“In the beginning was the Word, … and the Word was God. … And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” (John 1:1, 14.)
D&C 84:45 For the word of the Lord is truth, and whatsoever is truth is light, and whatsoever is light is Spirit, even the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
Alma 33:14 Now behold, my brethren, I would ask if ye have read the scriptures? If ye have, how can ye disbelieve on the Son of God?
Like all church speaking assignments, my preparations for this talk caused an awakening – a rather important one. With newfound testimony, it is imperative that I share it with you in hopes that the Spirit may kindle your souls as it has mine. I wish to bear witness of food.
I was born with an interesting dilemma: I lack proprioception. That means in the brain, basic survival needs like eating are not signaled correctly. As a child, I could be hungry and instantly forget the need to pursue feeding, if it were not for a mother who made regular meals and constantly stuck food in my lips in between. Lack of proprioception has not changed, as I have often found myself distracted from eating to work away on other good and necessary things; sometimes so much so, that it is dinner time when I realize that I never got around to breakfast. Is eating essential to living? Undoubtedly. But no matter how deeply I love food, the consequences of not eating in a day will always come, such as weakness, lesser intellect, and diminished control, even if it does not show up right away. Binge eating, even if habitual, also does not satisfy a starving body. Nor a starving soul. Like physical sustenance, we must maintain a regular diet of scripture study to stave off weakness, lesser intellect, and diminished control. For some it may require further effort and discipline, like my need to eat, but if regularity is sought, it will be achieved. Christ’s reward is too great to pass up lightly with an attitude of, “I’ll pass for now and have some later.” Is your soul starving because you lack a spiritual proprioception?
John 4:13-14 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
For ages, there’s been widespread belief that the world is in perpetual spiritual famine; that other than a short-lived oasis of truth here and there, there is none to be had. A certain Christian man laboring in India offered to give interested natives a copy of the Bible. After hearing of its message, many eagerly responded. One old man, looking upon the Bible with reverence, asked, “How long has this book been in the world?” When he learned it had existed for centuries, he sorrowfully shook his head. “I am an old man. All my friends have died hopeless. And all this time the book was here and nobody brought it to me.”
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said in his 2008 address, “We believe in a God who is engaged in our lives, who is not silent, not absent, nor, as Elijah said of the god of the priests of Baal, is He “[on] a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be [awakened].” In this Church, even our young Primary children recite, “We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.” “Does He speak?” We bring the good news that He does and that He has. With a love and affection born of our Christianity, we invite all to inquire into the wonder of what God has said since biblical times and is saying even now. In a sense Joseph Smith and his prophetic successors in this Church answer the challenge Ralph Waldo Emerson put to the students of the Harvard Divinity School (172 years ago). To that group of the Protestant best and brightest, the great sage of Concord pled that they teach “that God is, not was; that He speaketh, not spake.” I testify that the presence of such authorized, prophetic voices and ongoing canonized revelations have been at the heart of the Christian message whenever the authorized ministry of Christ has been on the earth. I testify that such a ministry is on the earth again, and it is found in this, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”
What we uniquely teach in this church is far from new, nor should we expect such teachings to be if we truly are the Lord’s restored church. D&C 20:17 “By these things we know that there is a God in heaven, who is infinite and eternal, from everlasting to everlasting the same unchangeable God, the framer of heaven and earth, and all things which are in them.” Knowledge we have of our preexisting relationship to our Heavenly Father, the purpose of life, temple ordinances, our Savior Jesus Christ, and our fate after death, are all things we know were taught from the very beginning to Adam. Sacred scripture and observances were passed carefully from generation to generation on papyrus, clay tablets, wax on boards of wood or ivory, animal skin, and for very significant religious records, metals were used. Traditionally, every prophet of the Old and New Testament added scripture to that received by his predecessors. We see this also in the Book of Mormon. They summarized previous records to the most key doctrines and experiences, incorporating them into their own writings to pass on again for future generations. Moroni 10: 28 “I declare these things unto the fulfilling of the prophecies. And behold, they shall proceed forth out of the mouth of the everlasting God; and his word shall hiss forth from generation to generation.” Hugh Nibley wrote, “Just as the New Testament clarified the long misunderstood message of the Old, so the Book of Mormon is held to reiterate the messages of both Testaments in a way that restores their full meaning.” If one revelation to one prophet in one moment of time was sufficient for all time, why so many others? What justified them was made clear by Jehovah Himself when He said to Moses, “My works are without end, and … my words … never cease.”
Continuing revelation does not demean or discredit existing revelation. Were those early Christians who for decades had access only to the primitive Gospel of Mark offended to receive more detailed accounts set forth later by Matthew and Luke, to say nothing of the unprecedented passages and revelatory emphasis offered later yet by John? Surely they must have rejoiced that ever more convincing evidence of the divinity of Christ kept coming. And so do we rejoice. (Holland)
We should show great respect and reverence for these sacred revelations. We should have feelings of gratitude for those who recorded and preserved these revelations for our research. Jacob, one of the four major writers of the Book of Mormon, said: “And we labor diligently to engraven these words upon plates, hoping that our beloved brethren and our children will receive them with thankful hearts, and look upon them that they may learn with joy and not with sorrow, neither with contempt.” (Jacob 4:3.) Some suffered death to make it possible for us to have the scriptures today. Historically, the scriptures in the Bible became reserved for the clergy, with the reading of them by others being denounced. At times laws even prohibited the public or private reading of them, the penalty being torture and death. Can you imagine the immense strength of heart required for the courageous desire to know God? What a marvelous blessing we have to not only possess the most complete collection of scripture in history but also to have the freedom to search and to use them! (Kendrick, with words added)
Thus we must remember that our scriptural heritage is not only a work of sacrifice by man, but also a great gift of love from the Lord himself. As the record was God’s gift from the beginning, so through earth’s ages he has seen to its preservation, and in his own ways and in his own time has restored that which he knows we are ready to receive.
The power and influence of that message which teaches God’s creation of earth and man, of the preparations which preceded the coming of God’s Son, of an Eternal love so great that this Son would take up man’s burden of sin and lay down his life in exchange, of Christ’s teachings of love and meekness—these are the truths which are slowly spreading into the darkest corners of the earth. Wherever those truths are accepted and practiced, there is change for the better and ground is prepared for the reception of the fulness of the gospel. Perhaps the best evidence of the power and influence of the message lies in the witness of how bitterly it has been denounced. Hitler saw it as a threat to his ambitions. Among his own people, he revised the New Testament and sought to destroy the Old. In private he said, “Whether it is the Old Testament or the New, or simply the sayings of Jesus, it is all the same old Jewish swindle.” While he was in power, in some occupied lands, churches and their Bibles were burned. Nevertheless, the Bible remained a fountainhead of strength for those Hitler could not break. One bishop from an occupied land who had been imprisoned for non-cooperation said in retrospect: “The Bible was the weapon of our souls. It was with us in suffering, it fought for us, and our foes feared it. Why did they hate that very old book? For the same reasons we ourselves loved it. Because the Bible spoke to us as a voice closer to our trembling hearts than any other voice. This small book is the charter of peace, the charter of freedom, the charter of the future life of mankind.” In parts of the world today, the Bible is still denied. In schools of certain lands the Bible is officially branded as “unscientific,” a “collection of fantastic legends,” and a “tool of imperialistic, capitalistic powers for subjugating backward, unknowing nations.” But these very attacks are a testimony of its strength and power, and when people who have been denied it again gain access to its strength, the Bible is reembraced with a touching devotion. One man held as a prisoner behind the Iron Curtain said that when at last he was given a requested Bible, “I treated it as one treats a priceless possession, a thing of great value, a rare treasure. It gave me strength and assurance for what to my knowledge at that time were the interminable years ahead.” In spite of the continual war fought against the Word of God, the work of putting the Bible into every man’s hands and into every language continues.
Emeritus Seventy, Lionel Kendrick said this, “Our spiritual survival during the stresses of our society and the temptations of our time is greatly dependent upon the strength that we will receive from searching the scriptures and listening to the words of the prophets, seers, and revelators. People as well as nations perish without scriptures. The scriptures are spiritual food for our spirit, which is just as important as physical food for our body. It was so important for Lehi to have the scriptures and records which were engraven on the brass plates that the Lord commanded Nephi to slay Laban in order to obtain them. The Lord knew of their importance for the spiritual nourishment of Lehi and his descendants. He explained: “It is better that one man should perish than that a nation should dwindle and perish in unbelief.” (1 Ne. 4:13.) In contrast, the Mulekites, who migrated to the American continent shortly after Lehi and his family left Jerusalem, failed to bring with them any sacred scriptures or records. Omni recorded the condition of a nation without scriptures: “They had had many wars and serious contentions, and had fallen by the sword from time to time; and their language had become corrupted; and they had brought no records with them; and they denied the being of their Creator.” (Omni 1:17.) The pattern is the same for individuals as it is for nations. Without searching the scriptures, they cease to know the Savior. The Savior provided counsel as to the way we should study scripture. He said: “And now, whoso readeth, let him understand; he that hath the scriptures, let him search them.” (3 Ne. 10:14.) The Prophet Joseph Smith counseled: “Search the scriptures—search the revelations and ask your Heavenly Father, in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, to manifest the truth unto you, and if you do it with an eye single to His glory nothing doubting, He will answer you by the power of His Holy Spirit. You will then know for yourselves and not for another. You will not then be dependent on man for the knowledge of God; nor will there be any room for speculation.”
We are not in famine! The prophets of old saw our day and especially tailored a book for the needs of our time. This is a kingly gift that we should honor more than a paperweight. We have no excuse not to partake when we are commanded, “And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.” (Deut. 6:6–8) Do we have the same love for the scriptures that was expressed by Nephi: “For my soul delighteth in the scriptures, and my heart pondereth them. Behold, my soul delighteth in the things of the Lord; and my heart pondereth continually upon the things which I have seen and heard.” (2 Ne. 4:15–16.)
One of the most sacred purposes for which the scriptures were written was to make it possible for all to know Christ, for each teach and testify of Him. John gave the purpose of the scriptures: “But these [things] are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” (John 20:31.) Nephi bore witness as to why he recorded revelations when he said: “And I, Nephi, have written these things unto my people, that perhaps I might persuade them that they would remember the Lord their Redeemer.” (1 Ne. 19:18.) “By their fruits ye shall know them.” How can you claim to know Christ if you have not tasted the feast of His words? WE are invited to come to table. Is it not rude if when invited to a party we reject with disinterest what the host offers? The scriptures are not bland, boring, and discardable. Mark 12: 24 And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God? If we are to be like Him, how else are we to know him truly? The capacity does not derive from “someone said so.” Although important to listen to instructors of the gospel, from prophets to parents, it will not make any difference if we do not seek and act upon the whisperings of the Spirit ourselves. We have often been taught the parable of the ten virgins. Were the five unprepared virgins who were shut out actually evil? No. They knew the bridegroom was coming and were as hopeful as the ones who had prepared, being dressed with lamps in hand. But they lacked the fuel. Spiritual fuel comes but one way: feasting on the words of Christ.
We should partake daily from the scriptures, not keep them on a shelf like food storage, only to be pulled out for sake of curiosity or spiritual emergency. Partake. The promise is that these words will never to cease to feed your soul. Kendrick says “Scripture study is such an essential part of our spiritual development that we must take time and make it a priority in our daily schedule. Our spirits should never be deprived of the much-needed spiritual nourishment that comes from scripture study. Without this spiritual food our spirits become starved and weakened to temptation.” If you do study with true intent to know Him, His promises will be better manifested in your lives because you have, through reading, discovered how to see. JS Hist 1: 74 “Our minds being now enlightened, we began to have the scriptures laid open to our understandings, and the true meaning and intention of their more mysterious passages revealed unto us in a manner which we never could attain to previously, nor ever before had thought of.”
“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: “That the man of God may be perfect.” (2 Tim. 3:15–17.)
D&C 20:11,12,35 Proving to the world that the holy scriptures are true, and that God does inspire men and call them to his holy work in this age and generation, as well as in generations of old; Thereby showing that he is the same God yesterday, today, and forever. And we know that these things are true and according to the revelations of John, neither adding to, nor diminishing from the prophecy of his book, the holy scriptures, or the revelations of God which shall come hereafter by the gift and power of the Holy Ghost, the voice of God, or the ministering of angels.
Moroni 10: 27 And I exhort you to remember these things; for the time speedily cometh that ye shall know that I lie not, for ye shall see me at the bar of God; and the Lord God will say unto you: Did I not declare my words unto you, which were written by this man, like as one crying from the dead, yea, even as one speaking out of the dust?
We should ponder the meanings of the things we learn from our search of the scriptures. Paul instructed the Philippian Saints to “think on these things.” (Philip. 4:8.) We should follow the process taught by the Savior to the Nephites as He taught sacred principles. He instructed them to, “Go ye unto your homes, and ponder upon the things which I have said, and ask of the Father, in my name, that ye may understand, and prepare your minds for the morrow.” (3 Ne. 17:3.). Nephi counseled to “feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.” (2 Ne. 32:3.) To feast is to consume, to digest, to absorb. We can follow the counsel of the Savior when he said, “Treasure up in your minds continually the words of life.” (D&C 84:85). This implies that we should repeat in our minds the principles we have learned and draw upon them in each of our decisions. Marion G. Romney counseled: “Learning the gospel from the written word is not enough. It must also be lived. One cannot fully learn the gospel without living it.”
Lenet H. Read wrote, “Where there is free access to it, its voice of influence struggles to be heard over constant bombardments of false ideologies. And while free access to the Bible has indeed caused it to suffer somewhat from abuse and misunderstanding, it has unquestionably suffered most from abandonment. But its messages are abandoned at great peril. For it represents eternal truth—truth passed down from the very Creation, truth added upon and reinforced with experience, truth revealed through word and deed beforehand, truth shaped in unforgettable language, truth personified in Jesus Christ, truth in constant struggle against untruth. And ultimately, it will be truth unconquered and unconquerable. Every gift of love and sacrifice which has been offered to relay that truth to men shall not have been given in vain.”
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