Thoughts From Institute: Decision-Making, Benign Whateverism, and Repentance

One of my favorite things in the world, besides candy corn (of course), is the scriptures. Specifically the Old Testament, which feels like an old (no pun intended) BFF that I can always count on the keep me engaged and actively interested in learning more about the gospel and progressing spiritually. 

Let me put a little disclaimer here. This might be a boring post for some of you. If you don't like little rants about gospel topics then stop now. But, if you want something interesting to think about and study for yourself, then stick with me here cuz this is some good stuff.

So, I take two institute courses and I am there 4 days a week. One class is Psalms (that I am sure I will end up posting about so brace yourselves) and the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). Today I had my New Testament class and we were in Matthew 5-7-- the sermon on the mount. The sermon on the mount is one of the most discussed sections of the New Testament because it is one of the only places in scripture that specifically outlines, with the Beatitudes, how to become like Christ; or, in other words, how to become perfect. We were given quotes for this portion of the lesson, and one of my favorites was from Harold B Lee: "In His sermon on the Mount the Master has given us somewhat of a revelation of His own character, which was perfect, or what might be said to be 'an autobiography, every syllable of which He had written down in deeds,' and in doing so has given us a blueprint for our own lives." If you are looking for a piece of scripture that is tailor made for you, with advice and direction and guidance for real things that you are struggling with, look no further because this is it. The first portion of the sermon on the Mount is the listing of the Beatitudes- blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are they that mourn, blessed are the meek, blessed are the pure in heart, etc. All of which are awesome and great, but one speficially stood out: Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled (Matthew 5:6). This is the most important and central beatitude because a desire to be good and learn good and live good is the whole point of all of this- to become perfect. To change in a positive direction and become a better version of yourself. "There is too the significant blessing of personal momentum that akways comes when we practice decision making in which we both reject wrong and choose good. We thus avoid what one prophet called the in-betweenness of the 'sorrowing of the damned'. It is not enough to reach a bland behavioral point when we no longer take pleasure in sin; we must hunger and thirst for righteousness." (Neil A Maxwell). It's all fine and dandy if you get to a point where you can say "I won't sin", but the mindset we need to be striving for is the step above- to be thinking to ourselves "I will strive to be good". And, not only that, but there is a whole nother level above "I will strive to be good"- "I will strive to become better". That is the mindset Christ is trying to instill here to his followers.

But being good is hard. And being better is even harder. The visual aid that my teacher used was almost a little too math-y for my tastes, it's super accurate and visual and I love it:

This is from my institute study journal...legit stuff, you guys.

So, basically, Christ challenges us to climb upward. Satan tries to convince us to take just a few more steps down the slope until we slip and are further down than we ever intended to be. That's the hard part about being here on earth- it is so difficult to climb upward and so easy to slide down. And, once you get sliding, it's so slippery and it's hard to get your footing to attempt to climb back up. 

Now, most decisions fall into the center part I outlined in green- they aren't life or death decisions. Skipping out on reading your scriptures or praying one night because you're too tired won't damn you to Hell. But, by th same logic, doing a service project or bearing your testimony won't automatically qualify you for the celestial kingdom. However, small good or bad choices slowly shift us to one side or the other. You don't just wake up one day with a porn addiction or as an alcoholic or with some major, life altering sin weighing you down and dragging you deeper and deeper down the slope- you work your way there when you go from occasionally missing seminary to always missing seminary, or occasionally forgetting to pray to never praying at all- it's gradual and you oftentimes don't notice just how far you've fallen until you're there. And, from watching friends suffer I know that the low point of that slope is a terrible, miserable place to be. 

This all seems a little bleak, but there's good news- as my teacher said "Thank Heavens there's a way to climb back out". Christ's atonement gave us the ability to repent- and, without this ability, if we slipped an fell, there would be no way to get out. We would be stuck and lost and alone. Thank Heavens for a Heavenly Father and Christ who want nothing more than for you to get out of the hole where you've fallen and to climb back up, towards them, towards the pinnacle of the slope (celestial kingdom (I'll come back to this)). If you've fallen, you're not alone, not even a little, because Christ literally felt the agony and pain that comes with failing to keep a comandment- he hears you and he knows how you're feeling. Thank Heavens for that. 

So let's say you've repented. Or maybe you never fell in the first place, maybe you're just stagnant, in the middle of the graph, not going up or going down. This comes back to the first point of the lesson and the purpose of the beatitudes- to not just be good but to get better. In other words, you're going to have to climb. 

So for example, because it is a fairly common sin and easy for most to comprehend doing (rather than "thou shall not kill"), sexual sin. One of the beatitudes says "Ye have heard what it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery". Awesome. Great. Don't have sex with anyone before marriage and be faithful when you are married. Easy. That's me deciding to be good. But then it goes further "But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman [or man] to lust after her hath commited adultery with her already in his heart" (Matthew 5:27-28). So, keeping this commandment isn't just avoiding adultery- it's also not thinking unclean thoughts, which is infinitely more difficult. But, when we do this and become better, we climb a little higher up the slope towards perfection. It requires a full commitement and dedication to the cause of climbing up this increasingly steep mountain- "Sadly, modern Christianity does not acknowledge that God makes any real demands on those who believe in Him, seeing Him rather as a butler 'who meets their needs when summoned' or a therapist whose role is to help people 'feel good about themselves'. It is a religious outlook that 'makes no pretense at changing lives'. By contrast, the God portrayed in both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures asks, not just for commitment, but for our very lives. The God of the Bible traffics in life and death, not niceness, and calls for sacrificial love, not benign whateverism." (Christofferson) That phrase is extremely memorable and powerful- [calling] for sacrificial love, not benign whateverism. We can't just be indifferent about progressing and moving forward- it should ideally be our only focus. And, it will become more and more difficult as we progress- "Obviously as the path of discipleship ascends,  that trail gets ever more narrow until we come to that knee-buckling pinnacle of the sermon of which Elder Christofferson just spoke: 'Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.'" 

Some, including me, might think 'you seriously expect me to be perfect? Is that even possible? Am I capable of reaching the pinnacle where Christ is?' With Christ's assistance, we definitely can. Think of him as the equivelant of a friend, hiking the mountain bhind you, pushing you forward so the hike will still be hard, but not as hard as it could be. 

So, anyway, the point is, change, in the right direction, is good. And change is hard. And change is nessecary. "The Final Judgement is not just an evaluation of a sum total of good and evil acts-- what we have done. It is an acknowledgement of the final effect our acts and thoughts-- what we have become. It is not enough for anyone to just go through the motions. The commandments, ordinances, and covenents of the gospel are not a list of deposits required to be made in some heavenly account. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a plan that shows us how to become what our Heavenly Father desires us to become." (Oaks) 

Institute is awesome. And I thought this was all worth sharing.