Christian Courage

This semester I've been taking an Institute class about eternal families. The main text for the course is The Family: A Proclamation to the World. This was originally written in 1995 and it's easy to see how prophetic it is and how we need the truths contained in it more than ever. We've also been studying the scriptures, General Conference talks, and other addresses from church leaders that further expand on the teachings in the Proclamation.

In the introductory unit, we started by learning about the doctrine of the family and why families are so important. Then we moved on to learning about the Plan of Salvation and how families are the essential unit of that plan and that everything within the plan is based on truth and law.  We learned about the purpose of His plan - which is to allow us to gain eternal life - and how marriage and gender help us progress along the path back to Him. In the next unit, we focused on how covenants and ordinances, specifically temple ordinances and eternal marriage, help us to obtain eternal life. From there we moved on to discussing the part of the Proclamation which states that God's commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force and that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed between husband and wife - so the importance of children and the Law of Chastity. This was my favorite unit in the whole class.

The final unit of the class, which we’ve been studying for the last couple of weeks, is about defending the family and standing up for families by upholding, maintaining, and strengthening families wherever we can. This includes responding in a Christlike and courageous way to opposition and criticism, becoming comfortable with explaining what religious freedom is and why it matters, defending the teachings of the Family Proclamation including the eternal truth that marriage is between a man and woman, that mothers and fathers have divine and complementary roles, that the home is a sacred place, and that what truly matters most is the family because it is what lasts the longest. 

One of the talks we read for this unit is from Elder Robert D. Hales titled “Christian Courage: The Price of Discipleship”. This talk was basically about how we can answer accusations or criticisms of our beliefs the way the Savior would. He taught that there is power in speaking with the Spirit of the Lord, but that power goes away if we become contentious when discussing our faith.  As we read in the Book of Mormon, “He that hath the spirit of contention is not of me” (3 Nephi 11:29). 

So how then should we respond to opposition and criticism of our strongly held religious beliefs? Elder Hales said "more regrettable than the Church being accused of not being Christian is when church members react to such accusations in an un-Christlike way! May our conversations with others always be marked by the fruits of the spirit, “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, [and] temperance” (Galatians 5:22-23). To be meek, as defined by Webster's Dictionary, is “manifesting patience and long-suffering: enduring injury without resentment.” Meekness is not weakness. It is a badge of Christian courage. This is especially important in our interactions with members of other Christian denominations. Surely our heavenly father is saddened - and the devil laughs - when we contentiously debate doctrinal differences with our Christian neighbors.”

Have you been called upon to defend your beliefs or to correct misunderstandings or misinformation about the gospel? How do you approach conversations in a Christlike Spirit-filled way and avoid contention?