Mormon Musings

  God has no distracting hobbies off somewhere in the universe. We are at the very center of His concerns and purposes. What a sharp contrast to those who believe that man lives in an “unconscious universe” (Bertrand Russell, “A Free Man’s Worship,” in  Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays  [1917], 50), a “universe … without a master” (Albert Camus,  The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays,  trans. Justin O’Brien [1955], 123)... Notably, at the last day the adversary “will not support” those who followed him anyway (see  Alma 30:60 ). He cannot. Jesus will triumph majestically, and the adversary’s clever constructs, “pleasing to the carnal mind,” will also collapse, and “the fall thereof will be exceedingly great” (see  Alma 30:53 ;  1 Ne. 11:36 ). Even now, one can see in the lives of those prodigals who come to themselves the devil’s doctrines dripping in early meltdown (see  Luke 15:17 ). Many, having experienced the utter emptiness of the lower ways, are “in a preparation to hear the

By Elder Neal A. Maxwell Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles Elder Neal A. Maxwell passed away on 21 July 2004 as this issue of the  Ensign  was being prepared for publication. After reciting a litany of social ills during his time, Mormon consoled his son, Moroni, suggesting that somber world conditions could unnecessarily “weigh thee down” ( Moro. 9:25 ). 1   Today, I write lest you be unnecessarily “weighed down.” What follows will include several stern but needed prophecies, yet my comments will mostly be about some very reassuring and positive things. Though I write primarily to the youth of the Church, these assurances have ready application to all gospel teachers who have been entrusted with nurturing this royal generation. My text is a later Nephi’s phrase about his own time and season on earth. As he became less nostalgic for an earlier time and more submissive as to doing his duty in his particular season, he said, “I am consigned that these are my days.” I invite young men

Our "fears,"...are dangerous, because they can cause us to worry too much about what might happen to our bodies and not enough about what could happen to our spirits. Our fears can cause us to wonder whether, after all, God will really protect us. These fears reflect a lack of faith in both God's capacity and character, including His love for us. We worry, for example, that we might be hurt or put down because He is inattentive to our needs. Oh, how familiar we all are with such worries! The surging adrenaline of our "fears" of the flesh can blot out our spiritual memories. Laman and Lemuel feared what Laban could do. Yet they knew how marvelously God had delivered Moses and his hundreds of thousands of people from Pharaoh and his thousands in the remarkable passage through the Red Sea! Similarly, our fears can cause us to question God's plan of salvation, even when we know beforehand that there are some things we must either die from, live with, or pass thr

Another advantage of dispatching temptations is this: The human mind is remarkably retentive. We must be careful of what we allow in our mind, for it will be there for a long time, reasserting itself at those very times when we may be most vulnerable. Just as harmful chemicals heedlessly dumped in a vacant lot can later prove lethal, so toxic thoughts and the mulching of the wrong memories in the vacant corner of the mind also take their toll. What happens, of course, when we persist in savoring temptations, whether they are temptations of wealth, power, status, or sensuality, is well portrayed by what we read of another people in another time: "Now the cause of this iniquity of the people was this—Satan had great power, unto the stirring up of the people to do all manner of iniquity, and to the puffing them up with pride,  tempting them to seek for power, and authority, and riches , and the vain things of the world." (3 Nephi 6:15. Italics added.) This people actually lost b

If then, the gospel is simple, it seems to me it is our individual task in the Church to go to the well for the water of the gospel regularly, because the message of the scriptures will be different depending on the stage of life you and I are in. These scriptures seem to me different than they did five years ago, and ten years ago, and certainly than they did twenty years ago in the mission field. Let the scriptures sing their song to you, the very song you need to hear now, in terms of that part of the gospel that is relevant in your life, so that, in the words of the Book of Mormon Prophet, you and I “feast” upon the word of Christ regularly. It’s not enough for returned missionaries to run on the strength of the few scriptures they may know, because as true as those scriptures are, they may not focus on the building of a marriage. As powerful as Revelations 14:6 is in missionary work, it doesn’t help as young couple on the verge of divorce As significant as the scriptures in Isaiah

Moments are the molecules that make up eternity! Years ago, President Hinckley counseled: “It is not so much the major events as the small day-to-day decisions that map the course of our living. … Our lives are, in reality, the sum total of our seemingly unimportant decisions and of our capacity to live by those decisions” (Caesar, Circus, or Christ? Brigham Young University Speeches of the Year [26 Oct. 1965], 3). Elder Neal A. Maxwell , October 2000 General Conference

Recall the new star that announced the birth at Bethlehem? It was in its precise orbit long before it so shone. We are likewise placed in human orbits to illuminate. Divine correlation functions not only in the cosmos but on this planet, too. After all, the Book of Mormon plates were not buried in Belgium, only to have Joseph Smith born centuries later in distant Bombay. Elder Neal A Maxwell, October 2002 General Conference https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2002/10/encircled-in-the-arms-of-his-love?lang=eng

“Petitioning in prayer has taught me, again and again, that the vault of heaven with all its blessings is to be opened only by a combination lock.  One tumbler falls when there is faith, a second when there is personal righteousness; the third and final tumbler falls only when what is sought is, in God’s judgment—not ours—right for us.  Sometimes we pound on the fault door for something we want very much and wonder why the door does not open.  We would be very spoiled children if that fault door opened any more easily than it does.  I can tell, looking back, that God truly loves me by inventorying the petitions He has refused to grant me.  Our rejected petitions tell us much about ourselves but also much about our flawless Father.”  Elder Neal A. Maxwell, “Insights”, New Era, April 1978

"Jacob, in 2 Nephi 9:41, in speaking of the straight and narrow, reminds us that 'the keeper of the gate is the Holy One of Israel' and that Jesus 'employeth no servant there.' The emphasis rightly is on the fact that Jesus 'cannot be deceived.' There is another dimension of reassurance, too: not only will the ultimate judgment not be delegated in order to serve the purposes of divine justice, but also divine mercy can best be applied by Him who knows these things, what only He can know--the quiet moments of courage in the lives of His flock, the un-noticed acts of Christian service, the unspoken thoughts which can be 'credited' in no other way, except through perfect judgment." (Elder Neal A. Maxwell, "For the Power Is in Them." [1970], 37)

Some insist upon studying the Church only through the eyes of its defectors—like interviewing Judas to understand Jesus. Defectors always tell us more about themselves than about that from which they have departed. Elder Neal A. Maxwell, BYU Devotional 1977 https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/neal-a-maxwell_hell-moved/

Last General Conference talk by Elder Maxwell: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2004/04/remember-how-merciful-the-lord-hath-been?lang=eng

It would be unwise, of course, for the Church to tie itself to the provisional truths of science at any point in science's unfolding history. Ultimately, scientific truth will align with divinely revealed truth; meanwhile we can applaud genuine scientific advances, noting them without depending overly much upon them.  (Elder Neal A. .Maxwell, Men and Women of Christ, pp. 91-92.)

Perhaps, brothers and sisters, what we brought with us as intelligences into our creation as spirit children constitutes a “given” within which even God must work. Add to that possibility the clear reality of God’s deep commitment to our free agency—and we begin to see how essential meekness is! We need to learn so much, and yet we are free to choose (see 2 Nephi 2:27)! How crucial it is to be teachable! There “is no other way” in which God could do what He has declared it is His intent to do. No wonder He and His prophets emphasize meekness time and time again! Since God desired to have us become like Himself, He first had to make us free, to learn, to choose, and to experience; hence our humility and teachability are premiere determinants of our progress and our happiness. Agency is essential to perfectibility, and meekness is essential to the wise use of agency—and to our recovery when we have misused our agency. Let us not brush by this developmental premise. The scripture

Some anxieties are understandable common to life's exit routes leading to death.  Later, when we look back after the trip through the veil, our anxieties will turn out to be naive and even amusing. . After all, in gospel grammar, death is not an exclamation point, merely a comma.  Nevertheless, dying is a new, individual experience.  For those paradise-bound, what seemed to be the grim ballet of separation, with but one pirouette, turns out to be a resplendent separation. Elder Neal A. Maxwell, "Moving in His Majesty & Power", page 91.

A wintry verse of scripture reads, "He trieth their patience and their faith" (Mosiah 23:21).  If we do not understand this fact, we will misread life.  But why does God try our faith and patience in particular?  Why not try our ability to make money or amass political power? The Lord is not concerned with these skills.  Patience, however, is an eternal quality.  It is portable.  So is faith. These qualities are out of the developmental reach of those who are caught up in the cares of the world. Elder Neal A. Maxwell, " Moving in His Majesty & Power " page 58.

Even something as small as a man’s thumb, when held very near the eye, can blind him to the very large sun. Yet the sun is still there. Blindness is brought upon the man by himself. When we draw other things too close, placing them first, we obscure our vision of heaven. Elder Neal A. Maxwell, Of One Heart: The Glory of the City of Enoch (1975), 19.

“Throughout scripture we encounter the need for us to remember that the Lord has His own timetable for unfolding things; it will not always accord with our schedules or our wants. When, in our extremities, we urgently call for a divine response, there may be, instead, a divine delay. This is not because God, at the moment, is inattentive or loves us less than perfectly. Rather, it is because we are being asked, at the moment, to endure more for the welfare of our souls. The blessed meek understand that God loves them even when they may not be able to explain the meaning of what is happening to them or around them.”  -Neal A. Maxwell  (Meek and Lowly, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1987, page 89)

Surely it should give us more pause than  it does to think of how casually we sometimes give  to [Satan] who could not control his own ego in the  pre-mortal world such awful control over our egos here.  We often let the adversary do indirectly now what  we refused to let him do directly then” Elder Neal A. Maxwell - We Will Prove Them Herewith

"Though of themselves life's defining moments may seem minor, our wise responses gradually increase our traction on the demanding path of discipleship. For instance, we can decide daily, or in an instant, in seemingly little things, whether we respond with a smile instead of a scowl, or whether we give warm praise instead of exhibiting icy indifference. Each response matters in its small moment. After all, moments are the molecules that make up eternity, affecting not only ourselves but others, because our conduct even in seemingly small things, can be contagious." --Elder Neal A. Maxwell

"God, who has seen billions of spirits pass through His plan of salvation, has told us to be meek in order to enhance our enjoyment of life and our mortal educa tion. Will we be meek and listen to Him and learn from Him? ...Perhaps, brothers and sisters, what we brought with us as intelligences into our creation as spirit children constitutes a 'given' within which even God must work. Add to that possibility the clear reality of God’s deep commitment to our free agency—and we begin to see how essential meekness is! We need to learn so much, and yet we are free to choose! How crucial it is to be teachable! There 'is no other way' in which God could do what He has declared it is His intent to do. No wonder He and His prophets emphasize meekness time and time again!... Like Himself, He first had to make us free, to learn, to choose, and to experience; hence our humility and teachability are premiere determinants of our progress and our happiness. Agency is essen