Elder Dallin H. Oaks
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Repenting means giving up all of our practices—personal, family, ethnic, and national—that are contrary to the commandments of God.
I bring you greetings from the Philippines Area, with
its 520,000 members in 80 stakes and 80 member districts and its 2,200 missionaries
in 13 missions. We are progressing against the challenges the Church encounters
where it is not yet fully established.
In these developing areas, we rely heavily on senior missionary couples.
I stress this because there are many within the sound of my voice who need
to know how much their service is appreciated, and there are others we pray
will decide to be available for this vital service.
I.
My introduction is something said in my presence by one of these valiant
missionaries. "As I look back on my life," he said, "I can
hardly imagine a barefoot surfer from Hawaii completing his third mission.
But when I felt the warm embrace of the Savior, I wanted to serve Him,
and I changed." Yes he did! Stanley Y. Q. Ho told me that until he
was 30 years old he did nothing but "hang around the beaches at Waikiki." Then
he found the gospel, he married a Latter-day Saint girl, and he changed.
Since then he has fulfilled many callings, including bishop and stake president.
Now, Elder Ho and his beloved Momi, who is responsible for so many of the
changes in his life, have served three full-time missions.
For another example, I turn to the Gospel of Luke:
"
And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho.
"And, behold, there was a man named Zacchæus, which was the chief
among the publicans, and he was rich.
"And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press,
because he was little of stature.
"And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycomore tree to see him:
for he was to pass that way.
"And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said
unto him, Zacchæus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide
at thy house.
"And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully" (Luke
19:1–6).
Here the Gospel records that Jesus' followers "murmured" because
of His going to the house of a sinner (v.
7). But that did not matter to
Jesus. His gospel is for all who will forsake their old ways and make the
changes they need to be saved in the kingdom of God.
Now back to the account of the man who opened his house and his heart to
the Lord:
"And Zacchæus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the
half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any
man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.
"And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house. . . .
"For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost" (
vv.
8–10).
Zacchæus of Jericho and Stanley of Hawaii stand for all of us. They
are examples of what we pray will be experienced by all of us who decide
to receive the Lord "joyfully" and follow where He leads.
II.
The gospel of Jesus Christ challenges us to change. "Repent" is
its most frequent message, and repenting means giving up all of our practices—personal,
family, ethnic, and national—that are contrary to the commandments of God.
The purpose of the gospel is to transform common creatures into celestial
citizens, and that requires change.
John the Baptist preached repentance. His listeners came from different
groups, and he declared the changes each must make to "bring forth . . . fruits worthy of repentance" (Luke
3:8). Publicans, soldiers, and
ordinary people—each had traditions that had to yield to the process of
repentance.
The teachings of Jesus also challenged the traditions of different groups.
When the scribes and Pharisees complained that His disciples "transgress[ed]
the tradition of the elders" by omitting the ritual washings, Jesus
replied that the scribes and Pharisees "transgress[ed] the commandment
of God by [their] tradition" (Matthew
15:2–3). He described how they
had "made the commandment of God of none effect by [their] tradition" (v.
6). "Hypocrites" is what He called those whose adherence to their
traditions kept them from keeping the commandments of God (v.
7).
Again, in modern revelation the Lord declares that the "wicked one" takes
the innocent children of God away from light and truth "through disobedience . . . and because of the tradition of their fathers" (D&C 93:39).
The traditions or culture or way of life of a people inevitably include
some practices that must be changed by those who wish to qualify for God's
choicest blessings.
Chastity is an example. "Thou shalt not commit adultery," the
Lord commanded from Sinai (Exodus
20:14) and repeated in modern revelation
(D&C 42:24; see also D&C 59:6). "Flee fornication" the
New Testament commands (1
Corinthians 6:18; see also Galatians
5:19; 1 Thessalonians
4:3). Always the prophets of God have condemned whoredoms. Yet these eternal
commands have frequently been ignored, opposed, or mocked by powerful traditions
in many lands. This is especially visible today, when the movies, magazines,
and Internet communications of one nation are instantly shared with many
others. Sexual relations out of wedlock are tolerated or advocated by many.
So is the rapidly expanding culture of pornography. All who have belonged
to these cultures of sin must repent and change if they are to become the
people of God, for He has warned that "no unclean thing can enter into
his kingdom" (3 Nephi
27:19).
Weekly attendance at church is another example of a commandment contrary
to popular traditions. The Lord has commanded us to attend church and "offer
up [our] sacraments" on His Sabbath day (see D&C 59:9). This requires
more than passive attendance. We are commanded to participate in worship
and in service, and that requires a wrenching change for many non-Christians
and even for those Christians who have attended church only as irregular
spectators.
The Lord's command that we abstain from alcohol, tobacco, tea, and coffee
(see D&C 89) also runs counter to the traditions of many. Long-standing
addictions or habits are not easily broken, but God's command is clear, and
the promised blessings more than compensate for the challenges of change.
Another example is honesty. Some cultures allow lying, stealing, and other
dishonest practices. But dishonesty in any form—whether to appease, to
save face, or to get gain—is in direct conflict with gospel commandments
and culture. God is a God of truth, and God does not change. We are the ones
who must change. And that will be a big change for all whose traditions accustom
them to thinking that they can lie a little, cheat a little, or engage in
deceit whenever it brings personal advantage and is not likely to be detected.
A less serious worldly tradition that conflicts with gospel culture is the
idea of upward or downward movement in positions. In the world, we refer
to the up or down of promotions or reductions. But there is no up or down
in Church positions. We just move around. A bishop released by proper authority
and called to teach in Primary does not move down. He moves forward as he
accepts his release with gratitude and fulfills the duties of a new calling—even
one far less visible.
I saw a memorable example of this a few months ago in the Philippines. I
visited a ward in the Pasig stake, near Manila. There I met Augusto Lim,
whom I had known in earlier years as a stake president, a mission president,
a General Authority, and president of the Manila temple. Now I saw him serving
humbly and gratefully in his ward bishopric, second counselor to a man much
younger and much less experienced. From temple president to second counselor
in a ward bishopric is a beautiful example of the gospel culture in action.
In these examples I am not contrasting the culture or traditions of one
part of the world with another. I am contrasting the Lord's way with the
world's way—the culture of the gospel of Jesus Christ with the culture
or traditions of every nation or people. No group has a monopoly on virtue
or an immunity from the commandment to change. Jesus and His Apostles did
not attempt to make Gentiles into Jews (see Romans
2:11; Galatians
2:11–16; 3:1–29; 5:1–6; 6:15). They taught Gentiles and Jews, attempting to make
each of them into followers of Christ.
Similarly, the present-day servants of the Lord do not attempt to make Filipinos
or Asians or Africans into Americans. The Savior invites all to come unto
Him (see 2 Nephi 26:33; D&C 43:20), and His servants seek to persuade
all—including Americans—to become Latter-day Saints. We say to all, give
up your traditions and cultural practices that are contrary to the commandments
of God and the culture of His gospel, and join with His people in building
the kingdom of God. If we cease to walk in darkness, the Apostle John taught, "we
walk in the light, . . . we have fellowship one with another, and the blood
of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1
John 1:7).
III.
There is a unique gospel culture, a set of values and expectations and practices
common to all members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
This gospel way of life comes from the plan of salvation, the commandments
of God, and the teachings of the living prophets. It is given expression
in the way we raise our families and live our individual lives. The principles
stated in the family proclamation are a beautiful expression of our gospel
culture.
Those who are baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ make covenants. In
modern revelation the Lord declared, "When men are called unto mine
everlasting gospel, and covenant with an everlasting covenant, they are accounted
as the salt of the earth and the savor of men" (D&C 101:39). To
perform our covenant duty as the salt of the earth, we must be different
from those around us.
As Jesus taught: "I give unto you to be the salt of the earth; but
if the salt shall lose its savor wherewith shall the earth be salted? The
salt shall be thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and to be
trodden under foot of men" (3
Nephi 12:13; also see Matthew
5:13; D&C
101:40).
This requires us to make some changes from our family culture, our ethnic
culture, or our national culture. We must change all elements of our behavior
that are in conflict with gospel commandments, covenants, and culture.
The gospel plan is based on individual responsibility. Our article of faith
states the eternal truth "that men will be punished for their own sins,
and not for Adam's transgression" (Articles
of Faith 1:2). This requirement
of individual responsibility, which has many expressions in our doctrine,
is in sharp contrast to Satan's plan to "redeem all mankind, that one
soul shall not be lost " (Moses
4:1). The plan of the Father and the
Savior is based on individual choice and individual effort.
The doctrine and practice of personal responsibility and personal effort
collide with individual traditions and local cultures in many lands. We live
in a world where there are large differences in income and material possessions
and where there are many public and private efforts to narrow these differences.
The followers of the Savior are commanded to give to the poor, and many do.
But some gifts have promoted a culture of dependency, reducing their recipients'
need for earthly food or shelter but impoverishing them in their eternal
need for individual growth. The growth required by the gospel plan only occurs
in a culture of individual effort and responsibility. It cannot occur in
a culture of dependency. Whatever causes us to be dependent on someone else for decisions or resources
we could provide for ourselves weakens us spiritually and retards our growth
toward what the gospel plan intends us to be.
The gospel raises people out of poverty and dependency, but only when gospel
culture, including the faithful payment of tithing even by the very poor,
prevails over the traditions and cultures of dependency. That is the lesson
to be learned from the children of Israel, who came out of hundreds of years
of slavery in Egypt and followed a prophet into their own land and became
a mighty people. That lesson can also be learned from the Mormon pioneers,
who never used their persecutions or poverty as an excuse but went forward
in faith, knowing that God would bless them when they kept His commandments,
which He did.
The changes we must make to become part of the gospel culture require prolonged
and sometimes painful effort, and our differences must be visible. As the "salt
of the earth," we are also the "light of the world," and our
light must not be hidden (see Matthew
5:13–16). The Apostle John warned
that this will cause the world to hate us (see 1
John 3:13). That is why
those who have made the covenant to change have a sacred duty to love and
help one another. That encouragement must be extended to every soul who struggles
to come out of the culture of the world and into the culture of the gospel
of Jesus Christ. The Apostle John concluded, "Let us not love in word,
neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth" (1
John 3:18).
No one shows love for their fellowmen more impressively than the noble men
and women of this Church who leave comfortable homes and surroundings to
serve as couple missionaries. They provide the most authentic and the most
valuable assistance to those who are struggling to change. God bless our
couple missionaries!
IV.
Jesus commanded us to love one another, and we show that love by the way
we serve one another. We are also commanded to love God, and we show that
love by continually repenting and by keeping His commandments (see John
14:15). And repentance means more than giving up our sins. In its broadest
meaning it requires change, giving up all of our traditions that are contrary
to the commandments of God. As we become full participants in the culture
of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we become "fellowcitizens with the
saints, and of the household of God" (Ephesians
2:19).
I testify that this is what our Lord and Savior would have us do so that
we may become what His gospel intends us to be, in the name of Jesus Christ,
amen.
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