You know I hate cliches, and one of my least favorite is "It is what it is". Sometimes I think people say that when they despair and when they decide to give up on something. In essence, they say it when they give up faith in something dear to them. I have found that like most cliches this can be repeated because it has a seed of truth hidden within it. No matter what you believe, the truth remains. It is not changed by data or opinion polls or through bribery or as a result of abusive behaviors. Truth is like a lion. It is feared. It is attacked. Ultimately, it defends itself.
Far too often, I find that I must boldly and nobly defend myself. I am an ordinary man, and I do not pretend to be a paragon. I am sometimes disappointed to learn truths about myself, but I have also learned great things about what I really mean and really believe. Often, these discoveries make me feel alone, because I really do aspire to things that seem to be mere lip service from most people. I try very hard to be on my best behavior at all times, and I don't think many of the people who know me well could say they would have done better consistently. My friends, few though they may be, and my admirers, however furtive their admiration may be, remain that way because they know that I am what I am, and they knew that I will not be moved. Even if they don't like what I am, at least they know what to expect from me. They know what to expect because I remain constant like my heroes.
When the Romans took Jesus down from the cross, a crushing weight of despair must have washed over His disciples. Until they saw the risen Savior, some of them did not believe. Even today, many people do not believe in Christ or believe Christ. They walk around and talk about how Jesus was a great moral teacher and a prophet, apparently able to shut out that, when Jesus read from the scriptures, He chose Isaiah 61:2, which tells of the Messiah's coming, and then tells the chiefs of the Jews that He is the Messiah. Apparently they can ignore the fact that Jesus tells Pilate that He was born to be the King of the Jews. As CS Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity, "A man who said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to." Either Jesus is the Christ, or He is a lunatic, and everything He said should be ignored. Only a fool would quote a man they recognize as insane.
When the first generation of believers of my Faith heard word that Joseph Smith had been murdered by a mob in Carthage, IL, a similar crushing weight of despair washed over them. Even some of his descendants split with the Faith and decided to go against the things Joseph taught and told them God intended for His people. Far too many of the members of my Faith talk about the church as if the doctrines are some sort of buffet from which we may take as little of some things as we must and as much of others as we desire. Some of them apparently find themselves able to empathize with Joseph's quest for truth as he turned to James 1:5-6 for answers and then ignore the events that followed. From his own account, Joseph tells us how he literally saw how, in a grove near his parental farmhouse, God the Father and Jesus the Christ appeared to him. Three years later, they appeared again and commanded him to restore the Church of Jesus Christ. Joseph was never shy about this claim, even though he knew that saying so would mean his name would be held for good an evil by generations. He had seen a vision. He knew it, and he knew that God knew it, and he could not deny it. Either Joseph was a charlatan who founded a false faith that leads men away from God and His Christ or he is the Prophet of the restoration. Only a fool would cherry pick his quotes, call him a snake oil salesman and then ignore the end game that the Prophet Joseph declared he intended to fulfill.
When someone I love unfriends me somehow, either by telling me or simply through a cessation of communication, a crushing weight of pain and sorrow washes over me. Except when I am personally and emotionally involved, it is easy to pray and move on with my life, trusting their fate and their salvation to the hands of other more capable individuals. In those times, I ask forgiveness for not being good enough. Sometimes however, people I love, and people with whom I wanted a family and children and the fullness of blessings of eternity declare not only that they never knew me, but that they don't want to know me, and that I owe them for deceiving them. The very reasons, that I am a man of Faith, for which they once drew near to me become the reasons they use to justify a separation. My character flaw is that I am who I am.
Truth is the only constant in life. It is what it is. Either Christ is a raving lunatic or He is the Son of God. Either Joseph Smith made everything up and was a complete charlatan or he restored the gospel of Jesus Christ. Either I am a ravenous wolf in sheep's clothing, or I am a man of God. By their fruits shall ye know them. Any person who believes that God has helped them or communicated with them through me who then thinks that I am a soldier of the devil believes two things that are mutually exclusive. Any of you who admire me and yet think I am deceived are a paradox. When we choose a hero, we are not inspired by people who meant well but failed. When we pick a leader, we do not pick people whose attempts always fail. When we choose a belief system, we do not pick something that is built on a false premise. Virtuous ends come from virtuous means.
Fortunately for all of us who rely on the mercy of the Atonement, Christ is who He is. Christ is the son of God. Fortunately for all of us who wish to know how to change our dispositions to better follow God, there are Prophets on earth today. Joseph is one of His Prophets in this dispensation of time. Fortunately for those I have hurt by my inadequacies and weaknesses, I am just some guy who tries to follow a God he has never seen. I will not abandon Him. If I did, I would be completely alone. He is what He is. He is my friend. He is the only thing that buoys me up from day to day. He is my defender. He is my champion. He has led me to better places. He could make everything wonderful for me if He chose to, but He knows as well as you and I that what we achieve cheaply we esteem lightly. I appreciate the view from the East Rim of Zion because I paid the price to rise early, drive hundreds of miles, and hike to the top. Whereas my crime is that I am who I am, I try to turn people to that I AM in whose name each of you can find peace in this life and eternal joy in the life to come. The testimony of Christ is the spirit of prophecy. Judge ye for yourselves whether I am a lunatic or a prophet. Judge for yourselves whether this is either a waste of both our time to read and write these words or whether I invite you to do good, serve God, and turn to the Savior. I have heard them speak to me. Remember that with what judgment you judge you shall be judged. Fortunately for all of us, myself included, final judgment is His.
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