Out of Bondage
This morning when I opened my scriptures my eyes fell first on the following verse:
Yea, do ye suppose that they would have been led out of bondage, if the Lord had not commanded Moses that he should lead them out of bondage?
1 Nephi 17:24
Here is evidence that the Lord knows me because this verse speaks to things I've had much on my mind that are directly related to my immediate actions.
Without going into personal things too much, here's the question I want to pose in the context of this verse: how are we doing at coming out of bondage?
I think it's safe to say that we are surrounded by enslaving philosophies, products, lifestyles, and temptations, but are we individually or as a people in bondage? If so, who is leading us out?
A few of the answers to this question are obvious. We have living prophets today to warn us of danger and teach us how to get out, but some of the bondages to which we are exposed may not be easily spoken to by church leaders. Fortunately, this requires us to think and act for ourselves.
We hear warnings about social and moral issues from the pulpit, but what about political ideas that would hold us captive? Who leads us out of those? What about the other kinds of captivity we often place ourselves in by various ways and means?
Obviously, the words of the prophets are applicable to all areas of life. I'm not advocating replacing or displacing the prophets in any way. What I'm talking about is our charge as Latter-day Saints to be saviors on mount Zion. We all have a role to play and I think there's a call for leadership. How do we use the teachings of the gospel coupled with our specific gifts to lead each other out of bondage?
Let me give you an example.
I'm a media guy. I'm not the most avid partaker of popular media, but media production and services is my profession. From my perspective, I can see that many people are enslaved by a limited and corrupt selection of high-quality popular media (when I say "high-quality" I'm referring to technical and artistic merit, not content). Take movies for example. I think people deserve, even need in some respects high-quality productions. The problem: those that are clean and edifying are not very available on a large scale. Also, the producers of corruption are very powerful. I'm not one to say that it's impossible for anything good to come out of Hollywood, but I do think it's very difficult for something pure to make it out. I also think we could benefit from scaling back our movie intake considerably. Even so, in my opinion, a really worthwhile movie is hard to come by.
In other words, the moviegoers of America need a Moses.
Now, the fact that I can see this places a certain amount of responsibility on my shoulders, and this leads to the part that I'm not ready to go into right now, but my question for you is this: have you seen any other such problems? Forget about movies, I mean with anything. What are your gifts? Are you using them according to your divine calling, as did Moses? If so, you are helping to lead others out of bondage.
Those ideas you've been getting about how things could be made better are the voice of the Lord to you, commanding you to help make things better. Of course, this is limited by your stewardship, so apply wisdom here.
The point is that only you can fill your role, just as only Moses could have been Moses. I'm sensible that the Lord's works cannot be frustrated, but Moses was raised up for his purpose just as you have been raised for yours. Ask yourself Nephi's question. Do you suppose that those you could influence for good will be led out of bondage if you refuse to do as the Lord has commanded?
Yea, do ye suppose that they would have been led out of bondage, if the Lord had not commanded Moses that he should lead them out of bondage?
1 Nephi 17:24
Here is evidence that the Lord knows me because this verse speaks to things I've had much on my mind that are directly related to my immediate actions.
Without going into personal things too much, here's the question I want to pose in the context of this verse: how are we doing at coming out of bondage?
I think it's safe to say that we are surrounded by enslaving philosophies, products, lifestyles, and temptations, but are we individually or as a people in bondage? If so, who is leading us out?
A few of the answers to this question are obvious. We have living prophets today to warn us of danger and teach us how to get out, but some of the bondages to which we are exposed may not be easily spoken to by church leaders. Fortunately, this requires us to think and act for ourselves.
We hear warnings about social and moral issues from the pulpit, but what about political ideas that would hold us captive? Who leads us out of those? What about the other kinds of captivity we often place ourselves in by various ways and means?
Obviously, the words of the prophets are applicable to all areas of life. I'm not advocating replacing or displacing the prophets in any way. What I'm talking about is our charge as Latter-day Saints to be saviors on mount Zion. We all have a role to play and I think there's a call for leadership. How do we use the teachings of the gospel coupled with our specific gifts to lead each other out of bondage?
Let me give you an example.
I'm a media guy. I'm not the most avid partaker of popular media, but media production and services is my profession. From my perspective, I can see that many people are enslaved by a limited and corrupt selection of high-quality popular media (when I say "high-quality" I'm referring to technical and artistic merit, not content). Take movies for example. I think people deserve, even need in some respects high-quality productions. The problem: those that are clean and edifying are not very available on a large scale. Also, the producers of corruption are very powerful. I'm not one to say that it's impossible for anything good to come out of Hollywood, but I do think it's very difficult for something pure to make it out. I also think we could benefit from scaling back our movie intake considerably. Even so, in my opinion, a really worthwhile movie is hard to come by.
In other words, the moviegoers of America need a Moses.
Now, the fact that I can see this places a certain amount of responsibility on my shoulders, and this leads to the part that I'm not ready to go into right now, but my question for you is this: have you seen any other such problems? Forget about movies, I mean with anything. What are your gifts? Are you using them according to your divine calling, as did Moses? If so, you are helping to lead others out of bondage.
Those ideas you've been getting about how things could be made better are the voice of the Lord to you, commanding you to help make things better. Of course, this is limited by your stewardship, so apply wisdom here.
The point is that only you can fill your role, just as only Moses could have been Moses. I'm sensible that the Lord's works cannot be frustrated, but Moses was raised up for his purpose just as you have been raised for yours. Ask yourself Nephi's question. Do you suppose that those you could influence for good will be led out of bondage if you refuse to do as the Lord has commanded?
Comments
Thanks for the reminder!