"...the submission of one’s will is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on God’s altar. The many other things we “give,” brothers and sisters, are actually the things He has already given or loaned to us." - Neal A. Maxwell, "Swallowed Up in the Will of the Father," Ensign, Nov. 1995, 22
I am "entitled" to nothing. I can only express gratitude for the gifts I have received, and prepare myself to receive gifts that are still waiting. And, as Elder Maxwell articulated, I have only one thing I can ever give back.
-- Edited by Roper at 06:45, 2007-01-02
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The ability to qualify for, receive, and act on personal revelation is the single most important skill that can be acquired in this life. - Julie Beck
I feel entitled to free agency and a physical body since we fought for both in the war in heaven. I also feel entitled to eat pizza and play Xbox all day but my wife and the bill collectors have other ideas!
The few things that we can honestly, and perhaps humbly, claim as entitlements by definition are really the result of either or both of two things: We earned / merited it; It is a free gift from God. To be resurrected (we merited it by chosing the Lord in the pre-existence) some day after we die. To be able to breath and live (breath is a free gift from God as well as our life as well as perhaps we merited it by chosing the Lord in the pre-existence). Our agency to choose freely (a free gift from God which was protected by chosing the Lord in the pre-existence). Even forgiveness of sins is something we merit. The question made me think of a couple of scriptures... The one in the D&C where we are told about there being an irrevocable law in heaven that any blessing we receive is the result of obedience to the law the blessing is based upon, and the one in the Book of Mormon where I think it is Alma or Amulek talking about how we can never get out of "indebtedness" to the Lord since as soon as we obey Him, we are blessed further.
I would love to be monetarily debt free, but unfortunately, I doubt I am entitled to it since most of that debt is the result of investment in the future or feeling entitled to have something now. It is kind of going about the earning it / meriting it model backwards I guess...
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It seems to me the only thing you've learned is that Caesar is a "salad dressing dude."
That is an interesting question though. Is there a one to one or many to many relationship between pride and the feeling of entitlement, or is one the product of the other?
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It seems to me the only thing you've learned is that Caesar is a "salad dressing dude."
I'm confused as to why you're connecting entitlement to pride in the first place. Isn't entitlement something you're due regardless of deservingness? Why should anyone be proud of that? I'd think the pride would be more along the lines of accomplishment.
Although, come to think of it, there are plenty of people who are prideful based on nationality, race, native intelligence, etc.--things over which they had no control and cannot reasonably take credit for.
Further if we're entitled to nothing, then why do we even bother with things like property rights? Or for that matter any of our possessions...
Don't you feel entitled to blessings if you keep the law of Tithing for example? And if you can't expect blessings for keeping the commandments, then why does he bother promising them?
--Ray
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I'm not slow; I'm special. (Don't take it personally, everyone finds me offensive. Yet somehow I manage to live with myself.)
rayb wrote: Further if we're entitled to nothing, then why do we even bother with things like property rights? Or for that matter any of our possessions...
Don't you feel entitled to blessings if you keep the law of Tithing for example? And if you can't expect blessings for keeping the commandments, then why does he bother promising them?
--Ray
Q1: Because even though they all belong to our Heavenly Father, He has entrusted them to our care for a short while.
Q2: I suppose there are many different motivations for obedience--the expectations of blessings being one of them. Jesus didn't say, "If you want blessings, keep my commandments." He said , "If you love me..." Blessings are a function of irrevocable law (D&C 130:20-21.) Obedience first--blessings follow. That's not really entitlement, that's just the Law of God.
I also find the argument for "righteous pride" amusing. You'll never find support for it in the scriptures, but I've heard many of my brothers and sisters claim there is such a thing. Our Heavenly Father didn't say, "This is my beloved Son, of whom I am proud." He said "well pleased."
For myself, I am a sinful prideful man. There is still that remote part in me that doubts the "lose yourself/find yourself" principle. There is still that part of me that claims "I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul" rather than "Jesus, Savior, pilot me." I don't have enough faith, yet, to place the only thing that is uniquely mine upon God's altar.
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The ability to qualify for, receive, and act on personal revelation is the single most important skill that can be acquired in this life. - Julie Beck
For myself, I am a sinful prideful man. There is still that remote part in me that doubts the "lose yourself/find yourself" principle. There is still that part of me that claims "I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul" rather than "Jesus, Savior, pilot me." I don't have enough faith, yet, to place the only thing that is uniquely mine upon God's altar.
Well, I guess with that in mind, we all are entitled to chastisement from The Lord, which ends up being for our betterment if we allow it. I think there comes a time in each person's life who is trying to be a disciple of Christ, when each will come to a point of crisis where each will have to make that decision to offer up their own Isaac, as it were. The choice made will either increase one's faith or increase one's pride. And I guess over the long run, for some they may increase their pride as a result of seeing they have increased faith short term.
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It seems to me the only thing you've learned is that Caesar is a "salad dressing dude."
I also feel entitled to eat pizza and play Xbox all day but my wife and the bill collectors have other ideas!
