QUOTES

[1]  "Commandments are no more restrictive to the spiritual man than street signs are to the motorist.  Neither prohibits our progress; to the contrary, they enhance it by serving as guideposts or directional signs to help us find and reach our destination."  [Tad R. Callister, The Infinite Atonement, p. 258.

[2]  "We are too inclined to think of law as something merely restrictive . . . something hemming us in.  We sometimes think of law as the opposite of liberty.  But that is a false conception....  God does not contradict himself.  He did not create man and then, as an afterthought, impose upon him a set of arbitrary, irritating, restrictive rules.  He made man free--and then gave him the commandments to keep him free.  We cannot break the Ten Commandments.  We can only break ourselves against them -- or else, by keeping them, rise through them to the fulness of freedom under God."  [Movie producer Cecil B. De Mille, famous for The Ten Commandments movie.]

[3]  Obedience is not an enemy of freedom; to the contrary, it is freedom's best friend."  [Ibid, 1]

[4]  "I once wondered if those who refuse to repent but who then satisfy the law of justice by paying for their own sins are then worthy to enter the celestial kingdom.  The answer is no.  The entrance requirements for celestial life are simply higher than merely satisfying the law of justice.  For that reason, paying for our sins will not bear the same fruit as repenting of our sins.  Justice is a law of balance and order and it must be satisfied, either through our payment or his.  But if we decline the SAvior's invitation to let him carry our sins, and then satisfy justice by ourselves, we will not yet have experienced the complete rehabilitation that can occur through a combination of divine assistance and genuine repentance.  Working together, those forces have the power permanently to change our hearts and our lives, preparing us for celestial life....  The doctrines of mercy and repentance are rehabilitative, not retributive, in nature.  The savior asks for our repentance not merely to compensate him for paying our debt to justice, but also as a way of inducing us to undergo the process of development that will make our nature divine, giving us the capacity to live the celestial law.  [Elder Bruce Hafen]

[5]  The definition of grace as set forth in the LDS Bible Dictionary: ". . . is an enabling power that allows men and women to lay hold on eternal life and exaltation after they have expended their own best efforts."

[6]  Bruce Hafen:  "As King Benjamin suggests, the Atonement does more than pay for our sins.  It is also the agent through which we develop a saintly nature....  The Savior's victory can compensate not only for our sins but also for our inadequacies; not only for our deliberate mistakes but also for our sins committed in ignorance, our errors of judgment, and our unavoidable imperfections.  Our ultimate aspiration is more than being forgiven of sin -- we seek to become holy, endowed affirmatively with Christlike attributes, at one with him, like him.  Divine grace is the only source that can finally fulfill that aspiration, after all we can do."

[7]  Spiritual Gifts or Gifts of the Spirit [source=The Infinite Atonement; Callister, ibid]:  [a]  Since the gift of the Holy Ghost is gien only to members of the Church, it follows that the fruits and gifts of this Spirit are given in their fulness only to Church members.  Elder Bruce R. McConkie taught:  "Men must receive the gift of the Holy Ghost before that member of the Godhead will take up his abode with them and begin the supernal process of distributing his gifts to them....  Thus the gifts of the Spirit are for believing, faithful, righteous people; they are reserved for the saints of God." [pg. 270]  [b]  Whether or not the Atonement itself is the source of these spiritual gifts seems not yet to have been revealed in the scriptures, but certainly the availability of these gifts is conditioned on our faith in and demonstrated acceptance of that divine act.  Our reception of the Atonement is key to unlock these gifts and all their enabling powers, for it is the Atonement that purifies us and prepares us to be eligible recipients [pp 270-271].  [c]  As we acquire the gifts of the Spirit, that gap between man and God is narrowed, for with each gift acquired we advance along the path toward godhood.  Is it any wonder that the Lord wants us to pursue these gifts with unrelenting determination?  [pp 271-272]  [d]  President George Q. Cannon:  "No man ought to say, 'Oh, I cannot help this; it is my nature.'  He is not justified in it, for the reason that God has promised to give strength to correct these things, and to give gifts that will eradicate them....  He wants His Saints to be perfected in the truth.  For this purpose He gives these gifts, and bestows them upon those who seek after them, in order that they may be a perfect people upon the face of the earth, notwithstanding their many weaknesses, because God has promised to give the gifts that are necessary for their perfection....  If any of us are imperfect, it is our duty to pray for the gift that will make us perfect.  Have I imperfections?  I am full of them.  What is my duty?  To pray to God to give me the gifts that will correct these imperfections....  So with all the gifts of the Gospe.  They are intended for this purpose."  [pp 272-273]  [e]  How?  "Covet earnestly the best gifts...."  "... with all [their] hearts."  [Apostle Paul]  Seek ALL the best gifts.  Be orderly, and persistent, and diligent.  [f]  In some respects these gifts are like a spiritual gold mine at our disposal that remains untapped if we fail to pursue the mining process.  These gifts refine us, ennoble us, and ultimately can perfect us.  Obedience is necessary but isn't enough -- WE MUST ASK.  "We must want the gifts so fervently that this pursuit is a constant unending struggle."  There must be "... a burning desire, a reaching out, a seeking, . . . an exhaustive exercise of our combined spiritual, intellectual and emotional energies, all focused on obtaining these divine gifts."  [pg. 274]  [g]  Moroni 10:  "I would exhort you that ye would come unto Christ, and lay hold upon every good gift [meaning the gifts of the Spirit and the other blessings of the Atonement]....  Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yoursleves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ....  And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot."  Moroni 10 "defines the relationship among grace, gifts, and godhood.  The grace that flows from the Savior's atoning sacrifice opens the gate to the divine road, the gifts are the vehicle, and godhood is the destination.  By the grace of God the gifts come, and with the acquisition of the gifts, godhood emerges."  [ibid., 277]

[8]   "The tumult and the shouting dies --
       The Captains and the Kings depart --
       Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,
       An humble and a contrite heart.
       Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
       Lest we forget--lest we forget!"
                      -- Rudyard Kipling --