"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):
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.
