FAIR's Rising Generation

Archive for May 24th, 2009

Let me attempt an introduction.

I’m your Sunday evening blogger. Recently, I returned from my mission in Sydney, Australia and am now at BYU-Provo pretending to study ancient biblical history (because it would be a joke to say I understand it). Apart from my mission, I’ve been involved with FAIR’s Rising Generation’s parent organization (FAIR) since I was 16. My passion for defending the faith is as much a part of me as my toes. Getting rid of either would cause me discomfort.

As interesting as my life story is, I’ll spare you any more. Instead I thought you’d prefer something a little more insightful. I want to highlight a few benchmarks on the common path every Latter-day Saint must take.

What common path am I referring to? Within the realm of the God’s big plan for us, there’s a part called life on earth. Truth is, we’re living it right now. Life hands us vastly different circumstances, and each obstacle is unique. My challenges aren’t your challenges, and your challenges aren’t mine, but we live on the same planet, and we want the same goal: To return to Heavenly Father. To do this right, we have to embark on the path of perfection. Some parts of the path are common to all of us.

First, we have to build faith in the Savior. If we don’t trust Jesus Christ, He can’t help us (much like you could never help me if I didn’t trust you). We get our faith in different ways, but we all need faith to become perfect.

Another step on the path is baptism. While we treat baptism as something sacred, it turns out there’s nothing magical or mysterious about the process of being baptized. First, we step into the water. Then, someone with authority (a man holding the priesthood in our Church) says a prayer, immerses us fully into the water, and lifts us out. It’s that simple. Our name goes on Church records as a new member and we get a certificate.

What makes baptism so significant is it’s symbolism. Just as Christ died, was laid in a tomb, arose, and came forth resurrected, we go under the water (“buried” in it) and rise out as a symbol showing we want to follow Christ. Baptism is a contract (covenant) with God showing our seriousness. What makes it a miracle is that Heavenly Father dismisses all our sins to that point and lets us start over again, morally clean. It’s partly His show of support for our new life. We’ll go into more detail about baptism another time.

For now we’ll go over one more event on the path to perfection which is often ignored and rarely treated seriously. On the path to perfection, every member of the Church will confront anti-Mormonism. Trials of faith are essential to our growth, and we can’t be perfected without them.

Not all anti-Mormonism is the same. It may come from pamphlets distributed from other churches, it may be a friend accusing you or your parents of practicing polygamy at school, or it may be an atheist on the Internet mocking Christ. However frequent, and with whatever level of intensity, you will have to face it, and knowing what to say will help when it comes.

The reason I dedicate so much time to defending the faith is to help you and for you to help others. As Elder Christofferson said, “We need strong Christians who can…defend the truth of Jesus Christ against moral relativism and militant atheism” [1]. Physically we are strangers, but our spirits make us family. And if we want to be successful on the path to perfection, we have to do it together–you and I, our friends, relatives, and even our enemies. May we not be persuaded by what the critics say. Instead, may we be bold and firm, “ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15) in defending what we know is true. Let’s lift each other up.

—footnotes—
[1] D.Todd Christofferson, “The Power of Covenants,” Ensign, May 2009, 19–23. In addition to this, C.S. Lewis said, “To be ignorant and simple now–not to be able to meet the enemies on their own grounds–would be to throw down our weapons, and to betray our uneducated brethren who have, under God, no defense but us against the intellectual attacks of the heathen. Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, because bad philosophy needs to be answered.”
C.S. Lewis, “Learning in War Times”, The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses, 1965, 28