Come Now, and Let Us Reason Together

Lately I have been thinking about some of the common beliefs of our day which differ from the teachings of the restored gospel. As I have reasoned them out in my mind, I have come to find even more reasons for believing the way I do. I would like to share some of this reasoning with you. I borrow the phrase from the Bible, "Come now, and let us reason together":

Can a man look upon God?

Many religions teach that we could never look upon God. In some cases this is because they believe He has no form, and as taught by the Nicene creed, is without body, parts or passions. But if we reason this out together, the question could be asked, "Can God not show Himself to us?" If God is God, he is omnipotent and can do anything. If he could not show himself to us, he would cease to be omnipotent. In fact, there are several scriptures that refer to people seeing him. I'm not sure if people use a different interpretation to explain these witnesses, but I think their testimonies are clear. But I think that because they do not fit in with the creeds of today, they are dismissed.

JACOB

30And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. Gen. 32:30

STEPHEN

55But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the righthand of God,

56 And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Acts 7:55, 56

JOSEPH SMITH

22And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives!

23For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father—

24That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God. Doctrine and Covenants 76: 22-24

MOSES

4And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.

5And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.

6Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God. Exodus 3:4-6

1The words of God, which he spake unto Moses at a time when Moses was caught up into an exceedingly high mountain,

2And he saw God face to face, and he talked with him, and the glory of God was upon Moses; therefore Moses could endure his presence. Moses 1:1-2

LEHI

(from The Book of Mormon)

8And being thus overcome with the Spirit, he was carried away in a vision, even that he saw the heavens open, and he thought he saw God sitting upon his throne, surrounded with numberless concourses of angels in the attitude of singing and praising their God. 1 Nephi 1:8

Does God have a body?

One of the most common beliefs today is that God does not have a body. Once again, this is a belief that was iterated in the Nicene creed, as well as other creeds. Anything pertaining to the flesh was looked upon as evil, so the writers felt that God must not be flesh.

If we reason this out, we must remember that Jesus Christ was resurrected. If there had been no resurrection, then all of us, after death, would remain spirit. If God is a spirit, then why should we not remain spirits too? Why was the resurrection so necessary?

In our religion we believe that God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three separate personages. God the Father, and Jesus Christ both have physical, glorified bodies. The Holy Ghost has not as yet received a body because it is imperative that his spirit be able to commune with our spirits so that he can lead us in to all truth. If we are to become more like God, we must also have a body, and must be resurrected after death.

But even those who don't believe that they are three separate beings must still believe that God has a body. Jesus was resurrected with his body, and we have the witness of the New Testament. If Jesus is God, then God has a body.

Another witness of these two truths is Job. Job testified that not only would he be resurrected, but he would see God. If he were to see him, God must have a body.

JOB

25For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:

26And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:

27Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.

We should also remember that we are children of God.

16The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

17And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. Romans 8:16, 17

Nature shows us a pattern in this thing. Every offspring grows to be like it's parent. If God truly is our Father, then he must have a body like us.

And finally we have the Savior's witness on this subject:

39Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. Luke 24:39

I would like to write future posts that reason about other truths. I hope you will share your thoughts with me so that we can reason together!

The Keys of the Priesthood

I have written often about the "keys of the Priesthood". I think these explanations about the meaning of that term are very good:

President Joseph F. Smith: “The Priesthood in general is the authority given to man to act for God. Every man that has been ordained to any degree of the Priesthood, has this authority dedicated to him.

“But it is necessary that every act performed under this authority, shall be done at the proper time and place, in the proper way, and after the proper order. The power of directing these labors constitute the keys of the Priesthood. In their fullness, these keys are held by only one person at a time, the prophet and president of The Church. He may delegate any portion of this power to another, in which case that person holds the keys of that particular labor. Thus, the president of a temple, the president of a stake, the bishop of a ward, the president of a mission, the president of a quorum, each holds the keys of the labors performed in that particular body or locality. His Priesthood is not increased by this special appointment, for a seventy who presides over a mission has no more Priesthood than a seventy who labors under his direction; and the president of an elders’ quorum, for example, has no more Priesthood than any member of that quorum. But he holds the power of directing the official labors performed in the mission or the quorum, or in other words, the keys of that division of that work. So it is throughout all the ramifications of the Priesthood—a distinction must be carefully made between the general authority, and the directing of the labors performed by that authority.” (“Distinction between Keys of the Priesthood and Priesthood,” Improvement Era, Jan. 1901, p. 230.)

President Joseph Fielding Smith:

“These keys are the right of presidency; they are the power and authority to govern and direct all of the Lord’s affairs on earth. Those who hold them have power to govern and control the manner in which all others may serve in the priesthood. All of us may hold the priesthood, but we can only use it as authorized and directed so to do by those who hold the keys.

“This priesthood and these keys were conferred upon Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery by Peter, James, and John, and by Moses and Elijah and others of the ancient prophets. They have been given to each man who has been set apart as a member of the Council of the Twelve. But since they are the right of presidency, they can only be exercised in full by the senior apostle of God on earth, who is the president of the Church.

“May I now say—very plainly and very emphatically—that we have the holy priesthood and that the keys of the kingdom of God are here. They are found only in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“By revelation to Joseph Smith, the Lord said that these keys ‘belong always unto the Presidency of the High Priesthood’ ( D&C 81:2 ). . . .

“Now, brethren, I think there is one thing which we should have exceedingly clear in our minds. Neither the President of the Church, nor the First Presidency, nor the united voice of the First Presidency and the Twelve will ever lead the Saints astray or send forth counsel to the world that is contrary to the mind and will of the Lord.

“An individual may fall by the wayside, or have views, or give counsel which falls short of what the Lord intends. But the voice of the First Presidency and the united voice of those others who hold with them the keys of the kingdom shall always guide the Saints and the world in those paths where the Lord wants them to be. . . .

“I testify that if we shall look to the First Presidency and follow their counsel and direction, no power on earth can stay or change our course as a church, and as individuals we shall gain peace in this life and be inheritors of eternal glory in the world to come.” (In Conference Report, Apr. 1972, pp. 98–99; or Ensign, July 1972, pp. 87–88 .)

Quote of the Day: George Q. Cannon: Resisting Evil

President George Q. Cannon:

“The Lord our God has sent us here to get experience in these things so that we may know the good from the evil and be able to close our hearts against the evil. . . . It is true that some have greater power of resistance than others, but everyone has the power to close his heart against doubt, against darkness, against unbelief, against depression, against anger, against hatred, against jealousy, against malice, against envy. God has given this power unto all of us, and we can gain still greater power by calling upon Him for that which we lack. If it were not so, how could we be condemned for giving way to wrong influences?

“There could be no condemnation for our doing what we could not help; but we can help yielding to wrong influences and being quarrelsome and selfish. We can help giving way to the spirit of theft, and we can resist the spirit of lust. God has given us power to resist these things, that our hearts may be kept free from them and also from doubt; and when Satan comes and assails us, it is our privilege to say, ‘Get thee behind me, Satan, for I have no lot nor portion in you, and you have no part in me. I am in the service of God, and I am going to serve Him, and you can do what you please. It is no use you presenting yourself with your blandishments to me. You come and try to insinuate into my heart evil thoughts about the servants of God or about the work of God, and I will not listen to you; I will close my heart against you. . . .’

“Whenever darkness fills our minds, we may know that we are not possessed of the Spirit of God, and we must get rid of it. When we are filled with the Spirit of God, we are filled with joy, with peace and with happiness no matter what our circumstances may be; for it is a spirit of cheerfulness and of happiness.” ( Gospel Truth, 1:19–20.)

How to Forgive

One commandment that is often overlooked is the commandment to forgive. The Savior was questioned by Peter about forgiveness:

21¶Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?
22Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven. Matthew 18:21,22

The Savior then went on to tell the parable of the unjust steward. It is a story of a servant who owed a great debt to the King. He was in danger of being sent to debtor's prison, but the King forgave him the debt, which was very great. Not long after, the unjust servant went to call in a debt that was owed to him. The debt was much smaller than the debt he had owed to the King, but when the debtor could not pay, the unjust servant had him thrown in to prison. The King, hearing of this had the unjust servant sent to prison himself.

We all carry the debt of sin, but the Savior has paid that debt for us, conditional upon our repentance. But He also requires that we forgive those who offend us. In fact, the scriptures teach that if we do not forgive, we will not be forgiven of our own sins.

--But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses. Mark 11:26

--For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: Matthew 6:14

--Verily, verily, I say unto you, my servants, that inasmuch as you have forgiven one another your trespasses, even so I, the Lord, forgive you. Doctrine and Covenants 82:1

Forgiveness is crucial to our eternal salvation, and also to our development as people. If we can learn to forgive, then we can become more like Christ. But how do we forgive? Simply saying the words doesn't guarantee that we have forgiven.

This is an ability that I have struggled throughout my life to develop. At times there have been those who have offended me, and I have tried to forgive and carry on as normal, and not let it affect my relationship with them. But then I seem to never be able to forget what they have done, and when they repeated the offense, it made me feel justified all over again in being angry with them. At times I have told others about the offenses, and they too were shocked at what the person had done. I tried to put it behind me, but never seemed to quite be able to completely forgive. But our Father in Heaven frankly forgives us if we repent. He doesn't dredge it up continually, and doesn't tell others about it.

In modern day scripture we read this about how the Lord forgives us:

"Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more." Doctrine and Covenants 58:42
I have read this scripture many times, but recently it struck me as even more meaningful. When we repent, God forgives us, and remembers our sins no more. But the deeper message in this is found in the statement, "I, the Lord, remember them no more." Can He actually forget them? If he lost the ability to remember them, He would cease to be all knowing, and cease to be God. So it isn't that He can't remember them. He simply chooses to not remember them. He stops bringing it up. He lets it go, and stops allowing Himself to go over it again, and again. This, I feel, is the key to our being able to forgive others.

It occurred to me that being unforgiving is like any other temptation; we have to resist it. If I were to offer to show someone a pornographic picture, they hopefully would resist. Their conscience would tell them that such a thing was not right, and they would resist the temptation to look. We should do the same with remembering the offenses committed against us. We should resist the temptation to review them, and recount them to others. This is the method God uses to forgive us; He remembers our sins no more. He doesn't review them, and doesn't continually go over them.

Forgiveness, I'm convinced, isn't for the benefit of the person I have offended, as much as it is for my own benefit. Anger and resentment are poisons that are unhealthy for our spirits, as well as our bodies. If a rattlesnake were to bite us, would we focus on our anger at the rattler, and chase it down to kill it? If we did so, we would risk getting bit again, and the poisons would disperse through our body more quickly. The more appropriate action would be to seek medical help quickly. We can do the same with offenses made against us. Instead of reviling back at those who offend us, we can seek comfort from the Savior. This is a sort of spiritual medical help. Instead of anger at the lack of kindness on the part of the other person, perhaps we can focus on the damages they received in their own life that caused them to become offensive.

Forgiveness is an art that we should strive to develop. It is just like any other Christlike attribute in that we must seek help from the Spirit. But if we can learn to truly forgive others, we can become more like our Savior, and we can feel peace in the knowledge that God will also forgive us of the things that we do that are wrong.