Had a recent comment asking for the source of the quote by Joseph Smith that's on the sidebar. It comes from the Joseph Smith Papers (LDS Church Historical Archives, Box 1, March 10, 1844, according to a BYU-I article.
I highly recommend reading that link, it contains several other quotes and good advice. As I re-read it today, a quote on it by Eliza R. Snow jumped out at me. The idea of Joseph Smith prophesying that the Constitution would "hang by a thread" is pretty common, but rarely discussed is who or what is the source of the attack. According to Sister Snow: "I heard the prophet say, 'The time will come when the government of these United States will be so nearly overthrown through its corruption, that the Constitution will hang as it were by a single hair, and the Latter-day Saints—the Elders of Israel—will step forward to its rescue and save it.'"
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Monday, July 5, 2010
What was the true price of liberty?
I hope everybody had a great day yesterday celebrating the independence of the United States and the beginning of the struggle for liberty in our nation.
I was thinking yesterday that it's important to remember that liberty did not begin on July 4, 1776. The revolution in America was just one battle in an eternal war for liberty. In the premortal world, two opposing plans were debated. The plan championed by God's firstborn, Christ, promised liberty. The plan championed by Lucifer, himself a "son of the morning", promised absolute eternal security at the expense of liberty.
With the words, "I will send the first", God chose liberty for His children...at what price? With those words, one-third of His children turned against him and chose damnation over liberty. He knew the other two-thirds would all, to some degree, use the liberty He was giving them to rebel against Him. He knew that liberty would bring sin to the world for which His Only Begotten would have to suffer beyond measure. And still he chose to give us that liberty.
That is the price He paid for our liberty. Are we doing our part to preserve it?
I was thinking yesterday that it's important to remember that liberty did not begin on July 4, 1776. The revolution in America was just one battle in an eternal war for liberty. In the premortal world, two opposing plans were debated. The plan championed by God's firstborn, Christ, promised liberty. The plan championed by Lucifer, himself a "son of the morning", promised absolute eternal security at the expense of liberty.
With the words, "I will send the first", God chose liberty for His children...at what price? With those words, one-third of His children turned against him and chose damnation over liberty. He knew the other two-thirds would all, to some degree, use the liberty He was giving them to rebel against Him. He knew that liberty would bring sin to the world for which His Only Begotten would have to suffer beyond measure. And still he chose to give us that liberty.
That is the price He paid for our liberty. Are we doing our part to preserve it?
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