I have a dear (Christian) friend that I have grown up with. Recently as we watched our kids play together, and had to intervene at times to get them to share, we got to discussing the nature of children. She commented on how naturally sinful these little toddlers were and how we are all sinful beings. I agreed with the natural man we all have inside us and how we all have to learn to fight it as we come to understand right and wrong. I added though that while some of Beckett's bad behaviors are purely his own, many have been learned by example from us as parents or from older kids at church in nursery. She again asserted that that couldn't really be the case because he was sinful from birth on his own. As I held her sweet innocent five month old on my lap who hadn't made a peep for nearly an hour, I couldn't agree with her. I tried to wrack my brain to explain that I know that kids can and do sin, but we as parents are here to help teach them right and wrong, and that in our church we don't believe they are accountable for these sins until the age of eight. This is why we baptize at that age...the age when they should really understand right and wrong completely for themselves, and when the atonement becomes necessary for them. She then said that she believed that her toddler knew and understood when she was doing wrong, and that the doctrine of us being evil from birth comes from the bible, and don't we believe in the bible? I sat a little dumbfounded and all I could answer was yes, we did. Our conversation moved elsewhere, but this concept of little children did not leave my mind for a few days, and of course I later thought of many things I should have said (not to argue, but to clarify our beliefs).
I didn't recall until Saturday the biblical passage in Matthew 18:3-4 where Christ tells us we must become converted and humble like little children or we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. But the main scripture I thought of was Mosiah 3:19:
"For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father."
This scripture illustrates all the amazing Christlike attributes that are naturally found in children that King Benjamin urges us to emulate. Don't get me wrong, I know that children exhibit the natural man and do sin, but I feel that dwelling on a belief that we are evil from birth is not correct. We are spirit children of God, and come into this world with unique and inherited godlike characteristics. In this last week's conference, President Uchtdorf emphasized that we should view ourselves as God does...as the beings that we are designed to become. I feel that both of these sets of scriptures, and this added counsel clarify the purity of heart and submissiveness that little children have naturally, but I didn't feel that sharing them with my friend would really clarify much because she doesn't believe in the Book of Mormon. We have had many gospel conversations over the years that I have known her, and I once gave her a Book of Mormon with my testimony written inside.
Then I heard Tad R. Callister's talk on the necessity of the Book of Mormon in clarifying biblical doctrines, and it all clicked! I finally feel that I can explain our beliefs, why they differ from hers, and where they come from in a better way than I have tried to in all the years I have previously. Even though we believe the Bible to be correct and the word of God, so many different churches exist and claim to be Christian because of how they interpret the doctrines differently. The Book of Mormon is necessary to add another witness of Christ in alignment with the Bible that also acts as a tool for clarification. Also, the Book of Mormon is either true, or it is not. It is from God, or it is from the devil. It urges us to follow Christ, and therefore how could it be from Satan?
Anyway, sorry for my ramble. I just needed to get that off my chest. I love this gospel and its clarity. The end.
