Mormon Musings

The Holy Ghost, the third member of the Godhead, is not an independent revelator.  He does not put forth His own views or His own point of view.  Rather, He is the messenger of the first two members of the Godhead and is commissioned to deliver the mind, will, purposes, and words of God the Father and Christ the Son to God's children.  And so, when Nephi informs us that those who receive the gift of The Holy Ghost--those who are baptized by fire--are enabled to speak with the tongue of angels, to speak the words of Christ, he is in essence unfolding to use the marvelous oneness of The Father, The Son and The Holy Ghost, and the angels of God.  They speak with one and the same mind.  That is, what an angel declares is what Jesus or The Father would have declared, and the message is delivered by the power of the Spirit.  (see also John 16:13) Robert Millet, The Holy Spirit, page 194

We are taught that for those who do not repent, it is as though no redemption had been made. Consider the converse. For those who do repent—truly repent—it is as though no sin had been committed. “I, the Lord, remember them no more,” not because He has some godly power to forget but because there is simply nothing to remember. In His world, the eternal world, it is gone, its effects are canceled, it is undone. President Boyd K. Packer taught: “The Atonement [of Jesus Christ] leaves no tracks, no traces. What it fixes is fixed . . . , and what it heals stays healed.”  Kyle S. McKay https://speeches.byu.edu/ talks/kyle-s-mckay/there-must- needs-be-a-christ/

Just as chalk can be removed from a blackboard, with sincere repentance the effects of our transgression can be erased through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  That promise applies in every case. Boyd K. Paker, October 2013 General Conference

If you believe what you like in the Gospel, and reject what you do not like, it is not the Gospel you believe, but yourself.   Saint Augustine

If any man has a truth that we have not got, we say, "Let us have it." I am willing to exchange all the errors and false notions I have for one truth, and should consider that I had made a good bargain. We are not afraid of light and truth. Our religion embraces every truth in heaven, earth or hell; it embraces all truth, the whole Gospel and plan of salvation, and the fulfillment of the whole volume of revelation that God has ever given.  Wilford Woodruff (Journal of Discourses 18:117)  

Our willingness to repent shows our gratitude for God’s gift and for the Savior’s love and sacrifice on our behalf. Commandments and priesthood covenants provide a test of faith, obedience, and love for God and Jesus Christ, but even more importantly, they offer an opportunity to experience love from God and to receive a full measure of joy both in this life and in the life to come. These commandments and covenants of God are like navigational instructions from celestial heights and will lead us safely to our eternal destination. It is one of beauty and glory beyond understanding. It is worth the effort. It is worth making decisive corrections now and then staying on course. Remember: the heavens will not be filled with those who never made mistakes but with those who recognized that they were off course and who corrected their ways to get back in the light of gospel truth. The more we treasure the words of the prophets and apply them, the better we will recognize when we are drifting

The education then of our desires is one of the far-reaching importance to our happiness in life...God's ways of educating our desires are, of course, the most perfect...And what is God's way?  Everywhere in nature we are taught the lessons of patience and waiting.  We want things a long time before we get them, and the fact that we wanted them a long time makes them all the more precious when they come. Joseph F. Smith