Uchtdorf - Faith of Our Fathers - April 2008

President Uchtdorf shared a story of President Monson visiting a member in Germany when the two of them were there together.  President Monson had recently had foot surgery and had to climb five flights of stairs to get to this man's house.  He did it without complaining and was happy to thank a faithful member of the church who was so influential in building the church in Germany.

He talks about the faith of the members of the church like this man that President Monson wanted to meet.

• I marvel at the different backgrounds of members of the Church. You come from all walks of life—all cultures, languages, political circumstances, and religious traditions. This multiplicity of life experiences has caused me to reflect on the message of one of our hymns, “Faith of Our Fathers.” In the refrain, these words are repeated: “Faith of our fathers, holy faith, we will be true to thee till death!” The faith of our fathers—I love that phrase.
  
• For many members of the Church, these words bring to mind valiant pioneers who abandoned the comfort of their homes and traveled by wagon and on foot until they reached the valley of the Great Salt Lake. I love and honor the faith and courage of those early pioneers of the Church. My own ancestors were living an ocean away at the time. None were among those who lived in Nauvoo or Winter Quarters, and none made the journey across the plains. But as a member of the Church, I claim with gratitude and pride this pioneer legacy as my own. With the same joy, I claim the legacies of today’s modern-day Church pioneers who live in every nation and whose own stories of perseverance, faith, and sacrifice add glorious new verses to the great chorus of the latter-day anthem of the kingdom of God.
  
• We honor and respect sincere souls from all religions, no matter where or when they lived, who have loved God, even without having the fulness of the gospel. We lift our voices in gratitude for their selflessness and courage. We embrace them as brothers and sisters, children of our Heavenly Father.
  

There Are Many Faiths and Traditions of Our Fathers

• I have spent most of my life in areas of the world where members of our Church are a small minority. During that time I have learned that often when people learn of the restored gospel, they are impressed by it—many even want to join the Church. But they are reluctant to disappoint their ancestors; they feel they should be true to the faith of their fathers.

President Uchtdorf discusses the most basic of our doctrines and how it relates to the faith of our Fathers.

• We believe in the great plan of happiness, the plan of redemption, the plan of salvation, whereby God’s children may experience mortality and return to the presence of the Father—a merciful plan established from before the foundation of this earth. This is the plan and the faith of our Father!
• I testify that the doctrine of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is the faith of our Heavenly Father. It is His truth, revealed to His servants the prophets from the days of Father Adam until our own time. The Father and the Son appeared to Joseph Smith to restore the faith of our Father on this earth, never to be taken away again. God desires that all of His children receive it, irrespective of their background, culture, or tradition. True religion should not originate from what pleases men or the traditions of ancestors, but rather from what pleases God, our Eternal Father.
  

One thing that sets us apart from everyone else is that we believe that the Heavens are open.  This is a belief of our Fathers and one that lives on today in the Church of Jesus Christ.

• Continuing revelation is a fundamental feature of this faith. Joseph Smith’s first prayer is a powerful testimony of this. Revelation is a constant compass that keeps us always true to the will and the faith of our Heavenly Father.
  

I love the comment that "true religion should not originate from what pleases men."  We live God's plan for us, not the plan that man thinks will bring us happiness.  We will never find true happiness in this life until we are living the gospel that God has given to us.  We are here on earth to honor our Heavenly Father.  We are part of His eternal plan of happiness.  He has given us everything to be happy.  It is up to us to seek after it.  The greatest honor we can give to our Fathers is to return to our Heavenly Father with a family unit that is sealed together in the temple.  If we remain faithful, God will give us all He has.  I hope we can all seek to be faithful and honor our Fathers by showing our devotion to God.