Things I hope you will teach my grandchildren

I don’t remember where I first heard it, but someone said in essence Salvation is an individual matter but Exaltation requires a group effort. Personal righteousness is essential but not sufficient for exaltation. We have to take people with us if we are going to be exalted. We can be saved, even in the Celestial Kingdom, individually, but we can be exalted only when sealed to a spouse and to ancestors and descendants. There are other blessings that are only available if we can persuade others to join us or if we can join an appropriate group. As we were talking in Sunday School class today about the end of the Nephite civilization, I thought about those who were yet righteous, including Mormon and Moroni and no doubt some others judging from Mormon’s letter to Moroni about infant baptism. There were apparently a few righteous saints left who were trying to keep the church going and do the right thing. That was not sufficient to preserve the Nephites, however, or to save themselves from being exterminated in mortality. Not that I think Mormon and Moroni and the others who were righteous were responsible for the sins of all their contemporaries. They did all they could. We cannot enjoy the blessings of a Zion society without the society. We have to do our part in brining others along.

Many of the teachings of the gospel are related to our interaction with others. Learning to relate to others is more than half of the battle. We are all interdependent, like it or not. This is difficult for me as I am not a very social being and I don’t enjoy trying to persuade others or explaining my beliefs to them. I’m somewhat of a loner and socially inept. I usually prefer a good book to a good conversation. The ultimate example of our dependence is, of course, the Atonement. Without Christ and his sacrifice we would all be lost. I have committed to try to be more outgoing and more social at church and elsewhere, to try to do my part in promoting the unity necessary to achieve the desired result. Maybe that’s why I was prompted and more or less forced into teaching. Something I need to work on.