Question
Dear Gramps,
I need your help on what to do. I’ve kind of polluted my mind by accident. Some songs and movies I thought would never come back, have come back, and I get bad thoughts in my head sometimes and I feel that I can’t always control my thoughts. (It’s not like killing thoughts or anything). I have asked my Father in Heaven many times for forgiveness and help to overcome the problem of thinking bad thoughts. I sometimes feel worthy of the Lord’s Spirit and then sometimes I don’t. I’m a teenager and want to do what is right. I don’t always feel bad or unworthy. Would you please give me some advice on what to do, I’d really appreciate it.
And also another thing. My friend believes that God, Jesus and the Holy Ghost are all one. Would you give me some scripture in which it says they are one in purpose but not in body or person. Everything I give him he comes back with some argument to the contrary. He’s a very smart guy and it’s difficult to get. Please Help.
A J
Answer
Dear A J,
The struggle that you are involved in to keep your mind clean and pure and free from unsavory thoughts is a struggle that every young person goes through-and most adults as well. It seems to me that you are on the right path. The most important thing is to recognize that impure thoughts are degrading by their very nature and that they are against the will of the Lord, who has said, Be ye therefore perfect, even as or your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Matt 5:48. He doesn’t expect us to be perfect all at once, but to have that goal in mind and strive for it throughout all our mortal lives. Thus thought control should be one of your most important goals.
Consider the running back in a football game who is given many opportunities to run the ball. Sometimes he makes progress before he is tackled, and sometimes he is thrown for a loss. But when he is tackled he has the choice to either give up and walk off the field, or to go back in there and try it again, and again, until he finally makes a touchdown. That’s the way it is when we confront the opposition of temptation, especially the temptation to think bad thoughts. Each time we run the ball, or each time we confront a temptation and try to overcome it, we gain added strength to do better next time. Since none of us is perfect, as soon as we overcome one obstacle or gain domination over one appetite or passion, there is something else always there to challenge our resolve, our determination and our ability. Satan never gives up in trying to get us to think bad thoughts, so we must never give up in trying to control our thoughts. But this I promise you, if you maintain your desire and your attempts to gain more control over your thoughts, you will have the Spirit of the Lord to guide you and to strengthen you, and you will be successful!!
Now concerning your other question of the Deity being one in purpose and not in body, ask your friend to reflect on the following scripture, found in John 8:16-18:
And yet if I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me. It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true. I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me.
Here the Savior is using the example of the necessity in the Jewish law of two witnesses to establish the truth. Then, to establish the truth of his own judgments he cites two witnesses, Himself and His Father in Heaven. It would take a powerful twisting of the scriptures to interpret that passage as referring to two different manifestations of the same personage. Nevertheless, that is what is done by those who believe that the Trinity is of one substance. I doubt that your citing any biblical scriptures will change their minds. If you could get them to develop an open minded interest in learning new truths, then you could reveal to them the modern scriptures, and as they become influenced by the whisperings of the Holy Spirit they will come to recognize and accept the truth.
Gramps
