It’s Halloween today, and in the spirit of scariness and goblins and ghouls, we thought we would do a quick post to remind us something about the original ghoul:  the devil.

Halloween is a funny time because some people dress up as these scary characters, but underneath it all they are just people.  It’s like during Star Wars III (nerd alert: Star Wars/gospel comparison) when they finally removed the helmet of Darth Vader, and you realize that the big scary dude in black was just an old creepy looking, semi-pathetic guy.  Most people’s thoughts when seeing Vader without his helmet were probably, “Well, what’s to be afraid of? Even I could take that guy.”  The prophet Isaiah says something similar to what we will say when the day comes that we see Satan and who he is.  The Prophet Isaiah wrote:

“They that see thee [Satan] shall narrowly look upon thee, and shall consider thee, and shall say: Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms?” (Isaiah 14:16; 2 Nephi 24:16)

Joseph Smith observed “that Satan was generally blamed for the evils which we did, but if he was the cause of all our wickedness, men could not be condemned. The devil could not compel mankind to do evil; all was voluntary. . . . and such ideas as were entertained [on these subject of the devil making us do things] by many were absurd” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 187). On another occasion Joseph Smith taught that, “All beings who have bodies have power over those who have not. The devil has no power over us only as we permit him” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 181).

So, on this Halloween, don’t be afraid of the ghouls and goblins—and don’t be afraid of the devil.  According to Isaiah he is kind of pathetic.  As sons and daughters of God we have the strength to resist and overcome temptation and have power over the adversary—not vice versa.

We are all HUMAN

We all have TEMPTATIONS

We are all asked to LIVE divine laws

We testify that through the atonement of Jesus Christ, all of us can be strengthened and supported and helped to live the gospel of Jesus Christ and be obedient to the divine laws God is asking us to live, regardless of the different temptations we all struggle with.

That’s an easy choice (be kind—in case you weren’t sure).

Sometimes it is very easy to tell what the right decision is. But sometimes people say it is harder to tell the difference between what is right and what is wrong if it’s a “gray” area. But are there actually gray areas?

Which Drawing is Correct?

These drawings each represent a way of looking at life. The first drawing says that the choice we make are black or white, either right or wrong. The second drawing suggests that some things are right, some things are wrong, and in-between there is a “gray” zone. Which is right?

President George Albert Smith quoted his grandfather (who was an Apostle) as saying, “’There is a line of demarcation, well defined, between the Lord’s territory and the devil’s. If you will stay on the Lord’s side of the line you will be under his influence and will have no desire to do wrong; but if you cross to the devil’s side of the line one inch, you are in the tempter’s power, and if he is successful, you will not be able to think or even reason properly, because you will have lost the spirit of the Lord.”

So in fact, the first drawing is accurate – there is a well-defined line between right and wrong.

Mormon taught “Wherefore, take heed, my beloved brethren, that ye do not judge that which is evil to be of God, or that which is good and of God to be of the devil. For behold, my brethren, it is given unto you to judge, that ye may know good from evil; and the way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night.  For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God. But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil; for after this manner doth the devil work, for he persuadeth no man to do good, no, not one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject themselves unto him. And now, my brethren, seeing that ye know the light by which ye may judge, which light is the light of Christ, see that ye do not judge wrongfully…” (Moroni 7:14-18).

Sometimes we might think there are gray areas if we are not searching in the light of Christ. But if we are honest with ourselves and open to inspiration from the guidance of the Spirit, we will receive the direction we need to know what is right and what is wrong.

The answer to this question is simple: Yes. Being a good person is good enough. It is good enough to keep us out of the Telestial kingdom (the bottom) and earn us a spot right in the Terrestrial (middle) kingdom for eternity. The Lord said that those who will inherit the Terrestrial kingdom “are honorable men of the earth” (D&C 76:75). But are we really aiming for the Terrestrial Kingdom? No. And that is the real answer to the question about just being a good person—it isn’t enough. Being a good person is not good enough if we want to make it to the celestial kingdom. Let us explain WHY through some math:

This is the symbol for infinity: ∞

The definition of infinity is that you can’t take away from it, and you can’t add to it. It has no beginning and no end. That is why it is written as a continuous loop.

Now that we’ve defined infinity, let us test your math skills:

∞ + 30=

If you said “infinity-thirty”, you’re wrong. You can’t add to infinity. The answer is simply infinity. What is:

∞ + 600=

Good…you’re catching on. The answer is still infinity. You can’t take add to or take away from infinity, no matter how large the number. Get it? Now, what does this have to do with the question of just being good but not being a member of the Church? A verse from the Book of Mormon prophet Jacob helps us understand. Jacob describes Jesus’ atonement as an “infinite atonement” in 2 Nephi 9:7. So in the symbolic equation above, the ∞ symbol represents the atonement. Now what does the rest of it mean? What is the number, like the 30? Well, that represents our good works we do here on earth. And whoa! If you are a really good person, you might even be a 600. But guess what? Even a 600 falls short of heaven. Because what do we need to be in order to get into heaven? We need to have a perfect score. We need to have batted 1000. We need to have a 4.0 celestial GPA. The scriptures say that “no unclean thing can dwell with God [in the celestial kingdom]” (1 Nephi 10:21). Paul teaches us that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). In other words, none of us have a perfect score to make it into heaven on our own. That is why the scriptures say that our “works” will never save us. Only Jesus can save us in the celestial kingdom. And how does that work? Well, this is where the rest of the equation comes in: What does the + mean in the equation? It is symbolic of linking, or joining ourselves to Jesus. The only way we can link ourselves with Jesus is through making covenants with Him and taking His name on us. And how do we take His name on us? Through baptism. When we link ourselves with Jesus through the covenant of baptism, and stay true to that covenant, the equation looks like this:

JESUS’ INFINITE ATONEMENT (∞), PLUS COVENANTS (+), PLUS OUR WORKS (30, 60, or 600), EQUALS (=) PERFECTION THROUGH CHRIST IN THE CELESTIAL KINGDOM.

That is why the scriptures say that only through Christ we can be saved (Mosiah 16:13), and that we must be baptized in order to enter the celestial kingdom (John 3:5). It is the covenant of baptism that qualifies us to be linked with Jesus’ infinite atonement and “be perfected in him” (Moroni 10:32).

]]> http://ldswhy.com/qa/why-do-i-have-to-be-a-member-of-the-church-isn%e2%80%99t-being-a-good-person-enough/feed/ 1 http://ldswhy.com/qa/how-can-we-have-agency-if-god-already-knows-what-will-happen/ http://ldswhy.com/qa/how-can-we-have-agency-if-god-already-knows-what-will-happen/#comments Sat, 07 Mar 2009 20:08:01 +0000 admin http://ldswhy.com/?p=388 Although this isn’t a “WHY” question connected to LDS standards, it is an important one none-the-less and a common question youth ask, so we feel we should answer it. God does know everything, and sees the end from the beginning. However, just because he knows what will happen, doesn’t mean he caused it to happen. There is a big difference. A good analogy of this is a news weatherman. Just because most weatherman can tell us what the weather will be like tomorrow—rain or shine, usually down to the degree (well, as long as it isn’t the 7 day forecast J. But they usually are spot on for the next day), doesn’t mean that the weatherman caused the weather. Can he take credit that is was a nice sunny day? Did the weatherman make that happen? No, he simply looked at the tools at his disposal, and said, based on these factors, this is what will happen. But he didn’t make the weather.

Is he MAKING the weather?

A good example of this is the following: We are going to give you two choices of something to eat, and you have to eat one of them. We already know wheat you will choose, before you even are aware of what you are choosing. Here are your options:
a) A nice fresh orange (we’ll even slice it for you)
b) A moldy hamburger made of raw meat with a piece of hair in it from a worker named Helga.

Just because we knew you would pick the orange (if you didn’t, please get some professional help), doesn’t mean that we caused you to pick it. It was still your choice. You could have picked the moldy Helga burger if you wanted (and, to be honest, some people might pick it. The interesting thing is, that you probably know people who would pick the Helga Burger, just because they are that kind of a person to try to prove you wrong, and you would have known it anyway and guessed the Helga Combo!).

Remember, when the Lord said we are “free to choose” (2 Nephi 2:27), he meant it! His foreknowledge of events doesn’t take away our ability to choose how those events will unfold, any more than the weatherman chooses if it will be 72 degrees and cloudy.

The For the Strength of Youth teaches “Your Heavenly Father has given you agency, the ability to choose right from wrong and to act for yourself. You have been given the Holy Ghost to help you know good from evil. While you are here on earth, you are being proven to see if you will use your agency to show your love for God by keeping His commandments” (p. 4).

The great news is that God knew we would all make mistakes, and provided his Son Jesus Christ to pay for our mistakes, be cleansed, and be forgiven—if we will accept and follow Him.