Ammon's words, and the words of others about Ammon, are a testimony of what may happen in an individual who lives a consecrated life.
Mosiah 8 "How blind and impenetrable are the understandings of the children of men" "They do not desire that [wisdom] should rule over them" "They are as a wild flock that fleeth from the shepherd" "A seer can know of things [... which] otherwise could not be known" "Man, through faith, might work many miracles" Alma 26 "I know that I am nothing [...] but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things" "Yea, he that repenteth and bringeth forth good works, and prayeth continually without ceasing--unto such it is given to know the mysteries of God; yea, unto such it will be given to reveal things which never have been revealed; yea, and it shall be given unto such to bring thousands unto repentance." Alma 27 "Now the joy of Ammon was so great even that he was full; yea, he was swallowed up in the joy of his God, even to the exhausting of his strength; and he fell again to the earth. Now was not this exceeding joy? Behold, this is joy which none receiveth save it be the truly penitent and humble seeker of happiness." Alma 17 "And Ammon said unto him: Yea, I desire to dwell among this people for a time; yea, and perhaps until the day I die." Alma 18 "Therefore Ammon turned himself unto the king, and said unto him: What wilt thou that I should do for thee, O king? And the king answered him not for the space of an hour, according to their time, for he knew not what he should say unto him." Ether 12 "Behold, it was the faith of Ammon and his brethren which wrought so great a miracle among the Lamanites." Alma 48 "Behold, he was a man like unto Ammon, the son of Mosiah, yea, and even the other sons of Mosiah, yea, and also Alma and his sons, for they were all men of God" Alma 17 "They had given themselves to much prayer, and fasting; therefore they had the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of revelation, and when they taught, they taught with power and authority of God." Ammon demonstrates selflessness and incredible dedication for the ministry; after being converted of the Lord he consecrates the rest of his life to serving and loving others. His actions of loving and serving King Lamoni humbly reflect a complete absence of personal motive for gain. He teaches him about repentance and wields the power of God to serve him on numerous occasions throughout their lives. He had ever given himself to prayer and fasting and desired to do the will of God, not his own. He was a man of faith, having faith enough to give up his natural self and all his sins for something greater. Having set his hand to the plow he never looked back. Was it this consecrated attitude that qualified him for the happiness he enjoyed? I believe that by consecrating himself so completely he became one with God and enjoyed a divine connection with Him, which included happiness that was more powerful than his strength could bear.
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Found myself placing more emphasis again on doing good (or even perfectly, or at least better than everyone else) than on being good for goodness' sake. This prideful attitude leads ultimately despair. It is looking "horizontally" for a confirmation of self-worth rather than "vertically" to the source of the light and truth within us. Brother Davis gave a timely talk to help us remember this. He said:
"At the end of the sermon on the mount, Jesus said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you." Another time, he taught that the kingdom of God is within us. So - seek the divinity that is within us. I believe that when we seek the kingdom of God within us and remember that is who we are, that we will have less need to medicate, whether it's with Word of Wisdom stuff or other behaviors or beliefs. I believe we will experience greater peace in our lives. I have experienced it myself in a small measure. When I'm operating from divinity, I see each of you as divine and I love you. When I'm in my natural man, you bug me." Sacrament Meeting, Oct. 27 There are many instances when Christ appears post-resurrection to His followers and yet remains unveiled. While the true intentions of the Savior's appearances to His followers are known completely only by Him, these appearances do show remarkable similarity and suggest a common purpose. They occur when those involved not only are deeply moved by their recent and poignant experiences with the Savior, but when they are also focused on a more temporal aspect of His life or influence, and are followed by experiences that lead to deepened, or truer, conversion. Christ's allowance for recognition to return, only to be coupled with further teaching that when applied will change the lives of the hearers, demonstrates a pattern in which Christ operates in our lives.
When Christ appeared to the people the Americas after His ascension into heaven, there was somewhat a commotion happening among them about both the "great and marvelous change which had taken place" in the land and also about the sign that had been given concerning His death. In order to hear His voice, they had to consciously "open their ears" to understand the voice of the Lord (3 Nephi 11). The teaching and healings that took place following the people's astonishment was comparable to other events in the Savior's ministry and in many ways arguably more celestial (3 Nephi 17). Little before, Christ had also appeared unto a Mary that was reasonably filled with sorrow over the displacement of His (now-glorified) body. It may be that in addition to His infinite compassion for she who had "chosen that good part, which [would] not be taken away from her" Christ wanted to reassure her of the true nature of life after death with "[his] Father, and [her] Father; and [His] God, and [Her] God" (Luke 10:42, John 20:17). Further, Christ appeared to two disciples when "they talked together of all these things which had happened" and chose to "expound unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself" (Luke 24:14, 27). When the Savior did allow for recognition, and when they would have perhaps been anxious to ask many questions of Him, He disappeared- giving them precious time along the journey back to Jerusalem to ponder the "burning" in their heart. When the Savior again appeared to the 12, He both comforted them of the "thoughts" that had "[arisen] in [their] hearts" and continued to teach about the fulfillment of the law and the need to spread the gospel in His name and by his authority (Luke 24: 38, 44-53). A similar experience happened with Peter along the sea of Tiberias. Recognizing the Savior outright in all of these experiences would have surely been a glorious experience, but may have done little to change existing understanding. Instead, the thoughts foremost in the mind (most likely concerning the miraculous events that had taken place that they had witnessed) came to be forgotten by the Savior's prompting. They were replaced with hope for things to come, for life beyond the veil, and for a new way to be. Allowing them again the choice to listen and to change their perceptions about the world, the Savior as the Master teacher inspired powerful changes in each individual personally and encouraged immense changes in the respective societies where he had been. The Savior's manifestation to Moses teaches that in our mortal state we are not yet ready to behold all the glory of the Father and Son (Moses 1:4). A direct manifestation of their power and light, while impressive, fades over time and the patterns of thought that were previously ours we find to have remained. I believe the Savior is doing perfectly well His work of "[bringing] to pass the immortality and eternal life of man", which He has chosen to do mostly by quiet promptings of the Holy Ghost in our lives (Moses 1:39; D&C 8:2-3). The choice to sincerely love God as manifest by our faith in little things increases our light until the perfect day, until we are endowed with God's power: so "that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is" (D&C 50:24; Moroni 7:48). At so many times throughout the past I have felt that I am failing at everything... Anybody else? :) It is probably one of the most difficult things to deal with personally when it becomes acute. It also seems to foment the study of one of the most-preached doctrines in churches today. But in the end, I am almost grateful that as people we go through this kind of trial; I believe that this anxiety can impulse us to learn about the true nature of Christ and His mercy towards us. Is not this the anxiety which leads us to understand by experience the true meaning of Grace? My hope here is that by studying the words of Christ I might come to a better understanding personally of what is Christ's role is in this dilemma, and what is mine.
First, a point in which I think all Christians generally believe is that Christ has the unique power to cleanse and to purify. I love reading the many testimonies that declare that through faith in Christ we can be made pure, and that our sin can be washed away. A passage of scripture that has always been a part of me says: "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like Crimson, they shall be as wool" (Isaiah 1:18). I do know for myself that when I approach God with a "broken heart and a contrite spirit" He heals, purifies and cleanses me beyond any power of my own that I could ever possess, and that it would be impossible for me to do so on my own (Psalms 51:17). What I and many others have felt is the newness that comes immediately afterward. This is being "born again" as Christ perfectly described (John 3:3-5). In this moment the cleanliness we feel is so strong that we feel no desire to do evil, but "to do good continually" (Moroni 7:13). It has been in these kinds of moments in my personal life when I experience the overwhelming feeling that I want to be perfectly loving, charitable, and true to whatever the Lord should ask of me. Isaiah's experience was the same: after having been purged by a live coal, his desire was to go and share the good news about Christ with all people (Isaiah 6). But there comes a danger with time: that of forgetting the real motive for doing good. Usually unknowingly, at some point I start to think that I must engage in good works because that is actually what makes me good. Step by step I start to unconsciously equate my salvation with the "righteous" things that I do. It would be like someone wanting to love others with the express intent that people laud his or her goodness, so as to increase his own gratification. They would want praise because it would confirm the idea that they "are good". Sounds a little Pharisaical, huh? In contrast, there may be some that feel that because they have had an experience accepting Christ as their Savior they are now safe, regardless of what they do in the future. The truth they will probably agree with, though, is that Christ still wants us to work and to labor in His vineyard as a natural consequence of our changed heart. That is the way that I feel: once converted, Christ still wants me "to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly" (Micah 6:8). I believe strongly that there can be no equivocation in this; He wants us to expend our very best efforts in serving our fellow men. There can be no justification in slacking off, because taking up one's cross to follow Christ indeed requires all we possess. Since the Cross He bore to Golgotha was certainly not light for Him, I can only imagine that following Him as He has asked us to do cannot be easy in the least. We simply cannot give up at giving our very best. The key difference in mentality here is that the changed heart always redirects the glory to God for the works that follow. The motivation for doing good works must always be humility, faith and thanks to God, and never for personal reasons. So, are we saved by our works? No. But there wouldn't be saved any man who does not have them. They are inseparable with the process of faith and conversion. Faith requires effort and work on our part for it to be real faith. Could this be termed as doing some kind of "work" to qualify for salvation? Well, serving in the Kingdom is never easy and yes, it is definitely "work". But it should be done with total deference to God alone, "lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:9). We keep the commandments because we love Him (John 14:15). And, in the end, Christ mercifully gives the same wage to all of the laborers in His vineyard, regardless of the time they have been there. Because one's works are a consequence of a changed heart, doing more of them does not buy more salvation. Ultimately the process of repenting and overcoming sin is not an isolated event. One's heart does not automatically remain pure forever without effort, as any religious leader might tell you after seeing good people make sorry choices and fall away. I believe that good works characterize Christians when they are truly converted, allowing that "all men [might] know that we are [his] disciples" because we "have love one to another" (John 13:35). But unless we live day to day in one continual struggle to overcome temptation and never forget Christ we will fall prey. Since we need Christ's forgiveness constantly, we need His grace constantly. Therefore we need faith and a broken heart--also constantly. "Wherefore, my beloved brethren, reconcile yourselves to the will of God, and not to the will of the devil and the flesh; and remember, after ye are reconciled unto God, that it is only in and through the grace of God that ye are saved" (2 Nephi 10:24, italics added). And so, in terms of the anxiety, I believe that all this time I have been misunderstanding grace and works: I entertained the fear at some level that I had to bring salvation to myself. If that were the case, then being perfect really would be a big deal... But there was already someone who did that for me. All I need to do initially is to have faith in Him, which faith should motivate my following His every command at all times. If I should now fall short, I need to come unto Him again. I cannot stew over little mistakes and let them destroy me. As a side-note this is why I believe--at least in part-- that covenants made and administered by correct authority are essential: they are a way to commit ourselves to a course of action with promised blessings from obedience. In the end, as a disciple of Christ has said: "Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God" (Moroni 10:32), as Moroni seals up the Book of Mormon). And the great missionary Paul, about his own labors in the vineyard: "For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me" (1 Corinthians 15:9-10).
A tribute to Tabitha's incredible and distinct phonemic inventory.
Spanish Term Paper... done. Whew.
I've been thinking a lot about why miscommunication happens between people. This paper is all about proof for reason that I think it happens. Essentially: Words are simply symbols. The associations that we make of a mental concept with a symbol/word/character etc. are different than the associations that others make with the same symbol/word/character. I mean, that is really the underlying reason for why I don't understand Bengali. I don't have the same associations (of concepts with physical production of sound I hear) as the natives do. This happens within one single language too, obviously, for when somebody smarter than you or of a different dialect talks to you. Different life experiences have created a different kind of association with the same words that we know, and therefore we understand the same sentence different ways. There are also associations with syntax, phonology, phonetics, etc. too, but it all just means that we acquire our method of speaking by (1) those around us and how they speak and (2) by the decisions we personally make about how to speak. The solution that I have come up with is begin to create the same associations with language that the other person has with whom we want to communicate. That is, if a certain life experience has given my wife a certain definition, syntactical structure, pronunciation, etc, all I have to do is become familiar with that experience that led her to that method of production. By understanding her life experience I gain exposure to them myself and therefore form the same associations and can understand more completely. Undeniable is the fact that little children who from birth are without care and compassion—motherly love—face difficulties and detriments that otherwise could have been avoided. What sadness to see the bitterness of souls who suffer neglect. Of course we need love; it is integral in human identity.
Likewise, I listen to the radio and never hear a song that doesn’t make some mention of it. I never go a day without hearing it discussed in conversation. But the more I try to get a feel for what the many of us as people feel and understand “love” to be, the more I believe that it is our experience that dictates our definition of it. For that reason a dictionary could never correctly outline its meaning; the meaning is already embodied in the person and therefore subject to evolution over a personal lifetime and differences among us collectively. In that vein our personal compilation of life experiences, emotions, and choices leads us to believe love to be a certain thing and to look for it in a certain type; if I perceive love a certain way, I would likewise expect it in that way. As an example, if one feels that personal time with somebody is the greatest expression of care, then he or she will look for that to be reciprocated. He or she probably couldn’t tell you exactly why that is the way they feel, though, or if there are scenes and decisions in the past that have led him to feel that way. For me, I have always felt that sincere communication validating my efforts is the hoped-for expression of love; the more eloquent they are, the more excited I get. I don’t know exactly why. But this seems superficial to me. This kind of love expects that what one wants, one will get. It is a hope for another to cater to one's idealization they have constructed for love. It may be that you expect a certain behavior from one you love, or that you expect a certain attitude, as two examples. In either case, the result is painful because it is not selfless and because the desired ‘love’ is never completely received. When the behavior it requests is forced it likewise causes pain. I believe that there is a holier, purer type of love that is possible to find and have. This selfless love, which by its nature extends itself without regard to all people, is more durable because it is kinder. A genuinely selfless attitude of love it not just caring for those we love (and all people, really), though it is certainly that; it is stronger than wishing to serve them, though that is true too; it is not simply blind to age, sex, smell, race, and language, but certainly does encapsulate that feeling. Rather, it goes beyond all these things to admire and cherish the very worth of the soul. In that moment the expectations we harbor personally dissolve. If my wish, then, had been a type of communication or behavior or attitude, this true love of that soul would wash it strongly away with the tide—because it is a faith in inherent divinity. My hope is that through this essay this feeling of this true love might be more evident to me and more attainable to us all. Consider the following: Going into a meeting which I would honestly rather not attend, I remind myself at what time it will end. I begin to plan in my mind the things that I will do when the meeting is over and look forward to it. Even though during the meeting I begin to realize there is content that is interesting to me, and although I start to get involved, I begin to be anxious and frustrated with the leader of the group when he goes 10 minutes over (when the things he/she was saying at that point were obviously not entirely necessary). It is clear that my expectations were set and that I refused to let them go on three occasions. I judged the leader of the group's intentions and felt superior to them because of the items I had already established that I could have been doing with that time. With our relationships to our loved ones, is it not sometimes the same? Do we not find ourselves thinking: "If so-and-so hadn't done THIS, then I could have done THIS!" "If my husband had only thought about how important that day really was to me we wouldn't be having this conversation right now." "If she hadn't spent all that time with her friends, she could have made me dinner like she said she would have!" This is the point at which many of us recognize that we do not wish to feel this way, and then become inordinately anxious. We ask ourselves if we are justified or if we are acting irrationally. In relationships this can cause confusion over compatibility. I would venture that our thoughts reflect the idea that "I deserve something, and I am justified because I didn't get what I want." However: on a deeper level it translates to "This is all about me", or "What I feel and think is more important than the way you do". Is this always conscious? I doubt it. I would say that rarely are we who harbor these feelings so meticulously cruel. But we have to be honest with ourselves about the way we feel if we are to find a way to work through it. We cannot deny that this kind of behavior has some serious effects on others. Perhaps the most heartbreaking thing is that there is inherent good inside the other person that this kind of pride completely blinds us to. This might even lead to the person affected feeling like no matter what they do they continuously fail, and only want to curl up in a ball and disappear. That is why it is dangerous to have these feelings, especially in those special, significant relationships with the people we love most. This idea extends to all of our relationships too; the way we treat others reflects the kind of love that we have for them. I think there is an unending list of things that can get on our nerves. Ultimately what I believe is that there is a way to shorten this list. It comes down to changing one's expectations and replacing it with something different. The truth that I am getting at is this: the goodness people possess outweighs the expectations we have so much as to break the scale beyond any comparison. I believe that all people indeed are worth the same, and that this worth is enormous. This is not an amount, but a characteristic. It is inherent, and it is divine. I believe the problems of judgment, hate, and pride would disappear a little more with an effort to look beyond the surface representation of people (that which we see, which makes us so angry) into the gold-encrusted halls of the soul. When we look superficially (because we are self-focused) we miss it. In that case what we assume is a defect in them is really an incomplete picture. They may have been acting in sincerity when we assumed ill-intent. Even though our intentions also may have also been good, the hurt there runs deeply on both sides. I believe, that after all we can do, we are endowed with eyes like those of the Savior, and our ability to love and to feel increases ten-fold over that which it would have been if either the love had come easy or if we had never loved at all. |
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