This is the Way - Part 2; Receiving the Holy Ghost

In Part 1 I discussed baptism as the gate through which we enter our Father's kingdom.  We must have faith in Christ and accept Him with our whole hearts and without reservation.  We must desire and resolve to become like Him.  We must love Him, and our hearts must lean towards Him.  Then we will be alarmed to have Him see all the places in our lives and hearts where we fall short.  We are uncomfortable about approaching Him in prayer when we have these glaring faults and sins and habits that look so ugly in comparison to Him.  So we resolve to repent.  We work on doing better.  We ask for His help.  We get help from our scripture study, and over time we change and grow.

We repented before we were baptized, but building faith in Christ and repenting are cycles we go through over and over again as we cycle upwards towards exaltation.  As we do these things we are rewarded with the Gift and Spirit of the Holy Ghost.

We can receive the Spirit of the Holy Ghost as a testimony of truth before we're baptized, but that gift is temporary.  Only after our baptism can we be blessed with the Gift of the Holy Ghost.  That doesn't mean He will always remain with us, especially if we wander from the path and let go of the iron rod.  He will warn us of the danger and prompt us to return, but the scriptures say that the Spirit will not always strive with man.  We must constantly repent if we want to retain the power and influence and sweet presence of the Holy Ghost.

Boyd K. Packer said this about the Gift of the Holy Ghost:  

“Put your trust in that Spirit which leadeth to do good—yea, to do justly, to walk humbly, to judge righteously; and this is my Spirit.

“… I will impart unto you of my Spirit, which shall enlighten your mind, which shall fill your soul with joy;

“And then shall ye know, or by this shall you know, all things whatsoever you desire of me, which are pertaining unto things of righteousness, in faith believing in me that you shall receive” (D&C 11:12–14).

“You will know after you decide! It takes an exercise of faith. You may not know at first and have that firm conviction, but it will come.”

In an Education Week class taught by Doug Hart, a seminary teacher from Herriman, he taught that the Lord gives and we receive.  James 1:5  If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.  The Lord gives many things.  In the above verse, the Lord gives wisdom.  See 2 Nephi 28:30, 2 Nephi 31:3, Alma 12:9-10, Alma 26:22, D&C 121:26, 2 Cor 4:6, 2 Tim 2:7, D&C 5:12-13.  The Lord gives light, understanding, peace, power, guidance and direction, desire, joy, eternal life.  And what a great blessing it is that after baptism, He gives us the gift of the Holy Ghost.

But He doesn't force us to take it, nor does He force us to receive any of the gifts He gives us.  He will never take away our agency.  We must choose to receive His gifts.  Brother Hart said that we are cups, and we can choose to be cups up or cups down.  To receive means to take into one's possession something offered or delivered.  "The directive in 2 Nephi 32:5 is that we must receive the Holy Ghost. This means not just receive the gift of the Holy Ghost but to receive the companionship of the Holy Ghost through righteous living and frequent involvement in activities which give the opportunity for the Holy Ghost to whisper in his still, small voice. If we do this, we have the promise that He will show us all things that we should do."  http://www.gospeldoctrine.com/bomindex.html

I explained it to Acell this way:  The UPS driver may have a package for me, so he brings it to the doorstep and sets it on the porch, rings the doorbell, and leaves.  But if I don't answer the door and bring the package in and open it, the package does me no good.  I can sit inside the house all day and wish I had the contents, or try to do without it.  To receive any benefit from it, I must open the door and accept the package.

Of course, my analogy breaks down because the Lord doesn't drop off His gifts and leave.  He's more like the driver who requires a signature (a covenant), so He waits at the door until I come and accept the gift.  Here are some scriptures about receiving, in case you're not convinced:  D&C 50::19-20; D&C 39:5; D&C 42:5; D&C 50:24; D&C 71:5-6; Jacob 3:2; 1 Cor 2:14; JST Matt 13:10-11.

The gifts from our Father are there for us if we seek them, but we must receive them with gladness and put them to use and treat them with respect.  If Father's gifts are taken for granted or ignored or set aside or misused, He will cease to give us His gifts.  That especially includes the gift of the Holy Ghost.  We must respond and listen to the Holy Ghost, acting on promptings, in order to qualify to receive more.  I know this is true and I'm striving every day to learn to be more sensitive to the Spirit and to act when prompted.

Speak With the Tongue of Angels

This phrase has me fascinated.  I keep trying to imagine what it means and how to be blessed with it.

Nephi gives us some clues.  In 2 Nephi 31:13, he gives us a formula.
I want to try going backwards from the result.

Goal: Speak with the tongue of angels.
→  To receive it you must:  Experience a baptism of fire
→  To receive it you must:  RECEIVE the Holy Ghost.  (open your arms to the Gift.  Accept it with your whole heart.)
→  To receive it you must:  Follow our Savior into the water by being baptized.
→  To receive it you must:  Witness to the Father that you are willing to take upon you the name of Christ.
→  To receive it you must:  Repent of your sins.
→  To receive it you must:  Follow the Son with real intent (no hypocrisy or deception), with full purpose of heart.

Of course, the list is in backwards order.  If you reverse this list, you see that these are the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel.

When we have done all these things, and we receive the ability to speak with the tongue of angels, what do we do with it?  What does it look like?  Nephi has more to say about that later, but here in verse 13 he tells us one thing that we can do with this new gift:  We can shout praises unto the Holy One of Israel.  Does that mean that when we sing praises to the Lord with full purpose of heart we are speaking with the tongues of angels?  The Spirit is testifying to me that that is true.

Elder Boyd K. Packer said: 

Nephi explained that angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost, and you can speak with the tongue of angels, which simply means that you can speak with the power of the Holy Ghost. It will be quiet. It will be invisible. There will not be a dove. There will not be cloven tongues of fire. But the power will be there.

This is the Way - Part 1

I've spent the last several weeks studying three chapters of 2 Nephi.  I'm working on chapters 31, 32, & 33.  There is so much wonderful doctrine in these chapters, and I just haven't come to the understanding I'd like to have as yet.

Chapter 31 of 2 Nephi explains the pathway to returning to our Father in Heaven.  A quote from the summary at the first of the chapter:  Men must follow Christ, be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end to be saved.  It seems to me that Nephi has condensed the Gospel down to its essential elements here.  He tells us at the beginning of the chapter that his soul delights in plainness, and this doctrine is plain and simple.

• Follow the Savior
• Repent 
• Be baptized in the name of the Son
• He will bless us with the Holy Ghost, but we must choose to RECEIVE it.
• Endure to the end.

If we do these simple things, we are on the strait and narrow path.  We have entered at the gate and are on the road back to him. 

I've wondered about the ordinance of baptism.  Nephi tells us that the Savior was baptized to "fulfill all righteousness", to show us the path we should follow.  But shouldn't it be enough to just live a good life and declare our desire to serve Him without this ritual?  Why is baptism necessary?

The Bible dictionary contains the following quote:  Baptism in water has several purposes. It is for the remission of sins, for membership in the Church, and for entrance into the celestial kingdom; it is also the doorway to personal sanctification when followed by the reception of the Holy Ghost.

Baptism symbolizes the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, and that is why it must be done by immersion.  As with all commandments, it is designed to teach us something.  I believe that in addition to the purposes stated above, baptism is one of the many ordinances that asks us to humble ourselves and acknowledge that we are dependent upon God.  It requires putting on simple white clothes, stepping into the water, and allowing someone else to submerse us, even getting our hair wet.  That's probably why the early apostates decided to replace baptism by submersion with sprinkling.  Much less messy and humiliating.  Or should I say humbling?  [Comment from Scorchi:  It is interesting to me that sometimes we feel humiliated when we really should feel humbled. I think we FEEL humiliated when we are too prideful to BE humble.]

But humility is a good thing, and we need to be humble to accept the Gospel, and be humble to be baptized.   As we are submerged, or as we kneel before God in prayer, or as we accept and follow the ordinances of the temple, we set aside pride and acknowledge that we aren't the center of the universe.  We submit ourselves to God's will.  The ancient Children of Israel were bitten by fiery flying serpents, and when Moses raised up a brass figure of a snake on a pole, all the people had to do was to turn and look at it.  But many refused because it was too simple.  Naaman initially refused to wash in the waters of the Jordan river to cure his leprosy because it was beneath his dignity.  The Lord asks to do simple (and sometimes to the carnal mind, puzzling) things to show our humility and obedience.  Most often, we are asked to do these things without understanding a reason.  Why must I kneel?  Why must I be submersed?  What do the temple ordinances mean?  Why go through these rituals?  We are asked to obey without having all the answers.  That is the test.

Pondering - Isn't It a Good Thing?

Nephi says a strange thing at the beginning of 2 Nephi 32.  He says, " . . . why do ye ponder these things in your hearts?"  

We're constantly told that pondering is a good thing and that we need to spend more time pondering.  So why does it sound like he's rebuking them?  

In verse 8, he says, ". . . And now, my beloved brethren, I perceive that ye ponder still in your hearts; and it grieveth me that I must speak concerning this thing."  

Here again he's lamenting that the people ponder.  What's going on here?

I suggest that the people are puzzling about spiritual things without looking in the right places.  The clues are these quotes:  "Do ye not remember . . ." and "Wherefore, now after I have spoken these words, if ye cannot understand them it will be because ye ask not, neither do ye knock . . .".  Here's another telling quote:  " the Spirit stoppeth mine utterance, and I am left to mourn because of the unbelief, and the wickedness, and the ignorance, and the stiffneckedness of men . . ."

 Nephi tells them (and us) that the Lord has given them everything they need to know; all of the tools are there for their understanding, but they aren't using them.  These are the things that they must do:

• Remember the words of the prophets (v. 2)
• Feast upon the words of Christ (v. 3)
• Ask and knock (v. 4)
• Enter in by the way and be baptized (v. 5)
• Receive the Holy Ghost (v. 5)
• Pray always (v. 8-9)
• Hearken to the Spirit  (v. 8)

I think often we do as the people of Nephi did.  We perceive problems and have a hard time finding answers.  So we watch Dr. Phil on TV, or we read People magazine to find out how the movie stars resolve their problems, or we do a Google search for the answers.  No wonder Nephi is left to mourn.  We search in all the wrong places and harden our hearts against the source of the true answers.  We will not " . . . search knowledge, nor understand great knowledge, when it is given unto (us) in plainness, even as plain as word can be."

Press Forward

 2 Nephi 31:20 Wherefore, ye must press forward with a ^asteadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of ^bhope, and a ^clove of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and ^dendure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have ^eeternal life.

I want to try a little different way of studying this scripture and see how it works.  I tend to take things at face value and very literally, but I'm hoping this way of analyzing will help me see more deeply.  I will analyze and paraphrase each word or set of words to try to get a deeper meaning.  My words will be in parentheses and in red.

 20 Wherefore (Therefore, and thus we see, or here is a conclusion that I've reached after much study and prayer), ye (I) must (need to, have to, this is not optional) press (push, lean toward with energy, be deliberate, not just leisurely strolling) forward (not backward, moving ahead, progressing toward God) with a steadfastness (TG Commitment; Dedication; Perseverance; Steadfastness; Walking with God.) in Christ (Savior of the World, Redeemer, Holy One of Israel, Son of God), having (preserving, keeping, holding on to) a perfect brightness of hope, (deep spiritual peace, a confidence and comfort in the Savior; having a sure knowledge of the exquisite joy and happiness that comes with hope in Christ) and a love (charity, Pure Love of Christ, reverence) of (for) God (God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost) and (that's not all) of (for) all (not only our family and friends, but those who are less lovable) men (and women and children). Wherefore (pay attention for this is important), if (not when, but if.  We have our agency and can choose not to obey) ye shall press forward, feasting (not nibbling or tasting or putting ourselves on a scripture diet, but gorging ourselves) upon the word of Christ (the scriptures as well as the words of the modern-day prophets), and endure (continue in faith, still pressing forward with good works) to the end (the end of our lives), behold (pay attention), thus saith the Father (this is a promise made by the Father of our souls, who never lies): Ye (you, I, all of us) shall (not may or might, but will assuredly) have eternal life (no more death, but we shall live eternally with God, even live AS God, having eternal increase).