I can see this being a problem. I am prideful - still have not completely kicked that, but soon events in our nation where we have NOTHING will take care of that for me and all others who wish to be Saints of God:
Hugh Nibley: Brigham Young said, ‘Pray that you never see an angel.’ He was talking historically. Almost everybody who saw an angel left the Church. They came back, but they had these terrible problems. It gave them inflated egos, etc. They thought they were somebody special. They were, but they couldn't take it. It would be very dangerous if we were exposed to the other world to any degree. Only people that are very humble can do that. Not us, we can't do that. We are not that humble.
Huh? If I pray that I never see an angel then I won't get to see the Lord of Hosts return with THOUSANDS of angels. NOR will I ever enter Heaven where God's throne is surrounded by numberless concourses of angels singing His praises. If God were to grant that prayer literally, none of us would ever make it home.
ReplyDeleteGees! If seeing an angel puts you in danger of leaving the Church only to return with "terrible problems", imagine what C&E would do given this statement.
AND I'm glad they were speaking for themselves. I want to be like Nephi of old who was visited by angels daily because of his humility and obedience. I aspire to that level of spirituality, not run from it or pray against it.
As I've stated on here elsewhere........I want to be NORMAL!
If they fell away or had inflated egos, it's because they allowed themselves to be overcome by the adversary's voice to their own detriment. Yes, puffy, marshmallow pride will get you singed by the holy campfire.
Joseph Smith saw the Father and the Son, and fell away into "folly" and look how he turned out.
I'm just glad this mortal experience is graded on "individual performance" for those accountable and not collective. Thank you Lord! I don't want someone messing it up for me and I don't want to mess anything up for them.
That might be true, but we are taught in the Temple and elsewhere to seek for messengers of the Lord and also to seek the Lords face. How does this statement make any sense. It is better to try and fail than to never try...because if you don't try then you fail anyway.
ReplyDeleteNibley as an academic scholar, always denied being ministered by angels, he said he would be "terrified" or scared if he ever saw one. Shortly before quoting B. Young in his lecture he said "We're not supposed to be able to see Angels--- then he quoted B. Young. In both cases he then went on to explain the conditions/requirements to the type of person Angels do appear to. Clearly, anyone who knew Nibley knew he had been ministered by angels -- though declaring it would not go down well in academia. He loved educating on the ministry of angels.
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