Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Distracted


There are too many distractions. We're like small children whose eyes are captured by every shiny object passing before us. We lose focus.
 
The Gospel has a core we don't even understand. We think we're getting somewhere when we debate environmental issues in light of Mormonism, or immigration policy, or conservative versus liberal political solutions, or dress, grooming, word of wisdom, and ten thousand other irrelevancies.
 
Until the core is corrected and our souls are saved, no amount of energy or focus devoted to the periphery will get us anywhere.
 
How are you saved? How are you born again? What ordinances are required? Are they symbols? If symbols, what do they symbolize? What critical things must a man know to be saved? What does it mean "a man cannot be saved in ignorance?" What does it mean to have "life eternal" through Christ Jesus? Since Alvin was saved in the Celestial Kingdom before the Gospel was restored, what does Section 137 really mean? What about the rest of the revelation from which Section 137 was drawn? Since it involves salvation of a man who died before the fullness of the Gospel returned, how applicable is that section to the condition we find ourselves in today?

Until we understand the core, there is no topic on the periphery worth giving any attention.