Standing as a Witness of God

In the sacrament prayer over the bread, the three covenants made at baptism are referenced to help us to remember them and renew them.  They are:

     1. "to take upon them the name of thy Son"

     2. "always remember him"

   3. "keep his commandments which he has given them" (D&C 20:77).

How do these three covenants help us to stand as a witness of God?

This was the question I asked our youth Sunday school class this morning.  I was standing in for Isaac in teaching the lesson.  He woke up not feeling well (cough, stuffy head, sore throat).  When I looked at him, I could tell he wasn't up for going to church, so I asked him where his copy of the lesson was and substituted for him.  The consensus of the class was that if we've taken the Savior's name upon us and promised to always remember Him and keep His commandments, then all three would assist us in standing up for His teachings and His Church.  I then asked the class if any of them had been in a situation where they had needed to do this and several of them nodded in the affirmative.  Then one of the young women made a comment that has stuck with me all day.  She didn't go into details, but she essentially said it's interesting when people come to her and tell her what she believes and she then has to correct them and explain what the Church actually teaches.

One of my experiences with this phenomena happened while I was a university student.  At the bell tower in the middle of quad one noontime an itinerant preacher stood up and began to preach.  He was surrounded by a fairly large crowd--most who seemed to be there to heckle him.  Fascinated by the scene, I sat down at a table on the periphery of the crowd to observe.  No more than 5 minutes later, I was approached by a young man (who appeared to be the same age as me) handing out cards.  For some reason, he stopped when he reached me and struck up a conversation.  His first question: "Do you read the Bible?"  I replied that I did and went on to say that I was a Sunday school teacher and we were studying the New Testament.  This began a conversation of about 5 to 10 minutes where we discussed the Bible and the Savior and other points.  After this time had passed, the man then asked me, "What church do you belong to?"  In my mind, I thought, Here it comes.  Out loud, I said, "I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."  When my companion looked at me with incomprehension, I added, "We are referred to as the 'Mormon' Church."

No sooner did the word Mormon leave my lips when the man's face darkened and he immediately began to argue with me, telling me about "Joe" Smith and describing what I believed as a member of that church.  I quietly countered and gently corrected him until he grew tired of me.  He made one last nasty remark about my religion and moved quickly away from me.  I watched him go for a moment and then sat in silence and thought to myself, What just happened?  I'm the same person now that I was when he began to talk to me, but with the word "Mormon" in the air between us, I went from being a believer to someone to be attacked and ridiculed.  I found the whole experience to be quite instructive and amazing all at the same time.

When we "stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that [we] may be in" (Mosiah 18:9), we are standing in defense of our beliefs and our God.  To defend is to "to maintain or support in the face of argument or hostile criticism", but in this context it is also "to drive danger or attack away from" Jesus Christ and His message (merriam-webster.com).  I believe I've said something like this in other posts, but in our world of instantaneous, hostile reaction to a perceived slight or offense, this idea of being told what I believe seems to be something that will happen with increasing frequency.  People who have no idea what they are talking about will find some strange "morally superior" high ground to lecture me on what I think and what I believe based on a knee-jerk reaction to some doctrine or policy they don't understand.  Based on this, the question, as I see it, is: "Will I yield in the face of such criticism, or will I stand firm in my conviction and remain a true witness of God and His teachings?"  I suspect that standing firm in defense of God is going to become harder and harder as the winds of criticism blow stronger, the storms lash with more force and the waves attack with greater fierceness.

I then asked the class to turn to the account of Lehi's dream.  I think this is one of the reasons Nephi felt impressed to write his father Lehi's dream into his own record.  Of the four groups mentioned, two appear to me to be members of the true church of Christ, but there is a fundamental difference between these two groups.  The first group is described as "press[ing] forward through the mist of darkness, clinging to the rod of iron, even until they did come forth and partake of the fruit of the tree" (1 Nephi 8:24).  When I asked the class about the word clinging, they told me that it seemed to them that this group lacked commitment.  I found this interesting since the definition of the word cling is "to hold or hold on tightly or tenaciously" (merriam-webster.com), but the class felt that clinging seemed to indicate to them that this group might be letting go or not firmly grasping the rod all the time.  Perhaps this is one of the reasons why, when they reach the tree and partake of the fruit, they easily become ashamed because of those in the great and spacious building who "were scoffing at them" (1 Nephi 8:28).  The ridicule of the world causes this group to reject the tree, turn away, and to spiritually lose themselves in "forbidden paths"(1 Nephi 8:28); whatever the definition of those paths might be.

The second group is also described as "press[ing] their way forward" along the rod of iron, but the difference is that they are "continually holding fast" to the rod until, upon reaching their destination, they "fell down and partook of the fruit of the tree" (1 Nephi 8:30).  When I asked the class about this group, I asked what they thought about the fact that they fell down upon reaching the tree.  We established that it may have partly been in exhaustion over the fact that they had finally reached their destination, or it may have partly been because of relief that the journey was over, but mostly it was in gratitude for what the tree represented--the love of God.  This gratitude appears to set them apart from the first group.  Instead of the journey along the iron of iron being a exercise to complete and a box to check off, this group seems to have truly grown from the experience they received along their way.  They haven't just walked the path, they have endured the hardships that afflicted them along the way and appreciated the lessons learned from those trials.  Based on these considerations, when this group partakes of the fruit of the tree and hears the mocking from those in the great and spacious building, instead of becoming ashamed, this group "heeded them not" (1 Nephi 8:33).  They are converted; they have obtained and developed a testimony of the truthfulness of the love they are tasting; they have endured hardship--why should they heed the uninformed or misinformed calls found on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or whatever else might be delivering the message of scorn from those in the great and spacious building.

While the Church remains on a straight course along the strait and narrow path back to the Savior and Heavenly Father, the world's path is slanting farther and farther away from Their path.  The final thing we talked about was the importance of gaining and keeping one's own testimony.  If we are committed to our Father and the Savior and Their church, the only way we will be able to withstand the mocking and scorn of the world is if we keep our eyes on the tree (Jesus and Father and their love for us) and our feet on the rock (see Helaman 5:12).  Only with a firmly rooted testimony of the Savior, His gospel, His Church and His servants will we be able to withstand the tests and trails, mocking and scorn that we will receive over the course of the coming days, weeks, months and years until the trumpet shall sound and the Savior will return again in power and glory and might His second time to the earth.  It is my hope that I will do all that I can to be a part of that amazing and glorious day.