cooperation or coercion

8/14/2019 Cooperation or Coercion

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Earth. Our Father in Heaven established a system of voluntary cooperation. He presented

a plan and pleaded with us to trust him and believe that passing through the trials of mortal

life would be in our best interest. He promised us that even though there was riskinvolved, and that some of our siblings might not make it back, this would be the only way

that we could grow and become like Him.

Our Eternal Father knew from the beginning that some of His children would succeed and

others would fail; some would be faithful, others false; some would choose the good,

others the evil; some would seek the way of life while others would elect to follow the roadto destruction. Our all wise and knowing Father accepted that truth and let His children

leave home and come to Earth (Talmage,Jesus the Christ). Yet he did not force us to come

here. We chose to change.

Talmage states, The Father of Souls impels no man toward sin and compels none to

righteousness (The Great Apostasy).

A third of the hosts of heaven chose another path. They wanted centralized power and

decision making. There were reasonable sounding arguments here. Although we wouldntbe able to reach our full potential, we could eliminate that risk of not making it back. Thatwas a pretty serious risk. Also, we would never be left behind. Everyone would progress

at the same rate. A centralized power would keep us from getting into trouble. And

someone wiser than us would be left to make the important decisions.

Perhaps in the premortal world Isaiah helped us to see that the wisdom of their wise men

shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.

Today, that third of the hosts of heaven continues to spread its propaganda and attempt to

establish control over our lives.

This third of the hosts of heaven may have feltthey were voting for safety and stability, when

in fact they were voting for stagnancy.

On the other hand the plan of our Heavenly

Father required us to make extraordinary

changes. In fact change was a key element inHis plan. As spirit children we were nave. We

had to grow and learn. We had to learn how to

control physical bodies, with passions, appetitesand emotions. And in the process we would

change our very spirits. We would learn to love

and serve, and we would learn to honor lightand truth and to shun evil. But all of this would

require serious change.

Now think again about the two opposingideologies- coercion and cooperation. The

reality is that there is no way to effect change in

peoples lives through coercion. Change is


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something that we each must choose. Although the Spirit changes us, we have to open our

hearts and decide to be changed. We have to decide to cooperate with our Savior, of our

own free will, in order to be changed. Satans plan was a plan of stagnancy, while theLords plan involved movement.

A plan of Change

Change is difficult. Usually when we talk about change in the world, we are talking about

things like a new job or getting married. A famous psychology study from 1967 found thatsome of the most stressful changes in life are the death of a spouse or family member,

marriage, and being fired from work(Holmes and Rahe). I know with certainty that the

gospel of Jesus Christ can help each of us adapt and prosper through these sorts of

changes. By helping us better understand the purpose of our time here, Christ is able tomake our burdens light.

However, today Id like to talk about a different level of change- this type of change ismore difficult to achieve. Many changes in our lives come unexpectedly, but this type of

change we must choose to endure. I am talking about spiritual conversion.

Elder Bednar taught us that conversion is a spiritual rebirth and fundamental change of

what we feel and desire, what we think and do, and what we are. Indeed, the essence of the

gospel of Jesus Christ entails a fundamental and permanent change in our very nature made

possible through our reliance upon "the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah"(2 Nephi 2:8). As we choose to follow the Master, we choose to be changedto be

spiritually reborn.

Paul taught us, if any man beain Christ, he is a bnew creature: cold things are dpassed

away; behold, all things are become enew. (2 Cor 5:17). I think what Paul is saying is

that with the spirit, you begin to see all other changes in your life from a new perspective.

You begin to realize that ultimately, the change you should be concerned with is yourpersonal conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is why Christ stated:

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you

rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in

heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my

burden is light.

Christ helps us forget about our worldly labors so that we can focus on spiritual change.

This conversion is not a one time experience. Conversion is a life long experience. It

involves repenting of our sins, forsaking our sins and coming to know our Father. As we

build a relationship with our Father in Heaven we will become more like him. When youspend a lot of time with a person they begin to rub off on you. You start talking like they

do, for instance.

The same will happen for you as you spend time in prayer. Our Savior has one particularattribute that needs to rub off on us. Its the most important one. In fact it trumps all other

attributes. It is charity. Charity is so important that if we do not have it we cannot return

to be with our Father in Heaven.
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Charity is the pure love of Christ and it endureth forever. Moroni asks us to pray for

charity so that when Christ shall appear we shall be like him.

How do we get charity? I believe that charity is an attribute that comes naturally as we are

converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ. In our recent general conference, Elder Nelson

taught that conversion and repentance are synonymous. Repentance is conversion. That iswhy we are commanded to preach nothing but repentance:

For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore hesuffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him.

And he hath arisen again from the dead, that he might bring all men unto him, on

conditions of repentance.

And how great is his joy in the soul that repenteth!

Wherefore, you are called to cry repentance unto this people.

Repentance is the core, fundamental message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And when yourepent of your sins, your heart will be filled with the pure love of Christ. Think back on all

the great conversion stories- Paul, Enos, and Alma. Each one of them was converted

through repentance, and each one of them subsequently were filled with charity and spent

the remainder of their days serving their brothers and sisters.

It was Christs perfect love that made the atonement possible. Have you ever had a friend

that you saw go astray, or make choices that you know are going to hurt them? I knowhow much that hurts. Just seeing a friend make wrong choices is painful.

Now imagine how hard it is for a parent to see their child make mistakes that they knowwill lead to pain in that childs life. That pain is conferred through love. It is a parents

love for his child that allows the parent to feel pain. It is my love for my friend that causes

me to hurt inside when I see him make wrong choices. Only Christ, with his infinite lovecould have provided an infinite atonement, in which he took upon him the pains and sins of

us all. It was by virtue of His everlasting love that this atonement was possible.

In a society of coercion there is nocharity. In a society of cooperation

charity can abound. I voluntarily

cooperate in my community to help theless fortunate because I love them, and

because it hurts me to see others suffer.

What good would it do your soul if fastofferings were mandatory and their

quantity specified- if there were simply

no other choice? Would that policy

help you develop charity?

In his writings about fasting, Isaiah

taught us:


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Deal thy bread to the hungry, bring the poor that are cast out to thy house, and when thou

seest the naked cover him.

Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth

speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee.

Then shalt thou call and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry and he shall say, Here I am.

Then shalt thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday

And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought.

I mentioned that in a society of cooperation charity can abound. Unfortunately I fear thatthis past century has seen an increase of greed and a decrease of charity. We have come to

rely on the government to take care of the less fortunate instead of extending ourselves and

showing forth the fruits of charity. I society of cooperation will only succeed inasmuch asits members exercise charity- in taking care of each other.

TestimonyI am so grateful to live in this free country. The devil is so subtle in enslaving us. He has

been successful through out history at the government level. But more importantly he is,

at the individual level enticing many to fall into sin and depravity. When we sin we giveup our freedom.

But I know that there is a better way. I know that the Savior is here with us. I am sograteful that I can cooperate with him to erase my sins and change who I am.

It was His pure love that makes this possible. I love my Savior. I want with all my heartto be with Him again. Whenever I feel His spirit I want to share it with others.

I promise each of you that as you repent of your sins your hearts will be filled with love.Every day there are opportunities to preach repentance to help others find the motivationto change.

I pray that we may preserve our freedom to choose liberty and eternal life, through thegreat Mediator of all men, and not choose captivity and death, according to the captivity

and power of the devil.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Endnote: The central dogma of a free market economy is that individuals are better at

making choices for themselves then their governments are at making choices for them.Are you supporting policies that restrict personal choice or expand it? Learn more by

reading Milton Friedmans Capitalism and Freedom and watching Friedmans PBS mini-

seriesFree to Choose.

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