Category: LDS Church Page 2 of 4

Dallin H. Oaks, “Fundamental Premises of Our Faith” lds.org, Feb. 26, 2010

The following is a transcript of a talk given by Elder Dallin H. Oaks, member of the Quorum of the twelve apostles,  at Harvard Law School on 26 Feb. 2010

I welcome this opportunity to speak in what our hosts have called “Mormonism 101.”  In his fine lecture last year Judge Thomas Griffith said he was giving “an introduction to the Mormon faith.”  I intend to do the same, speaking from my special responsibility as an apostle called to speak as a witness of the gospel plan and mission and Church of Jesus Christ.

It is challenging to speak to such a diverse audience—some thoroughly familiar with the doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ, some unaware, and many between those extremes.  I will address this diversity by speaking about some of the fundamental premises of our faith and how they affect our interaction with the rest of mankind.  My object is to illuminate several premises and ways of thinking that are at the root of some misunderstandings about our doctrine and practice.

I.

We Mormons know that our doctrines and values are not widely understood by those not of our faith.  This was demonstrated by Gary Lawrence’s nationwide study published in his recent book, How Americans View Mormonism. Three-quarters of those surveyed associated our Church with high moral standards, but about half thought we were secretive and mysterious and had “weird beliefs.”[1]  When asked to select various words they thought described Mormons in general, 87% checked “strong family values,” 78% checked “honest,” and 45% checked “blind followers.”[2]

When Lawrence’s interviewers asked, “To the best of your understanding, what is the main claim of Mormonism?” only 14% could describe anything close to the idea of restoration or reestablishment of the original Christian faith.  Similarly, when another national survey asked respondents what one word best described their impression of the Mormon religion, not one person suggested the words or ideas of original or restoration Christianity.[3]

Even the “Tonight Show” took notice of this lack of understanding.  In the course of poking fun at Senator Orrin Hatch’s Hanukkah song, Conan O’Brien led a chorus in singing several stanzas, including the following:

“Oh Mormons, Mormons, Mormons,

We haven’t got a clue

Of what you folks believe in,

Or think or drink or do.”[4]

My disappointment with these findings is only slightly reduced by Lawrence’s other findings and observation that on the subject of religion Americans in general are “deeply religious” but “profoundly ignorant.”  For example, 68% said they prayed at least several times a week, and 44% said they attended religious services almost every week.  At the same time, only half could name even one of the four Gospels, most could not name the first book of the Bible, and 10% thought Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife.[5]

Many factors contribute to our people’s predominant shallowness on the subject of religion, but one of them is surely higher education’s general hostility or indifference to religion.  Despite most colleges’ and universities’ founding purpose to produce clergymen and to educate in the truths taught in their chapels, most have now abandoned their role of teaching religion.  With but few exceptions, colleges and universities have become value-free places where attitudes toward religion are neutral at best.  Some faculty and administrators are powerful contributors to the forces that are driving religion to the margins of American society.  Students and other religious people who believe in the living reality of God and moral absolutes are being marginalized.

Some have suggested that religion is returning to intellectual life.  In this view, religion is too influential to ignore in these times of the Taliban and the political influence of some religious organizations.  But it seems unrealistic to expect higher education as a whole to resume a major role in teaching moral values.  That will remain the domain of homes, churches, and church-related colleges and universities.  All should hope for success in this vital task.  The academy can pretend to neutrality on questions of right and wrong, but society cannot survive on such neutrality.

I have chosen three clusters of truths to present as fundamental premises of the faith of Latter-day Saints:
1.    The nature of God, including the role of the three members of the Godhead, and the corollary truth that there are moral absolutes.
2.    The purpose of life.
3.    The three-fold sources of truth about man and the universe:  science, the scriptures, and continuing revelation, and how we can know them.

II.

My first fundamental premise of our faith is that God is real and so are eternal truths and values not provable by current scientific methods.  These ideas are inevitably linked.  Like other believers, we proclaim the existence of the ultimate lawgiver, God our Eternal Father, and the existence of moral absolutes.  We reject the moral relativism that is becoming the unofficial creed of much of American culture.

For us, the truth about the nature of God and our relationship to Him is the key to everything else. Significantly, our belief in the nature of God is what distinguishes us from the formal creeds of most Christian denominations.  Our Articles of Faith, our only formal declaration of belief, begins as follows:  “We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.”

We have this belief in the Godhead in common with the rest of Christianity, but to us it means something different than to most.  We maintain that these three members of the Godhead are three separate and distinct beings, and that God the Father is not a spirit but a glorified Being with a tangible body, as is his resurrected Son, Jesus Christ.  Though separate in identity, they are one in purpose.  We maintain that Jesus referred to this relationship when he prayed to His Father that His disciples would be “one” even as Jesus and his Father were one (see John 17:11)—united in purpose, but not in identity.   Our unique belief that “The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit” (D&C 130:22) is vital to us. But, as Gary Lawrence’s interviews demonstrate, we have not effectively conveyed this belief to our fellow Americans.[6]

Our belief in the nature of God comes from what we call the First Vision, which began the restoration of the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Joseph Smith, an unschooled boy of 14, seeking to know which Church he should join, was given a vision in which he saw two personages of indescribable brightness and glory.  One of them pointed to the other and said, “This is My Beloved Son.  Hear Him!” (JS-H 1:17).  God the Son told the boy prophet that all the “creeds” of the churches of that day “were an abomination in his sight” (JS-H 1:19).  This divine declaration condemned the creeds, not the faithful seekers who believed them.

Joseph Smith’s first vision showed that the prevailing concepts of the nature of God and the Godhead were untrue and could not lead their adherents to the destiny God desired for them.  A subsequent outpouring of modern scripture revealed the significance of this fundamental truth, and also gave us the Book of Mormon.  This new book of scripture is a second witness of Christ.  It affirms the Biblical prophecies and teachings of the nature and mission of Christ.  It enlarges our understanding of His gospel and His teachings during His earthly ministry.  And it also provides many teachings and illustrations of the revelations by which we may know the truth of these things.

In a New Testament letter the Apostle Paul explained his testimony of Christ.  He wrote the Corinthian saints that he did not come to them “with excellency of speech or of wisdom,” because he had “determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:1-2).  He added that his preaching “was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power” (vs. 4).  He did this, he explained, that their faith “should not stand in the wisdom of man, but in the power of God” (vs. 3).  Similarly, the Book of Mormon condemns those who hearken to “the precepts of men, and [deny] the power of God and the gift of the Holy Ghost” (2 Nephi 28:26).

These teachings explain our testimony of Christ.  We are not grounded in the wisdom of the world or the philosophies of men—however traditional or respected they may be.  Our testimony of Jesus Christ is based on the revelations of God to His prophets and to us individually.  I will explain this process of revelation in my third premise.

What does our testimony of Jesus Christ cause us to affirm?  Jesus Christ is the Only Begotten Son of God the Eternal Father.  He is the Creator.  Through His incomparable mortal ministry He is our Teacher.  Because of His resurrection all who have ever lived will be raised from the dead.  He is the Savior whose atoning sacrifice opens the door for us to be forgiven of our personal sins so that we can be cleansed to return to the presence of God our Eternal Father.  This is the central message of the prophets of all ages.  Joseph Smith stated this great truth in our third Article of Faith:  “We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.”

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we testify with the Book of Mormon prophet-king Benjamin that “there shall be no other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent” (Mosiah 3:17).

Why is Christ the only way?  How could He break the bands of death?  How was it possible for Him to take upon himself the sins of all mankind?  How can our soiled and sinful selves be cleansed and our bodies be resurrected by His atonement?  These are mysteries I do not fully understand.  To me, the miracle of the atonement of Jesus Christ is incomprehensible, but the Holy Ghost has given me a witness of its truthfulness, and I rejoice that I can spend my life in proclaiming it.

Purpose of Mortal Life

III.

My second fundamental premise concerns the purpose of this mortal life.  This follows from our understanding of the purposes of God the Eternal Father and concerns our destiny as His children.  Our theology begins with the assurance that we lived as spirits before we came to this earth.  It affirms that this mortal life has a purpose.  And it teaches that our highest aspiration is to become like our Heavenly Parents, which will empower us to perpetuate our family relationships throughout eternity.  We were placed here on earth to acquire a physical body and, through the atonement of Jesus Christ and by obedience to the laws and ordinances of His gospel, to qualify for the glorified celestial condition and relationships that are called exaltation or eternal life.

We are properly known as a family-centered Church, but what is not well understood is that our family-centeredness is not just focused on mortal relationships but is a matter of fundamental theology.  Under the great Plan of the loving Creator, the mission of His Church is to help us achieve exaltation in the celestial kingdom, and that can only be accomplished through an eternal marriage between a man and a woman (D&C 131:1-3).

My faithful widowed mother had no confusion about the eternal nature of the family relationship.  She always honored the position of our faithful deceased father.  She made him a presence in our home.  She spoke of the eternal duration of their temple marriage and of our destiny to be together as a family in the next life.  She often reminded us of what our father would like us to do so we could qualify for the Savior’s promise that we could be a family forever.  She never referred to herself as a widow, and it never occurred to me that she was.  To me, as a boy growing up, she wasn’t a widow.  She had a husband and we had a father.  He was just away for a while.

We affirm that marriage is necessary for the accomplishment of God’s plan, to provide the approved setting for mortal birth, and to prepare family members for eternal life.  Knowledge of God’s plan gives Latter-day Saints a unique perspective on marriage and children.  We look on the bearing and nurturing of children as part of God’s plan and a sacred duty of those given the power to participate in it.  We believe that the ultimate treasures on earth and in heaven are our children and our posterity.  And we believe that we must contend for the kind of mortal families that provide the best conditions for the development and happiness of children—all children.

The power to create mortal life is the most exalted power God has given his children.  The use of this creative power was mandated in the first commandment, to “be fruitful, and multiply” (Gen. 1:28), and another important commandment forbade its misuse.  (“Thou shalt not commit adultery” [Exo. 20:14], and “Thou shalt abstain from fornication” [1 Thess. 4:3].)  The emphasis we place on this law of chastity is explained by our understanding of the purpose of our procreative powers in the accomplishment of God’s plan.

There are many political, legal, and social pressures for changes that de-emphasize the importance or change the definition of marriage, confuse gender, or homogenize the differences between men and women that are essential to accomplish God’s great Plan of Happiness.  Our eternal perspective sets us against such changes.

In last year’s lecture, Judge Griffith explained another characteristic of Mormons that stems from our belief that we are all children of Heavenly Parents.  He said we have “an optimism about human potential that encourages sociality.”  As a result, “we like people and that which we do best is build communities.”[7]  While some people complain that Mormons are not good neighbors because we are focused so intently on our families and our Church programs, I believe Judge Griffith had it right when he said that Mormons are good members of a community.  This is why Mormons are often sought out to lead and staff cooperative community efforts.

Judge Griffith also notes that because our church congregations are defined geographically rather than by personal preference, our Church attendance and associations tend to be racially and socially diverse.  We work side-by-side in church with other Mormons we may never have met or chosen as friends otherwise.  We are assigned to make frequent visits to the homes of a few other members to see what service is needed.  We are responsible to watch over, be with, and strengthen one another.  As Judge Griffith said, we “come to appreciate and even love those whose backgrounds, personalities, and interests are different from our own.”[8]  We learn how to serve outside our personal preferences and this prepares us for volunteer community service.

Finally, our understanding of the purpose of mortal life includes some unique doctrines about what follows mortality. Like other Christians, we believe that when we leave this life we go to a heaven (paradise) or a hell, but to us this two-part division of the righteous and the wicked is merely temporary, while the spirits of the dead await their resurrections and final judgments.  The destinations that follow the final judgments are much more diverse, and they stand as evidence of the magnitude of God’s love for His children—all of them.

God’s love is so great that He requires His children to obey His laws because only through that obedience can they progress toward the eternal destiny He desires for them.  Thus, in the final judgment we will all be assigned to the kingdom of glory that is commensurate with our obedience to His law.  The Apostle Paul described these kingdoms.  In his second letter to the Corinthians, he told of a vision in which he was “caught up to the third heaven” (2 Cor. 12:2). Speaking of the resurrection of the dead, he described “bodies” with different glories, like the respective glories of the sun, moon, and stars (1 Cor. 15:40-42).  He referred to the first two of these as “celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial”(1 Cor. 15:40).  For us, “eternal life” in the celestial, the highest of these glories, is not a mystical union with an incomprehensible spirit-god.  As noted earlier, eternal life is family life with a loving Father in Heaven and with our progenitors and our posterity.

The theology of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is comprehensive, universal, merciful, and true.  Following the necessary experience of mortal life, all sons and daughters of God will ultimately be resurrected and go to a kingdom of glory more wonderful than any mortals can comprehend.  With only a few exceptions, even the very wicked will ultimately go to a marvelous—though lesser—kingdom of glory.  All of this will occur because of God’s great love for His children and it is all made possible because of the atonement and resurrection of Jesus Christ, “who glorifies the Father, and saves all the works of his hands” (D&C 76:43).

Sources of Truth

IV.

I have described some things that may seem doubtful and untrue to some of you.  This concluding part describes our fundamental LDS premises on how one can know the truth of such things.

Mormons have a great interest in pursuing knowledge.  Brigham Young said it best:

“[Our] religion . . . prompts [us] to search diligently after knowledge. . . . There is no other people in existence more eager to see, hear, learn and understand truth.”[9]

On another occasion he explained that we encourage our members to increase their knowledge in every branch of learning because “all wisdom, and all the arts and sciences in the world are from God, and are designed for the good of his people.”[10]

We seek after knowledge, but we do so in a special way because we believe there are two dimensions of knowledge, material and spiritual.  We seek knowledge in the material dimension by scientific inquiry and in the spiritual dimension by revelation.  In the interest of time I will say no more of the material dimension except to affirm the obvious truth that thousands of Latter-day Saints perform brilliantly in the material world without denying—and, indeed, by using—the parallel truths and methods of the spiritual world.

I will speak about the spiritual dimension and the way we experience its truth.  This concerns revelation, God’s communication to man—to prophets and to every one of us, if we seek.

Revelation is clearly one of the distinctive characteristics of our faith.  Beginning with Joseph Smith’s First Vision, described earlier, this founding prophet of the restored Church was directed and edified by a continuing flow of revelation throughout his life.  The immense quantity of his published revelations, including the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants, carried forward his unique calling as the prophet of this last dispensation of time.  In this prophetic revelation—to Joseph Smith and to his successors as presidents of the Church—God has revealed truths or commandments to His prophet-leaders for the enlightenment of His people and for the governance and direction of His Church.  This is the kind of revelation described in the Old Testament teaching that “the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7).  Joseph Smith declared that “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was founded upon direct revelation, as the true Church of God has ever been.”[11]  “Take away the Book of Mormon and the revelations, and where is our religion?” he asked.  “We have none,” he answered.[12]

Joseph Smith also taught—and this is the subject most important to this part of my remarks—that because revelation did not cease with the early apostles but continued in these modern times, each person can receive personal revelation for his or her conversion, understanding, and decision-making.  “It is the privilege of the children of God to come to God and get revelation,” he said.  “God is not a respecter of persons; we all have the same privilege.”[13]  The New Testament describes such personal revelation.  For example, when Peter affirmed his conviction that Jesus was the divine Son of God, the Savior declared:  “Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 16:17).

Personal revelation—sometimes called “inspiration”—comes in many forms.  Most often it is by words or thoughts communicated to the mind, by sudden enlightenment, or by positive or negative feelings about proposed courses of action.  Usually it comes in response to earnest and prayerful seeking.  “Ask, and it shall be given you;” Jesus taught, “seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Matt. 7:7).  It comes when we keep the commandments of God and thus qualify for the companionship and communication of the Holy Spirit.

Here is a personal example.  Nearly 50 years ago, while I was employed by a large law firm in Chicago, Dean Edward H. Levi, who was later to serve as Attorney General of the United States, approached me with a proposal that I leave the law firm and become a professor at The University of Chicago Law School.  He said, “I know you will want to pray about this.”  He knew that because he knew me.  I had been his student, we had frequent associations when I was the editor-in-chief of his school’s law review, and he had successfully recommended me to be a law clerk to Chief Justice Earl Warren.  I discussed this unexpected new career path with my wife.  My personal journal for that August 1961 records: “We prayed about it all through the weekend and shortly felt that this was what we should do.”  I wrote to our parents: “None of us knows where this will lead, but we feel perfectly peaceful in our hearts that this is another valuable preparation for us.”  This experience illustrates what we Latter-day Saints mean by personal revelation—a feeling of confirmation in response to earnest prayer for guidance in an important personal decision.  To cite other examples, we believe that revelation also occurs when a scientist, an inventor, an artist or great leader receives flashes of enlightenment from a loving God for the benefit of His children.

Some wonder how members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints accept a modern prophet’s teachings to guide their personal lives, something that is unusual in most religious traditions.  Our answer to the charge that Latter-day Saints follow their leaders out of “blind obedience” is this same personal revelation.  We respect our leaders and presume inspiration in their leadership of the Church and in their teachings.  But we are all privileged and encouraged to confirm their teachings by prayerfully seeking and receiving revelatory confirmation directly from God.

I explain this principle by an analogy from the law.  We are all familiar with official use of certified copies of legal documents like a death certificate or an honorable discharge from military duty.  The official certificate allows such copies to be accepted as if they were originals.  This practice is based on the fact that anyone who doubts the authenticity of the certified copy can verify its authenticity by going to the original.  So it is with the prophetic revelations of prophets of God.  They are the certifying authorities that their teachings or directions are from God.  Anyone who doubts this—and all are invited to ask questions about what is true—can verify the authenticity and content of the message by checking it with the Ultimate Source, by personal revelation.  As Joseph Smith taught, “We never can comprehend the things of God and of heaven, but by revelation.”[14]

Most Christians believe that the scriptural canon—the authoritative collection of sacred books used as scriptures—is closed because God closed it shortly after the death of Christ and there have been no comparable revelations since that time.  Joseph Smith taught and demonstrated that the scriptural canon is open.[15]  In fact, the canon of scripture is open in two ways, and the idea of continuing revelation is crucial to both of these.

First, Joseph Smith taught that God will guide his children by giving new additions to the canon of scriptures.  The Book of Mormon is such an addition.  So are the revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price. Sometimes those new revelations explain the meaning of scriptures previously canonized—meanings that may not have been evident in earlier times.  Most often prophetic revelations add new doctrinal understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and new illustrations of His love for and guidance of His children.  Continuing revelation is necessary for us to understand what the Lord would have us do in our own time and circumstances.

Second, continuing revelation also opens the canon as readers of the scripture, under the influence of the Holy Ghost, find new scriptural meaning and direction for their personal circumstances.  The apostle Paul wrote that “all scripture is given by inspiration of God” (2 Timothy 3:16; also see 2 Peter 1:21) and that “the things of God knoweth no man, except he has the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 2:11, Joseph Smith Translation).  This means that in order to understand scripture we need personal inspiration from the Spirit of the Lord to enlighten our minds.  Consequently, we encourage our members to study the scriptures and prayerfully seek inspiration to know their meanings for themselves.  Thus, while Latter-day Saints rely on scriptural scholars and scholarship, that reliance is preliminary in method and secondary in authority.  As a source of sacred teaching, the scriptures are not the ultimate but the penultimate.  The ultimate knowledge comes by personal revelation through the Holy Ghost.

It is time for me to conclude.  In doing so I offer a closing commentary on this “Mormonism” that is so satisfying to so many Latter-day Saints and so puzzling to so many others.

It works.  Jesus taught, “By their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:2).  To me, to countless other participants, and to many observers, the fruits are good—good for the members, good for their families, good for their communities, and good for their nations.  Peter Drucker told a seminar at Harvard that “the Mormons are the only utopia that ever worked.”[16]  Whatever one may think of utopias, their participants make good neighbors.  The millions of dollars worth of supplies and services The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members are quietly and efficiently providing to repair the terrible tragedy in Haiti are evidence of that fact.  That effort is worthy of pride by its members and emulation by others.

As an apostle, I am called to be a witness of the doctrine and work and authority of Christ in all the world.  In that capacity I bear witness of the truth of these premises of our faith, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

[1] Gary Lawrence, How Americans View Mormonism (Parameter Foundation, Orange, Calif., 2008), p. 32.
[2] Id., at p. 34.
[3] Survey referenced id. at p. 42.
[4] “Conan Mocks Orrin Hatch and the Mormons,” Deseret News, December 16, 2009, C8.
[5] Lawrence, note 1, supra at p. 40.
[6] Lawrence, note 1, supra at p. 49.
[7] Thomas B. Griffith, “Mere Mormonism,” p, 8, a lecture sponsored by the Latter-day Saint Student Association at Harvard Law School, April 7, 2009, manuscript provided to author.
[8] Id., at p. 10.
[9] Discourses of Brigham Young, p. 247 [1978].
[10] Ibid.
[11] Teachings of the Presidents of the Church:  Joseph Smith, p. 195 (2007).
[12] Id., at 196.
[13] Id., at 132.
[14] Teachings, note 11, supra, at 195.
[15] Teachings, note 11 supra at pp. 207-16, 265-66.
[16] Quoted in Mark W. Cannon, “The Mormons are the Only Utopia that ever Worked,” Deseret News, January 13, 2010.

H. Wallace Goddard, “Surrender in order to Conquer” Meridian Magazine

H. Wallace Goddard is a son, a husband, a dad, and a grandpa. He works as a Family Life Specialist for the University of Arkansas Extension Service in Little Rock and has written several books and programs including The Frightful and Joyous Journey of Family Life (Bookcraft) and Principles of Parenting (Alabama Cooperative Extension System). He claims to be living proof that a person who makes lots of mistakes can still be blessed with joy beyond any deserving.

Surrender in Order to Conquer

Life is filled with paradoxes. For example, the last will be first. The humble will be exalted. Our natural ways make us enemies to our Creator. We must lose ourselves in order to find ourselves. By submitting we become strong. The servant of all will become the Master of all. By giving we receive. We must die in order to live eternally.

There is a contradiction that has been of particular interest to me lately. We are repeatedly enjoined to become “as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father” (Mosiah 3:19, c.f. Alma 7:23, Alma 13:28).

Further, the Master of all Creation was also its most submissive citizen. “Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise” (John 5:19, also John 5:30, 8:28).

In contrast to the commandment to submit, is the commandment to “be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness. For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves” (D&C 58:27-8). How do we reconcile total submission to God with “being agents unto themselves”?

Submission does not come easily for me. I have considered it cause for rejoicing as I have learned to submit my rather independent will to God in some areas of my life. So, sitting in a high council meeting feeling as misplaced as a smoldering cigarette at a bishopric meeting, I have been tempted to resign my post. But I know in my soul that that is not how we do business in the kingdom. “In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter?day Saints, one takes the place to which one is duly called, which place one neither seeks nor declines” (J. Reuben Clark).

I see clearly that I neither call myself nor release myself. God offers no guarantees that we will enjoy each minute of our callings. He does not even guarantee that all our callings will perfectly utilize our gifts and preferences. After all, He is more committed to our growth than He is in need of our contribution. So He directs our lives according to His absolute resolve to enlarge us and perfect us.

So I continue to serve on the high council. As I serve, God shows me ways to be useful. I offer my gifts and perspectives to the council. I gladly testify of Divine Goodness in the units of the Little Rock Stake. I try to enjoy meetings. But you can be sure that I will rejoice if I ever get to teach Gospel Essentials again!

Submission vs. Proactivity

I have wondered if one way to reconcile submission with proactivity is to suggest that we submit our purposes entirely to God while using our agency to determine the processes for bringing about His perfect purposes. In other words, He determines the ends and we choose the means.

Nephi may be an example of that principle. He did not know how God would hook him and his brothers up with the brass plates. For the first attempt, Laman went and reasoned with Laban. He was chased off. Then the little band offered the family wealth in exchange for the plates. Laban took the wealth and dispatched the brothers. Even after two failures, Nephi was not deterred. He still did not know God’s plan for getting the records but he was determined to keep trying. He snuck into town at night for the third attempt. He “was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which [he] should do” (1 Nephi 4:6). It must take a lot of faith to head back into town without a plan. Nephi pushed forward. God put Laban in his hands.

While Nephi used every stratagem that came to his mind, ultimately it was God who delivered Laban into his hands. Maybe that is true for us also. We qualify for God’s blessings as we put our creativity and style in the service of God’s work.

Another interesting example is the brother of Jared whom the Lord instructed to build a barge that would transport his people to the new world. The Lord gave very clear instructions about the general objective. He even gave specific instructions on certain subjects—such as general design of the barges and their ventilation—where our shipbuilder could not succeed without expert help. But God allowed the brother of Jared to make recommendation for lighting the craft: “What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels?” (Ether 2:23) asked the Lord.

Aligned With God’s Will

With both Nephi and the brother of Jared, God gave clear purposes and some specific processes, but allowed His servant to find some methods. “And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward” (D&C 58:28, emphasis added). If our purposes are aligned with God’s will, i.e., if we are determined to “do good,” He grants us freedom to find a method.

Would God have allowed the brother of Jared to use glow-in-the-dark pomegranates or a burning bush? Perhaps. Maybe God inspired the choice of 16 clear stones for symbolic purposes. It appears in the record that it was purely the brother of Jared’s choice.

It seems that when we have no desire but to do God’s will, we are sometimes granted freedom to find the means for accomplishing His purposes. It is intriguing to imagine what elements of Jesus’ remarkable ministry represent the unique style of His sweet soul. Even though He followed His Father’s example perfectly, His choice of which acts to emulate must somehow represent the great goodness of His inestimable Character!

So, when we prove our devotion to God’s purpose, He grants us more freedom to choose the means to accomplish those purposes. There is another way of looking at this. Maybe it is a matter of spiritual maturity. As we demonstrate our commitment to His purposes, He delegates more and more of His responsibility and power to us. Can you imagine The Creator of Heaven and Earth saying to us, “I would like you to take charge of this part of my vineyard.”?!

That is what He does when he gives a deacon the power to pass the sacrament or a woman stewardship over a newborn or a bishop responsibility for a ward. But there is a feeling that comes as one starts to feel the power. I thought I saw that great power when I heard President Biliter, a beloved counselor in our stake presidency, tell about the joy he experiences any time he has an opportunity to give a blessing. “The thrill is being able to be a part of the miracle—even if only in the capacity of messenger. We get to intercede in behalf of a brother or sister and call down the blessings of heaven. That is the miracle of the priesthood process. I am in awe that Heavenly Father allows us to be instruments in that process.” Giving blessings in the name of the Lord provides a unique opportunity for partnership with God. Perhaps we provide the style and God directs the substance.

Consecration

Somehow this all connects to the principle of consecration. When we turn everything we have over to the kingdom, the Kingdom becomes ours. As we turn our lives over to Him, He turns His power over to us! What wonderful examples of heavenly generosity!

I must admit that I still do not have a tidy answer for reconciling total submission to God with being agents unto ourselves. But I know that when I have no desire but to do His will, He opens the way for me to be uniquely myself and yet uniquely His. May we surrender all that we have and all that we are to God and thereby “inherit thrones, kingdoms, principalities, and powers, dominions, all heights and depths” (D&C 132:19).

James T. Summerhays, “Top CIA Exec is New Convert, Tells Story”, Meridian Magazine

Stephanie Smith received an MPA at Harvard University and worked her way up in the CIA to become Director of Support, managing the largest directorate in the organization. For 25 years she was at the highest level of the senior executive cadre managing intelligence, public diplomacy and defense —but for Stephanie, something was missing.

Before Conversion (BC)
So let’s go back in time a bit – to the period I’ll call  “BC” – Before conversion.  Let me begin with a clear view of my “before” picture.  I had been raised by tremendous, faithful Catholic parents who scrimped and saved to send me to a Catholic school.  I believed in God, in Jesus Christ, and in the Catholic notion of the trinity.  I understood the Ten Commandments.  I knew very clearly what sin was.

I went to mass every Sunday. That was a 45-minute ritual for me.  It was part of my routine, like going to the gym, except it took less time and required nothing of me but attendance.  I never read the scriptures independently; I never volunteered for my church; I never fully tithed; and in fact, I didn’t know the names of more than 2 parishioners at St. Michael’s in Annandale, where I went to church for 20 years.  And I only knew those names because I worked with them.

Given this remarkably weak spiritual foundation, you probably won’t be surprised to learn that in my adult years, I transgressed very far from the commandments of my Heavenly Father.

Now if you looked at my adult years from a secular perspective – sort of like looking at my resume – you might be impressed.  But you should not be fooled.

To be sure, I’ve achieved a fair measure of secular success, but with it came a very coarse way of life.  I was a very hard-driving person, I believed in achieving my goals at all costs.  And I did what it took to get there first:  if it meant working 7 days a week, up to 18 hours a day, I did so. If it meant immersing myself in professional ambitions at the expense of my husband, I did so. If it meant adopting the language of a blasphemer, I did so.  If it meant trampling on the feelings of others, I did so. If it meant breaking promises, I often did so. If it meant engaging in gossip, plotting, and office politics I did that too.

And the results were actually pretty astounding:  I was often the “first” woman in my field to achieve something; I was promoted at a speed that astounded even me.  And in the process, I came to live by a standard that is really pretty troubling  when I look back on it and see it clearly now:  Get there first, and clean up your road-kill later.

Along the way, I committed sins of pride, arrogance, ego, envy, greed, and great, great vanity. I took up the worst ways of the world. To make matters worse, I rationalized my sins.  I reasoned that some of what I did really wasn’t a sin, because others did it too. Or it wasn’t a sin because I faced unique pressures and temptations.

Brothers and sisters, among Satan’s arsenal of weapons of mass destruction, I can tell you that rationalization is the most powerful.

Every once in a while, I told myself I would change and do better. But always that improvement was put on the back-burner until the next career goal was achieved.

My disturbing logic might well remind you of the passage in Alma, Chapter 5, verse 37:

O ye workers of iniquity; ye that are puffed up in the vain things of the world, ye that have professed to have known the ways of righteousness nevertheless have gone astray, as sheep having no shepherd, notwithstanding a shepherd hath called after you and is still calling after you, but ye will not hearken unto his voice!

Let me assure you that if you had observed me during a typical work day, you would never have been able to tell I was a Christian.  By 2005, riding a wave of success that was built on compromised values and sheer exhaustion, I’m not sure I recognized myself as a Christian, either.

In that year, I began the pinnacle job of my career at CIA, as Director for Support.   I was the first woman to hold that job.  It was the biggest leadership job of my life.  I had the best office at CIA Hqs, with all due respect to Director Panetta.  And I worked very, very hard.

Yet even as I was enjoying tremendous secular success, my world was starting to crack.  Within 2 months of taking that job, I landed in the hospital for 4 days with a nasty gastric problem and severe exhaustion, after working nearly 20 hours a day for far too many days in a row.  But things got worse from there.

By the spring of 2006, CIA was embroiled in the usual stew of lurid headlines, and I found myself for the first time ever near the center of that storm – as two of my esteemed colleagues – men of enormous worldly achievement – fell into personal crises that resulted in their firings, a huge amount of media glare, and the beginning of a three-year criminal investigation that would require me to serve as a Government witness, and that resulted in a jail term for one of these  colleagues.

Their crises were horrifying for me. But when God gives us a crisis, He also grants us an opportunity. And so it was with me. I began to inspect my own life pretty thoroughly, and I saw that I had fallen far from grace. I was forced to acknowledge that I was not simply a person who gave into sin every now and again.  I had become a profoundly sinful person. I no longer knew what I believed or who I believed in. But I knew my life was shattering into a million jagged pieces.

Calling a Colleague

Then, and only then, did I turn to God.  Feeling quite uncertain, I called a colleague I very much admired who was a member of the Church.  Looking back, I believe that one of the reasons I called him – rather than dialing a Catholic priest  — had a lot to do with who he was as a person, but it also had a bit to do with Gordon B. Hinckley. Let me digress to explain:  several years earlier, during the Salt Lake Olympics, I was on a night flight overseas, and I picked up a news magazine that had the Olympics splashed across its front pages.

My husband will tell you I am no fan of the Olympics, but I was prompted to pick up the magazine for some reason and read a story about the Mormons.  I’m sure it explained Mormon doctrine, but the only thing I really remember is that the President of the church, this fellow Gordon B. Hinckley, was asked why so many people were turning to the LDS faith after 9/11, and President Hinckley said it was because they were looking for something “solid, strong, and true.” I’m not quite sure why those three words made such an impression on me back then, but I wrote them down on a scrap of paper and stuffed them into my wallet, where they remained in 2006.

So in 2006, in a state of crisis, I reached out to my Mormon colleague. His response to me consisted of two simple messages:  first, he told me that my Heavenly Father knows me by name and loves me for who I am.  And second, he told me that Heavenly Father has a plan for my success – but not success as I had come to define it. The next day he sent me hand-drawn directions to the DC Temple Visitors Center.

I share this with you because he did not teach me the gospel, he didn’t explain what Mormons believe, he didn’t ask a single question of me.  Instead, he gave me two clear messages about Heavenly Father’s love for me, and he drew me a map.  Looking back on it, I’d say those were pretty much the only things I needed to take on this journey.

Missionary Visit

Soon after I went to the Visitor’s Center, two missionaries visited my home.  Several people in this room know that the first time Sister McDonald and Sister Clark landed on my doorstep, I was mortified.  They were so young and innocent I had no idea how I would explain my troubled and headstrong life.  I figured they would never be able to relate.  They began our meeting by asking me if they could sing for me.  They sang “I Am a Child of God.” From that moment on I was captivated. It became irrelevant whether they could relate to me.  I began relating to them, and to the profoundly joyful message they shared.

I took lessons throughout the summer and fall of 2006. At first, my husband Bill  had no knowledge of this and I was afraid he and my entire family would think I was crazy if I even mentioned it.  I was running a covert operation. When he finally met the good sisters, he was immediately captivated as well. He is an investigator of this church, and a true friend to every missionary.

The good sisters paired with me several Saints at Annandale Ward who studied with me for the next 6 months. I struggled mightily to accept what they were telling me.  I struggled to believe the Book of Mormon was an authentic testament of Jesus Christ.  I struggled with the seemingly fantastical account of Joseph Smith’s vision. Everyone patiently answered my questions and encouraged me to read and pray and know for myself.  There was no pressure, no coercion, no hard sell.

I cannot tell you for certain the first time I actually came to know that these teachings were true, but I recall one early clear moment that crystallizes so much.  One evening I was hurriedly reading my missionary homework when I was stopped cold by Amulek’s great exhortation on prayer that can be found in Alma 34, and in particular, verse 26:

… “Ye must pour out your souls in your closets, and your secret places, and in your wilderness.”

I realized then that Amulek was speaking directly to me, because I was definitely in a wilderness and I definitely needed to pour my heart out.   From that simple passage, I came to know for certain the Book of Mormon was true. I knew it was of God.  My testimony of the Book of Mormon was so strong that my other questions fell away.

If you ever doubt that members and missionaries can change a life, let me offer my testimony.  I could not have made it this far – in fact, I do not believe I could have survived the summer of 2006 — without those young missionaries.  But it was important for me to also learn and fellowship with members. I saw by their example that this was a faith that could be practiced.  It could be lived each day, in the world as it is — in a world of work, commercialism, temptations, and distractions.

Of course a part of the journey I needed to take on my own. That part was repentance. That is the hardest part of the journey, as you know.  It is also a continuing journey. My first prayers as an investigator were awkward and child-like, and began something like this, “Heavenly Father, I know you already know that I’ve made a mess of everything, but let me just tell you about all of it anyway.”  There were times – and there still are – when my prayers amount to pleading for forgiveness, for guidance, and to be restored to a “clean heart and right spirit,” as Psalm 51 describes.

I was baptized in January 2007, supported by my entire family, who were happy that I found peace.  My baptism was joyful and comforting beyond measure.
But conversion is a process. The Bible dictionary tells us that conversion is a conscious acceptance of the will of God.  I also find the secular dictionary definition illuminating:  it tells us that to convert is to change or to turn around. I like to think conversion is not simply about turning your life around but turning toward something more powerful than you – literally, the will of God.

So now let me tell you a little bit of what has happened “AC” – after conversion.

After Conversion

Let me say clearly:  I did not magically change after conversion and baptism.  I still struggle with vanity, pride, and ego.   My conversion was not like the flipping of a miraculous light switch.

In truth, it has been better than that.  For me, conversion has been more like an incandescent light that began slowly, almost imperceptibly, deep within me.  The light gave off warmth, but I had to recognize it. Sometimes that feeling of warmth comes unexpectedly; at other times, it comes when I feel stressed, panicked, uncertain.  I have come to know that this light is the Holy Ghost, and that I must fuel the light with prayer, scripture reading, and obedience.

Fueling that light has not been easy, however.  A central irony of my life, brothers and sisters, is that my post-conversion years have been the least successful chapter of my life thus far, if you judge only by conventional measures. Ironically, when I was living a faithless life, I was immensely successful – at the top of my professional game, with more friends and associates than hours in a day.

That changed abruptly.  A new leadership team came into power at CIA in late 2006, and my tenure came to an end. Because of my seniority, I had no next job at CIA, so I sat jobless in an isolated office for 5 months, trying to figure out what to do next.

I had to rebuild my life brick by brick, precept by precept – aided by the gospel and a wonderful community of believers and doers.  I found work in two other government agencies – State Department and the mighty US Navy — and started fresh – without credentials, friends, or peers. This experience turned out to be a tremendous blessing.

I also came to realize that Heavenly Father cleared my calendar for another kind of mission:  His work. Heavenly Father needed to get my attention by silencing some of the noise in my life, so that I could finally hearing him calling to me.

I should also share that many colleagues whom I thought to be friends no longer speak with me. Perhaps for some it is because I am no longer in a position of seniority.  But in some cases, I came to understand they were struggling to fathom my conversion to this church.  I can understand this, because I was the most unlikely Mormon in the world—at 10 cups of coffee a day!  I’ve actually heard 3 explanations for my conversion:

• First, and most obvious, I am having a midlife crisis.
• Then I heard I ran off with a Mormon guy and he forced me to convert. This will come as news to Bill!
• A third explanation – and this one is really priceless – is that somehow, back in 2006 when I first began investigating the church, I figured out that Mitt Romney would run for President in 2008, so I became a Mormon as a way to jockey for a key place in his Administration. You can see that people ascribe great predictive powers to me!

So it’s fair to say that a lot of the people around me believe I have LOST IT.

But it is my pleasure, my joy, and my duty to tell them that I HAVE FOUND IT.

So what have I found?

I have found the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.  A gospel of pure love and abiding hope.

I have found the blessing, the peace and the safety of the temple.

I have found my place in a vibrant community of believers – brothers and sisters who nurture and inspire me and move me to tears on a regular basis.

I have found that repentance is hard, but it is possible and miraculous.

I have found that when we are serving others, we are healing ourselves.

I have found a living faith that compels more of its members than attendance….a faith that is solid, strong, and true.

It is fair to say that every conversion journey is unique. But for some converts, like me, that journey includes a fair amount of internal churning and turbulence. We do not join the church because the choice is easy or obvious. It is the most important decision we will make, and many, like me, make the decision without family members joining us.  So the decision can be isolating.

Ultimately, I joined the church because I could no longer deny the truth of the restored gospel and I could no longer sustain the dead weight of my old self. In my mind, that is the deepest definition of true conversion:  the undeniable reality that we must abandon the old self and give birth to the new self. And with that birth, most assuredly, comes labor pains.  Those pains are like the process by which a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. That metamorphosis takes place almost invisibly to the human eye, so it can seem quite natural, seamless, and graceful.   But in truth, that process is highly tumultuous. The caterpillar’s structure is basically broken down – reduced only to its basic nutrients — all else is stripped away.  But from that difficult process – and only as a result of that process — a butterfly emerges.

Today I know that the work of the gospel — the goal of aspiring to Christ-like obedience and service — is a work for all of us. We are all called to this life.  A  life of faith, obedience, and service is rarely convenient, however.   But it a life  aglow – literally incandescent – with purpose.

So, my first ascent took me to the top of an organizational chart, and that view was not all that it was cracked up to be.  My second ascent, which has only just begun, gives me an even better view — of eternity. There are no organization charts, offices, or parking spaces with this ascent.  We travel much lighter when we travel with Heavenly Father.

If you are investigating this church, I humbly encourage you to pray to know the truth. Search the scriptures. I bear you my testimony that you will come to know  for yourself.

If you are a member, please take the time to understand, and embrace, the evolving butterflies among you.  The impacts of their metamorphosis may not be fully visible to you, but believe me, they need you.

Now that you know more about me than you wanted to know, it is my turn – as a trained intelligence professional — to ask you:

What is your conversion story?
Have you thought deeply about your own journey of faith?
What do you believe, and why do you believe it?
If you have not yet begun this journey, what are you waiting for?  If you are not turning to the will of God, what are you turning to instead?  If you are not seeking to live eternally with Heavenly Father and your families, what are you seeking instead?  As we account for our days, it really is true that some things are simply more important than others.

Brothers and sisters, my heart is joyful as I declare to you that I know this gospel is true and this church is true. I know our Savior died for me, and his Atonement is powerful enough for all of us.  THIS IS WHY I BELIEVE.