Suppose two by-standers were watching a boat float down a river. The first man said "everyone must choose the way that is right for himself. Who am I to judge?" So even thought he knew the people in the boat were headed to a 1,000 ft. waterfall which would be certain death on the rocks below, he put a smile on his face. He simply said "Hope you enjoy this beautiful day on the river." The second man appeared to be more contentious. He was yelling at the folks enjoying their river ride. He was jumping up and down hollering, "Get off the river. You are going to die." He didn't want anyone to die going over the deadly waterfall. Which man hated the folks in the boat? Did the nice, friendly man really care when he knew there was a dangerous water fall downstream? Or did the loud, blunt, truthful man really care about the travelers? Who was the real hater? Which one really was concerned?
Lorenzo Snow said, "As man now is, God once was; as God is now, man may become." Stop praying to an exalted man. This is a false god. Turn to the true God in Moroni 8:18. "For I know that God is not a partial God, neither a changeable being; but he is unchangeable from all eternity to all eternity." God was never a man. He has always been God from "all eternity to all eternity." Does quoting Moroni make me a hater or someone who cares?
Some say there is no hell. It is just a mental state. 2 Nephi 28:21-23 tells us where this lie came from. "And others will he pacify, and lull 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. Yea, 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." If I ignore the words of Nephi, does that make me a nice, responsible neighbor?
Some people feel like repentance is a gradual process that may take years to complete. Some hope to make a telestial or terrestrial kingdom without complete repentance. But we are not guaranteed tomorrow. A car accident can quickly end our life. Alma warned against procrastinating repentance. Alma 34:31 says, "...now is the time and the day of your salvation;..." Verse 33 says, "...do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end;...if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed." Verse 35 says, "...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 of you; and this is the final state of the wicked." Is it being contentious to actually take the words of Alma seriously?
If you have concern for someone's well being or eternal destiny, are you a hater or someone who cares? Is it possible to be genuinely concerned, speaking the truth in love? What say you?
Matthew 7:13&14 says, "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."
Matthew 7:13&14 says, "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."
