Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Quote for the time...

My sister-in-law Bronwyn sent me this quote by Neal A. Maxwell, and I thought it was awesome. :)


"Make no mistake about it, brothers and sisters, in the months and years ahead, events are likely to require each member to decide whether or not he will follow the First Presidency. Members will find it more difficult to halt longer between two opinions. President Marion G. Romney said, many years ago, that he had 'never hesitated to follow the counsel of the Authorities of the Church even though it crossed my social, professional or political life.' This is hard doctrine, but it is particularly vital doctrine in a society which is becoming more wicked. In short, brothers and sisters, not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ includes not being ashamed of the prophets of Jesus Christ. . . . Your discipleship may see the time when such religious convictions are discounted. . . . This new irreligious imperialism seeks to disallow certain opinions simply because those opinions grow out of religious convictions.

Resistance to abortion will be seen as primitive.. Concern over the institution of the family will be viewed as untrendy and unenlightened. . . . Before the ultimate victory of the forces of righteousness, some skirmishes will be lost. Even in these, however, let us leave a record so that the choices are clear, letting others do as they will in the face of prophetic counsel. There will also be times, happily, when a minor defeat seems probable, but others will step forward, having been rallied to rightness by what we do. We will know the joy, on occasion, of having awakened a slumbering majority of the decent people of all races and creeds which was, till then, unconscious of itself. Jesus said that when the fig trees put forth their leaves, 'summer is nigh.' Thus warned that summer is upon us, let us not then complain of the heat."

Elder Neal A. Maxwell

Here's the source of that quote in case you were wondering: http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=1846d0640b96b010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&hideNav=1

3 comments:

Leah said...

Thanks for posting that Sheri, captures perfectly not only the "times" but the my own inner reflections and journey recently (and hopefully others too).

I have always and will continue to be an open-minded, tolerant, moderate person. But there will come times that we have to choose what and who we stand for. The hard part, I think, is doing so AND maintaining that love and tolerance for those who differ or disagree (even in the face of accusations that we have not). But we have to stand nonetheless. We saw the church's reputation grow and flourish under our President Hinckley, but I worry how many of us will fall to what will likely be THE greatest test of our generation...whether we will stand by our testimony of Christ and His Prophet when it becomes less and less popular and more and more difficult to do so.

Sorry, that was really long, but Thanks again for posting this.

Jason said...

Great quote. Do you know where I can find the reference? PS, love the blog, hope the new job goes great.

Liz said...

That was a great post and quote. It was nice to meet you on Saturday. :-)