April 2006 Gen. Conf - "Zion in the Midst of Babylon", Elder David R. Stone (2nd Quorum of the Seventy)
Powerful and sobering words about the blinding influence our cultures have on our spiritual progression without us even knowing it.
----------------------------------------------------------
"My involvement with the building of the Manhattan temple gave me the opportunity to be in the temple quite often prior to the dedication. It was wonderful to sit in the celestial room and be there in perfect silence, without a single sound to be heard coming from the busy New York streets outside. How was it possible that the temple could be so reverently silent when the hustle and bustle of the metropolis was just a few yards away?
"The answer was in the construction of the temple. The temple was built within the walls of an existing building, and the inner walls of the temple were connected to the outer walls at only a very few junction points. That is how the temple (Zion) limited the effects of Babylon, or the world outside.
"...What an insidious thing is this culture amidst which we live. It permeates our environment, and we think we are being reasonable and logical when, all too often, we have been molded by the ethos, what the Germans call the zeitgeist, or the culture of our place and time."
"...People in every culture move within a cocoon of self-satisfied self-deception, fully convinced that the way they see things is the way things really are.
If we think that we are exempt from the effects of the cultures we are exposed to just because we are "good people" or have been baptised / endowed / sealed, then we probably need to look up the definition of "self-deception" and remember Elder Neal A. Maxwell's admonition to not ask the Lord "Is it me?", but instead ask "Is it this?".
D&C 58:26 says that the Lord will not "command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant", and I believe we will not be compelled to be aware of the self-deception or false convictions that we brought upon ourselves - the Lord will wait for us to earnestly seek out to see ourselves as we really are.
"Our culture tends to determine what foods we like, how we dress, what constitutes polite behavior, what sports we should follow, what our taste in music should be, the importance of education, and our attitudes toward honesty. It also influences men as to the importance of recreation or religion, influences women about the priority of career or childbearing, and has a powerful effect on how we approach procreation and moral issues. All too often, we are like puppets on a string, as our culture determines what is “cool.”
Elder Stone says that we can learn a lesson from how the New York temple keep out the noise from the
busy streets, and how we can establish a Zion
in our homes and keep the "noise" out while in the "Midst of Babylon".
"We do not need to adopt the standards, the mores, and the morals of Babylon. We can create Zion in the midst of Babylon. We can have our own standards for music and literature and dance and film and language. We can have our own standards for dress and deportment, for politeness and respect. We can live in accordance with the Lord’s moral laws. We can limit how much of Babylon we allow into our homes by the media of communication."
I think we all need to take some time to ponder our
cultures and pray to "see things as they really are", and be able to
determine the media "Trojan Horses" that are flying under the radar
but delivering a daily dose of Babylon right to our living room or
kitchen table. I have found it helpful to think not just about the
content of the programs our families watch, the also think about if the
demeanor of those we watch/listen to is bringing us closer to the
demeanor we must adopt to be a true disciple of Christ. Are we seeking
out those who are preaching the doctrine of socially
acceptable light-mindedness or trifling with the souls of men, just as
the Israelites were happy to accept the first graven image that they
could find? We may be convinced that we can consume some media without
it visibly changing us, but can we consume it without it invisibly
desensitizing us in undetectable but nonetheless effective amounts?
It may seem innocuous, but do we know how little noise of
the world it would take to push out peace? Just think what would happen
if you were in the Temple and about to enter the Celestial Room, and
the audio from the shows your family watches or the music you listen to
in the car starts to play, or if the Temple workers used types of
conversation or speech our culture says are acceptable; would that
maintain the spirit of peace or destroy it?
Elder Neal A. Maxwell has a few words to say on earthly cultures as well:
"...[T]he sincere seeker after celestial culture must be more concerned with the preparation for that culture than with the preservation of present culture. Such things as how we hold a knife and fork when we eat or how we dance are differences that seldom matter much. There are other current cultural differences that do matter much ... Enough prophets have inveighed against unwise or wicked “traditions of the fathers” for us to know that certain mortal traditions can be devastating and disabling. Cultural differences, however, which are matters of preference and not principle can continue to provide color and variety. God seems to love variety, except in doctrine—because the latter is so crucial.
The hard sayings of the scriptures are, therefore, in fact just that. They are especially hard to bear if we are guilty. Little wonder that we read on one occasion how, having heard the rigorous requirements of a revealed religion, the disciples of Jesus became anxious. Of them we read:
“And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved?” (Mark 10:26; italics added.)
We may be "astonished out of measure, saying among
themselves, [what] then can be [watched or listened to]?", but do the
souls of our families mean enough to us to limit those cultural
influences that will allow Satan to lead “them by the neck with a flaxen
cord, until he bindeth them with his strong cords forever” (2 Nephi
26:22)? Will we succumb to participating or preserving an earthly
culture which is in direct conflict with a celestial culture, or will we
"Dare to Stand Alone" as a true believer in Christ as Pres. Monson
encouraged us to do in the last General Conference?
Will we let one note of Babylon in, or will we build Zion?
No comments:
Post a Comment