We were privileged to hear Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles during three different presentations: a mission conference with all the missionaries of the England London South mission in attendance, a YSA Fireside and the Reading Stake Conference. I will share some of the things he presented to us.
Elder Bednar started his talk by talking about some of the “false traditions of our fathers.” One is that we take notes of what the speaker says, then never look at them again, usually because we can’t find them anyway. He said not to write down what he says, rather to jot down the impressions we receive from the spirit.
Another false tradition is to play “guess what’s in my head.” Some teachers do this and he assured us that he would not do that as he conducted the question and answer part of his presentation.
Agents vs objects
Agency means to act, rather than be acted upon. We are agents to act, not objects to be acted upon. Today’s philosophy says falsely that we are objects who are acted upon. “It’s not my fault; I was born this way.” Don’t be seduced by that thinking.
Do we pray as objects or agents? Nephi had to pray for strength beyond his own to burst the bands that held him. 1 Nephi 7:16 And it came to pass that when I, Nephi, had spoken these words unto my brethren, they were angry with me. And it came to pass that they did lay their hands upon me, for behold, they were exceedingly wroth, and they did bind me with cords, for they sought to take away my life, that they might leave me in the wilderness to be devoured by wild beasts.
17 But it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord, saying: O Lord, according to my faith which is in thee, wilt thou deliver me from the hands of my brethren; yea, even give me strength that I may burst these bands with which I am bound.
Elder Bednar said that if his brothers had bound him like that he would pray for someone to come release him and to do bad things to his brothers! That would be praying as an object, not an agent.
D&C101:78 That every man may act in doctrine and principle pertaining to futurity, according to the moral agency which I have given unto him, that every man may be accountable for his own sins in the day of judgment.
Acting in doctrine--don’t just pray for Heavenly Father to do it.
Don’t study the scriptures as an object waiting for Heavenly Father to fill you up. Have a question in mind as you study. Ask, seek and knock and find your answers. It is the same with temple. Take a question with you when you attend the temple.
The following is from a CES address by Elder Bednar February 3, 2006 which is one of the talks that we were to study before the conference.
“Recall how Nephi desired to know about the things his father, Lehi, had seen in the vision of the tree of life. Interestingly, the Spirit of the Lord begins the tutorial with Nephi by asking the following question, “Behold, what desirest thou?” (1 Nephi 11:2). Clearly the Spirit knew what Nephi desired. So why ask the question? The Holy Ghost was helping Nephi to act in the learning process and not simply be acted upon. (I encourage you at a later time to study chapters 11–14 in 1 Nephi and notice how the Spirit both asked questions and encouraged Nephi to “look” as active elements in the learning process.)”
Grace--simply being cleansed of sin is not enough. We need to set aside the natural man through the atonement and become pure. The grace of God enters our life as we make covenants. At the close of the Reading Stake Conference he sat down, then got up again as the piano started playing the closing song. He said to pay attention to verse 3 because that’s what grace is.
How Firm a Foundation
3. Fear not, I am with thee; O be not dismayed!
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand. .
He said there are two main themes of the Book of Mormon:
come unto me
in the strength of the Lord.
His challenge to the Reading Stake: read the Book of Mormon cover to cover and search for every occurrence of in the strength of the Lord or words to that effect. Don’t use the computer to search the text; that’s cheating! Then write a one page paper on it. Mosiah 24:13-15 is one of them.
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