Our stake was fortunate to have Elder Bednar visit us this weekend. Following are some random highlights that I enjoyed, hopefully paraphrased correctly:
We hope you, not of our faith, aren’t offended by our forthrightness to share the gospel with you. Rather, we hope you see the compliment in our sharing with you what matters most to our hearts.
Agency is not necessarily choosing, but the power of independent action. Once you sign a contract for a team, a company, etc...you are duty-bound and no longer a free agent. When baptized, our agency falls under baptismal covenant. We don’t have the option not to keep the commandments. If you break a covenant, don’t call it agency of choosing – it’s rebelling and breaking a commandment. Once baptized, you are duty-bound to choose the right.
When I was president of BYU, many times I was approached by students about why they had to follow a dress code and certain standards. I would first ask them if they signed up to attend BYU, or if their parents signed them up? Secondly, I would ask them if they signed the dress code contract, because once they signed the contract, they didn’t have the right to choose not to obey the standards. They could do it elsewhere, but not at school, not under contract.
I hear from a lot of people in the western world that they don’t have time for family scripture study. I simply do not believe it. You make time for what’s important to you. If you don’t have time to read and pray, it’s not important to you.
We will be what we have become. We all will overcome physical and spiritual death and return to the presence of our Heavenly Father. The question is, “Will we stay there?” Our actions will determine if we can stay. We will be what we have become.
Thanks for the review. I was thinking about his talk this morning too. I really liked the part about deciding what it important.
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