Divine Love

In the February 2003 Ensign, Elder Russel M. Nelson presents an exposition on "Divine Love".

In the article, Elder Nelson explains the nature of divine love, a frequently misunderstood and mistakenly characterized idea.  "While divine love can be called perfect, infinite, enduring, and universal, it cannot correctly be characterized as unconditional."

He offers scriptural references to conditional promises that the Lord has offered through time.   The nature of divine conditional love is expressed in specific language that characterizes such scriptures.

It is equally evident that certain blessings come from a loving Lord only if required conditions are met. Examples include:

“If thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, … then I will lengthen thy days.^"  (1 Kings 3:14)

“If thou wilt walk in my statutes, and execute my judgments, and keep all my commandments … ; then will I perform my word with thee.” (1 Kings 6:12)

“I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.” (Doctrine and Covenants 82:10)

“When we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.” (Doctrine and Covenants 130:21)

“Unto every kingdom is given a law; and unto every law there are certain bounds also and conditions.” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:38)

Elder Nelson explains, "Understanding that divine love and blessings are not truly “unconditional” can defend us against common fallacies..."

“Since God’s love is unconditional, He will love me regardless …”; or 

“Since ‘God is love,’  He will love me unconditionally, regardless …”

These are popular ideas today, but they are as mistaken as Nehor in the Book of Mormon, 

...he also testified unto the people that all mankind should be saved at the last day, and that they need not fear nor tremble, but that they might lift up their heads and rejoice; for the Lord had created all men, and had also redeemed all men; and, in the end, all men should have eternal life. (Alma 1:4)

Does this mean that Jesus has no love for unbelievers and sinners?  No, it means that the Lord gives us our agency, and we choose the extent to which we receive the Lord's blessings.

Elder Nelson quotes from Brigham Young:

“Every blessing the Lord proffers to his people is on conditions. These conditions are: ‘Obey my law, keep my commandments, walk in my ordinances, observe my statutes, love mercy, … keep yourselves pure in the law, and then you are entitled to these blessings, and not until then.’” (Discourses of Brigham Young, sel. John A. Widtsoe (1954), 454)

Jesus asked us to love one another as He has loved us.  The pure love of Christ is granted to all who seek and qualify for it.   Such love requires our obedience to the conditions and laws upon which it is based.

Watchmen on the Tower

In the October 1999 General Conference, Elder M. Russel Ballard taught:

As Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is our duty to be watchmen on the tower, warning Church members to beware of false prophets and false teachers who lie in wait to ensnare and destroy faith and testimony. Today we warn you that there are false prophets and false teachers arising; and if we are not careful, even those who are among the faithful members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will fall victim to their deception...

False prophets and false teachers are also those who attempt to change the God-given and scripturally based doctrines that protect the sanctity of marriage, the divine nature of the family, and the essential doctrine of personal morality. They advocate a redefinition of morality to justify fornication, adultery, and homosexual relationships. Some openly champion the legalization of so-called same-gender marriages. To justify their rejection of God’s immutable laws that protect the family, these false prophets and false teachers even attack the inspired proclamation on the family issued to the world in 1995 by the First Presidency and the Twelve Apostles.

 President Joseph F. Smith:

We can accept nothing as authoritative but that which comes directly through the appointed channel, the constituted organizations of the Priesthood, which is the channel that God has appointed through which to make known His mind and will to the world.

 … And the moment that individuals look to any other source, that moment they throw themselves open to the seductive influences of Satan, and render themselves liable to become servants of the devil; they lose sight of the true order through which the blessings of the Priesthood are to be enjoyed; they step outside of the pale of the kingdom of God, and are on dangerous ground (Joseph F. Smith)

In the Book of Mormon, the prophet Samuel the Lamanite denounced the Nephite people, who had become worse than the formerly morally depraved Lamanites:

Behold ye are worse than they...

...if a man shall come among you and shall say: Do this, and there is no iniquity; do that and ye shall not suffer; yea, he will say: Walk after the pride of your own hearts; yea, walk after the pride of your eyes, and do whatsoever your heart desireth—and if a man shall come among you and say this, ye will receive him, and say that he is a prophet.

  

Yea, ye will lift him up, and ye will give unto him of your substance; ye will give unto him of your gold, and of your silver, and ye will clothe him with costly apparel; and because he speaketh flattering words unto you, and he saith that all is well, then ye will not find fault with him. (Helaman 13:27-28)

President James E. Faust:

In our desire to be broad-minded, to be accepted, to be liked and admired, let us not trifle with the doctrines and the covenants which have been revealed to us, nor with the pronouncements of those who have been given the keys of the kingdom of God on earth. For all of us, the words of Joshua ring with increasing relevance. “Choose you this day whom ye will serve; … but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Josh. 24:15). (James E. Faust, "Keeping Covenants and Honoring the Priesthood")

 Elder Dallin H. Oaks:

In our system of Church government, evil speaking and criticism of leaders by members is always negative. Whether the criticism is true or not, as Elder George F. Richards explained, it tends to impair the leaders’ influence and usefulness, thus working against the Lord and his cause. (In Conference Report, Apr. 1947)

The prophet Moses expressed another reason we should refrain from criticizing Church leaders. On one occasion, the whole congregation of the children of Israel became dissatisfied and “murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.” (Ex. 16:2.)

“What are we, that ye murmur against us?” Moses asked them. “The Lord heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him: and what are we? your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord.” (Ex. 16:7–8.)

Similarly, when the children of Israel ignored the prophet Samuel’s inspired warnings and begged him to appoint a king to rule over them, the Lord directed him to do as they asked, explaining: “They have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me.” (1 Sam. 8:7.) (Dallin H. Oaks, "Criticism")

Reprieve from Feminazi War

Something to cry about...

At least they've given up on invading my blog.  I was getting sick of seeing so many of them come here.

Several years ago, I posted a rather innocent article reminiscing about Diamond Fork Canyon.  I naively included brief mention of the hot springs in Fifth Water Canyon, which have the reputation of being frequented by skinny dippers.  Immediately thereafter, I saw a huge flood of hits on my page from people querying their search engines for things like "naked boy pictures" and "skinny dipping coeds".  I never put up any such pictures, just one innocent photo of boys from a Boy Scout troop swimming, fully equipped with standard bathing suits.  Didn't make any difference to the perverts searching my site for porn.

I have the same impression of the surge of hits I got from the apparent gang of feminazis at "Feminist Mormon Housewives" blog.  Turns out they're feminists first and foremost, and not much Mormon.  They seem to fascinate about things that appeal to shallow prurient interests - like the popular erotic literature of the genre characterized as "Mommy Porn".

Mostly the feminist-incined seem to express endless interest in trivial things like repeating the names of respective genitalia, on the level that used to appeal to us when we were little children giggling about such secret words.  But it turns out that this flock of females is neither as persistent or as single-minded as the average pervert seems to be.  I still get many hits from pervs searching for pedophile porn.

...Thanks for the tip...

I ventured a few comments about the science of some unique characteristics of female genetics, and they concluded that I was some kind of nefarious "troll".  And that I was mad at them, for some unfathomable reason.

I'm not mad, just baffled by feminists who claim to be Mormons, but apparently find cause to hate just about every aspect of Mormonism.  "What does a woman want?", like Sigmund Freud, I ask myself.  If they hate it so much, I would suppose they are free to go elsewhere to find satisfaction - they follow in the footsteps of noted examples like Sonia Johnson.  They  apparently feel totally unfulfilled by the possible outcome of exercising that option, and seem to feel that all the stubborn backward Mormons should just make themselves over in the ideal image of accommodation to the radical gang of feminists.

Anyway, I'll not again make the mistake of believing that information about females would be of interest to feminists.  They seem to prefer issues from the lunatic fringe.  They manifest a very narrow focus, and nothing that falls outside of that domain interests them.