D. Todd Christofferson Quotes - 96 quotes

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D. Todd Christofferson

David Todd Christofferson is a prominent religious leader and former lawyer. He is a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), a position he has held since April 5, 2008. Christofferson was born on January 24, 1945, in American Fork, Utah. He grew up in Utah and New Jersey. After high school, he served as a missionary in Argentina. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University and a Juris Doctor from Duke University. Early in his career, he clerked for Judge John J. Sirica during the Watergate scandal. He later worked in private practice and as an in-house lawyer for NationsBank (now Bank of America). Before becoming an apostle, Christofferson served in various church leadership roles, including as a bishop, stake president, and member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. He was also part of the Presidency of the Seventy from 1998 to 2008. Christofferson and his wife, Katherine Jacob, have five children. His contributions to the church and his legal career have made him a respected figure in both religious and professional communities.

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quote icon There are many ways to describe and speak of divine love. One of the terms we hear often today is that God’s love is “unconditional.” While in one sense that is true, the descriptor unconditional appears nowhere in scripture. Rather, His love is described in scripture as “great and wonderful love,”3 “perfect love,”4 “redeeming love,”5 and “everlasting love.”6 These are better terms because the word unconditional can convey mistaken impressions about divine love, such as, God tolerates and excuses anything we do because His love is unconditional, or God makes no demands upon us because His love is unconditional, or all are saved in the heavenly kingdom of God because His love is unconditional. God’s love is infinite and it will endure forever, but what it means for each of us depends on how we respond to His love.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon when people turn from a sense of accountability to God and begin to trust instead in the “arm of flesh,” disaster lurks.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon One cannot imagine a more fundamental defiling of God’s creation than to profane its most sacred use.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon Our central quest is to learn and to live the celestial law...If we can learn to abide the celestial law, we become what the scripture calls persons of a celestial spirit.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon Some say dress and hair don’t matter—it’s what’s inside that counts. I believe that truly it is what’s inside a person that counts, but that’s what worries me. Casual dress at holy places and events is a message about what is inside a person. It may be pride or rebellion or something else, but at a minimum it says, “I don’t get it. I don’t understand the difference between the sacred and the profane.”

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon Sustainability is not guaranteed, and a thriving society can fail in time if it abandons the cardinal virtues that uphold its peace and prosperity.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon those in sustainable societies are seeking, as King Benjamin said, to “grow in the knowledge of the glory of him that created [them], or in the knowledge of that which is just and true.”10

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon But figuratively eating His flesh and drinking His blood has a further meaning, and that is to internalize the qualities and character of Christ, putting off the natural man and becoming Saints “through the atonement of Christ the Lord.”

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon The freedom to express beliefs about God, which took centuries of struggle to establish, also supports the right to express opinions about morality, society, politics, literature, art, science, or virtually any other subject. The hard-won religious rights to peacefully assemble for worship or to print religious literature also support the rights to assemble for political, social, cultural and familial reasons or to print books or newspapers addressing a host of subjects.

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quote icon With a deepening reverence for sacred things, your understanding grows. The scriptures speak of it as a light that grows “brighter and brighter until the perfect day”. That process is also described as progressing from grace to grace. The Savior Himself progressed in that way until He received a fullness, and you may follow in His footsteps.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon “…the word unconditional can convey mistaken impressions about divine love, such as, God tolerates and excuses anything we do because His love is unconditional, or God makes no demands upon us because His love is unconditional, or all are saved in the heavenly kingdom of God because His love is unconditional.”

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon With covenants, we are intent on more than just avoiding mistakes or being prudent in our decisions. We feel accountable to God for our choices and our lives. We take upon us the name of Christ. We are focused on Christ—on being valiant in the testimony of Jesus and on developing the character of Christ.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon “Relativism means each person is his or her own highest authority. ... To those who believe anything or everything could be true, the declaration of objective, fixed, and universal truth feels like coercion—'I shouldn’t be forced to believe something is true that I don’t like.’”

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon “While we may all want to know the secret to a long life, I often feel we’d be better off devoting more time to figuring out what makes a good life, whatever span we’re allotted.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon We rely on the divine quality of justice for faith, confidence, and hope.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon Protecting and respecting religious freedom serves as a training ground for protecting and respecting other human rights and freedoms. It teaches us that government has limits: that there are aspects of life that are so sensitive and personal that the coercive jurisdiction of the state must yield to the jurisdiction of the sacred and individual conscience.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon “You can offer the Lord the gift of your broken, or repentant, heart and your contrite, or obedient, spirit. In reality, it is the gift of yourself—what you are and what you are becoming. “Is there something in you or in your life that is impure or unworthy? When you get rid of it, that is a gift to the Savior. Is there a good habit or quality that is lacking in your life? When you adopt it and make it part of your character, you are giving a gift to the Lord”

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon God will not live our lives for us nor control us as if we were His puppets, as Lucifer once proposed to do. Nor will His prophets accept the role of “puppet master” in God’s place.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon But as a consequence of being perfectly just, there are some things God cannot do. He cannot be arbitrary in saving some and banishing others. He “cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance.” He cannot allow mercy to rob justice.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon Personal accountability becomes both a right and a duty that we must constantly defend; it has been under assault since before the Creation. We must defend accountability against persons and programs that would (sometimes with the best of intentions) make us dependent.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon With a deepening reverence for sacred things, your understanding grows. The scriptures speak of it as a light that grows “brighter and brighter until the perfect day”. That process is also described as progressing from grace to grace. The Savior Himself progressed in that way until He received a fullness, and you may follow in His footsteps.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon Always remember, however, as holiness grows within and you are entrusted with greater knowledge and understanding that you must treat these things with care. We read earlier the scripture affirming that that which comes from above is sacred and must be spoken with care and by constraint of the Spirit. The Lord also commanded, rather bluntly, that we must not cast pearls before swine or give that which is holy to dogs (see 3 Nephi 14:6; D&C 41:6), meaning sacred things should not be disclosed or discussed with those who are not prepared to appreciate their value and who may even attack rather than appreciate them.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon I have heard a few parents state that they don’t want to impose the gospel on their children but want them to make up their own minds about what they will believe and follow. They think that in this way they are allowing children to exercise their agency. What they forget is that the intelligent use of agency requires knowledge of the truth, of things as they really are (see D&C 93:24). Without that, young people can hardly be expected to understand and evaluate the alternatives that come before them. Parents should consider how the adversary approaches their children. He and his followers are not promoting objectivity but are vigorous, multimedia advocates of sin and selfishness. Seeking to be neutral about the gospel is, in reality, to reject the existence of God and His authority. We must, rather, acknowledge Him and His omniscience if we want our children to see life’s choices clearly and be able to think for themselves. They should not have to learn by sad experience that “wickedness never was happiness” (Alma 41:10).

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon A growing number of people consider that belief in and allegiance to God are not needed for moral uprightness in either individuals or societies in today’s world.12 I think we would all agree that those who profess no religious belief can be, and often are, good, moral people. We would not agree, however, that this happens without divine influence. I am referring to the Light of Christ.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon “[Alma’s] inspired decision was not to spend more time trying to make and enforce more rules to correct the behavior of his people, but to speak to them of the word of God, to teach the doctrine and have their understanding of the plan of redemption lead them to change their behavior.”20

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon But God intends that His children should act according to the moral agency He has given them, “that every man may be accountable for his own sins in the day of judgment.”2 It is His plan and His will that we have the principal decision-making role in our own life’s drama. God will not live our lives for us nor control us as if we were His puppets, as Lucifer once proposed to do. Nor will His prophets accept the role of “puppet master” in God’s place. Brigham Young stated: “I do not wish any Latter Day Saint in this world, nor in heaven, to be satisfied with anything I do, unless the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ,—the spirit of revelation, makes them satisfied. I wish them to know for themselves and understand for themselves.”

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon Perhaps it goes without saying that despite genuine love and sincerity, many, if not most, of our invitations to share the message of the Restoration will be declined. But remember this: everyone is worthy of such an invitation—“all are alike unto God”;11 the Lord is pleased with every effort we make, no matter the outcome; a declined invitation is no reason for our association to end; and a lack of interest today may well turn to interest tomorrow. Regardless, our love remains constant.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon The societies in these two examples were sustained by the blessings of heaven growing out of their exemplary devotion to the two great commandments: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” and “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”6 They were obedient to God in their personal lives, and they looked after one another’s physical and spiritual welfare. In the words of the Doctrine and Covenants, these were societies with “every man seeking the interest of his neighbor, and doing all things with an eye single to the glory of God.”7

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon The institutions of family and religion have been crucial for endowing both individuals and communities with the virtues that sustain an enduring society.

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quote icon Reliance on culture and tradition alone will not be sufficient to sustain virtue in society. When one has no higher god than himself and seeks no greater good than satisfying his own appetites and preferences, the effects will be manifest in due course.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon Reflecting on this and other examples of once flourishing societies that later foundered, I think it safe to say that when people turn from a sense of accountability to God and begin to trust instead in the “arm of flesh,” disaster lurks. Trusting in the arm of flesh is to ignore the divine Author of human rights and human dignity and to give highest priority to riches, power, and the praise of the world (while often mocking and persecuting those who follow a different standard). Meanwhile, those in sustainable societies are seeking, as King Benjamin said, to “grow in the knowledge of the glory of him that created [them], or in the knowledge of that which is just and true.”

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon Editor-at-large Gerard Baker wrote a column earlier this year in the Wall Street Journal honoring his father, Frederick Baker, on the occasion of his father’s 100th birthday. Baker speculated about the reasons for his father’s longevity but then added these thoughts: “While we may all want to know the secret to a long life, I often feel we’d be better off devoting more time to figuring out what makes a good life, whatever span we’re allotted. Here, I’m confident I know my father’s secret. “He is from an era when life was defined primarily by duty, not by entitlement; by social responsibilities, not personal privileges. The primary animating principle throughout his century has been a sense of obligation—to family, God, country. “In an era dominated by the detritus of broken families, my father was a devoted husband to his wife of 46 years, a dutiful father to six children. He was never more present and vital than when my parents suffered the unthinkable tragedy of losing a child. … “And in an era when religion is increasingly a curiosity, my father has lived as a true, faithful Catholic, with an unshakable belief in the promises of Christ. Indeed, I sometimes think he has lived so long because he is better prepared than anyone I have ever met to die. “I have been a fortunate man—blessed by a good education, my own wonderful family, some worldly success I didn’t deserve. But however proud and grateful I feel, it’s eclipsed by the pride and gratitude I have for the man who, without fuss or drama, without expectation of reward or even acknowledgment, has got on—for a century now—with the simple duties, obligations and, ultimately, joys of living a virtuous life.”11

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon God will not live our lives for us nor control us as if we were His puppets, as Lucifer once proposed to do. Nor will His prophets accept the role of “puppet master” in God’s place.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon God will not act to make us something we do not choose by our actions to become.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon Truly He loves us, and because He loves us, He neither compels nor abandons us.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon But as a consequence of being perfectly just, there are some things God cannot do. He cannot be arbitrary in saving some and banishing others. He “cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance.” He cannot allow mercy to rob justice.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon So by making repentance a condition for receiving the gift of grace, God enables us to retain responsibility for ourselves. Repentance respects and sustains our moral agency

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon Relativism means each person is his or her own highest authority.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon Teaching from the scriptures means physically opening the scriptures with those being taught and reading scriptural verses together. Teaching from the scriptures includes bearing testimony of truths taught while utilizing verses to answer questions that arise in the course of teaching.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon “And thus mercy can satisfy the demands of justice, and encircles them in the arms of safety, while he that exercises no faith unto repentance is exposed to the whole law of the demands of justice; therefore only unto him that has faith unto repentance is brought about the great and eternal plan of redemption.”

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon God’s love is infinite and it will endure forever, but what it means for each of us depends on how we respond to His love.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon The idea of moral relativism, that truth is subjective, has some appeal initially... As I say, that has on the surface some appeal, but when you think about it, it’s totally illogical. How can there be two truths that oppose each other and both be true? ... It’s not a discussion of pros and cons and what may be true or not true. If you disagree with my perception of what truth is, then you’re attacking me because that’s me. ... No wonder we have such division and conflict in the world if that’s the way we’re going to think. It doesn’t work. It doesn’t work for society. It doesn’t work logically and it’s not true. Truth is truth. And if we’re guided by truth and absorb and learn as much as we can, so much the better, so much the better for ourselves and for society.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon But the Restoration is not only for those of us who rejoice in it today. The revelations of the First Vision were not for Joseph Smith alone but are offered as light and truth for any who “lack wisdom.”3 The Book of Mormon is the possession of mankind. The priesthood ordinances of salvation and exaltation were prepared for every individual, including those who no longer dwell in mortality. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its blessings are intended for all who want them. The gift of the Holy Ghost is meant for everyone. The Restoration belongs to the world, and its message is especially urgent today.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon Whatever it may be, we cannot escape the fact that we need to understand and live the principles of the restored gospel as best we can for our invitations to be inviting. It is something often referred to today as authenticity. If the love of Christ dwells in us, others will know that our love for them is genuine. If the light of the Holy Spirit burns within us, it will rekindle the Light of Christ within them.10 What you are lends authenticity to your invitation to come experience the joy of the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon If enough of us and enough of our neighbors strive to make our decisions and guide our lives by the truth of God, the moral virtues needed in every society will abound.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon “We know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do." And we do not need to achieve some minimum level of capacity or goodness before God will help—divine aid can be ours every hour of every day, no matter where we are in the path of obedience. But I know that beyond desiring His help, we must exert ourselves, repent, and choose God for Him to be able to act in our lives consistent with justice and moral agency.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon In reality, the best way to help those we love—the best way to love them—is to continue to put the Savior first. If we cast ourselves adrift from the Lord out of sympathy for loved ones who are suffering or distressed, then we lose the means by which we might have helped them. If, however, we remain firmly rooted in faith in Christ, we are in a position both to receive and to offer divine help. If (or I should say when) the moment comes that a beloved family member wants desperately to turn to the only true and lasting source of help, he or she will know whom to trust as a guide and a companion

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon To those who believe anything or everything could be true, the declaration of objective, fixed, and universal truth feels like coercion—“I shouldn’t be forced to believe something is true that I don’t like.” But that does not change reality. Resenting the law of gravity won’t keep a person from falling if he steps off a cliff.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon There are many places in the scriptures that counsel mankind to fear God. In our day we generally interpret the word fear as “respect” or “reverence” or “love”; that is, the fear of God means the love of God or respect for Him and His law. That may often be a correct reading, but I wonder if sometimes fear doesn’t really mean fear, as when the prophets speak of fearing to offend God by breaking His commandments.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon It thrills me to read those words; it thrills me to say them. Shortly after this sacred moment, when Jesus spoke to the Apostles about His impending death and Resurrection, Peter contradicted Him. This earned Peter a stinging rebuke—for not being in tune with, or not savoring, the things of God “but those that be of men” (Matthew 16:21–23; see also Mark 8:33). Then Jesus, “showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom [He had] reproved” (D&C 121:43), kindly instructed Peter and his Brethren about taking up one’s cross and losing one’s life as the way to find an abundant and eternal life, He being the perfect example (see Matthew 16:24–25).

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon “His [God’s] commandments are the voice of reality.”

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quote icon In giving His life, Christ saved not only His own life but our lives as well. He made it possible for us to exchange what would otherwise have been an ultimately futile mortal life for eternal life.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon His commandments are the voice of reality and our protection against self-inflicted pain.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon So, the answer to our question is, “No, God cannot act any way He pleases to save a person. He cannot be arbitrary and also be just. And if He is not just, He is not God.” Therefore, salvation and exaltation must be accomplished in a way that upholds and conforms to immutable law, to justice. And thanks be to God, He has upheld justice by providing a Savior.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon Nevertheless, when secularization separates personal and civic virtue from a sense of accountability to God, it cuts the plant from its roots. Reliance on culture and tradition alone will not be sufficient to sustain virtue in society. When one has no higher god than himself and seeks no greater good than satisfying his own appetites and preferences, the effects will be manifest in due course.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon To be made whole, and to be made holy, we need a Savior. So, the answer to our question is, “No, God cannot act any way He pleases to save a person. He cannot be arbitrary and also be just. And if He is not just, He is not God.” Therefore, salvation and exaltation must be accomplished in a way that upholds and conforms to immutable law, to justice. And thanks be to God, He has upheld justice by providing a Savior.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon Let it be noted that in the great premortal council, Lucifer was not volunteering to be our savior. He was not interested in suffering or dying or shedding any of his blood on our behalf. He was not seeking to become the embodiment of justice but to become a law unto himself.4 It is my opinion that in saying to the Father, “Give me thine honor” (Moses 4:1), Lucifer was saying, “Give me the right to rule,” intending to exercise that power capriciously. The law would be whatever he said it was at any given moment.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon Using justice as a synonym for law, Alma states, “Now the work of justice [that is, the operation of law] [cannot] be destroyed; if so, God would cease to be God” (Alma 42:13). It is His perfect understanding and use of law—or in other words, His justice—that gives God His power. We need the justice of God, a system of fixed and immutable laws that He Himself abides by and employs, so that we can have and exercise agency.2 This justice is the foundation of our freedom to act and is our only path to ultimate happiness.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon I think we would all agree that those who profess no religious belief can be, and often are, good, moral people. We would not agree, however, that this happens without divine influence. I am referring to the Light of Christ. The Savior declared, “I am the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world.”13 Whether aware of it or not, every man, woman, and child of every belief, place, and time is imbued with the Light of Christ and therefore possesses the sense of right and wrong we often call conscience.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon A society, for example, in which individual consent is the only constraint on sexual activity is a society in decay. Adultery, promiscuity, out-of-wedlock births,15 and elective abortions are but some of the bitter fruits that grow out of the ongoing sexual revolution. Follow-on consequences that work against sustainability of a healthy society include growing numbers of children raised in poverty and without the positive influence of fathers, sometimes through multiple generations; women bearing alone what should be shared responsibilities; and seriously deficient education as schools, like other institutions, are tasked to compensate for failure in the home.16 Added to these social pathologies are the incalculable instances of individual heartbreak and despair—mental and emotional destruction visited upon both the guilty and the innocent.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon So, being just but also being motivated by love, our Heavenly Father created mercy. He did this by offering His Only Begotten Son as propitiation for our sin, a sinless Being who could, with His Atonement, satisfy justice for us, putting us right with the law so that it is once again supporting and preserving us, not condemning us. Alma explains:

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon Jesus, on the other hand, understood that both inalterable justice and mercy would be required for His brothers and sisters to progress. With the Father, He was seeking not to coerce and dominate us but to free and lift us so that we might “be above all” and “have all power” with the Father (Doctrine and Covenants 132:20).

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon Some might say, “I can make good choices with or without baptism; I don’t need covenants to be an honorable and successful person.” Indeed, there are many who, while not on the covenant path themselves, act in a way that mirrors the choices and contributions of those who are on the path. You might say they reap the blessings of walking a “covenant-consistent” path. What, then, is the difference of the covenant path? Actually, the difference is uniquely and eternally significant. It includes the nature of our obedience, the character of God’s commitment to us, the divine help we receive, the blessings tied to gathering as a covenant people, and most importantly, our eternal inheritance.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon Too often our problems or challenges are self-inflicted, the result of poor choices, or, we could say, the result of “unforced errors.” When we are diligently pursuing the covenant path, we quite naturally avoid many “unforced errors.” We sidestep the various forms of addiction. We do not fall into the ditch of dishonest conduct. We cross over the abyss of immorality and infidelity. We bypass the people and things that, even if popular, would jeopardize our physical and spiritual well-being. We avoid the choices that harm or disadvantage others and instead acquire the habits of self-discipline and service.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon True success in this life comes in consecrating our lives - that is, our time and choices - to God's purposes.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon We must defend personal accountability against our own inclinations to avoid the work that is required to cultivate talents, abilities, and Christlike character...We must exert ourselves, repent, and choose God for Him to be able to act in our lives consistent with with justice and moral agency.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon Satan seeks to convince men and women that marriage and family priorities can be ignored or abandoned, or at least made subservient to careers, other achievements, and the quest for self-fulfillment and individual autonomy.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon So the answer to our question is no, God cannot act any way He pleases to save a person. He must do it in a way that upholds and conforms to immutable law

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon At another level, however, the question might be, “Can’t God do whatever He wants and save us just because He loves us, without the need for a Savior?” Phrased this way, quite a few people in today’s world would share that question. They believe in God and a postmortal existence but assume that because God loves us, it doesn’t matter so much what we do or don’t do; He just takes care of things.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon To those who believe anything or everything could be true, the declaration of objective, fixed, and universal truth feels like coercion—“I shouldn’t be forced to believe something is true that I don’t like.” But that does not change reality.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon Resenting the law of gravity won’t keep a person from falling if he steps off a cliff. The same is true for eternal law and justice. Freedom comes not from resisting it but from applying it. That is fundamental to God’s own power. If it were not for the reality of fixed and immutable truths, the gift of agency would be meaningless since we would never be able to foresee and intend the consequences of our actions.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon It is God’s will that we be free men and women enabled to rise to our full potential both temporally and spiritually, that we be free from the humiliating limitations of poverty and the bondage of sin, that we enjoy self-respect and independence, that we be prepared in all things to join Him in His celestial kingdom.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon The importance of having a sense of the sacred is simply this—if one does not appreciate holy things, he will lose them.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon To eat His flesh and drink His blood is a striking way of expressing how completely we must bring the Savior into our life—into our very being—that we may be one.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon Partaking of the Savior’s flesh and drinking His blood means to put out of our lives anything inconsistent with a Christlike character and to make His attributes our own.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon There are many ways to describe and speak of divine love. One of the terms we hear often today is that God’s love is “unconditional.” While in one sense that is true, the descriptor unconditional appears nowhere in scripture.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon Nevertheless, God’s greater blessings are conditioned on obedience. President Russell M. Nelson explained: “The resplendent bouquet of God’s love—including eternal life—includes blessings for which we must qualify, not entitlements to be expected unworthily. Sinners cannot bend His will to theirs and require Him to bless them in sin [see Alma 11:37]. If they desire to enjoy every bloom in His beautiful bouquet, they must repent.”

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon To abide in God’s love in this sense means to submit fully to His will. It means to accept His correction when needed, “for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth.”

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon Elder Dallin H. Oaks observed: “The Final Judgment is not just an evaluation of a sum total of good and evil acts—what we have done. It is an acknowledgment of the final effect of our acts and thoughts—what we have become.”

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon This was not simply a case of Jesus supporting the Father’s plan and Lucifer proposing a slight modification. Lucifer’s proposal would have destroyed the plan by eliminating our opportunity to act independently. Lucifer’s plan was founded on coercion, making all the other sons and daughters of God—all of us—essentially his puppets. As

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon A permissive parent, an indulgent friend, a fearful Church leader are in reality more concerned about themselves than the welfare and happiness of those they could help. Yes, the call to repentance is at times regarded as intolerant or offensive and may even be resented, but guided by the Spirit, it is in reality an act of genuine caring.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon Sometimes in seeking to understand a concept, it helps to consider its opposite. The contrast makes it clear.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon God is feeling after us to see if we will prove faithful, and if we have the integrity and sensitivity to honor sacred things, we will receive even more. But if not, our blessings will turn to our condemnation.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon For this reason it is disconcerting to see how people are becoming careless, even irreverent and disrespectful, in speech, dress, and conduct when they participate in events related to death and marriage. Some funeral services become occasions for lightmindedness and inappropriate humor. Personal remembrances, quite appropriate in moderation, can occupy an hour or two while the Atonement and Resurrection of the Lord and His plan of salvation receive only a passing mention, if any.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon Be wise with what the Lord gives you. It is a trust. You would not, for example, indiscriminately share the content of your patriarchal blessing.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon Christ died not to save indiscriminately but to offer repentance.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon With a deepening reverence for sacred things, your understanding grows. The scriptures speak of it as a light that grows “brighter and brighter until the perfect day”. That process is also described as progressing from grace to grace. The Savior Himself progressed in that way until He received a fulness, and you may follow in His footsteps.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon A God who makes no demands is the functional equivalent of a God who does not exist. A world without God, the living God who establishes moral laws to govern and perfect His children, is also a world without ultimate truth or justice. It is a world where moral relativism reigns supreme.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon These are better terms because the word unconditional can convey mistaken impressions about divine love, such as, God tolerates and excuses anything we do because His love is unconditional, or God makes no demands upon us because His love is unconditional, or all are saved in the heavenly kingdom of God because His love is unconditional.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon The importance of having a sense of the sacred is simply this—if one does not appreciate holy things, he will lose them. Absent a feeling of reverence, he will grow increasingly casual in attitude and lax in conduct. He will drift from the moorings that his covenants with God could provide. His feeling of accountability to God will diminish and then be forgotten. Thereafter, he will care only about his own comfort and satisfying his uncontrolled appetites. Finally, he will come to despise sacred things, even God, and then he will despise himself.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon At another level, however, the question might be, “Can’t God do whatever He wants and save us just because He loves us, without the need for a Savior?” Phrased this way, quite a few people in today’s world would share that question. They believe in God and a postmortal existence but assume that because God loves us, it doesn’t matter so much what we do or don’t do; He just takes care of things.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon This requires a knowledge of good and evil on our part, with the capacity and opportunity to choose between the two. And it requires accountability for choices made—otherwise they aren’t really choices. Choice, in turn, requires law, or predictable outcomes. We must be able by a particular action or choice to cause a particular outcome or result—and by the opposite choice create the opposite outcome. If actions don’t have fixed consequences, then one has no control over outcomes, and choice is meaningless.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon God intends that His children should act according to the moral agency He has given them, “that every man may be accountable for his own sins in the day of judgment.”2 It is His plan and His will that we have the principal decision-making role in our own life’s drama.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon Our very presence on earth as physical beings is the consequence of a choice each of us made to participate in our Father’s plan.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon Because God's love is all-embracing some speak of it as unconditional, and in their minds they may project that thought to mean that God's blessings are unconditional and that salvation is unconditional...they're not. Some are want to say 'the savior loves me just as I am'...and that is certainly true, but he cannot take any of us into his kingdom just as we are. For no unclean thing can dwell there or dwell in his presence...our sins must first be resolved.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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quote icon Resenting the law of gravity wont stop oneself from falling off a cliff.

- D. Todd Christofferson

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