In gospel learning we love our metaphors. Some of them seem to stick in our heads more than the Low Book Sales jingle, and so come up in lessons time and time again. The major boss mother of these is the Footsteps in the Sand poem. I can't tell you how many times I've heard it. While I don't think anything can really hold a candle to Footsteps in the Sand in terms of frequency, I think the Stool metaphor for Faith, Hope and Charity holds its own. I'm not sure where it came from, but a quick Google seemed to suggest that Pres. Dieter Uchtdorf used it first. It's also mentioned in this BYU talk by Brett Scharfs and this article in the Book of Mormon Student Guide.
Now that I've established its risk of overuse, here it is again--but with a little twist. Faith, Hope and Charity and their unique triumvirate sisterhood are perhaps the most significant gospel principles, and appropriately are at once simple and extremely complicated, basic and profound, interesting and frustrating. This post will talk about a mini insight that helps me think about them.
The aforementioned twist, or rather I should say extension, transforms this metaphor from the run of the mill, Stool of the cow milking variety metaphor, to the longer legged Barstool metaphor for Faith, Hope and Charity. Have I ever seen a three legged barstool? No. Do I find it ironic that this gospel metaphor utilizes furniture made for the consumption of alcohol? Yes.
Latter-Day Saint doctrine takes a position to the working out of salvation that is unique among Christianity and essentially all religion. It consists of another weird, simply complex mixture of our effort and Christ's grace. Let's be clear, nobody earns their salvation--we're all equally, pathetically inadequate and undeserving of salvation, and so must lean wholly upon the merits of Christ for that. However, God's purpose for us is to help us all repent, ie. become Christlike, and that does requires some effort on our part; therefore, faith without works is dead. It's in that weird doctrine that this insight lies.
First, the leg of faith. Faith and hope are words often used interchangeably. In our normal speech, even in a gospel context, that's fine. I would bet that even in some scriptures they are synonymous, and the distinction between them (or lack thereof) is likely an issue of translation or just clumsiness of English words. When they are mentioned together, however, they take on very distinct meanings. The biggest thesis of the Lectures on Faith originally published as part of the Doctrine and Covenants is that faith is a principle of power, or a principle of action. In detail "it is faith, and faith only, which is the moving cause of all action, in them; that without it, both mind and body would be in a state of inactivity, and all their exertions would cease, both physical and mental." In essence, faith is belief in the specific outcome of a specific action, and so the motivation for anything we do, spiritual or secular. I have faith that God will hear me, so I will pray. I have faith that this hamburger will be tasty, so I will eat it. Et cetera. Religious faith is centered on Christ and his promises of salvation as we come to Him and repent.
Where faith is a belief of a cause and effect relationship, hope is the personal, emotional impact of a certain patterns of thought. Specifically, hope is a principle of joy, or a principle of peace. Faith leads you to do certain actions. Hope is allowing yourself to feel joy and peace because of those actions' expected outcomes.
In one of the precious few scriptures on hope, Mormon describes its relationship with faith:
Wherefore, whoso believeth [has faith in] in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God. Ether 12:6
Faith--the kind that results in abounding good works--is a prerequisite of hope, but hope isn't faith's guaranteed byproduct. Unfortunately, we often get in our own way of enjoying this benefit of discipleship. Faith without hope manifests itself when you find yourself gloomily or even resentfully living the disciple's life. This happens as commonly as when our spiritual tide is low, or as exceptionally as when we have a major tragedy that turns our belief system inside out. Gospel imagery such as taking up our cross and suffering in Christ's name may result in us too readily subscribing to or even glorifying this dutiful and quite miserable method of discipleship. We must be careful to recognize that while trudging through obedience is sometimes necessary, it is not sustainable, and it certainly is not what God intended. The reason that hope is an "anchor" is because its what keeps us coming back for more; faith makes it possible, hope makes it enjoyable, and ultimately gives it perpetuity. If faith is a car, hope is the fuel. It keeps us going even when the going is tough. BTW it also powers the radio and the AC.
Your new car may or may not come with a full tank of gas, but eventually you will need to refuel. It turns out we must exercise hope just as we do faith. We must practice taking the belief in good things to come, and translating it into joy and peace. This includes taking ownership and satisfaction in the things that we can do, and trusting that they (and we) are good enough in the Lord's eyes (joy). It also includes that we accept what is beyond our power to do, and trust that Christ's atonement will make up for all we lack (peace).
And then there's charity, the golden child, "the greatest of all". Charity is a principle of...not love--that would be too obvious. Charity is love; the pure love of Christ to be specific. But what does perfect love bring to the table? Charity is a principle of intimacy. The order of things that we need in life probably could go like this: air, water, food, shelter, intimacy. If you look hard enough, you'll find that the desire for intimacy is at the root of pretty much every human ambition, besides those that involve avoiding imminent death. The most important things in our lives are our families or loved ones, those with whom we are intimate. We pray and worship to feel close to God now and eventually return to his presence. Even our unhealthy behaviors are a striving for intimacy. When we look at pornography; try to look cool, tough or sexy; amass wealth at the cost of our integrity; gossip; belittle; lie or cheat, is it not just an effort to feel accepted or worthy of love? When we overeat, abuse drugs and alcohol or look at pornography, most often we are trying to numb the pain we feel because of a lack of intimacy. These are the counterfeits and distractions that Satan uses to lure us away from the path of true happiness. No wonder he targets one of our most deep seated needs.
So what is the path of true happiness? This is where I get back around to the point: if faith is the car and hope is the fuel, charity is the road.The practice of charity is what will ultimately allow us to become Christlike (Moroni 7:48). Interestingly phrased this goal as becoming one with him and the Father, the way that the Father and he are one (see John 17:3). God is always with Christ, and Christ returned to be with God. God wants us to be one (or intimate) with Him, but along the way we must become like him through the practice of charity among His children. How do you do that? Well, it's hard, but scriptures like these are a good starting point:
And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
Moroni 7:45 (45-48)
So there you go, there's the barstool. Three legs, with extensions all distinct, all related, working together to help us on our way to immortality and eternal life.
What do you think? Do you agree with these definitions of faith, hope, and charity? Do your behaviors and those around you reflect a desire for intimacy? Do you think there would be demand in the market for three legged barstools?
