Talk #2: A Man More Precious than Fine Gold

My second ever talk. Given a few months after the first one at the missionary farewell of Sean Bell.

Talk #2 - A Man More Precious than Fine Gold

Let me preface this talk by saying that I will not be speaking to all of you today. Though I think this message can apply to everybody at some point in their lives, it was designed for a specific portion of you. I don't know who you are, but I know what you're going through.

You’ve all heard of Bruce Wayne. Bruce — who is known better by the name of his alter ego, the super-hero Batman, as I hope we’re all aware — had a terrible accident in his youth involving bats, an experience so scarring that he developed chiroptophobia, a fear of bats. A short time later he is, as a direct result of his phobia, walking the nighttime streets of Gotham City with his parents, and they are assaulted by a thug. The robbery goes horribly wrong and young Bruce is forced to watch helplessly as his parents die on the street in front of him. He comes to blame himself; if not for his fear, they wouldn’t have been there, and they wouldn’t have died; they could still be a happy family. Now both of his parents are gone, and Bruce’s life has been shattered.

A tragedy, right? Bruce Wayne’s story can easily be categorized as more painful than most, filled with scars, suffering, and severe psychological trauma. I think we can all agree on that. But I’m going to put it on pause for now, and we’ll come back to it in a few minutes.

What I intend to talk about today is what philosophers call the Problem of Suffering, a theological dilemma that has been debated for centuries. The question is this: how can an all-powerful, all-knowing, and perfectly benevolent God exist when there is so much suffering in the world today? How could such a God let all that pain and misery happen?

It’s a good question and a fair one. And the answer is something most people asking it wouldn’t expect.

In the film Shadowlands, Christian apologist CS Lewis describes in a speech a horrific traffic accident that killed 24 people. He then asks some “simple, but fundamental questions: Where was God on that December night? Why didn’t He stop it? Isn’t God supposed to be good? Isn’t He supposed to love us? Does God want us to suffer?” He pauses for a moment here and then says, “What if the answer to that question is Yes?”

We are all familiar with the concept of touching a hot stove. A little girl reaches up in curiosity, presses her fingers against the red ring, and begins to scream and cry until her mother rushes in, puts ice on the burn, and points out the obvious lesson. The child has now learned never to touch a hot stove again.

Now, what would be better — that she knows the pain of intense heat once, and never touches the stove again? Or that she touches it, leans on it, lies on it without feeling any pain at all while she is slowly burning to death?

I apologize for that terrible image, but that is a potential consequence of the lack of ability to feel pain. Physical pain is built into our systems to make us aware that there is a problem somewhere in our bodies, and it needs to be taken care of. When I broke my leg jumping down a flight of stairs at a seminary party six and a half years ago, the pain was telling me to get to a hospital, get the broken leg mended. If I had not felt that pain I would have continued on in life a cripple.

CS Lewis says, continuing on from before, “I suggest to you that it is because God loves us that He makes us the gift of suffering. Or to put it another way...pain is God’s megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

It is clear that while the idea of physical pain certainly applies to Lewis’s words, it is not precisely what he had in mind. I believe what he was speaking of was spiritual pain. If you didn’t receive any stimulus from sin telling you it’s wrong, you’d be inclined to keep doing it. In Jeffrey R. Holland’s talk “Lessons From Liberty Jail,” Elder Holland says: “Of course sinfulness does bring suffering, and the only answer to that behavior is repentance.”

Then he says, “But sometimes suffering comes to the righteous, too.” Certainly the prophets throughout the ages can attest to that, and we ordinary folk can as well. Heartache. Heartbreak. Disappointment. Injustice. Unfairness. Rejection. Betrayal. False friends. Financial struggles. Being a victim of selfishness, of indifference, of pride. Not to mention any physical disabilities or mental disorders or emotional frailties we may be born with. Our lives are rife with all these things, even if we’re living the commandments. So why is that?

I will repeat Lewis’s words: “It is because God loves us that He makes us the gift of suffering.” Notice those precise words: “because God loves us.”

Lewis goes on to say, “You see we are like blocks of stone out of which the Sculptor carves the forms of men. The blows of His chisel, which hurt us so much...are what make us perfect.”

This is the principle of adversity. Of opposition, and how we react to it. To demonstrate this principle I will give you a couple of brief examples.

A baby bird, when hatching from its egg, must be allowed to emerge on its own strength. Without the experience of breaking out of its own shell, the bird may not have the ability to survive on its own.

Muscles only grow when they experience trauma. When we exercise, the muscles in our limbs break down and develop tears in the tissue itself. As we rest, the muscles gradually grow back, and actually become stronger than they were before.

So yes. There are lessons to be learned from pain, inherent in the process itself. Lessons God feels it is worth the pain to know. Lessons God teaches us because He loves us. Strength God grants us because He wants our eternal progression more than our temporal comfort. And not only will these experiences make us stronger, but they will develop within ourselves a greater and more full appreciation for what joy and happiness truly are.

Adam and Eve once lived in the Garden of Eden, in perfect, simple happiness, never knowing the bitter side of life, the side of death and decay, only the sweet, the side of light and life. Consequently they could not progress. It was only after the Fall, when they were cast into the lone and dreary world that they were able to have increase, to bear and raise children, to learn the lessons of life, to discern the bitter from the sweet, the pleasure from the pain, the good from the evil. One cannot know joy without knowing sadness.

In Shadowlands, after Lewis’s wife, with whom he shared only a tragically short time, passes away, he asks, “Why love, if losing hurts so much?” — and thereafter shortly answers, “The pain now is part of the happiness then. That's the deal.”

In other words, brothers and sisters, lights can be beautiful — but it has to be dark for you to be able to appreciate them. Sometimes — MANY times — it will feel like it’s not worth it. No experience is worth that much hurt.  No joy is worth that much loss. I have been there before. I know what that mindset feels like. I also know that it is a lie.

We must know and understand that God is in control, and that He knows what is best for us, and He will NEVER give us something we cannot handle nor something that is not worthwhile. Those crashing waves and billowing winds may attack us as we sail through that storm of suffering and uncertainty. But as it says in hymn number 124, “Be still my soul: the waves and winds still know His voice who ruled them while he dwelt below.”

Elder Holland says: “Whenever these moments of our extremity come, we must not succumb to the fear that God has abandoned us or that He does not hear our prayers. He does hear us. He does see us. He does love us. When we are in dire circumstances and want to cry “Where art Thou?” it is imperative that we remember He is right there with us—where He has always been! We must continue to believe, continue to have faith, continue to pray and plead with heaven, even if we feel for a time our prayers are not heard and that God has somehow gone away. He is there. Our prayers are heard. And when we weep He and the angels of heaven weep with us.”

1 Nephi 21:15-16 reads: “For can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee, O house of Israel. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands.” On the palms of His hands has He engraved His love for us. In the prints of the nails in his hands and feet.

He will be there for us to find, always. But it is we who have to start searching out first. I hope we have all noticed that when we’re in distress we tend to pray more, or we should pray more. For without that distress we would have no reason to talk to God, and talk to God we must. We cannot obtain salvation, be it spiritual or emotional, on our own power. We can’t get there based on our own limited vision. In April 2009 General Conference, President Thomas S. Monson, our prophet of God, quoted the words of M. Louise Haskins:

   And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:

   “Give me a light, that I may tread safely into the unknown!”

   And he replied:

   “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.

   That shall be to you better than [a] light and safer than a known way.”

In order to successfully face and conquer the darkness of this world, we must put our trust in God, and depend on Him. We don’t and can’t always know why bad things happen to us. Sometimes — most times, even — we can’t see with our mortal, non-spiritual eyes why something has to be. In such times we must throw up our shield of faith and endure the onslaught of life’s fiery darts with patience, having faith that the trial will end as we put our trust in God.

That trust is very important in a trial, for sometimes pain is not a lesson but a test. A test of our obedience, a trial of our faith. In fact this WHOLE LIFE is a test: Abraham 3:25 — “And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them.” A time of testing, a time to see if we will do all the things the Lord expects from His special sons and daughters. When we are wading through those black waters of adversity on our way to dry land, will we turn to the Lord, and keep His commandments, follow His guiding light? Or will we give up and sink below the surface, submerge in short-sightedness, fall in faithlessness, drown in disbelief?

The test is frequently one of faith and fortitude. We are promised all the righteous desires of our hearts. I know that I’ve said before and I’m sure many of you have as well, “I will give or do anything for [a certain situation to be the case].” I’ve said it many times, both to myself and to my God in prayer. But one of those times I was answered by the Holy Ghost. The answer was in the form of a question: “You say you would give anything. Would you give time?”

That question struck me. Would I give time? Would I wait for the Lord to show His hand, and be patient until then? Again, we are promised that we will one day obtain all the righteous desires of our hearts. I say I would give anything to have them. But would I be willing to wait for them? Sometimes waiting can last a long time, and we can’t see the ending. In such times we may doubt God’s love for us. So often this feeling of despair is attached to our desire for romantic love. I want to make one thing absolutely clear to you as a singles ward today, and that is this: Whether or not you’re in a relationship is NOT an indicator of how much our Heavenly Father loves you, nor of your worthiness before Him. I know the despair and loneliness that can be felt in such a state. The perpetual heartbreak one is often in because of “the pangs of despised love,” as Shakespeare calls it. Sometimes we look at others who seem to be so happy, and we wonder why we can’t have that happiness too. Why it’s easier for them than for us. Elder Neal A. Maxwell said, “Faith in God includes faith in God’s timing.” As painful and as trying and as depressing as that timing can seem, it is in the end for our benefit. We forego something Good now for something Great later, even if we might not know it at the time. God sees the future where we cannot. And in the end we will thank Him for that.

Elder Holland again: “When you have to, you can have sacred, revelatory, profoundly instructive experience with the Lord in any situation you are in. Indeed, let me say that even a little stronger: You can have sacred, revelatory, profoundly instructive experience with the Lord in the most miserable experiences of your life—in the worst settings, while enduring the most painful injustices, when facing the most insurmountable odds and opposition you have ever faced.”

I have an absolute testimony of the truthfulness of this concept. If our life was painless and easy, we would never ask for help, and thus we would never grow, nor would we have a reason to draw closer to our Heavenly Father. It is then, in the times we have fallen, that we are at our most humble. It is then that we learn the most about ourselves, our capabilities, our strength, and also about God, and our relationship with Him. It is then that God is able to shape us, to form us, to organize us into something profoundly different, something superior, something stronger, something finer. In 2 Nephi 23:12 Christ says through Isaiah, “I will make a man more precious than fine gold.” For metals like gold to be refined and be given their true quality they must be cast into a fiery furnace, where their final impurities are removed. Said Robert Millet and Joseph Fielding McConkie, “It is in the flames of difficulty that the tempered steel of faith is forged. Ease does not call forth greatness.” And greatness is, in God’s kingdom, what we all aspire to achieve.

Elder Holland again: “When what has to be has been and when what lessons to be learned have been learned, it will be for us as it was for the Prophet Joseph. Just at the time he felt most alone and distant from heaven’s ear was the very time he received the wonderful ministration of the Spirit and wonderful, glorious answers that came from his Father in Heaven. Into this dismal dungeon and this depressing time, the voice of God came, saying:

“My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes. [D&C 121:7–8]”

John 16:21 — “A woman when she is in travail [in other words, childbirth] hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.”

A man. A man more precious than fine gold. Our adversity and afflictions will be but a small moment. A small moment in our minds, in our memories. And then we will no more remember the anguish, but we will have joy, and we shall be exalted.

If we can see matters with that kind of long term perspective, if we can accept that we do not know everything right now, and if we can trust that the Lord’s timing is best, we will triumph all the easier, we will conquer all the more.

To further illustrate the importance of perspective, I will share another example from my life. A couple of years ago I was at the Oakland Temple for Ward Temple Night. I came out with Brother Jim Mattson, and we stopped to look at the glorious view over the bay area that I hope everyone here has had the chance to take in. You can see the Bay Bridge, and then San Francisco across the bay, and the Golden Gate Bridge too. The view oversees many cities, and the temple itself seems to take on the figurative responsibility of a lighthouse, a beacon to both lost souls and temple-worthy latter-day saints, and even to airline pilots who use the temple as a reference point, a guiding light when landing at night.

Brother Mattson related to me a thought he had while looking out over this marvelous view. He pointed out how the closer we are to something, the worse and more chaotic it seems to be. Down in the impoverished and crime-ridden streets we see up close the misery and hopelessness of these people’s lives. Families torn apart, parentless children wandering the streets, rival gangs in perpetual conflict with each other. There on the streets misery is cheap; it is easily come by and just about everybody has it. But if you take a step back, say to the temple grounds while overlooking the city and its myriad lights, nothing is actually as bad as it seems. It is peaceful to look upon, almost even beautiful. You want to say to these people that it’s going to be okay; look at the bigger picture, take a step back and know that everything is going to work out in the end.

Think about that idea. And now think about the perspective of our Heavenly Father. How far away His view is. How calm and peaceful His outlook is. How much more knowledgeable and in control of all things He is. How of all people, He alone is qualified to tell us that Yes, it’s going to be okay. And He tells us exactly that. In fact, He tells us that it’s going to be more than okay. If you live the way He wants you to live you will achieve everlasting happiness, eternal life and eternal love, and all things that He has.

The oft-overlooked fifth verse of How Firm a Foundation contain words to truly treasure, both as sublime poetry and as comfort and inspiration.

When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,

My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply.

The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design

Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.

Remember the words: I will make a man more precious than fine gold.

It is often the best of men, the ones who are indeed more precious than fine gold, that have been called to endure the worst tribulations. And that brings us back to Bruce Wayne and Batman. We have already established that as a child Bruce went through terrible psychological trauma. But what are the results of that pain? What are the fruits of that suffering? Think on it, and you’ll realize they are many. His experiences with Gotham’s criminal underbelly inspire him to fight back, and fight back he does. In direct response to his fears he strengthens himself, building up his personal power — both physical and psychological — and goes about systematically destroying the criminal world, one bad guy at a time, eventually neutralizing countless super-villains who want to bring more pain, more crime, more chaos to Gotham City. He becomes a one-man army against the forces of evil in Gotham. And in the end of the film The Dark Knight he even becomes a Christ-figure, taking upon him the sins and crimes of a guilty, fallen man for the sake and salvation of the people of Gotham. Batman is the ultimate fictional example of sacrifice and the fruits of pain and adversity.

So what are some of the fruits of our pain, our adversity? We don’t live nearly as dramatic lives as Bruce Wayne does. (That I’m aware of, anyway.) But we learn things and change just the same. Perhaps the most essential trait we gain is that of empathy and compassion, and the ability to help others go through pain. A great man once pointed out to me that we see the burdens of others with much more clarity when we’ve experienced our own. We become more sensitive to the needs and feelings of others. And consequently we become less inclined to add to others’ burdens, and instead help to share them, to make another’s lot easier, thus taking part in the glorious work of the Atonement.

Service and helping bear each other’s burdens is one of those profound ways we can change our attitude and obtain a different, higher perspective. Our attitude can really change everything. The power to alter it is one of the greatest tools the Lord has blessed us with in our endeavor to endure. My very good friend Joe Harris, who has endured a variety of major health issues the entirety of his life, once said, “Just because I’m in pain, doesn’t mean I have to be miserable.”

My favorite verse in all of scripture is Doctrine and Covenants Section 123 verse 17: “Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power — ” notice that word, cheerfully “ — and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for His arm to be revealed.”

This latter part of the verse provides us with a perfect, concise demonstration of the Atonement. We do everything we can to solve our problems and persist through our difficulties with the best attitude we can muster. And then we pray, and ask God to do the rest, utilizing the Atonement for our pain as well as our sins. And then He does: our Savior Jesus Christ will step in, and make up all the difference, and catch us before the fall.

Both the present and the future can be dark and uncertain. We may not know when a given trial will end, or if it ever will. In such times we must understand that it is not God’s intention to remove from us our trials, but rather to help us endure them, help us come off conqueror, help us overcome every challenge we face and every problem that comes our way.

Christ willingly suffered our pains and afflictions — every single one of them — just so He could do that, just so He could understand, just so He could help. If only we humbly ask Him for help in bearing our burdens, He will do so. I can testify to this personally. He will not take them away, but He will help share the load. In Preach My Gospel it says that “Everything that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.” The Atonement, as broad and epic and as encompassing as it is, can be and very much is something entirely personal. It can be about solely you and your Savior. He went through it for you. For He knows you. He knows your name. He knows your feelings, the thoughts and intents of your heart. And He knows exactly what you are suffering, and what help you need to endure it. Ask Him to help bear the load, and keep asking in all of your prayers, and you will one day find that that trial, that fiery furnace, is over. And you have overcome; you have conquered. And you will have become, in the Lord’s eyes, more precious than fine gold.

In closing, let me just say that it — meaning life, our time of testing, and the refiner’s flames we are meant to go through — can hurt like Hell, literally. Disappointment. Despair. Sorrow. That which attacks our will to go on, perhaps even to the extent that we would rather end our lives early than continue on through that hallway of hell (though I hope none of you have had to go through that). But, as Winston Churchill once said, if you’re going through Hell, keep going. And you will finally arrive at those figurative gates of heaven. For it will all end someday. The pining, the weeping, the wailing. The burning, the carving, the purging. And then it will be as it says so tenderly in the Book of Revelation, chapter 21 verse 4: “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be anymore pain: for the former things are passed away.”

Press on. Have faith. Be patient. Endure it well. It is worth it. It is ALL worth it. I promise you this, and say all of these things, in the name of your Savior and of mine, Jesus Christ, amen.

Talk #1: The God Arc

My very first talk, given at the mission farewell of Travis Burr Kupp. By far my shortest.

Talk #1 - The God Arc

You’ve all heard of Luke Skywalker. In the story of Star Wars, Luke starts out a as a moisture farmer on the barren planet of Tatooine, but ends up becoming a key player in the rebellion against the evil empire, and eventually a classic, quintessential hero. The adventures and battles he faces on the way to this hero-dom is called the Hero’s Cycle, a literary and mythological concept first formed by Joseph Campbell, author of a book called “Hero With a Thousand Faces.” In the book Campbell details the various trials and stages a would-be hero has to go through to obtain that status. This cycle was based on myths and stories and legends of old, in which every hero, he found, to one degree or another, goes through similar experiences. George Lucas, the writer and creator of Star Wars, followed this cycle perfectly with his protagonist Luke Skywalker. And the timeless nature of that story is one of the primary reasons the Star Wars movies (and I’m speaking of the original trilogy here) are so universally loved.

So that was the Hero’s Cycle, or Hero’s Arc. There’s another arc I’d like to talk about, however. I like to call it the God Arc. It is about Man’s potential to become like Heavenly Father. Just as Luke progressed through various stages of character development in his unconscious quest to become a hero, so must we advance through different stages of existence, even different states of being, in our conscious quest to join our Heavenly Father in all His glory and domain.

Paul in the Book of Acts called us “the offspring of God.” In Romans chapter 8 he writes, “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.” Christ in the Book of Mormon says “Therefore, what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am.”

It started with a plan. We call it today the Plan of Salvation. The Plan of Happiness. A plan to take us from blurry-eyed intelligences all the way to exaltation and eternal life in the presence of the Father. This plan was presented to us before we were born into this world, when we were mere unembodied spirits. In that state of being we lived with Heavenly Father as His literal spirit children. He had a spirit as we do, and as it is an essential part of us, so is it an essential part of Him. That was our first stage of development, to be spiritually born to heavenly parents. This is where our potential to become like Heavenly Father began.

In that pre-earth life, our first given estate, we made certain choices that allowed us to be sent to this earth and be given bodies. Once just a spirit we then became a full soul, which is both the body and spirit together. This was our next stage of development, our next state of being. This is also an essential part of godhood, for we know from Joseph Smith’s First Vision and other modern-day revelation that God Himself is tangible and has a body of flesh and bone. We were created directly in His own likeness. To use the exact wording, in His image, and in the image of His Only Begotten. In other words, we look generally like what He looks like. Fully-grown, adult human beings.

But we don’t share attributes in physicality alone. We also share similar traits of character. We feel emotions and passions as God does. Love is the most prominent. And sadness, too, for God feels sadness just as we do. It has been said that mourning is the deepest expression of love. We feel sad because we love. If He wasn’t ever sad, He wouldn’t truly love us, for we all make mistakes and turn away from Him and His way at some point in our lives. Sadness is a godly attribute. One emotional trait that we don’t share, however, is fear. We have heard that fear is the opposite of faith. When we are told not to fear by the Lord it is not a suggestion or word of comfort. It is a commandment. We are commanded by the Lord to “doubt not; fear not.”

We hear constantly about other godly attributes that we can apply to our everyday lives. And the reason we hear them constantly is because we really need to practice them. To actually make an effort to foster those traits in ourselves and in how we act and in how we think. Traits like faith, hope, charity, virtue, knowledge, humility, diligence, obedience, and, my personal favorite, patience. We are given opportunities to practice patience all the time. With both other people and inanimate objects. Take, for instance, a stoplight. You’re in a hurry to get somewhere and waiting for the light to change. It’s not turning green and your blood pressure is rising. Stress is increasing. You become irritable and more liable to curse at that filthy, dumb, stupid [bleepity bleep bleep] red light. Why won’t it change? It’s really an inconsiderate stoplight. It has no regard for those in a hurry. Okay, there it goes. Finally. Now you can go. Now you can move forward. But now you’re in a horrible mood and you can see how impatient you were. Whereas if you showed some patience, and accepted that there are some things in life that you cannot change no matter what mood you’re in, you could have felt a lot more peaceful, a lot more calm; you could even be more receptive to the Spirit, and your day would be considerably brighter. Having patience and suffering long is what “enduring to the end” is all about, after all.

It is after we receive of the ordinances of the Gospel, after we show our faith in Christ and repent of our sins, after we live righteously to the ends or mortality and endure to the end — that we can advance to our highest state of being: the state of exaltation. The attainment of a celestial glory, an everlasting happiness, a perfected state, both physically and spiritually. An inheritance of all that the Father hath.

But how is this possible? The whole crux of the Gospel, what every doctrine is founded upon, is, as it says in 1 Nephi 10:21, that “no unclean thing can dwell with God,” or in the presence of God. And as Paul says, we are all imperfect, we have all fallen short of the mark. And here we see the primary problem of our life on earth, and then the glorious solution that the Plan of Salvation has provided us. Yes, it’s true that none of us can reach the next state of being on our own. But God has not left us alone. He has provided a Savior to rescue us from those imperfections. That Savior is Jesus Christ. It is by His power and His sacrifice and His Atonement that we are able to move past this problem. And not just His acts alone, but also by His love.

Because the Gospel is really all about love. Notice how it is such a small and simple thing that is required of us. All we have to do is love God and keep His commandments. That’s all. It’s not much. And we don’t even have to be perfect in that endeavor. We just have to try. We are asked to do relatively little in comparison to what’s at the end of all this. None of us really deserve the happiness that is promised us. A finite, mortal sacrifice for a pay-off that is eternal. It’s too much. We haven’t earned it. And God knows it. He knows we don’t really deserve it. But He’s given us this way, this salvation anyway. That is how much love He has for us. A love that it will take us a very long time to truly understand, if we ever do.

We must take absolute and total advantage of this gift He’s given us. This gift of salvation, this gift of love. This potential for perfection, for eternal increase. Because it should be pointed out that this is potential. Potential does not entail success or accomplishment. It does not mean that it will, in fact, happen. Take, for instance, another stoplight allegory. A car is again sitting at a stoplight. It has the potential to drive sixty miles an hour, but it’s just sitting there idly, waiting for its turn to cross the intersection. And if you never press on the gas pedal, it will never go. You have to exert some kind of effort for it to reach that mile-a-minute possibility. Without any input, you too would be sitting there idly. Something Heavenly Father never wants us to do. But He can’t force us into this. And fulfilling the potential God has in mind for us is definitely not as easy as putting your foot on the gas pedal.

Such a blessing as eternal life is, of course, conditional. We have to do our part. We have to live the way He wants us to live. Keep His commandments. Work hard every day. Love Him and love our fellow man. Become like His Son Jesus Christ in persona, and then one day be like Him in totality. He wants this more than anything. He is our Father, and He loves us more than anything else He has created in ocean, earth, or sky. As it says in Moses 1:39, this is His work and His glory — “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.”

He is a god. We are His children. Alma 32:31 says that “Every seed bringeth forth unto its own likeness.” Now, seeds don’t look anything like the trees that produced them. If you didn’t know any better they would be totally separate things in your mind. Likewise, an embryo doesn’t look very much like a human being. In fact it doesn’t look anything like it. But nonetheless, that is how we all started out. That was our physical beginning. Taking it a few steps further, a baby doesn’t look very much like a human being either. But we don’t call a baby any less of a human just because it has not reached that stage of adulthood and maturity. It is a human — just not developed yet, not fully mature. But when it finally does, it has the same basic form and bodily functions as its parents. Kittens grow up to be cats. Puppies turn to dogs. So what do children of a god turn into?

Author and Christian apologist CS Lewis somehow knew of this very doctrine, and said concerning the matter, "It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship.”

Exaltation. Supreme happiness. Supreme love. Sealed to your family, to your spouse, to your parents, to your children, from all eternity to all eternity. Given the power to create worlds. To know all things. To do all things. To have all things. All that the Father hath. It is our right and privilege to inherit the kingdom of God if we live righteously to the ends of mortality. By the Atonement and power and priesthood of God, we may achieve this state of being. And we will be in the presence of the Father forever.

General authority Vaughn J. Featherstone related the following story:

“Many years ago I heard the story of the son of King Louis XVI of France. King Louis had been taken from his throne and imprisoned. His young son, the prince, was taken by those who dethroned the king. They thought that inasmuch as the king’s son was heir to the throne, if they could destroy him morally, he would never realize the great and grand destiny that life had bestowed upon him. They took him to a community far away, and there they exposed the lad to every filthy and vile thing that life could offer. For over six months he had this treatment—but not once did the young lad buckle under pressure. Finally, after intensive temptation, they questioned him. Why had he not submitted himself to these things—why had he not partaken? These things would provide pleasure, satisfy his lusts, and were desirable; they were all his. The boy said, ‘I cannot do what you ask, for I was born to be a king’. ”

Brothers and sisters, that is what we were born to be: kings. Queens. Rulers and Creators. For we are children of the most high, and heirs to a heavenly throne. Remember this fact in your daily lives. Remember it when you say the things you say and do the things you do. Remember it as you press forward and endure to the end.

Talk #7, "A New Call for Consecration"

All right. This is the last talk written for my collection, "To the Saints: A Rousing Cry."

It is very much a first draft, not meant to be in publishable form. It is neither formatted nor cited consistently.

It's about 8,100 words, so make sure you have some spare time to read when you do. Thanks.

-Neal

Talk #7: A New Call for Consecration
by Neal Silvester

Brothers and sisters, it is customary for me to begin with a story or parable from popular culture, something relatively universal like Star Wars or Batman. But this time I’d like to start with a parable directly from Christ. It is the Parable of the Talents.
Three servants are each given a different amount of money by their master to go and use them to make increase. The servant who is given five talents returns with five talents more, and the second, who is given two, also returns with two more. To each of these servants the master gives perhaps the highest praise our own God could give any of us: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things.” But the third servant returns with a confession: he did not invest his talent, but instead hid it in the earth. The master calls him a wicked and a slothful servant, and gives what he would have given to the third to the first.
On a historical but still very relevant note, these servants were not mere slaves blindly and anonymously doing their master’s will; in the system of the time, these servants had the ability to rise up and progress, earning money and reputation for themselves in addition to their master, who wasn’t a slave-driver, but a benevolent patron who entrusted his own riches in the hands of the servants, making them temporary stewards of those riches. The ones who used their talents and gained an increase were given larger stewardships, and thus an increase of glory. The steward who had failed to even try lost his stewardship entirely, and ended with less than he started.
LDS author and sci-fi legend Orson Scott Card pointed out something else about this parable. It wasn’t just that the two good servants got more, earned more, for themselves. That alone wouldn’t be very helpful to anyone else, and wouldn’t be in the benevolent master’s concern as much at all. No, part of the good that the two faithful servants did had to do with the investing itself: using that small amount of money to get more money wouldn’t just help them, but others who the servants had invested in. Part of the master’s plan was to increase his own wealth, but the other part was to increase the wealth of all those around him, those who benefitted from the investments. If that servant gains more talents, so do those around him. If a servant hides it in the ground, it benefits no one, and is utterly wasted.
Now I’d like to call attention to the title of the parable itself: the Parable of the Talents. That is a curious name, isn’t it? Talents. Seems rather fortuitous that the name of a monetary unit two thousand years ago turns out to mean something so applicable to this parable in our modern day: talents as skills or abilities. But it is, in fact, not fortuitous at all. The modern use of the word “talent” comes directly from this parable, as something we have been given by our master, something that we can develop and gain increase in, something we can use to expand our own soul and in turn help those around us.
Now to the important part. This term, “talents,” features prominently in the concept of consecration, as set forth in the temple: pledging our time, talents, and all that with which the Lord has blessed us, or may bless us, to the building up of the kingdom of God on the earth and to the establishment of Zion.
At this time we don’t live the law of consecration, at least in financial terms. When it comes to our finances and personal resources, we live the law of tithing. We give 10% of our earnings to the church, to the building up of the kingdom and the establishment of Zion. This, as we know, is the lower law, implemented because we weren’t spiritually able to keep up with the higher. As well, in this era, due to modern-day legal and financial complexity, it would be a very difficult and convoluted affair to live with all things in common, with God---or God’s representative---at the head of such a large, out-of-place economic unit like the community would be. So we live tithing instead, though we are asked to voluntarily and privately contribute what surplus we have to the various charitable causes within the church.
To put it another way that you might or might not have heard before, think about missions. Young men are asked to put in two years of total devotion to spreading the gospel, which at that point in their life, is about ten percent of all their years. Afterwards, the rest of their life is free for them to live as they choose. This is another aspect of the law of tithing.
So in contrast, to live the law of consecration like we live the law of tithing, it could be said that one would be asked to give not just two years of their life, but the entirety of it. And this, brothers and sisters, is my challenge to you. This is a new call for consecration. A consecration not of just our financial and material goods, but of our whole lives---of all our time, talents, and everything else with which the Lord has blessed us.
It is all already His anyway, isn’t it? All our material possessions, all the mundane matter that we treasure so, is already His. The earth is His footstool. So with that perspective, what the law of consecration demands of us isn’t much. Or it shouldn’t be, in any case. But that isn’t all consecration asks of us, is it? Not just money, or physical resources. It asks for our heart. It asks for our time. It asks for our will.
Elder Neal A. Maxwell wrote, “The submission of one’s will is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on God’s altar. It is a hard doctrine, but it is true. The many other things we give to God, however nice that may be of us, are actually things He has already given us, and He has loaned them to us.”
If all else belongs to Him, it thus belongs to His work. And it is our responsibility to use it as He directs. If our will is against the grain of God, we will hold our gifts close to our chests, refusing to part with them, taking personal credit for all that we do for them.
However, “Thou shalt not covet thine own property,” saith the Lord, “but impart it freely” (D&C 19:26). In the case of this verse it was for Martin Harris to impart his property to the printing of the Book of Mormon. For us it is to impart our property, our resources, our talents and gifts to the work, to whatever the Lord wants us to do with it. For that is the reason we are given talents and gifts in the first place: not to claim superiority or show off or boast in our own ability, but, in fact, to recognize our own inferiority, and that we’ve been given these talents. In our reception of these gifts, just as when we are given callings, it is our place to be humble and to give all we have to this great cause.
It is also our place to, as Paul said, covet the best gifts. Not for our own personal glory, but for God’s, and ultimately for the benefit of His children. “Seek ye earnestly the best gifts,” the Lord says in Section 46 of the Doctrine and Covenants. And then He adds, “always remembering for what they are given.” For what purpose are they given? As we’ve covenanted in the temple, they are to be used to build up the church and establish Zion.
In the Topical Guide in the back of our Bible, the word “talent” is actually synonymous with “gift,” meaning anything given to us by our Creator. Our talents are not something to be boasted of, but freely offered. They are not ours to bury beneath the earth, or hide under a bushel. They are given to us for us to, with them, change the world. That is how Christ operates. Through servants. Through instruments. We are His instruments, and our talents are our instruments.
And of course bear in mind that others aren’t the only ones to be blessed by our consecrated talents. We ourselves are blessed by them, and blessed for using them. In using them we develop them, and in developing them we enlarge our souls. We become closer in degree to our Father in Heaven, the Master of all, and the giver of every good gift. Through that development we proceed on that path to perfection, and help others walk down that same road.
One excellent definition of consecration as it pertains this talk is found in D&C 82:17-18:
And you are to be equal, or in other words you are to have equal claims on the properties, for the benefit of managing the concerns of your stewardships, every man according to his wants, inasmuch as his wants are just---
And all this for the benefit of the church of the living God, that every man may improve upon his talent, that every man may gain other talents, yea, even an hundredfold, to be cast into the Lord’s storehouse, to become common property of the whole church---
Every man seeking the interest of his neighbor, and doing all things with an eye single to the glory of God.
What is the glory of God? The salvation and exaltation of His children. So when you read scriptures where prophets or Christ Himself gives the glory to God, remember that that means we’re the true beneficiaries. We are all in this for each other, and God and Christ are in it only for us.
Those verses, by the way, come from the same section of Doctrine and Covenants in which the Lord tells us that “to whom much is given, much is required” (D&C 82:10). This, of course, means that those of our number with the greatest gifts also have the greatest responsibility. Elder Boyd K. Packer has stated, “You who are gifted may not be more deserving, but you are much more responsible than the rest of us.” Certainly this was true of our exemplar, Jesus Christ, the greatest among all the children of God who also had the greatest task to perform, and in accomplishing that task became the greatest and most profitable servant of our Father in Heaven.
The apostle Peter, that great spiritual rock of a man, lived what could be called a consecrated life, but not at first. It took him personal censure by the Savior to put him on that path after he had gone back to a life of mere fishing, and not of men. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland in his October 2012 general conference talk, “The First Great Commandment,” dramatizes the exchange between the resurrected Christ and his senior Apostle, in which He asked Peter three separate times, “Do you love me?” Peter answers in the affirmative three times, but, as Elder Holland says, perhaps didn’t fully understand the question. So Elder Holland elaborates what Christ may have meant with the following dramatized response:
“Then Peter, why are you here? Why are we back on this same shore, by these same nets, having this same conversation? Wasn’t it obvious then and isn’t it obvious now that if I want fish, I can get fish? What I need, Peter, are disciples—and I need them forever. I need someone to feed my sheep and save my lambs. I need someone to preach my gospel and defend my faith. I need someone who loves me, truly, truly loves me, and loves what our Father in Heaven has commissioned me to do. Ours is not a feeble message. It is not a fleeting task. It is not hapless; it is not hopeless; it is not to be consigned to the ash heap of history. It is the work of Almighty God, and it is to change the world. So, Peter, for the second and presumably the last time, I am asking you to leave all this and to go teach and testify, labor and serve loyally until the day in which they will do to you exactly what they did to me.”
Brothers and sisters, if we aren’t serious about this work then we do not understand it. Peter, it seems, did not, even after traveling as the Savior’s right hand man throughout the three years of the Messianic ministry. But he went on to devote his entire life to the work, even, as we also covenant to, to the point of dying for it.
If we love Him, we will do as He asks. Just like how good works show our inner faith, so does our willingness to give our lives to Him show our love for Him inside ourselves. He asks us, and we have all made a covenant to life consecrated lives, giving our all to our Savior.
Now, does such consecration mean we all live as full-time missionaries? No. We have the opportunity to consecrate our lives even in seemingly mundane circumstances. Though Orson Scott Card is not a general authority, his words here are appropriate. He writes, “When the Consecrated Saint has to choose between job promotion and the needs of his or her family, the family wins. The Consecrated Saint does not look at co-workers as competitors or rivals, but rather as people engaged in a common effort, whom he will help whenever he can. The Consecrated Saint becomes a valued employee because he seeks not himself; instead, he works with others as Christ would have him work. Because all his time and talents — even his time at work, his time in the world — belong to Christ, and therefore must be used as Christ would have him use it.”
There are ways to consecrate even in our ordinary lives. But even then it involves a quite extraordinary commitment. One that is often all too easy for Satan to shut down. Elder Holland, in another talk, referenced the story of the First Vision, how before the sacred moment in which Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, a force of darkness overwhelmed him, and attempted to bind his tongue so he could not utter a prayer at all. Such does Satan wish to do with all of us, all of us who are God’s potential servants. If he can get us to shut our mouths and bind our tongue, he has succeeded not just in destroying us, but part of God’s work as well.
One of Satan’s primary tools against the work in today’s age of the internet and constant entertainment is distraction. If he can get us worried about something other than that glorious cause, something other than our souls or our families, he can effectively neutralize any contribution we might have otherwise made. These distractions come in many and varied forms, but some primary examples might include potentially useful or by-themselves-ambiguous things like the internet, television, video games---here I’ll pause and share with you the slogan used by one video game system in its advertisements---”Never Stop Playing”---is that a subtly satanic slogan, or what? If the adversary can get us to live our lives solely in virtual worlds offering mere simulated growth in the form of illusory increased abilities, then he has successfully debilitated our real growth, stunted it so we stay spiritual children forever, so we cannot do the real work of this world. But even good things like school and reading, if obsessed over, can take us away from the fight. Any one thing to excess, in fact, will eventually be something that takes us away from the gospel, away from our missions in life. Elder Holland said, in the aforementioned talk in General Priesthood Meeting in October 2011, Satan’s “effort to stop the work will be reasonably well served if he can just bind the tongue of the faithful.” Our tongues can be bound by many things, but probably mostly through distraction, laziness, apathy, idleness, or an uncaring attitude.
Again, I will repeat, brothers and sisters, if we are not serious about this work, then we do not understand it. True, we are all at different levels of engagement with the work given that we are at different levels of spirituality, different levels of capability, and at different points on the path. But all of us have the same infinite potential, and we are all thus charged with advancing our souls to fulfill that potential. If we are on the straight and narrow, honestly and sincerely attempting improvement in our spiritual lives, that is an essential part of living a consecrated life. We must strengthen ourselves before we can strengthen others, but remember that in strengthening ourselves, we are strengthening others.
That, in fact, is the subtext of the Parable of the Talents. I’ll bring up Orson Scott Card once more: a character in a parable he wrote about consecration delivers the following speech: "Now I understand the parable of the talents. Now I know the real sin of the unrighteous servant, the one who buried the one talent in the ground. He was treating the money as if it belonged to him, withholding it from anyone else, so that it couldn't be used for anything. But the other servants, knowing that the money didn't belong to them, put it out with moneylenders so that it could be used to build things, to make things. Everyone profited -- the servants who shared freely, the moneylenders, and the people who borrowed and then repaid. But the one who clung to his money and let no one else use it -- no one benefited, not even him."
D&C Section 60, verse 2: “But with some I am not well pleased, for they will not open their mouths, but they hide the talent which I have given unto them.” Verse 13: “Thou shalt not idle away thy time, neither shalt thou bury thy talent that it may not be known.”
Living the Gospel is all about being anxiously engaged in a good cause, in THE good Cause, in not just avoiding doing bad things, but choosing to do good things. For instance, what is the point of an inoffensive movie if in addition to having no inappropriate content, has no enriching content either? It is merely idleness, ambivalence, which the devil capitalizes on all the time. He wants us to waste our time, and in pursuing those things which he is using as a dangling carrot, he takes us farther and farther away from that straight and narrow path, and succeeds in totally wasting our precious and irreplaceable time.
Brothers and sisters, scientifically speaking, time is change. And change is what God wants us to do. Change into something glorious. Something even paradisiacal. And so He has given us time. Time to change, and time to change others.
The Lord watches to see what we do with that time, and with our talents, and we will be judged by it in the hereafter. He says in D&C 72:3-4 ----
v3: ...It is required of the Lord, at the hand of every steward, to render an account of his stewardship, both in time and in eternity. v4: For he who is  faithful and wise in time is accounted worthy to inherit the mansions prepared for him of my Father.”
Brothers and sisters, let us not waste time. Let us not waste talents. Let us not waste all that the Lord has given us, or will give us, and instead use it, use and consecrate these gifts of time and talents to do as we have covenanted to do: build up the kingdom of God and establish Zion. And remember that in doing that, we must be strengthening ourselves, strengthening others, and using these gifts to bring souls unto Christ, adding souls to God’s kingdom.
We may not see ourselves as extraordinary. We are ordinary people, with apparently ordinary skills. But by the simple definition of our beliefs, we are an extraordinary people, a people who are above the ordinary by virtue of our knowledge of Christ’s gospel. We are 14 million out of nearly 7 billion. That is far from ordinary. Because we have the extraordinary gift of the gospel, it is imperative that we live extraordinary lives that spring out of that pure pool of truth.
It is our duty to build the kingdom of God. That is an extraordinary calling. And if we don’t do it, who will? Remember Elder Holland: this faith, this church, is not consigned to the ash heap of history. It is in fact the culmination of history. And we are the ones who will bring it about. We cannot afford to live ordinary lives. We cannot afford to merely blend in.


Now, brothers and sisters, you may have noticed that I have spoken of talents and gifts in a very abstract, ill-defined manner. I intend now to make this more concrete, but please know that the tangible examples I am going to share today are not the extent or limit of what consecration holds, but merely what to me is a very personal area in which I think we can see more devotion. What I speak of is the realm of art, music, and literature, a realm where very particular talents can see their greatest shine.
We all have spiritual instincts that we have gained from our Heavenly Father: those parts of us that make us His offspring, that make us like Him. Brothers and sisters, I believe our deepest spiritual instinct is to create. That is what Heavenly Father is, no? A Father, a Creator. Designer of the universe, from the unending cosmos as a whole down to the genetics of the smallest insect. He is a builder of worlds, and more importantly, a builder of souls. He creates, and because He does, so do we as His children have that same desire.
We create in many different ways. Some paint, some write, some play piano, some compose. Those are just the obvious ones that come instantly to mind, but even beyond conventional art, we create. Pulling together people into a team that can accomplish things is creating. When we write in our journals, we are creating. When we establish friendships and give light to the lonely we are creating. When we raise our children and teach them truth, we are acting in the creation of a soul, joined together with our Heavenly Father in the creation of a divine being. Whatever it is, we all have the innate desire to form order out of chaos, to organize disparate parts into something new, whole, and beautiful.
Why did God create this universe, this galaxy, this solar system, this planet? So He could have a place for His children to dwell and to learn and to be tested. He created all of it not to boast, but to further His work of exalting His children. His is the noblest creative act of all: He is trying to create gods. And He lets us be a part of that work, if we so choose. In fact, He commands us to be a part of it, to join Him in His work and His glory. And brothers and sisters, He wants us to use our powers of creation, our deepest spiritual instinct, to help Him in that noblest work. That is the kind of consecration I call for today. A consecration of our arts, even our unconventional arts, and of all our gifts, to the church, to the gospel, to the work of saving souls.
So how can this be done? What are the spiritual possibilities with art, with music, with literature? I immediately think of the Savior. He taught with stories, with literature, with parables that not only taught, but resonated with literary value. Those parables are the principles of our beliefs and our theology made concrete, made real. Most stories today are what a good friend of mine once called “interesting wastes of time.” Stories that make us keep reading, but leave us empty and unchanged. Such works may be “interesting” but the reader then moves on and perhaps even forgets he or she even read it. But the power of art and media can be great if used properly.
Wendy L. Watson, wife of Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Twelve, has said regarding the effects of media, “When you interact with someone repeatedly over time, it changes you. That’s why what you watch on TV or read or see in magazines is so critical. So watch what you watch. Be careful with whom you are interacting. These recurrent interactions change your cells. They change your soul. They change your countenance.” [p. 58-59 The Temple by Truman Madsen]
Brothers and sisters, THIS is the power LDS artists could have! With our artistic abilities, we can change people! And in doing so, we can change the world. [to be put in later: quote from OSC about artists making the world we know, filling our heads and our hearts more so than any other profession]
Take a look at today’s popular media, and witness what the other side can do with that great power. Satan has co-opted music---remember what music used to be? Now look at what popular music is: catchy, sure, but cheap, dirty, unrefined stuff that furthers the work of degeneration of our culture. Even popular music used to be about love. These days you’ll more often find songs celebrating not love and devotion and commitment, but merely the sex act alone, without subtlety or nuance or any art to it at all. Brothers and sisters, we can reject that process and reverse it. If not entirely, at least within the hearts of the some few souls within our realm of influence, which only expands with the increased quality of our work. Advance in skill in your talents in addition to your spirituality and the greater the impact you will have on the world around you.
I’d like to bring up the example of one of our earliest great artists, the poet Eliza R. Snow. Today she is most known for the words to the hymn, “O My Father.” I wonder what the full extent of her effect on the church and on investigators was over the past 165 years. How much has she affected our religious beliefs, from just that one poem? A poem written after searching the soul, finding out the mysteries of God by inquiring, just as we are taught to in D&C 6:11 - “And if thou wilt inquire, thou shalt know mysteries which are great and marvelous; therefore, thou shalt exercise thy gift, that thou mayest find out mysteries, that thou mayest bring many to the knowledge of the truth.” She certainly exercised her literary gift, and she has brought many to the knowledge of the truth of our Heavenly Mother. Through her careful ponderings and poetic meditations, the existence of a Heavenly Mother is now an essential doctrine of our faith. President David O. McKay called the masters of literature the “minor prophets.” Surely Sister Snow could be thought of in that way. What else is out there for us to discover? What other mysteries are there that can be solved by a thoughtful, faithful artist? What new understanding can be depicted in the arts, that can be explained in a rational, reasonable way to the world who might otherwise reject religion at face value?
Brothers and sisters, I’m not asking us to resort to didacticism and simple moral lessons at the end of a story. I am, however, asking us to use our art to package our testimonies in new, creative ways. Through creative gifts we can help the world understand our theological principles and even points of doctrine. Through the great avenues of literature, through visual arts and music and film, we can depict our theology, our principles, and share them with the world in ways they’ll understand. To convert these souls we must speak in their own language, according to their understanding. So does the Lord speak to us, as we learn in D&C 1:24.
For the work of the gospel cannot be taught in one tongue alone. So many people in the world, seeing that something has to do with religion, may reject it outright because they find it ridiculous, or beneath them. To these people we must communicate in their own language, in ways they’ll understand. In Alma 29:8, Alma says, “For behold, the Lord doth agrant unto ball nations, of their own nation and ctongue, to teach his word, yea, in wisdom.” So to reach these kinds of people, we must use familiar language and elements they find reasonable in order to convey ideas a secular audience wouldn’t be open to initially. Secular academics, for instance, would almost never be open to learning about the gospel if preached to them in traditional methods. They must be taught in the language of academia, just as the gospel being preached in other nations also requires the knowledge of the language of those nations.
We can build our depictions block by block, reasonable premise after reasonable premise, until it culminates in the end with the illustration of a particular concept or teaching, and the reader can say something to the effect of, “...Oh. That makes sense.”
Mormon literary critic Karl Keller has written, "When someone becomes capable of creating imaginative worlds where Mormon theological principles are concretely true, then we will have a writer of the stature of Flannery O'Connor. Because she was a Catholic, she said, she could not afford to be less than a good artist."
Keller’s example of Flannery O’Connor teaches us a great lesson: she was not a great writer in spite of her Catholicism, but because of it. So, Keller argues, will be the case with the great Mormon writers. Our faith informs our art, or it should. And because we have that leg up spiritually, we have the potential to achieve greatness, if we choose to pursue it.
This vision of Mormon greatness in the arts began in 1888 when Orson F. Whitney, one of the Quorum of the Twelve at the time, called for a new age of Mormon literature, and gave the following as his caveat to those starting out: “Above all things, we must be original. The Holy Ghost is the genius of ‘Mormon’ literature....No pouring of old wine into new bottles. No patterning after the dead forms of antiquity. Our literature must live and breathe for itself. Our mission is diverse from all others; our literature must also be....In God’s name and by his help we will build up a literature whose top shall touch heaven” (“Home Literature” Contributor 9.8 (June 1888): 296-300) (173).
That is a heavy responsibility, and only has it been in the last few decades that we’ve seen this promise begin to be fulfilled. But it has not yet. President Spencer W. Kimball in his inspiring 1978 article, “The Gospel Vision of the Arts,” wrote, “We are proud of the artistic heritage that the Church has brought to us from its earliest beginnings, but the full story of Mormonism has never yet been written nor painted nor sculpted nor spoken. It remains for inspired hearts and talented fingers yet to reveal themselves. They must be faithful, inspired, active Church members to give life and feeling and true perspective to a subject so worthy. Such masterpieces should run for months in every movie center, cover every part of the globe in the tongues of the people, written by great artists, purified by the best critics.
“Our writers, our motion picture specialists, with the inspiration of heaven, should tomorrow be able to produce a masterpiece which would live forever. Our own talent, obsessed with dynamism from a CAUSE, could put into such a story life and heartbeats and emotions and love and pathos, drama, suffering, fear, courage;
President Kimball regrets that this has not happened, and repeats emphatically that there should be no reason for this, that the Miltons and the Shakespeares and the Beethovens and the Michelangelos have not necessarily run dry in our modern age. There’s no genetic reason why they shouldn’t have. So the reasons why they haven’t emerged, I believe, have very much to do with the victories of the Adversary on the battlefield first of culture, and second of the individual soul in his quest to bind the tongue of the faithful.
One possible impediment pushed by Satan is theological illiteracy in our young people, the field from which the next generation of great artists will have to emerge. LDS scholar and literary critic Eugene England wrote concerning Elder Whitney’s call for Mormon literature and suggests some of our mightiest doctrines as fertile fodder for creative expression:
“To fulfill this hope,” he writes, “Mormon writers need some theological literacy. B. H. Roberts, whom some consider Mormonism's finest historian and theologian, provides an extensive overview in The Truth, The Way, The Life and a concise explication of what is most dramatic and unusual in Mormon thought in Joseph Smith, the Prophet-Teacher. Others could be added: Joseph Smith, of course, especially the King Follett Discourse (uncreated being and godlike potential); Doctrine and Covenants 88 and 93 (God's relation to nature and to human agency); 2 Nephi 2 (the doctrine of essential opposition in everything) and Alma 42 (how the atonement works) from the Book of Mormon; and Brigham Young's sermon, "The Organization and Development of Man" (our basic need for eternal progression)” (Preface to Tending the Garden, http://mldb.byu.edu/dawn.htm).
Understanding these concepts, and being able to articulate them to those of the world in new and persuasive ways could be an incredible boon to the work of the Gospel. They are ripe to be portrayed in ways literary and fantastic, creative and powerful. Certainly Satan is working to prevent our understanding of these great and eternal concepts, and is active day and night in his fight to suppress our souls and halt our pens in rational declaration of these noble truths. In doing so, he quashes both our potential and that of those we may have taught or influenced. He shows us an easier path, full of distractions and apathy and even condescension of our own religion and the art it has inspired, calling such art “kitsch” and “cliche” in comparison to the art of the world. Many artists may think they have more important things to write about, true art to express, and dealing with and even teaching gospel truths is considered didactic and artless.
This point, I confess, is not a straw man. The possibility for overt didacticism when aiming to portray positive principles and explore or depict our theology in a concrete way is very high, and can be confused as the same thing. Karl Keller said of such well-meaning but ineffective stories, “The didactic sells the Church without making it very believable.”
Eugene England explained further, “Most thinkers in this tradition have understood that the more directly literature teaches, the less delightful and persuasive it becomes. In contrast, a vivid and honest story, interesting and complex characters, powerful images, and affecting rhythms and sounds can often move the reader into new dimensions of moral understanding and religious experience.”
What does this mean for the goal of a consecration of the arts? It means our writers have a fine line to walk between didacticism and depiction, and between, I might say, sermon-preaching and subtle teaching. But successful balance and success on the required multiple levels can bring forth the greatness Elder Whitney, President Kimball, and Elder Packer have called for.
Though we are all under the obligation of taking our message to the world, there are so many varied and possible ways it can be done. It doesn’t have to be explicitly about church, about God, about religion. It doesn’t need to be overtly couched in the context of didactic doctrine. Christ’s parables weren’t! But neither do they have to have simple meanings in the end. After all, the best parables are the ones that work on levels both literary and spiritual, and that carry implications loaded with meaning that aren’t brought up outright, as the Parable of the Talents does. Theoretically, it should teach through a natural understanding of the story. Remember Keller’s words: “creating imaginative worlds where Mormon theological principles are concretely true.” What does that mean? I think it means exactly what it says. The worlds we create for our stories, for our art---and I don’t just mean in fantasy or sci-fi texts; new worlds need to be created for literary, non-genre works, too---these worlds should be built according to the spiritual laws of the gospel. I do not mean LDS cosmological laws, but theological principles.In Orson Scott Card’s Ender and Ender’s Shadow series take place in a futuristic earth where Mormonism doesn’t turn out to be true, and yet he is still able to promote our ideas---and ideas Card must hold very dear to his heart---about family and about marriage, and how important those institutions are. Those books are not didactic in the slightest, and yet they still teach. Such should we make our highest art.
With President Kimball and Elder Packer, I again call to the Mormon artists to produce greatness, a dual greatness: greatness in the eyes of both the world AND the church. It is not an impossible line to toe, though it might no doubt be difficult. To this President Kimball has said, “If we strive for perfection—the best and greatest—and are never satisfied with mediocrity, we can excel.” And Elder Packer adds, "Let the use of your gift be an expression of your devotion to Him who has given it to you." The best art, even true art, will certainly lead one to God, via one way or another.
And so I say, in whatever gift you have, whatever talent you choose to develop, make sure the Lord has a reason to help you. Consecrate your gift to God and you will see it bloom and bear fruit that could not have otherwise been born. Search deeply to understand why you might have the gift that you have, the potential for greatness. Realize that He hasn’t given it to you to merely gain the glories of the world, but if, in the process of developing it, you do gain the glories of the world, use that unique platform to share the Gospel, to proclaim truth, and live as an example of Christian principles. Show the world what the gospel of Jesus Christ can produce, what the fruits and effects of Christ’s gospel are.
Our faithful musicians are the latter-day equivalent of the Psalmist. Look at the extraordinary example of David Archuleta, who is not only a popular singer in the eyes of the world, who is not only a devout and unashamed Latter-day Saint, but who has declared implicitly and courageously that his faith is more important than his art by serving a mission, leaving the spotlight and fame to blend in with all the other white shirts and ties out there preaching the gospel. In David Archuleta we find someone who has used and most certainly will use in the future his God-given gifts and talents to share the gospel with the world. He is able to preserve both his artistic integrity and his devotion to this work, and in fact combine the two in using his talents for the benefits of the gospel. The pattern he has set should be emulated by every Latter-day Saint artist the world over: establishing ourselves in the eyes of the world, then using that influence and that platform to bear our testimony to them, to share with them what is truly important and in ways they’ll listen to. Other examples include the burgeoning violinist Lindsey Stirling and rock and roll musician Brandon Flowers, who have participated in the inspired “And I’m a Mormon” public relations campaign.  In doing this, in sharing our testimony from the tower of fame, we can become great symbols of our church and of our God, and cast the light we treasure in our souls to the world entire.
Sometimes, however, our artists lose track of what is truly important. Sometimes that light is kept hidden beneath the bushel. Brothers and sisters, might I remind you that your art is NEVER more important than your faith. Devoting ourselves to the creations of our own hands instead of the Creator of all is a sad mistake that is repeated often amongst our greatest artists. You’ve seen them, I’m sure; I don’t need to repeat their names here. Elder Packer has said, “We find that there have marched through this grand parade of mortality men and women who were sublimely gifted, but who spent all, or most, in the world and for the world. And I repeat that they may well one day come to learn that "many men struggle to reach the top of the ladder, only to find that it is leaning against the wrong wall."
“Behold, there are many called, but few are chosen,” the Lord says. “And why are they not chosen? Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world, and aspire to the honors of men” (D&C 121:34-35).
I am reminded of the story of the play Corianton by B.H. Roberts, popular in the late 19th century in Utah. It was eventually taken by others to Broadway, but not before being stripped of the spiritual values that once defined it. It lasted only a week, failing miserably because it tried merely to gain the glories of the world, and not to add glory to God.
The Book of Mormon has a verse about such cases. Helaman 4:13 reads “And because of this their great wickedness, and their boastings in their own strength, they were left in their own strength; therefore they did not prosper, but were afflicted and smitten, and driven before the Lamanites, until they had lost possession of almost all their lands.”
Brothers and sisters, we do not want to be left alone to our own strength. We need God in our lives, and for Him to be in our lives, I repeat that we need to give Him a reason to help us. That reason will almost always be that we need His help to convey His truth to the world. In doing so, we have to keep our eye single to His glory, to the building up of Zion.
Think of the story of the lepers healed in the river---only one came back to thank Christ for that miracle. How many of us have received of the glorious bounties and blessings of the Atonement....and then gone off to do our own thing, to do what we want to do?
Remember the battle that we’re supposed to be waging. Remember what this whole scene actually is. This isn’t some game where we can bide our time and do whatever we want, “whatever we love,” until we die. This is a war. And in a battle that will determine eternities, we must keep in mind what is truly important. As the rousing chorus of Battle Hymn of the Republic resoundingly declares, “Let us live to make men free.” THAT, brothers and sisters, is the battle, the epic war of this world. And in war we have allegiances. Who or what are you loyal to? Who or what are you fighting for?
Do you want to stand there at the great and last Day, trembling before the Judgment Bar of God, and try to explain that your own secular artistry was more important than spreading the Gospel?
“Go to, then,” Elder Packer has said, “you who are gifted; cultivate your gift. Develop it in any of the arts and in every worthy example of them. If you have the ability and the desire, seek a career or employ your talent as an avocation or cultivate it as a hobby. But in all ways bless others with it. Set a standard of excellence. Employ it in the secular sense to every worthy advantage, but never use it profanely. Never express your gift unworthily.”
How you go about that missionary work is up to you. Whether it be allegory or through drama or however else you think you can be effective in communicating the principles of the Gospel, it must be done. It is commanded that it should be done. We endowed members have covenanted to consecrate all of ourselves, all, to this work.
How blessed are we? As pointed out earlier, 14 million out of 7 billion. Why are we so blessed to have the Gospel? Because it isn’t just a blessing. It’s not even just a privilege. It’s a responsibility. We cannot go around saying, “Oh joy, I am saved!” --- We must be about our Father’s business, or else we are not worthy of our hire, a wicked and slothful servant. And though I have spoken primarily of the creative arts, this commandment extends to all abilities, all professions, all places in life.
Brothers and sisters, there is work to do. The "great and marvelous work" is meant to be done by us. And we must do more than our best. For right now, we are not yet what we can be. One might say, “Brother Silvester, that’s not grace. We mustn’t be too hard on ourselves.” But the whole idea of eternal progression is about constantly improving what our best can be! “Best” is not a rigid, inflexible goal; it is fluid, it rises, it beckons us ever onward. Christ gave us eternal life. Surely we can consecrate to Him our mortal life.
I call to the rising generation of this church. I call out to all to become masters of their gifts, whatever they may be, to become champions of the Lord and use what He has given them to spread the gospel to the world, and bring souls unto Christ.
In D&C 82 the Lord tells us of the law of consecration, “This order I have appointed to be an everlasting order unto you, and unto your successors, inasmuch as you sin not.”
An everlasting order! What does that mean? That this is the order of heaven! This is a celestial society! Developing our gifts in “the interest of [our] neighbor” with ultimately the glory of God as our goal. D&C 104:63 -- “And I give it unto you from this very hour; and now see to it, that ye go to make use of the stewardship which I have appointed unto you.”
Go find what the Lord has given you. It is your duty to find it, to develop it, to use it to further the cause, and then to receive the promised multiplicity of blessings to faithful stewards. Orson Scott Card has pointed out that in all the evolution of the temple endowment over the years, as some covenants and some scenes have dropped away, the covenant of consecration, though we think of it as a relic of the past, is still there---it still applies to all endowed latter-day saints, and it will forever.
Let us make art, music, and literature that brings souls to Christ. Let us infuse our art with meaning! Let our art lead to truth, to God! And let us not spend our time critiquing the Brethren, and instead spend it supporting them, sustaining them, joining them in the war against the rapidly spreading evil that is so pervasive in the world today. The Lord and His servants needs allies, not critics.
What can we expect to tell God at Judgment Day about our time spent on earth when, in this brief but oh so important life, we are purely pursuing our personal passions, and not doing the work that will last the eternity?
Let us find ways to instead channel those passions as they were meant to be used: for the Lord! To use them to enhance, further, and promote the work, to lay a foundation of understanding in the people who are searching for the truth and prepare them to receive the Gospel when they finally hear it. Let us be witnesses of God at all times and in all things and in all places that we may be in, and consecrate our time and talents to the work of Zion. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.