Part two of the lesson began with this question: Can an every-day member of the church have the same level of spirituality as the president of the church? In answer, Lea referred us to these statements:
1) "One cannot receive eternal life without becoming a 'doer of the word' (see James 1:22) and being valiant in obedience to the Lord's commandments. And one cannot become a 'doer of the word' without first becoming a 'hearer.' And to become a 'hearer' is not simply to stand idly by and wait for chance bits of information; it is to seek out and study and pray and comprehend. Therefore the Lord said, 'Whoso receiveth not my voice is not acquainted with my voice, and is not of me'(D&C 84:52)." (SWK 66)
2) "Every member of this Church in his place has as much right as the President of the Church to have knowledge from God...If all would do this, then the Church would be easily guided because the people would know for themselves and would be of one heart and mind and understand alike...There is not that amount of revelation enjoyed by us which there should be...Now, if we live as we should, there is no event of any importance that could occur but we would have some intimation respecting it; we would be prepared for it." (Gospel Truth, Discourses and Writings of President George Q. Cannon, by George Q. Cannon & Jerreld L. Newquist, chapter 22)
3) "And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them!" (Numbers 11:29)
L. said the strength of the church lies in the individual testimonies of the members. Kathy said that it is so easy for us to live below our privileges. Lea reminded us that the Holy Ghost will not override our agency. J. remembered the scripture pray always. Lea told a story about having to come to the church Saturday morning to open the library for the Single Adult conference. She had gone through the ward list trying to think of someone that would be there anyway who could do it for her, but couldn't think of anyone. When she arrived, her fellow librarian, O., was there for the conference. On her way home, frustrated, Lea asked herself why the Lord didn't reminder her that O. would be there? The answer she came up with was that she had forgotten to ask the Lord.
The second question for discussion was this: Can an every-day member of the church have something revealed to her that has not been revealed to the prophet? The simple answer to this question was yes, the prophet receives guidance for the church as a whole, but we receive guidance for our own individual lives. I added a caveat--we will not receive personal revelation from God which contradicts what the prophet has revealed to the church as a whole. This led to an exciting and rather lengthy discussion, which will be the subject of the third and final post on this lesson.
Lea closed with her favorite quote of all those Tammy had put together on the class handout: "In 1906 Elder B.H. Roberts of the First Council of the Seventy declared that the 'crying need' of Mormonism is, 'For thoughtful disciples who will not be content with merely repeating some of its truths, but will develop its truths; and enlarge it by that development. Not half--not one-hundredth part--not a thousandth part of that which Joseph Smith revealed to the Church has yet been unfolded, either to the Church or to the world. The work of the expounder has scarcely begun. The Prophet planted the germ-truths of the great dispensation of the fullness of times. The watering and the weeding is going on, and God is giving the increase, and will give it more abundantly in the future as more intelligent discipleship shall obtain. The disciples of 'Mormonism', growing discontented with the necessarily primitive methods which have hitherto prevailed in sustaining the doctrine, will yet take profounder and broader views of the great doctrines committed to the Church; and departing from mere repetition, will cast them in new formulas; cooperating in the works of the spirit, until they help to give to the truths received a more forceful expression, and carry it beyond the earlier and cruder stages of its development." (Improvement Era. Volume 9: 712-173).
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