As A Man Thinketh in His Heart, So is He
Intro: Poem
Henry Van Dyke wrote the following:
I hold it true that thoughts are things;
They're endowed with bodies and breath and wings;
And that we send them forth to fill
The world with good results, or ill.
That which we call our secret thought
Speeds forth to earth's remotest spot,
Leaving its blessings or its woes
Like tracks behind it as it goes.
We build our future, thought by thought,
For good or ill, yet know it not.
Yet, so the universe was wrought.
Thought is another name for fate;
Choose, then, thy destiny and wait.
For love brings love and hate brings hate.
-Titled "Thoughts Are Things"
I would like to base my comments on the psalmist declaration that,
"as ""[a man]"" thinketh in his heart, so is he." (Prov. 23:7.)
Scriptures
Following King Benjamin's address he had inquired of the people to know of their impressions. They declared of their changed hearts and of their desire to take upon the name of Christ. King Benjamin gave this counsel.
Mosiah 5:11-13
11 And I would that ye should remember also, that this is the name that I said I should give unto you that never should be blotted out, except it be through transgression; therefore, take heed that ye do not transgress, that the name be not blotted out of your hearts.
12 I say unto you, I would that ye should remember to retain the name written always in your hearts, that ye are not found on the left hand of God, but that ye hear and know the voice by which ye shall be called, and also, the name by which he shall call you.
13 For how knoweth a man the master whom he has not served, and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart?
We know that the Lord knows "the thoughts and intents of our hearts." (D&C 6:16.) Not only knows, but judges upon that knowledge.
Joseph, espoused to Mary, learned that she was with child.
Matthew 1:18-20
18 . . .As . . .Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just [man], and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.
20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
Would Joseph have had this experience with an Angel if he had been of a mind to retaliate against his espoused wife?
Experiences of Prophets
George Albert Smith share te following experience,
As a child, thirteen years of age, I went to school at the Brigham Young Academy. It was fortunate that part of my instruction came under Dr. Karl G. Maeser, that outstanding educator who was the first builder of our Church schools. I cannot remember much of what was said during the year that I was there, but there is one thing that I will probably never forget. Dr. Maeser one day stood up and said:
"Not only will you be held accountable for the things you do, but you will be held responsible for the very thoughts you think."
Being a boy, not in the habit of controlling my thoughts very much, it was quite a puzzle to me what I was to do, and it worried me. In fact, it stuck to me just like a burr. About a week or ten days after that it suddenly came to me what he meant. I could see the philosophy of it then. All at once there came to me this interpretation of what he had said: Why of course you will be held accountable for your thoughts, because when your life is completed in mortality, it will be the sum of your thoughts. That one suggestion has been a great blessing to me all my life, and it has enabled me upon many occasions to avoid thinking improperly, because I realize that I will be, when my life's labor is complete, the product of my thoughts.
-George Albert Smith, Sharing the Gospel With Others, p.62-63
Expanding this idea of our relationship to our thoughts Brigham Young said,
"The origin of thought was planted in our organization at the beginning of our being. This is not telling you how it came there, or who put it there. Thought originated with our individual being, which is organized to be as independent as any being in eternity." -JD 2:135.
Thought draws us to our very beginning as intelligence, as eternal as the elements around us. We are our thoughts.
Stories
President Kimball related the following tale he heard as a boy that relates how our thoughts are an enduring part of us.
"When I was a little boy, some imaginative story teller in offering his "greatest yarn" told of some woodsmen in the far north who sat around the campfire in the far-below zero weather, and all at once their voices failed to register sound. It was so cold that the sounds were frozen. Later, when the warm rays of the spring sun came, the frozen sounds of the cold winter began to thaw and there came back the total conversations of that cold night in camp."
-Spencer W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness, p.111
Too often we are reminded of the hazards of evil thoughts. The real beauty of how our thoughts can affect us is when our thoughts are drawn to the Lord and the "Things of Righteousness"
Speaking to the youth, David O. McKay relates how thoughts can lead to testimony saying,
"The knowledge of truth, and the testimony of the gospel may come gradually to most. . . .. The one great lesson for them to learn even in youth is, that purity of thought, and a sincere heart seeking the Savior's guidance daily will lead to a testimony of the truth of Christ's gospel as sure and permanent as that which Peter possessed as he descended Mt. Hermon after seeing the Transfiguration of Christ, and hearing the voice of God testify to his divinity."
-David O. McKay, Gospel Ideals, p.231
Scripture
Thought, done without requirement or enforcement, on the eternal truths of the gospel leads to the greatest of all blessings.
D&C 121:45-46
45 Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distill upon thy soul as the dews from heaven.
46 The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever.
Testimony
Other Quotes and comments not used
The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, p.282
Thoughts largely determine immorality of acts. Holding hands would generally not be immoral, but it would depend on whether or not one's mind ran rampant. An embrace may not be immoral, but if the closeness of the body awakens immoral desires, then that is another thing. "As ""[a man]"" thinketh ... so is he." (Proverbs 23:7.) "Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure." (Titus 1:15.) One must keep the thoughts clean. ... Two people could embrace, kiss, dance, look, and I can conceive of one of them being immoral and the other innocent of sin. (5/31/48)
Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p.792 THOUGHTS
Part of man's mortal probation is to see if he can control his thoughts in accordance with righteous principles. The saints are commanded, "Cast away your idle thoughts" (D. & C. 88:69), which obviously includes all evil thoughts, all those that do not edify, and all that are unproductive. Thoughts are idle if they do not work to further man's peace in this life and eternal reward in the next.
Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p.793 THOUGHTS
Men should think on the things of righteousness. They should meditate upon the great truths which the Lord has revealed. "Let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly." (D. & C. 121:45.) Above all, men should think of the Lord and his infinite goodness. "Look unto me in every thought" (D. & C. 6:36), is his plea. (Alma 37:36.) "For how knoweth a man the master whom he has not served, and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart?" (Mosiah 5:13.)
Story of the little engine that could
Teachings of Lorenzo Snow, p.129
This is the condition of all men, no matter how well they start out, who allow their thoughts and affections to run after the world and its ways, and it is a plain and indisputable proof that when this is the case with men they love the world more than they love the Lord and His work upon the earth. (6 May 1882, JD, 23:194.)
The Savior's restatement of the 10 Commandment with expansions
All additions involved thoughts assosiated with the outward crimes.
James Allen has expressed it in his well-known book, As a Man Thinketh.
As the plant springs from, and could not be without the seed, so every act of a man springs from the hidden seeds of thought, and could not have appeared without them. This applies equally to those acts called "spontaneous" and "unpremeditated" as to those which are deliberately executed….
In the armory of thought [man] forges the weapons by which he destroys himself; he also fashions the tools with which he builds for himself heavenly mansions of joy and strength and peace…. Between these two extremes are all grades of character, and man is their maker and master…. Man is the master of thought, the moulder of character, and the maker and shaper of condition, environment and destiny.
-James Allen, As a Man Thinketh.
-quoted Spencer W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness, p.104
1999 Karl Kowallis
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