Today I read Doctrine and Covenants section 102 which is actually the minutes of a meeting where the first High Council of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized. The majority of the section actually has to deal with church discipline courts and how the counselors are to conduct themselves during such courts.
The section itself holds little doctrine of any kind and reminds me of Mosiah 26 where Alma the Elder asks God what to do about members of the church that were taken in sin and refused to repent. It is always very unfortunate when a member of the church who felt the spirit strong enough to be baptized will fall into sinful ways and have problems with the commandments and would fall away so completely that they have no desire to repent of any of their sins.
I have never taken part in one of the church's disciplinary courts fortunately, on any side. My father though has told me a couple of things from when he served as a high counselor many years ago. The one thing he always said was it was always amazing to him how much love was in the room for the individual that had made the mistakes. He also talked a bit about people who had been denied blessings because of the sins they had committed and how they reacted when they fully repented and the council was able to restore their blessings. My dad mentioned that the person remarked how dark the world is without the Holy Ghost as a companion. I've always found that interesting.
My father is a convert to the church. He did not join the church until he was an adult and was married to my mother. He has also remarked that once he joined the church and received the gift of the Holy Ghost the world itself seemed to have more light in it to him. Now, having been raised in the church, I have no point of reference to understand his statements and so I am not sure what exactly he means by that, but I do understand the statement of having light around a person which I have heard many people remark upon at one point or another.
I have never seen a light surrounding someone like I have heard some people can see. But I, like I am sure that some of you have seen in your lives, have come into contact with people who have no light at all in them. It just makes you uncomfortable to even be around them. Unfortunately those people are usually drawn to people like you and me because we DO have that light that they extinguished years ago. Now, if those people were drawn to the light in us for the purpose of repenting of their ways and gaining that light in their own lives, I would not mind it at all. But all too often they just want that happy feeling they get when they are around someone righteous and have no desire at all to change their ways.
The last thought that came to my mind when I was reading this section is again, that the Lord's house is a house of order. In a way that is extremely comforting to me. I love the fact that if I have to travel somewhere or if I move somewhere, the church will be the same no matter where I go. I remember when I moved last year with my family, someone who is not a member of the church asked me after I had been here for several months if I had found a new church yet. When I replied that we had she replied that she was glad because she knew how much of a hassle it can be to find a new place to attend church in a new city. I felt really blessed that as a Latter-day Saint I don't have that problem. It is a small blessing but a really welcome one. I am really grateful that the Lord guides this church and does not leave us hanging when we need His help and that He still speaks to His children. It is a wonderful comfort indeed. Until tomorrow.
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