Saturday, December 5, 2009

2 Nephi - Chapter 28


For behold, he that is built upon the rock receiveth it with gladness; and he that is built upon a sandy foundation trembleth lest he shall fall.
Thank heaven for the blessing of continuing revelation!  Last year I had a co-worker and good friend who is a Landmark Baptist Preacher.  We no longer work together, but he remains a friend.  He had spent years in divinity school and was truly a scholar.  He was an honest one at that.  His extensive studies of the Bible had lead him to abandon many traditional beliefs held dear by other Baptists.  The consequence is that his congregation is small and he gets a fair amount of persecution among his peers.  I love that through honest study he has learned so much truth.  We found (percentage wise) very little to disagree about.  Of course we were seeking to find an "area of agreement" as President Hugh B. Brown used to say, rather than focus on points upon which we didn't agree.

My point here is, however, that despite almost superhuman effort and honesty.  My friends still comes short of the fullness of the gospel because he can't yet countenance continuing revelation nor central church authority.  We are so very blessed to have The Book of Mormon and other scripture of the restoration.  We are so blessed to be led by living prophets who have none other desire than to convey the word of the Lord.  I think all the woes pronounced in this chapter are not threats as much as they are expressions of sorrow at the plight so many good people endure while struggling, sometimes valiantly, in the darkness.

Then of course there are the proud.  I have a friend who has been addicted to pornography for years.  He knows he needs help.  I know he could learn a lot about the Atonement that he doesn't yet fully understand, if he would attend LDS Addiction Recovery Program meetings.  He says he'd like to.  His wife insists it would be too mortifying a breach of privacy.  For pride, he stays home, suffers alone and remains addicted.  That's how pride works it's destruction; in our self avowed determination to repent without humility.  Of course the greater problem with pride is not in the rejection of the Lord's programs but rather in rejection of the Lord himself.  To the degree that we have a notion that we can save ourselves without a savior, we are condemned.  Not as much by our misdeeds as by our rejection of the only way by which we might escape them.

3 comments:

di said...

32 Wo be unto the Gentiles, saith the Lord God of Hosts! For notwithstanding I shall lengthen out mine arm unto them from day to day, they will deny me; nevertheless, I will be merciful unto them, saith the Lord God, if they will repent and come unto me; for mine arm is lengthened out all the day long, saith the Lord God of Hosts.

I looked up woe
(OE – wo)
1. great sorrow; grief
2. trouble

My favorite thing was that in my dictionary it was listed right after ‘wobble’.

I teach ‘Strengthening the Family’, and one of the lessons is ‘Applying Consequences’ and we teach that there are ‘natural’ and ‘logical’ consequences to an action. The natural consequences are the natural result of our actions. I think that ‘Wo’ might be one of these natural consequences to the natural consequences.

My favorite concept here is the Lord God with his arm ‘lengthened’. Who hasn’t experienced that?-- Especially in ‘wo’ producing transgression. There we are in our grief and sorrow, and we ‘look’ and find this comforting, protecting arm lengthened out all the way to us.

(((hugs –Chrys, Carol)))

D1Warbler said...

D1, I love knowing that "wo" comes right after "wobble" in the dictionary! What an extraordinary correlation -- totally unintended (for our purposes) by the publisher of the dictionary, I'm sure, but very enlightening and thought provoking regardless. That's a correlation I won't soon forget as I've often experienced a "wo" after a "wobble!"

I'm just grateful that the Lord continues to extend his loving arm to me after each "wobble" and it's resultant "wo"!

D1Warbler said...

Sorry, Di. I did mean "Di" not D1! (Too much time spent typing D1Warbler!)