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“What we are is God’s gift to us. What we become is our gift to God.”

- Powell

Thought this was interesting.

“Brother [Wilford] Woodruff spoke… He refered [sic] to a saying of Joseph Smith which he heard him utter (like this) That if the People knew what was behind the vail, they would try by every means to commit suicide that they might get there, but the Lord in his wisdom had implanted the fear of death in every person that they might cling to life and thus accomplish the designs of their creator.”

- Diary of Charles Lowell Walked, ed. By A. Karl Larson and Katherine M. Larson [Logan, Ut.: Utah State University Press, 1980] vol. 1, pp. 465-466.

“Do not allow darkness and gloom to enter into your hearts. I want to give you a rule by which you may know that the spirit which you have is the right spirit. The Spirit of God produces cheerfulness, joy, light and good feelings. Whenever you feel gloomy and despondent and are downcast, unless it be for your sins, you may know it is not the Spirit of God which you have. Fight against it and drive it out of your heart. The Spirit of God is a spirit of hope; it is not a spirit of gloom.”

“There is nothing on earth, nothing that man can taste or experience that is so sweet, so happifying, so full of delight, as the presence of the Spirit of God. It fills the soul with joy that is inexpressible.”

– George Q. Cannon, Deseret Weekly, January 14, 1987, 48:351; also “Gospel Truth,” page 144

And,

“Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.”

– 2 Nephi 2:25

I think most men need to re-think the way they treat women:

“You [sisters] belong to the great sorority of Saviorhood. You may not hold the Priesthood. Men are different. Men have to have something given to them to make them saviors of men, but not mothers, not women. You are born with an inherent right, an inherent authority, to be saviors of the human souls. You are the co-creators with God of his children. Therefore, it is expected of you by a right divine that you be the saviors and the regenerating force in the lives of God’s children here upon the earth.”

- Matthew Cowley (”Matthew Cowley Speaks,” p. 109)

… for women have perhaps the most sacred calling in our eternity.

Before I quote President Howick, I’d like to comment on his use of the words “free agency.” Man’s agency is not free, nor has it ever been. It was certainly paid for. Personally, I think the use of the term “free agency” is a misnomer and it should be referred to just as “agency:” the ability to choose. Here, now, President Howick offers some great insight on this said subject.

“Some people want to believe that free agency means there should be randomness in our Father’s plan — as if it’s important that we have the ability to surprise Him — even though, in my mind, that would undermine faith.

“However, to add spice to the discussion, let me throw a wrench into your example. D&C 137:7:  ‘All who have died without a knowledge of this gospel, who would have received it if they had been permitted to tarry, shall be heirs of the celestial kingdom of God.’  By the same reasoning,  all who die without the opportunity to choose for themselves in mortality will be assigned whichever Kingdom suits them based on our  Father’s knowledge of how they would have decided had they been permitted to tarry.

“Too often we fall into the trap of believing that the only reasons we are here are to get a body and be judged.  But we are also here to gain experience. D&C 130:18, ‘Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection.’ In a very real sense, we are not here to prove ourselves worthy of a particular Kingdom — our Father knew before the world was made which kingdom each of us would attain — but to prepare ourselves to serve in the kingdom we receive.  There would be no value in handing us the proverbial keys of the kingdom, even if we deserved them, had we not first been prepared to receive them.

“And yet, it would seem that some do not need this experience.  When I was young, I believed that the revelation of D&C 137:7 was unfair because it granted the Kingdom to people who hadn’t lived to earn it. But as I grew, I learned that we simply don’t yet know everything about that revelation.  Mosiah 29:12, ‘Now it is better that a man should be judged of God than of man, for the judgments of God are always just….’  The judgment of God will be fair and those who did not experience this life either didn’t need it or will yet receive it in another way — and whether my belief is right or wrong, I know that I will be judged fairly, and that is enough for me.”

- President Howick

In a later post, I will add some more commentary on the topic of our agency: why is it not “free agency,” how does the mere fact of having agency affect our salvation, and what does a truly fair judgment imply? Go read it.

“Shall we not go on in such great a cause?”

- Joseph Smith, prior to his martyrdom in Carthage, IL

Is the consumption of caffeinated beverages a violation of God’s commandments (or, the Word of Wisdom)?

“With reference to the cola drinks, the Church has never officially taken any attitude on this matter…but I personally do not put them in the class as with the tea and coffee because the Lord specifically mentioned them [the hot drinks]…

I might say also that strychnine and sleeping pills and opium and heroin are not mentioned in the Word of Wisdom and yet I would discourage them will all my power…”

Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, page 202