Repentance

Is hell a reality?  The devil says it is not a reality.

2 Nephi 28:21-23  "And others will he (the devil) pacify, and loll them away into carnal security, that they will say: all is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well - and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell.  And behold, others he flattereth away, and telleth them there is no hell; and he saith unto them: I am no devil, for there is none - and thus he whispereth in their ears, until he grasps them with his awful chains, from whence there is no deliverance.  Ye, they are grasped with death, and hell; and death, and hell, and the devil, and all that have been seized therewith must stand before the throne of God, and be judged according to their works, from whence they must go into the place prepared for them, even a lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment."

Is hell a place for people who have procrastinated in repenting?

Alma 34:35  "For behold, if ye have procrastinated the day of your repentance even until death, behold, ye have become subjected to the spirit of the devil, and he doth seal you his; therefore, the spirit of the Lord hath withdrawn from you, and hath no place in you, and the devil hath all power over you; and this is the final state of the wicked."

Is this really the final state of repentance procrastinators?  Isn't there some kind of work that can be done for them?

Alma 34:33  "And now, as I said unto you before, as ye have had so many witnesses, therefore, I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed."

Obviously a person in such a situation would want a chance to escape.

Alma 34:34  "You cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my God.  Nay, ye cannot say this;..."

Many people say that repentance is a "gradual process" - it takes time.  However, we are not guaranteed tomorrow.  We may not have time for a gradual process.  We could die in a car wreck.  We could be hit by a drunk driver or a texting driver.  Some people will die of heart attacks and strokes.  It is best to repent right now!

Alma 34:31-32  "Yea, I would that ye would come forth and harden not your hearts any longer; for behold, now is the time and the day of your salvation; and therefore, if ye will repent and harden not your hearts, immediately shall the great plan of redemption be brought about unto you.  For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors."

Does it sound too easy?

2 Nephi 25:23  "..;for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do."

For those of us who are hard-headed, it is after we try and do all we can do that we realize it is NOT enough.  We actually do have to depend on God's grace, not ourselves, to save us.

The self-righteous Jews stated that Abraham was their father and God was their father. They were irate when Jesus said their father was the devil.

John 8:44  "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do...."

The Book of Mormon claims that we must be "born again" and "become His sons and daughters".

Mosiah 27:25-26  "And the Lord said unto me: Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters;  And thus they become new creatures; and unless they do this, they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God."

It is a miracle of God to be changed from a "carnal and fallen state" to a state of "righteousness" - where good deeds are flowing out of you naturally.

My friend, do not procrastinate your repentance.  Turn to the God who is the unchangeable being in Moroni 8:18 and who is the only "true and living God" in Alma 11:27-39.  Be reborn.  Become a new creation.  May God be with you.

Evolution

 Photo by Meg Jerrard on Unsplash

      

      By law, public schools are required to teach the Theory of Evolution.  Many try to emphasis the "separation of church and state" idea.  Many want to change our Merry Christmas to "Happy Holidays".  But what if we go beyond all the talk?  Is the Theory of Evolution something we really believe in?  Do we believe it enough to actually practice it in real life?  When we apply it to real life, we run into some serious philosophical problems.
      In sports we refer to evolution when talk about "survival of the fittest".  We think about one person winning and the others losing a sports game.  In the theory, however, the weaker ones do not lose.  The weaker ones die off and only the strong survive.  Our country has a big problem with gangs.  The gang lifestyle is very similar to the survival of the fittest idea.  If guns were not used and the fighting was done without weapons, then the strongest gangs would survive and the weaker would be eliminated.
      We would not want to apply such a theory to our society because it would be completely inhumane.  What if we ended all medicare and social security for the weaker, elderly and sick people of our society and gave that money to our strongest people.  That would be promoting the Theory of Evolution and survival of the fittest but it would be completely disrespectful to those that deserve our help.
      Think about having a daughter.  She is looking forward to dating sometime in the future (possibly age 30).  Do you want her to date the guy that is evolution-minded?  The guy who believes in survival of the fittest, the strongest ones prevail and might makes right?  Would that date just be following his own animal instincts?  Or do you want her to date the guy that is creation-minded?  The one that believes that she was created by the wisest designer in the universe?  The one that believes she was created in the image of God himself?  The one that thinks he may have to answer to God some day for the way he treats her?  Obviously, what you believe can have a big impact on the way you treat others.
     Evolution has a value problem.  If you say someone is a super-evolved monkey, you are lowering their value from a human to an evolved monkey.  Saying someone is evolved from a small amoeba does not give them a sense of self-worth.  Comparisons to animals are usually used to lower ones value or insult a person.  If you say someone is a product of time and chance, you are inferring that they were not worth the time of being planned.  For a Christian, the most valuable being in the universe is God.  The Bible says that man was designed by this most valuable and wise being.  This gives man great value.  The Bible also says that man was created in the image of this most valuable being.  This gives us great value!
      We are often told that science has proved evolution to be true.  If we could prove that evolution is true, we would call it the LAW of evolution.  It is correctly called the theory of evolution.  It is just a theory.  If the theory of evolution is true we should see many new species evolving and coming to life.  Most scientists today are more worried about all the animals that are becoming extinct.
      The Theory of Evolution implies that time is a constant.  This concept is highly suspect.  The time on your cell phone usually differs from the time on your computer.  The time on one sign usually differs from the time on the next sign.  Some scientists believe that time ceases to flow at the speed of light.  So, if you were traveling at a speed that is close to the speed of light and you travel the distance of a light-year, perhaps it would only take you a few seconds.  It would not take a year.  Some scientists believe that time would nearly stop in a black hole which tends toward infinite density.  So we could stay young but we would be crushed by the tremendous gravitational pull.  To assume that time is a constant, as evolution does, may be erroneous.
      Romans 1:20 says, "For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead: so that they are without excuse:"  Our visible world teaches us about the invisible world.  Our DNA is our blueprint.  We were planned.  We are not here by accident!!  We are not a product of time and chance.  Nature points us to what is beyond this world.  Our sun is a star.  When our sun burns out, life on earth will freeze and die.  However, Christians have a heavenly home that is being prepared by God himself.  This is exciting and gives us great hope!