Choice and Accountability

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Sunday afternoon session of the October 2009 conference.

One of my pet peeves is members of the church who speed, never allowing enough time to drive somewhere at or below the posted speed limit. I find it rather disingenuous to pray for safe travels and then break the laws. I wonder how members can use justifications to break the speed limit laws that would sound comical to justify breaking other laws or commandments. "Well, I'm just stealing a candy bar, not a television." "I'm just having a little bit of coffee, it's mostly milk." "It's just one cigarette when I'm feeling really stressed." 

In Elder Quentin L. Cook's talk, Stewardship--A Sacred Trust, he says, "This feeling of accountability, which is encompassed by the first great commandment to love God, has been described by some as 'obedience to the unenforceable.' We try to do what is right because we love and want to please our Father in Heaven, not because someone is forcing us to obey." Isn't that how speed laws are? They are rarely enforced, we obey them because we want to be safe, and found on the right side of the law. How much more important are the commandments, especially the ones that will let us into or keep us out of the temple.

Elder Cook tells the story of his grandfather returning to his ranch in his old age to find that the fences protecting the spring had deteriorated and cattle had gotten into the spring and polluted it. The grandfather felt terrible that he hadn't been able to keep up what he felt was his stewardship to protect that source of pure water. Because of the grandpa's reaction to the polluted spring, action was taken to renew the fences and put in place protections to return the spring to its original loveliness and purity.

Elder Cook says, "I would suggest that if we think about giving an accounting of our actions to the Savior, our rationalizations will be seen in their true light."

Elder D. Todd Christofferson's talk, Moral Discipline had similar themes. He said, "Moral discipline is the consistent exercise of agency to choose the right because it is right, even when it is hard."

Exceeding the speed limit is not necessarily a moral issue, except if you think about the example you are setting for your children. Especially if you think about saying to them at the time they get their driver's license--do as I say not as I do, because the insurance cost will skyrocket if you get a ticket.

If we are faithful in small things we are practicing to be faithful and obedient in larger things, especially in the arena of moral choices. 

Elder Christofferson told about President James E. Faust standing before a board of inquiry when he applied to officer candidate school and being asked "In times of war should not the moral code be relaxed? Does not the stress of battle justify men in doing things that they would not do when at home under normal situations?" And his answer, "I do not believe there is a double standard of morality."

Elder Christofferson ended with this timely counsel. "We cannot presume that the future will resemble the past--that things and patterns we have relied upon economically, politically, socially will remain as they have been. Perhaps our moral discipline, if we will cultivate it, will have an influence for good and inspire others to pursue the same course. We may thereby have an impact on future trends and events. At a minimum, moral discipline will be of immense help to us as we deal with whatever stresses and challenges may come in a disintegrating society."

Looking around at the world today we can see how our choices can either draw others to Christ or turn them away. There is no middle ground anymore. We can be moral beacons to guide others to the safety of the Gospel.

Preparing for Heaven

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Sunday afternoon session of the October 2001 conference.

Another great session; in fact, I've long believed that members who skip out of the Sunday afternoon session miss out on some of the best talks. This was no exception.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell gave some prophetic counsel:

Strange, in a time otherwise obsessed with entitlements, how little concern there is over our becoming entitled to the blessings of heaven.

One of the best ways we can put off the "natural man" is to starve him (Mosiah 3:19). Weakened, he is more easily dislodged. Otherwise, he insists on getting his ticket punched at every stop on the temptation train. 

Those who live "after the manner of happiness" (2 Ne. 5:27) also wisely develop protective, spiritual manners. These manners are reflected in their proper dress, language, humor, and music, thereby sending the signal of determined discipleship (see Prov. 23:7). 

We can see the value of this counsel today as we battle the degeneration all around us. I don't think it matters where we live, near church headquarters, or out in Babylon, evil is everywhere, blatant and loud.

Elder Maxwell spoke of the seventh commandment being a shield for us. He uses such poetic language too. "Likewise, husbands and wives can deliberately avoid drifting apart by refusing to relax their loyalties and by not being caught in the strong currents leading to waterfalls."

I know from personal experiences that Elder Maxwell was correct! The commandments are a blessing to us, keeping us safe from the consequences of giving up and giving in to temptation. The commandments help us learn what heaven is like and prepare us for life there.

Personal Purity

 

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Sunday afternoon session of the October 1998 conference.

"As modern winds of immorality swirl luridly around them, I am concerned for any of our youth or young adults who may be confused about principles of personal purity, about obligations of total chastity before marriage and complete fidelity after it."

So begins Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's power sermon on personal purity, which is a much needed refresher course for today. Too many people don't understand the plan and purpose of life on earth. Too many are under the false impression that we evolved from some primeval pond scum and can do whatever we want with our bodies. Many people are more concerned about conserving the earth, plants and animals than about taking precious care of their physical and spiritual selves. Most don't even know that we have spiritual bodies housed in our physical ones. 

During my youth and young adult years I certainly struggled with morality. Not because I didn't know any better, but because I hadn't been taught how to control the powerful emotions I felt and thought I was somehow different than the rest of the girls. No one told me I would have sexual urges; we were just told to resist the advances of young men. 

Elder Holland quotes Will and Ariel Durant, "A youth boiling with hormones will wonder why he should not give full freedom to his sexual desires; [but] if he is unchecked by custom, morals, or laws, he may ruin his life before he . . . understand[s] that sex is a river of fire that must be banked and cooled by a hundred restraints if it is not to consume in chaos both the individual and the group."

Long after I was married I learned and began to understand that the way we use our God given powers of procreation will determine if we will have that power and gift in the eternities. Once during a temple session I had a brief glimpse of eternity and eternal increase. It was a moment of great joy, which filled me with determination to be found worthy of that gift so I could feel that joy forever. 

I'm so grateful for another gospel gift, that of repentance and forgiveness through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Elder Holland ends his talk with this testimony, "I bear witness of the great plan of life, of the powers of godliness, of mercy and forgiveness and the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ--all of which have profound meaning in matters of moral cleanliness. I testify that we are to glorify God in our body and in our Spirit."

Morality

While re-reading Morality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith I came across this profound and timely passage:

Mma Ramotswe knew that there was a great deal of debate about morality, but in her view it was quite simple. In the first place, there was the old Botswana morality, which was simply right. If a person stuck to this, then he would be doing the right thing and need not worry about it. There were other moralities, of course; there were the Ten Commandments, which she had learned by heart at Sunday School in Mochudi all those years ago; these were also right in the same, absolute way. These codes of morality were like the Botswana Penal Code; they had to be obeyed to the letter. It was no good pretending that you were the High Court of Botswana and deciding which parts you were going to observe and which you were not. Moral codes were not designed to be selective, nor indeed were they designed to be questioned. You could not say that you would observe this prohibition but not that. I shall not commit theft--certainly not--but adultery is another matter: wrong for other people, but not for me.

Most morality, thought Mma Romatswe, was about doing the right thing because it had been identified as such by a long process of acceptance and observance. You simply could not create your own morality because your experience would never be enough to do so. What gives you the right to say that you know better than your ancestors? Morality is for everybody, and this means that the views of more than one person are needed to create it. That was what made the modern morality, with its emphasis on individuals and the working out of an individual position, so weak. If you gave people the chance to work out their morality, then they would work out the version which was easiest for them and which allowed them to do what suited them for as much of the time as possible. That, in Mma Romatswe's view, was simple selfishness, whatever grand name one gave to it.

Wise! Very wise. 

If you haven't treated yourself to reading The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, you are missing out on some delightful stories. I highly recommend it.