The Importance of Baptism Sanctioned by God

posted by Summer Owens , , 1 comment
On a warm August evening in Bakersfield California in 1972 a mother took her four children for a walk. As they walked, a driver impaired by alcohol and angry at someone else decided to take his anger out on the innocent family. Everyone was able to jump out of the way in time except 2 year old Jerry, who was knocked out of his big sisters hand as she tried to pull him to safety. The youngest child and only boy, Jerry had been longed prayed for and treasured by his parents and sisters. Three hours after the hit and run, Jerry passed into eternity.

 His mother Dian later recalled: “During the year after Jerry left us, it was naturally a very trying time for all of us, and it was a most difficult adjustment to make. It was very lonely without him, at times almost overpowering, as if life just could not go on without his sunshiney face wherever we went. Jerry was a very different child. On the night he was born...I was so thankful at last for a precious son, and I spent the night in thanksgiving to my Heavenly Father. However, during this night a voice kept coming to me over and over again telling me I would not have this son very long. There was no vision, just the voice...in the next two and a half years it was to repeat itself many times...and at the very moment of the accident the same voice I had heard the night he was born, said to me “You knew you wouldn’t have him long.” I know that Jerry was supposed to be born at the time he was...he had a very special mission upon this earth. That mission was to unite our family.”

 Dian was my grandmother, Jerry was my uncle, and the 3 daughters who survived the incident were my mother and aunts. Only a few months after Jerry died, my great grandfather, Heber Danner, who had been deeply affected by his grandsons death, began studying the gospel, something that no latter-day saint associate in his 71 years on earth had convinced him to do. Almost two years to the day that Jerry died, Heber Danner was baptized into the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

 Having been born into and raised in this, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, baptism and other ordinances are something I’ve long been familiar with. But being familiar with a concept doesn’t always imply understanding of a concept. While I certainly felt happy on my baptism day as a young 8 year old, my understanding of baptism and why it is necessary to salvation came later. There were times during my adolescence that I wondered, shouldn’t it be enough for God that I am a spiritual person trying to live a good life? Why would ordinances be necessary for eternal life? As I learned more about Jesus Christ and gained a testimony of his divinity, I knew from his own example in the book of Matthew that baptism by immersion was necessary. And more importantly, baptism by immersion by one sanctioned by God to do so. The Lord revealed to Joseph Smith that "all the ordinances, systems, and administrations on the earth are of no use to the children of men, unless they are ordained and authorized of God;” Though I had already been baptized, as I studied the Book of Mormon and the Bible, I gained a testimony that the priesthood of God which authorizes mankind to act in His name is found on the earth today, within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and that baptism into this church is the first step toward a Christlike life and eternal life hereafter.

Elder David A. Bednar has taught: “The baptismal covenant includes three fundamental commitments: (1) to be willing to take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ, (2) to always remember Him, and (3) to keep His commandments. The promised blessing for honoring this covenant is “that [we] may always have his Spirit to be with [us].”

 After baptism partaking of the sacrament gains new meaning. Elder Bruce R. McConkie taught: “This (meaning the baptismal covenant) is the identical covenant made in the sacramental ordinance. That is to say, it becomes our privilege every time we partake of the sacrament to receive anew the promises and blessings first offered to us in baptism.”

 The ordinances of baptism and the sacrament, however wonderful and sacred they are, are only the first steps in leading us toward eternal life, not the final goal.

 Elder David A. Bednar taught: “...Scriptures help us understand that the process of taking upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ that is commenced in the waters of baptism is continued and enlarged in the house of the Lord. As we stand in the waters of baptism, we look to the temple. As we partake of the sacrament, we look to the temple. We pledge to always remember the Savior and to keep His commandments as preparation to participate in the sacred ordinances of the temple.”

 Three years after Jerry’s death and one year after Heber Danner was baptized, my grandmother Dian recalled: “In August of 1975 we headed to Idaho...[Heber and his wife Ellen] were going to be celebrating their golden wedding anniversary by going to the Idaho Falls Temple to be sealed for time and all eternity...It was a glorious day for all of us.”

 As Heber was baptized he looked to the temple and the promise that he could be sealed to his wife, and then they together could be sealed to their son, who in turn had been sealed to his wife and children, which included Jerry.

 Baptism opens the door but it does not carry us across the threshold to eternal life. The most important part of baptism, the one that helps prepare us for and propel us toward temple ordinances, becoming like Christ, and receiving eternal life is the gift of the Holy Ghost. In John chapter 3 verse 5, Jesus taught: “...Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”

 After baptism and upon renewing our covenant through the sacrament each week we are promised that we MAY always have His spirit to be with us. But we must do our part. Being born of the spirit is not a one and done event. It is a lifelong effort and failure is part of the plan. Why else would we be given the sacrament continually if it was not expected that we would need frequent cleansing from sin? Mother Theresa once wisely said, “Saints are only sinners who keep trying.” As long as we keep trying and repenting as needed with real intent we will be blessed with the Holy Spirit in our lives and that spirit is necessary in our journey toward eternal life. The Lords prophet on earth today, Russell M. Nelson has made it clear: “If we are to have any hope of sifting through the myriad of voices and the philosophies of men that attack truth, we must learn to receive revelation...In coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost...the heavens are open and...God speaks to his children!”

 But the prophet did not simply give us this admonition with no guidance on how to achieve it. He has urged us: “Pray in the name of Jesus Christ about your concerns, your fears, your weaknesses—yes, the very longings of your heart. And then listen! Write the thoughts that come to your mind. Record your feelings and follow through with actions that you are prompted to take. As you repeat this process day after day, month after month, year after year, you will “grow into the principle of revelation.”

 There is of course, one thing more that we must have in order to gain eternal life and that is the grace of Jesus Christ. The late Modern American philosopher Dallas Willard was once asked if he believed in total depravity. “I believe in sufficient depravity,” he responded. When asked what he meant he expounded, “I believe that every human being is sufficiently depraved that when we get to heaven, not one will be able to say, ‘I merited this.”

 We emulate the Savior not because we believe we can earn his grace but because we are truly converted to and love him.

 In his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote: …”if you have really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow that you are trying to obey Him...Not doing these things in order to be saved, but because He has begun to save you already. Not hoping to get to Heaven as a reward for your actions, but inevitably wanting to act in a certain way because a first faint gleam of Heaven is already inside you.”

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY

https://rsc.byu.edu/archived/byu-religious-education-student-symposium-2010/covenant-renewal-seeking
-greater-portion
















1 comment: