Saturday, January 28, 2012

Two Weapons in this War


Last Tuesday, during General Conference Book Club, we discussed Elder Holland's talk "We Are All Enlisted".  

In his simple, yet powerful way, Elder Holland declared that we are at war--a war between good and evil.  He said that in this "war" the Lord needs people who will "take as their weapons 'every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God.'"

He then quotes Elder Packer when he says that Satan's "effort to stop the work will be reasonably well served if he can just bind the tongue of the faithful."

I too believe that we are living in the middle of a struggle between good and evil.  I do what I can each day to prevent my friends from becoming casualties of that war and to bring them to a safe place where they can enjoy the peace and love of the Savior.

So, let's review:

Our weapon:  "every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God."
Satan's weapon: "to bind the tongue of the faithful"

Sounds pretty straight-forward, right?  I wondered, "How can we unbind our tongues here in Central PA?"

Later in the week, I was given an opportunity to "unbind my tongue".  

After reading 8 different articles in mainstream media that day suggesting that many people are not sure what Mormons believe, I decided to let my friends on Facebook know that I would gladly answer any questions they might have about the Mormon faith.  

Sixty-nine comments later, we had ourselves a pretty good discussion.  Among other things, my friends learned that, yes, Mormons like tacos, celebrate birthdays, worship God in the name of Christ, perform baptisms for our loved ones, and wear garments as a sign of temple covenants.  It was a good exercise in answering questions about our faith.

And I realized how easy it can be to "voluntarily bind our own tongues," if we do not seize every opportunity to "sign on and speak up."  What will you do this week to voluntarily UN-bind your tongue and to take as your weapon "every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God?"

PS - If you'd like to read the entire discussion, you can access it on my personal FB page.

15 comments:

  1. Way to go! I think that is awesome. :) Thank you for sharing it with us! And really, who doesn't love tacos?!

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  2. I believe this is one of my favorite posts--because of the thought-provoking pointer about binding the tongue of the faithful, the direct and current method you took for making sure your tongue was not bound, and the delightful dialogue that took place on your Facebook page as a result. Thank you for being an amazing and fun example!

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  3. Yes, thanks to my smart-alec friends,it was surprisingly enjoyable!  ;) At one point I had to say something that I was afraid might offend my good friend but she was very good-natured about it.  In that moment too, I had to decide whether I was going to hold my tongue and not answer her question fully or whether I was going to follow the Spirit and act in faith!  It's good practice...I recommend it to anyone...I was actually surprised because I did something similar in September and only got ONE response.  The media attention really has changed things for us.  Opportunities to share what we believe abound.

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  4. Jocelyn you truly inspire me!  Thank you for this wonderful idea!!

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  5. What a great question!!!  I'm going to have to think about this some more!  :)

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  6. I followed your discussion there as it was going on. Great job!

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  7. I think that was pretty courageous! Mmm .. I like tacos.

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  8. Loved this! How brave! I'm afraid of what lots of people I went to high school with would say, you are so brave!

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  9. Erg, I can't find it. Stupid timeline. What day was that posted?

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  10. Jocelyn ChristensenSunday, January 29, 2012

    Thursday...

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  11. Hm, maybe because we aren't friends on Facebook I don't see the post pictured here (you posted just to friends right?), but I did find out we have 2 mutual friends! Love random Mormon connections!

    PS You are awesome and inspire me. Thank you.

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  12. You are awesome!  I'm still debating whether I"m brave enough to do the same!

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  13. I have no idea why people can't see it! I tried to post it to my blog wall, but it wouldn't do it!  Friend me though...and you should be able to see it!

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  14. You definitely can!  It's a lot less scary than it seems once you get going!  Just be light-hearted and straight-forward about it and you'll be fine!

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