The following is written version (as best as I can remember) of the talk I gave in church on Sept 8, 2013.
When I got up this morning and began grooming and primping -
I was focused on that task when Grady walked in and told me to take as long as
I needed – to not rush on his account.
……… It took me a while to figure
out that he was referring to the talks.
But thanks to brother Hillman, our concerns are reversed since I am the
concluding speaker.
When brother Hillman called and asked us to speak – he
seemed a little unsure on how to describe the subject. He said ‘something along the lines of
spiritual and temporal self-reliance’.
Grady has just addressed the topic of Temporal Self-reliance and so I’ve
found four aspects of Spiritual self-reliance that I’d like to touch on
today.
The concept of self- reliance seems to indicate some type of
personal power. Some type of
self-salvation. That through our genius
or intellect, through our good management of time and resources, or through our
industry and efforts, through relying upon our own strength – we are capable of accomplishing or succeeding
in life or in anything.
I propose that just the opposite is true. It is through our dependence upon our own
efforts that we place ourselves in spiritual bondage and actually prevent any
true success or growth or salvation.
Korihor, a
great anti-Christ, promoted these very concepts of self- reliance. (Alma 30:17)
“And many more
such things did he say unto them, telling them that there
could be no atonement made for the sins of
men, but every man fared in
this life according to
the management of the creature;
therefore every man
prospered according to
his genius, and that every man
conquered according
to his strength; and whatsoever a man did was
no crime.”
All our
efforts of self success – goal setting and visualization, or life-planning and
life management, or push a little harder and persistence, to get beyond the
splatt, believe in yourself - all of
these done without the sanction and guidance of the Lord, who is the true and
only source of power, are manifestations of our vanity (in ourselves) and our unbelief
(in Christ).
So Self-reliance,
Self-sufficiency, and Self-Mastery – in this perception – is hypocritical.
Professing
Christ as our Savior, but then living as thou He doesn’t really matter
I’ve heard it said that True
Self-Reliance is relying on the only true source of power.
True Self-sufficiency
is turning to Him that is Sufficient.
And True Self-Mastery
is turning our self over to the Master.
If we as a people turn to self before turning to God, we are dangerously
close to the people of the church in Alma’s day. (Alma 4:6) See if any of this rings true in our church
today.
“…the people of
the church began to wax proud, because of their
exceeding riches, and
their fine silks, and their fine-twined linen,
and because of their
many flocks and herds, and their gold and their
silver, and all manner
of precious things, which they had obtained
by their industry; and in all these things were they
lifted up in the
pride of their eyes,….
“
So instead of self-reliance, which may create feelings of
self-power, maybe RELIANCE ON GOD (1). Relying on his spirit to guide us.
Which brings us to the next facet of Spiritual
self-reliance. I like to call it our INNER ALLEGIANCE (2).
A number of years ago, I learned a word, at a two-day math
seminar of all places. And I didn’t
think much on the word at that time but have since reflected on again and again. It has been such an eye-opening concept to me
as I’ve pondered the implications and seen my own folly in so many
respects. And so at the risk of not
giving it fair justice in this brief outline I wanted to share it with you. And I invite you to take some time and
consider just where your inner allegiance lies.
The word is Epistlemology.
With the root being epistle. It’s
not necessarily the study of letters… but the study of knowledge,
understanding, truth, or how one determines these things. We, as the covanant people of God, would claim
that we obtain knowledge and truth by revelation. But I was surprised how frequently I put my
trust and determining power in other epistlemologies.
*Revelation (Knowledge revealed directly from God through his
spirit)
*Credentialism (revelation by an expert – someone with credentials
rather than from God)
This is a big one in
our society today. There are so many
experts that put their revelation
out there for us to buy into. Take for example, nutrition. The experts, such as the FDA,
tells us what
is good for our bodies and if they put their stamp of approval on a box of
something, we consume it without even considering that it is not in the form of
a whole
food that was created by God. We
allow experts to tamper with our seeds (GMO’s), and
our seasons (fruit all year
long), and our standard (The food guide pyramid). Even if it is in
conflict with the revealed
word of wisdom.
Another area is with
our health. The experts called doctors council
is above our own judgment and we neglect
to use the herbs or the priesthood first.
We adopt fad diets to lose weight rather than trust in the sweat of thy
brow.
Education is a huge area where we are
guided by experts. If a professor (with credentials) says it, or a textbook (which is put together by
experts) states it, or the system (which is established to separate God out of
our education) promotes it – we accept it as the way it is – rather than being
guided by the spirit. How many times do
we make sure our child is learning the common core standards, rather than
seeking what the Lord wants them to learn.
We seek learning by what the
experts dictate as learning rather than by study and by faith and using the
power of the Holy Ghost to identify the truth of all things.
One thing my daughter pointed out is
our choice of careers is motivated by the credentials associated with it – how much money or success –
rather than where our passion lies or what God would have us do to bring about
his cause.
*Mandarinism (An official or supposed authority declares truth)-
This is where we put
our trust in these supposed or temporary authorities rather than in trusting in
the supreme power and authority of the Kingdom of God. This is where we vote based on what the polls
indicate has a chance of winning, rather than voting our conscience of who
would be the best choice. This is where
we support a political party, even when their platform is the ‘lesser of two evils’. This is where judges make a ruling that is
inconsistent with God’s laws – and we are ok with it.
*Imperisism (the scientific method proves that it is true)
So much of our
society buys into proof through the scientific method. Which is
interesting because science is incapable of proof
positive. It can only disprove a
previous theory. Only the Holy Ghost has
been given the ability to prove a truth.
That is one of his purposes and yet we rarely are convinced of it unless
it done
through another mean.
*Pragmatism (the knowledge has stood the test of time and it works)
This is where the traditions
of our fathers is where we put our trust.
The habits, the way things are done because it has always been done that
way, the reason we cut off the end of the rump roast is because that is the way
our mother did it. Some of the
traditions of our fathers are very good to continue in that path, such as our
founding fathers or our spiritual leaders who have established systems or
beliefs or traditions that are for our benefit.
But there are some that once we are on auto-pilot, we don’t even think
just how inconsistent our behavior is with our beliefs.
*Aesthetisism (it is too ordered, beautiful, and symmetrical to be anything but true)
I believe this is an
epistlemology that is more prevelant in the eastern culture because, I
haven’t
found much of my own emphasis on this.
The only thing I question with this
concept is that if one were to look
at the universe and be in awe of its majesty and beauty.
On one hand you have the creation and on the
other hand you have the big bang theory.
Both theories claim to be the cause of this ordered universe, but one
theory is seriously
flawed.
*Reason (the use of one’s own logic to prove something)
This is where we have
the vanity, the audacity, the concept of self-power, to be the determining
factor if something is true. One might
hear things as ‘It just stands to reason’, or ‘It’s only logical’. I’m not promoting that we don’t use our
reason, or to not think things through.
Quite the opposite. It is only
through pondering and weighing information that we can have the confirmation of
the spirit to testify of a truth. It is
when we trust in our own ability to determine truth, without the spirit’s
approval that I feel we verge on getting on unsafe ground.
*Historicism (lessons from history and cycles prove the knowledge as
true)
Since I love
history, I probably fall prey to this epistlemology more than I would
like. This is where we conclude a truth, based solely on what
has happened in the
past. Seeing the
cycles and repetitive nature of life, we trust in our conclusion,
rather than
trusting in prophecy.
Some ways we can identify as to where our inner allegiance
lies is through some Human Tendencies.
*WE TEND TO BEHAVE THE WAY WE BELIEVE –
This is a good
thing. We want our behavior to be
consistent with our beliefs. But if we
reverse it, and look at our behavior,
it is an indicator of where our epistlemology is and what are true beliefs
are.
*WE TEND TO HAVE CONFIDENCE IN WHAT IS MOST FAMILIAR…, EVEN IF IT IS WRONG-
This is why it is so important that we
immerse ourselves in things of the spirit - in the scriptures, in the temple,
in church, in family. And not spend
quite so much of our time familiarizing in things of the world. So that we can have be familiar with and have
confidence in - truth.
The third aspect of self-reliance is in regard to the ELEMENTS OF FREEDOM (3) that are
associated with it.
Freedom is
two-fold: Freedom from outward
compulsion, which I’ll address in a moment – as
well as freedom from the adversaries influence.
Our bodies
are in a fallen state which puts us not only subject to the influence of Satan,
but it is our default if we do not consciously choose out of it. When we are spiritually self-reliant or
choose to yield to the enticings of the holy ghost, we experience spiritual
freedom from that default.
I grew up in
a very LDS family along with my younger brother. We had the same family home evening every
Monday night, the same family scripture study and family prayer. The same parental influence and family
standards, and yet my younger brother’s inner allegiance was very different
than mine. He must have put too much
merit into the other epistlemologies and world views and philosophies of
men. Which has put him in both spiritual
and physical bondage.
For the last several years he
has had semi-permanent residence in prisons, mental hospitals, and Alocoholics
Anonymous, with heavy medications, and the debilitating effects of being a
social outcast. While growing up, he
had every opportunity to strengthen his testimony of the Savior, but he could
lean on our parent’s testimony for only so long before the default of the
fallen nature took over.
I’m happy to say, that he may
have hit rock bottom and in his last letter, it looks very promising of him
finally believing and trusting in a higher power – and he is looking at his
parents beliefs with the idea that maybe they were right after all. Maybe he needs to not only believe in God but
also have a real, personal relationship with him.
Elder Marion
G. Romney said-
“Whenever we get
into a situation which threatens our self-reliance,
we will find our
freedom threatened as well. If we
increase our dependence, we will
find an immediate decrease in our freedom to act.”
I’ve heard
it said that the way to gain Independence is through independents.
Dependents are consumers, handout takers,
and crowd followers who conform to outward pressures. Independents are producers, owners, creators
who weigh choices and make a conscious decision based on their internal
government and correct principles.
A number of
years ago, I read a little pamphlet written by Ezra Taft Benson when he was the
secretary of Agriculture. It wasn’t very
big but it has affected my choices and thinking processes in a big way. It is entitled “The Proper Role of
Government” and basically it outlines what government should do and how it
shouldn’t step out of those boundaries.
I profess to be honest in my dealings with my fellowmen, but he pointed
out that when I accept handouts from the gov’t, I am stealing from my neighbor
without their consent. The concept was
very powerful in helping me want to choose to be governed by correct principles,
rather than by opportunity. I considered that if I wasn’t forced to
provide for my neighbor (forced charity) through unjust taxation, I couldn’t
wait for the phone to ring with some charity asking for aid. I got excited about the concept of setting
aside a certain amount of money for philanthropy and seeking out the
opportunities of doing good in the world.
Helping the homeless, seeking some good cause to promote, supporting
some entrepreneurial idea that will bring about positive change in the
world. I know we can do this right now
if we choose to but it would be a lot easier if the government didn’t always
have their hands in our pockets.
Physical freedom
from tyrannical gov’t is created through temporal acts, such as grow your own
food, or make your own, well, anything – but the desire to be free, the intent,
and the decision to choose those temporal acts for the cause of freedom, even
if it is uncomfortable or inconvenient, is spiritual in nature.
Once we have
the freedom to have abundance, we can choose
to serve. That brings us to the fourth
aspect of spiritual self-reliance. It is
a precursor to serve, a prerequisite to living the celestial Law, the
foundational element of building Zion.
The Lord
does not encourage self-reliance so that we can stand alone – He promotes Unity. He doesn’t encourage it so we can have an
advantage over those who were not wise enough to act – He invites all to
receive the blessings which he has to offer. Neither does he encourage it so that he
doesn’t have to provide for our temporal needs – He created all the heavens and
the earth and is very capable of taking care of our physical needs. But he doesn’t do for us what we are capable
of doing for ourselves. All of His commandments are gifts of how to be
truly happy…and only through self-reliance can we position ourselves to do what
will bring genuine happiness - through
serving each other.
That is God’s
way of perfecting the saints – The “Have’s” serve “Have not’s”. Not in a robin hood type of redistribution of
wealth or give handouts of fish, but because we feel genuine love for each
other, we teach each other how to fish.
Those who ‘have’ abundance are sanctified by the sacrifice they make to
help those less fortunate. And those who
‘have not’ are sanctified by humbling themselves to receive aid until they can
get on their own feet. And when they
can, they in turn help those with their talents or their abundance when they
receive it.
In the 1982
General Conference it states:
“How can we give if
there is nothing there? Food for the
hungry
cannot come from empty
shelves. Money to assist the needy
cannot come from an
empty purse. Support and understanding
cannot come from the
emotionally starved. Teaching cannot
come
from the
unlearned. And most important of all,
spiritual guidance
cannot come from the
spiritually weak. “
President Uchtdorf
said:
“Our spiritual progress is inseparably bound together
with the temporal
service we give to others. The
one complements the other. The one
without the other is a
counterfeit of God’s plan of happiness. “…
“For it is in
sacrificing our time, talents, and resources that our spirits
mature and become
refined.”
That
spiritual refinement that must take place before Zion can be established. That spiritual refinement that the Celestial
law requires. Where we are one heart and
one mind, until there is no poor among us.
That is why we should become spiritually self-reliant. That is why we should become temporally
self-reliant. So that we can create a
Zion society.
These four aspects
(1)Reliance on the Savior… (2)aligning our Inner Allegiance on him and
his spirit… (3) Choosing the Elements of
Freedom… and (4)laying the foundation to
serve, to live the celestial law, and to create Zion. It is my prayer that we can all work on ourselves and serve each
other. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen
