Today on #DezNat #ReWatchable I will be using Lawrence E. Corbridge's talk titled, "Stand Forever." This is a #BYUDevo he gave on January 22, 2019. https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/lawrence-e-corbridge/stand-for-ever/

I have listened to this talk about 4 times in the last week. Each time I listen to it, I find new gems throughout the talk of how important it is to firm up our foundational testimony of Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith, and the current Prophet @NelsonRussellM. Follow along! #DezNat

The kingdom of God is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It will “stand for ever.” The question is, Will you and I stand? Will you stand forever, or will you go away? And if you go, where will you go?
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"For in those days [this day] there shall also arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch, that, if possible, they shall deceive the very elect, who are the elect according to the covenant"
Matthew 24:24
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"I am not sure of all that is implied by the qualification “if possible, they shall deceive the very elect,” but I think it means, at least, that everyone will be challenged in our day."
Lawrence E. Corbridge
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"There are many who deceive, and the spectrum of deception is broad. At one end we meet those who attack the Restoration, the Prophet Joseph Smith, and the Book of Mormon..."
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"...Next we see those who believe in the Restoration but claim the Church is deficient and has gone astray. There are others who also claim to believe in the Restoration but are disillusioned with doctrine that conflicts with the shifting attitudes of our day..."
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"...There are some who, without authority, lay claim to visions, dreams, and visitations to right the ship, guide us to a higher path, or prepare the Church for the end of the world. Others are deceived by false spirits."
Lawrence E. Corbridge
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"Never has there been more information, misinformation, and disinformation; more goods, gadgets, and games; and more options, places to go, and things to see and do to occupy time and attention away from what is most important."
Lawrence E. Corbridge
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"This is a day of deception"
Lawrence E. Corbridge
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"Knowledge is necessary to life and godliness. . . . Knowledge is revelation. Hear, all ye brethren, this grand key: knowledge is the power of God unto salvation."
Joseph Smith
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People say, “You should be true to your beliefs.” While that is true, you cannot be better than what you know.
Lawrence E. Corbridge
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No matter how much we are trying to act and be the best wee can be, the problem isn't that we are bad. The problem is that we are so often just wrong.
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"Someone may believe in God and that pornography is wrong and yet still click on a site wrongly believing that he will be happier if he does or he can’t help but not click or it isn’t hurting anyone else and it is not that bad. He is just wrong."
Lawrence E. Corbridge
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"Someone may believe it is wrong to lie and yet lie on occasion, wrongly believing he will be better off if the truth is not known. He is just wrong."
Lawrence E. Corbridge
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"Someone may believe and even know that Jesus is the Christ and still deny Him not once but three times because of the mistaken belief that he would be better off appeasing the crowd. Peter wasn’t evil. I am not even sure he was weak. He was just wrong."
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"The challenge is not so much closing the gap between our actions and our beliefs; rather, the challenge is closing the gap between our beliefs and the truth. That is the challenge."
Lawrence E. Corbridge
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So how do we close that gap? How do we avoid deception?
First, we must answer the primary questions before all else. They are the most important above all other questions.
Lawrence E. Corbridge
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Those questions are:
1. Is there a God who is our Father?
2. Is Jesus Christ the Son of God, the Savior of the world?
3. Was Joseph Smith a prophet?
4. Is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints the kingdom of God on the earth?
Lawrence E. Corbridge
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"Not all questions are equal and not all truths are equal. The primary questions are the most important. Everything else is subordinate. There are only a few primary questions"
Lawrence E. Corbridge
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"By contrast, the secondary questions are unending."

Questions about Church history, polygamy, people of African descent and the priesthood, women and the priesthood, how the Book of Mormon was translated, the Pearl of Great Price, DNA and the Book of Mormon, gay marriage, the different accounts of the First Vision, and on and on.

"If you answer the primary questions, the secondary questions get answered too, or they pale in significance and you can deal with things you understand and things you don’t and things you agree with and things you don’t without jumping ship altogether."

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"How can we know the answers? There are different methods of learning, including the scientific, analytical, academic, and divine methods. The divine method of learning incorporates elements of the other three..."
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"... but ultimately trumps everything else by tapping into the powers of heaven. All four methods are necessary to know the truth. They all begin the same way: with a question. Questions are important, especially the primary questions."
Lawrence E. Corbridge
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First method of learning is the scientific method. "hypothesis is framed in response to a question. Experimentation is then conducted to test the hypothesis. The results are then analyzed, and conclusions are drawn that either confirm, disprove, or modify the hypothesis"
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"My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself."
John 7:16–17
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“Prove me now herewith . . . if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”
Malachi 3:10
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The analytical method involves "gathering, organizing, and weighing evidence relevant to a question. Based on the weight of the evidence, conclusions are drawn as to what the truth may be."
Lawrence E. Corbridge
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"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."
D&C 9:7–8.
Lawrence E. Corbridge
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"The academic method involves, of course, study of the written word...Mormon said that the word of God has a “more powerful effect upon the minds of the people [how we think] than the sword [which might be the fear or threat of death], or anything else.”
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The word of God is more powerful than anything else in this world!
Lawrence E. Corbridge
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[The word of God]is more powerful than fear, addiction, pornography, or anything else. It stands to reason, therefore, that the Lord would say, “Treasure up in your minds continually the words of life.” He also said, “And whoso treasureth up my word, shall not be deceived.”

"The divine method of learning incorporates the elements of the other methodologies but ultimately trumps everything else by tapping into the powers of heaven. Ultimately the things of God are made known by the Spirit of God, which is usually a still, small voice."
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"The apostle Paul taught that men only know the things of men and that the things of God are known by no man except through the Spirit of God."
Lawrence E. Corbridge
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Of all the problems you encounter in this life, there is one that towers above them all and is the least understood. The worst of all human conditions in this life is not poverty, sickness, loneliness, abuse, or war...is to die.
Lawrence E. Corbridge
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"Conversely the best of all human conditions in this life is not wealth, fame, prestige, good health, honors of men, security...the best of all human conditions is to be endowed with heavenly power to be born again, to have the gift and companionship of the Holy Ghost..."
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"...which is the source of knowledge, revelation, strength, clarity, love, joy, peace, hope, confidence, faith, and almost every other good thing."

"Although the voice of the Spirit is usually a still, small voice, it is nevertheless ever sure, penetrating, pervasive, edifying, and sustaining—so much so that the Lord said:...
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"...And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come."

Lawrence E. Corbridge
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"Pay whatever price you must pay, bear whatever burden you must bear, and make whatever sacrifice you must make to get and keep in your life the spirit and power of the Holy Ghost. Every good thing depends on getting and keeping the power of the Holy Ghost in your life."
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If we as members of the church choose to dive into those secondary questions and are constantly trying to find those answers, which are typically riddled with anti church material, we will find that we go to a place that is absent of the Spirit of God
Lawrence E Corbridge
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"And that which doth not edify is not of God, and is darkness.

That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day."
D&C 50:23–24
Lawrence E. Corbridge
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"Revelation from the Spirit of God supersedes belief bias because it is not premised only on evidence"
Lawrence E. Corbridge
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"In stark contrast to the gloom and sickening stupor of thought that pervades the swamp of doubt is the spirit of light, intelligence, peace, and truth that attends the events and the glorious doctrine of the Restoration..."
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"...especially the scriptures revealed to the world through the Prophet Joseph Smith. Just read them and ask yourself and ask God if they are the words of lies, deceit, delusion, or truth."
Lawrence E. Corbridge
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On those who constantly worry about the secondary questions, "They mistakenly try to learn the truth by process of elimination, by attempting to eliminate every doubt. That is always a bad idea. It will never work."
Lawrence E. Corbridge
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"Each time you track down an answer to any one antagonistic claim and look up, there is another one staring you in the face....Answers to the primary questions do not come by answering the secondary questions."
Lawrence E. Corbridge
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"There are answers to the secondary questions, but you cannot prove a positive by disproving every negative. You cannot prove the Church is true by disproving every claim made against it. That will never work. It is a flawed strategy."
Lawrence E. Corbridge
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"There has to be affirmative proof, and with the things of God, affirmative proof finally and surely comes by revelation through the spirit and power of the Holy Ghost."
Lawrence E. Corbridge
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"You and I are the Church. We must be grounded on the rock of revelation, and although we may not know the answer to every question, we must know the answers to the primary questions. And if we do, the gates of hell shall not prevail against us and we will stand forever."
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"We may all be taken back from time to time by the extraordinary—such as walking on water, multiplying bread and fish, raising the dead, translating gold plates with special lenses or a stone and hat, and the visitation of angels..."

"...Some people are hard-pressed to believe extraordinary things. While it is understandable that we may be challenged by the extraordinary, we shouldn’t be, because ordinary things are actually far more phenomenal."
Lawrence E. Corbridge
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"The most phenomenal occurrences of all time and eternity...include I am; you are; we are; and all that we perceive exists as well, from subatomic particles to the farthest reaches of the cosmos and everything in between, including all of the wonders of life."
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"You can’t begin to imagine, much less describe, anything greater than what already is. In light of what is, nothing else should surprise us. It should be easy to believe that with God all things are possible."
Lawrence E. Corbridge
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"More phenomenal than resurrection is birth. The greater wonder is not that life, having once existed, could come again but that it ever exists at all."
Lawrence E. Corbridge
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"More amazing than raising the dead is that we live at all. A silent heart that beats again is not nearly as amazing as the heart that beats within your breast right now."
Lawrence E. Corbridge
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"That one could see on a stone or through a special lens the modern translation of ancient text written on plates of gold is far less amazing than the human eye. The wonder is not what the human eye may see, rather, that it sees anything at all."
Lawrence E. Corbridge
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How can you believe in extraordinary things such as angels and gold plates and your divine potential? Easy, just look around and believe. I don’t know if pigs will ever sprout wings and fly, but...flying pigs will never be nearly as amazing as the ordinary pig in the first place.

"I heard someone say recently, “It is okay to have doubts.
I wonder about that. The Lord said, “Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.” I have a lot of questions; I don’t have any doubts."
Lawrence E. Corbridge
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"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the kingdom of God on the earth. I know this by my experience—all of it. I know this by the evidence, and the evidence is overwhelming. I know it by study, and, most surely, I know it by the Spirit and power of the Holy Ghost."

"And with that I know everything I need to know to stand forever. May we stand on the rock of revelation, particularly in regard to the primary questions. If we do, we will stand forever and never go away."
Lawrence E. Corbridge
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