This lesson is very much personalized to my recent experiences on our trip to India. It doesn't include a lot of material from the manual, so I'd appreciate any feedback on possible changes--
In his
Oct 2006 conference talk, The Atonement
Can Clean, Reclaim, and Sanctify Our Lives, Elder Shayne M. Bowen of the
Seventy said:
“In
Idaho Falls, Idaho, there is a beautiful airport. One of the largest in the
region, this airport allows easy access to the Upper Snake River Valley. I
remember as a young man returning from Chile to this very airport and greeting
my family after
two years of missionary service. Similar scenes have taken place thousands of
times in this airport as the faithful Saints answer the call to serve. It is a
very useful, integral part of the city and region.
Near
the airport is another very useful and beautiful part of the city—Freeman Park.
The Snake River runs along this park for about two miles. There is a walking
path that goes through the park and follows on around the river for miles.
Freeman
Park has acres and acres of green grass filled with baseball and softball
diamonds, swing sets for children, picnic shelters for family reunions,
beautiful lanes filled with trees and bushes for strolling sweethearts. Looking
down the river from the park, one can see the majestic Idaho Falls temple,
white and clean, standing on high ground. The sound of the rushing waters of
the Snake River as it works its way through natural lava outcroppings makes
this park very desirable. It is one of my favorite places to walk with my
sweetheart, Lynette; relax; contemplate; and meditate. It is very peaceful and
inspiring.
Why do
I talk about the regional airport and Freeman Park in Idaho Falls? Because they
are both built on the same kind of ground; both of these beautiful, useful
places used to be sanitary landfills.
A
sanitary landfill is where garbage is buried between layers of earth. Webster’s
dictionary defines a landfill as “a system of trash and garbage disposal in
which the waste is buried between layers of earth to build up low-lying land”
(Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed. [2003], 699).
Another definition
of a landfill is “a place where garbage is buried and the land is reclaimed.”
The definition of reclaim is “to recall from wrong or improper conduct … to
rescue from an undesirable state” (1039).”
Jan 1st, 2012, New Year’s Day, my
family and I found ourselves doing an unexpected activity. At 10 am, while you here in Utah geared
up to shout in the New Year, we walked down a street in Thottanaval Village,
India, on our way to pick up trash from the roadside. Now in India, picking up
trash is not like here in Utah, where you have a Pepsi can here, and an old
sock there. At times, there may be
the accumulation of several bags of garbage in one small stretch. As we worked in 90˚ plus heat, sweat
pouring into our eyes, the village children watched and giggled. Dressed in clothing ranging from a
simple string to gold embroidered dresses, these darling children watched us,
as their mothers looked on from the doorways of their meticulously maintained
homes.
Yes, their homes are clean inside, and yet we have
watched as a woman comes out the doorways of her home, glances about, then
throws a bag of trash across the street and hurries back inside again. What accounts for this behavior to cast
trash away into the street?
Simple-it is because they do not have a system for dealing with the
refuse in their lives. There is no
garbage truck. Think what would
happen in your neighborhood without that weekly truck.
In addition to this physical refuse, there are
also many groups in India who have been cast out of society and fellowship as
refuse. The lowest and poorest of
those groups are those afflicted with leprosy. To be fair, anciently and even into modern times, leprosy
has been a disease that has been feared and stigmatized. In most of the ancient
world, leprosy was associated with uncleanness, subject to exile. Today, India is home to 70% of all
leprosy patients currently remaining in the world, largely due to the stigma
surrounding the disease.
Around 10 years ago, this woman, Auntie was living
in southern India with her husband and two young sons, when she was diagnosed with
leprosy. Fortunately, around that
time, she came into contact with Becky Douglas, the founder of Rising Star
Outreach. Through Becky, Auntie
received the medication for her leprosy, and was quickly cured, with no lasting
damage or evidence from the disease.
Nevertheless, just as sin renders us spiritually unclean and separates
us from God, because of the disease, Auntie was cast out of her home, along
with her two sons, as refuse, unclean, and cut off from all relations with her
friends and family.
In this world of modern medicine and science how
does this stigma endure? In India,
an estimated 80% of the population is part of the Hindu religion. In Hinduism, there is no belief in a
Savior to atone or make recompense for sins or misdeeds. Instead, through a process of
reincarnation, or multiple lives, a being struggles to progress from a lower
state to a higher state. This
progression may not be linear. Without
the atonement, the soul is subject to corruption, which must be purified
through endless ages, through the trials of poverty, misfortunes or a disease
such as leprosy. After much
effort, they may redeem themselves and graduate from mortal existence to
paradise.
Contrary to this belief, as LDS, we know that no
matter how hard we work over a multitude of lives, we can never perfect
ourselves to return to God on our own.
John 14:6 reads:
Jesus saith unto him, I am the Way, the Truth and
the Life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
“And
he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every
kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon
him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.
“And
he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind
his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be
filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the
flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.
“Now
the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according
to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might
blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and
now behold, this is the testimony which is in me” (Alma 7:11–13).
Fortunately, soon after being cast out, Auntie’s
life was reclaimed physically through her contact with Becky. Auntie was given a position as a housemother
at the Rising Star Outreach School, which provided her with a place to live and
an education for her sons.
In addition to reclaiming the lives of numerous
leprosy patients through medical and economic interventions, the founders of
Rising Star realized the need to provide a school for the children of the
colonies. The school not only
provides an education for 180 children from the leprosy colonies, the children
actually live on the campus in a building that is grouped into 8 dorms of 20-23
students. The boarding school is
necessary to remove the children from constant contact with the filth and
disease of the colonies.
Besides providing for the physical and educational
needs of the children, the houses also provide for their spiritual needs. The mixture of Hindu, Muslim and some
Christian children come together each night for a nightly devotional in which
songs are sung, prayers offered, and a thought shared. The songbook available for their use
just happens to be the LDS Hymn book.
In this environment, Auntie was touched by the
truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and she was baptized a member of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Once cast out as evidence of essential sin, Auntie became
reclaimed spiritually through the waters of baptism. Once purified physically through the rendering of medical
aid, Auntie was now eligible to be continually purified spiritually through the
atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, by taking upon herself the saving ordinance
of baptism.
When we are baptized, we promise to take upon
ourselves the name of Christ, to keep his commandments, and to serve him to the
end.
Mosiah 5:8 reads:
And under this
head ye are made free, and there is no other head whereby
ye can be made free. There is no other name given whereby
salvation cometh; therefore, I would that ye should take upon you the name of
Christ, all you that have entered into the covenant with God that ye should be
obedient unto the end of your lives.
The decision to join the church can be a difficult
one in many circumstances. Even
after receiving a witness that Joseph Smith was a prophet, Lorenzo Snow himself
wrestled with the decision to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day
Saints. He knew that if he became
a member of the Church, he would have to abandon some of his worldly
aspirations. But following an
experience that he called his “fiercest struggle of heart and soul”, he agreed
to be baptized.
For Auntie, the decision to be baptized must have
been difficult. Although tradition
teaches that the first Christian community was established in India in the year
50, by St Thomas the Apostle himself, there are few Christians in India. Out of 1.2 billion people living in
India, only 2.3% are Christian, mostly Catholic. That is partly because the beliefs of Hinduism are so
pervasive throughout all aspects of life, so it has been very hard to penetrate
both on a national and personal level.
In addition, there are only about 10,000 members in India, and although the
first stake was recently organized there, the member support remains
sparse.
On the other hand, I know that Auntie had felt the
hand of the Lord in rescuing her from a low and demeaning fate. By following the commandment to be
baptized, Auntie opened herself to receiving the blessings of obedience. We know that we receive blessings from
God when we follow the principles He has established.
President Lorenzo Snow said:
There are certain principles established of God,
which being understood and observed, will put men in possession of spiritual
knowledge, gifts and blessings. (We
may come) into possession of spiritual powers and various privileges by
obtaining an understanding of and faithfully attending to certain rules which
the Lord established.
Mosiah 8:10 reads:
Now I say unto you,
if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being abaptized in the bname of the Lord, as a
witness before him that ye have entered into a ccovenant with him, that ye
will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more
abundantly upon you?
President Snow said:
A famous
example of obedience from the Old Testament is the case of Naaman, captain of
the Assyrian host. It appears,
being afflicted with the leprosy and hearing of Elisha, the prophet, he made
application to him for the removal of that affliction. The prophet, having the Holy Ghost upon him, which [communicates] the Mind of God, informed him
that by washing in Jordan’s waters seven times, he might be restored. At first,
Naaman thought this most too simple and was displeased and disposed not to
conform—not to make use of means so simple. After more due consideration,
however, humbling himself, he went forth complying with the rules; when lo! the
blessing directly followed.
I think we
cannot overlook here the method in which Naaman was made whole, or reclaimed
from his leprosy. He washed, or
immersed himself in the water, according to the command of the prophet of God. In addition, before washing
himself in the river, Naaman had to go through a process of humbling himself to
accept the council of the prophet, and choosing to have faith that his
instructions would bring him the healing he desired.
This story is a type or
symbol of baptism.
Sin renders us spiritually unclean. It separates us from God and the community of his righteous children. It can culminate in spiritual death. But the scriptures teach that sin need not progress unchecked. The Lord has provided a way for us to secure a remission of sin and escape its more deadly spiritual effects. He has extended to each of us, in the form of baptism and repentance, the power to be cleansed.
Likewise,
to obtain a remission of sins, we, like Naaman, must humble ourselves and
believe in God’s power to cleanse us. We must initiate the process by
voluntarily stepping into the waters to be baptized by authorized servants of
God. (Travis T Anderson)
We must listen, and do.
The Saviour
said, “Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” [Luke 6:46.] And, “He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved.” [Mark 16:16.] Likewise, he says, “Except a man be born of water and of
the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” [John 3:5.] Again; he says, “He that heareth my words, and doeth them,
shall be likened unto a man that built his house upon a rock.” [See Matthew 7:24.] These sayings of our Saviour require men to perform
external works in order to receive their salvation.
One of the
songs the kids loved to sing when we went in to have the devotionals with them
was “The Wise Men Built His House Upon a Rock”. In fact, the children knew all the Hymns and most of the
songs from the Children’s Songbook.
On our first night having devotional with the children, we were startled
to laughter to hear all these children singing “We Thank Thee, Oh God, for a
Prophet.” I have never heard such
a bunch of tone-deaf people in my life, but it was beautiful to me. Was it coincidence or convenience that
the Hymn book was chosen for the school?
Of course not.
The manual says of Lorenzo Snow,
“Having received this blessing himself, he was
anxious to share it with others. “
A few weeks ago, Wendy shared this comment by David Bednar: “ I’ve learned that God knows us and loves us
absolutely and completely and that he would send one of us to the other side of
the world if it would make a difference in one person’s life.” Both of
these things are true of Becky Douglas.
She was sent around the world to accomplish a work reclaiming the poor
of India, and she was anxious to share the blessings of the gospel with those
within her influence.
Over the
years, a small, but significant number of the children at the school have
joined the church. There are
currently about 30 members at the school.
The nearest church building is 2 hours away by van, and the children
take turns making the 7 hour round trip to attend. Auntie’s own two son’s are not among them. After several years at the school, her
son’s graduated 10th Standard and were invited by an LDS family in
Arizona to complete their studies in the US. Those two boys are currently serving missions for the church
in India.
John, in his
Revelations, having seen and spoken of the wandering of the church into
darkness, … speaks, in [chapter 14, verse 6], of the restoration of the Gospel.
“I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting
Gospel to preach unto
them that dwell on the earth;”
President
Snow testified:
… I now bear
testimony, having the highest assurance by revelation from God, that this
prophecy has already been fulfilled, that an Angel from God has visited man in
these last days and restored that which has long been lost, even the
priesthood,—the keys of the kingdom,—the fulness of the everlasting Gospel.
Because of
that restoration, the Atonement of Jesus Christ is available, through baptism, to each of us. His Atonement is
infinite. It applies to everyone. It can clean, reclaim, and sanctify even the
most unclean of all the earth.
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