Transcript The Jonah Reflex

The Jonah Reflex
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The “Last Photo I ever took”
Contest
August 13th, 1856
A little less than four weeks’ travelling brought us to the Missouri river. We
crossed it on a steam ferry-boat, and encamped at the town of Florence,
Nebraska, six miles above Omaha, where we remained about a week, making
our final preparations for crossing the plains.
“The elders seemed to be divided in their judgment as to the practicability of our
reaching Utah in safety at so late a season of the year, and the idea was
entertained for a day or two of making our winter quarters on the Elkhorn,
Wood river, or some eligible location in Nebraska; but it did not meet with
general approval. A monster meeting was called to consult the people about it.
“The emigrants were entirely ignorant of the country and climate—simple, honest,
eager to go to ‘Zion’ at once, and obedient as little children to the ‘servants of
God.’ Under these circumstances it was natural that they should leave their
destinies in the hands of the elders. … These men… with one exception,
favoured going on. They prophesied in the name of God that we should get
through in safety. Were we not God’s people, and would he not protect us?
Even the elements he would arrange for our good, etc.
But Levi Savage used his common sense and his knowledge of the country. He
declared positively that to his certain knowledge we could not cross the
mountains with a mixed company of aged people, women, and little children,
so late in the season without much suffering, sickness, and death… Savage
was accordingly defeated, as the majority were against him. He then added:
‘Brethren and sisters, what I have said I know to be true; but, seeing you are
to go forward, I will go with you, will help you all I can, will work with you,
will rest with you, will suffer with you, and, if necessary, I will die with you.
May God in his mercy bless and preserve us. Amen.’
Elder Bednar
You and I may know the
right things to do– that is
knowledge. By if you and I
are intelligent, we will
consistently do the right things. It is one
thing to know what to do, but intelligence
is consistently doing the right thing.
It important and good and necessary to
know that the gospel is true. Intelligence
is consistently being true to the gospel…
J. Golden Kimball
An acquaintance met J. Golden on the street one
day and in conversation asked, "Do you believe
that Jonah was swallowed by the whale?"
"When I get to heaven I'll ask Jonah," J. Golden
answered.
"But," said the man, "what if is not there?"
"Then you will have to ask him," Golden quickly
replied.
Jonah, Chapter 1
Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah, the
son of Amittai, saying,
Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry
against it; for their wickedness is come up
before me.
WOE to the bloody city! [Nineveh is] all full of lies [and] robbery; the
prey
departeth
Theup
noise
a whip,
the noisefrom
of thethe
But
Jonahnot;
rose
to of
flee
untoand
Tarshish
rattling
of the wheels,
andLord,
of theand
pransing
horses,
the
presence
of the
went
downand
toofJoppa;
jumping chariots. The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword
and he found a ship going to Tarshish; so he
and the glittering spear: and [there is] a multitude of slain, and a
the
thereof,
and is]
went
it, to
great paid
number
of fare
carcases;
and [there
nonedown
end ofinto
[their]
corpses;
corpses:
Because
the
go they
withstumble
them upon
untotheir
Tarshish
from
the of
presence
of
multitude
the whoredoms of the well-favoured harlot, the
the of
Lord.
mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her
whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts (Nahum 3:1-3).
The Jonah Travel Plan
Tarshish
Nineveh
Question
Why did Jonah run?
I fled before unto Tarshish; for I knew that
thou art a gracious God, and merciful,
slow to anger, and of great kindness, and
repentest thee of the evil.
Do we cheer for the day when the
wicked will “get theirs” rather than
pray for their repentance?
Neal A. Maxwell
Surely, as Latter-day Saints
we must avoid the Jonah
reflex. Moreover, knowing
of and believing in the
prophecies does not relieve us of the
responsibility to do all we can to avoid the
conditions which, unchecked, will bring them to
pass.
Jesus . . . prophesied that in the last days,
because of iniquity, the love of many would wax
cold (Matthew 24:12). Yet we must not regard
iniquity or human hardening and coarsening
with a sense of inevitability
Jeffrey R. Holland
[In the story of the Prodigal Son], we can
miss, if we are not careful, the account of an
elder son, for the opening line of the Savior’s
account reads, “A certain man had two
sons”—and He might have added, “both of
whom were lost and both of whom needed to come home.”
This [older] son is not so much angry that the other has come home
as he is angry that his parents are so happy about it. …
No, he who has virtually everything, and who has in his hardworking,
wonderful way earned it, lacks the one thing that might make him
the complete man of the Lord he nearly is. He has yet to come to
the compassion and mercy, the charitable breadth of vision to see
that this is not a rival returning. It is his brother. As his father pled
with him to see, it is one who was dead and now is alive. It is one
who was lost and now is found.
Who is it that whispers so subtly in our ear that a gift given to
another somehow diminishes the blessings we have received?
Who makes us feel that if God is smiling on another, then He
surely must somehow be frowning on us? You and I both know
who does this—it is the father of all lies…It is Lucifer, our common
enemy, whose cry down through the corridors of time is always
and to everyone, “Give me thine honor.”
Elder Holland
Cont.
One observer has written: “In a world
that constantly compares people,
ranking them as more or less
intelligent, more or less attractive,
more or less successful, it is not easy to really believe in a [divine]
love that does not do the same.
When I hear someone praised,” he says, “it is hard not to think of
myself as less praiseworthy; when I read about the goodness and
kindness of other people, it is hard not to wonder whether I myself
am as good and kind as they; and when I see trophies, rewards,
and prizes being handed out to special people, I cannot avoid asking
myself why that didn’t happen to me.”
Most “thou shalt not” commandments are meant to keep us from
hurting others, but I am convinced the commandment not to
covet is meant to keep us from hurting ourselves.
I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the
Lord, and he heard me;
out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou
heardest my voice.
For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the
midst of the seas; and the floods
compassed me about; all thy billows and
thy waves passed over me.
Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I
will look again toward thy holy temple.
Psalm of Jonah
Elder Eyring
A family moved into a house near us. The
home was new, so I was part of the crew of
Latter-day Saints who spent a number of
nights putting in landscaping. I remember the
last night, standing next to the husband of
the family as we finished. He surveyed our
work and said to us standing nearby, “This is the third yard you
Mormons have put in for us, and I think this is the best.” And then
he quietly but firmly told me of the great satisfaction he got from
membership in his own church, a conversation we had often in the
years he lived there.
In all that time, the acts of kindness extended to him and his family
never ceased because the neighbors really came to love them. One
evening, I came home to see a truck in his driveway. I had been
told they were moving to another state. I approached to see if I
could help. I didn’t recognize the man I saw loading household
things into the truck. He said quietly as I drew near, “Hello,
Brother Eyring.” I hadn’t recognized him because he was the son,
now grown older, who had lived there, married, and moved away.
And because of the love of many for him, he was now a baptized
member of the Church. I don’t know the end of that story because
it will have no end. But I know that it begins with love.