Conference tecrus::mormonism

Alma taught his son Corianton that wickedness never was happiness,
i.e. wickedness is sadness.  (Alma 41:10)  It follows that since
righteousness isn't wickedness, it isn't sadness.  Therefore,
righteousness is happiness!

Think about this for a moment.  Righteousness is happiness.  It doesn't
matter if I have 100% home teaching, attend the Temple, and give service
to those in need, if I'm not happy, joyful, peaceful, then I'm not
righteous and am probably doing those things out of obedience to the law
or out of guilt.  The atonement of Christ brings peace, joy, happiness, and
if I'm not experiencing those feelings, then I haven't had the change of heart
that King Benjamin's people had, and I'm not experiencing the atonement of
Christ in my life to the degree that I can and should.

I think we have a parallel between the Gospel and the Law of Moses.  The
Old Testament people lived the Law of Moses, a law of rules and policy.  They
were caught up in obedience to the Law and never really came to Christ.
I think that I've been caught up in obedience to the Gospel and have been
doing my church work for that reason, and I haven't really experienced the
change of heart that indicates I have the Atonement in my life.  I'm working
on this.  I'm doing some serious thinking about myself, why I haven't really
had personal happiness in my Church service and why I've been a slave to the
law of the Gospel rather than doing things out of love.  In a lot of ways, I
have had happiness in the Gospel, but I can see that I still have elements of
obedience rather than love.  

When we say obedience is the law of heaven, I think we are doing people an
injustice.  Love is the law of heaven.  We must reach the point where we do
things out of love, because we really want to, not out of obedience.  I think
about the joy that Alma and the four sons of Mosiah felt when they saw each
other after 14 years of missionary service, and I realize they were doing
church service because they really wanted t0o, not because they were being
obedient to their prophet.  Obedience has its place in things, but that place
is early in our growth.  We must replace obedience to the law with the change
of heart that the Atonement brings and do things out of love and thankfulness
to Christ for his gift of grace to us.

Allen

Re 399.29

>    When sometimes you know in your head, that if you just study the
>    scriptures daily, have honest sincere prayers, be a "good spouse" and
>    "good father", do your home teaching promptly and with genuine concern
>    for the individuals, and do your church calling ...... Then you will be
>    happy and fullfilled, you will feel the Spirit of the Lord in you life
>    and you will be successful.

One thing that you might consider, Len.

King Benjamin told his people that regardless how righteous they were, they
would still be unprofitable servants.  He said they do a good work and they
are immediately blessed.  Thus, they are still in debt to Christ.  In
other words, they can have a life of doing home teaching, scripture study,
being a good spouse and father, etc. and they will still be unprofitable
servants.  They will be blessed for doing those things, but those things
won't bring happiness--only coming to Christ and allowing his atonement
into ones life will bring happiness.

King Benjamin told his people to continue doing the things they had been
doing, i.e. they were basically righteous people, but they still had
to come to Christ and partake of his atonement to find happiness.  His
people came to Christ, had a great change of heart, and found the
happiness they were looking for, but that happiness didn't come from doing
works prior to the change of heart.  I'm sure that once they had that
change of heart, they began to experience a joy in doing works of love
that they hadn't experienced before as they did works of obedience.

I think that fully accepting Christ and partaking of his atonement in ones
life is the key to happiness.  The Ensign magazine had a nice article a
month or two ago about a woman who was so stressed with all of her 
Church activities that she thought she just couldn't go on.  I don't have
it here at work to give the reference, but I think it was February or
March of this year.  A great article about the bringing the Atonement 
into our lives.

Allen

	RE: <<< Note 400.2 by ROCK::LEIGH "Feed My Sheep" >>>

>The Ensign magazine had a nice article a
>month or two ago about a woman who was so stressed with all of her 
>Church activities that she thought she just couldn't go on.  I don't have
>it here at work to give the reference, but I think it was February or
>March of this year.  A great article about the bringing the Atonement 
>into our lives.

	Allen,
		If this is the same article that I liked so much, it should 
	be the second article in the magazine that talked about the fact that 
	we believe *in* Christ, but find it hard to *believe* Christ.  
	I thought it was in the April issue because I liked it so much I took
	it to my families this month.

	Charles

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Note 288.28              Let's be positive in all things                28 of 28
CGHUB::WREDE                                         38 lines  17-APR-1992 07:44
                   -< Positive Attitude has its own reward >-
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     (portion on positive attitude deleted.  Moderator)
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    We are told we have to come to Christ as a little child.  Look at the
    way little children are dependent on their parents.  Trusting fully,
    doubting nothing, doing, obeying.  As we get older, we begin to loose
    this attitude, yet this is the very attitude that we must adopt in
    order to feel the full love of Christ.  Would a parent ever ask his
    child to do something that would harm the child.  Would Christ ever ask
    us to do something that would harm us.  And yet it seems that when we
    are given an assignment, it is too hard, or I do not want to do this
    right now.  Lots of times there are things done in the church not by
    insperation.  And yet we still take those tiny steps toward exaltation.
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    Lee

    I too really appreciate the Believe Christ article in the April 92
    Ensign.  It's packed with insights and inspiration.  I remember my
    Bishop saying to me last summer that paying tithing is a matter of 
    faith, do I trust God to provide or not?  I tried to wriggle out of 
    answering that question in my own mind, thinking:  I have a testimony, 
    I believe.
    
    Fortunately, I'm not very good at lying to myself so decided that if I
    want to *live* my testimony, I need to pay my tithing.  Brethren, I
    sure wish I could follow this with some words about how great my
    finances are... Actually, they've gone to the proverbial hot place in
    the proverbial portable wicker contraption, and things keep getting
    worse.  But!  I've been to the Temple!  I hold a current recommend! 
    And I have a testimony of the truth of President Harold B. Lee's words: 
    No one understands the principle of tithing until they pay tithing.
    
    Believing what the Lord says is part of believing in him.
    aq
    
    

    Ann,
    
    Look at the promise that is made for the faithful tythe payer.  It is
    not, not having financial problems; it is that the faithful tythe payer
    will not be burned at the second comming.
    
    This helped me to understand a little better when I paid a full tythe
    and suffered hard financial times.
    
    I was advised that we would never miss the money.  We did miss the
    money.  The pain and anger we went through with our creditors.  The
    pain we felt when we could not furnish our kids with what other kids
    were getting.  We even had a Christmas in which all the toys were used. 
    But, the freedom from guilt, the blessing of being able to see the
    savior, all were worth it.  I know that I am probable preaching to the
    Choir.  I know that this will change from a need to pay tythe to a want
    to pay tythe.
    
    Lee