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To Keep The Commandments

The expression "to keep the commandments" has troubled me for a long time. Why do we, our leaders and so on always talk about keeping the commandments? Are there any on the earth who keep the commandments? (I mean all of them) I doubt it... In the sacrament prayer we are asked to be willing to keep the commandments. Is that enough?

These thoughts often come to me during a temple interview. We are asked if we are keeping the covenants we made in the Temple. I have never asked the Bishop if the only right answer is "yes". I can only imagine what he would say if I said "no". After all, none of us are perfect, but to me, that question sounds as if one is asked if one is perfect. Can anyone really answer yes to that?

Or, is it your best efforts combined with the atonement of Jesus Christ that makes it possible to answer yes to that question? Or is it our willingness to keep the covenants/commandments that makes it even? I realize we all have ups and downs, but in a Temple interview it sounds to me as if we're expected to be perfect. Many a Bishop has told me that is not the requirement, but I feel there is a difference between what they mean and what the questions sound like.

What are your comments on this?

Commandments The To

In truth and in fact that is just it - you are not being asked if you are perfect, you are in fact being asked if you are keeping the commandments. The word 'keeping' is the focus here. It is the meaning of this word that must be interpreted. If someone asked me if I am 'keeping' my obligations as a parent to my child I would most likely say "yes". Were they to ask if I was keeping my obligations as a parent to my child perfectly then I would say "no". It is possible to be clean before an interview - it is a matter of repentance. If you are washed clean and sanctified by the Spirit then in that moment in time you are 'perfectly' clean before the Lord. Now the funny part is keeping it that way until the interview.

For sure, it is Christ that fills in the enormous gap, being able to answer "yes" is based on actually utilizing the gift that He has already given.

To Keep The Commandments Studies Doctrine Mormon

joheri:

I think we can get our answer from the story of Nephi and Laban.

Nephi is confronted with a paradox of titanic proportions here. He has been taught all of his life that you should not kill, only in self-defense. And certainly killing a drunk, even one as wicked as Laban, probably seemed a bit, I don't know, harsh. Laban couldn't even defend himself. I know this would trouble me.

And yet, the Spirit is commanding him to kill Laban! Doesn't the Lord know it is wrong to kill people? Aren't we commanded, Thou shalt not kill?

What follows is a dialogue with the Lord (essentially) where the Lord explains to Nephi that in certain cases, it is appropriate and necessary to depart from the commandments and obey the specific commandments that the Lord is giving us in the moment.

The Lord has given us a very broad set of commandments. So many commandments, in fact, that it very well could be impossible to keep them all perfectly, day after day, from moment to moment.

Fortunately, what we are to do about this is to learn to listen to the Spirit, as Nephi learned to do, and to follow the commandments of the Lord in the moment. Then it will be as if we were keeping ALL of the commandments, or at least the Lord will judge it so, not because we are actually keeping ALL of the commandments we can possibly keep, but because we are keeping all of HIS commandments from moment to moment. Do you see the distinction?


The Lord's will for us in the moment takes precedence over "keeping all of the commandments He has ever given mankind."

Let's say that, in my efforts to keep all the commandments, I come home from Church and begin to clean my kitchen. Then I bake some cookies and take them over to the neighbor's and spend some time visiting with them. Then I go to an old folk's home a few miles away and visit with some people there.

Sounds like a wonderful Sunday to me, and I think most people would agree.

But consider this: What if the Lord had distinctly and unmistakably prompted me to go see one of my families I home teach? What if one of them needed a blessing?

If I ignored the prompting, and instead went about cleaning my kitchen, baking cookies for the neighbors, and visiting the elderly, was the Lord's will done?

NO! It was not. Even though I went about "doing much good" I failed to do something MORE IMPORTANT...I failed to follow the Lord's actual will concerning me!

This verse is describing people who are so obesessed with keeping EVERY commandment that they turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to seeking the Lord's righteousness and His will. We must first seek the Lord's will in the matter, THEN our efforts will be guided and blessed and consecrated for our good:

This is the best I can explain it.


May I also say that I seek to live it, and often fall short. But the Lord is patient and loving.