Liberty Jail

I have often heard liberty jail described as a prison-temple. It affected Joseph Smith immensely. On one hand, he suffered and was tried greatly, but on the other, revelation streamed from heaven during that time. When I began thinking about what I would write on this topic, I was immediately reminded of a talk that I was lucky enough to attend at the Marriott center last year by Elder Holland called “Lessons From Liberty Jail”. That talk really touched me. The lessons he shared that we can learn from Joseph's experience in liberty jail are these:

1.Everyone has trials, and when we are faced with them, when it seems that God is nowhere to be found, we must remember that He is right beside us, bearing us up. These are times when we may be closer to Him than ever.

God will not abandon us. As Holland said in his April Conference address, “because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to do so.”

2.Just because we are experiencing trials does not mean that God is displeased with us.

As the Lord told Joseph, “the Son of man hath descended below them all”. Elder Holland simply stated this point by saying: “If you are having a bad day, you’ve got a lot of company—very, very good company. The best company that has ever lived.” Adversity comes to us all. Even Christ, who did nothing to deserve afflictions of any kind, was laden with trials and sorrows.

3.We must not feel vengeful before God because of our trials. Being righteous is the only way to receive heavenly intervention in our trials. The spirit can enter us much easier when we are righteous.

We don't want to drive away our comforter when we need him most. As we read in D&C 121:36, “the rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness.” There is no time that we are more desperate for intervention from heaven than during our most difficult trials, so during these times, we must remember that to get this intervention, we must be righteous.

Joseph learned a lot about suffering and how to be a stronger leader. He learned a lot about himself. When placed in trials, a person can become stronger and ready for an even bigger attack, or they can become bitter, turning their backs on God, the one source of relief. Joseph did the former. Coming out of Liberty Jail, Joseph was a different person. He gained the strength to face new persecutions and challenges in Nauvoo, and ultimately, his martyrdom. He had enough faith and trust in the Lord to be able to say, in his last days: "I am going like a lamb to the slaughter; but I am calm as a summer’s morning; I have a conscience void of offense towards God, and towards all men. I shall die innocent, and it shall be said of me—He was murdered in cold blood" (Doctrine and Covenants 135:4).

The Doctrine of Universal Opportunity for Salvation

Acts 10:34 says: “Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons”
How can this be true if, to be saved, we must make covenants and perform certain ordinances? Most of the world has had no opportunity to perform these ordinances. The answer is in section 137 of the Doctrine and Covenants. When Joseph is surprised by seeing a vision of his brother, who died before he was able to be baptized, in the celestial kingdom, God says: “all who have died without a knowledge of this gospel, who would have received it if they had been permitted to tarry, shall be heirs of the celestial kingdom of God; also all that shall die henceforth without a knowledge of it, who would have received it with all their hearts, shall be heirs of that kingdom”(D&C 137:7-8). This is really an amazing and radical doctrine. In most religions, only this life decides the final judgment. Only those few blessed to know “the truth” during their lives are saved. Would a God who is “no respecter of persons” condemn someone for not having knowledge that it would be impossible for them to have, considering the circumstances that God placed them in? That is very hard for me to believe. God loves all of His children, and will give each one of his children equal chances to be exalted. We will not be punished for something that is in no way in our control. This is a subject that I have spent a lot of time thinking about. There are many people that I love who, if they were given a chance to understand the gospel as I do I believe they would accept it. It is our responsibility to do our best to help these people have this understanding. I wish I were better in this area.

In verse 10 of this section, it says that “all children who die before they arrive at the years of accountability are saved in the celestial kingdom of heaven”. I have been taught that parents of these children are able to raise their children in the millennium. I have often wondered what happens when parents, for whatever reason, are not able to raise their children for reasons other than the child's death. One such situation would be if the parents died. I know that the parents will be compensated for not being able to raise their child, and the child will have as much of a chance at celestial glory as if they had been raised by their true parents, but I'm not God, and I don't know how he will resolve that. However, I have absolute faith that He will make everything work out, and that He knows what he's doing. Like Nephi, I can say: “I know that He loveth His children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things”

Keeping a Record

Last week, instead of normal class, our D&C class attended a special seminar in the library. Because I attended the seminar last semester, I was not required to go this semester, so I used the time to study for another class. I am now somewhat regretting that decision, as this week's blog prompt is about that seminar, and I am at a loss for what I should write about. I really did love the seminar when I attended last year. It was fascinating to be able to see, with my own eyes, manuscripts written hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of years ago. It is amazing to consider the work that went into the preservation of these sacred texts and important records. Today, we have so many inventions that facilitate this process. If monks from the dark ages could see how easy it is today to keep, preserve, and copy records, they would be extremely jealous. Do we realize the wonderful blessing that this is? Or do we take it for granted?

Making records has always been important to followers of Christ, especially those in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Our leaders have always stressed the importance of keeping records of our own lives. For most of my life I disregarded this counsel. I don't like to write, and I am horrible at remembering to do things like this. I always felt guilty when Young Women's teacher would teach a lesson about the blessings and merits of writing in your journal because it would likely have been about a year since I had last written. One year at Girls' Camp, I decided to start writing in a journal every day, and it stuck. It really was a miracle that I was able to do it, that God was able to change my heart so quickly and completely. Even though, at times, I write at such a late time that my entries are barely legible and sometimes incoherent, it is a wonderful thing to be able to go back and, in a way, relive past experiences. I am able to remember things that would have been completely forgotten otherwise. Not only does having a journal give me a record of things that have happened to me, but it gives me time to ponder and meditate about my day. Keeping a journal has been a huge blessing in my life. I only wish I had begun this habit sooner.

Theodicy and the purpose of suffering in God's Plan of Happiness

Suffering... 400-500 words on suffering... When I first received this prompt, my first thought was “Ick, suffering's not my favorite.” Nobody likes suffering, but we all endure it. Some endure it well, learning and growing from it, and others endure it poorly, becoming bitter and cynical about the world.
Why does God let us suffer? In today's popular Christian view, God is a loving, merciful creator. God is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. Many people see these characteristics as contradictory. They think, “If God is omnipotent, but also loving, why is there sorrow and suffering in the world?” Many of these people conclude that either God does not exist or that he does not love us. What they do not understand is that just as we are bound by the laws of nature (as an example: we can't fall up a hill or fly unaided) God, too is subject to laws, and He gains His power through understanding of and adherence to these laws. If God were to break these laws, He would cease to be God. If there were a way for God to make us like Himself without suffering, He would do it. However, nothing can be created from nothing. It is only through trials and chastisement that we can learn and grow. In fact, D&C 101 states that the saints must be, “chastened and tried, even as Abraham, who was commanded to offer up his only son.” God is still creating us. The whole point of this earthly life is to become more like our Heavenly Father.

Is it worth it? When we lived in Heaven before coming to earth, we knew no sorrow and no grief. However, we still had a lot of room for personal growth. I would submit to you that without a doubt, it is worth it. We will gain everything and lose nothing if we keep faith in Christ and endure to the end.

Through the atonement, pain from suffering can be taken away. Consider the case of Alma the Younger in the Book of Mormon. For Alma to truly change from a young man who tore down the church and persecuted its followers to a disciple of Christ, he needed to understand and feel the “pains of hell”, the consequences that follow any action that is not in tune with Christ's teachings. Alma was in real agony. Was this because God wanted revenge? Did God not love Alma? No. Alma felt this because pain and suffering necessarily follow wickedness. Must Alma suffer for these sins forever? If there were no atonement, since mercy cannot rob justice, the pain of these sins would be felt by Alma for eternity. However, because of the atonement, as soon as Alma turned to Christ, he was delivered from the pain of his sins. He felt joy, “as exceeding as was [his] pain”.

This healing power of the atonement applies to any pain, any sorrow, even those not caused by our own wickedness. In the end, if we give up everything to follow the Lord, we will have lost nothing. Everything will be restored to us. We will be compensated for any suffering we face to align ourselves to God's will. We may suffer, but, as God told Joseph, “thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.” (D&C 121:7-8)

Patriarchal Blessing update

On Saturday, I came home from skiing to find the ancestral patriarchal blessings I had requested sitting on my desk. I was not disappointed. It's been interesting to see, as I've been reading these blessings, that some of the blessings and promises that were given to my ancestors have been passed down to me, just as blessings of the Abrahamic covenant and specific tribal covenants are passed down through the generations if we are faithful. Most of my thoughts on this topic at the moment are too sacred to let the world read, so I'll wrap up this post, but I just wanted to emphasize once again what a wonderful gift patriarchal blessings are and impress upon you the importance of studying and appreciating this sacred gift.