Katzpur
Not your average Mormon
(This thread was started for Buttercup. It's a lesson I gave in the LDS women's auxiliary in my congregation. It contains a few references to people and stories in The Book of Mormon, but for the most part, it ought to be pretty understandable to anybody reading it, particularly if they have a background in Christianity. This is post 1 of 3.)
We're going to start today by talking about three words: Justice, love and mercy.
We'll start with justice. When I think of justice, I think of the little sign on the wall of Jimmy John's Sandwiches up on 30th East, which says, "When you do what you did, you get what you got." What do you think of when you think of justice?
Love. We all know what it feels like to love someone and what it feels like to be loved, butwhat are some of the specific attributes you associate with love?
Mercy. What does the word "mercy" bring to mind?
It's easy to think of love and mercy as being almost intrinsically related. But when you throw justice into the mix, things don't seem quite right any more. You have a sense of justice not quite belonging. But the point at which these three things -- justice, love and mercy -- converge was the subject of a Conference address given by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland this past April, and it's the subject of today's lesson.
I think we would all agree that justice, as incompatible as it seems to be with mercy and love, is a good thing, and that people should be held accountable for their wrong-doings. God established laws for a reason. What kind of God would give us commandments, and then simply turn a blind eye when we disobeyed them? Or worse, what kind of God would condemn the same act of disobedience in one person but completely overlook it in someone else? I don't know about you, but I would find it very difficult to trust and respect a God who was so fickle and inconsistent in administering justice. You'd never really know where you stood with such a God, and there would be nothing just in that kind of justice.
Elder Holland told the true story of two brothers, Jimmy, age 14, and John, age 19. These two teenage boys set out one day from their home in Southern Utah to go rock climbing. They neglected to take with them any kind of safety gear, because -- well, as I said, they were teenage boys. And when you're a teenage boy, you're invincible.
Well, near the top of their climb, they suddenly realized that they were positioned in such a way that they could neither climb over a protruding ledge that would have taken them to the top of the cliff, nor could they turn around and go back down to look for another way up. They were essentially trapped. Eventually, John was able to find enough sure footing that he succeeded in boosting his younger brother to safety. But, having done so, he realized that he had no way to lift himself up and over the ledge. He started to panic. He knew that he couldn't possibly survive a fall from that height. While he realized that his only option was very unlikely to succeed, he decided to try to jump vertically and try to grasp on to the top of the ledge and, using the strength of his arms, pull himself up to the top. We'll hear the rest of the story in John's own words:
“Prior to my jump I told Jimmy to go search for a tree branch strong enough to extend down to me, although I knew there was nothing of the kind on this rocky summit. It was only a desperate ruse. If my jump failed, the least I could do was make certain my little brother did not see me falling to my death. “Giving him enough time to be out of sight, I said my last prayer—that I wanted my family to know I loved them and that Jimmy could make it home safely on his own—then I leapt. There was enough adrenaline in my spring that the jump extended my arms above the ledge almost to my elbows. But as I slapped my hands down on the surface, I felt nothing but loose sand on flat stone. I can still remember the gritty sensation of hanging there with nothing to hold on to—no lip, no ridge, nothing to grab or grasp. I felt my fingers begin to recede slowly over the sandy surface. I knew my life was over."
“But then suddenly, like a lightning strike in a summer storm, two hands shot out from somewhere above the edge of the cliff, grabbing my wrists with a strength and determination that belied their size. My faithful little brother had not gone looking for any fictitious tree branch. Guessing exactly what I was planning to do, he had never moved an inch. He had simply waited—silently, almost breathlessly—knowing full well I would be foolish enough to try to make that jump. When I did, he grabbed me, held me, and refused to let me fall. Those strong brotherly arms saved my life that day as I dangled helplessly above what would surely have been certain death."
I always love Elder Holland's talks on the Atonement and, judging from how powerful and moving they always are, my guess is that this must be one of his favorite topics to speak on. I got something a little different out of this particular talk, though, than I have gotten in the past out of his many talks on the Atonement. And it was this: The Atonement was part of a grand plan that unfolded exactly as God knew it would and exactly as He wanted it to.
We're going to start today by talking about three words: Justice, love and mercy.
We'll start with justice. When I think of justice, I think of the little sign on the wall of Jimmy John's Sandwiches up on 30th East, which says, "When you do what you did, you get what you got." What do you think of when you think of justice?
Love. We all know what it feels like to love someone and what it feels like to be loved, butwhat are some of the specific attributes you associate with love?
Mercy. What does the word "mercy" bring to mind?
It's easy to think of love and mercy as being almost intrinsically related. But when you throw justice into the mix, things don't seem quite right any more. You have a sense of justice not quite belonging. But the point at which these three things -- justice, love and mercy -- converge was the subject of a Conference address given by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland this past April, and it's the subject of today's lesson.
I think we would all agree that justice, as incompatible as it seems to be with mercy and love, is a good thing, and that people should be held accountable for their wrong-doings. God established laws for a reason. What kind of God would give us commandments, and then simply turn a blind eye when we disobeyed them? Or worse, what kind of God would condemn the same act of disobedience in one person but completely overlook it in someone else? I don't know about you, but I would find it very difficult to trust and respect a God who was so fickle and inconsistent in administering justice. You'd never really know where you stood with such a God, and there would be nothing just in that kind of justice.
Elder Holland told the true story of two brothers, Jimmy, age 14, and John, age 19. These two teenage boys set out one day from their home in Southern Utah to go rock climbing. They neglected to take with them any kind of safety gear, because -- well, as I said, they were teenage boys. And when you're a teenage boy, you're invincible.
Well, near the top of their climb, they suddenly realized that they were positioned in such a way that they could neither climb over a protruding ledge that would have taken them to the top of the cliff, nor could they turn around and go back down to look for another way up. They were essentially trapped. Eventually, John was able to find enough sure footing that he succeeded in boosting his younger brother to safety. But, having done so, he realized that he had no way to lift himself up and over the ledge. He started to panic. He knew that he couldn't possibly survive a fall from that height. While he realized that his only option was very unlikely to succeed, he decided to try to jump vertically and try to grasp on to the top of the ledge and, using the strength of his arms, pull himself up to the top. We'll hear the rest of the story in John's own words:
“Prior to my jump I told Jimmy to go search for a tree branch strong enough to extend down to me, although I knew there was nothing of the kind on this rocky summit. It was only a desperate ruse. If my jump failed, the least I could do was make certain my little brother did not see me falling to my death. “Giving him enough time to be out of sight, I said my last prayer—that I wanted my family to know I loved them and that Jimmy could make it home safely on his own—then I leapt. There was enough adrenaline in my spring that the jump extended my arms above the ledge almost to my elbows. But as I slapped my hands down on the surface, I felt nothing but loose sand on flat stone. I can still remember the gritty sensation of hanging there with nothing to hold on to—no lip, no ridge, nothing to grab or grasp. I felt my fingers begin to recede slowly over the sandy surface. I knew my life was over."
“But then suddenly, like a lightning strike in a summer storm, two hands shot out from somewhere above the edge of the cliff, grabbing my wrists with a strength and determination that belied their size. My faithful little brother had not gone looking for any fictitious tree branch. Guessing exactly what I was planning to do, he had never moved an inch. He had simply waited—silently, almost breathlessly—knowing full well I would be foolish enough to try to make that jump. When I did, he grabbed me, held me, and refused to let me fall. Those strong brotherly arms saved my life that day as I dangled helplessly above what would surely have been certain death."
I always love Elder Holland's talks on the Atonement and, judging from how powerful and moving they always are, my guess is that this must be one of his favorite topics to speak on. I got something a little different out of this particular talk, though, than I have gotten in the past out of his many talks on the Atonement. And it was this: The Atonement was part of a grand plan that unfolded exactly as God knew it would and exactly as He wanted it to.
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