Paisley: Hello again, everybody. PAISLEY imperfect here and we
are going to dive right into it today because I think today is
going to be a little bit long. It's a good thing. Our last one
was really short. I think this one's going to be kind of long.
We're going to talk about elder Bednar, elder Bednar has an
article it was in the June 2010 Liahona, called things as they
really are. I thought it was a talk because I thought I
remembered hearing him, Oh, it was a fireside address on May 3
2009. And then it was published in the Liahona in June of 2010.
So it's called things as they really are. And it's a bit
intense, I'm not gonna lie, he talks about... He starts off by
saying that he's going to review several key elements of our
Heavenly Father's plan of happiness as the doctrinal
Foundation. And this is kind of what drew me to this, right,
because we were talking the other day about learning the
doctrine as the doctrinal foundation for knowing and
understanding things as they really are.
And then he says that he's going to talk about methods of attack
used by the adversary to distract us from or inhibit our
capacity to discern things as they really are.
And then lastly, talk about the responsibilities that rests upon
the rising generation.
Okay, so let's dive right into that first part. The key
elements of our Heavenly Father's plan of happiness is
the doctrinal foundation. So he's mainly talking about one
key element and that one key element is our physical body. He
says, so this is this is the piece of doctrine that the rest
of it is pretty much focused around. He says, our physical
bodies make possible a breadth, a depth and an intensity of
experience that simply could not be obtained in our pre mortal
state. A truth that really is and always will be, is that the
body and the spirit constitute a reality and identity. They are
our reality and identity. He says, When body and spirit are
inseparably connected, we can receive a fullness of joy. When
they are separated, we cannot receive a fullness of joy. So
that reminded me of a few months ago, I was in my own personal
scripture study, I was reviewing Alma chapter 11. And in verses
43 and 44, I saw something different. I saw something in
there that I hadn't, I hadn't thought about in a particular
way. I was actually listening to this chapter. I wasn't, I wasn't
reading it. I was listening to it. I think I was coloring a
picture or something at the same time.
And when I heard verse 43, I was like, Wait, did he really just
say that? And then I listen to it a little bit longer. And then
He says it again in verse 44. And I was like, Hold on, I need
to go back and listen to that. So here's verse 43. Now
remember, we're talking about the body and the spirit. Okay.
So this is Amulek, teaching with Alma. And he says in verse 43,
the spirit and the body shall be reunited, again, reunited,
again, in its perfect form, both limb and joint shall be restored
to its proper frame, even as we now are at this time.
That's only the first part of the verse, the second part. So
this first part of the verse talks about the resurrection,
the coming together of our physical bodies and our spirits.
And the second part talks about the judgment. So if you're not
familiar with the plan of happiness, or the plan of
salvation, or the plan of redemption, whatever name you
prefer, if you're not familiar with that, I'll cover that in
another episode, I'm sure because I love talking about
that. But right now, we're just talking about the one piece and
that's the resurrection, because we're talking about the
importance of our physical body. Right? So verse 43, again, the
very beginning, the spirit in the body shall be reunited, re
united again, in its perfect form, both limb and joint shall
be restored to its proper frame, even as we now are at this time.
So it made me think like when I first heard that I was kind of
like, Wait, what are you telling me that just my body and spirit
being together, is its perfect form. Just the combination of
the two together is its perfect form.
If that's the case, I got a lot of exercising to do. I got a lot
of work to do. So then in verse 44, it's kind of structured the
same. The first part talks about the resurrection. The second
part of the verse talks about the judgment. And I'm not going
to get into the judgment today, but this
The first part of verse 44 says, Now, this restoration shall come
to all, both old and young, bonden, free male and female,
both the wicked and the righteous. And even there shall
not be so much as a hair of their heads be lost, great. But
everything shall be restored to its perfect frame, as it is now
or in the body.
What? So restored, reunited, we know that we didn't have these
bodies before we came to this, to we didn't have these bodies
before this mortal experience, right? So if they're going to be
reunited, that's the resurrection. But they're going
to be reunited again, in its perfect form.
So our, again is the suggestion then that and to be clear, I am
not authorized and I don't have the authority. I don't have the
keys to receive revelation for the entire church for the way
that the scripture should be interpreted. I'm sharing it with
you because it hit me different. It hit me differently this time
than it ever had before.
Will is the combination? And as we go on, I'm sharing this
because I think it's important as we continue talking about
what elder Bednar is talking about with our our physical
body. Because elder Bednar says, quote, because the physical body
is so central to the Father's plan of happiness, and our
spiritual development, we should not be surprised that Lucifer
seeks to frustrate our progression, by tempting us to
use our bodies improperly. The very tool he does not have and
cannot use is thus the primary target of his attempts to lower
us to physical and spiritual destruction.
Our eternity, our eternal progression, our spiritual
progression depends upon our use of our physical body, our
physical body is central to the plan of happiness to the plan of
salvation.
Okay, so now that we know how important our body is, He gives
us to just two main ways in which the adversary tries to
attack this central piece of the plan. He the two ways that he
says is, the adversary tries to get us to misuse our physical
body, or to minimize its importance. And those are the
only two that he talks about. But he goes into a little bit
more detail, he goes into a lot more detail. And I totally
recommend going back and reading this, it is it is intense. And I
almost split this up into three different episodes, because we
could talk about this for a really long time.
So again, the two ways that he talks about the adversary
attacking us. attacking this central piece of the plan is to
misuse our physical body, or to minimize its importance. So
let's talk about the misuse part first. And also, I just, I'm
gonna throw this out there. I still have this quote on this
sticky note on my wall that says, Satan delights in your
misery. And I'm going to add that he delights in your misery,
especially if it has to do with your physical body, because it's
the one thing you have that he will never get.
Okay, misusing our physical body. He just lists a few. And
he says, the four that he uses to misuse our physical body
would be to violate the law of chastity, to use drugs or other
addictive substances to disfigure or dissipate or
deface, sorry, disfigure or deface our bodies and the
worshipping of the false idol of body image, our own or that of
others.
Interesting, right, this was in 2009 again, and then published
again in 2010. I would love to see him do a follow up to this.
Elder Bednarz intense I love it.
Sweet elder Holland. Elder Holland is not losing his
intensity but his his focus is changing. And elder Bednar is
stepping right in there and and being the one that's really
hitting us in the face with the hard stuff, right? I love it.
Okay. He says no brothers and sisters, I cannot tell you all
the ways whereby you may misuse your bodies. He quotes Mossiah
4:29 for there are diverse ways and means even so many that I
cannot number them. But then he says, You know what is right and
what is wrong. And you have the individual responsibility to
learn for yourself by study and also by faith, the things that
you should and should not do, and the doctrinal reasons that
you should or should not do those things.
And then he says, I testify that as you desire to So learn, as
you watch yourselves and your thoughts and your words and your
deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and
continue in the faith of what you have heard concerning the
coming of our Lord, even into the end of your lives, that
comes from Hosea chapter four as well, you will be spiritually
enlightened and protected. So as we continue to start learning
more about the ways that Satan can attack us and get us to
misuse our bodies, we will be spiritually enlightened and
protected. And he says, and according to your faithfulness
and diligence, you will have the power to discern the deception
and repel the attacks of the adversary, as he tempts you to
misuse your physical body when he threw the word discern in
there, remember that?
President Nelson used that in that talk that we've kind of in
basing all of this stuff on right a plea to my sisters, he
talks about how the church needs women with the power of
discernment, to be able to discern the popular trend that
discern what is good and what is bad within the popular trends
within the world.
So an elder Bednar is promising us that we will have the power
to discern the deception and repel the attacks. If we
continue to do those, all of those things, right. As we
learn, we watch ourselves our thoughts, words, deeds, and as
we follow the commandments of God and continue in the faith.
Okay. He says to those of us who know and understand the plan of
salvation, any defiling of the body is rebellion and a denial
of our true identity as sons and daughters of God. So treat your
body like a temple. And he talks about that a little bit in there
to treat your body like a temple.
Would you draw on the walls of the temple?
Would you? How do we say this? Would you put Windows on the
outside for everybody to see everything that's going on in
there?
Okay, the second one, I'm just gonna eat you on that first. So
the first one was, he's trying to get us to misuse our bodies.
The second one is to minimize the importance of our physical
bodies. And this one gets interesting and he talks about
this one being more subtle, and way more diabolical. misusing
our bodies is a little bit more obvious, right? Like, you're not
going to go out and violate the law of chastity. You're not like
those are actual things to do using drugs, disfiguring are
defacing our bodies. Those are more obvious things.
The minimizing the importance of our bodies is more subtle. And
he gives three examples. Again, he cannot give all of the
examples, you're going to have to pray and listen to the spirit
and figure it out for yourself. But he does give three good
ones. The first one he he's he uses or mentions is going to
unusual and dangerous extremes searching for an ever greater
and more exhilarating adrenaline rush.
The second one he talks about excessive video gaming and
online socializing, and what that can cause and he lists
three different things. And we'll we'll go into more detail
on all on all three of these here in just a second. But the
three different bullet points underneath the excessive video
gaming and online socializing.
They cause us to neglect or sacrifice eternal relationships
for digital distractions, diversion and detours that have
no lasting value. Think about your endless scrolling. Is there
any lasting value in that? Are you really looking at pictures
of your family or pictures of your kids? Or are you looking at
influencer content?
We waste countless hours he quotes D&C 60:13 idling away our
time. And then it can cause us to postpone or forfeit
vocational or academic achievement. We'd rather be
sitting in front of a computer playing a game or endlessly
scrolling through social media instead of studying for our test
or taking a final or re Enrolling or enrolling in the
first place. And then the third one is anonymity. And I thought
that one was interesting. I'm kind of glad that he mentioned
that because when you think about your online experience,
there's a certain level of anonymity especially with people
that you don't know.
Okay, so let's go to he doesn't spend In a lot of time on the
first one going to unusual and dangerous extreme searching for
an ever greater and more exhilarating adrenaline rush.
He, I'm just going to sum it up with this one quote from that
section, he says putting at risk, the very instrument God
has given us to receive the learning experiences of
mortality, merely to pursue a thrill or some suppose it fun to
bolster ego or to gain acceptance truly minimizes the
importance of our physical bodies. It we push it to the
extreme for what is it because we don't think that it's
important.
And he, like he mentioned, exercise is a good thing, and
everybody should exercise and we should eat right, there's a word
of wisdom for that, right? Like, we should use our bodies
appropriately, and we should use them for what God has intended
for us to use them for. That doesn't necessarily mean going
to the extreme.
Okay, the second one is the one he spends a lot of time on. And
in 2010, it makes, it makes sense, the excessive video
gaming and online socializing, and he shares like two or three
different stories in that article of things like one of
them, he found in the Wall Street Journal, one of them was
another that he had heard about, of these people. For fitting
real relationships for virtual ones, go look them up, I'm not
going to share them here.
He says that technology can be used to replicate or augment
reality and create a virtual one. And he gives positive
examples to like a surgeon or a pilot using simulation software
to gain experience and become better at their profession. And
he also talks about architects and engineers being able to use
technology to create better models of the buildings that
they're designing, so that they can help prevent damage or
collapse in case of an earthquake or other natural
disasters.
Then he says this, and I was gonna try and summarize or
paraphrase, and I just I can't, because he uses the word
fidelity. And I want to make sure that this that the
definition of this comes across, he says in each of these
examples, talking about the surgeon, the pilot, the
architects and the engineers, in each of these examples, a high
degree of fidelity in the simulation or model contributes
to the effectiveness of the experience. The term fidelity
denotes the similarity between similarity between reality and a
representation of reality, such as simulation can be
constructive, if the fidelity is high, and the purposes are good.
So there's your two, there's our two measuring sticks, high
fidelity, meaning that the similarity between the augmented
reality and actual reality is similar. That's high fidelity,
that's measuring stick number one, measuring stick number two,
the purposes are good. For example, providing experience
that saves lives or improves the quality of life.
And then he shows to two pictures of a sealing room in
the Newport Beach, California temple.
But the two images are very, very similar. When you look at
them, it's kind of like, it's like one of those puzzles,
right, where you got to find the differences between the
pictures, there are definitely differences, like the chandelier
is different. But the two pictures that he's showing, one
is the computer generated version of what that sealing
room was going to look like. And the other was the actual
photograph of what that sealing room did look like when it was
done. Very, very similar. And he says in in this example, high
fidelity is employed to accomplish the most important
purpose, the design and construction of a sacred and
beautiful temple.
So we have our augmented reality, virtual reality, we
have actual reality, very similar and good purpose.
There's our two measuring sticks. Very similar, good
purpose. However, a simulation or model can lead to spiritual
impairment and danger if the fidelity fidelity is high, but
the purposes are bad.
So it's very similar to real life. But the purpose is not
good. That's where things get dangerous. And then he gives an
apostolic voice of warning. And it always kind of, like raises
the hairs on my neck when I when I hear that he says I raise an
apostolic voice of warning about the potentially stifling,
suffocating suppressing and
constraining impact of some kinds of cyberspace interactions
and experiences upon our souls. The concerns I raise are not
new. They apply equally to other types of media such as
television, movies, and music. But in a cyber world, these
challenges are more pervasive and intense. I plead with you to
be aware of the sense doling and spiritually destructive
influence of cyberspace technologies that are used to
produce high fidelity and promote degrading and evil
purposes, high fidelity, bad purpose.
So that was bullet point number two. So we've talked about going
to unusual and dangerous extremes with our bodies, and
how that minimizes our body's importance. We've talked about
excessive video gaming and online socializing. And the
third one was anonymity. And he doesn't spend a lot of time went
on that one either. But he does caution us to remember a couple
of things. So, first, so anonymity. Everybody knows what
anonymity is, right? It's your ability to remain anonymous.
Remember, that apostasy. This is him, quote. Remember, that
apostasy is not anonymous, simply because it occurs in a
blog, or through a fabricated identity in a chat room or
virtual world. immoral thoughts, words and deeds always are
immoral, even in cyberspace. Just because you typed it to a
fake person doesn't make it okay.
Then he says, The Lord knows who we really, really are. This is
the other remember this. The Lord knows who we really are,
what we really think, what we really do, and who we really are
becoming, he has warned us that the rebellious shall be pierced
with much sorrow, for their iniquities shall be spoken upon
the housetops. And their secret acts shall be revealed.
So you might think that you're anonymously hurting somebody's
feelings, nothing is anonymous, before Heavenly Father, and it
will all come back to you.
Okay, I also want to make sure that I share this quote, because
neither he technology in and of itself is not a bad thing. I
hope that people are getting something good. From this rate,
technology is not necessarily a bad thing. This is what he says
neither technology nor rapid change in or of itself is good
or evil. The real challenge is to understand both within the
context of the eternal plan of happiness.
So technology, and rapid change, these are not bad things. We've
seen a lot of change in the church lately, a lot of change,
not to the doctrine, mind you to policies and procedures, we've
seen a lot of change. Neither technology nor rapid change is a
bad thing. A good bad, a good or bad thing. The real challenge is
to understand both within the context of the plan of
happiness, how will change impact the plan of happiness for
you as an individual? Because that's who we're entitled to
receive revelation for right ourselves individually? How is
your technology? Or how is your how is the rapid change within
your life affecting the planet happiness for you? He says
Lucifer will encourage you to misuse and to minimize the
importance of your physical body. He will attempt to
substitute the monotony of virtual repetition for the
infinite variety of God's creations and convince us that
we are merely mortal things to be acted upon, instead of
eternal souls blessed with moral agency to act for ourselves.
When you're sitting there in a chat room, or are there chat
rooms anymore? I might be dating myself when you're playing a
game online, are you?
That is not necessarily a bad thing, either. But how is it
affecting how is it affecting you? And he actually gives two
questions to look at in this talk. I'm going to scroll to
these I wasn't planning on sharing this. But he gives two
questions for how we can determine.
Alright, where did they go? They're there.
I invite you. He says, For your happiness, and protection. I
invite you to study more diligently the doctrine of the
plan of salvation and to prayerfully ponder the truths we
have reviewed. I offer two questions for consideration in
your personal pondering and prayerful study. So when you're
doing your online stuff, when you're thinking about minimizing
the minimization of of your, of the importance of your physical
body. Think about these two questions, does the use of
various technologies and media invite or impede the constant
companionship of the Holy Ghost in my life? And number two does
the time that I spend using various technologies and media
in large or restrict my capacity to live to love and to serve in
meaningful ways.
I remember social media challenges or social media. When
was it President Nelson, President Monson? Elder Hall, I
don't remember. I feel like it's happened a few different times
when we've been challenged to go on like a social media fast. And
I remember thinking at the time like, but it doesn't affect me
like that. And so I started to pay attention to how it did
affect me.
And I started, instead of fasting, I started cleaning up
my account, I stopped following people who were consistently
negative. I stopped following people whose posts made me not
feel great inside. And it wasn't it wasn't, I wasn't following. I
wasn't unfollowing people who were just having a hard time. To
be clear. I was unfollowing people who were being
consistently destructive. Not towards me directly, but just in
general. And I started following people who were more positive. I
started following the apostles as they started to get their
accounts. This is a long time ago, as they started to get
their own social media accounts, I started following them. I
started following uplifting accounts, that so that when I
logged in, and when I scrolled, as I do, I'm not perfect at this
either, right? As I, as I scrolled, I would find uplifting
content, something that would make me feel better about
myself, or give me some motivation to better myself and
started getting rid of all of that other just clutter and
noise.
Okay, so then he talks about the responsibility. So we've talked
about the three things at the very beginning, right, we're
going to talk about the pieces of the plan of happiness, which
we did. We're talking about, specifically, our bodies this
time around, we're talking about how the adversary attacks our
bodies in two different ways. And now, we're going to just
quickly look at the section where he talks about the
responsibilities of the rising generation. And this was in
2010. And 2010, I was a oh my goodness, 14 years ago, early
30s. I was in my early 30s.
I'm, I don't, I'm older now. And I still feel like I'm part of
the rising generation. And maybe it's just because I've heard it
my entire life that you are the rising generation, whatever your
the. So maybe this applied to me, maybe it doesn't. But I I
still like to think it does. So he talks about or he reiterates
that we have been saved specifically for this day. And
he shares that information to give us the courage that we need
to face these challenges these two attacks on our bodies.
But the one responsibility that he consistently mentions is that
of obedience. Have you ever thought of obedience as a
responsibility? It is your responsibility to be obedient to
our Heavenly Father's commandments.
I mean, it doesn't sound wrong. So chew on that for a bit while
I share this quote. He says obedience opens the door to the
constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. And the spiritual
gifts and abilities activated by the power of the Holy Ghost,
enable us to avoid deception, and to see to feel to know to
understand and to remember things as they really are. You
and I have been endowed with a greater capacity for obedience
precisely for these reasons. So we have been endowed with a
greater capacity for obedience, so that we can feel the
influence of the Holy Ghost and we can see feel no understand
and remember things as they really are.
Alright, so I'm just gonna give a few more gifts from elder
Bednar as I closed this very long episode. Thank you for
sticking through this with me. Once again, these are meant to
inspire and provide us with the courage that we need to face
what's coming. He says, and these are, I pulled these from
different spots in this article. But he gives lots of, to me
motive motivating and encouraging words. He says, As
we heed this inspired counsel. We can and will be blessed to
recognize and repel the attacks of the adversary today, and in
the days that lie ahead, we can and will fulfill our 14
responsibilities and contribute to the work of the Lord and all
the world. We can do it. We were blessed with the gift of
obedience so that we can be obedient and see all these
different things discern right from wrong.
He says you will receive answers. Specifically, he's
talking about those two questions. As you're asking
yourself those two questions. He says, you will receive answers
inspiration and instruction from the Holy Ghost suited to your
individual circumstances and needs. I repeat and affirm the
teaching of the Prophet Joseph, in quotes Joseph Smith, all
beings who have bodies have power over those who have not,
the devil has no power over us only as we permit him.
Joseph Smith taught that a long, long time ago, and it still
holds true. The devil only has the power we give him.
These eternal truths. last quote from elder Bednar, for today,
these eternal truths about the importance of our physical
bodies will fortify you against the deception and the attacks of
the adversary.
It's a bit intense elder Bednarz and that intense, but he's
right. We have been given a greater capacity for obedience,
we just have to exercise it, we just have to decide that that's
what we're going to do. Argument is a strong word, I got into a
philosophical discussion with someone one time about the
scripture that says Choose you this day whom you will serve as
for me and my house, I will serve the Lord. I've doesn't
everybody have like a plate or a cross stitch or something with
that on their wall?
The I was, I was coming at it from the perspective of choose
today to follow Jesus Christ. Choose today. And then just make
it I already decided, make it one of those things, right? I
already decided that's what I'm going to do. Why is this a
question that's coming up in my brain. But this friend that I
was having this discussion with, was like, No, that's something
that you're supposed to do every day. You're supposed to wake up
every day. Choose today to serve the Lord, choose you this day
whom you will serve.
Choose today to serve the Lord and make that choice every day.
The longer the more this was years ago, this conversation and
is still in my brain. Because I think both are true. Choose
today to serve Jesus Christ. Choose today to serve the Lord
and live as though you've already made that choice. But
then every morning, remind yourself and on the days that
are harder, the times when we're going through way more difficult
things that might have to be a daily choice, to choose that day
to serve the Lord. Because it might not be what you want to do
that day.
Make your choice. Have the choice be made. And then follow
the counsel of elder Bednar. Be obedient and just watch the
blessings come in. And I'm looking forward to the gift of
discernment. It's something I've always wanted. And I just want
to go try and figure out how to get it because I want to be able
to tell the difference between what is good and what is not.
And be able to follow the good trends and be able to push the
bad trends aside, right. Use our measuring sticks. What is
reality? Is it good? How close to reality is this? Is it good?
Anyway, I hope you got something from this today. I know that I
did. I really appreciate you sticking around. I know it's a
long one. Thank you so much for your time and enjoy the rest of
your week.