In the 2016-2017 school year the youth of our church studied the New Testament in Seminary. This spring I was asked to write a modern epistle to the youth in our stake as they studied the ancient Epistles. Here is what I shared with them:
Epistle to the Youth of the Cincinnati Ohio North Stake | March 2017
My dear young friends – what a blessing it is to know you! As I serve with you I feel Heavenly Father’s love and concern for you. He loves you with a depth you cannot now comprehend. I love you and care deeply for what happens in your life. Every day you are in my heart and prayers. Wherever you are on your personal journey I am here for you - please reach out if there is ever anything I can do for you.
I have sought the Lord’s guidance that I might focus my writing on the most important and impactful things for you to hear at this time of your life. It is a message which is near to my heart and I hope it brings you understanding, strength, peace, hope, and courage! I pray the Spirit of the Lord will be with you and personalize this message for your specific needs and concerns.
Have you ever felt like there are multiple versions of yourself? In particular do you ever feel the raging battle within between your eternal spirit and your mortal body?
I have often felt conflicted in understanding my nature as an eternal spiritual being while also being very aware of the natural man inside me. To some degree I have always known the church was true. The gospel and Plan of Salvation make sense to me – they feel innately right. But knowing these things alone do not alleviate temptation and I make a lot of mistakes.
As a teenager I was generally obedient to the gospel and I had pretty good gospel habits (prayer, scripture study, etc…). But I also had a lot of questions and feelings – some which brought me closer to the Lord and some which did not. Deep in my heart I wondered why? Why when I read my scriptures and go to church do I still face temptations like I do? Why do I keep making mistakes? Why do I still desire to make bad choices? Why do I still have doubts? Why do I wonder if Heavenly Father really has a place for me in His plan and His Kingdom?
And at the heart of these questions was a growing conflict – am I spiritual or not? If I am a spiritual being, why do I feel the passions, pride, or doubts that I do? These questions haunted me – they still do. I felt like I was a good person living a good life and from the outside I think most people would agree – but inside was a daily battle that few understood. And while others may have been blind to my reality, I was not. After several years of working through these questions I started finding answers.
I learned that weakness is not a sin and that weakness comes from God to help us become like Him (Ether 12:27). Satan likes to make us think that if we have weakness or vulnerability we must be fundamentally flawed and eternally damaged. It is true that we all need repentance and the Atonement – none of us can do it alone. But we can reject Satan’s taunts, and because of Christ we can learn to glory in our infirmities (see Paul’s Epistle on this in 2 Corinthians 12 – seriously go read this chapter!).
The more I studied I began to realize that the best among us struggle, that weakness really can lead to strength, and that we can overcome. I took heart in the Lord’s words given to Alma the Younger (someone who knew a thing or two about mistakes and weakness):
"And the Lord said unto me: Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and his daughters; and thus they become new creatures." - Mosiah 27:25-26
Consider those words - "Marvel not."
I started to realize that progress is really a “line upon line” type of activity. More importantly I was coming to know that God is much more concerned about who we are – and who with His help we can become – than He is concerned about who we once were or what we’ve done. I realized that nobody should be identified or judged only by their weakness or the worst thing they’ve done. We are a culmination of our entire life – not just the worst parts of it.
The principle of "marvel not" does not imply acceptance or tolerance with anything less than divine. It does not excuse behavior nor does it rationalize future choices. It is not foolishly optimistic or pessimistic. Rather it indicates a faithful steadiness and consistency in striving, an appropriate recognition of our mortal condition within a correct perspective of the plan of salvation. So my young friends when life, or the world, or poor choices have you down - marvel not! And then look to Him through whom we can find forgiveness, peace, strength, and the "power to become." (D&C 39:4)
This concept sheds additional light on Alma’s the Younger’s later teachings to his sons in Alma 36-42, and particularly to Shiblon, a “good son”, to whom Alma gave the counsel “bridle all your passions.” Corianton may have been running after the harlot Isabel but Alma understood that even his good sons had weaknesses and needed strengthening. We all have moments of weakness and vulnerability. That good people have temptation does not make them evil, it makes them human. The temptation does not define them. Learning to live with a spirit and a body was the point of coming to earth.
With this in mind please consider this quote from CS Lewis:
“No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness — they have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means — the only complete realist.”
Additionally I think these two verses of the poem “Good Timber” by Douglas Malloch illustrate the concept well:
The tree that never had to fight, for sun and sky and air and light;
But stood out in the open plain, and always got its share of rain,
Never became a forest king, but lived and died a scrubby thing.
But stood out in the open plain, and always got its share of rain,
Never became a forest king, but lived and died a scrubby thing.
Good timber does not grow with ease: the stronger wind, the stronger trees;
The further sky, the greater length; the more the storm, the more the strength.
By sun and cold, by rain and snow, in trees and men good timbers grow.
The further sky, the greater length; the more the storm, the more the strength.
By sun and cold, by rain and snow, in trees and men good timbers grow.
You are warriors! And as I have served with you I have come to know the potential Heavenly Father sees in you – individually and collectively. In his eyes you are to become Kings and Queens! Just look at the promises made in D&C 132 “[they] shall inherit thrones, kingdoms, principalities, and powers, dominions…. Then shall they be gods.” We know the path to these blessings requires that we pass through this world, where we learn from making mistakes and having all the experiences of mortality.
Though we experience desires, habits, and appetites which are contrary to the character of God, as spirit children of Heavenly Father, we do have a divine nature and destiny to become as He is. God created a Plan of Salvation and provided a Savior, not only that we could repent, but that we could learn to put off our natural man and become a saint such “that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually.” (Mosiah 3:19; 5:2) I believe this fundamental change of our character is, in many ways, the ultimate miracle and most potent application of the Atonement– not only that we can return home to our Father in Heaven, but that we can actually feel at home there. That we can feel at-one with ourselves and with God through the at-one-ment of Jesus Christ, the battle within subsiding as our spirit asserts its pre-eminence and we claim our divine heritage and potential.
To do this requires more than just being converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we must be converted by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. A checklist approach to the gospel only gets us so far, eventually we need a full and complete change of heart. We have to pray to feel close to Heavenly Father – not just to get to the amen. We have to read the scriptures to feel their impact in our hearts – not just get words in our heads. We need to partake of the sacrament to commune with heaven – not just because it’s part of our weekly routine.
We have to learn to use our agency to reject the natural man and embrace the atonement. This deliberate choice is central to our eternal progression. There is something significant in having tasted the good and the evil – experiencing the fullness of our spiritual and mortal selves – and then having the power of choosing of our own free will what we’ll become. Agency was central to the plan and God knew we would make mistakes worth learning from – that’s why He sent us here! It’s also why He provided a way for us to return through faith, repentance, and receiving all the ordinances and covenants of the gospel.
Repentance is a gift and a joy made possible by the atonement of Christ! Too often the culture of our church is unnecessarily harsh on those needing repentance. Often we are too hard on ourselves. When we understand that weakness is not a sin and the principle of ‘Marvel Not’ we are better enabled to find real and meaningful progress in repentance. Remember that a hospital is helpful when you are hurt only if you go in and allow the doctors to do their work – simply knowing it’s there, or driving by, or touching the wall will not heal you. Obedience is best, but we all sin. And though repentance may be painful it is always worth it. There is no shame in repenting because it is the only path to become our best selves! It takes courage, but please repent! Daily if needed! And please change the culture – the church needs to be a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints!
You live in a day of promise and wonder. The opportunities you have are a fulfillment of promises and prophesies the Lord gave to those who came before you. In particular you can be Millennials in the truest sense of the word and become a sin-resistant generation. A generation experienced in the hand to hand combat with Satan. A generation who ultimately comes out victorious because of your faith in Christ. A generation prepared to meet the Lord! (See 1 Nephi 22:26; Revelation 20:2)
I believe in Christ! My weakness is made strong through His atonement. I have experienced the soothing forgiveness only He can provide. His death on the cross and subsequent resurrection change everything! Because of Him we have hope that we can overcome, we can persevere, and we can become as he is. I love Him and I praise His name. I pray that God will strengthen each of you in your daily battles!
With all my love,
Brother Montoya
