Thomas
Monson’s Message "Living the Abundant
Life"
Compared
to the Bible by Connie Raddon
“I challenge Latter-day Saints everywhere
to undertake a personal, diligent, significant quest for what I call the
abundant life…” President Thomas S.
Monson, January 2012 Ensign, pg 4
Color Key:
Quotes from the
Ensign in blue.
Quotes from the
Bible in red.
All my own words
are black.
One
of the monthly sections of the Ensign is the “First Presidency Message”. In the January 2012 issue, this article is
written by the president of the LDS Church, Thomas Monson. It is found on page 4-5.
Since
it’s the beginning of a new year, Monson challenges the members of his church
to take a personal, diligent, and significant quest for the abundant life.
Monson
goes on to explain that an abundant life is “a
life filled with an abundance of success, goodness, and blessings.”
The first thing
I notice is how vague this is. What
exactly does he mean by success? How
much goodness counts for an ‘abundance’?
What blessings is he talking about?
Well, in Mormon
culture, the measure of success, goodness, and blessings is really not that
vague. All you have to do is look around and see which members consistently get
the more respected assignments (ie, presidents of organizations, bishops, etc).
They are the people who are baptized, are Eagle Scouts, are married in the temple,
have served missions, appear to be financially stable, have nice, clean homes,
and who openly bear their testimony that the LDS Church is true.
There is very
rarely any mention of Christ, or their relationship with Him.
It is a horribly
sad cycle of failure when your abundance of blessings and success is measured
by these external, very visible accomplishments. I personally know many parents who feel like
failures as parents because their children haven’t completed these things.
One LDS woman I
know couldn’t even bring herself to show up for her own Mother’s Day dinner one
year. She left a note for her family
explaining that she felt like a failure as a mother. And yet here were all her children and her
husband gathered together to spend time with her, and each other. How sad.
Imagine the pain she was in – and the message that she sent to her
children that day – you aren’t good enough, therefore, I am not good enough.
Now before
anyone gets too upset with me, I do recognize that the Bible mentions
abundance:
Jesus said, “The
thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that
they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10)
Ephesians 3:20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding
abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh
in us,
3Jn 1:2 Beloved, I wish above all things that thou
mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.
“Verses such as
these, IF they were ALL that the Bible said on the subject, one would surely
think that God’s plan for believers is to give them all kinds of worldly
things. As it is, it is NOT all that
the Bible says on the subject. Context
is the key to all understanding from any writing, and is especially important
when dealing with things of such utter importance as our spiritual lives.” Art
Haglund (research partner)
Let us look at
these verses, which are almost always
and conveniently ‘forgotten’ when this heresy is spoken of:
Luk 12:15 And he said unto
them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in
the abundance of the things which he possesseth.
Mat 8:20 And Jesus saith unto
him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the
Son of man hath not where to lay his head.
Mat 10:24
The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his
lord.
Mat 10:25 It is enough for
the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they
have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call
them of his household?
We see from these verses that God does not
consider the abundant life to be equal to many possessions, or success in a
career.
Monson never
mentions that the abundant life he refers to is in heaven. From reading his entire article, it is clear
that he means success, goodness, and blessings will come in this life.
In the book of
Luke, there is a story of a rich man, and a beggar named Lazarus. After they both die, the rich man is in
torment and the beggar is in Abraham’s bosom.
The rich man asked Abraham why… Luke 16:25 But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your
lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but
now he is comforted and you are tormented.”
The rich man had
success, goodness, and blessings while on earth. But that did nothing for his eternal
life. Lazarus did not have success and
blessings on earth, but he gets comfort in heaven. Now the Bible isn’t necessarily saying that
if you have blessings on earth, you won’t go to heaven – I am not saying
that. God, of course, can bless anyone
with abundance and success. The Bible
teaches that our heart should not be placed on the things (success and
goodness) of this world, but completely on God.
Luke
10:27 “You shall love the
Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength,
and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”
But Monson is encouraging Mormons to seek after success
and goodness – NOT GOD. Not only that,
he is telling them to seek after this abundant life with a “personal, diligent,
and significant quest”. It sounds a lot
like giving your heart, soul, strength and mind to living the abundant life –
not loving God.
This is exactly
opposite of what the Bible teaches – as we can see in Matthew.
Matt 6:19-21 Lay not up for yourselves treasures
upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through
and steal:
But lay up for yourselves treasures in
heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not
break through nor steal:
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Monson continues, “Just
as we learned the ABCs in school, I offer my own ABCs to help us all gain the
abundant life… A in my ABCs refers to attitude… B is for believe – in yourself,
in those around you, and in eternal principles…C is for courage.”
Once again, God
is not mentioned – in fact Monson himself takes credit for his own ABCs to help gain the abundant life. He is teaching us to rely on our attitude, belief in ourselves, and our own courage. With this
approach, any blessing, success, or good thing that comes our way will be
credited to us, not God (at least in most people’s minds).
To support his
message, Monson includes quotes from William James (an American psychologist
and philosopher), Charles Swindoll (an author educator, and Christian pastor),
William Shakespeare’s “King Henry the Eighth”, Thomas Fuller (an English
churchman and historian who lived in the 17th century), and Ralph
Waldo Emerson. He does not ever quote
Jesus, or even the scriptures – not even the LDS scriptures!
At one point, he
refers to David fighting Goliath, but credits the win to David not to God.
Monson’s final
words are, “May we remember these ABCs as we begin our journey
into the new year, cultivating a positive attitude, a belief that we can
achieve our goals and resolutions, and the courage to face whatever challenges
may come our way. Then the abundant life
will be ours.”
The
teachings in this article are NOT Biblical, and therefore,
NOT
consistent with Christian beliefs.
On May 18, 1873 (as recorded in the
Journal of Discourses, Vol. 16 p. 46), Brigham Young issued a challenge: “Take up the Bible, compare the religion of
the Latter Day Saints with it, and see if it will stand the test.”
I have accepted that challenge from
Brigham Young.
In the January 2012 issue of the
Ensign, the LDS religion FAILS
this test.
