the Father and Jesus to Joseph Smith, in which he saw them as distinct beings, not as something without the form of body, parts, or passions. They appeared as one might expect a Father and Son to appear. Also, the Father spoke of His Son as being beloved, expressing a feeling. Add to this the visit of the resurrected Savior to the Nephites, and again to Joseph and Sidney, and the visits of other resurrected beings, and you quickly figure out that the resurrection is the joining again of spirit to body, for clearly at one time the body had been dead. Of course the early Apostles knew this, the new testament speaks of the Savior as eating fish, being seen and teaching the Apostles for 40 days. But all of this became lost to explaining how the all powerful could not have a physical body that would enable him to be acted upon. Still, there is no question that Jesus, John the Baptist, and Peter had been killed, their deaths were all well documented, and they would have begun their 18^thcentury of life were they not dead, yet both visited the prophet. Hands were laid on his head by John the Baptist, then by Peter, James and John. These weren’t apparitions or dreams (indeed Joseph, Oliver, and Sidney were awake for these experiences). Joseph and Oliver felt them, they were not beings composed of non-material substance, unless there was some complex interaction taking place. The Book of Mormon though had been very precise about what the resurrection was, the joining again of the body and spirit. Although the question of the resurrection seemed to be answered, this still did not fully explain what the spirit was or how the spirit (or mind) and body interact. So then comes the final felling blow, which removes all question, recorded in one single verse in Doctrine and Covenants, apparently all that the Savior felt needed to be said about the subject. Doctrine and Covenants 131 records the Savior as saying: “There is no such thing as immaterial matter. All spirit is matter, but is more fine or pure, and can be discerned only by purer eyes.” The Savior dealt with it in one verse, and here I ramble on. But not even the fabled Paul Bunyan ever struck such a mighty blow. There is no longer a need for explanation. The whole problem had been one of definition or semantics and had no root in reality. The diseased but mighty cedar had been felled, and the tree is presently decayed. If there is any green on the tree it is from growing mosses,  and if there is any fruit it is just mushrooms. The tree provides no sustenance to creatures except to the diets of scavenging insects and their larva, who continue to wander through the shriveled leaves and rotting wood seemingly unaware. The mighty tree that took up all of the spring water, and blocked the light of the sun, and provided bitter fruit has perished. Even if the world did not hear it fall, still the bright sun once again shines on the forest floor, as the tree that represents the condescension of God has taken root, and grows in wonderful and miraculous splendor, taking in the cool water of the gospel that runs freely past, and producing the magnificent fruit of the atonement that is delicious beyond all compare. Indeed, two songs of the restoration state the morning breaks, the shadows flee and that the visions and blessings of old are returning, and angels are coming to visit the earth. There we have the true gospel of Christ. The glorious truths regarding the nature of God, and the more vital truths of the atonement, resurrection and judgment that were restored with the gospel are indeed splendorous.

Thanks for sharing the Story,

-Shawn

This is powerful!  It's so worth taking the time to read and maybe, just maybe, we can appreciate what we have a little better.  ENJOY! Love, Gordon

Do We Really Know What We Have?

(As written by LDS Missionary Scott Anderson in his journal.)

 We had an unexpected moment in the mission field. We knocked on a door and a lady said something to us we had never heard, "Come in." Now remember, I was a German missionary. This never happened to us; no one ever invited us in. My companion said, "Do you know who we are?" "You want to talk about religion, don't you?" she said. "Yes, we do" explained my companion. "Oh, come in. I've been watching you walk around the neighborhood. I'm so excited to have you here. Please come into my study." We went in and seated ourselves and she sat down behind the desk. She looked at us with a smile, and then pointed to three PhD's hanging over her head. One in Theology, the study of religion, one in Philosophy, the study of ideas, and one in European History specializing in Christianity. She then kind of rubbed her hands together and said, "Do you see this row of books here?" We looked at a well arranged row of books. She then said, "I wrote them all. I'm the Theology professor at the University of Munich. I've been doing this for 41 years. I love to talk about religion. What would you like to discuss?"

My inspired companion said we'd like to talk about the Book of Mormon.

She said, "I don't know anything about the Book of Mormon."

He said, "I know."

Twenty minutes later we walked out of the room. We had handed her a Book of Mormon and this trade off that we had been on was over. I didn't see this lady again for another eight and a half weeks. It was in a small room filled with people (when I saw her again), as she was standing in the front dressed in white.

This Theology professor at the University of Munich was well known throughout Southern Germany. She stood up in front of this small congregation of people and said, "Before I'm baptized I'd like to tell you my feelings. In Amos chapter 8:11 it says there will be a famine of the work of God. I've been in that famine for 76 years. Why do you think I have three PhD's? I've been hungering for truth and have been unable to find it. Then eight and one-half weeks ago, two boys walked into my home. I want you to know these boys are very nice and wonderful young men, but they didn't convert me. They couldn't; they don't know enough." And then she smiled and said, "But since the day they walked in my door I have read the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price, all of Talmage's great writings, Evidence and Reconciliations by John A. Widtsoe and 22 other volumes of church doctrine." 

She then said something which I think is a challenge for every one of us here. She said, "I don't think you members know what you have."  Then in her quiet, powerful way, she said, "After those years of studying philosophy, I picked up the D&C and read a few little verses that answered some of the greatest questions of Aristotle and Socrates! When I read those verses, I wept for four hours." Then she said again, "I don't think you members know what you have. Don't you understand the world is in a famine? Don't you know we are starving for what you have? I am like a starving person being led to a feast. And over these eight and one-half weeks I have been able to feast in a way I have never known possible."

Her powerful message and her challenging question were then ended with her favorite scripture, "For you don't see the truth can make you free." She said, "These missionaries don't just carry membership in the church in their hands, they carry within their hand the power to make the atonement of Jesus Christ full force in my life. Today I'm going into the water and I'm going to make a covenant with Christ for the first time with proper authority. I've wanted to do this all my life."

None of us will forget the day that she was baptized. When she got finished being baptized, she got back out and before she received the Holy Ghost, she stood and said, "Now I would like to talk about the Holy Ghost for awhile." She then gave us a wonderful talk about the gift of the Holy Ghost.

(Later in Elder Anderson’s journal) Two young missionaries, both relatively new, (one had been out about five months, the other three weeks) accidentally knocked on the door of the seminary in Reagansburg. 125 wonderful men were studying to become priests inside. They didn't realize this was the door they had knocked on because it looked like any other door. They were invited in. In somewhat of a panic, the man said, "I am sorry we just don't have time right now." The two missionaries were relieved, but then he said, "Would you come back next Tuesday and spend two hours addressing all 125 of us and answer questions about your church?"

They agreed that they would, and ran down the road screaming.
  
They made a phone call to the mission president and cried for help. The mission president called us and said, "Do you think that dear lady that you have just brought into the church would like to come help these two missionaries with this assignment?" 

I called her to explain what was to happen, and she said, "more than I would like to eat, more than I would like to sleep, more than..." 

I said, "Fine, you don't have to explain."  

We drove her to the seminary and as we went in, she grabbed the two missionaries that had originally been invited, put her arms around them and said, "You are wonderful, young men. Would each of you spend about two minutes bearing your testimony and then sit down and be quiet please?" 

They were grateful for their assignment. They bore their testimony and then seated themselves. Then she got up and said, "For the next 30 minutes I would like to talk to you about historical apostasy." She knew every date and fact. She had a PhD in this. She talked about everything that had been taken away from the great teachings the Savior had given, mostly organizational, in the first part of her talk. Then the next 45 minutes was doctrinal. She gave every point of doctrinal changes, when it happened and what had changed. By the time she was done, she looked at them and said, "In 1820 a boy walked into a grove of trees. He had been in a famine just like I have been. He knelt to pray, because he was hungry just like I have been. He saw God the Father and His Son. I know that is hard for you to believe that they could be two separate beings, but I know they are." 

She shared scriptures that showed that they were and then said, "I would like to talk about historical restoration of truth." She then, point by point, date by date, from the Doctrine and Covenants put back the organizational structure of Christ's church. The last 20 minutes of her talk were absolutely brilliant. She doctrinally put the truth back in place, point by point, principle by principle. When she finished this profound talk, she said, "I have been in a famine as talked about in Amos. You know that because last year I was here teaching you." For the first time, we realized that she was their Theology professor. She continued by saying, "Last year when I was teaching you, I told you that I was still in a famine. I have been led to a feast. I invite you to come." She finished with her testimony and sat down.
What happened next was hard for me to understand. These 125 sincere, wonderful men stood and for the next 7 minutes, gave a standing ovation. By the time four minutes had gone by I was crying. I remember standing and looking into their eyes and seeing the tears in their eyes too. I wondered why they were applauding after the message she had given. I asked many of them later.

They said, "To hear someone so unashamed of the truth, to hear someone teaching with such power, to hear someone who finally has conviction." 

The truth is what can set us free... Do we really know what we have?