Today, while we might feel more "connected" than ever...electronically via social media like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,... most of us are actually becoming less connected to the only connection that really matters. This false sense of being "connected" will actually damn us since we are not yet connected to the only connection that will save us. The word connection means to "knit or link together"; "to tie or fasten together", "To join or unite", or "to have a close relationship with".
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My wife and I are currently teaching the Temple Preparation class in our ward. I wanted to share the following answer given at the end of symposium talk entitled "The Road to Emmaus" given a few years ago. Hopefully this will be helpful to someone in understanding the importance of being truly connected.
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"Part of the rites in the temple are intended to communicate to you things that are most Holy. They are intended to make you Holy. They are intended to make you a suitable recipient for an audience. They are intended to make you a suitable companion for a walk down a dusty road with the risen Lord who is trying to get you to notice exactly Who it is that speaks to you. It is intended to have you understand that He lives. And that He is willing to associate with you. And that, it is not as Joseph Smith put it,.. relying on the words of an old book to a people who once lived long ago that is going to save anyone. It is the dialogue that you engage in, with Him NOW. It is the living, breathing, and vital. The Lord uses the symbol of the living vine.. and you have to connect to the living vine. He is the vine and you connect to it and get life through that. Words could not be more plain. What does it mean to be connected up with the vine and to derive subsistence from it. You have to be alive, which is not inert or an object you move from there to there, if it is alive, it is going to grow. It is going to increase, it is going to improve, it is going to have connection with. Christ was extraordinary in his selection of the things that He wanted to communicate to us what He intended the Gospel to be. And we read them and say.. “that’s cool, I’ll pay my tithing,.. I am connected.”… “ I got a card,.. I am connected.”
Well, It is intended to be more than that. In the way it becomes more than that is an individual journey in which you receive from Him and become a part of Him and He does His best and use analogies, parables and stories to make it clear to us. And the history of events as recorded in scripture are intented to make it clear to us, but at the end of the day it is up to us, up to you to have that Aha moment. That He really is talking to you and inviting you. YOU! Individually. Whereever you are, wherever you are at, whatever your confusion, whatever your doubts, whatever your uncertainties, He wants to talk to you."
It is inspiring to hear others words that that they have recieved the Lord in mortality whether in places like the Draper Temple or in their own homes. Let us not be like the wandering Israelites in the wilderness unwilling to approach, and ascend our own Mt. Sinai. Let us all recieve that testimony ourselves of Christ and be connected to the Living Vine.
here is an excerpt from a book entitled "Zion’s Redemption" by Francis Dartar published by the Deseret News Publishing Co. in 1933.
“It is the solemn duty of every Christian to seek by study and prayer the plans of God, as delineated in Holy Writ. They should daily draw nearer to Him, until they obtain a soul-satisfying testimony of His reality. This information is revealed to man in many ways, including the seeing of Him face to face. The writer, has had many of these blessings – including the latter, and the Lord is my holy witness. I have used the greater portion of my allotted space in portraying the terrible judgments that are soon to come upon the wicked. They who have obeyed the fullness of the Lord’s commandments are their own witness as to their present joy and the great blessings and love God has in store for them. When they once find Him – their faith becomes knowledge..
Fear not what man may do unto you , but rather seek to know and assist in spreading the will of Him who holds all judgments and blessings in the palm of His hands. I have felt His great love and unlimited power, seen and recognized His Holy face, as once explained. Now I know that He lives and is coming soon to fulfill His covenants and to dwell in glory with those who love Him and have kept His commandments.”
