[Music] my dear young friends Aloha Al I am grateful to be here with sister Anderson and I I love her and she is the best part of my life um we are honored to speak to you today at this beautiful University we love being in Hawaii and we love feeling the Aloha spirit that reflects the love and compassion that mirrors the Gospel of Jesus Christ we work with our missionaries whom we love very much and who we hope are all out working hard right now um that we we work with them to ensure that we
don't confuse the beautiful Aloha spirit with the somewhat related but counterfeit version uh what we might call the Hang Loose Spirit of of casualness I believe casualness is the enemy of dignity and Casual relationships are always shallow as Disciples of Christ and particularly as missionaries we seek to invite others to come unto Christ and help our friends establish an eternally deep relationship with God that is anything but casual we are grateful for the the respect and the dignity that we have observed on this campus as we have been here and we commend you for not
aping the world in the like-mindedness that seems so prevalent today I wish to explore with you a foundational understanding of the character and nature of God Elder Dale G renland said the following we get a glimpse into our Heavenly father's character as we recognize the immense compassion he has for Sinners and appreciates appreciate the distinction he makes between sin and those who sin this glimpse helps us have a more correct understanding of his character Perfections and attributes and his foundational to exercising faith in him and in his son Jesus Christ the savior's compassion in the
face of our imperfections draws us toward him and motivates us in our repeated struggles to repent and emulate him as we become more like him we learn to treat others as he does regardless of any outward characteristic or behavior end of quote in John 17:3 the Savior says and this is life eternal that they might Know Thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent this implies that coming to know God including the nature and character of God is crucial to obtaining eternal life Joseph Smith also taught if men do not comprehend
the character of God they do not comprehend themselves end of quote I believe that the beautiful powerful truths of the restoration include a unique correct understanding that God is our loving heavenly father that we are literally his Spirit children with the capacity within us to become like him that he is perfectly merciful as well as completely just and as Elder Patrick Kieran so memorably put it is in Relentless pursuit of you but one might ask what about the jealous God of Vengeance who punishes the wicked in Mighty wrath that is spoken of in the Old
Testament New Testament and yes even the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants well I think that if you look at those scriptural passages and if you replace the words such as vengeance or punishment with consequences it actually makes more sense as far as what we have come to understand clearly about the nature of God as I have read the scriptures in this way I have found that in most cases where God is punishing or cursing or taking out Vengeance on people the record clearly indicates that prophets usually the same ones talking about the
punishment Vengeance Wrath Etc gave very clear instructions on how to avoid the terrible results that are then described as Vengeance or punishment or cursing now if you repeatedly warn someone of how to avoid tragedy and misery and then that person rejects your repeated warnings and goes ahead and does exactly what you warn them against or fails to do what you plad with them to do is it fair to say that you punished them or took out Vengeance on them of course not and yet that is what happens in the scriptures I acknowledge that prophets throughout
history have used this language which they term God's punishment but I think perhaps consequences of poor choices in direct rejection of God's warnings would be a more accurate description and through reading through careful reading I think it is clear that God loved those people and lovingly and repeatedly provided the exact knowledge they needed to live happy lives free of the destruction and sorrow that later afflicts them another key attribute of God that we must understand to have perfect faith in him is his absolute Justice God does give us promised blessings without fail but he cannot
bless us with blessings for which we do not qualify and still remain just his Mercy is endless but his Mercy is rooted in Justice if God were not just he would not be merciful in the end giving each of us exactly what we desire and Merit is just as well as merciful because we will all be content with our Eternal judgment God's judgment will be just and each person will acknowledge the perfect justice of that judgment as well as the merciful nature of the Judgment since we will be where we truly desire to be and
with people whom we desire to be like and associate with this correct understanding of God as revealed through the restoration is critical to our willingness and ability to put our complete faith and trust in God and His revealed word through prophets both ancient and modern God is unchangeable and the way he is described today by our prophets while very different from the language of olden times can still be completely squared with the scriptures especially as we understand that each Prophet writes in his own in their own time with their cultural background with language suited to
motivate Their audience to Greater adherence to God's Commandments and resulting happiness I I submit that our understanding of God's nature is aided by the following scriptures first in doctrine of Covenant Section 76: 5 it says I the Lord am merciful and gracious unto those who fear me and Delight to honor those who serve me in righteousness and in truth until the end or how about Doctrine and Covenant section 41:1 hearken and hear oh ye my people sayeth the Lord and your God ye whom I Delight to bless with the greatest of all blessings ye that
hear me well brothers and sisters it appears that God Delights to bless us it is what makes him happy now let's acknowledge that the remainder of doctrine of Covenant section 41:1 is an excellent example of the warning of curses the verse continues and ye that hear me not will I curse that have professed my name with the heaviest of all cursings again note that it is only a curse if we refuse to listen or heed or follow what God has told us to do which I think we've established is not really a curse as we
would use the term today but rather a simple fulfillment of a promised consequence for failure to do as clearly directed in this case hear God another hard lesson we learn in life as well as from the scriptures is that poor choices have consequences we may repent of sins but God doesn't remove the natural consequences of sin that's why it is always better to avoid sin than to sin and then repent God in his Mercy always warns us what with Clarity how to avoid those consequences and even how to mitigate them if it is too late
to avoid them when Joseph Smith failed to follow God's counsel and lost the 116 Pages God taught him not to fear man and forgave him but the 116 Pages were still gone that's a pretty big mistake on Joseph's part and we're suffering the consequences of that mistake to this day Joseph was was forgiven the sin was gone but the consequences remained we can learn from that experience we mustn't blame God for the forfeiture of blessings nor for the natural consequences of refusing to follow his loving guidance as given to us by prophets I would like
to add another thought to this point one of my favorite scriptures is doctrine of Covenant section 130: 20 and 21 which reads reads there is a law irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world upon which all blessings are predicated and when we obtain any blessing from God it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated the unstated coraly to this scripture is that if we fail to obey the law upon which the blessing is predicated we forfeit that blessing it is clearly implied if not clearly stated another favorite scripture
of mine is mosiah 2:41 and moreover I would desire that you should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the Commandments of God for behold they are blessed in all things both temporal and spiritual and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of NeverEnding happiness oh remember remember that these things are true for the Lord God hath spoken it well what about those who don't keep the Commandments of God while God surely still loves them King
Benjamin's unstated implication is that God will not bless them in all things in the same way because they have not qualified for the promised blessings it would not be just for those of us that have been taught and truly understand the promised blessings for obedience to God's laws we would likely likely feel great anguish upon realizing that we had forfeited those blessings through our willful rejection of God's warnings this realization of what we have given up by our poor by our poor choices might even be described as the Pains of hell that are spoken of
in the scriptures I believe this is what Peter had in mind in 2 Peter chap 2: 20 and 2 1 where he says for if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ they are again entangled therein and overcome the latter end is worse with them than the beginning for it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than after they have known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them another concept I believe is that God's choices
BL blessings are to a large extent not even comprehended by those who never receive them which is just one more evidence to me of God's endless mercy to his children I have thought often how empty my life would would be without my eternal companion or without each one of our eight children or their spouses or our 30 soon to be 32 beautiful grandchildren the thought of losing even one of them fills me with Dread however somebody who has never experienced the joy of marriage or children or especially grandchildren doesn't feel the same anguish at not
having those blessings that I might feel if I were to lose those blessings because I've tasted of the goodness of those blessings a couple of years ago we had all eight of our children and their spouses together in the Houston Texas temple for the first and only time due to our kids living in far-flung places and and leading busy lives as we stood in a circle in the celestial room with tears in our eyes my joy was reminiscent of lehi's description of partaking of the fruit of the tree of life I beheld that it was
most sweet above all that I ever before tasted and it filled my soul with exceedingly great joy oh how I long to feel that Joy again in this life as well as the next like Lehi I naturally desire that others might partake of that same fruit and feel what I felt starting with our family and continuing with others however until I had actually felt that I could not have imagined it we will all get exactly what we most desire and we will be content with it because that is what we have sought I would submit
to you my young friends that it is worth the time and our greatest efforts to work to qualify for all the richest blessings that God has in store for us don't short Change Yourself by choosing an easier path the greatest blessings are reserved for those that are willing to work through hard challenges and do hard things if we shy away from work we limit God's ability to bless us as sister Anderson beautifully explained work is a key part of God's plan and is a blessing as well as being a prerequisite to all the greatest blessings
God desires to give us so so if we come to truly understand that God is merciful and just then we can read the scriptures with that enlightened more optimistic understanding which eliminates doubts and concerns I testify that the more we come to understand our savior and his gospel the more we see how perfect the gospel is and how much happiness it brings to literally every single person it touches we see that as missionaries the gospel blesses every person it touches one final point with regard to clearly understanding the nature of God and our place in
the universe in the house of the Lord we are given many wonderful blessings and Promises in each of the ordinances the initiatory the endowment and the ceiling there is one particular blessing that we are seemingly given twice that of clarity Clarity of thinking and Clarity of vision it appears that God wants us to see and think clearly as baptized and confirmed members of the Church of Jesus Christ of latterday saints we also have the beautiful promise of the spirit always being with us we know from Jacob 4:13 that the spirit speaketh of things as they
really are and of things as they really will be wherefore these things are manifested unto us plainly for the Salvation of our souls my dear young friends as you go throughout your lives I invite you to reflect on the merciful and just nature of God and what that means for you seek to understand this Doctrine we have the privilege and the blessing of understanding clearly God's nature and character and seeing clearly our own place as his literal Spirit sons and daughters with Divine potential let us claim the promised blessings to see God as he really
is and let us see through the fog and deception of the adversary and claim our place as joint heirs with Christ bound to him through sacred coven joyfully sharing the good news of his gospel in the name of Jesus Christ amen am
