Charity-The Pure Love of Christ

[Anonymous]

Charity is pretty much my favorite gospel topic right now. That and mercy. I love it! I want to talk about it all the time and read about it and learn more about how to have it.

Charity is so important that Joseph Smith talked about it in every Relief Society meeting he spoke at. He was urging the saints towards charity.

1 Cor. 13:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

• • •

8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

Moroni 7: 44 If so, his faith and hope is vain, for none is acceptable before God, save the meek and lowly in heart; and if a man be meek and lowly in heart, and confesses by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ, he must needs have charity; for if he have not charity he is nothing; wherefore he must needs have charity.

45 And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

46 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—

47 But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.

1 Peter 4:8 And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.

Col. 3:14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.

1 Tim. 1:5 Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:

D&C 88:125 And above all things, clothe yourselves with the bond of charity, as with a mantle, which is the bond of perfectness and peace.

“It is one evidence that men are unacquainted with the principles of godliness to behold the contraction of affectionate feelings and lack of charity in the world. The power and glory of godliness is spread out on a broad principle to throw out the mantle of charity. God does not look on sin with allowance, but when men have sinned, there must be allowance made for them. … The nearer we get to our heavenly Father, the more we are disposed to look with compassion on perishing souls; we feel that we want to take them upon our shoulders, and cast their sins behind our backs. …” Joseph Smith

I am especially struck by the verse in 1 Peter. Do you believe we could cover the multitude of sins if we have fervent charity among us? Is it possible for us to love our family, friends and neighbors so much that we want to lift them up and put their sins behind us?

We are nothing without charity. We can do great things, but without charity it does nothing for us. We cannot be saved in the kingdom of God without it. Charity never fails even when other things fail. Have you noticed the connection between charity and the Atonement?

I love the images of “cleave to charity” and “clothe yourself in charity” and the “mantle of charity.” It makes me feel like it is something to fill or encompass my entire being. Cleave to charity like you cleave to your beloved spouse. It is the bond of perfectness and peace!

When we see someone perishing, how does our heart tell us to treat them? Do we desire to inflict further harm and pain or do we desire to “put them on our shoulders” and relieve their burden? Charity suffers long and is kind. How do we suffer long? How might this relate to the suffering of Christ? Is this how we “take up his cross” and follow him?

Charity is the most glorious gift we can give or receive. It is a power can change the world.

What have you learned of charity?

[Anonymous]

I’m right where you are, just me. I have put my eternal salvation at the mercy of Christ and I hope to be emotionally healthy enough to show true charity at all times to every fellow traveler I come into contact with.

I’m probably repeating myself from somewhere else, but in my overly simplified view, I think that the goal of mortality is becoming a Christ-like person by giving love with the right intention and motivation.

I know, that’s way simplified, and, of course, it’s much harder than it sounds, especially the right motivation part. But it’s how I feel and how I want to live.

[Anonymous]

I love your post.

I just wanted to share a picture of Paraguay President Elect lovingly caring for a leprosy patient:

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0frO4wGaNh9qs/610x.jpg

Oh, how I wish that we could return to charity. I love to read about how Christ healed the lepers, “be thou clean”. How glorious it must have felt to be healed physically, emotionally and spiritually. How wonderful to feel whole and clean and loved by the Savior. To me, that is charity.

[Anonymous]

Hi just me.

I have felt the exact same way this last while. As I have been dissecting all aspects of mormondom and doctrinedom too, I am finding that charity just keeps bubbling up. A few months ago I felt the exact same fire about the subject. When I was at church, that is all I heard in the lessons. When I was at home pondering, ideas were popcorning in my mind. I really think this is the essense of where my personal worship and repentance needs to be focused.

I am grateful too for this last few years in my life as I have been blessed to study addiction/codependency recovery. I was pretty screwed up in this regard (codep). I have decided that so many of the opposites of addiction and codep is charity! Wow! And I feel that Father in Heaven knew I needed to do some serious unwinding before my heart would even have the capacity. But lately I have been feeling that I am finally to a place where some of my heart wishes might have a place to grow. (little yay!)

I love all those passages about all this lofty pious stuff that is nothing without charity. I suppose we all in whatever calling or capacity has to learn these lessons. Not the caretaking/codep way that is often promoted on mormon avenue, but the real kind that supports self love and boundaries and saying no…..and then giving all that to others too. It’s all so cool.

Heaven help us all, no matter how we choose to stay LDS, become more loving in the Lord’s way. Maybe then we will lessen all those yucky feelings of isolation, loneliness, fear and doubt. I really think Love is the healing balm to so much of earths problems. Maybe it doesn’t matter so much what our denomination is if we can truly become this. Perhaps becoming this will open the possibility to being led or leading ourselves to the place Father wants us.

Thanks Just me.

[Anonymous]

I’m certainly with you just me. Charity gives purpose to everything else that we learn. Love should be the foundation, for without it things can become a little (or a lot) twisted. Personally I would love to see everything taught in church tied back to charity (or love). In my mind love is the core and everything else branches out from there. Every commandment should be an expression of the deeper love, and I think we should be aware of that connection.

Even the command “be ye therefore perfect“, as I read it in context of the paragraph (Matt 5:43-48) means quite literally to “learn to love perfectly.”

At the center of our family room we have a picture of Christ, and above it a plaque that reads “Perfect Love knows no boundaries”.

This theme is what I hope to make central in the teaching of my children.

[Anonymous]

This is the essence of what Jesus came to the world to teach us. Christ came of course to fulfill his Atonement, but just as important, he came to show us how we should live our lives in order to become the people that God would have us be. Jesus did nothing in his life but bless the lives of others and that is how we should strive to be. I’m pretty sure we all understand that when we die and are being judged, the only thing that is really going to matter is how much we forgot about our own desires and focused on helping and serving others.

It is easy to understand that we need to be charitable, but I struggle with how to actually feel it and do it. I struggle a lot with my feelings for other people, sadly I have a tendency to think negatively of others and this is something that I am trying to overcome. Hopefully one day I can practice what I understand already. Thankfully through all of this growing and ‘enlightening’ that I am going through I feel that I have made some definite progress. Sadly when I was TBM I used to feel superior to others when their level of commitment wasn’t the same as mine. When I think back to those feelings now, I feel horrible inside. What a horrible thing to do. That is the complete opposite of charity. I hope God will continue to help me change and help me to TRULY love others and want to spend my life in the service of others.

[Anonymous]

Fwiw, I see “pure Mormonism” as the most charitable of all Christian theologies – both in the way it treats God AND His children. (and I think very, very few people understand what I mean by a charitable treatment of God)

I see LOTS of problems in the Church at all levels and in all eras in understanding, internalizing and living pure Mormonism – but that’s true, unfortunately, of ALL ideals taught everywhere. People generally suck at living ideals. Therefore, all I really can do is strive to become more charitable and help others to do so, as well – all the while continuing to be charitable to those who aren’t charitable themselves. That, I believe, is the real measure of charity – how we view and treat the uncharitable.

[Anonymous]

Quote:

That, I believe, is the real measure of charity – how we view and treat the uncharitable.

Boy. Isn’t this the hardest of all. So much easier to blame….report the failings to the neighborhood….replay the dang thing over and over in our minds….punish by withholding our love!!

I think the Lord’ approach is SOOO much better.

[Anonymous]

Poppyseed wrote:

Quote:

That, I believe, is the real measure of charity – how we view and treat the uncharitable.

Boy. Isn’t this the hardest of all. So much easier to blame….report the failings to the neighborhood….replay the dang thing over and over in our minds….punish by withholding our love!!

I think the Lord’ approach is SOOO much better.

Yes…I remember a seminar I went to one time about criminals. The instructor went through examples of criminals and their “stories.” It was shocking to see the kind of loveless, abusive lives most of them had before starting their lives of crime; truly gut-wrenching. The point was/is to understand that they (often) have very little chance to view life with normal morals and ethics. They are lashing out with what they have inside.

It is no excuse for the behavior, but it helps to have some empathy for their situation, and maybe some compassion to help them experience love in life after appropriate rehabilitation. At least that’s what I learned….

[Anonymous]

Rix wrote:

It is no excuse for the behavior, but it helps to have some empathy for their situation, and maybe some compassion to help them experience love in life after appropriate rehabilitation. At least that’s what I learned….

When someone makes an aggressive/rude action toward me (in traffic or wherever), especially when I know I didn’t deserve it, I try to remember to make excuses for them:

“They must be having an extremely bad day” (or life!)

“Maybe they just got some really bad news”

“They must be frustrated about something else right now”

Not that my heart isn’t pounding and I’m ready to yell at the same time – but I try to remember this to calm myself down.

[Anonymous]

Orson wrote:

Rix wrote:

It is no excuse for the behavior, but it helps to have some empathy for their situation, and maybe some compassion to help them experience love in life after appropriate rehabilitation. At least that’s what I learned….

When someone makes an aggressive/rude action toward me (in traffic or wherever), especially when I know I didn’t deserve it, I try to remember to make excuses for them:

“They must be having an extremely bad day” (or life!)

“Maybe they just got some really bad news”

“They must be frustrated about something else right now”

Not that my heart isn’t pounding and I’m ready to yell at the same time – but I try to remember this to calm myself down.

Well, and having empathy/charity doesn’t mean we can’t take a self preserving position. Love doesn’t require one to be a doormat.

[Anonymous]

Poppyseed wrote:

…Love doesn’t require one to be a doormat.

I agree totally, I didn’t mean to give that impression.

If you think about it – being a doormat is NOT showing the greatest love. Love includes growth, and being a doormat could inhibit the offender’s growth.

[Anonymous]

Orson wrote:

Poppyseed wrote:

…Love doesn’t require one to be a doormat.

I agree totally, I didn’t mean to give that impression.

If you think about it – being a doormat is NOT showing the greatest love. Love includes growth, and being a doormat could inhibit the offender’s growth.

I didn’t think you missed it. I said that wrong. its just sometimes I see it very misunderstood in mormon culture and it makes me cranky. I married into a family that really gets confused on this and I suppose I have a little part of me that gets rather sick of being labeled unloving because I don’t subscribe to the “making everyone feel good” definition of love. I get excited when I meet someone who “get’s it”. And love the last bit there. SO TRUE!

[Anonymous]

Poppyseed wrote:

I didn’t think you missed it. I said that wrong. its just sometimes I see it very misunderstood in mormon culture and it makes me cranky. I married into a family that really gets confused on this and I suppose I have a little part of me that gets rather sick of being labeled unloving because I don’t subscribe to the “making everyone feel good” definition of love. I get excited when I meet someone who “get’s it”. And love the last bit there. SO TRUE!

Exactly! For anybody that has worked with addiction, it is the ultimate act of love to let the addict “experience” natural consequences. Those that intervene to “soften the blow” almost inevitably enable the addict to keep using.

I think that concept is universal.

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