Snelsons in Africa!: Happy 21st Birthday-Charity -vs- Pride

Happy Birthday to Aubrey!

How wonderful it is to be serving a mission on your birthday. Here, Mom and I, call each of the forty (40) missionaries serving in the Beira District, and sign Happy Birthday to them on their special day.

Not that you have any issue with this, but Charity, is the solution to avoid Pride as well as preoccupation with self.

"Preoccupation with self. One who is preoccupied with self is unable to feel the pure love of Christ and to extend that love to others. "The final and crowning virtue of the divine character," President Ezra Taft Benson explained, "is charity, or the pure love of Christ (see Moro. 7:47). If we would truly seek to be more like our Savior and Master, learning to love as He loves should be our highest goal. . . . The world today speaks a great deal about love, and it is sought for by many. But the pure love of Christ differs greatly from what the world thinks of love. Charity never seeks selfish gratification. The pure love of Christ seeks only the eternal growth and joy of others." The Savior's commission to "love thy neighbor as thyself" has less to do with loving oneself and more to do with loving others as one would desire to be loved, thereby fulfilling the Golden Rule as given by the Master in the sermon at Galilee and at Bountiful (Matt. 7:12; 3 Ne. 14:12). There is no divine directive to spend time developing self-love or becoming obsessed with self-esteem. Rather, the irony of the ages is to be found in the principle that only as one loses his life does he find it (Matt. 16:25) (Book of Mormon 1991 Sperry Symposium).

There are many aspects of Pride. It appears to me, that Pride toward God, is one of the main reasons people remain less active. President Ezra Taft Benson said: "The central feature of pride is enmity--enmity toward God.." (Beware of Pride)

Samuel the Lamanite-Prophet, testified against the wicked Nephites and their support of false prophets: "..if a man shall come among you and shall say: Do this, and there is no iniquity; do that and ye shall not suffer; yea, he will say: Walk after the pride of your own hearts...do whatsoever your heart desireth" (Hel. 13: 27).

Mormon explains that because of "pride...how slow are they to remember the Lord their God, and give ear unto his counsels....Behold, they do not desire that the Lord their God, who hath created them, should rule and reign over them; notwithstanding his great goodness and his mercy towards them, they do set at naught his counsels, and they will not that he should be their guide" (Hel. 12: 5-6).

We are all accountable to God for the choices we make. The explanation often given for getting a tattoo or even an abortion, is that: 'it's my body'. This prideful and false statement denies any accountability to God.

The Apostle Paul taught: "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" (1 Cor. 6: 19)

We are not our own. We are the children of God, and when we do something to our body or to the body of someone else, we are accountable to God.

Paul also referred to those consumed with food: "..whose God is their belly," (Phil. 3:19)

This type of Pride, is also the cause of people not paying tithing. "Will a man rob God? Yet, ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings" (Mal.3:8; 3 Ne. 24:8).

We are accountable to God for everything we do. "..your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds" (Mosiah 4:30).

By applying the Atonement of Jesus Christ, one can put off the natural man and become a saint. This results in having "no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually" (Mosiah 3:19; 5:2).

"Virtue originates in your innermost thoughts and desires. It is a pattern of thought and behavior based on high moral standards. Since the Holy Ghost does not dwell in unclean tabernacles, virtue is prerequisite to receiving the Spirit’s guidance. What you choose to think and do when you are alone and you believe no one is watching is a strong measure of your virtue. Virtuous people are clean and pure spiritually. They focus on righteous, uplifting thoughts and put unworthy thoughts that lead to inappropriate actions out of their minds. They obey God’s commandments and follow the counsel of Church leaders. They pray for the strength to resist temptation and do what is right. They quickly repent of any sins or wrongdoings. They live worthy of a temple recommend" (Preach My Gospel, pages 118-119).

People will often wear masks or create various elaborate schemes to hide their identity, often to commit wickedness. "Nevertheless, they durst not lie, if it were known, for fear of the law" "durst not commit any wickedness if it were known" (Alma 1: 17, 33).

Heavenly Father of course knows everything. "For he knoweth all things, and there is not anything save he knows it" (2 Ne. 9:20).

The companionship of the Holy Ghost is our witness that we are doing Heavenly Father's will and He is pleased with our efforts. "You can feel certain that the Lord is pleased when you feel the Spirit working through you" (Preach My Gospel, page 11).

Keep up the good work!

A few photos....

1.) People marching in the street as part of a political rally.