Come Forth

Are we not all in this together?

I am Mormon, which means different things to different people---let me tell you what it means to me.

1. Before we came to Earth, we had the opportunity to choose between: (1) God's plan wherein we would have agency and the ability to learn from experiences, happiness, pain, and sorrow, and CHOOSE whether we would live God's commandments; or (2) Satan's idea, where we would not have the ability to experience the consequences of our decisions, but instead, would live a mortal experience of compulsion, lack of consequence, and no need for the concept of agency.

2. God's plan was chosen, and if we are here having this mortal experience, it means we chose His idea. Including the important fact that we accepted, and exercised faith in the character and ability of Jesus Christ to fulfill the role as our savior and redeemer.

3. So the purpose of this life is to be born, gain a physical body, learn how to control and use that body, learn how consequences follow decisions, accept again, Jesus Christ as our Savior, utilize His atonement, and follow God's commandments and receive the ordinances necessary to enable us the greatest degree of growth.

4. Essentially, this life is a test, to gauge our willingness to sacrifice personal and usually carnal desires most often of the moment, for the end result of earning the right to live with God after this life.

Knowing this, I find myself perplexed by the weight we, as humans, give to somewhat trivial matters. I ask "are we not all in this together?" Are we not all on the same team?" "Should not we all be striving to help each other to the final destination?"

Why is it that we cannot band together better to persuade mankind to love, to perpetuate sacrifice and liberty, and support of institutions that will promote the exercise of agency, and the learning that enables choice of what is good?

In the Book of Alma, the army captain Moroni, upon seeing the infiltration of slothful ideas, captivating fetters of sin, selfishness, and apathy among his people, rent his coat, wrote upon it, and hoisted it upon a pole, creating a banner which called upon his countrymen to remember the things of God, to sacrifice for virtue, and to consciously stand in holy places, and march behind the banner of God's purpose.

It is no secret that the same influences are not only infiltrating our society today, but are being forced down the throats of anyone, child or adult, who can be reached. The plague of pornography, foul language, immorality, pseudo-life experiences, unaccountability, laziness, and instant gratification actively seduce any that will listen, watch, or be influenced.

It is time for more men and women to step forward as Moroni, and blatantly call out those who seek to deceive, to decry the influences of inappropriate media, and gather and encourage mankind to remember the reasons we are here, what is good, what is necessary to sacrifice for the sake of goodness and virtue. To come forth, to repent, to be worthy to stand in holy places, and to to fight....yes fight, for God's eternal purposes for us, his children.

The world has need of willing men and women to step up, stand strong, and lift one another to the higher ground of moral discipline. In doing so, we will make acquaintance with good people, and can experience the miracles that accompany God's purposes.