2.316 Ignorance Makes It Impossible

In Matthew 5:13, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth, a bold reminder that our lives are meant to carry his flavor, his truth, and his love to the world. Join me each day to explore one verse of scripture and one thought, striving to stay full of savor and truly live as Savory Salt. Hello, my friends.

It's great to have you with me. Today let's be anxiously engaged in a good cause and bring to pass much righteousness. Question for you: What have you learned today?

Now, before we dive into that topic, maybe you're listening to this in the morning and you're saying, Allen, that's not a fair question. I'm just getting started. And that's okay.

What are you trying to learn? What are you working on? That's where we're going to take a look as we continue our readings.

We're reading this week Doctrine and Covenants 129 through 132. So much inside of there. I hope you are enjoying.

There's a lot inside of there. We're also reading 3 Nephi chapter 29 through Mormon chapter 2. While that sounds like a lot of reading, the chapters aren't too large inside of there.

We'll get to the Book of Mormon here in a couple of days. We're going to dive into Doctrine and Covenants section 131 here. And again, there are just too many verses to pick.

So, I'm sorry, but these are the ones I got. I hope you find the power verses in every one of these sections. They are so powerful.

But this one strikes a chord with me because I am a learner. I am a learner of all things. I just, I love to learn new stuff and I kind of get bored with old stuff and I want to go learn new stuff.

And so this one speaks to me. I hope it speaks to you as well. Let's take a look at what it says in Doctrine and Covenants section 131, verse 6.

It says, "It is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance." Now, what is it about ignorance that makes it impossible to be saved? That's an interesting question. We've been counseled in so many different ways to continue our learning and our education.

Latter-day Saints, in general, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints overall, as a populace, has a very, very high education rate when they study us compared to other religions. What is it about us studying and learning? Perhaps President Benson can shed some insight here.

He gave a talk back in 1986. I'll make sure the link is in the podcast here. The talk is titled "Characteristics of the Master." And I'll probably come back around to it in the New Testament times as well.

But President Benson is talking specifically about some verses that Peter wrote. And then he says this about this verse in particular: He says, "The next step Peter describes in the growth process is to add knowledge to our faith and virtue." The Lord has told us that "it is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance." In another place, God commanded, "seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom, seek learning, even by study and also by faith." Every priesthood holder should make learning a lifelong pursuit. And I might even extend that to every member of the Church should make learning a lifelong pursuit.

While any study of truth is a virtue, the truths of salvation are the most important truths any person can learn. The Lord's question, "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" can be applied to educational pursuits as well as the pursuit of worldly goods. The Lord might also have asked, "For what is a man profited if he shall learn everything in the world and not learn how to be saved?" My friends, I hope that you and I can take an opportunity to create a learning plan for each one of us.

I know for the Primary program and for the youth they have a Church plan that helps them focus and develop in areas in their lives. We should continue to do that as adults. I hope you have a plan for learning, and I hope that learning includes the subjects of salvation.

One of my favorite places to go and learn is the temple. I love to go. And one of my favorite things has been this year, I try to go every week.

And one of my favorite things to do this year has been to change what I am doing each week of the month. So I go and do baptisms with my girls. And we do that as a family.

And then my wife and I try and set a time where we go do sealings, and then we do initiatories, and then we do endowment. And I love, I love the opportunity to hear the words of the covenants we're making and then take those and dig into them in terms of my study. My friends, make learning a goal because ignorance makes salvation impossible.

That is one we absolutely can say, "Yes, Savory Salt is focused on eliminating the ignorance." That's all for today, my friends. Lift up your hearts and rejoice. Cleave unto the covenants you have made, and together we will be Savory Salt. We'll see you next time.