What are the words of eternal life?
The words of eternal life are any idea that leads to learning more about and living more like Jesus. Like all other ideas, the words of eternal life can be expressed at different levels of breadth, depth, accuracy, sincerity,5 and power.6 They are obtained incrementally as one learns more about Jesus while living up to what they already know.
There are two components to the words of eternal life, and both of them are conditioned on the individual. The first portion of the words of eternal life is a person’s sincere idea of what is best. If a person believes in Jesus, what is best ought to be how they imagine Jesus would be: what he would think, feel, and do in their situation. If they do not believe in Jesus, they will still have an idea of what is best, and this idea is, to them, the words of eternal life. Note that the person may be living their lives in full alignment with this ideal, partial alignment, or no alignment. The second portion of the words of eternal life is the next increment of improvement over the individual’s present understanding of what is best. By definition, they will not yet know about this portion of the words of eternal life until someone or something makes this increment known to them, at which point it becomes part of the first. It is important to note that this increment becomes a part of the first portion of the words of eternal life to an individual based on whether they have sufficient reasons to believe it, not on whether or not they actually do.
As should be readily apparent, the words of eternal life are individual because they are specific to what information the individual presently understands, has access to, and the capacity to evaluate and receive. Any idea that helps an individual learn more about and become more like Jesus than they presently are is part of the words of eternal life for them.
The words of eternal life are not synonymous with the truth. The truth is objective and exists whether you are aware of it or not and whether you possess the capacity to identify it as true or not. Therefore, while the words of eternal life intersect with the truth, only the portion of the truth of which a person is aware and capable of recognizing and living could be considered the words of eternal life. The words of eternal life are the portion of truth a person already knows and lives, combined with the next increment of truth that they are capable of receiving. They consist of the best feelings, thoughts, and actions a person knows of and the path to what lies just beyond that.
Footnotes
- 1. The ancient languages of Greek and Hebrew can provide closer associations to the intended meaning of those who wrote in them than English, but are still limited to similar problems. No human language should be considered expressive enough to yield an exact expression of gospel concepts. All are limited to the best words that match most closely to the intended meaning, retaining the distance from what was intended and carrying with them unintended associations with other meanings of the same words. In the case of word, a good example of these limitations is noted with the Greek words logos and rhema, where some verses indicate a clear distinction between the two, and others seem to ignore this distinction. Analyses that assume mathematical precision in the Hebrew or Greek words used to describe gospel ideas are inherently and unavoidably flawed. Relaxation of these constraints is essential when one is approaching God in search of better expressions of his ideas. ↩
- 2. And behold, all things have their likeness, and all things are created and made to bear record of me, both things which are temporal, and things which are spiritual; things which are in the heavens above, and things which are on the earth, and things which are in the earth, and things which are under the earth, both above and beneath: all things bear record of me. (Moses 6:63) ↩
- 3. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the earth demonstrates his power. Day after day, he utters speech, and night after night he reveals knowledge. There is no word nor action where his voice is not heard. His words flow like cords through all the earth to every extremity of it. (Psalm 19:1-4, Author’s Reflection) ↩
- 4. For example, those in the Americas visited by Jesus after his resurrection said: “...The eye hath never seen, neither hath the ear heard, before, so great and marvelous things as we saw and heard Jesus speak unto the Father; And no tongue can speak, neither can there be written by any man, neither can the hearts of men conceive so great and marvelous things as we both saw and heard Jesus speak....” (3 Nephi 17:16-17) ↩
- 5. But a commandment I give unto you, that ye shall declare whatsoever thing ye declare in my name, in solemnity of heart, in the spirit of meekness, in all things. And I give unto you this promise, that inasmuch as ye do this the Holy Ghost shall be shed forth in bearing record unto all things whatsoever ye shall say. (D&C 100:7-8) ↩
- 6. And so great was the faith of Enoch that he led the people of God, and their enemies came to battle against them; and he spake the word of the Lord, and the earth trembled, and the mountains fled, even according to his command; and the rivers of water were turned out of their course; and the roar of the lions was heard out of the wilderness; and all nations feared greatly, so powerful was the word of Enoch, and so great was the power of the language which God had given him. (Moses 7:13) ↩