Mormon Musings

The Prophet Joseph Smith, in speaking of revelation, said: A person may profit by noticing the first intimation of the spirit of revelation; for instance, when you feel pure intelligence flowing into you, it may give you sudden strokes of ideas, so that by noticing it, you may find it fulfilled the same day or soon.  [ TPJS, 151]... To receive spiritual truths, one must be obedient as well as diligent (see D&C 130:19). Spiritual light is received when one follows the doctrine of Christ--that is, the first principles and ordinances of the restored gospel. I challenge you to increase your faith by living gospel principles more precisely, by repenting when you fall short, by taking an active role in your ward, by rendering service to others, and by making prayer and scripture study a part of your everyday life. In this manner you will find true joy. In closing I turn to the words of the Prophet Joseph Smith, who wrote about the connection between heaven and our intell...

More than 100 years ago, President Charles W. Penrose, citing section 88 of the Doctrine and Covenants, stated that the physical and spiritual spectrums of light are related and belong to one continuum. Speaking of the Light of Christ, the Spirit of God, he said: It is the light and the life of all things. It is the light and the life of man. It is the life of the animal creation. It is the life of the vegetable creation. It is in the earth . . . ; it is in the stars . . . ; it is in the moon . . . : it is in the sun, and is the light of the sun, and the power by which it was made; and these grosser particles of light that illuminate the heavens and enable us to behold the works of nature, are from that same Spirit which enlightens our minds and unfolds the things of God. As that light comes forth from the sun, so the light of God comes to us.  [Charles W. Penrose,  JD  26:21] Elder Merrill J. Bateman, BYU Devotional, September 2000 http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=vie...

"I love the Savior. I feel that as he hung upon the cross and looked out over the dark scene, he saw more than mocking soldiers and cruel taunters. He saw more than crying women and fearful friends. He remembered and saw even more than women at wells or crowds on hills or throngs by seashores. He saw more, much more. He, who knows all and has all power, saw through the stream of time. His huge, magnanimous, loving soul encompassed all eternity and took in all people and all times and all sins and all forgiveness and all everything. Yes, he saw down to you and to me and provided us an all-encompassing opportunity to escape the terrible consequences of death and sin.” (Elder John H. Groberg, "The Beauty and Importance of the Sacrament," Ensign, May 1989, 40)

“The Savior, as a member of the Godhead, knows each of us personally… In the garden and on the cross, Jesus saw each of us and not only bore our sins, but also experienced our deepest feelings so that he would know how to comfort and strengthen us...  “The Savior’s atonement in the garden and on the cross is intimate as well as infinite.  Infinite in that it spans the eternities.  Intimate in that the Savior felt each person’s pains, sufferings, and sicknesses.  Consequently, he knows how to carry our sorrows and relieve our burdens that we might be healed from within, made whole persons, and receive everlasting joy in his kingdom”   (emphasis added, Elder Merrill J. Bateman, “The Power to Heal from Within,” Ensign, May 1995, 14).

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I sense in a measure the meaning of His Atonement. I cannot comprehend it all. It is so vast in its reach and yet so intimate in its effect that it defies comprehension. President Gordon B. Hinckley 

A short while before Gethsemane and Calvary, Jesus prayed, "Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour." Then, as if in soliloquy, he said, "But for this cause came I unto this hour" (John 12:27). The awful weight of the Atonement had begun to descend upon him. We next find him in Gethsemane. And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane: and he saith to his disciples, Sit ye here, while I shall pray. And he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy.  [Mark 14:32–33] The Greek for "very heavy" is "depressed, dejected, in anguish." Just as the Psalmist had foreseen, the Savior was "full of heaviness" (Psalms 69:20). The heavy weight of the sins of all mankind were falling upon him. He had been intellectually and otherwise prepared from ages past for this task. He is the creator of this and other worlds. He knew the plan of salva...

“I  believe  that  our  Heavenly  Father  wants  to  save  every  one  of H is  children.  I  do  not  think  He  intends  to  shut  any  of  us  off. … “… I  believe  that  in  His  justice  and  mercy  He  will  give  us  the  maximum  reward  for  our  acts,  give  us  all  that  He  can  give,  and  in  the  reverse,  I  believe  that  He  will  impose  upon  us  the  minimum  penalty  which  it  is  possible  for  Him  to  impose”  (J. Reuben Clark,  Conference  Report,  Oct.  1953,  84).

"Search the scriptures--search the revelations which we publish, and ask your Heavenly Father, in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, to manifest the truth unto you, and if you do it with an eye single to His glory nothing doubting, He will answer you by the power of His Holy Spirit. You will then know for yourselves and not for another."  (The Prophet Joseph Smith)