Accountability

I guess to start out with, I think Alma 29:5 gives a pretty good definition of what it means to have accountability:

5 Yea, and I know that good and evil have come before all men; he that knoweth not good from evil is blameless; but he that knoweth good and evil, to him it is given according to his desires, whether he desireth good or evil, life or death, joy or remorse of conscience.

A few days ago, I had an interesting encounter. Ever since college, I've had a curiosity to get to know people who are different from me. I guess I kind of think that a good way to understand the world is to learn why people do what they do. A minister sat next to me on a plane, and I was curious as to what made his church different from the other churches in his town. Growing up LDS, which church you go to is strictly based on where you live - so it wasn't until a couple of years ago that this idea of "church shopping" became introduced to me. Also, a new Mormon church is built in a town when there is a need because of numbers. I know that protestant church's didn't work this way, so I've always been curious as to why a minister builds new church and how they get their congregation to choose to attend their church.

When he found out I was LDS, the conversation didn't go very well. The only piece of doctrine he told me, other than Mormons got it all wrong, was that he believed that when everyone dies, God is going to look at you and say "You made some mistakes, but come on in any ways."

This is a nice notion - kind of like some sort of big happy ending - but a phrase that comes to mind is "Mercy Cannot Rob Justice." God couldn't have gone to all the trouble of creating everything, creating rules and blessings conditioned on those rules, and then in the end decided it doesn't matter because he just loves us all so much. I'm not saying that God doesn't love us more than we could ever comprehend, but that for me it doesn't make sense and it doesn't ring true that I can read 21+ verse just from the Bible that clearly state that God expects us to live by his rules, and if we don't then we don't get the blessing.

The good news is that we don't have to do it all alone. We have Christ - and because of Christ's suffering in the garden and the cross we can return home to God without having to suffer the consequences of our sins. However, this is not a get out of jail free card either. Christ seemed to tell everyone he healed or forgave "to go and sin no more." I don't think it was a suggestion, I think it was a commandment. He commanded all to become baptized - not just suggested that it might be a good idea if we felt like it. The mercy Christ extends to us is conditioned on us choosing to follow him, and along with that is following his commandments as well. And excellent short movie on this topic is The Mediator.

A final thought on accountability is from D&C 82:3

3 For of him unto whom much is given much is required; and he who sins against the greater light shall receive the greater condemnation.

Everyone is accountable for what they have - and I hope that I'll figure out a way to better use to gifts and opportunities given me.

Account

Back again after a nice little hiatus!

I want to start this post with a little story. Back in high school, I was talking to a friend about scripture reading and why I do it - and he didn't buy the whole "spirituality" thing at all. Finally, I just told him that reading my scriptures calms me down and helps me to feel peace. I promptly forgot about this experience until this morning.

You know when sometimes you start feeling like everything is falling apart, but if you stopped a looked around you would realize that nothing is actually attacking you? My mind was just going in circles this morning and taking my mood into a downward spiral. I was getting more and more anxious and nothing seemed to stop it. Then out of the blue, I got a great desire to literally run to my scriptures. Then this experience from high school came to mind, and I instantly felt peace. Even if you don't believe in the Spirit, returning to something that has brought you peace in the past is a great way to relieve tension. For me though, I believe in a little of both.

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This past weekend I caught up on my budgeting. I look at my checking and credit accounts, and record how much I spent on what. This ritual always makes me nervous, as money tends to be an abstract concept when you swipe your credit card that has very concert consequences. In Matthew 18, there is a story about a rich man who was doing this same sort of accounting and realized that a servant owed him money. The servant begged forgiveness and was forgiven, but then turned around and sent another servant to jail that owed him just a little bit of money.

I saw a lesson in this story I had not seen before about empathy. One of the age old questions is why do bad things happen, and I propose that bad thing happen so that we can learn empathy, and from empathy learn mercy and forgiveness. When the first servant was brought before his master, I can only imagine the anxiety he must have felt. When he turned and accused his fellow servant, I felt outrage at first - then shame at how many times I do that. But, like always, I felt hope afterwards and a deeper realization of why the atonement was necessary.

Christ is the ultimate example of one who empathizes - and I think that is why he is the ultimate source of peace and mercy. This morning, when I was freaking out about essentially nothing He was there like he always is to understand my fears and embarrassment. If He did not suffer in the garden, then I doubt He would be able to help me as much He does. Likewise, if we never suffered, I don't think we would be able to help others as much as we are able to.

Accord

A few Sundays ago, I found out something that shocked me. There is hardly any information on Zion in the Bible! That means that Christians all around the world don't know that much about Zion. I guess the best scripture on Zion is Moses 7:18:

18 And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them.

When I hear accord, I think of "a chord" - as in a musical sense. A cord is a couple of notes that when played at the same time create a lovely sound. The notes are all different, but when they act as one they create music. I also like this analogy because music is a form of worship, and when we all worship as one I'm sure it is music to God.

Accomplished

What came to mind while I read these scriptures is what it means to be finished. In President's Uchtdorf's talk from last conference "Two Principles for Any Economy", he said

Now, a word to us seasoned brethren: retirement is not part of the Lord’s plan of happiness. There is no sabbatical or retirement program from priesthood responsibilities—regardless of age or physical capacity. While the phrase “been there, done that” may work as an excuse to avoid skateboarding, decline the invitation for a motorbike ride, or bypass the spicy curry at the buffet, it is not an acceptable excuse for avoiding covenant responsibilities to consecrate our time, talents, and resources in the work of the kingdom of God.

There may be those who, after many years of Church service, believe they are entitled to a period of rest while others pull the weight. To put it bluntly, brethren, this sort of thinking is unworthy of a disciple of Christ. A great part of our work on this earth is to endure joyfully to the end—every day of our life.

I think that we never are finished, and this is why. In these four verses on "accomplished" - they only spoke of one task that was accomplished - the Atonement. When Christ looked to Heaven and said "It is finished" - He knew what he was talking about. This lack of mention of other tasks, along with a modern prophet's words, alludes to the fact that we may reach check point and we may complete a job good enough for our standards - but for the things that are really important our work is never done.

Access

The past couple of mornings I've had trouble motivating myself to read my scriptures. Maybe I've been feelings tired, maybe I've been feelings lazy - most likely a combination of the two. Imagine how I felt when I opened this topic to find only two scriptures. Pretty lousy - but moving forward!

I've put some thought into how other people view Christians - motivated by a few instances. One was that there are signs around for a local Christian group addressing the negative interactions people have had with Christians. Another last night when a neighbor got upset at a friend that had parked in our parking lot for a Sunday night get together. I know it would be silly for that neighbor to associate her negative feelings about one less parking spot for a couple of hours with the fact that we're Christians, but I know that it happens. What is more important, is the negative feelings people associate with Christians because of actual negative things Christians have done. Sometimes Christians have to be more outspoken, but I think if we focused a bit more on living and rejoicing in Christ's message, then there would be fewer real reasons for people to think ill of us. I like how Romans 5:2 says it:

2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Acceptable

In the For the Strength of the Youth, it goes over some things that have to do with what is acceptable, and what is not. What is acceptable dress for Sunday meetings, what is acceptable dating behavior, what is acceptable behavior and attitudes in general. This could be boiled down to what are the standards God has given us, with the follow up question of why it matters.

In Proverbs 10:32, it gives an argument that one way to define righteousness is by these standards of acceptableness:

32 The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable: but the mouth of the wicked speaketh frowardness.

and again in Romans 12:1-2, it makes this point even more clear:

1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

I heard a story about a girl who attended a fireside with the Prophet, and at the end of it she joined the other youth in line to meet him. When it was finally her turn, she held her program up against her chest to try and cover how low cut it was - because she felt embarrassed having the Prophet see her in something like that. We shouldn't base our decisions on trying to avoid being embarrassed, but it is something to keep in mind. Even if we can't give a direct reason or logical argument for the standards given us, I think that we all have the Light of Christ inside of us that can help us to feel what is right.

For a final word on trying to follow the standards, here is Mormon 7:44 on what following the standards can help us become:

44 If so, his faith and hope is vain, for none is acceptable before God, save the meek and lowly in heart; and if a man be meek and lowly in heart, and confesses by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ, he must needs have charity; for if he have not charity he is nothing; wherefore he must needs have charity.

Accept

We are now in the "ac"s!

Something that stuck out to me, was there are 11 verses all talking about God accepting us, and then there is one solitary verse in Luke 4:24:

24 And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.

Sometimes we think of Christ as being surrounded by followers and his apostles, but how often do we think of him as being alone? Though he had friends, they didn't really understand the weight that was on his shoulders. Though he had followers, they were strangers as far as Christ's earthly life. When Christ took upon himself all of our sins, pains and afflictions, he really felt what it was like to have a crummy life. But how often do we just focus on that part of "he understands what I'm going through" and forget about the fact that he actually lived through a lot of lonely times himself.