Monday, February 4, 2013

Bending the Whole Soul


As I was preparing a lesson for High Priests group, I came across the phrase in the title of this missive. It struck me as very expressive of the need to humble ourselves so that we can live a life that is full of submission to the Lord’s will. The scriptures say that “every knee shall bow,” but something more than simple acknowledgement is required for exaltation. The soul is formed when the spirit and the body are joined together. This is our eternal form. When we are resurrected our bodies and spirits will be again fitted together in a glorified form for eternity.


Again, The Lord says that “every knee shall bow to me” (Romans 14:11). This means that all who have lived, all who now live, and all who will yet live on the earth shall bow. But perhaps bending the whole soul is the higher requirement. For exaltation, we must be willing to bend our whole soul to the will of the Father and his Son. If we can do this, then perhaps we can become a new creature (2 Corinthians 5:17), entitled to the constant guidance of the Holy Ghost as we pass through mortality. Mosiah 3:19 gives us straightforward instructions about the preparations we must make to hear the whisperings of the spirit:
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.
When we have begun the bending process King Mosiah described and begin to truly seek the comforter, only then can we begin to have the faith needed to seek the knowledge – by faith – we need to understand the Great Plan of the Eternal God (Alma 34:9); the knowledge we need to connect with the Father and the Son.

The words “bending the whole soul” are not found in the scriptures. But they certainly are descriptive and evocative of the effort we must make to know the mind and will of the Father and his Son. In fact, those words are most instructive of the process of becoming more like them and learning to gather knowledge of the eternities – they describe what each of us must do to gain knowledge by faith.

Gaining knowledge by faith is a much-discussed topic with leaders in the church as they seek to teach us the way to knowledge of eternal truths. Elder Dallin H. Oaks, in his book, The Lord's Way, p. 45, says:
We come to know God and the truths of his gospel by study and reason and also (and always, for this kind of knowledge) by faith and revelation.
Elder B.H. Roberts said:
Knowledge by faith! What a thought—knowledge by faith! But let no one suppose that knowledge by faith is to be obtained by an easy road or method. It will demand effort and strenuous life and the exaltation of life itself to obtain knowledge by faith….
… it is no lazy man's task—this getting knowledge by faith. It requires the bending of the whole soul, the calling up of the depths of the human mind, and linking them with God—the right connection must be formed. Then comes knowledge by faith. (Discourses of B. H. Roberts, pp. 25-26)
Bending the whole soul is a favorite theme of President Harold B. Lee’s. In his article titled, The Iron Rod, in the Ensign, June 1971, p. 5, he says this:
Let no one think that “learning by faith” contemplates an easy or lazy way to gain knowledge and ripen it into wisdom.
. . . learning by faith requires the bending of the whole soul through worthy living to become attuned to the Holy Spirit of the Lord, the calling up from the depths of one’s own mental searching, and the linking of our own efforts to receive the true witness of the Spirit.
In his dedicatory remarks for a building on the BYU campus, Robert L. Millett said this:
Just as knowledge by study is not to be had through a mere perusal of texts or an occasional conversation, so knowledge by faith comes at a price.
So it would seem then, that the price is bending the while soul, which means bending or bowing to the will of God in all humbleness so that the right connection (with the Holy Ghost) can be established. The third member of the godhead is the testifier. He will help us to see the truth of all things through faith. President Kim B. Clark, in a speech at Brigham Young University-Idaho, on October 11, 2005, said the following:
Faith is at the heart of almost every line in that statement. It is in the “bending” of the soul in righteous obedience; it is in the diligent searching, in the “calling up,” and in the “linking” of personal effort to the Spirit. In all this there is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, faith in the power of His Atonement, faith in the ministry of the Holy Spirit, as the Savior said, to “. . . teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance . . .” (John 14:26). That faith moves … to action: to obey, to bend, to search, to call up, to link. That is learning by faith.
In the Doctrine and Covenants, 130:18-19 we learn the importance of learning and knowledge in this life:
Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection. And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come.
Speaking of this verse President (then Elder) Gordon B. Hinckley, said in a December 14, 1960, BYU Speech:
Live today as if you were going to live forever, for you surely shall. Live with the conviction that whatsoever principle of intelligence and beauty and truth and goodness you attain unto in this life, it shall rise with you In the resurrection.
In my mind, bending the whole soul is synonymous with bending (or humbling) ourselves to the mind and will of God. It means that we spend time pondering and praying about the gospel and being open (by proper preparation) to the whisperings that come to us by the spirit. In Doctrine and Covenants 90:24, we read:
Search diligently, pray always, and be believing, and all things shall work together for your good, if ye walk uprightly and remember the covenant wherewith ye have covenanted one with another.
In D&C 9:7-8 The Lord Tells Oliver Cowdery (and by derivation, us also) that study and pondering are necessary for inspiration to flow to us from the Lord:
Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me.
But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right.
In speaking of this scripture, Elder John A. Widtsoe, in his book, Evidences and Reconciliations pp 16-17 says:
It is a paradox that men will gladly devote time every day for many years to learn a science or an art; yet will expect to win a knowledge of the gospel, which comprehends all sciences and arts, through perfunctory glances at books or occasional listening to sermons. The gospel should be studied more intensively than any school or college subject.
We must all bend our souls, whether voluntarily or by the justice of the Lord as he sits in judgment. If we refuse to bend the knee, to bend our souls to the will of the Lord through humble repentance, diligent study and a righteous life, we will nevertheless bend, because the Lord himself swore an oath by Himself: …”it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. (Romans 14:11).

The process of bending our souls will continue long after this life is over. Even in eternity, we will recognize the power and omnipotence of the Father and the Son. We probably cannot complete the bending process in this life, but we are instructed that we must “…be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do (2 Nephi 25:23). And with the His grace, and the help of the Lord in eternity, we can complete the process.

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