1 Timothy 2

I hope you'll pray, brothers and sisters, pray as you've never prayed before. Pray with a great earnestness. Pray for the leaders of the nations. Pray for all of our leaders. Pray for our leaders who are filling especially high, responsible positions in all the countries of the world.

 

The Lord will hear our prayers, I am positive of that. And he will in his own way and in his own time cause that we may have success. (Marvin K. Gardner, "News of the Church," Ensign, Aug. 1979, 79)

 

We should pray for the inspiration and well-being of the president of the Church, the General Authorities, our stake president, our bishop, our quorum president, our home teachers, family members, and our civic leaders. Other suggestions could be made, but with the help of the Holy Ghost we will know about what we should pray. (Romans 8:26-27.) (Come unto Christ [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1983], 25.)

 

Let us pray for our leaders at all times instead of criticizing them; pray that they may be given courage to continue with unflagging zeal from year to year; pray for the power of God to be upon them. (Conference Report, October 1940, First Day-Morning Meeting 21.)

 

The life of God-the eternal, exalted life we all seek-is inherently concerned with the salvation of souls. It is the "work and ... glory" of God to "bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." (Moses 1:39.) It is by bringing about the conditions necessary for the salvation of his children that God glorifies himself, progresses, and expands his dominions. (See D&C 132:31.)

 

Paul said that God "will have all men to be saved." (1 Tim. 2:4.) To our Father in Heaven, "the worth of souls is great" (D&C 18:10), and "the redemption of their soul is precious." (Ps. 49:8.) Therefore, God sent his Son, the Savior and Redeemer, to loose the bands of death and atone for the sins of carnal, fallen men. The Lord suffered the pain of all men that all men might come unto him on condition of repentance. (See D&C 18:11-12.)

 

Our call to cry repentance to all people is a direct consequence of the infinite and eternal Atonement. (See D&C 18:10-14.) It is by teaching the gospel and administering the ordinances that the Atonement becomes effective in a person's life. As Paul said, "How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?" (Rom. 10:14.)

 

...We are empowered, as necessary, to do all that the Savior did-except for the Atonement itself-in our labors to save our fellowmen. In fact, we are told that we must be "the saviors of men" or we will be "as salt that has lost its savor." (D&C 103:10.) The Lord has not left the accomplishment of this sacred labor to chance. Through sacred covenants he imposes this responsibility on all members of his kingdom, and simultaneously empowers us to fulfill these covenants. ("Our Responsibility to Take the Gospel to the Ends of the Earth," Ensign, Nov. 1983, 32)

 

Each of us lives on a kind of spiritual credit. One day the account will be closed, a settlement demanded. However casually we may view it now, when that day comes and the foreclosure is imminent, we will look around in restless agony for someone, anyone, to help us.

 

And, by eternal law, mercy cannot be extended save there be one who is both willing and able to assume our debt and pay the price and arrange the terms for our redemption.

 

Unless there is a mediator, unless we have a friend, the full weight of justice untempered, unsympathetic, must, positively must fall on us. The full recompense for every transgression, however minor or however deep, will be exacted from us to the uttermost farthing.

 

But know this: Truth, glorious truth, proclaims there is such a Mediator.

 

"For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." (1 Tim. 2:5.)

 

Through Him mercy can be fully extended to each of us without offending the eternal law of justice.

 

This truth is the very root of Christian doctrine. You may know much about the gospel as it branches out from there, but if you only know the branches and those branches do not touch that root, if they have been cut free from that truth, there will be no life nor substance nor redemption in them.

 

The extension of mercy will not be automatic. It will be through covenant with Him. It will be on His terms, His generous terms, which include, as an absolute essential, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins.

 

... Our transgressions are all added to our account, and one day if it is not properly settled, each of us, like Belshazzar of Babylon, will be weighed in the balance and found wanting.

 

There is a Redeemer, a Mediator, who stands both willing and able to appease the demands of justice and extend mercy to those who are penitent, for "He offereth himself a sacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law, unto all those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit; and unto none else can the ends of the law be answered." (2 Ne. 2:7.) ("The Mediator," Ensign, May 1977, 55-56)

 

The girl who chooses to be modest chooses to be respected. A boy who is honest with himself will admit that he likes a girl who is modest in speech, conduct, and dress. Modesty is one of the great virtues he looks for in the girl he hopes to marry. Most of us know what is modest, and most of us know when modesty ends and immodesty commences. We know that nothing detracts from the loveliness of a young lady more than immodesty in speech or immodesty in conduct. A girl fools only herself if she thinks she is impressing a boy by immodest conduct. The young lady who dresses in an immodest manner ceases to be attractive and embarrasses the young man. She has called his attention to the person rather than the personality. The girl who chooses to be modest, chooses to be respected. (The Teachings of Howard W. Hunter, edited by Clyde J. Williams [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1997], 123.)

 

 

Times have changed from what they were in the days of Paul. The counsel that Paul gave in the branches of the Church in his day was in strict conformity to the law of the times in which he lived. In the beginning it was not so. Paul intimates that Eve was silent because she was created after Adam, but we may read in the Pearl of Great Price that after the consequences brought upon Adam and Eve by the fall, Eve preached the discourse. It is brief but wonderfully full of meaning and is as follows:

 

And Adam and Eve blessed the name of God, and they made all things known unto their sons and their daughters. (Moses 5:11-12.) (Italics added)

 

 

We learn from this that Eve as well as Adam received revelation and commandment to teach their children in the ways of eternal life. Then we learn that Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, was a prophetess who played an important part in the exodus from Egypt. She led the women in a triumphal song after the deliverance from Egypt. (Exodus 15:20.) We also read in the Book of Judges where Israel was taken captive, or into bondage, by the Canaanites. Deborah, another prophetess, led the armies of Israel to victory and she judged Israel. (Judges 4:4, 24; 5:1-3.) We also read of Hannah, the mother of Samuel, who went to the Lord in the temple, or tabernacle, and prayed for a son and the Lord hearkened to her pleading. (Samuel 1:11-28.) In the Book of Judges we also read of the wife of Manoah who received a visitation from an angel who gave instruction and said she should have a son who would judge Israel. This manifestation was repeated in the presence of her husband. (Judges 13:2-21.)

 

Joel also prophesied in the following words that in the last day the Lord would pour out his spirit:

 

And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. (Joel 2:28-29.)

 

In the New Testament we read of a great number of faithful women who sought and gave counsel. Many of these followed the Lord and ministered to him. Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, was a prophetess (Luke 2:37.) "...which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day," and she taught those who were present of the redemption which should come through this infant son. Even in the days of Paul there were a number of notable women who ministered to the needs of the brethren, and it appears that to some of these there had been given authority.

 

In the days of Paul, however, it was the universal custom that women should play no part in political government or minister in churches. Israel, without doubt, gathered some ideas from the Gentile governments with which they associated. The Jewish people, after the return from the captivity, adopted some of the customs and practices common among their captors which were contrary to the former government in Israel. Many man-made rituals and technicalities were added to the law. The custom that women should remain silent may have been borrowed from their pagan neighbors with such additions as the Jewish priests added to the Jewish law. (Answers to Gospel Questions, 5 vols. [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1957-1966], 3: 66-67.)