| Re: The Fastest Way to Make Your Calling and Election Sure [message #3464 is a reply to message #3463] |
Thu, 25 June 2015 12:46   |
bishop
Messages: 144
Registered: July 2010
Location: USA
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Senior Member |
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I hope you don't mistake my enthusiasm for pride. It's just that all my adult life, over decades, I thought like many others, that in order to receive CE, I had to go thru an Abrahamic trial. I read the experiences of Abraham being sacrificed to pagan gods, or Isaac allowing himself to be sacrificed, or Job remaining faithful in spite of the most unthinkable trial in which his own wife counseled him to "curse God and die." I reasoned that only after these horrific trials did they receive their CE. After going thru that trial that I had been expecting and learning that I would be obedient no matter what, I perceived that the trial was for my own benefit-to know for myself that I would be faithful. I perceived that God already knew who I was and how faithful I was. Then I met others who had not been so tried and who had received CE. I have often wondered if I couldn't have received my CE many years before if I had considered that it was a possibility. Then, as I studied the BoM further, I came to understand that perhaps we don't have to be sorely tried before receiving this blessing. Perhaps we can be like Mormon, who saw the Savior at age 15; or Nephi and Jacob who received it while still in their youth... Perhaps, as we draw closer to the Second Coming and enter the Millenium, we will find that this blessing is handed down from parents to children, just as a testimony of the gospel is done now. My previous post was meant to encourage others to not get caught in the trap that I was in of thinking they have to go thru a major trial to receive CE. You will still have all the trials you can handle for the rest of your life. But perhaps it is as simple as what Amonhi said to do: pray about it and see what the Lord tells you. My post was to illustrate that a true seeker can find in the BoM a handbook, a guidebook, with graphic illustrations of how we can receive our CE and the Second Comforter.
As I stated before, the biggest hurdle is to allow oneself to believe that he/she can receive CE. Opening one's eyes to this possibility is key. Most people I know do not even consider this as conceivable for themselves, perhaps for an apostle, but not for a "normal member" of the Church.
Bishop
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