He describes it as the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth with which I, the Lord, am well pleased. Now, don't stop there. I think our problem is that we stop there. If you keep reading, the Lord clarifies, I'm speaking unto the church collectively and not individually. So yeah, there's plenty of individual Latter-day Saints that I'm not that pleased with. Why? For I, the Lord, cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance. Ooh, that's a tough one. As much as some Latter-day Saints love quoting verse 30. I don't know how many love verse 31. He can't look upon sin with the least degree of allowance? No wiggle room? No, be therefore perfect. Uh-oh, my toxic perfectionism is starting to kick in. You're starting to speak to my scrupulosity. Oh, don't. Don't overreact to this. I cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance, but I look upon my children with nothing but love. And it's through my love that I have sent my son to save the world. For God so loved the world that he did just that. So yes, I cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance. Keep reading. Nevertheless, in spite of that reality, he that repents and does the commandments of the Lord shall be forgiven. Now there's a lot I just read there. Go back to that stumbling block phrase. This is the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth. Yikes. Don't quote that at an interfaith dialogue. That's not the most ecumenical statement we could read from the Doctrine and Covenants. But it is half the story, a half that we have to embrace, though we have to couple it with the other half that we'll see in section 10, for example. For this first one, though, true and living. Oh, whenever the Lord puts two things side by side, I always wonder if he's trying to prove a contrary. I think he is here. Just like these commandments are true and faithful, well, the church that God has given them to first is true and living. True seems to be that constancy, but living seems to be the adaptability that is required. And, unfortunately, the humanity that is largely unavoidable. Our weakness, our language, our understanding. Well, good thing the church is living. Living things can self-correct. Living things can heal injuries. Living things can adjust to the environment and make changes, which is what a living thing always have to do. That living doesn't get in the way of the truth. God's in charge. It's his church. It's his book of commandments that we're studying. But it's his children that he learns to work through and is willing to do so. So I am grateful for a true church, but I'm grateful for a living church, despite the fact that for it to be living, it's made up of living people like you and me with all of our imperfections and weaknesses. God's okay with that. He'll keep it true, despite its livingness, okay? And like I said, this is just half of a contrary. Section 10, which we'll study in a couple of weeks, lets us know that God's church is much more broad than official membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Hold on to that, okay? There is a particularity in section one that's coupled with a universality of section 10, and you need both of those side by side. There's all kinds of contraries that we're seeing in these verses. The constancy, verticality of truth, the adaptability and horizontality of living, the collective and the individual. Notice, did you see how he said that? I'm speaking collectively and not individually here. So that's an important contrary to wrestle with. Unity and diversity, community and individuality. Those are key. What about when he talks about, you're going to have to repent and do the commandments. There's an interesting one. If I, the Lord, cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance, oh, God is demanding. There's justice speaking. But if he says, nevertheless, I forgive those that repent, ah, there's obedience on one hand and repentance on the other. Yes, we need both. Even with the repentance side, there's a contrary within that, that part of it is repenting of our sins and part of it is doing the commandments we've been given. Repenting of our sins seems to me more of the overcoming sins of commission and doing the commandments is overcoming the sins of omission. Both of those are required as well. Spend some time pondering these phrases in 30 and 31 and 32, and you'll see contraries aplenty, and we need to learn to balance them. Anyone who is living according to the light they've been given is part of God's big picture church. And you and I, who are official members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we better be living a higher standard, not because we're higher than anyone else, but because God has chosen us to have his authority and speak in his name to all the earth to make sure the living water gets to the end of every row. Okay? Before we start boasting of the truthfulness of the church, it might behoove us to make sure we are living the gospel that that living church has given us. Not looking down on others, but looking for ways to give them the voice of warning that God intended for them from the very start. With me? The last point I'll make this week is a principle found in verse 35 and 36. Near the end of this revelation, to me, it's interesting to see the polarization that is taking place. We see that in political parties. We just survived barely an election season. We see that in all kinds of areas where we have a hard time becoming Zion, one heart, one mind dwelling together in righteousness with no poor among us. Well, if the restoration is meant to reverse the apostasy, if Zion is meant to reverse Babylon and Edomia and overcome them, then we're going to have to overcome this polarization somehow. And notice how it's described in verse 35 and 36. Powerful phrases. For I am no respecter of persons, and will that all men shall know that the day speedily cometh. The hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand, when peace shall be taken from the earth. Interesting. Peace taken from the earth just before the prince of peace comes among us?