![\"pathway](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/462\/2016\/03\/pathway-2.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n[This is another addition to our ongoing General Conference Odyssey<\/a> \u2014 which project you can also check out via our facebook page<\/a>. To learn a little about the reasons which motivated this project, you can visit this\u00a0 article at Meridian Magazine<\/a>.]<\/strong><\/p>\n Elder Hartman Rector, Jr. of the Seventy, in \u201cOur Witness to the World,\u201d insists on the Christianity of Mormonism<\/a>, and then proceeds to an interesting effort to situate the LDS in relation to Protestants on the one hand and Catholics on the other:<\/p>\n We are Christians. We want the whole world to know that we are. Sometimes we are accused of not being Christians, but such is not the case. In the words of the great prophet Nephi, \u201c\u2026 we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.\u201d (2 Ne. 25:26.) We look to Christ as the Author and Finisher of our faith. He is our Redeemer.<\/p>\n \u2026To our Protestant friends, and we have many, who believe that salvation is by grace through faith alone, we say, \u201cWe understand your emphasis on faith. We believe it too. Without faith it is impossible to please God, but there is more to it than just faith. There are certain ordinances you must receive, and certain authority that you must possess, and there are certain works that you must perform, so come, let us reason together. Let us share with you the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n This was in accordance with the teachings of the Master. To the Jews who were sure he had come to condemn and tear down their religion, he said: \u201cThink not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.\u201d (Matt. 5:17.) And again, he found no fault whatsoever with their righteous acts, for he said: \u201c\u2026 these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.\u201d (Matt. 23:23.) And so we say to our Protestant friends.<\/p>\n To our Catholic friends who believe in salvation by grace through the sacraments of the church, we say, \u201cWe understand your emphasis on the sacraments or the ordinances of the church. We believe it too. Did not the Master say, \u2018Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God\u2019 (John 3:5)? Baptism by one who holds authority to act is essential to salvation.<\/p>\n \u201cBut there is more to salvation than just the ordinances of the gospel. There are certain acts of faith that you must manifest. There are certain works you must perform, and certain authority that you must possess that gives you the right to act in the name of the Lord, which can come only through a living prophet. So come\u2014let us share with you the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We won\u2019t take anything from you that you have that\u2019s true; we will just add to what you have, and we will do it in love, with no compulsion, no force; only love and sacrifice can bring people to a knowledge of the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n This simple scheme comparing LDS with Protestants and Catholics necessarily omits much, including the great variety of beliefs and practices within both the Protestant and the Catholic fold, but it is a good starting point for thinking about what is most distinctive in the LDS way. Since Luther and Calvin themselves, Protestants have indeed tended to isolate faith and grace as the keys to salvation, or \u201cjustification,\u201d and have left the status of \u201cworks\u201d uncertain or problematic. And the Catholic tradition has indeed tended towards a focus on sacraments as works that controlled salvation. (Noel Reynolds, in What Went Wrong?<\/em>, locates the decisive factor in the Great Apostasy as the severing of ordinances from covenants.) Elder Rector\u2019s formula of \u201cacts of faith\u201d that the convert must \u201cmanifest\u201d is indeed a promising formulation of the LDS emphasis.<\/p>\n The question of faith\/works is closely connected with the problem of judgment, the theme of Pres. N. Eldon Tanner\u2019s speech, \u201cJudge Not, That Ye Be Not Judged.\u201d (Pres. Tanner was then Second Counselor to Pres. Joseph Fielding Smith.) To be capable of accomplishing meritorious works would seem to imply competence to judge oneself and others by the standard of such works. On the other hand, if faith in a divine power of salvation operates on a wholly different plan than human works, the human judgment would seem to have no access to matters of eternal significance.<\/p>\n But Pres. Tanner\u2019s warning against judging others does not rely upon such a radical, Protestant depreciation of human works or human judgment. After quoting Matt. 7:1\u20135, Pres. Tanner teachers that<\/p>\n [t]he reason, therefore, that we cannot judge is obvious. We cannot see what is in the heart. We do not know motives, although we impute motives to every action we see. \u2026<\/p>\n It is not possible to judge another fairly unless you know his desires, his faith, and his goals. Because of a different environment, unequal opportunity, and many other things, people are not in the same position. One may start at the top and the other at the bottom, and they may meet as they are going in opposite directions. Someone has said that it is not where you are but the direction in which you are going that counts; not how close you are to failure or success but which way you are headed. How can we, with all our weaknesses and frailties, dare to arrogate to ourselves the position of a judge? At best, man can judge only what he sees; he cannot judge the heart or the intention, or begin to judge the potential of his neighbor.<\/p>\n Note that our competence to judge the standards of eternal merit is not put in question here, but only the possibility of knowing the interior condition of another person or the challenges that person may face. We are not denied the capacity to judge between right and wrong, good and bad, but only that of assessing another person\u2019s merits according to these standards.\u00a0\u00a0 And of course we are warned against being preoccupied with another person\u2019s faults rather than with our own, as well as against the all-too-human tendency to judge on the basis of irrelevant visible characteristics:<\/p>\n These lessons will have been well taught if parents can bring up their children without prejudicing them by precept or example against any other children on the grounds of color, race, religion, social status, or intellectual capacity, and if they teach them to love the Lord. I am so thankful that my parents, through their tolerance, were able to accomplish this with their children.<\/p>\n At the same time, Pres. Tanner acknowledges the need for judgment in the affairs of the Church as well as the civil community:<\/p>\n It is true that we must have appointed judges to deal with the laws of the land and judges in the Church to deal with its members; and they are given the heavy duty and responsibility of judging, which they must not neglect, but they must give righteous judgment according to the law of the land and of the Church.<\/p>\n \u201cRighteous judgment\u201d is therefore in principle possible, since there are knowable and permanent moral standards, but, unless we are called to pass judgment on others, we should focus our judgment on our own \u201cworks.\u201d<\/p>\n But the question of the precise nature of good \u201cworks\u201d remains elusive. Collecting works as a Boy Scout collects merit badges in order to win a final reward does not quite seem to capture the nature of the Christian life. The character of this life is brought out by other talks in this Conference session.<\/p>\n In \u201cWhat Is Your Destination?\u201d Elder Marvin J. Ashton, newly of the Quorum of the Twelve, helps to bring out this character.<\/p>\n Have you reached your destination when you receive a testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ by revelation from the Holy Ghost? We are sorry to observe that some, having received a testimony, feel and respond as if they had arrived. What a sad day in the life of any individual when he fails to use this knowledge and conviction of a testimony for dedicated and continued service. A testimony grows as it is shared. With the possession of a testimony comes the obligation to bear witness to the world of this, the Lord\u2019s work. A testimony is not a destination; it is a possession for performance.<\/p>\n I humbly bear witness to you today that an honorably completed mission, a celestial marriage, a valued testimony, a position of major responsibility in the Church are not destinations in the lives of true Latter-day Saints. They can be important aids in eternal progression. They will not save you and me in the kingdom of God. Only living the life of a faithful Latter-day Saint will make that possible.<\/p>\n A person who is measuring his merit by accumulated \u201cgood works\u201d will be tempted to add up his accomplishments like merit badges and claim satisfaction.\u00a0\u00a0 But truly good works are never self-satisfied but always oriented towards further growth and further service. To \u201cdo good\u201d is inseparable from the ongoing application of faith, that is, the obedient recognition of one\u2019s own frailty and neediness:<\/p>\n \u201cIf thou wilt do good, yea, and hold out faithful to the end, thou shalt be saved in the kingdom of God, which is the greatest of all the gifts of God; for there is no gift greater than the gift of salvation.\u201d (D&C 6:13.)<\/p>\n Similarly, Elder Thomas S. Monson of the Quorum of the Twelve, in \u201cFinishers Wanted,\u201d invites us to look upon life as a \u201cgreat race\u201d judged not by worldly goods or by the self-satisfied accumulation of merits but by life-long commitment to obedience and service:<\/p>\n Lust for power, greed of gold, and disdain for honor have ever appeared as faces of failure in the panorama of life. Captivated by their artificial attraction, many noble souls have stumbled and fallen, thus losing the crown of victory reserved for the finisher of life\u2019s great race.<\/p>\n Though disappointment, heartache, and trial were to beset him, yet Paul, at the conclusion of his ministry, could say: \u201cI have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.\u201d (2 Tim. 4:7.) Like Job, Paul was a finisher.<\/p>\n \u2026He admonished us to \u201clay aside \u2026 sin\u201d and to \u201crun with patience the race. \u2026 Looking [for an example] unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. \u2026\u201d (Heb. 12:1\u20132.)<\/p>\n A whole of faith in Christ comes to light with reference to \u201cworks\u201d whose goodness is available to human judgment, but it can only be completed or \u201cfinished\u201d by the Savior, to whom the Christian must humbly offer his or her whole life.<\/p>\n The living relationship between faith and works is perhaps mostly richly represented in this conference by Elder Franklin D. Richards\u2019 remarks on \u201cThe Importance of Prayer.\u201d<\/p>\n Implanted in the heart of every person, regardless of his or her race or color, is the desire to worship, in some manner, a divine being. The Prophet Joseph Smith observed that \u201cit is the first principle of the gospel to know for a certainty the character of God, and to know that we may converse with Him as one man converses with another. \u2026\u201d (Documentary History of the Church, vol. 6, p. 305.)<\/p>\n \u2026With the knowledge that we can converse with God as one man converses with another, we also understand that we not only have a divine spark within us, but that we are actually spirit children of our Father in heaven.<\/p>\n Brigham Young, in his realistic manner, stated: \u201cYou know that it is one peculiarity of our faith and religion never to ask the Lord to do a thing without being willing to help him all that we are able; and then the Lord will do the rest.\u201d (Journal of Discourses, vol. 5, p. 293.)<\/p>\n \u201cPlease, Lord, help me to help myself.\u201d I am convinced that this prayer for increased personal powers\u2014spiritual strength, greater inspiration, and greater confidence\u2014is one that God always answers. We can learn to solve our problems with God\u2019s help, making him our partner.<\/p>\n \u2026However, it is most important to remember that our attitude and approach in prayer should be similar to that of the Savior, in one of his last prayers in which he said, \u201cFather, if thou be willing, remove this cup [ordeal] from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.\u201d Three times he prayed in this manner. And then \u201cthere appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.\u201d (Luke 22:42\u201343.)<\/p>\n As Terryl Givens has insightfully observed, Latter-day Saint prayer is not only \u201cpersonal,\u201d it is \u201cdialogic.\u201d That is, it involves conversing \u201cwith Him as one man converses with another,\u201d in a way that involves our Heavenly Father, through our Savior, in as a partner in the righteous concerns of our daily existence, in our daily efforts to do what is right and to accomplish what is good. Latter-day Saint action is infused with prayer, and Latter-day Saint prayer is oriented towards action. Faithful works, which imply judgment both righteous and humble, lie at the heart of the living LDS answer to the central question of Christian theology, the question of \u201cfaith\u201d and \u201cworks.\u201d<\/p>\n Post from others in the continuing Odyssey<\/p>\n [This is another addition to our ongoing General Conference Odyssey \u2014 which project you can also check out via our facebook page. To learn a little about the reasons which motivated this project, you can visit this\u00a0 article at Meridian Magazine.] Elder Hartman Rector, Jr. of the Seventy, in \u201cOur Witness to the World,\u201d insists […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1988,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n\n