Standing in Holy Places

Standing in holy places is an important theme in the Gospel. We read the words of the Savior:

"But my disciples shall stand in holy places, and shall not be moved..."

and also

"Wherefore, stand ye in holy places, and be not moved..."

A true disciple of Jesus Christ (i.e. one who would follow Him) will always seek to be in holy places and not seek out unholy places. In the first quotation above, He makes standing in holy places a qualifier for His disciples - perhaps a way to recognize them - by saying "my disciples shall stand in holy places." This creates in my heart a desire to do that, to stand in holy places. But what is a holy place and how does one stand in it?

The first thing that comes to my mind when thinking about this subject are the words from October 2005 of James E. Faust, a deceased member of the Lord's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He spoke specifically on this subject and, after expressing his love, respect, and appreciation to those who were listening, he started his talk with this:

We are bombarded on all sides by a vast number of messages we don't want or need. More information is generated in a single day than we can absorb in a lifetime. To fully enjoy life, all of us must find our own breathing space and peace of mind. How can we do this? There is only one answer. We must rise above the evil that encroaches upon us. We must follow the counsel of the Lord, who said, "It is my will, that all they who call on my name, and worship me according to mine everlasting gospel, should gather together, and stand in holy places."

To put that into my own words (if I am correct), he is saying that to "find our own breathing space" and to obtain "peace of mind" in this world, we must stand in holy places. It is a requirement - if we don't stand in holy places, we can't fully have peace of mind or comfortable "breathing space." We will then, it seems, feel like we don't have room to breath and our conscience will not be peaceful. As Elder Neal A. Maxwell, also an Apostle, put it: "The absence of holiness means the presence of misery!"

Following this, he points out how many vulgar and profane things there are that push away the Spirit of God. To me, it seems so readily available - it seems that things like this just pop up in all sorts of place - movies, music, dances, television, hallways, and other places. There are certainly good movies, music, and dances: President Faust pleads with us at this point to "strive to stand more often in holy places." The trick is recognizing what places will be unholy and what places will be holy before we go there. As we develop this skill, we will begin to be able to avoid the unholy places and tend more often toward holy places.

There are certainly some places which are always holy: temples, dedicated church buildings, etc. However, these can be made unholy if we desecrate them with unholy activities or things. I have heard of a church building being turned into an unholy place by vulgar music being played there. However, we can generally be assured that a church building will be a holy place. Temples are always holy places. It is said that only the home can compare with the temple in sacredness. The home can be a most holy place if those who create it keep it holy.

What does it mean to be holy? The first definition President Faust gave is "Holiness is the strength of the soul." That hit me quite powerfully. An unholy soul is a weak soul. A holy soul is a strong soul. (I would like to note that the soul is generally the term used to mean both the body and spirit as a whole. A holy soul would be a holy spirit and holy body together.) Holiness is literally what makes a soul strong. Elder Earl C. Tingy of the Presidency of the Seventy said, "The Lord...gave the standard of safety that will protect faithful followers. He said, 'But my disciples shall stand in holy places, and shall not be moved.'"

President Faust mentions next that holiness comes "by faith" and "through obedience." He includes the message that, once one is holy, "Holiness speaks when there is silence, encouraging that which is good or reproving that which is wrong." It can become, it seems, a driving force keeping one on the right path (because it is the right place).

But what is holiness? What is that strength of the soul that comes through faith and obedience? The dictionary says "holy" means that something is "consecrated." Consecrated means something is set-apart for a special purpose. So a holy person is a person separate from that which is not of God. A holy place is a place separate from evil - a place apart from the world.

How does that give us strength? Perhaps it is like protecting oneself from being burned by simply not putting one's hand in the fire. When the fire does come upon us, we are protected from those flames by the Lord because of our faith and obedience.

So a holy place is a place different from and set-apart from the world. We can make holy places too. We do not just have to travel to temples and churches to be in holy places. We can make the space around us a holy place by not allowing evil influences to enter that space. We can go places where bad music will have little chance of desecrating the space around us. When it does come, we can leave that place.

However good it is to avoid unholy places (something that should probably be a natural habit of every follower of Christ), it seems more important to seek out holy places rather than avoid unholy places. If we are always seeking holy places, we will naturally avoid unholy places. We should naturally want to be wherever the most holy place is for us at the moment.

I have noticed that those whom I consider to be strong disciples of Christ are always attending church activities and other activities where the Spirit will almost certainly be present. I notice that as I progress in my own path of discipleship, I desire to go places where the Spirit will be. I don't even know why most of the time - I just want to be there no matter what it will be or who will be there.

That seems enough rambling on the subject for me for now. I love holy places! Let us always seek to stand in holy places. As we do that, it seems, we will become stronger and more at peace. It will begin to feel like we have breath again if we feel breathless before. I'll close with a quotation from President Brigham Young, another Apostle and prophet of the Lord (emphasis added):

Thirty years' experience has taught me that every moment of my life must be holiness to the Lord...which is the only course by which I can preserve the Spirit of the Almighty to myself.

Universal Health Care and The Constitution

A quotation from the Constitution of the United States of America:

"We the People of the United States, in Order to...promote the general Welfare...do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

I would like to analyze this part of the Constitution. I do so in light of the current discussion regarding Universal Health Care in the United States. Does the statement that the constitutional government is responsible for the "general Welfare" of the country imply that universal health care is indeed guaranteed by the Constitution?

It would seem that two important words in this statement need to be understood to properly interpret the semantic message: "promote" and "Welfare." If promote implies something along the lines of "provide," "cause to exist," "ensure," or "guarantee," then the government is required constitutionally to provide Welfare generally to those it presides over. Then, if "Welfare" implies something along the lines of "physical health" or "well being," the government must promote that. If both words have those certain meanings, the constitution can be said to require that which it creates to provide physical health generally.

First, "Welfare."

In 1996, the Random House Webster's Dictionary defined welfare as "the good fortune, health, happiness, prosperity...of a person, group, or organization; well-being." This is how we might define it today. However, how was it defined in 1787 and 1788? The oldest American English dictionary I have access to is the 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language by Noah Webster. Although meanings of words can change much more quickly than thirty years, I will use this dictionary out of convenience.

The 1828 Webster's Dictionary defines welfare when used in the context of "states" (as opposed to "persons") as "exemption from any unusual evil or calamity; the enjoyment of peace and prosperity, or the ordinary blessings of society and civil government." The same word as applied to "persons" is defined as "exemption from misfortune, sickness, calamity or evil; the enjoyment of health and the common blessings of life; prosperity; happiness." Note the critical differences as they apply to the context of this examination! When applied to persons, sickness and health become part of welfare. So, is the Constitution referring to the "general Welfare" of the country or of the people?

Let's look at the entire paragraph for additional context:

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

Note the syntactical structure of the paragraph. It may perhaps be rewritten like this:

"We the People of the United States, in Order to [form A, establish B, insure C, provide D, promote E, and secure F]...to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

So, looking at it in this way (if this way is proper as applied to late Eighteenth Century English), it would seem that the Constitution was ordained and established, in part, to "promote the general Welfare...to [our forefathers] and [us]." Therefore, it would seem that the guarantee of "general Welfare" is applied to "persons" rather than a "state."

In light of that information, the definition in this examination of "Welfare" as used in the opening paragraph of the Constitution will be "exemption from misfortune, sickness, calamity or evil; the enjoyment of health and the common blessings of life; prosperity; happiness." This gives us a more expanded meaning: "promote the general Welfare" becomes "...promote the general exemption from...sickness..." or "promote the general...enjoyment of health...," in part. (I should note here that in many instances, I am shortening the quotations to provide an easier read by only including things that are most obviously associated with the context of this discussion.)

We now must examine the meaning of the word "promote."

The 1996 Webster's Dictionary defines "promote" as used in such a context as "to help or encourage to exist or flourish; [to] further." The 1828 definition is "to forward; to advance; to contribute to the growth, enlargement or excellence of any thing valuable..." This shows that our meaning today and the meaning in 1828 is not as different as one might think.

Armed with this extremely brief examination, here is what might be a possible rewording of "promote the general Welfare":

"to help or to encourage to exist...the general exemption from...sickness..." or "to help or to encourage to exist...the general...enjoyment of health..."

How does the organization that the Constitution creates (the government) "help...or encourage...the general...enjoyment of health?" In other words, how does the government help each citizen enjoy "[good] health?"

There are, of course many ways to do this. One way is through Universal Health Care. This provides an equal guarantee of good health to each citizen whether they are rich or poor. In my opinion, each citizen should only be provided government sponsored health care if they cannot afford it on their own. However, with 300,000,000 people to deal with, it is probably unfeasible to create any sort of regulation on such a system without it becoming too general and missing important special cases. Therefore, in the interest of compromise, I am entirely supportive of a Universal Health Care system to be established in the United States of America...

...if the collection of taxes becomes more fair.

Family History

Today being Memorial Day, I decided to do some family history work and focused on genealogy. Using a circular ten generation pedigree chart I bought at Deseret Book in conjunction with my Personal Ancestry File software, I figured the following statistics of my own ancestry:

24% England
13% Switzerland
9% Denmark
6% Prussia (now Central Germany)
4% Wales
42% Unsure at this time

This is exciting to me because many people are not sure of this type of information. I am not sure of the practicality of such knowledge but it is extremely interesting to me.

My excitement about family history work was prophesied by Malachi when he said, "Behold, [the Lord] will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of...the children to their fathers, lest [the Lord] come and smite the earth with a curse." (Malachi 4:5-6) My excitement has been termed the "Spirit of Elijah." In other words, my heart has been turned to my fathers.

The prophet Joseph Smith was visited by Elijah on April 3, 1836 - the day of Jewish Passover. (See D&C 110:13-16) According to Malachi, the hearts of the children would then be turned to their fathers. Did this happen?

Prior to 1836, genealogy and family history work was almost exclusively the domain of royalty and the purpose was usually to lay claim to property of some sort. In 1846 the founders of the New England Historic Genealogical Society (one of the oldest genealogical societies in the world) said, "The minds of men are naturally moved to know something of their progenitors - those from whom they have derived their being; and there seems to be an increasing interest in this subject; many are trying to trace their genealogy back at least to the first settlers - the early pilgrims of this country." (See NEHGS Website) I remember hearing that every genealogical society on Earth was established after 1836. Now people research their ancestry usually not to lay claim to anything physical but rather just to know. People are simply interested and curious. This is the fulfillment of Elijah's prophesy and truly the hearts of the children are being turned to the fathers. I know my heart has been turned.

Comfort

Tonight I feel a need to express what I know about providing and receiving comfort. As a model I will use the perfect comforter, the Holy Ghost.

Jesus Christ said, "The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance." From this portion of a larger statement we can learn several things about the blessings that learning how to be a comfort can provide both to a person and to those who associate with that person. It is significant, I think, to note that our Father in Heaven has chosen the same person to provide both perfect comfort and perfect teaching. Perhaps comfort and teaching work together and strengthen each other.

Luke wrote later in the New Testament that, after the Gospel was taught, "the churches...were edified...and...the comfort of the Holy Ghost [was] multiplied." Elder Bruce R. McKonkie of the Quorum of the Twelve said that being edified is to "be taught by the Holy Ghost." So in other words, what Luke wrote may perhaps be rephrased like this: "After having been taught by the Holy Ghost, the members of the church received a greater feeling of comfort from the Holy Ghost." Personally, I can testify that while I am being taught by the Holy Ghost and after, I feel comforted. They almost come hand in hand. Greater knowledge of truth almost always if not always brings greater comfort. A roller coaster ride changes from a fearful experience to an exciting one after you understand how safe it really is. The difference between fear and excitement in the same situation is always knowledge. Comfort does not seem to bring knowledge but knowledge does seem to bring comfort.

The purpose of the Holy Ghost is to teach us truth directly or to bear witness to truth that we learn from other means. A person might be reading the scriptures and pondering about one certain topic when suddenly they learn something new about a completely unrelated topic. This may be an example of being taught truth directly. Also, a person might read in the Book of Mormon that "whosoever repenteth, and hardeneth not his heart, he shall have claim on mercy through mine Only Begotten Son, unto a remission of his sins." Following this, a conviction comes into their heart and mind that it is true. This may be an example of the Holy Ghost bearing witness to a truth gained from another source.

There is one more important thing to note before I make my final point. A person can have knowledge of something without knowing it. For example, I have heard that if I jump out of an airplane with a parachute and open it properly, I will be alright and not die in a horrible demonstration of physics as I hit the ground. However, if I were to jump out of an airplane right now with a parachute (even with proper training), I would be extremely afraid and uncomforted. This seems to be because I do not really know for sure that I will be alright. However, if I repeatedly leap out of an airplane with a parachute and land safely each and every time, eventually the fear will be replaced by excitement as my experience comforts me. Having a sure witness and knowledge of truth is an important part of being comforted by it.

This is one reason, perhaps, that the Holy Ghost is such a perfect comforter. When He teaches, the lesson is emblazoned on the heart and mind in such a way that the knowledge feels more sure and complete. Thus the knowledge brings almost immediate comfort.

So, what does this teach us about providing and receiving comfort? First and most importantly, it shows us that the most effective way to give comfort to a person is to bear your own personal witness of the knowledge that they need and then encourage them to receive that same witness that you have. That may be best obtained through prayer and revelation from the Holy Ghost. Figure out, if you can, what knowledge will best provide comfort to the person and then pray that the Holy Ghost will attend your words when you share the knowledge that you have with them. Perhaps you will need to gain that knowledge yourself before you can share it with them. Get to work quickly, then - perhaps even make an effort to learn what needs to be learned with the person that needs to be comforted. Perhaps even make it a group effort!

While this is certainly only a brief examination of some of the principles behind comfort, hopefully it will provide us with a powerful weapon to dispel darkness and non-comfort both in our lives and in the lives of those around us (including family, friends, enemies and even those toward whom we might be neutral). Paul calls this weapon the "sword of the Spirit." May we all live in such a way that the Spirit will always attend our words and actions! By so doing, it seems that we will radiate comfort like the sun radiates warmth and light. Surely we will become a light "set on a hill" and our light will "shine before men."

Dedication

Dedication is an interesting idea. The word dedicate comes from Latin through Middle English and refers to the idea of declaring or consecrating something. It is not the etymology, however, that interests me. The English definition is "to devote wholly and earnestly." Most of us understand what it means to be devoted wholly but earnestly, which is less understood, refers to ideas such as seriousness, depth of feeling, and sincerity. To be dedicated to something or someone means, therefore, to be entirely devoted in a deep, serious, and sincere way.

In religion, dedication often refers to the setting apart of a building for sacred purposes. If a building is dedicated to the Lord, for example, it becomes a special place where one acts differently than one would elsewhere. Usually this includes greater reverence and respect in general, greater focus of thoughts and acts, and greater dedication toward the principles that the Lord teaches. This comes not only from tradition but also from the teachings of the Lord that we should act that way in such places.

Husbands and wives are considered dedicated to each other. A husband is dedicated to his wife and a wife is dedicated to her husband. This should affect the way they act toward each other. There should be a reverence and a respect in the marriage. A focus on one's spouse should develop so that thoughts and acts and goals and plans include one's spouse both literally and in effect.

Cecil B. DeMille said, "Most of us serve our ideals by fits and starts. The person who makes a success of living is the one who sees his goal steadily and aims for it unswervingly. That is dedication." Calm, quiet, and continual dedication to something will always bring success. If it is some goal of personal development we seek, it will come. If it is some relationship we seek to strengthen, it will come (as long as both halves of the relationship have the same level of dedication). If there is any goal which you seek to obtain, dedicate yourself to it with the fullest extent of what that means - depth, sincerity, focus, seriousness, etc. - and you will achieve what it is that you desire. It usually does not involve some great flaming ball of fire streaking across your personal sky. Rather, it involves steady, calm, and continual focus in the choices one makes throughout the weeks, months, and years that brings the success.

May we all be dedicated to principles of goodness!