The Fifth Article of Faith

We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.

One of the expressions that confuses people who aren't members the most is probably when we talk about our callings.

When people talk about callings outside of the church, they usually mean something that they feel called to do as a life's work. That can happen to church members as well, but it is pretty normal to have callings that are temporary and that don't have to start out with soul searching and that is really good.

Let me back up.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has no professional clergy. There are paid professions in the church educational system with the schools; those are not volunteer positions. Some of the professional buildings have paid custodial staff (though we also take turns cleaning the regular meeting houses)... for most things that happen, it is someone volunteering their time where the only compensation is spiritual.

You don't decide what you are going to do. When you get asked you can say "no", but generally you are saying "yes".

I have written many posts about speaking in church, and also about giving lessons. Those are things that people do without pay, taking turns, but getting asked. 

It can work out differently, depending on the thing. For example, you may be called to be a Sunday school teacher. Probably you will not be the only one, and you will rotate giving lessons, working out a schedule with the other teachers. For speaking on Sunday, members are asked to give talks. Maybe they ask you for a time when you will be out of town, and you say that... they may ask you to speak the following week then contact someone else for that day.

People are supposed to pray and carefully consider the needs before extending a calling. Then, obviously prayer and pondering would be a part of doing your calling. 

That being said, I remember more than once hearing jokes from people about it being desperation rather than inspiration.

I think some of that comes from not wanting to brag, maybe, and often people have doubts about how good of a job they can do.

It generally works out. I was just talking to one teacher who is very insecure about teaching, but I know she does a good job. If she was more confident, maybe she would not do as well.

I know I have at times thought there were callings that I would never be able to do; later on I ended up doing them and it worked out. 

I have loved teaching Sunday school, but I have also been very happy as a ward librarian (helping people with copies and lesson supplies), in the nursery (children 18 months to three years old), working with youth, organizing activities, and being in charge of emergency preparedness.

I get different things from different callings, which I think makes it good that we change things up periodically. 

Currently, as a counselor in the Relief Society presidency, I find myself having more love and appreciation for the women in the ward. I am grateful for that. 

Even with the calling where I did my worst job ever, Relief Society accompanist, well, I learned things from doing it, if mostly humility. I don't regret doing it, but I am also glad it didn't last for that long.

The Fourth Article of Faith

We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

There is a level at which all of the articles build upon each other, but I think that is especially striking with the first four; first there is that God exists, then that sin does, but also that there is atonement.

This article then puts them together. 

Faith has to come first because without it there is no motivation for anything else.

There are two scriptures I want to reference for that...

Hebrews 11:1 -- Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 

It is not just belief, because it is in something true and there are signs and things that come and make it grow. 

Alma 32:28 --  Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves—It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me.

It takes some openness, but it is not happening without input and thought.

It does change you, and part of that is caring about things and people more, and wanting to be good, which is why it must lead to repentance.

Repentance is a whole topic on its own, but there is commitment that is signaled by baptism and that baptism cleanses and then the Holy Ghost sanctifies.

Again, there could easily be multiple subtopics here. I am not going to get into all of that now, but there is information out there.

None of the articles mention baptism for the dead, but that is something we do, and is something I have written about before:

https://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2024/03/ordinances-for-everyone.html 

I will reaffirm here what I wrote about there; one of the keys to my faith is that I find mercy and justice through the entire system.

If there were people who did not have access to salvation because of the time and place where they were born, or how short their life was, or anything else that they could not control, how could we trust God?

Of course, many people don't. 

What I understand is that God is better than fair, and better than people. 

I am not saying you have to believe that. 

My beliefs bring me hope and joy, and I do want to share that.

I also want to suggest leaving some room for belief. 

If you were to learn that healing and reparation would come for everything, would that be enough, or would you still be angry? If there were meaning in the prior suffering that you could understand, would that help?

Leave room for a seed.  

The Third Article of Faith

We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.

The balance of justice and mercy may be the most important part of my faith, and here is where we get to it.

I know people who have had trouble forgiving someone who wronged them because they felt like that would make it right.

It doesn't; the wrong is still wrong.

(Forgiveness can be a part of healing, but don't try and abridge the healing because someone else is demanding forgiveness; that's a different problem.)

The wrongs that are done and the pain that is caused must be paid for and they have, by Jesus Christ, if you repent.

(This will take us a little into the Fourth Article as well.)

People get hung up on not having the same chances, so life isn't fair, or that none of it really matters or that there is no choice. 

I love L.M. Montgomery but she has Presbyterians saying, at least semi-seriously, that there's no point worrying over things because they're all foreordained.

That is how some people justified that other people would not have the chance to be baptized or that the righteous should be blessed... foreordination and so every thing is the way it should be, even if it seems horrible to look at.

No. We have choices, as do the people around us, and some of those choices are bad.

The wicked may prosper and the righteous may suffer. 

(It is more flagrant for some; I've noticed.)

However, Christ has conquered both death and sin, so all of that can be healed. Even though it takes time and even though everyone will not repent, they will get the chance.

I have not been a huge sinner. Sometimes in the scriptures there are people who feel great suffering for sins that probably aren't that bad. (For the Book of Mormon, 2nd Nephi 4 and Enos come to mind.)

I am not good enough to be like that. Maybe someday I will. 

I have at times had suffering spiritually healed. It feels like a miracle.

Someone has already felt your pain and paid the price for it. 

I also sometimes live with pain. I have become a more compassionate, tender person because of that.

I'm not saying any of that is easy, or even easy comprehend, but I have complete faith that the plan works and that there is room in it for everyone, with everyone still having choice.

That faith gives me joy. 

  

The Second Article of Faith

We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression.

Doctinally, perhaps the most interesting thing here is that we don't believe in original sin, where everyone is tainted just being born into this world. That means you don't need something like "immaculate conception" where somehow Mary's conception was different so she could be a fit vessel for the virgin birth.

For years when people talked about immaculate conception, I assumed that was about the conception of Jesus, not Mary. 

This is important to me because there can be a tendency to look down on flesh and humanity and all of those things. I admit that they are flawed, but also that they are good.

For our faith, the Fall was necessary to allow us this flawed growth.  

I am glad to have a body, even though I am very aware of its weaknesses (even more as I age).

I am glad to have knowledge of good and evil, even though a world where everyone has that knowledge and has the ability to choose means that bad things happen to me and because of me.

Good things happen too, and they have meaning. They can be hard won.

There is a scripture in the Book of Mormon, "Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy."  (2nd Nephi 2:25)

There is messiness to life, but there is also meaning and beauty and depth.

I know that for some people who have issues with religion, this is where it comes in. How can God allow such things to happen?

I had said in the first post that I would get more into my relationship with Christ in the third article, and I will get more into this as well.

Those parts all go together. 

 

The First Article of Faith

We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.

Fun story: I once really confused some Jehovah's Witnesses by saying we believed in the Trinity.

I mean, the Trinity was the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, right? We believe in them.

As it is, in our church we do sometimes refer to them as the "Godhead" referring to how they function together. 

I know the difference now, though I still find it kind of weird.

I don't want this to be a series of posts arguing the doctrine, but rather more how I feel about my beliefs and how they affect me. However, I do want to throw in one scripture here.

You might expect it to be from the baptism of Jesus when he is in the water, the voice of the Father is heard, and the Holy Ghost is mentioned as descending like a dove. 

Instead, I want to bring up John 17:21, when Jesus is praying for his apostles...

That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 

I mention that not to convince anyone, which I don't think one scripture could do, but because I think that there is value in understanding that there can be both unity and the individual. A lot of scripture can point us toward something better, but we have to believe that such things are possible and maybe even imagine them as desirable.

At the same time, so often we hear one thing and imagine the worst possible meaning of it, maybe because of what we have seen from other people... I won't pretend it's not hard.

Because there can be confusion about "God," I will often refer to Heavenly Father specifically. That is whom I pray to.

It gets tricky trying to be respectful and not overuse names, especially as those names become exclamations for so many people. 

For Jesus, I will often refer to "the Savior", and often "the Spirit" for the Holy Ghost. 

Things that are important for the phrasing in the article is that God is the father of our spirits and that our savior is the man who was known as Jesus and was anointed to be the Savior of the World. 

We have less to refer to for the Holy Ghost, and yet that can be the one that you have the most personal experience with.

I will write more about Jesus later (on the third article), but for the other two, this is their importance to me.

You may know that I have had a difficult relationship with my earthly father, even though I love him. There are people with that situation who find it difficult to imagine a loving, fatherly God.

Somehow I always felt that.

Well, let me modify that. I did worry very much about being worthy of love and if He could love me, imperfect mess that I was. However, I was able to understand that He was good; there wasn't going to be any of this unfair, competitive, grudge-holding difficulty. 

In addition, love from God was persistently shown and demonstrated until it was something that I knew and that has been a source of strength.

In my teen years I remember a great deal of emotional pain, specifically about the concern of being lovable to other people. Though that took longer to resolve, there were limits to how much it brought me down. I believe that was the influence of the Holy Ghost, shoring up my resilience.

In addition, there have been many times when I have received knowledge and guidance through the Spirit, so that the biggest influence on my life might be from there, except they all work together, so it doesn't need to be separated out that way.

But they do fill their unique roles, as individuals. So if I wanted to sort it out, I could. 

Articulating faith

I have been thinking for a while about having a series of posts where I go over the Articles of Faith and my thoughts and feelings on them.

I know that sometimes my liberality my seem at odds with the orthodoxy of my belief. I don't find contradiction there, but that may be because of things that are not clear to readers. I have written about some of those things in the past, but I've been doing this for a lot of years; no one is expected to keep track..

This is partially inspired by recent discussion of the Athanasian Creed and who counts as Christians. 

I had always thought people were referring to the Nicene Creed before, so it was interesting to learn there was another one. Apparently, there is also the Apostles' Creed, but Athanasius was a defender of the Nicene Creed, so if the Athanasian Creed was the most recent, it makes sense that it is the reference point. 

https://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2026/06/an-example-of-believers.html 

My church doesn't believe in it, so based on that, okay, fine. I do find it weird that the Protestants place so much of their definition on something pre-Reformation, but I don't know how much individuals believe it... I mean, faith can get very personal. Sometimes a lot of those things are more felt than thought. 

Both feeling and thinking are important to me. 

We don't have any creeds, but the Articles of Faith would give a good overall view. 

Joseph Smith had received a letter from the editor and owner of the Chicago Democrat asking about the church and faith. This was in 1842, so twelve years after the church was organized. The "Wentworth Letter" gave an introduction and history of the new church, and the articles are kind of a summing up. It doesn't contain everything we believe, but it gives a fairly good gist.

There are thirteen of them, so that is the plan for the next thirteen posts. 

Bewaring of pride, differently

Although I have some more thoughts about the Hegseth thing, I want to finish with this idea I have been working toward ever so subtly.

Maybe the first thing is to point out that when I am writing about things that I think are important, I circle around it a lot and give a lot of examples. It's not that I don't say the point, but I try and give enough information that people will find the logic on their own. 

Statistics should carry more weight than anecdotes, which can be deceiving. However, anecdotes can be what helps people incorporate how something works into their worldview.

With recent posts about perspective and how they can be different, I am getting toward something else that has been bothering me lately. This is about people finding something they think is great, being really excited, and this is what they are going to offer to everyone; you should be enthusiastic about it too.

I am specifically thinking of two people. One I actually believe is completely headed in the wrong direction. I have sympathy for how she got there, but she is wrong and really excited about it.

The other has a point, I think, but it is probably not as universal as she thinks it is. 

Her situation is more to the point.

It is great that something helped you when you were struggling. It can feel like a miracle. If it helps additional people, that is also great.

We are all different. 

Penicillin was a huge breakthrough and works well on a lot of things. Some people are allergic and some bacteria are resistant.

I hope Alexander Fleming doesn't take that personally. 

We have different sources of support. We have experiences where some things resonate with us more than others. We process grief differently. We need different things at different times, where sometimes you really need to process something, but sometimes the immediate need is distraction. 

Our differences can be rich and contribute to life's complex beauty, or we can get huffy about them. 

Something that works for you might might not work for another person because they have a different background that blocks that channel. It might not work for them now, but maybe a few years down the road it will because they have had a chance to learn different things or get used to something.

It can even be that sometimes, when you describe your experience to someone, that it guides them to their own different understanding. Sharing can be good, but it still may not be THE ANSWER.

It struck me because it was a different aspect of pride.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1989/04/beware-of-pride?lang=eng 

Normally when I think of pride, I focus on the "enmity" part, where there is hostility and competition. In terms of people enjoying their talents and blessings without begrudging anyone anything, I am all for that; that's not how I use the word pride.

In this case, it does start with enjoying and enthusiasm. While it is not obviously competitive -- at least at the start -- I suppose the problem is being so sure that this is THE ANSWER. That gives a sense of superiority, or at least a desire for recognition.

That could turn to hostility and resentment. I like to think having any sense of humor and being at all grounded would keep it from going that way. Maybe it is harder to stay grounded in this environment. 

Previously I had worked out that the key to not giving into pride is to focus on loving more and building your affection for people. I still think that's a good overall policy, but I am not sure that it helps with this.

Except, if you really are working on loving people, you should be noticing that there are differences.

The next step may be realizing how those differences play out. Because of that, you may not always know best for them. 

That doesn't have to take away anything from you.

Related posts: 

https://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2026/06/perspective-check.html 

https://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2026/06/all-aboard-meal-train.html