Movie Ratings

For some time now, I have been concerned about the entertainment we consume. True, there is some that is good and helpful to our spirits. However, there is much that us not good and very detrimental to our souls. I believe the Church has been clear on what we should watch and not watch. The standard that we use to measure whether we watch something or not should be whether or not we can continue to feel the Holy Ghost. If we cannot, then the entertainment is not for us. In my view, this certainly would mean that r-rated films are out of the question. This also means many pg-13 and even pg films should be closely examined.

To that end, I have discovered a website (actually a friend showed it to me) that does content measurements on virtually every film that is being released. It also has older movies as well as an archive. The website is called, Kids-In-Mind. I commend it to anyone who is interested in the content of a movie, regardless of the rating, before they or their family watches it.

Elder Ballard urges LDS-based blogs

In a recent address to students at BYU Hawaii, Elder M. Russell Ballard urged students to make a positive difference in the national discussion of our faith. Read this to learn more.

The Law of Tithing, the Temple, and Revelation

With the end of the year, and the entire Church participating in tithing settlement, I thought it would be nice to review some of the important blessings of paying a full-tithe. To do so, I am including a few statements by President Harold B. Lee a friend sent to me.

We must teach the law of the fast. No mother who really understands the law of fasting would knowingly want her family deprived of the blessings which come from its observance. It then becomes the responsibility of this organization, the Relief Society teachers, to teach every mother in her home this law of fasting and the paying of fast offerings, for the keeping of which so much is promised in the way of spiritual as well as temporal blessings. (1952)

There are promises of protection in the Word of Wisdom. The Lord’s word of wisdom commanding abstinence from a worldly “king’s portion” of tobacco, tea and coffee, and alcoholic beverages that are habit-forming, and which counsels the simple diet of fruits, grains, and vegetables in season, with meats used sparingly, has been given you as a revelation of God’s great law of health. It stands today as a challenge to a world surfeited with things condemned as unclean and unfit for the human body. If you have faith as the youthful Daniel and his brethren and purpose in your hearts that you will not defile yourselves with “king’s meat and wine,” even though you may be two thousand miles east of the Suez Canal, your faith will have the reward of hidden treasures of knowledge, of strong bodies that can “run and not be weary and walk and not faint.” If by faith in this great law, you refrain from the use of food and drink harmful to your bodies, you will not become a ready prey to scourges that shall sweep the land, as in the days of the people of Moses in Egypt, bringing death to every household that has not heeded the commandments of God. (1945)

Blessings come from paying fast offerings. The Church needs blessings, and the only way we can receive the blessings is by keeping the laws on which those blessings are predicated; and the fundamental law pertaining to the welfare of our people was fast offerings. The reason we want to stress the paying of fast offerings is because we need the blessings that come from paying fast offerings. (1971)

Tithing and fast offerings are the Lord’s financial system. [This is] the monetary system by which the Lord has directed his work to be carried forward: First, by tithing—a principle enunciated in former dispensations as attested by the scriptures and reaffirmed by modern revelation; the promise following obedience to this principle is that the windows of heven would be open and blessings would be poured out that we would hardly be able to contain. The opening of the windows of heaven, of course, means revelation from God to him who is willing this to sacrifice.

Second, by fast offerings—which means going without meals on the first Sunday and consecrating our fast by the contribution to the bishop for the care of the needy. As explained in the days of the prophet Isaiah, the children of Israel were admonished, “Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry,” meaning fasting and then paying fast offerings. If you would do that, he promised, “then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am.” (Isaiah 58:7, 9.)

We are saying to the Saints, How important that you keep this fundamental law to fast and to deal out your bread to the hungry through contributions so that when you call, the Lord shall answer; when you shall cry, the Lord will say, “Here I am.” (1971)

The Lord gave us the law of tithing. Here in the 119^th section, after [the Saints] had tried and the Lord had found that they were not able to live the more complete law [of consecration], he gave another law that he called the law of tithing, and in it he says this: “Verily, thus saith the Lord, I require all their surplus property to be put into the hands of the bishop of my church in Zion. And this shall be the beginning of the tithing of my people. And after that, those who have thus been tithed shall pay one-tenth of all their interest annually; and this shall be a standing law unto them forever, for my holy priesthood, saith the Lord.” (D&C 119:1, 3-4.)

Notice tithing is “one-tenth of all their interest,” and that has always been interpreted to mean income, a tenth of income is a tithe. We are now living that, and in addition to tithing we have the welfare program.

We heard President [J. Reuben] Clark say something that I have thought about as the Brethren have talked today. He said, in effect, “If you think about it clearly, when you think about our storehouses where we are putting in all the surpluses we can, when we are paying a full tithing, when we are giving assistance in the health services, when we are giving assistance in the programs by which we reach out to those who are far afield, teaching them how to take care of themselves, we will not be far from living the united order.” (1973)

Attitude is important in paying tithing. It’s possible for every one of us to learn how to keep the Word of Wisdom perfectly. It’s possible for every one of us to learn how to pay our tithing, perfectly. It was only day before yesterday that I went to the bishop of my own ward on tithing settlement day. He is now retiring from his position as bishop to go out and preside over the Central States Mission. He said, “I want to bear you a testimony that I’ve gained in six years of experience as a bishop. In all of this time I have had hundreds and hundreds of full tithe payers come to report their tithing, and in all that time I have never had one of them approach me, throw down his check or his money, and say, ‘Well, there it is,’ as though it were a terrible task, but they have all come happily because they felt they were doing the will of the Lord.” The one who learns how to pay his tithing perfectly is a happy man. (1954)

Those who observe the principles of fasting and fast offerings qualify for blessings. The turning point in the progress of the welfare program is when our people are faithful in keeping the fundamentals that the Lord laid down. If we can keep the fast, and consecrate our fast by paying the value of the meals from which we abstain, and for those who can pay more to pay more, then we will be assured of His blessings. It isn’t the amount of money, I tell you, that is the important thing; it is the fact that having this complied with the law, we then qualify ourselves and this church as the kingdom of God. We are then qualified to pray to the Lord, to call and He will answer. As Isaiah declared: “Thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am” (Isaiah 58:9). It is this way that the Lord opens the windows of heaven and pours out blessings that we shall hardly be able to receive (see Malachi 3:10). (1968)

Law of Consecration

I gave a talk a few weeks ago in my ward on the Law of Consecration. I have decided to post four images that I created on my laptop, based on four images I found in one of the books I read in preparation for the talk. The images were done by Lyndon Cook in his book, Joseph Smith and the Law of Consecration. It is a hard book to find, and a tad expensive, but a fun and fairly brief book to read. Recently there was an article published in BYU Studies (Volume 46, Number 3, 2007) by Max H. Parkin. Brother Parkin's article deals with many of the same issues, with a focus on the comings and doings of the United Firm.

These four images help to visually see the different stages of the Law of Consecration in Church History.

Three Most Serious Sins

A friend of mine asked me the other night about the fate of people who commit murder. I figured that I would include the other two serious sins as well. This is taken from my lesson when I teach Alma 39:3-6. If anyone has other statements or scriptures they think would be useful, please send them to me and I will add them.

Denying the Holy Ghost

According to the Lord, individuals committing this sin do five things: (1) They “know my power, and [2] have been made partakers thereof, and [3] suffered themselves through the power of the devil to be overcome and [4] to deny the truth and [5] defy my power” (D&C 76:31).

This leads that man to deny “the Holy Spirit after having received it, and having denied the Only Begotten Son of the Father, having crucified him unto themselves and put him to open shame” (D&C 76:35).

Joseph Smith indicated that such an individual must “have the heavens opened unto him, and know God, and then sin against Him. . . . He has got to say that the sun does not shine while he sees it; he has got to deny Jesus Christ when the heavens have been opened unto him, and to deny the plan of salvation with his eyes open to the truth of it” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 358).

“The sin against the Holy Ghost requires such knowledge that it is manifestly impossible for the rank and file to commit such a sin” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 23).

Brigham Young taught this remarkable principle: “How much does it take to prepare a man, or woman, or any being, to become angels to the Devil, to suffer with him to all eternity? Just as much as it does to prepare a man to go into the celestial kingdom, into the presence of the Father and the Son, and to be made an heir to his Kingdom, and all his glory, and be crowned with crowns of glory, immortality, and eternal lives.” Journal of Discourses 3:93.

For a sin to be unpardonable, it must be of such a nature that the atoning blood of the Savior could not “cover” it, nor could the personal suffering of the sinner pay the price for the broken law. All other sins can be covered by either of these methods and, therefore, are pardonable.

The Prophet Joseph Smith taught: “The unpardonable sin is to shed innocent blood, or be accessory thereto. All other sins will be visited with the judgment in the flesh, and the spirit being delivered to the buffetings of Satan until the day of the Lord Jesus” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 301). In his sermons the Prophet used the term “innocent blood” in relation to both the sin against the Holy Ghost and murder. In relationship with the sin against the Holy Ghost, this apparently refers to those who have so rebelled against the Savior that they seek after the blood of Christ and if possible would shed his blood anew.

Shedding Innocent Blood

Elder McConkie wrote: “We do know that there are murders committed by Gentiles for which they at least can repent, be baptized, and receive a remission of their sins” (A New Witness for the Articles of Faith, p. 231; see also 3 Nephi 30:12).Elder Spencer W. Kimball wrote: Even among willful murderers there are grades and categories. . . . There are those who kill in drunkenness, in rage, in anger, in jealousy. There are those who kill for gain, for power, for fear. There are those who kill for lust. They certainly will suffer different degrees of punishment hereafter. (Miracle of Forgiveness, p. 129-30)

Because of this rebellion, the fulness of the atonement of Jesus Christ is not effective in murderers’ lives. In order for the demands of justice to be met, murderers must pay the price themselves before they can enter into a kingdom of glory. Elder McConkie suggests that it appears that they “shall eventually go to the Telestial Kingdom” (Doctrinal New Testament Commentary 3:584).

Joseph Smith further explained David’s situation by stating that his “remains were then in the tomb. Now, we read that many bodies of the Saints arose at Christ’s resurrection, probably all the Saints, but it seems that David did not. Why? Because he had been a murderer. If the ministers of religion had a proper understanding of the doctrine of eternal judgment, they would not be found attending the man who forfeited his life to the injured laws of his country, by shedding innocent blood; for such characters cannot be forgiven, until they have paid the last farthing.” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 188-89) However, after paying the last farthing, murderers will reside in the Telestial Kingdom and thus be saved in the kingdom of God. Although the sin of murder is unforgivable as far as the atonement of Christ is concerned, the repentant murderer can still qualify for salvation in the Telestial Kingdom. Thus the sin of murder is different from the sin against the Holy Ghost and sexual sin.

Sexual Sin

President Joseph F. Smith emphasized the significance of this power when he stated:

The man and the woman who engage in this ordinance of matrimony are engaging in something that is of such far-reaching character, and is of such vast importance, that thereby hangs life and death, and eternal increase. Thereupon depends eternal happiness, or eternal misery. For this reason, God has guarded this sacred institution by the most severe penalties, and has declared that whosoever is untrue to the marriage relation, whosoever is guilty of adultery, shall be put to death. This is scriptural law, though it is not practiced today, because modern civilization does not recognize the laws of God in relation to moral status of mankind. The Lord commanded, “Whosoever sheddeth innocent blood, by man shall his blood be shed.” Thereby God has given the law. Life is an important thing. No one has any right to take life, unless God commanded it. The law of God as to violation of the marriage covenant is just as strict, and is on a parallel with law against murder notwithstanding the former is not carried out. (Gospel Doctrine, p. 273)

The seriousness of this sin has been repeatedly restated in this dispensation. For example, in 1942 the First Presidency stated: “The doctrine of this Church is that sexual sin—the illicit sexual relations of men and women—stands, in its enormity, next to murder. The Lord has drawn no essential distinctions between fornication, adultery, and harlotry or prostitution. Each has fallen under His solemn and awful condemnation.”

Joseph Smith declared: “If a man commit adultery, he cannot receive the celestial kingdom of God. Even if he is saved in any kingdom, it cannot be the celestial kingdom” (HC 6:81). This troublesome statement has caused some to feel a hopelessness because of their transgressions. However, after making a thorough review of scriptures on repentance revealed through the Prophet Joseph Smith, President Spencer W. Kimball observed: “Going back to the Prophet’s original statement, had he inserted in it the three words I believe it implies ‘and remains unrepentant,’ this statement would fit perfectly in the program as given in the numerous scriptures, many of which came through the Prophet himself” (Miracle of Forgiveness 350). In stating this, President Kimball emphasized that he did not intend to minimize “the seriousness of the sexual sins or other transgressions but merely to hold out hope to the transgressor, so that men and women of sin may strive with all their power to overcome their errors, wash themselves ‘in the blood of the Lamb’ and be purged and purified, and thus be able to return to their maker” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 351).