Our Desperate Needs

In the midst of our mortal predicament we have needs, even desperate needs. The first is for a mentor, an exemplar, one who has been over not just a similar road but an even far worse one. A person who can show us what we have it in us to do and to become. One who is able without hypocrisy to say to us: "What manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you even as I am" (3 Nephi 27:27).

Second, we need a person who knows the heights and depths of our frailty, our stupidities, and our failures, no matter how extreme they become. He must be no stranger to our glaring imperfections, immaturity, and rebellions. We need one who is acquainted first-hand with all these earthly weaknesses. And as a physician of mind and body, he must know the antidotes to the poisons we have inherited and imbibed.

Third, we need a person who acts in our behalf not because of compulsion nor grudgingly but because of genuine care, rooted in love -- a constant and steady love. Otherwise how can we trust him? How can we be assured that at some point he will not abandon us, go his own way, let us down?

Fourth, when we run afoul of the law and founder in the aftereffects, including guilt and torment, we need, indeed we crave, an even-handed and wise judge. But we long for him to also be merciful: one who has the right, the authority, and the ability to deliver us from the threats of bondage and the compounding of our misdeeds. He must be willing, whatever the decrees of others, to use his own resources to absolve us from severe punishment, indeed, to intervene in our behalf, even if that means he himself has to pay the penalty. Most remarkable of all, he must be willing to do the same for those we have injured, mistreated, misled.

Is there any person in the universe who qualifies for such multiple roles? Only one.

By Truman G. Madsen

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A Catholic Utterance

In a pamphlet entitled "The Strength of the Mormon Position," the late Elder Orson F. Whitney, of the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, related the following incident under the heading "A Catholic Utterance":

Many years ago a learned man, a member of the Roman Catholic Church, came to Utah and spoke from the stand of Salt Lake Tabernacle. I became well-acquainted with him, and we conversed freely and frankly. A great scholar, with perhaps a dozen languages at his tongue's end, he seemed to know all about theology, law, literature, science and philosophy. One day he said to me:

"You Mormons are all ignoramuses. You don't even know the strength of your own position. It is so strong that there is only one other tenable in the whole Christian world, and that is the position of the Catholic Church. The issue is between Catholicism and Mormonism. If we are right, you are wrong; if you are right, we are wrong; and that's all there is to it. The Protestants haven't a leg to stand on. For, if we are wrong, they are wrong with us, since they were a part of us and went out from us; while if we are right, they are apostates whom we cut off long ago. If we have the apostolic succession from St. Peter, as we calim, there is no need of Joseph Smith and Mormonism; but if we have not that succession, then such a man as Joseph Smith was necessary, and Mormonism's attitude is the only consistent one. It is either the perpetuation of the gospel from ancient times, or the restoration of the gospel in latter days."

(LeGrand Richards, A Marvelous Work And A Wonder, The Church In This Dispensation, p. 3)

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An Empty Sacrament Table

One Sunday morning our teenaged son stood with two other priests to administer the sacrament, as they had done on many prior occasions. They pulled back the white cloth, but to their dismay there was no bread. One of them slipped out to the preparation room in hopes some could be found. There was none. Finally our troubled son made his way to the bishop and shared the concern with him. A wise bishop then stood, explained the situation to the congregation, and asked, "How would it be if the sacrament table were to be empty today because there were no Atonement?" I have thought of that often -- what would it be like if there were no bread because there had been no crucifixion, no water because there had been no shedding of blood? If there had been no Atonement, what would the consequences be to us? Of course, the question is now moot, but it does put in perspective our total dependence on the Lord. To ask and answer this question only heightens our awareness of, and appreciation for, the Savior. What might have been, even for the "righteous," if there had been no atoning sacrifice, stirs the very depths of human emotion.

First, there would be no resurrection, or as suggested in the explicit language of Jacob: "This flesh must have laid down to rot and to crumble to its mother earth, to rise no more" (2 Nephi 9:7).

Second, our spirits would become subject to the devil. He would have "all power over you" and "seal you his" (Alma 34:35). In fact we would become like him, even "angels to a devil" (2 Nephi 9:9).

Third, we would be "shut out from the presence of our God" (2 Nephi 9:9), to remain forever with the father of lies.

Fourth, we would "endure a never-ending torment" (Mosiah 2:39).

Fifth, we would be without hope, for "if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain...If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable" (1 Corinthians 15:14, 19)...

Without the Atonement, Macbeth's fatalistic outlook on life would have been tragically correct; it would be a play without a purpose:

"Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage

And then is heard no more. It is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing" 

(William Shakespeare, Macbeth, 5.5.25-28).

Life would signify nothing without Christ's redemptive act.

By Tad R. Callister

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The people are called by the names of "Lamanites" and "Nephites"

"Now the people which were not Lamanites were Nephites; nevertheless, they were called Nephites, Jacobites, Josephites, Zoramites, Lamanites, Lemuelites, and Ishmaelites.

"But I, Jacob, shall not hereafter distinguish them by these names, but I shall call them Lamanites that seek to destroy the people of Nephi, and those who are friendly to Nephi I shall call Nehites, or the people of Nephi, according to the reigns of the kings." (Jacob 1:13-14)

This simplification by Jacob is consistently adhered to in the Book of Mormon. What should be remembered is that this is just that -- a simplification. The Book of Mormon was written for us, in plainness, to our understanding. The details of peoples, customs, cities, wars, etc. could not be fairly dealt with in such a small record. As Mormon admitted, I cannot write the hundredth part of the things of my people (Words of Mormon 1:5). Therefore, it makes it easier for us to understand the story if the "good guys" are called "Nephites" and the "bad guys" are called "Lamanites."

Daniel H. Ludlow explains these terms as follows:

"In general, the terms 'Nephites' and 'Lamanites' are used with the same meaning for the first 500 years of Nephite history. The term Nephites refers to all those who followed after Nephi and to their descendants. The term Lamanites refers to those who followed after Laman and to their descendants. However, it is mentioned later in the Book of Mormon that there were no 'ites' of any kind during the 200-year Golden Age immediately after the appearance of the resurrected Jesus Christ. (See 4 Nephi 1:17)

"After this 200 year period of righteousness, the terms 'Lamanites' and 'Nephites' are used again, but with somewhat different meanings than those used earlier in the Book of Mormon...

"...In A.D. 231 'there arose a people who were called the Nephites, and they were true believers in Christ ... therefore the true believers in Christ, and the true worshipers of Christ ... were called Nephites. ... And it came to pass that they who rejected the gospel were called Lamanites.' (4 Nephi 1:36-38)

"The terms Nephites and Lamanites for the remainder of the Book of Mormon are determined by this division, which had taken place by A.D. 231. In other words, the Lamanites of the last two hundred years of the Book of Mormon history are descendants of those who revolted against the true church of Christ between about A.D. 194 and 231." (Daniel Ludlow, A Companion to Your Study of the Book of Mormon, p. 156, 296)

Compiled by Ryan Constantine

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The Parable of the Bicycle

I was sitting in a chair reading. My daughter, Sarah, who was seven years old at the time, came in and said, "Dad, can I have a bike? I'm the only kid on the block who doesn't have one."

Well, I didn't have the money then for a bike, so I stalled her. I said, "Sure, Sarah."

She said, "How? When?"

I said, "You save all your pennies, and so you'll have enough for a bike." And she went away.

A couple of weeks later I was sitting in the same chair when I heard a "clink, clink" in Sarah's bedroom. I asked, "Sarah, what are you doing?"

She came to me with a little jar, a slit cut in the lid, and a bunch of pennies in the bottom. She said, "You promised me that if I saved all my pennies, pretty soon I'd have enough for a bike. And, Daddy, I've saved every single one of them."

My heart melted. My daughter was doing everything in her power to follow my instructions. I hadn't actually lied to her. If she saved all of her pennies, she would eventually have enough for a bike, but by then she would want a car. I said, "Let's go look at bikes."

We went to every store in town. Finally we found it -- the perfect bicycle. She was thrilled. Then she saw the price tag, and her face fell. She started to cry. "Oh, Dad, I'll never have enough for a bicycle!"

So I said, "Sarah, how much do you have?"

She answered, "Sixty-one cents."

"I'll tell you what. You give me everything you've got and a hug and a kiss, and the bike is yours." Then I drove home very slowly because she insisted on riding the bike home.

As I drove beside her, I thought of the atonement of Christ. We all desperately want the celestial kingdom. We want to be with our Father in Heaven. But no matter how hard we try, we come up short. At some point all of us must realize, "I can't do this by myself. I need help." Then it is that the Savior says, in effect, "All right, you're not perfect. But what can you do? Give me all you have, and I'll do the rest."

He still requires our best effort. We must keep trying. But the good news is that having done all we can, it is enough. We may not be personally perfect yet, but because of our covenant with the Savior, we can rely on his perfection, and his perfection will get us through.

By Stephen E. Robinson