Honesty: The Key To Rebirth

            Truth is the issue. When we aren’t honest with ourselves, we can’t be honest with God. And if we aren’t honest with God, we can’t receive honesty from him; light cleaveth to light, virtue loveth virtue, truth embraceth truth (DYC 88:40). By being honest with ourselves and with God about where our flesh is in its progression from sensuality to sainthood, we can begin to shatter the illusion of lies that we’ve been living under. When that illusion that we called life begins to crumble in the scorching heat of truth and honesty the only thing left is a new life to live, a new heart, and a new song to sing; when we become completely self-honest in the light of God’s love we are reborn.

            Enzio Busche said “Enlightened by the Spirit of truth, we will then be able to pray for the increased ability to endure truth and not to be made angry by it (see 2 Nephi 28:28). In the depth of such a prayer, we may finally be led to that lonesome place where we suddenly see ourselves naked in all soberness. Gone are all the little lies of self-defense. We see ourselves in our vanities and false hopes for carnal security. We are shocked to see our many deficiencies, our lack of gratitude for the smallest things. We are now at that sacred place that seemingly only a few have courage to enter, because this is that horrible place of unquenchable pain in fire and burning.”

            Two examples from the scriptures that come to my mind are that of King Benjamin, and also Alma the Younger. Benjamin uses honesty as a sword to cut the people down to their core, the honest truth that they are less than the dust of the earth. Alma the younger is cut to the core by honesty and suffers the pains of a damned soul for 3 days! Make no mistakes my brothers and sisters, rebirth is painful, probably as painful as giving birth the natural way. (I’ve never given birth, nor have I yet had the complete rebirth, but from what I’m reading, it’s pretty miserable. Though King Benjamin’s people had a quick labor and Alma the younger had a really long labor, they both had pretty unhappy feelings at the time of their honesty/conversion (see Alma 36:13-16; Mosiah 4:1-2).)

            What sparked this was a Sunday School lesson I attended a few weeks ago that’s still sitting with me. We talked about honesty, and Jeremiah, and the new heart and several other things, but what I’m still chewing on was 4 questions that my teacher gave us. He told us the story of being in a class in college and pairing off with another student, and the instructions for the day were basically thus: ask your partner the questions, and then have your partner ask you the questions, and then ask your partner the questions again, and then have him ask you the questions again, and do this over and over until class is over or you’re crying too much to function. You cannot say anything to your partner when you’re asking the questions, you can only ask the question and then sit silently while they answer the question.

            My teacher said that by the 4^th time around he was a crying wreck. Want the questions? Here they are:

1.     What do you want?

2.     Why do you want that?

3.     What have you been willing to do to get that?

4.     What haven’t you been willing to do?

            Pretty simple eh? Well by small and simple things, great things are brought to pass! He said the first time he was pretty superficial, and the next time around he got a little deeper, and the next time it was a little deeper, and eventually he had several breakthroughs and made some really amazing changes.

            Self-honesty in the Light of Christ is the essence of the ancient art of Alchemy. Christ will take the most mundane feelings of our heart, and when examined in the light of truth and honesty, they will transform before our eyes into humility, truth, love, and gratitude. He offers us eternal life, and immortality, but he also offers to turn our ashes to beauty and our worthless offerings to Gold! (Isn’t that awesome?!)

            So how do we get self-honest? Well, there’s several ways! A few are listed in the Book of Mormon! 1) Be taught by an amazing missionary like Ammon, Benjamin, or Nephi (son of Nephi). 2) Get visited by an angel because of your father’s righteousness and prayers on your behalf! (Be warned, this didn’t work for Laman and Lemuel because they couldn’t get self-honest and stay self-honest.) 3) Alma 42:30. 4) Contemplate, ponder, study, pray, and fast about how you can have this type of experience every week during the ordinance of the Sacrament. 5) Ask yourself those 4 questions, or better yet, have someone else ask you those 4 questions and follow those rules! 6) Read Truth Is The Issue by F. Enzio Busche in the October 1993 General Conference, and learn more about truth. 7) The 12-steps of addiction recovery! They’re an amazing resource for personal growth and transformation. If you want a true spiritual rebirth, check those out! They’re amazing. You might need a sponsor to help you understand them, but if you look for one, look for someone who has had the change that you’re looking for. 8) Meditation. A personal favorite of mine! It’s amazing what a little stillness can do for clearing your head, and helping you see things more honestly. 9) Journaling. I teach this to all my students. A piece of paper and pen is the cheapest therapy you’ll ever have. Just start writing down all your thoughts and feelings onto a piece of paper, and just get honest. Anything that pops into your head, or any feelings that you have, write it down! This is a zero-judgment zone. One time I wrote in my journal that I’m afraid of food. No judgment.

            Okay! Well that was a ton of information for you! I hope you find this helpful and that it helps you experience conversion, rebirth, and a new life in Christ.