Obedience with eyes wide open

I gave this talk at church last July. I thought I'd post it here so I could keep track of it. It's far from polished and I'm sure I didn't give it as written word-for-word, but I hope if you're interested in reading it, you will get something good out of it.

I’ve never lived in a town as small as Jonesville before, so I’ve been amused as I meet people in town who instantly know I am not from around here. They want to ask question after question about who I am, where I’m from, what house I’m living in, but the most frequently asked question often while giving me a quizzical expression is, “what brought you here?” with the emphasis carefully placed on “here” as if Jonesville were so small we shouldn't have been able to find it. The answer is: my husband got a job at the hospital. In the few days I’ve had to explore around town, I’ve already grown to love this area. I grew up in Minnesota, so the landscape with its majestic trees, rolling hills and hidden lakes feels familiar to me. 

A week ago a news article came out with the headline, “Mormons quit church in mass resignation ceremony.” The article told a story about several dozen people who felt so oppressed by their membership in the church that they felt the need to make a performance about requesting to remove their names from the church. The article itself was sensationalized, and the “ceremony” was an over-the-top display meant to garner media attention. One of the quotes out of the article said, “The Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is known for its culture of obedience, and the mass ceremony was a seldom-seen act of collective revolt.” Another quote read “…a participant…said she quit over a "culture of abuse" which she believes is cultivated by church teachings promoting obedience.” 

I’ve seen this theme before in the news and among people who know little about our religion. They attribute our decisions in life to blind obedience. The author made it seem like this “seldom-seen act of collective revolt” is because we as a religion are oppressed and forced to live a certain way. If only he understood how much we as a religion value the agency we have been blessed with to choose how to direct our lives. The power to choose is truly at the core of our religion. In fact, the author asked a church spokesman about the resignations, he said the church loves and respects each member. "People make their own decisions about the direction they will follow in life. ...It is sad to see someone choose to leave. We wish them well."

Carved across the wooden mantle above my parents’ fireplace reads one of my favorite scriptures regarding our understanding of agency, “Choose you this day whom ye will serve…but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

What the critics of Mormonism really don’t understand is why we would choose to serve the Lord, why we would choose obedience. It puzzles them that we can be united in following our leaders and yet independent in knowing for ourselves. By faithfully choosing to be obedient to the commandments of God and the direction from our leaders, we are also choosing the consequence of obedience. That consequence is primarily to know the truth of the principles we are practicing, but along with that testimony, we are also blessed with specific blessings related to the topic of our obedience. Let me explain how I understand these consequences.

Obedience can be tested:

While working towards my Bachelor’s of Science at BYU, I took several Physics classes in which I learned various laws of physics. Although these laws are written by men, they were not created by men. They are rather descriptions of rules that exist to govern the physical world around us. For example, the Law of Gravity teaches that objects with mass attract one another. Gravity is the agent that gives weight to objects with mass and causes them to fall to the grown when dropped. A man can try to disobey the law of gravity by jumping from a tree branch and hoping to fly, but the consequences of this kind of disobedience are fixed. He will always fall. It is a law that cannot be re-written by governments. Disobedience to the laws of physics have natural consequences and the consequences will always be the same.

Similarly, there is a law of heaven that we learn about in D&C 130:20-21. It reads, “There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.” Just like the laws of physics, this law of heaven is irrevocable. It is fixed. The consequences of obedience or disobedience will always be the same. I remember making this connection when I was in college. By determining that the laws of heaven are similar to the laws of physics, it stood to reason that they can be put to the test. Our religion is unique in that we challenge our members to discover that the gospel is true on their own. I remember forming an experiment in my mind that tested the blessings of scripture study. For a week I wouldn’t touch my scriptures and then I would analyze my state of mind, mood, and emotions. The next week I would read every day and then do another self-analysis. The difference was remarkable! Not only did I feel more calm, happy and confident when I regularly read the scriptures, I felt like I was able to perform better on my schoolwork and improve my relationships with others around me.

Obedience --> knowledge/blessings:

That experiment was specific to scripture study, but the same principle can be tested on all of God’s commandments. John 7:17 says, “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.” So essentially, any commandment can be put to the test. If you want to know if it’s from God, try it and see what happens. According to John, if it is from God, faithful obedience to that commandment will lead to the knowledge of its truth. Dallin H. Oaks said, “Knowledge encourages obedience, and obedience enhances knowledge.” Our obedience is not blind when we act upon knowledge taught or learned in the realm of our action. “when the Holy Ghost gives our souls a witness of the truth … our choice to follow those teachings is not blind obedience.”

Even more than just a knowledge and testimony of truth, obedience to God’s commandments can bring tangible blessings. For example, obeying the word of wisdom has direct and obvious benefits to our health. Obedience to the repeated plea from modern prophets to establish a food storage has saved many families in hard times, including mine. My previous landlord was moved by a persuasive talk in October 1998 General Conference by President Hinckley to pay off his home mortgage as soon as possible, even though he had a stable career and the economy was strong. He heeded that commandment to get out of debt. Ten years later he had lost his job, but could manage to get by on considerably less income because his expenses were low and he had no debt. I’ve heard story after story about blessings being poured out upon faithful members who sacrifice much to pay tithing and fast offerings.

Perhaps less obvious but still powerful are the intangible blessings that come from obedience: wisdom, insight, a heart full of charity, patience, calm feelings of safety and security in spite of turmoil.

All of these examples and more teach me that obeying the Lord’s commandments is not meant to be oppressive, but freeing. Obedience leads to blessings and safety. When you recognize that connection, you are excited to be obedient in the future.

Obedience --> The presence of the Holy Ghost:

By far, the most important blessing that comes from obedience is the companionship of the Holy Ghost. After we are baptized, we sit under the hands of a worthy priesthood holder who bestows upon us the sacred gift of the Holy Ghost. I was baptized when I was eight, but it wasn’t until I was in my twenties that I started to really understand what it meant to have the Holy Ghost as my constant companion. I’m still figuring it out, but I do know it is possible to be blessed with the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost through our obedience. Living my life so that I can experience this relationship every day is one of the most important goals I can think of.

Elder Bednar taught, “Obedience opens the door to the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. And the spiritual gifts and abilities activated by the power of the Holy Ghost enable us to avoid deception—and to see, to feel, to know, to understand, and to remember things as they really are. You and I have been endowed with a greater capacity for obedience precisely for these reasons.” (Bednar, Things as they really are)

The companionship of the Holy Ghost is such a delicate and sweet experience that once tasted, learned from, inspired by, and comforted by, I can’t understand who would want to abandon that gift to disobedience.

Repentence:

Of course, disobedience happens, but it doesn’t have to discourage us for long. This past week as I read in the Book of Mormon, my eyes lingered on Mosiah 26:30 for several minutes. “Yea, and as often as my people repent will I forgive them their trespasses against me.” I think I was struck by the word “often”. As mortals, we are often trespassing on sacred things. Sometimes the same error happens over and over again. Knowing that the Lord will forgive us our trespasses every single time we repent is a powerful expression of His love for us. I thought of my own children, especially my 3 year-old who is learning how to assert her independence, sometimes through disobedience, and realized it’s not always easy to forgive repeated infringements. From her perspective, it’s not always easy to offer up a repentant heart, either.

When Scott and I were first married, he told me doing the dishes reminded him of repentance. The dishes will always get dirty, but if we repent, they can always be cleaned to shine like new. Sometimes the scum is harder to remove, but it always can be removed and the dishes will be clean.

I remember being struck while reading through the Doctrine and Covenants how often we are told not to just repent, but to preach repentance to each other. It inspired a journal entry over ten years ago that went like this:

 “March 27, 2002: Prophets of all ages, Latter-day and ancient have rejoiced in crying repentance unto the world. Too often it seems like when we are told to repent, we take offense like we’re being pointed out as sinners. But duh! We are sinners! We are all sinners! So why do the prophets care so much to rub in in our face? Well, that’s not what they’re doing. By pleading for us to repent, they are telling us they love us. They are trying to tell us how much our Savior loves us. If we don’t repent, we will ignore the atonement and sacrifice of our Savior and his great sacrifice would be for naught. It is His gift to us that we have had all of our sins borne for us. The prophets are saying, Take this gift. Feel of the great love the Savior has for us. Repentance is not something to shun, but to embrace. The prophets beg for us to repent for the purpose of our own happiness and salvation. Why else would they? They don’t get anything personally from our repentance. But they know how sweet the forgiveness of Jesus Christ is and they want to share that joy with everyone. They love us like our Heavenly Father loves us and want us all to dwell in happiness and celestial glory.

“It is a compliment if someone righteous asks you to repent. That means they love you so much they want to be with you and they want you to be happy.”

President Monson has said, “There is no fog so dense, no night so dark, no gale so strong, no mariner so lost but what the lighthouse of the Lord can rescue. It beckons through the storms of life. It calls, “This way to safety. This way to home.” It sends forth signals of light easily seen and never failing. If followed, those signals will guide you back to your heavenly home.”

So why do I choose to obey? Because I understand that the commandments of God are an instruction manual to freedom, happiness and success. God is our Heavenly Father. He loves us. He wants to live with us because he loves us so much. The only way we can return to live in his glorified presence is by accepting the challenge of this mortal life and live in a way that keeps us pure and clean. The only way to keep pure and clean is to obey the commandments he has given us.

Occasionally there are commandments, parts of the doctrine or traditions of the church that I don't fully understand. I like the analogy of the puzzle I've heard a few times: The Gospel is a puzzle that we put together piece by piece through our lives. I've gotten confirmation from the Holy Ghost that the whole picture is true, even if I have several pieces that I don't know how to fit yet. Because of the power of the Spirit, I know those pieces will eventually fall into place if I keep my focus on the whole picture and the guidance of the Spirit. I have a strong testimony in the power of faithful obedience. I love the Savior and feel confident in the peace he gives to me. I know He’s watching over me and by heeding the commandments and the promptings of the Holy Ghost I will be safe and happy.