Determined Discipleship

Dear Blog-land...I've received these fantastic quotes (below) from my friends Vic and Carrie. They are from a talk given by Elder Neal A. Maxwell - one of our beloved apostles. Maxwell's way with words always left me in awe. He could paint pictures so vividly and effectively with his gift. His words from a talk given at BYU were recorded in 1979, and ring so true today... it is almost eerie.

This article is particularly meaningful to me as... I am in that weird space called Facebook. A place where my personal wall has been a spot for so-called "friends" to rant and rave against Prop 8 and the Church. It is a place where attacking my character, and slapping me with labels because of what I believe in is commonplace. I'll admit it is frustrating. I don't troll their sites to attack them for not believing in what I do. I don't openly go look for confrontation to assert that my opinion is superior to theirs. So I guess it's odd why they feel the need to do so on mine. I can only guess that it is because it is so obvious how passionately I believe in what I believe - therefore I am a threat.

Which is sad. It's sad when one group of people feel threatened when someone has a different opinion. It is sad when one group derides another because they have faith. It is sad when they think it's necessary to point fingers, and work to embarrass those that have faith. It reminds one of that great and spacious building. Those people sought to shame those that love God, into leaving Him and entering into that worldly, trendy building. A building with no foundation.

But if you, like me, are not ashamed... then stand up. We will endure, persevere the hard times...we will hold tight to the iron rod when those in the great and spacious building mock us, belittle us and scoff at what we believe in. We will demonstrate by word, deed, and thought that we, we are determined to be disciples of Christ. The elections will soon be over, but the quest to do what is right, will still go on. I'm in it for the long haul... onward and upward. Thanks for allowing me to stand next to good folks like you.

A More Determined Discipleship
by Neal A Maxwell
Neal A. Maxwell, “A More Determined Discipleship,” Ensign, Feb 1979, 69–73
An address delivered at Brigham Young University, 10 October 1978

Below are some exerpts - but the entire article is rich with wisdom. Please go read it - please share it.

"Make no mistake about it, brothers and sisters, in the months and years ahead, events are likely to require each member to decide whether or not they will follow the First Presidency. Members will find it more difficult tohalt longer between two opinions.

President Marion G. Romney said, many years ago, that he had 'never hesitated to follow the counsel of the Authorities of the Church even though it crossed my social, professional or political life.'

"This is hard doctrine, but it is particularly vital doctrine in a society which is becoming more wicked. In short, brothers and sisters, not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ includes not being ashamed of the prophets of Jesus Christ. . . Your discipleship may see the time when such religious convictions are discounted. . . . This new irreligious imperialism seeks to disallow certain opinions simply because those opinions grow out of religious convictions.

"Resistance to abortion will be seen as primitive. Concern over the institution of the family will be viewed as untrendy and unenlightened.... Before the ultimate victory of the forces of righteousness, some skirmishes will be lost. Even in these, however, let us leave a record so that the choices are clear, letting others do as they will in the face of prophetic counsel. There will also be times, happily, when a minor defeat seems probable, but others will step forward, having been rallied to rightness by what we do. We will know the joy, on occasion, of having awakened a slumbering majority of the decent people of all races and creeds which was,till then, unconscious of itself. Jesus said that when the fig trees put forth their leaves, 'summer is nigh.' Thus warned that summer is upon us, let us not then complain of the heat."

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