How Would You Describe Hiim?

Today I want to discuss my favorite scripture: Ether 12:39. I love it because of the short and simple description Moroni gives of a visit he received from the Savior.

But before we get into that, let's look at how some other prophets, modern and ancient, have described Him:
     -Moses 1:11,13-15, 18. Moses was struck by how much power the Lord had. So much power that he had to be physically changed in order to withstand His presence. He also noted how being around the Lord made him more discerning and intelligent.
     -Mormon 1:15. The Lord visited Mormon when he was just 15 years old. His only description of the visit was to say that he "knew of the goodness of Jesus."
     -Isaiah chapter 6. When Isaiah saw the court of God in a vision he was overcome by the majesty of the place. Instead of attempting to describe the Lord and his power, Isaiah instead tried to describe the place and those that served the Lord, and by so doing show how powerful, great and good the premortal Christ was.
     -JSH 1:17. For years after his visit from the Father and Son, Joseph Smith tried to find the right words to convey his experience. In early accounts he used the words "brightness and fire" and notes that he was surprised that the forest didn't catch fire. Later, in the account given in Joseph Smith History, which was taken from History of the Church, he gave up trying to describe it and simply says their "brightness and glory defy all description."
     -The account of the Lord's visit to the Nephites over and over talks about his love and compassion for his people
     -D&C19:15-20. The Lord even calls Himself "the greatest of all."

Each of the prophets that have seen Jesus have focused on different aspects of the Savior when they tried to describe him, the aspects that most impressed them. Before you continue, I encourage you to stop and imagine what it would be like if Jesus were to speak to you face to face. What would you focus on? Would it be his love? His power? His glory?

Here's what Moroni says in Ether 12:39, a scripture that I imagine is often just passed over in our race to finish the Book of Mormon:

"And then shall ye know that I have seen Jesus, and that he hath talked with me face to face, and that he told me in plain humility, even as a man telleth another in mine own language, concerning these things;"

Ever since I first noticed this scripture it has struck me that the aspect of Christ that most impressed Moroni was his "plain humility." Or in other words, it was easily apparent; it was simple; it wasn't an affectation. The Savior told Moroni about the Plan of Salvation and His part in it, and did so without an ounce of pride or self aggrandizement. This is amazing to me.


For instance, every time I read D&C 19:15-20, in which the Lord calls Himself "the greatest of all," I would think "Boy, He sure is full of Himself." I couldn't see the reason behind the statement. All I could hear was someone trying to tell me he was better than me and my own pride instantly responded.

But then I read Ether 12:39 and I was floored. I had always known and said that Jesus was perfect, but it hadn't ever occurred to me that that included being perfectly humble. It was simple and obvious, but it had somehow escaped me. The simple statement that Jesus is plainly humble put so many things into perspective. I realized that D&C 19:15-20, which had so bothered me, was a plea for me to repent so that I won't have to suffer as He did. The most important part of that scripture stopped being Christ calling Himself "the greatest of all" and instead became "glory be to the Father" because Jesus gave Him the honor and glory for the Atonement.

I considered discussing in this post what it means to be truly humble, but since I wanted it to be short and sweet this time and I've already gone longer than I intended, maybe I'll save that for a future one. (Plus the kids are running around the house making it hard to concentrate.)

For now, it's enough to say that I love Ether 12:39. The simple perspective it gives helped me form a deeper understanding of Christ's personality and strengthened my testimony of Him.

Above Every Beast of the Field

In the accounts found in Genesis and the book of Moses of Adam and Eve's transgression in the Garden of Eden there is a two verse portion in which our Heavenly Father curses Lucifer. It is often glossed over or even skipped in classes by teachers because they want to focus on our first parents, or maybe they don't understand the significance of the event. But even though the scriptures can seem dry and dusty to us reading it today, this was a hugely dramatic moment and the culmination of untold years of rebellion by the man/spirit who would come to be known as Satan. It's important to note that up until this point, Lucifer had not yet been cursed.

To understand it fully, we need to go back to pre-mortality and look at what we know about Lucifer. At one point he was a "son of the morning" (D&C 76:26-27) and possibly was one of the "noble and great ones" seen by Abraham. But over time he became proud that he was better than so many of his brothers and sisters (as opposed to Christ who, although  he is "the greatest of all", remained and remains humble), and eventually believed he was wiser and more intelligent than God (2 Nephi 24: 13-14). He was a clever and capable speaker, enough so that when he decided to rebel against the Plan of Salvation he was able to convince a full third of our brothers and sisters to follow him. In the scriptures there is at least one example of one of his followers being taught that same ability to speak (Alma 30:52-53). Because he feels that the rest of us are beneath him, Satan doesn't care what happens to those who follow him (Alma 30:60).

With those aspects of his personality in mind, it's not hard to imagine what happened in the premortal Council in Heaven. Our Father in Heaven presented the Plan, in which all of his children would be given the opportunity to have their worthiness tested, in which all would choose to either live the gospel and be given eternal life or to live their own way and receive something less. We were told that while everyone would be given the same opportunity, because of the choices we make, not everyone would be worthy of the greatest blessings.

Lucifer saw this as his opportunity to shine and presented his own plan in which no one would be lost, regardless of their own worthiness. He didn't present his plan out of concern for his brother's and sister's salvation, remember that he thought the rest of us to be beneath him, but rather he presented it to try to get some of God's glory. The "old serpent" was confident that if enough of Heavenly Father's children asked Him to go with his plan, then God would acquiesce and give him the reins.
But his plan was rejected. Lucifer could have chosen to be humble and acknowledge our Father's wisdom, but instead he set out to turn as many of His children as he could against God's plan.

Lucifer knew they risked being cast out for rebellion, God is never ambiguous about consequences, but did it anyway, trusting that our Father's love and the thought of losing so many of his beloved children would force Him to change His mind. Fortunately for us, and unfortunately for them, our Heavenly Father is a God of Justice, and he "cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance." So even though it must have been unimaginably painful for Him, He had to cast out those that rebelled.

Tangentially, I've often wondered if Lucifer and his followers being cast out is a version of the same spiritual death we each experience when we sin. Would they have been allowed to return if they had repented? Was being cast out until repentance commonplace in premortality? If that was the case, and I believe it was, it is a testament to Lucifer's powers of persuasion that they remained with him rather than repent and return. I can see him telling the billions of spirits surrounding him that he would get them back without needing to repent. I can also hear the self-defeating pride in his voice when he says to himself, "I was right, God was wrong. I shouldn't need to repent. He should be supplanted!"

So the Garden of Eden was created along with its Trees, and Adam and Eve were formed. They were told not to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, but were also told that it was given unto them. Whether that means the power to choose was theirs, or the Tree itself was theirs I'm not sure, but it's clear that God was letting them know they were allowed to do as they chose with it. He also let them know there would be consequences.

I don't want to go too much into the temple ceremony, but there are a couple aspects found only there that are crucial to understanding what happened, so I'll only briefly touch on them: First, it seems that every world has had an Adam and Eve, and they have been given the same commandment each time. That is, that they shouldn't eat the fruit of the Tree. Second, it seems that on each world an angel has come to convince them to eat of the Tree so that they can progress and learn from their own experiences.

Lucifer decided he would take that honored position without being called to do so. In his mind, if God accepted the work he'd done to move the Plan forward, then He would have to accept him back. So he went and tempted Adam and Eve to eat of the fruit. He used the same temptation he continues to use on teenagers today, the same temptation that I imagine he used to convince a third of the hosts of heaven to rebel: Dad is trying to keep you from being all you can. He's trying to control you, dominate you, keep you from being you.

So when Heavenly Father confronted Lucifer and asked for an explanation of what he'd done, he confidently answered that he'd completed this portion of the work. He expected to be praised and thanked, instead he was cursed. He'd forgotten one truth: That "no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God" (Hebrews 5:4). I can't choose to become a bishop, or stake president, or apostle, and neither could Lucifer step in and perform this necessary function without having been called. Also, not only had he acted in a priesthood office to which he hadn't been called, he wasn't worthy to do so.

Where before he'd only been cast out for rebellion, because he'd tried to take honour unto himself, now he was cursed and he became Satan.

Why did I choose this topic for my first blog post? Christ is our ideal. He is everything that our Father in Heaven hopes we will be. He is an example of our own potential (we'll talk about that in a future post). Unfortunately, all too often we follow Satan's example, and so his past relationship with the Father and his mistakes can often teach us much about our own tendencies.

Are we people who refuse to repent when error comes? Do we tell ourselves it wasn't really a sin because of extenuating circumstances? Do we try to get back into God's good graces by doing other good things when we haven't really addressed our problem?

May we each of the humility and strength of character to overcome our own spiritual deaths and return to our Father in Heaven's presence.

Intro

With the number of blogs out there, there is little to no doubt in my mind that this will never be viewed by anyone but me. And that's just fine. This will be a place for me to write my thoughts and speculation on gospel topics; the things I feel would probably only confuse others if brought up during Gospel Doctrine.
For instance, what does it mean in 1 Nephi 18:18 when it says that his parents were at the point of being "carried out of this time to meet their God"? Or what about in 2 Nephi 2:29 where it states "the will of the flesh and the evil which is therein" is what gives the devil power over us?
I'll also discuss some of my favorite scriptures and topics; among them my favorite scripture Ether 12:39, and the writings of Isaiah.
In short, this blog is intended to be nothing more than a way for me to clarify in my own head some of the thoughts, and possible revelations, that I've had. I plan to go deep and have fun with it. If anyone reads these, please understand that these are my own opinions, and not necessarily gospel truth. Take them in the light they were written.