Fight Back!

Today I went and saw the Joseph Smith movie at the institute building. Let me just say how I know this to be true. All of it! Joseph Smith, when only fourteen years old, prayed to find the true church. And the answer came to him in a way I’m sure he never expected. God, our Heavenly Father, and our Savior Jesus Christ appeared to him in a vision and told him that none of the churches were true. Even though he was persecuted for it, he never denied what he saw. He pushed forward and restored the true church.

There are many things we can learn from his story, but throughout the movie tonight these two words, “Fight Back,” kept coming into my mind. In the scene where Joseph is pulled from his house and tarred and feathered I noticed something I hadn’t exactly seen before. Joseph didn’t just let the people take him out into the street, he struggled. He fought back. Again, when faced with men saying terrible things about the saints and going into detail about what they had done, he didn’t just let it happen. He stood up for what he believed in and he fought back. When in Carthage Jail, the mob came and did Joseph let them in to be killed? No, he pushed against that door and he fought back. However, Carthage Jail is also the place where he was martyred. Joseph knew that there is a time to stop fighting back, a time when fighting it too hard will cause more problems than letting things happen.

I thought about this “fighting back” concept and how we can relate it to our lives. Unlike Joseph, I don’t have people pulling me out of my home. I don’t have people who are trying to tear apart my life. However, there is someone who wants me to fail. In the fight back situation, I need to fight the hardest against Satan. He is real and is trying his hardest to keep me from returning to my Heavenly Father.

An obvious way to fight back is to resist sin. But that isn’t what I want to focus on. When I woke up yesterday, I decided that it was going to be a good day. And a good day it was! I kept asking myself why every day couldn’t be that great. I thought about it and decided, well, why not? I think that the best way to fight against Satan is to be happy. When we wake up with a smile on our face we are showing him that no matter what he throws us at us, we can handle it. No matter what comes our way, we know how to be happy.

Like Joseph, we need to know when to stand back. It is possible to be too pushy, to shove the gospel on others too much. I think this is a big problem in the church today. I’ve met a few nonmembers who have told me they didn’t dare come to church because of the way people pushed it on them. One friend in particular told me that when people found out he wasn’t a member a group of at least five approached him telling him he needed to be baptized right away. Now, I’m not saying that we shouldn’t invite people to the gospel. Not at all! Missionary work is a HUGE part of our church. I’m just saying that attacking the person isn’t the way to do it. Sometimes it is best to take a step back and listen to the person. They will be more likely to listen to our gospel if we dare to find out about their life and what they believe.

I know that Joseph is a prophet of God. He translated the Book of Mormon, which I also know to be true. Without faith in the story of Joseph Smith, the rest doesn’t fall into place. I haven’t always known this to be true, but I asked to find out for myself. I got an answer, and I promise that if you ask you’ll get an answer as well.

“Shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward.” (D&C 128:22)