For a video presentation similar to this essay, click here.
The biggest problem with me and anyone else who has a problem is the lack of faith – the lack of concrete trust in God – the lack of confidence in God – the lack of a surety that the end of days, yes, that the Millennium of millenniums is here, upon our doorstep! The knowledge that the times are here, it’s all here for The Showdown. This aspect of Faith as well as others are the most important thing that we need; this brings the good faith to teach your kids; you need the faith to read your books; you need faith learn the history of the earth; in faith you must defend Christianity and Mormonism; you need faith faith faith faith to do these things; faith brother is what you and everyone else with a problem needs more than anything – faith faith faith faith!
- Faith leads to hope, hope leads to charity, charity leads to salvation.
aka faith -> hope -> charity -> salvation
2. Satan’s goal = damn us.
aka disable our salvation.
How can be best do this?
Trace back the line, salvation ultimately comes from faith.
The book of Moses shows us that in Satan’s brief encounter with Moses, he struck at Moses’ faith.
3. charity is the step before salvation (see Matthew), “inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these” is the line in the sand for salvation.
4. charity is more likely to come to pass when a person has faith and hope. In faith, we learn 1. what we have been given, and 2. what may yet be hoped for in the future. These inspire charity.
5. missionaries baptize persons after a few weeks of meeting with them rather than years, because once faith is there and the Holy Ghost from baptism, the rest comes from God, via the Holy Ghost. The sewer plants a seed, then God sends the rain and sunlight. Our part is easy, just like Christ said, “my yoke is easy, my burden is light.” Faith is like a germ which devours cancerous cells, spreading quickly throughout the whole system.
6. a study of the gospel changes behavior faster than a study of behavior changes behavior (Elder Packer said, see Preach My Gospel manual for missionary service.)
7. When you’re depressed or dissatisfied with your life, its not because you don’t believe enough or hope enough, but because your acts aren’t enough. You aren’t participating in the advancement of the human race as well as you anticipated. So faith is not the endgame, charity is the endgame. But we’ve seen that charity is most likely produced via the foundation of faith. I submit further that in order to have perfect charity aimed in the right direction and applied in the right way, this type of charity can ONLY come via faith.
8. lack of faith is the universal problem in society and individuals, and the universal remedy is faith.
9. Alma 32 speaks of gaining belief, and says if you don’t believe, use a des
10. synonyms for faith hope and charity are belief motivation and action/behavior.
11. Charity = power + righteous application.
Thus, an antonym for charity is power + unrighteous application = abuse.
12. Belief proceeds action because you won’t try for something which you don’t really believe is there.
13. When you believe in something enough, and are sufficiently motivated (which motivation comes from the belief), you WILL act for it.
14. Faith comes from hearing the word of God, you need someone to introduce you to faith. You can’t even fathom faith and spirituality without an introduction, you wouldn’t even know that part of your brain existed not to mention how to use it. Someone to suggest the correct reading (the scriptures ancient and modern).
15. Lack of motivation/desire (hope), you must have more of the belief/faith. Faith hope and charity are 3 rungs of a stair set. If you don’t want it, you don’t believe it’s great. Learn about this better world, where is it, what is it, why is it. The more you learn about it, the more it opens channels of your mind that have been closed for too long, the more premortal memories you awaken.
16. A Relief Society sister in General Conference said God will give you as much power as you are wise enough to handle. Wisdom here probably is synonymous with belief. Believe the right things, the right way to handle and approach things, and you’ll get more power. In other words, the more faith you have, the more charity you’ll be given.
17. You go from step 1 (faith) to step 3 (charity) quickly. The middle step 2 (hope) is almost subconscious; the thing to work at is building your faith, then hope comes, then charity comes. Refer to verse 6 of this document, that a study of the gospel changes behavior faster than a study of behavior changes behavior.
18. A general and major source of depression is lack of service to others (charity). Is it any wonder that the soul of man is depressed when he is not doing the thing which produces salvation?
19. Charity is not something we do in this life so we can relax in heaven. Brigham Young said the streets if heaven if gold, were paved by the saints to become that way. God works, his work is our salvation (immortality and eternal life (see Moses 1:39); immortality means that your body and soul will live on forever, eternal life means that you’ll live the life like God lives). God weeps. This is one of the greatest revelations of the last days; in the book of Moses, we have the account of Enoch, and his interview with God, wherein he sees God weeping. When Enoch asks why he wept, God responds that these are his children suffering, and though it is worth it and he does it for us, it is indeed hard. God lives a flavorful life. The scripture says in the millennium God will wipe away all tears and there will be no more sorrow because there will be no more death; indeed, there will be a great period of rejoicing, but the work of God goes on, and as new candidates are introduced to the plan of salvation, they will go through some amount of suffering, and this will to some extent sadden our souls at times.
20. We cannot imagine that there are no real requirements for salvation. See Elder Christofferson’s message on the need for a Savior. Furthermore, though our good works are as filthy rags as the scripture says, we also know that exaltation must be earned, it cannot be given to unworthy candidates. All fall short, but some things must be done for exaltation.
