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Moroni 7-8

Moroni 7-8. Moroni 7:4-11 “ What are our motives ?”

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Moroni 7-8

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  1. Moroni 7-8 Moroni 7:4-11 “What are our motives?” It is possible to do the right thing for the wrong reason? For example, it is right to pay our tithing or to pray. But if a person does these things to “be seen of men,” they are not counted as righteous acts. Christ taught that such persons ‘have their reward’ when they achieve the recognition which they seek. Elder Marion G. Romney shared the following personal experience regarding our motives for doing righteous things:

  2. About a quarter of a century ago Sister Romney and I moved into a ward in which they were just beginning to build a meetinghouse. The size of the contribution the Bishop thought I ought to contribute rather staggered me. I thought it was at least twice as much as he should have asked. However, I had just been called to a rather high Church position, so I couldn’t very well tell him where to go. Therefore, I said, ‘Well, I will pay it, Bishop, but I will have to pay it in installments because I don’t have the money.’ And so I began to pay. And I paid and paid until I was down to about the last three payments, when, as is my habit, I was reading the Book of Mormon, and came to the scripture that said – Moroni 7:8 –’ “This shocked me because I was out about a thousand dollars. Well, I went on and paid three installments I had promised to pay, and then I paid several more installments to convince the Lord I had done it with the right attitude” (“Mother Eve, a Worthy Exemplar,” Relief Society Magazine, Feb. 1968, 84-85).

  3. Moroni 7:16-17 “The Light of Christ” Marion G. Romney gave a talk in 1977 called “The Light of Christ” Light of Christ leads to the Holy Ghost leads to Jesus Christ leads to Heavenly Father

  4. Moroni 7:18 “With that same judgment which ye judge ye shall also be judged.” “, unless we have fully repented this teaching deserves the most careful consideration, for on judgment day the Lord will mete out to us precisely as we have dealt with our fellowmen. It is a staggering thought, and yet it is an important factor in the Lord’s method of judgment” (Mark E. Peterson, Ensign, May 1977, 74). Moroni 7:21-44 “How are faith and power connected?” The Prophet Joseph Smith explained that faith is the moving cause for all action, and “is the first great governing principle which has power… Without it there is no power, and without power there could be no creation nor existence” (Joseph Smith, Lectures on Faith, 12).

  5. Moroni 7:27“Rights of Mercy” Jesus atoned for men’s sins. As our Savior, it is his privilege to prescribe the means whereby we receive the benefits of his atoning act, or in other words, “to claim of the Father His rights of mercy.” Moroni 7:33 With “faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing.” “More miracles have been performed in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints than we have any account of in the days of the Savior and His apostles. Today, sickness is cured by spiritual power…” The dead have been raised. My own brother was announced to be dead, but by the prayer of faith he lives” (Heber J. Grant, C.R., Oct., 1910, 119).

  6. Moroni 7:44-45 What is the relationship between “charity” and “faith and hope?” “Faith in Christ and hope in his promises of resurrected, eternal life can come only to the meek and lowly in heart… Only thorough disciples of Christ… come to understand true charity --- the pure love of Christ… a love born of faith and hope” (Jeffrey R. Holland, Christ and the New Covenant, 335).

  7. Moroni 7:47 “What is charity?” The phrase ‘love of Christ’ might have meaning in three dimensions: 1. Love for Christ 2. Love from Christ 3. Love like Christ” (C. Max Caldwell, Ensign, November 1992, 29)

  8. Charity – What is it? It is instructive to note that the charity, or “the pure love of Christ,” we are to cherish can be interpreted two ways. One of its meanings is the kind of merciful, forgiving love Christ’s disciples should have one for another. That is, all Christians should try to love as the Savior loved, showing pure, redeeming compassion for all. Unfortunately, few, if any, mortals have been entirely successful in this endeavor, but it is an invitation that all should try to meet.

  9. The greater definition of “the pure love of Christ,” however, is not what we as Christians try but largely fail to demonstrate toward others but rather what Christ totally succeeded in demonstrating toward us. True charity has been known only once. It is shown perfectly and purely in Christ’s unfailing, ultimate, and atoning love for us. It is Christ’s love for us that “suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not.” It is his love for us that is not “puffed up . . . , not easily provoked, thinketh no evil.” It is Christ’s love for us that “beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.”

  10. It is as demonstrated in Christ that “charity never faileth.” It is that charity—his pure love for us—without which we would be nothing, hopeless, of all men and women most miserable. Truly, those found possessed of the blessings of his love at the last day—the Atonement, the Resurrection, eternal life, eternal promise—surely it shall be well with them.

  11. This does not in any way minimize the commandment that we are to try to acquire this kind of love for one another... But the “pure love of Christ” Mormon spoke of is precisely that --- Christ’s love. With that divine gift, that redeeming bestowal, we have everything; without it we have nothing and ultimately are nothing, except in the end “devils [and] angels to a devil” (2 Nephi 9:9). (Jeffrey R. Holland, Christ And The New Covenant, 336-37).

  12. It is instructive to note that the charity, or “the pure love of Christ,” we are to cherish can be interpreted two ways. The greater definition of “the pure love of Christ,” however, is not what we as Christians try but largely fail to demonstrate towards others but rather what Christ totally succeeded in demonstrating toward us. True charity has been known only once. It is shown perfectly and purely in Christ’s love for us that “suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not (Jeffrey R. Holland, Christ and the New Covenant, 336).

  13. Moroni 7:48“Faith and Charity” “Above all the attributes of godliness and perfection, charity is the one most devoutly to be desired. Charity is more than love, far more; it is everlasting love, perfect love, the pure love of Christ which endureth forever. It is love so centered in righteousness that the possessor has no aim or desire except for the eternal welfare of his own soul and for the souls of those around him” (M.D., 121). Moroni 8:9, 22-24 It is solemn mockery to baptize little children (D&C 137:10). Those who never enjoy the powers of their mind and who are mentally handicapped need no baptism. They too die without law, and, like little children, they “are alive in Christ” (Moroni 8:12).

  14. President Joseph Fielding Smith said: “The Lord has made it known by revelation that children born with retarded minds shall receive blessings just like children who die in infancy. They are free from sin, because their minds are not capable of correct understanding of right and wrong. Mormon, when writing to his son Moroni on the subject of baptism places deficient children in the same category with little children who are under the age of accountability, they do not require baptism, for the atonement of Jesus Christ takes care of them equally with little children who die before the age of accountability. They are redeemed without baptism and will go to the celestial kingdom of God, there, we believe, to have their faculties or other deficiencies restored according to the Father’s mercy and justice” (Answers to Gospel Questions, 3:20-21).

  15. Charles Buck wrote c.1825 about infant salvation in his Buck’s Theological Dictionary. Infants: Salvation of. “Various opinions,” says an acute writer, “concerning the future state of infants have been adopted. Some think, all dying in infancy are annihilated; for, say they, infants, being incapable of moral god or evil, are not proper objects of reward or punishment. Others think that they share a fate similar to adults; a part saved, and a part perish. Others affirm all are saved because all are immortal and all are innocent. Others, perplexed with these diverse sentiments, think better to leave the subject untouched.

  16. Cold comfort to parents who bury their families in infancy! The most probable opinion seems to be, that they are all saved, through the merits of the Mediator, with an everlasting salvation. This has nothing in it contrary to the perfections of God, or to any declaration of the Holy Scriptures; and it is highly agreeable to all those passages which affirm where sin hath abounded, grace hath much more abounded. On these principles, the death of Christ saves more than the fall of Adam lost.” If the reader be desirous of examining the subject, we refer him to p. 415, vol. ii, Robinson’s Claude; Gillard and William’s Essays of Infant Salvation; An Attempt to elucidate Rom. v. 12, by an anonymous writer; Watt’s Ruin and Recovery, p. 324, 327; Edwards on Original Sin, p. 431, 434; Doddridge’s Lect. Lect. 168; Ridgley’s Body of Div. vol. i. p. 330-336).

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