A law unto ourselves

Can I just say that I think it's awesome that I am provided with my own study course on gifts? This is something that I of course am very interested in, and I find it wherever I go in the scriptures. I appreciate my guides taking me there. If these posts start to look similar, my partial apologies - I'm just writing down what comes to me on a given day - not necessarily trying to come up with unique content.

So this time, I was brought to Doctrine and Covenants 88. My thoughts as I began to read this section was that it was rugged stuff to get through clearly. Like a modern day version of Isaiah. There were verses I had to go through over and over to feel like I was understanding. And where the recipients of the original text were hick 1950's farmers with maybe a second grade education? I'm going to be a bit judgmental and guess that the people who received the word that day were not necessarily the intended audience of that speech. This is deep stuff.

But it occurred to me that there are various shades of perfection. Each shade is perfect for its goals. For example, the Book of Mormon is perfect for an audience that needs clarity and simplicity, and what for many of its readers may be an elementary introduction to God's church. By contrast, Doctrine and Covenants can be more of a college level. I can see that the Lord has to translate his language to ours, and in doing so he has to look at the intended audience and decide which word sets to use to provide the meaning for that audience. The Book of Mormon is perfection for that audience; the D&C is perfect for its own. Especially this chapter.

So in verse 22, "For he who is not able to abide the law of a celestial kingdom cannot abide a celestial glory". This goes me back to what I have been told earlier. We create a life of whatever level stature, and come judgment day, if we've lived a lesser life and built a lesser soul, we would never want to live in a celestial role - we're not comfortable or happy there.

Then - gifts. I love that I'm guided to this every day. "32...they shall return again to their own place, to enjoy that which they are willing to receive, because they were not willing to enjoy that which they might have received. 33 For what doth it profit a man if a gift is bestowed upon him, and he receive not the gift? Behold he rejoices not in that which is given unto him, neither rejoices in him who is the giver of the gift".

And once again, we choose our place in life - and in death. We choose what we're willing to receive, then we live in that place after death. I expect that we'll be happy about that on judgment day - wherever we go is where we're most comfortable. And notice the phrasing at the end of that paragraph. Here I am, handed a gift. Then I reject it. Maybe it's one I had asked - pleaded - for, but when hand it, I reject it. It says that I don't rejoice in getting the gift, and I don't appreciate the gift Giver. I found it interesting that it didn't mentioned the disappointment that the Giver might feel in having the gift rejected.

35 "That which breaketh a law, and abideth not by the law, but seeketh to become a law unto itself, and willeth to abide in sin, and altogether abideth in sin, cannot be sanctified by law, neither mercy, justice, nor judgment. Therefore, they must remain filthy still."

I knew someone who thought she should be the ultimate decider of what was right and wrong. How she felt about an issue was her gospel. She lived without guide, without faith, and I dare say without a center. If one of her demons got to her, she was without a center to combat the wrongness. It cost her. Without faith that there is someone else who is perfect, who can help us in our imperfection, we're adrift in the ocean. And adrift she remains. I'm sure she continues to have a life that resembles her aimless following of the currents, and the waves and tumbles that come with being on the surface of life's ocean. But it gets worse - if her life is as I perceive it, there is no law, no mercy, no justice or judgment that can save her. She won't let that happen because she thinks she is all of the above.

But again, it's easier for me to see problems in others than in myself. We all need to learn from these scriptures - me especially. I must gather from this that following the Lord is the correct path. It brings peace to me that I don't have to understand all the gifts, guidance and gospel that I'm receiving. I don't have to justify every little thing that happened 100 years ago in the history of the church. I don't have to be able to understand DNA as relates to the Nephites. I just have to know who my Savior is - and follow him.