Latest / Scripture Central / ”Stand Forever” Ep. 12 | The Way—Choose Best | Elder Lawrence E. Corbridge

Transcript

”Stand Forever” Ep. 12 | The Way—Choose Best | Elder Lawrence E. Corbridge · Scripture Central

• 0:00
  Sometimes you may live on autopilot, mindlessly moving,
• 0:04
  sleepwalking through the routines.
• 0:06
  Of the day. You can't overcome being
• 0:09
  controlled in life. Choice enables you and God to
• 0:14
  control. Your life.
• 0:16
  Life before life. Here and now and.
• 0:20
  Life yet to. Come are not distinct realms,
• 0:25
  but. 3. Sections of the same river.
• 0:29
  Through. Which the same water flows.
• 0:32
  To choose best is. Now a test.
• 0:35
  But if you stay the course, the test will.
• 0:39
  End, but the process will continue, not.
• 0:42
  As a test, but as a way of life. If you were dying, if you were
• 1:05
  in a terrible accident and life were.
• 1:09
  Quickly ebbing away if you only had moments to write 2 words in
• 1:13
  the sand. Words your children.
• 1:16
  And grandchildren to. Live by what 2 words would you
• 1:20
  choose? Welcome back again.
• 1:25
  I'm Larry. Corbridge and This is episode 12
• 1:30
  of the Stand Forever series. In episode 10, we.
• 1:35
  Established that great. Achievement.
• 1:37
  Is the result of. Having a destination which again
• 1:41
  I'm calling point B, getting a fix on where you are point A and
• 1:47
  then plotting the line in between and staying on course.
• 1:51
  Again, not rocket science, but. We.
• 1:54
  We. Also concluded that the
• 1:56
  destination you were born to. Reach is to choose to receive
• 2:00
  the gift. Of God's Son, the.
• 2:03
  Gift of God. 'S spirit and the.
• 2:04
  Gift of God's life and help. Others do the.
• 2:07
  Same. In the last.
• 2:10
  Episode episode 11. We considered the extent to
• 2:16
  which happiness and joy may be considered.
• 2:18
  As part. Of the destination.
• 2:21
  This episode is about choosing wisely, so.
• 2:28
  Again, back to my question, if you were dying and if you were
• 2:31
  in a terrible accident, life having a way, If you only had
• 2:37
  moments. To write 2.
• 2:38
  Words in the sand. Words to live by.
• 2:41
  For your family. Your posterity.
• 2:43
  What 2 words would you choose? Work hard, play hard, love God,
• 2:50
  love others, do good. Be strong, be good.
• 2:53
  Would all be good words to live by.
• 2:57
  Follow Christ. Would be even better.
• 3:00
  What? What 2 words would you?
• 3:02
  Choose to narrow life's. Purpose to only two.
• 3:07
  Words. Consider.
• 3:09
  Consider. These three questions.
• 3:11
  First question, what is the characteristic that?
• 3:15
  Distinguishes man from every other form of life.
• 3:21
  The Lord. Explained man was also in the
• 3:24
  beginning with God intelligence. Or the light of truth.
• 3:29
  Was not created or made. Neither can be.
• 3:34
  He also said. Whatever principle of
• 3:36
  intelligence we attain to in this.
• 3:39
  Life, it will rise with us in the.
• 3:41
  Resurrection and if a person gains more knowledge and
• 3:45
  intelligence in this life through his diligence and
• 3:49
  obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in
• 3:53
  the world to come. No doubt a person who gains more
• 3:58
  knowledge and intelligence at any point in this life.
• 4:03
  Will have. Also so much the advantage here
• 4:06
  and now one of the defining. Characteristics of godliness.
• 4:12
  Therefore is intelligence. The glory of God.
• 4:17
  Is intelligence. The Lord said.
• 4:20
  Or in other. Words light.
• 4:22
  And truth, unlike all other forms of life and all.
• 4:27
  Their vast diversity. You are endowed with reason and
• 4:33
  the capacity to increase in intelligence, with unlimited
• 4:38
  potential intelligence and potential.
• 4:44
  You are endowed with greater intelligence than any other form
• 4:49
  of life, with unlimited capacity to advance from 1° of
• 4:54
  intelligence and capacity to the next, and from there on to the
• 4:58
  next until. You see God.
• 5:00
  Face to face and know Him as he knows you, and in the Lord's.
• 5:05
  Words you shall. Comprehend even God being
• 5:09
  quickened in him and by Him. So intelligence and potential
• 5:17
  set man apart from all other forms of life.
• 5:21
  Second question, what is the hallmark or the defining
• 5:26
  characteristic of intelligence? The hallmark of intelligence,
• 5:32
  the defining characteristic of rationality, is rational
• 5:37
  behavior and rational choices. And now we come to the third and
• 5:43
  most important question. What?
• 5:45
  Is the supreme. Expression of intelligence.
• 5:50
  The supreme expression of intelligence.
• 5:53
  Intelligence. The crowning achievement.
• 5:56
  Of every. Rational being.
• 5:57
  Is to choose best. That's it.
• 6:03
  It's not flying to Mars and back safely, not finding a cure for
• 6:08
  cancer. The crowning achievement of
• 6:11
  every rational being is to make. The best choices to do otherwise
• 6:19
  is. Irrational and foolish.
• 6:23
  You are the product of your choices.
• 6:26
  You do that. No one else.
• 6:29
  Chooses for you. Choose most wisely.
• 6:35
  That is the sum and substance. Of your existence.
• 6:39
  It is and has always been the central.
• 6:42
  Test. In the movie Indiana Jones and
• 6:49
  the Last Crusade, as many of you remember, Jones is presented
• 6:54
  with an array of goblets, one of which.
• 6:56
  Is the holy. Grail The Grail Knight tells
• 6:59
  Jones to select one, but warns shoes wisely but.
• 7:04
  As the true Grail will bring you life, false grail will take it
• 7:10
  from you. Jones then selects the plainest
• 7:14
  of the cops, saying. That's the Cup.
• 7:16
  Of a Carpenter, the Grail Knight then replies.
• 7:21
  You have chosen wisely the purpose of.
• 7:27
  God's plan for you is to learn to choose wisely, to make
• 7:33
  increasingly better choices until you learn to make the best
• 7:38
  ones. The best choices, The choices
• 7:42
  God would make. It's that.
• 7:46
  Simple, I think there is a God who is the creator of all.
• 7:52
  Things. You are his child.
• 7:56
  Offspring may become like their parents in each of life's many
• 7:59
  divisions, and you may become like.
• 8:03
  Yours as his. Child, and in his likeness you
• 8:08
  have the innate. Capacity and.
• 8:13
  Potential to advance from 1° of light and intelligence to the
• 8:17
  next, and from there on to the next and beyond until in the
• 8:23
  process of a very long time and with the right conditions and
• 8:26
  choices, you become like. Him.
• 8:30
  What else? Could be the natural conclusion
• 8:33
  of the evolution of a child if not to.
• 8:35
  That of the. Parents.
• 8:39
  The full. Realization, however, of your
• 8:42
  divine potential is not. Inevitable it is.
• 8:47
  No more inevitable than a child in this life matching.
• 8:51
  Either the superb character or. Outstanding achievements of of
• 8:57
  father or mother. One may be born into greatness,
• 9:02
  but greatness achieved must be won by each individually.
• 9:07
  Greatness actualized and great greatness internalized comes
• 9:12
  neither by birth nor environment, rather by choice.
• 9:18
  A lot of choices, your divine. Potential is achievable only by
• 9:25
  choosing to follow the plan which he.
• 9:27
  Our eternal Father established to that.
• 9:31
  End. It is His work and it is His
• 9:35
  glory that you fully. Realize your divine potential.
• 9:41
  So if you had to choose only two words to describe the.
• 9:45
  Sum and substance of your existence. 2 words that sum up
• 9:50
  the. Purpose of life only two.
• 9:52
  Words to live live by. What would they be?
• 9:56
  What 2 words would you choose? Choose best would be a good
• 10:04
  start. And what are the?
• 10:07
  Best choices Choose to receive the gifts.
• 10:11
  Of God's Son, his Spirit, and his life and help.
• 10:17
  Others do the same. Those are the best choices.
• 10:23
  To learn to choose most. Wisely is a process that
• 10:26
  requires experience. Which in turn gradually reveals
• 10:31
  knowledge of the. Alternative choices.
• 10:34
  And the consequences of? Each that process.
• 10:37
  Is not new to this. Life prior to this life we
• 10:43
  lived. In God's presence, unlike the
• 10:47
  doctrine of most other religions, which.
• 10:50
  Repudiate life before. Birth and also.
• 10:52
  Characterize. The next.
• 10:54
  Life is. Utterly unlike.
• 10:56
  This estate. The truth.
• 10:58
  Is this life? Is a continuum or an extension
• 11:03
  of our? Our first estate.
• 11:05
  And from here on to the next. This world is patterned after
• 11:11
  the premortal world. And is a.
• 11:13
  Dress rehearsal. For the next.
• 11:16
  Life. Before life here and now and.
• 11:21
  Life yet to. Come are not distinct realms,
• 11:25
  but. 3. Sections of the same river
• 11:29
  through which the same water flows.
• 11:33
  All the principles, purposes and process.
• 11:36
  Of the Great River. Flow constantly through.
• 11:40
  All. Sections unchanged and eternal.
• 11:46
  Both agency and opposition were elements in the 1st.
• 11:50
  Part of the river as well. We usually think agency and.
• 11:54
  Choice presuppose. Good and evil.
• 11:58
  That for. Opposition to exist.
• 12:00
  For. Choice and agency.
• 12:02
  To exist the. Choices must be fundamentally
• 12:05
  between good and evil. That may or may not be.
• 12:10
  True while it is true. Good and evil must exist for
• 12:14
  moral agency. To operate agency otherwise only
• 12:17
  requires. Alternatives, not necessarily
• 12:21
  moral alternatives. There is opposition in the
• 12:25
  existence of alternatives. Alone, without polar opposition.
• 12:30
  Without moral opposition, we learn from everything and are
• 12:35
  and are affected by most choices, not just those between
• 12:39
  good and evil. In this life, many of our
• 12:42
  choices have no moral implication, but very as between
• 12:47
  superior and inferior, better and worse depending on context
• 12:54
  at one time of the day. Exercise may.
• 12:56
  Be a better choice than sleep. And yet at another time, sleep.
• 13:00
  May be the better choice. What kind of salad dressing or
• 13:05
  ice cream do? You buy.
• 13:06
  Those choices give rise to the exercise.
• 13:09
  Of agency, but didn't do not require moral agency we know.
• 13:16
  Little about the. First section of the river.
• 13:19
  But what we do know is. Some of God's children made
• 13:23
  better, more intelligent choices than others.
• 13:28
  We know some of God's children advanced and progressed to be
• 13:32
  count, to become. In the Lord's words.
• 13:36
  The noble and great ones, an infinite array of knowledge,
• 13:42
  intelligence, character and capacity developed among God's.
• 13:45
  Children. But there is one who made the
• 13:49
  best choices. One became more intelligent and
• 13:53
  capable than. All others.
• 13:56
  The Lord explained. If there be two spirits and.
• 14:01
  One shall be more intelligent than the other.
• 14:05
  These two facts do exist. That there are.
• 14:08
  Two spirits. One being more intelligent than
• 14:11
  the. Other there shall.
• 14:13
  Also be another more intelligent than they I am the Lord thy God.
• 14:18
  He said I. Am more intelligent than they.
• 14:23
  All whatever role. Good and evil.
• 14:27
  Play there. Some may not have exerted
• 14:30
  themselves as much as others in the.
• 14:32
  Most worthwhile, Productive. Rewarding work and endeavors may
• 14:37
  be wasting to some extent their opportunities engaged in lesser
• 14:41
  things while others more diligent worked.
• 14:45
  Harder at better. More productive endeavors in
• 14:49
  comparison to this life some may have filled.
• 14:52
  Their school schedules. With random easy classes.
• 14:56
  While others prudently chose more difficult courses.
• 15:00
  Designed to make them more. Capable More.
• 15:02
  Intelligent and better. Prepared for what lay ahead on
• 15:05
  Earth? The Scriptures.
• 15:08
  Seem to suggest good and evil. Did exist.
• 15:11
  To some extent in our pre mortal estate, we know that.
• 15:15
  There was a. War in heaven, for example, from
• 15:18
  which in which Satan rebelled against God and 1/3 of the hosts
• 15:23
  of heaven followed after him. Speaking of those who are
• 15:28
  ordained to the high. Priesthood of the Holy Order in
• 15:32
  this. Life, Alma said.
• 15:35
  And this is the manner after. Which they were.
• 15:37
  Ordained, being called and prepared from the foundation of
• 15:42
  the world, according to the foreknowledge of God, on account
• 15:46
  of their exceeding faith and good.
• 15:48
  Works. In the 1st place, being left to
• 15:51
  choose good and evil, therefore they having chosen good and
• 15:56
  exercising exceedingly great faith.
• 15:59
  Are called with a holy calling. Yeah, with that.
• 16:02
  Holy calling which is prepared with and according.
• 16:05
  To a preparatory. Redemption for such.
• 16:09
  It's a long quote. President Joseph.
• 16:12
  Felding Smith. Spoke to this.
• 16:14
  Point as well. He said.
• 16:17
  God gave. To his.
• 16:18
  Children, their free agency, even in the spirit.
• 16:22
  World by which individual spirits?
• 16:24
  Had the privilege, just as men have here, of choosing the good,
• 16:30
  or rejecting the evil, or partaking of the.
• 16:34
  Evil to suffer. The consequences of their sins.
• 16:38
  Because of this. Some even were more faithful
• 16:41
  than others in keeping the commandments of the Lord.
• 16:44
  Some. Were of greater.
• 16:46
  Intelligence than others as we find it here, and we're honored
• 16:50
  accordingly The spirits of men had their free agency, some were
• 16:55
  greater than others the spirits of men were not equal they may
• 17:00
  have had an equal start, but we know they were all innocent in
• 17:04
  the beginning but the. Right of free.
• 17:06
  Agency which was given to them enabled some to.
• 17:10
  Outstrip. Others and thus.
• 17:13
  Through the. Eons of immortal existence to
• 17:16
  become more intelligent, more faithful, for they were.
• 17:20
  Free to act. For themselves to think, for
• 17:22
  themselves to receive. The.
• 17:24
  Truth or rebel against it. And of another long quote if
• 17:30
  good and evil. Were.
• 17:31
  Present to some extent we must conclude we made mistakes, we
• 17:36
  sin there as. Well, as here.
• 17:39
  Consequently, the infinite atonement.
• 17:43
  Reaches back eternally as well as forward throughout eternity.
• 17:50
  We were able. To repent and be forgiven there
• 17:53
  as we can. Here we may have made better
• 17:58
  choices in the. First part of the river.
• 18:01
  It may. Have been easier.
• 18:02
  In God's presence, without physical.
• 18:04
  Bodies. But that would have been both
• 18:07
  positive and negative. Positive insofar as encouraging
• 18:12
  intelligent choices, and yet negative in the limitation for
• 18:16
  independent. Growth and development.
• 18:19
  There came a time for us to leave home for Earth where we
• 18:23
  could learn to choose for ourselves and where
• 18:29
  opportunities and. Risks would.
• 18:31
  Be vastly greater in the second part of the river.
• 18:37
  Mortality, the conditions and circumstances.
• 18:42
  Are different. We don't remember.
• 18:45
  The first part. And the Canyon.
• 18:48
  Walls here are. Steeper and the Rapids more
• 18:51
  dangerous, but the principles, purpose and process of learning
• 18:56
  to choose better and better until we learn to.
• 18:59
  Choose the best. Remain the same choice.
• 19:04
  Makes the difference. Between a controlled life and
• 19:08
  life control, you may allow circumstances to control your
• 19:14
  life, like a pinball knocked from one side to the other until
• 19:18
  the game is over. That is life.
• 19:21
  In reactionary mode, being acted upon rather than acting.
• 19:26
  Sometimes you may live on autopilot, mindlessly moving,
• 19:31
  sleepwalking through the routines of the day.
• 19:35
  Routines are beneficial, but life control sometimes requires
• 19:39
  doing something out of the ordinary.
• 19:43
  You can't overcome being controlled in life.
• 19:46
  You can learn to act and take control.
• 19:49
  Of life by choice. Choice.
• 19:52
  Enables you and God. Now listen to that choice
• 19:56
  enables you and God to control. Your life.
• 20:02
  Better than life controlling you control what you can and let
• 20:08
  God. Do the rest.
• 20:11
  Life on Earth has many purposes but the essence.
• 20:15
  Of all of. Them combined is the same.
• 20:18
  As before, and is the. Same.
• 20:21
  As after this life. To learn to.
• 20:25
  Choose best. To make.
• 20:27
  Choices that will. Produce change and growth within
• 20:31
  you to become most like your Heavenly Father.
• 20:36
  As I've said. You are now being.
• 20:38
  Tested to see if you will do. All things whatsoever the Lord
• 20:43
  God may command you to do, in order that you may eventually
• 20:46
  become an agent unto yourself and do all the things He would.
• 20:53
  Do without. Being commanded to.
• 20:57
  Choose best is. Now a test.
• 21:02
  But if you stay the chorus, the test.
• 21:05
  Will end. But the.
• 21:07
  Process will continue, not as a. Test, but as a way of life.
• 21:14
  In the hymn Come Follow Me, we sing these.
• 21:18
  Words. Come follow me the.
• 21:21
  Savior said. Then let us in his.
• 21:25
  Footsteps tread. For this alone can we be one
• 21:29
  with God's own begotten Son. Come follow me a simple.
• 21:35
  Phrase yet true. Sublime effulgent rays are in
• 21:40
  the simple words combined to urge inspire the human mind.
• 21:47
  Is it enough alone to know that we must follow Him below while
• 21:51
  traveling through this? Veil of tears.
• 21:54
  No, this extends. To holier spheres.
• 22:00
  Not only shall we emulate. His course while.
• 22:03
  In this earthly state, but when we're freed from.
• 22:07
  Present cares if with our Lord we would be heirs.
• 22:14
  So again, this supreme expression of intelligence, the
• 22:20
  crowning achievement of every rational being.
• 22:24
  Is to choose best. The heart of it all is Jesus
• 22:30
  Christ as the Way, the Truth. And the life.
• 22:36
  Choices to receive the gifts of. God's Son.
• 22:40
  His spirit, his. Life and help.
• 22:43
  Others do the same. Has, have always been and will.
• 22:47
  Always be the best choices through.
• 22:52
  All sections. Of the river of life.
• 22:57
  Finally, let's pause here. And remember where we have been
• 23:02
  thus far in the stand. Forever series.
• 23:05
  And where? We are going.
• 23:08
  Again, the primary framework. Or the big picture of this
• 23:13
  series? Is this a?
• 23:17
  The essential problem in life is separation from God, our.
• 23:21
  Father without God, chaos, darkness and death.
• 23:25
  Prevail. B Jesus Christ bridges the gap
• 23:30
  if. We will believe and follow him
• 23:32
  to the end and help. Others do the same.
• 23:36
  He is the. Way offsetting chaos.
• 23:39
  The truth offsetting darkness. And the.
• 23:41
  Life offsetting death. See therefore cross.
• 23:47
  The bridge and. Close the gap.
• 23:50
  Believe and follow. Christ to the.
• 23:52
  End and help. Others do the same.
• 23:57
  We began by take talking about the conclusion of the.
• 24:01
  Series which is believe. We then explored separation from
• 24:08
  God as the essential problem in life and the consequent
• 24:13
  conditions. Of chaos, darkness, and death.
• 24:17
  We are now in the heart. Of it all.
• 24:20
  The solution portion of the. Series which is Jesus Christ as
• 24:26
  the way, the truth. And the life in the next.
• 24:31
  Episode. We will continue our
• 24:33
  consideration of. Christ as the way, Christ as
• 24:39
  the. Truth of the life will then.
• 24:41
  Follow. I hope, I hope you will stay.
• 24:45
  With me. On this journey.
• 24:47
  And stand forever.