President Nelson on Labels and Identity

Who are you?

First and foremost, you are a child of God.

Second, if you are a member of the Church, you are a child of the covenant. When you were baptized, you made very specific covenants with the Lord. You promised to bear others' burdens, mourn with those that mourn, comfort those in need of comfort, and "stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things."

And third, you are a disciple of Jesus Christ.

I plead with you not to replace these three paramount and unchanging identifiers with any others, because doing so could stymie your progress or pigeonhole you into a stereotype that could potentially thwart your eternal progression.

For example, if you are identified mainly as an American, those who are not Americans may thing, "I know everything there is to know about you because you are an American." Because of this erroneous assumption, they may assign erroneous attributes to you. 

If you identify yourself by your political affiliation, you will instantly be categorized as having certain beliefs--though I don't know anyone who believes everything that their preferred political party presently embraces.

I could go on and on, rehearsing the constraints of various labels that we put on ourselves or that other people place upon us.

Some might label me as an "old man." But I'm a lot younger than Adam was--and Noah too. Ageism, racism, nationalism, sexism, and a host of other "isms" are universally limiting and are to be avoided.

...

The adversary rejoices in labels because they divide us and restrict the way we think about ourselves and each other. Labels can divide us into the kinds of tribes that divided the Nephites prior to the Lord's first coming. Tribal divisions almost always lead to animosity, misunderstanding, and even tribal warfare. How limiting it is when we essentially "choose up sides." How sad it is when we honor labels more than we honor each other.

Labels almost inevitable lead to judging and animosity. Any abuse or prejudice toward another because of nationality, race, sexual orientation, gender, educational degrees, culture, or any other significant identifiers is offensive to our Maker! Such mistreatment causes us to live beneath our stature as His covenant sons and daughters!

There are various labels that may be very important to you, of course. Please do not misunderstand me. I am not saying that other designations and identifiers are not important. I am simply saying that no identifier should displace, replace, or take priority over the three paramount, enduring designations, "child of God, "child of the covenant," and "disciple of Jesus Christ."

Any identifier that is not compatible with these three basic designations will ultimately let you down. No other labels have the power to lead you toward eternal life in the celestial kingdom of God.

-President Russell M. Nelson, Heart of the Matter, 2023, p. 48-49.

"Giving a Chance" to Satan

Book of Mormon Preparation

The Book of Mormon exposes the enemies of Christ. It confounds false doctrines that lays down contention. (See 2 Ne 3:12) It fortifies the humble followers of Christ against the evil designs, strategies, and doctrines of the devil in our day. The type of apostates in the Book of Mormon are similar to the type we have today. God, with his infinite foreknowledge, so molded the Book of Mormon that we might see the error and know how to combat false educational, political, religious, and philosophical concepts of our time.

-President Ezra Taft Bensen (then President of the Quorum of the Twelve), Conference Report, Apr. 1975, 94-95h

Knowledge and Spiritual Death

I had noticed this verse before, but it struck me again this time what a unique clarification of the meaning of spiritual death Alma gives to the people of Ammonihah:

And therefore, he that will harden his heart, the same receiveth the lesser portion of the word; and he that will not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the word, until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until he know them in full.

And they that will harden their hearts, to them is given the lesser portion of the word until they know nothing concerning his mysteries; and then they are taken captive by the devil, and led by his will down to destruction. Now this is what is meant by the chains of hell.

. . . 

And now behold, I say unto you then cometh a death, even a second death, which is a spiritual death, then is a time that whosoever dieth in his sins, as to a temporal death, shall also die a spiritual death; yea, he shall die as to things pertaining unto righteousness.

-Alma 12:10-11, 16

Joseph Smith taught, "A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge." I find it really interesting that the process Alma describes captivity as losing knowledge of God. It makes sense that if knowing Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ constitutes life eternal, that losing knowledge of them would constitute spiritual death, or hardening the heart such that there is no room for righteousness. More than the quantity of our studies, the condition of our hearts will determine the portion of eternal knowledge that we will have the capacity to receive, and that in turn will determine our eternal destiny.

Seeking Perfection Without Being a Perfectionist

This article in BYU Magazine was so spot on for me!  You can read it here.

Here are the first two paragraphs as a teaser:

We are all familiar with the New Testament scripture “Be ye therefore perfect” (Matt. 5:48). The pursuit of perfection is holy, and those who center their lives on this pursuit are blessed. But, as with every good and holy thing, Satan is on hand to sabotage our efforts. BYU clinical professor of counseling psychology Marleen S. Williams (BS ’87) suggests that “because becoming perfect through Christ is a powerful and important doctrine, Satan . . . comes up with a counterfeit. The counterfeit is often set up to look very much like the real thing, but it differs in important ways. . . . Perfectionism is a counterfeit of real spirituality and is easily confused.”¹

Satan’s counterfeit promotes the belief that everything must be done perfectly right now. Such an expectation runs counter to the whole purpose of God’s eternal plan—which purpose is for us to gain experiences, to learn from them, and to grow. God’s counsel to the early Saints was to “continue in patience until ye are perfected” (D&C 67:13). Satan’s deceptive and cunning approach is to convince us that if we want God’s approval, we must do more than we know how or are prepared to do. That naturally sets the stage for developing feelings of being overwhelmed and discouraged—by ourselves and often by those around us. In this and other areas, Satan’s strategy does not require that we commit great sins. He just needs to keep us distracted from things of eternal consequence.