David a Bednar Ye Must Be Born Again 2007
As a new member, people who don't understand your new religion may ask if you lot've been built-in again. For some, that means no more than maxim you've accepted Christ as your Savior, which you lot nearly certainly have. It'southward one of the questions y'all're asked when you lot are interviewed for baptism. Withal, at that place is more than to being born once again than making a statement.
President David O. McKay, said, "No man can sincerely resolve to use in his daily life the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth without sensing a change in his own nature. The phrase 'born again' has a deeper significance than many people attach to it. This inverse feeling may be indescribable, only information technology is real." (In Conference Written report, Apr. 1962, p. seven.)
How tin yous exist truly born again, from an LDS perspective? This is a procedure that takes time. It'southward non a single moment's activity, but a lifetime of hard work and organized religion-growing. David R. Bednar, a general authority, compared the process to that of making pickles. He says that when his mother made pickles, the process could non be hurried and steps couldn't exist skipped. Equally 2 Corinthians v:17 states: "Therefore if whatever man be in Christ, he is a new creature: onetime things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." To get a completely new person, with all quondam things passed away suggests an intense and sometimes challenging, lifelong process.
Elderberry Bednar offers these steps to becoming built-in again:
The process begins with immersing and saturating.
A mere sampling of the gospel simply won't do. It won't work to go to church on Sunday and forget all about your religion until the next Sunday. It won't work to go through the motions without any existent commitment or change of heart. You lot must begin with the outset principles and ordinances of the gospel: faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism by immersion (once again an all-the-way process, non a mere sprinkling) and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Elder Bednar explains:
"And later nosotros come out of the waters of baptism, our souls demand to be continuously immersed in and saturated with the truth and the lite of the Savior'south gospel. Sporadic and shallow dipping in the doctrine of Christ and fractional participation in His restored Church cannot produce the spiritual transformation that enables us to walk in a newness of life. Rather, fidelity to covenants, continuance of commitment, and offer our whole soul unto God are required if nosotros are to receive the blessings of eternity."
Only when the gospel is so completely a part of our lives, just when the Savior is so of import to us that we can feel His presence with usa every moment, are nosotros really immersed in the gospel. Make the commitment and kickoff building a life with the Savior in the center, not on the fringes.
The waters of baptism purify us and then we start out our new journey complimentary of whatever sins nosotros committed in the past. Now that we have been given a fresh start, we can apply the Holy Ghost to guide u.s. and to help us avoid future sin. This is a daily process, and one that takes our full concentration and delivery. How hard we work at this depends on how great our faith and commitment to the Lord are. Our deportment are one way we show Heavenly Father and the Savior how much nosotros love them and want to return to them. Elder Bednar explains:
"The Holy Spirit of Promise is the ratifying power of the Holy Ghost. When sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise, an ordinance, vow, or covenant is binding on globe and in heaven. (See D&C 132:vii.) Receiving this "stamp of approval" from the Holy Ghost is the upshot of faithfulness, integrity, and steadfastness in honoring gospel covenants "in [the] process of time" (Moses vii:21). However, this sealing can be forfeited through unrighteousness and transgression."
When nosotros complete the first principles and ordinances of the gospel, and covenant to devote our lives to the service of God, we are on the path to existence born once more. Our life of service is our gift to the Begetter who gave united states of america everything. Being born again is a lifelong gift, one that is offered through work, cede, faith, and ultimately, joy.
To read the complete talk, visit LDS.org:
Ye Must be Built-in Again by David A. Bednar, Ensign, May 2007, 19–22
The late Terrie Lynn Bittner—honey wife, mother, grandmother, and friend—was the author of ii homeschooling books and numerous manufactures, including several that appeared in Latter-twenty-four hours Saint magazines. She became a fellow member of the Church at the age of 17 and began sharing her organized religion online in 1992.
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Source: https://ldsblogs.com/608/born-again