Perfect Love

We read in 1 John chapter 4, verse 18:

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love."

Again, in the book of Mormon, The Book of Moroni, eighth chapter, sixteenth verse:
"Behold, I speak with boldness, having authority from God; and I fear not what man can do; for perfect love casteth out all fear."

I would like to have no fear--not be afraid at all, of anything!   I suppose I need to have perfect love, though, if I want all fear casteth out.

What does that mean, however, to have perfect love?

In order to have perfect love, I am suggesting, that you need not be perfect, not perfect yourself (because, only God is perfect, or you would be like God if you were perfect), you can only love God perfectly (or, approaching perfection) and when you love Him perfectly, you will not be fearful or afraid of anything. With your Heavenly Father, it's not so much that you, in your human condition, are capable of loving anyone or anything perfectly--but you have an innate capacity to love spirit-to-spirit perfectly.  Your spirit was created by God the Father in the existence we had before we came to Earth and our spirits don't have this fleshy natural man to weigh us down or hold us back from feeling that perfect love.  We naturally or innately LOVE our Father and our God.  So, when you love your Heavenly Father, you will want to obey Him and keep His commandments--what is there to be afraid of when you have your Lord and your God (because you can't love God and not love Christ as well and in fact, the only way to even approach God the Father is through His Son.

JPS

Unworthy?

Wondering why many prophets talk about abasing themselves and not believing that they were worthy (Book of Mormon, book of Alma, chapter 6, verse 5), I began to think more deeply about what it is that makes them unworthy or almost inherently sinful.  I had memorized Mosiah 3:19, in the Book of Mormon, which talks about the natural man being an enemy to God. That had something to do with the conundrum, I thought.  Why, though, were these men and women that were always doing so much good abasing themselves?

I began to realize that the fact that they considered themselves “unworthy” had little or nothing to do with what it was that they had done; the sins that they had committed or the repentance fort he sins committed, and had more to do with the fact that they were human beings and therefore had fallen natures, like King Benjamin reminds us in Mosiah.  

In the book of Alma, chapter 42, verse 5 it explains that if Adam had immediately partaken of the fruit of the tree of life, he would have lived forever and would have had no space for time to repent, and the Plan of Salvation would have been frustrated.

Thus, Alma teaches in Alma chapter 42, verse 10, man had “become carnal, sensual, and devilish, by nature.” Man is by nature carnal, sensual, and devilish, and therefore sinners.  Man isn’t able to do anything good by himself, and must rely on the Lord to do anything good, must repent, and also rely on the Lord to become sanctified and good—to be reclaimed from this fallen state and allow himself or herself to have the atonement work to make them clean and have the demands of justice appeased and return clean the Celestial kingdom, having had mercy work on their behalf (Alma 42:12, 15-16).

JPS

Can we have sinned so much/too much, that we can no longer return to God?

Just because we have the light of Christ, does not mean that we are able to completely understand everybody and in every situation.  We are not Gods.  We can only try to act like and be like Christ (since our God sent Jesus Christ to this Earth to show us the pattern of how to be like Him or like God).

Don't get ahead of yourself and remember that no matter what, you haven't gotten so far away from God that you can't return or can't reach Him...  Better yet, do you really think that you can get so far away that He can't reach you?  Are you more powerful than He is?  Are you more powerful than God?  Are you so powerful that you can damn yourself so much that even God would be unable to save you? Are you yourself omnipotent?

No, you are mot omnipotent.  But God is, and He is always there for you (remember that He is also omnipresent and omniscient, to name a few more...) and He has sent His Son to help us to get back or return to Him (because we are all sons or daughters of God--children of a Heavenly Father).  Jesus Christ is mercy embodied.  He is so merciful and charitable that He holds the arms of Justice back to allow anyone of His Father's children to return to God's presence.  Those arms of Justice will hold back everyone that is the least bit unworthy of the Celestial Kingdom (any sin, any uncleanliness, any whatsoever...), yet because of Jesus Christ, and only because of Jesus Christ, those who follow Him and obey His commandments, and repent can and will enter into His presence!

In answer to the original question, though, just don't deny the Holy Ghost and you'll be fine.  You may have to pay for some sins, but your faith and reliance on Jesus Christ will do you right!

JPS

Reading

Reading is good.  Reading is fun.

Let's all read some more and tell it to everyone!

JPS

Is it possible to know that what another thinks is incorrect or wrong?

Question-Is it possible to know that what another thinks is incorrect or wrong?

I. Axiom: The Light of Christ is simply Truth…

II. Axiom: The LoC reveals the truth to each man

A.   Postulate – When a person acts with that LoC, he will be able to understand the truth about the actions done by each man

B.    When someone acts contrary to truth (whether it is a physical action [like swearing or making an obscene gesture, “flipping the bird,” or even shaking their head in the face of a truth]), they necessarily offend the LoC and it the Spirit withdraws.

So, the LoC testifies the truth to each person, whether they are seeking out the truth or not; in the form of witnessing that they are receiving a true fact, a logical truth, or a suggestion that something being witnessed is right or wrong (this is especially true if the beholder has the Gift of the Holy Ghost).

            People who act consistently in harmony with that Spirit or light will be able to recognize that light and therefore know when they are receiving that light or will be able to know when it is (obviously) missing.  They will also be able to recognize the absence or lack of that light.  Feeling that lack of light they will know that whatever is being done or said is not in harmony with the light (because they are waiting for the light to “testify” to them that whatever being done is truth and when it isn’t there they know that whatever being done goes against the LoC or Spirit or the Truth…).

            I have now “proven” or rather answered the question posed at the beginning of this paper: it is possible to know that what another thinks or does or says is correct or incorrect.

Quod erat demostrandum

JPS