Standards

Why the history and word origin lecture? Because words have meaning, and sometimes those words mean more if we understand where they came from.  Here are a couple of additional tidbits:

• The Standard Bearer was a respected and very dangerous job. The man who was tasked with carrying the standard instantly became a target of the opposing forces. The idea is that if you can take down the standard, the force would have no focal point and become disoriented.

• The standard would lead the way in battle, usually in the center of the front line. The rest of the forces would follow it, and use it as a bearing as where to advance and gather.

• Before the days of walkie-talkies, sat-phones and radio, a visual standard was one of the few ways to communicate in the heat of battle.

If you visualize the standards of old, and their use in battle, it makes for some interesting application to “standards” as we know them today.

As members of the church, we frequently talk about standards; standards of behavior, moral standards, dress standards, etc. It is part of our religious lexicon.

• Whose standard is it? It is the standard of the king or country. Lately, I have been seeing people talk about their “Personal Standards,” and how they might differ from “Church Standards.” (Usually the term is used when trying to explain why the Lord’s standards don’t apply, claiming an exemption of sorts.)

Think about that in the context of battle.  Can you imagine a battlefield where hundreds of the soldiers had designed their own banners, and carried them out to battle? How would you know who to follow? It would confuse everyone.

The other risk of having your very own standard, is that unless your standard is in the very same place as the King’s standard, following it will take you someplace different. A “personal standard” is only of worth if it lines up perfectly with the real standard. So it is in the gospel: If our standards don’t line up with the standards the Lord has for us, we will end up someplace different.

• The Standard Bearers are still the preferred targets of the enemy. Our prophets and leaders are forever being shot at by those who oppose the Lord’s standards. Some of those shots come from outside the church, but many come from inside the ranks. Can you imagine a soldier taking a shot at his own standard bearer in a battle? It happens all the time in the church.

What is the point of shooting you own standard bearer? To cause chaos? To cause people to look at your standard instead? To put self above the group? It boggles the mind.

• The standards of the church are not subject to negotiation, nor are they designed by committee. The Lord’s standards are set by the Lord, and revealed to his servants. I doubt that in the heat of battle, there are very few soldiers who look at the flag and say, “You know, I really don’t care for the design, I would prefer something different.”

Boyd K. Packer: “We do not set the standards, but we are commanded to teach them and maintain them.” (link)

• The goal in battle is for the standard to advance, not to retreat. In the church, and in our personal lives, the standards should advance. Every generation, and every year, the standard should be a little higher on the hill. Why would a standard ever back down? Only when we are retreating, and the enemy is advancing.

• The standards of the world are not the same as the Lord’s standards, and they are getting more and more disparate. The world’s standards are in turmoil, while the Lord’s standards are unchanged, or advancing.

Boyd K. Packer: “However out of step we may seem, however much the standards are belittled, however much others yield, we will not yield, we cannot yield.” (Link)

• It is very possible to be distracted by standards that have nothing to do with the actual battle at hand. Squirrel! Imagine following a banner that you feel is important, only to find out that it took you far away from the rallying point.

• As we move towards the correct standard, we can bring others with us to safety. The inverse is also true.

Richard G. Scott: “As you live high standards publicly and privately, and even under great pressure adhere to them, you raise the vision of others, helping them realize more of their divine capacity. Like a worthy magnet, you will draw others to a higher standard of life.” (Link)

• We have made a covenant to follow the Lord’s standards. We can’t pick and choose which things we like and which things we don’t like to follow. It is a “package deal” – a covenant deal.

Bod K. Packer: “The standard, established by revelation, is contained in the scriptures through the doctrines of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The principles of the gospel life we follow are based on doctrine, and the standards accord with the principles. We are bound to the standards by covenant, as administered through the ordinances of the gospel by those who have received priesthood and the keys of authority.

Those faithful Brethren were not free, and we are not free, to alter the standards or to ignore them. We must live by them.” (Link)

Two of the great religious statements of our faith have to do with standards.

The first, is Captain Moroni and the Title of Liberty when “he rent his coat; and he took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it—In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children—and he fastened it upon the end of a pole.” (link)

“And it came to pass that when Moroni had proclaimed these words, behold, the people came running togetherwith their armor girded about their loins, rending their garments in token, or as a covenant, that they would not forsake the Lord their God” (link)

And it came to pass that thousands did flock unto his standard, and did take up their swords in the defence of their freedom, that they might not come into bondage. (Link)

The second, of course, is the magnificent quote from the letter that Joseph Smith wrote to John Wentworth in 1842. (Probably worth memorizing)

“The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear; till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.” (Link)

Finally, as is the case with all truth, it circles back to the Savior. He is the ultimate standard, and by following him, we can emerge from the chaos, victorious.

“And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.” (link)

Let’s stay focused on the standard.