How the Godhead bears record

I’ve been reading recently about Christ’s visit to the Americas and I ran across this bit that Jesus says:

35 Verily, verily, I say unto you, that this is my doctrine, and I bear record of it from the Father; and whoso believeth in me believeth in the Father also; and unto him will the Father bear record of me, for he will visit him with fire and with the Holy Ghost.

36 And thus will the Father bear record of me, and the Holy Ghost will bear record unto him of the Father and me; for the Father, and I, and the Holy Ghost are one. (3 Nephi 11:35-36)

If you’re like me, you probably read those verses and everything just sort of flows together in a swirling mass and at the end you just kind of find yourself thinking, “Huh? Okay, the Godhead is unified. Moving on.”

I read it recently and started realizing it was a statement about how all the Godhead bears witness of the others. So I started wondering how the Father bears record.  On occasion the Father has borne record with His voice, but here it also says that the other way is to send fire and the Holy Ghost. 

We are not used to thinking of the Holy Ghost’s witness like this. We think the Holy Ghost comes on his own to bear record of the truth, but this tells us that the Father sends the Holy Ghost and fire as part of the Father’s witness, and then the Holy Ghost bears record and that’s the Holy Ghost’s witness.  So the presence of the Holy Ghost represents the witness of the Father, and the message, the bearing record is the witness of the Holy Ghost.

When I grasped this, immediately thought of another puzzling scripture that this clarified.  In John 5:37-38, Jesus tells the Jews at Jerusalem this:

37 And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.

38 And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.

Jesus was telling the Jews that the Father had borne witness to them of Jesus and the Jews hadn’t accepted that witness.  The Father had sent the Holy Ghost, but they hadn’t accepted it, or its witness.

It is interesting there is a little promise in the 3 Nephi verses. “whoso believeth in me. . .unto him will the Father bear record of me”.  Those who believe in Christ will get that witness.  So if the Jews did not believe in Christ, they would not hear the witness of the Father sent of fire and the Holy Ghost. 

I personally think the promise teaches a neat principle that we can practice. When we hear the truth, we can choose to believe and rejoice in the truth, even if we’ve heard it many times before, and then look for the Father’s witness in the presence of the Holy Ghost.

It is neat to me to know that the witness of the Holy Ghost is both the Father’s witness and the Holy Ghost’s witness.  It reminds me the Holy Ghost is so tightly integrated with the Godhead that they are all unified with each other.  It’s hard to explain why that is so cool, but it is.   They are so at one with each other, and our goal is to seek that at-one-ment as well.

Jesus says, “whoso believeth in me believeth in the Father also.” I’ve wondered how that belief in the Father is so folded into a belief in Christ. But I’ve realized that to believe in the Son of God, implies He has a Father who is God.  To believe the Son was sent is to believe in the Father who sent Him and to whom the Son would return and to whom we want to return. To believe in the Son who would take away the sins of the world is to also believe in the Father who is not only just and holy (requiring sins to be paid for and removed), but loving and merciful (desiring everyone’s return and providing a way for sins to be removed).

Ignoring the finger of scorn

33 And great was the multitude that did enter into that strange building. And after they did enter into that building they did point the finger of scorn at me and those that were partaking of the fruit also; but we heeded them not.

34 These are the words of my father: For as many as heeded them, had fallen away. (1 Nephi 8:33-34)

I had two thoughts when I read this recently. First, it is significant that Nephi takes the trouble to quote his father’s words about those who were influenced by the scorn coming from the great and spacious building in Lehi’s dream.  Lehi didn’t say, “As many as heeded them fell away shortly thereafter.” He says, “As many as heeded them, had fallen away” (emphasis added). So heeding the scorn is not the cause of falling away; it is a symptom.

This tells us that if we have found ourselves heeding the scorn of the world, we have already fallen and need to be reconverted. (We may not have left the church, but our hearts have left.) It’s kind of shocking, but should help us see things as they are so we can repent and recommit with full purpose of heart.

The second thing I thought is that while the great and spacious building sticks in our minds as a place, it is also an attitude, one of scorn, mocking and pride. While we might have a hard time self-identifying pride, it might be easier to notice when we are mocking or expressing scorn for others. I get the impression it is a dangerous attitude to have. It makes us feel clever and witty because it takes analysis skills sometimes, but it can easily be born of ignorance as well. 

Mocking was a big part of my sense of humor when I was a teen, but I found it was leading me to say mean things, and it also got in the way when there was an opportunity to have spiritual experiences. So I chose to try to cultivate humor in other more positive directions.

I do think scorn and mockery feeds pride.   So I think it’s a good idea to beware of scorn and mocking just as much as we beware of pride. 

Survivor’s guilt versus the Lord’s assessment on sin in 3 Nephi 8-9

When the destruction among the Nephites happens at Christ’s death, there is a curious contradiction between the people’s cries of mourning and regret and the Lord’s words about where the fault lay.

The people say one thing and Christ says another.

24 And in one place they were heard to cry, saying: O that we had repented before this great and terrible day, and then would our brethren have been spared, and they would not have been burned in that great city Zarahemla.

25 And in another place they were heard to cry and mourn, saying: O that we had repented before this great and terrible day, and had not killed and stoned the prophets, and cast them out; then would our mothers and our fair daughters, and our children have been spared, and not have been buried up in that great city Moronihah. And thus were the howlings of the people great and terrible. (3 Nephi 8:24-25)

The people exclaim that if they had repented and not stoned the prophets, their brethren and families would have been spared.  It is as if they claim it is their fault and that innocent others were destroyed in punishment for that guilt.

Christ has something different to say.

2 Wo, wo, wo unto this people; wo unto the inhabitants of the whole earth except they shall repent; for the devil laugheth, and his angels rejoice, because of the slain of the fair sons and daughters of my people; and it is because of their iniquity and abominations that they are fallen!

3 Behold, that great city Zarahemla have I burned with fire, and the inhabitants thereof. . . .

5 And behold, that great city Moronihah have I covered with earth, and the inhabitants thereof, to hide their iniquities and their abominations from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints shall not come any more unto me against them. . . .

12 And many great destructions have I caused to come upon this land, and upon this people, because of their wickedness and their abominations.

13 O all ye that are spared because ye were more righteous than they, will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you? (3 Nephi 9:2-3, 5, 12-13)

Christ, on the other hand, tells them the people slain had been wicked and those who were spared were more righteous, although they still needed to repent.

I think this shows us several things.  First, people tend to attribute responsibility to themselves for the destruction of their family members, even if those who were destroyed were wicked.  (“If we would have repented, these family members would have been spared.”)  We know from the D&C that parents are responsible for the guilt of the children if the children are not taught right, but when those who sin do it in full knowledge of their rebellion, it is another story.  To the survivors it can feel like a punishment when it is actually more of a deliverance.  So when Jesus says those who had been spared had been more righteous, He absolves them of the guilt they don’t deserve to feel, though He still tells them they need to turn to Him and repent.

I think Satan would love people to feel responsible for sins they didn’t commit because then he can destroy their peace. Jesus, on the other hand, wants us to be free from guilt. He put the responsibility where it really belonged so they could be free of undeserved guilt, and He also extended the invitation to repent of their sins so they could become free from deserved guilt.  

It is also interesting to see who is mourned in the city of Moronihah and who is left out.  They mourn for their mothers, fair daughters, and their children, but there is no mention of fathers, wives, or fair sons, so it is possible those were saved. 

It is peculiar that mothers, fair daughters, and children were killed because usually we’d think of these groups as being some of the tender and innocent.  But because of Christ’s statement about the destruction falling on the iniquitous and abominable, we must conclude that He was just and they were corrupted.  I could speculate a good long time on why the families were divided along those particular lines, and I can think of at least three plausible scenarios about how this happened, but ultimately it’s not terribly important.  The important thing was that it shows us that the Lord has the power to save or destroy very specifically, even with large disasters.

Other observations can be made about what Christ told the people about the destruction.  A lot of cities are listed that were destroyed, but there were also a lot of cities we’ve heard of in the Book of Mormon in other places that were not mentioned in the list, so we can probably assume that the damage to them wasn’t so horrific that all the people died in them too.

There is also a range of severity in the destruction and condemnation. Zerahemla and Moronihah had great destruction, but they also had people associated with them that remained alive to mourn the loss of those who died there.  There is no such thing recorded of the other cities – Moroni, Gilgal, Onihah, Mocum, Jerusalem, Gadiandi, Gadiomnah, Jacob, Gimgimno, Jacobugath, Laman, Josh, Gad, and Kishkumen.

Also, all of the cities mentioned have it noted of them that the inhabitants were slain “that the blood of the prophets and saints shall not come any more unto me against them,” but the cities of Laman, Josh, Gad, and Kishkumen come in for especial condemnation for 1) casting out and stoning the prophets and those sent by God to declare unto them concerning their wickedness and abominations (3 Nephi 9:10) and 2) casting ALL of them out so there were no righteous among them (v11) and they were destroyed so that the blood of the prophets and saints “might not cry unto me from the ground against them.” (v11)

So, some cities just had the righteous blood come up to God, but the extra wicked cities had righteous blood crying to God against them. To me this implies degrees of violence, one perhaps being abuse and injury, but the other implying murder, much like Abel’s blood cried to God against Cain.  It also seems like most of the cities still allowed the righteous to stay among them, but the extra wicked cities kicked them all out.

The Lord mentions that prophets and others had been sent to those cities Laman, Josh, Gad, and Kishkumen to declare their wickedness to them, which makes me think those cities had no local people to tell them. They needed imported prophets and warnings. I wonder if those were cities formed by Gadianton robbers for the purpose of having their own special enclave, or whether the robbers had just taken over a place and gradually got rid of everyone who dared to warn them of their perfidy.  Kishkumen  could easily be a city of just Gadianton robbers, since it is stated elsewhere that cities were named after their first founder.

Jacobugath also comes in for special condemnation because in addition to the blood of prophets and saints, they also 1) committed murders, 2) had secret combinations, and 3) destroyed the peace of the people and the government of the land. It is very significant that He calls their wickedness “above all the wickedness of the whole earth” (v9).   This is probably because the secret combination created such a synergy of coordinated, corporatized evil greater than just individuals and it affected the whole land by destroying the credibility of government and causing the government to be destroyed. (Yet another reason to avoid secret combinations or group-organized evil…) 

The way the Lord says multiple times that He destroyed these places “to hide their iniquities and abominations from before my face” is a great reminder that even if we think our sins are secret, the Lord can still see them.  We can’t hide them from the Lord; apparently only death does that.  And even if they are hidden from the Lord for His relief, they still exist and have to be repented of and had to be atoned for.  And it reminds me that as Christ is the one who atoned for all of our sins and even the worst of what these people did, He would not let them continue to go on in it indefinitely. He removed them from life to stop them.  And we see that He had warned them all, even the worst of them.

After all the tale of destruction has been told, I love that Christ says to those who remain, “Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me.” (3 Nephi 9:14)  Maybe they didn’t feel like they had more chance to repent and all this destruction was a punishment, but Christ still extended mercy in the middle of it.  Their lives were extended and that was a mercy. The invitation to repent and return was given, and that was extended mercy. They were not beyond help.

I’ve noticed and Elder Bednar pointed out in the recent Christmas devotional that Christ saved a bunch of Christians among the Nephites simply by being born, but I think it could also be said that He saved a bunch of Christians through the signs of His death as well.  We don’t have the accounts of all the circumstances whereby those who were saved were guiding to remove them from danger in those natural cataclysms while the wicked from the same families were destroyed. But it is evident that His death saved many, not just spiritually, but temporally.  With every major event of His life, Christ was the means of saving those who believed in Him, and His second coming will be another event of salvation for the righteous.

Isaiah’s case study illustrating why Israel need not fear

2 Who raised up the righteous man from the east, called him to his foot, gave the nations before him, and made him rule over kings? he gave them as the dust to his sword, and as driven stubble to his bow.

3 He pursued them, and passed safely; even by the way that he had not gone with his feet.

4 Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the Lord, the first, and with the last; I am he. (Isaiah 41:2-4)

Who is this righteous man that Isaiah is referring to in these verses?

There are a number of righteous men that Isaiah could be referring to.  He might be referring to Abraham.  Or Moses. Or David. 

I suspect that it is Abraham, since Abraham originally came from the east, and that Isaiah means to show how the Lord helped Abraham through some tough times.  Isaiah points out how the Lord called Abraham to leave his family and the land he knew (which was in the east) and travel through Canaan where he hadn’t been before.  The Lord protected Abraham from a number of kings who would have killed him in order to take away his wife.  The Lord helped Abraham in battle when he had to fight to save Lot when Lot was taken captive in an invasion.  The Lord promised Abraham the land of Canaan and kept him safe from the people of the land.

After Isaiah describes these ways the Lord helped Abraham, he applies this case study to Israel.

8 But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.

9 Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.

10 ¶Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

11 Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish. (Isaiah 41:8-11)

The promise is that the Lord has called us as well and will help us just like He helped Abraham. He will strengthen us and lead us the same way.  If you notice, verse 10 is probably what the hymn “How Firm A Foundation” was based on, (which is one of my favorites). 

I especially like that it says “I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”  When I looked up “uphold” in the dictionary, one of its meanings was “to confirm or support (something that has been questioned)” such as when a court upholds a claim.   This is precious, considering how much religion and traditional standards are questioned today.  Even if courts don’t uphold us, the Lord will.  

Another meaning I get from that statement is that of the Lord’s grace to keep us strong when we are about to wilt or give way.  I feel like I need that a lot. 

Similar difficulties in the lives of David and Jesus

Reading John 11, it struck me how similar David and Jesus’s situations were to each other.

David	Jesus
David’s enemy- Saul	Jesus’s enemies – Pharisees
The king (Saul) was worried David would take away his kingdom.	In John 11:48 the Pharisees were worried that if they didn’t do something about Jesus the Romans would take away their kingdom.
Saul plotted and planned to kill David.	The Pharisees and other Jewish leaders took counsel to put Jesus to death. (John 11:53)
David had to go on the run and escape from Saul by moving from place to place.	Jesus had to keep from walking openly among the Jews. (John 11:54)
Saul commanded his servants that they should take David and kill him or tell him where David was.	The chief priests and Pharisees gave commandment that anyone having information about where Jesus was should tell them so they could catch him. (John 11:57)
David had some of the Israelites betray where he was to Saul, even though he helped them.	Jesus had people who saw his miracles who informed on him to the Pharisees. (John 11:45-46)

It sounds to me like David’s life in many respects was a type of the kinds of difficulties Jesus would have.

My Blogging Year in Review: The Small Plates of Michaela for 2015

We have come to the end of yet another year! Amazing!  I remain ever grateful for the many insights the Lord has given me about the scriptures this year and the opportunity to share them with all those on the interet who are interested. 

Through the grace of God, I hope to continue to learn and share for another year.  Thank you too, for your comments.

Some posts on my blog are like flecks of gold, while others are like large nuggets, and the following are a list of my personal favorite posts from this year that I would put in the Small Plates of Michaela. They represent to me the equivalent of gold bricks.

Old Testament

Re-examining Job's Friends' Views of Who is Wicked

What the creation tells us about the atonement

Isaiah on the consequences of persecuting others

New lessons from Isaiah’s words about a book that is sealed

Jeremiah on the difference between trusting men and trusting God

New Testament

Re-examining Jesus’s appearance on the road to Emmaus

Examining events of the sixth seal in Revelation 6-7

When the seventh seal opens: Revelation 8

New perspective on the prodigal son Luke 15:11-18

John chastises the Pharisees and Sadducees

How Christ learned obedience

Lessons from how the JST illuminates the parable of the laborers in the vineyard

Thoughts on Mary and Zacharias’s experience with Gabriel

Jesus on children of prophet-killers

Jesus on Divorce Causing Adultery

Book of Mormon

Looking at Jacob’s quotations of Isaiah

Results of Nehor’s doctrine of preacher popularity

Nephites fight across the river to stop the Amlicites

Zeezrom’s questioning of Amulek and Amulek’s responses

Alma shares extra info about Melchizedek

Thoughts on the varied Lamanite responses to prostrate individuals during Ammon’s mission

Religious freedom or religious privilege among the Lamanites?

Characteristics of the Zoramite errors

Sources of humility

Neat principles in what Alma quotes Zenos about prayer

The Cause of Christians

Lies and fraud in Ammoron’s letter to Captain Moroni

Doctrine and Covenants

David Whitmer’s problem

The plague of flies in the last days

Pearl of Great Price

The breakdown of family in ancient Egypt

Topical

The Sin of Boasting

Warning Principles about Boasting

Some Latter-day Saint Flavors of Boasting

Boasting in Future Plans and some Patterns of Punishment

Examples of NOT Boasting

More Principles for Avoiding Boasting

The Societal Trend of Shaming

Taking Reproof and Repenting like an Astronaut

“How can I keep my covenant to always remember the Savior?”: Insights on the Youth Sunday school lesson

Experience

Reflections on a trip to Malaysia

 Happy New Year's Eve! 

When an angel says a Savior is born, what are you going to do?

8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2:8-11)

We may have known kids that were live wires or extraordinary in some way, children that made us wonder and anticipate the mark they would make on the world. And some of you who are older may have had the experience of finding these hopes and expectations were not realized. Or we may see kids with troubled childhoods or teenage years who eventually made good in a way far beyond our expectations. (I know of at least one of the girls from my home ward growing up who had a rather rebellious teenage time, but who straightened up later. I was startled to hear she had a career, got married, had kids, and was made a Relief Society president.)

So with that in mind, if we were the shepherds in the Christmas story, what meaning might we assign to this angel announcement that this particular child born in Bethlehem is a Savior, the Messiah, the Christ, the Annointed One?  And too, this child is pointed out to our notice before he is even old enough to know there is anything to be saved from.

It is really going to depend on our faith.  (Remember, without faith, Laman and Lemuel dismissed the words of an angel to them, and they went right back into their fear of Laban and reluctance to get the plates.)  Without faith, the shepherds might have eventually dismissed the child as just another child, one for whom others had high hopes, but who wasn’t going to live up to them.  Such a child could be safely ignored because he would be swallowed up by the anonymity of history and never be heard of again.

Ah! But with faith, once the Savior has been pointed out to you, you would keep a very careful eye on that child and watch with wonder and great anticipation. Any time you hear of something neat that child has done, you hug yourself and do a little happy dance and elbow your believing neighbors and have little excited conversations with them because you just know he is going to bring salvation and you can’t wait to see it!

But of course, it also depends on what kind of salvation you expect from this Savior. If you’re expecting a military salvation immediately, you might start to be disappointed if the child doesn’t show any signs of fighting prowess or an affinity for military strategy. But if you’re looking for salvation from sin, then signs of goodness and long-suffering and kindness in him and extraordinary changes of character in those around him are going to be very encouraging.

I think the heavenly announcement of the Savior’s identity so early in His life gave faithful people both a test of their faith that would have the eventual reward during Jesus’ ministry if they could believe in Him to salvation from their sins.

For us in the church today, we still have much to look forward to.  We’ve had the benefit of 185 years of Restored-church history and revelations showing us that Christ is very much involved in preparing the world for His return in glory.  But of course, our faith and our expectations will determine how we interpret those things, whether we fight it because we thought it was supposed to be different, or whether we dismiss it out of hand, or whether we see its divine origin and guidance and rejoice with every sign of progress.

Every valley shall be exalted

Every valley shall be exalted,

and every mountain and hill made low;

the crooked straight,

and the rough places plain.

(Isaiah 40:4)

For the longest time I read this scripture as referring only to changes to the geography of the earth at Christ’s second coming.  But over time I’ve come to realize that the more profound lesson it has for us is a symbolic message about the ability of Christ’s atonement to change people.  This is the message we can use every day of our lives.

Just like there is variety to geography, there is variety in people.  Just like the earth has valleys and mountains, among people we find the humble and downtrodden and depressed, as well as the proud and tyrannizing.  Christ’s atonement has the ability to correct those conditions all in the best way. 

Just like there are crooked places, there are crooked people, both physically and spiritually.  Christ’s atonement can fix that.  He can straighten people’s character and He can heal crooked limbs.

Just like there are rough and bumpy places on the earth that can be planed down, nearly every human being has rough places in their character, and Christ’s atonement can plane those down.  He is a refiner and polisher.

 

Why did Job curse his day?

Job 3 is a pretty startling chapter coming on the heels of Job 2 in which we read of Job refusing to curse God. In Job 2 Job notes that we can receive both good and evil from God.  He shows great patience there. But then Job 3 is jarring because Job curses roundly the day he was born and the day he was conceived.

Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived. (v3)

9 Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look for light, but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the day:

10 Because it shut not up the doors of my mother’s womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes.

11 Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?

12 Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck?

13 For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest, (Job 3:9-13)

This utter spite for his own life is so startling that it makes us think that Job wasn’t as faithful as he seemed at first. We wonder why he could not continue as he began.

However, I somehow realized that this lament and cursing his birthday and conception was actually not an indication of crumbling integrity, but instead was his coming to the conclusion that he really had done the best he possibly could by repenting carefully.

I think he thought through his life and wondered how he could have done anything better in order to avoid what he was going through, and he realized he could not have improved on what he’d done. His sins were repented of, his good works were of the best quality. The only way he could have avoided the pain and loss he’d gone through was if he had died at birth. He continued as spiritually clean as he had been at birth, so to his mind it would have been better and saved more trouble if he had died at birth.

I hope that if I ever come to that same point of suffering that Job was at that I can have the same confidence, realizing I wouldn’t change a thing.   In the meantime, I can try to live each day such that I don’t regret anything, by sticking with my highest priorities, showing kindness, and by repenting of any sins I may have committed.

True doctrine can end religious strife

22 And also they had peace in the seventy and eighth year, save it were a few contentions concerning the points of doctrine which had been laid down by the prophets.

23 And in the seventy and ninth year there began to be much strife. But it came to pass that Nephi and Lehi, and many of their brethren who knew concerning the true points of doctrine, having many revelations daily, therefore they did preach unto the people, insomuch that they did put an end to their strife in that same year. (Helaman 11:22-23)

There are several neat things in these verses. First, true doctrine preached puts an end to religious strife. We’ve seen elsewhere that it has more effect on the minds of the people than the sword or anything else. It dispels doubt and ignorance and can become a shield against deceptions of the devil. (Of course, when people are more determined to carry their point than to learn the truth, it is another story.)

Another neat thing is that Nephi and Lehi and many others who knew the true points of doctrine still had many revelations daily. Their strong foundational knowledge did not prevent them from learning more, and they were able to perform a great service with their knowledge by helping end strife over doctrine. I also suppose some of their revelations helped them settle the strife as well.

So a good question for us is, when there is religious controversy do we remember important applicable points of doctrine that can help us settle it? Can we think of verses of scripture on the topic? Can we find applicable scriptures? Are there words of the modern-day prophets on the matter? I suspect that if we haven’t consulted the scriptures or the prophets on the question then we haven’t yet done all we can do, whether we have questions or whether we’re trying to help someone else with questions.