Why Do I Need Jesus Christ? (May 19, 2014)

It is my line-catcher, "Why Do I Need Jesus Christ?" For various reasons, this week I decided to dive into chapter 1 of the guide, "Preach My Gospel" which talks about the purpose of missionary work. I thought nice and hard about that and read a little on the subject, and I thought the best thing I could do this week is just write about what I learned and felt.

And it all starts with a story in my favorite book, "The Book of Mormon."

A guy named Alma was pretty bad. Like...really bad. He went around beating up members of the church of God, was a delinquent, and did not really believe in God. What made the picture worse was that his dad was the prophet of the church. Awkward. 

To use his own words, I will tell you a bit of what happened to Alma...and in English, no worries. In Alma chapter 36, Alma writes his story and tells how an angel of God appeared to him. The angel explained that God sent him because his loved ones had been praying very hard for him and the angel was on the errand of the Lord to tell Alma to repent. Alma said that after this visitation, he was, (as he writes) "racked with eternal torment, for my soul was harrowed up to the greatest degree and racked with all my sins.

Yea, I did remember all my sins and iniquities, for which I was tormented with the pains of hell; yea, I saw that I had rebelled against my God, and that I had not kept his holy commandments."

It was a suffering like he couldn´t even write, but afterwards he writes, "And it came to pass that as I was thus racked with torment, while I was harrowed up by the memory of my many sins, behold, I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.

And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.

 And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!"

Thanks to Jesus Christ, and His atoning sacrifice for every single one of us, Alma received the freedom from the depressing chains of his sins and errors, and was brought into a state of joy and light that surpasses all understanding and explanation.

What I like about this story is that Alma didn´t realize he needed God...but boy, did he need God. He might have been happy living his life, but he could never have been TRULY happy, because he didn´t know who he truly was, why he was on the earth, and what he was meant to do. That is why I am a missionary. To help people who don´t even realize they need to be forgiven of their mistakes, to fill in the gap they cannot see in their lives, and to realize their divine potential.

I am very grateful to be here on the mission, and I pray that all can come unto Jesus Christ and be freed from the void of darkness that envelopes this sickened world. Gracias por leer el blog, y ojalá que todo sea bien con Uds. ¡Cuídense mucho!

- Elder Dax Rich