Monday, February 9, 2009

Let him warn his neighbor

This is heavier subject to take on in a theoritically fully-public forum (though I'm not sure if anyone else has ready any of my blogs yet...), but I wanted to discuss a principle of the Christ's teachings that has a great deal to do with those around us, and not just ourselves. In other words, a lot of Christ's teachings are things that we can do within our own personal realm of influence, which tends to be ourselves and perhaps children if we have them. But according to Ezekiel 33 (beginning in verse 1) as we touched on it in my doctrine and covenants class lecture last week, every man who has been granted knowledge of God's plan and of the trials which will come as a result of sin and wickedness on the earth has the personal responsibility to warn others of these consequences and to invite them to follow Christ's teachings, which are taught (and I believe) to be the only means of escaping the dreadful effects of sin and mistakes. He that has been spared any grief, heartache or trouble because of his knowledge of Jesus Christ and his Gospel of Peace is commanded to extend to others the same privilege. By so doing, he frees himself from responsibility for their actions. Failure to do so means that God, the Heavenly Father of all human beings, will hold him accountable for that pain and sin which could have been spared had the gospel message been shared.
While on one hand, encouragement to keep this commandment to warn others might seem as if it might be purely for selfish motives, but I feel that to be effective in such a difficult task, one can has to be motivated at least in part by a love of his neighbor and a love of God and also a trust in God's plan of happiness for his children; for if I don't trust in His plan for me, what are the chances that I'll step out of my comfort zone to invite others to learn and follow it too? Pretty slim. Please let me know if you notice anything in my behaviour or thought pattern that might be contrary to Christ's teachings that I might be spared additional pain and sorrow, I hope to do the same for you!

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