Musings of An Intellectual Mind

A few years ago Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gave a talk about the aforementioned topic. I thoroughly enjoyed his talk, it has been a talk that I have read from time to time over and over. I especially enjoy the following, “To all of you who think you are lost or without hope, or who think you have done too much that was too wrong for too long, to every one of you who worry that you are stranded somewhere on the wintry plains of life and have wrecked your handcart in the process, this conference calls out Jehovah’s unrelenting refrain, “[My] hand is stretched out still.” “I shall lengthen out mine arm unto them,” He said, “[and even if they] deny me; nevertheless, I will be merciful unto them, … if they will repent and come unto me; for mine arm is lengthened out all the day long, saith the Lord God of Hosts.” His mercy endureth forever, and His hand is stretched out still. His is the pure love of Christ, the charity that never faileth, that compassion which endures even when all other strength disappears.” (Jeffrey R. Holland, “Prophets in the Land Again“, November 2006)

This conference talk came at a time when I needed to hear those words the most. I was at a point in my life where I felt like I had done too much wrong to be a good member of the church. That isn’t to say that I was “terrible” by any standard of the measure. But I felt terrible. I felt like I had been gone and there was no way back. I know that this is not true but sometimes life just beats your down to the point where you believe despite the truth that there is no hope.

I wanted to bring this up because without the guidance of a modern day prophet I would have believed that I was too far gone and that there was no way back. If all I had to believe was thousand year old text all would have been lost. When taken literally, sacred texts often paint a bleak and dark picture. They speak of a God that is unforgiving and harsh in his judgments.  At least some texts refer to God in such a way; however there are other texts that paint a completely different picture of God.  Of course these texts would offer hope but as I spoke of in my last post where can I turn for peace when one text is contradicting another?

Modern day prophets do exist and they are inspired of God to lead us in the right way. Many other religions i.e. Islam, Judaism, etc. and other Christian sects believe that the heavens are closed and there is no more need of prophets. I submit to you that times have changed and that the challenges that we face are different than the challenges that the people faced during ancient times. Without the guidance of modern day prophets we would struggle to understand God’s will concerning us, in Ephesians we learn that with prophets “we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. “(Ephesians 4:14)

Please don’t misunderstand me the Bible, etc. are all valuable and viable sources of wisdom and contain the teachings of God, however they were written in a time when we did not have computers, internet, etc. Certainly there is more to be understood in the world today than what existed in other times. How does one reconcile with Darwinism and other modern theories? Are they dismissed simply because they “conflict” with the teachings of the Bible, the Torah, the Koran and other sacred works? How do we navigate the world with such closed sources? The teachings I think are applicable regardless of the age, but there is of course greater light and knowledge available to the people in the New Testament that was not available to those in the Old Testament.  The law that was given to the children of Israel was very different than the higher law that was given to the people during Christ’s time.  The point is that just has the world changed from Old Testament times to New Testament times so have times changed since then. We need the guidance of modern prophets to make sure that we on the correct path.

Of course there is no substitute for a personal relationship with God; however guidance from prophets can prove invaluable as we strive to live the teachings of Christ. When we make course corrections according to God’s servants the prophets, we can know that we are on the right path and that we are doing the best we can.

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