Jeffrey R. Holland & "Be Ye Therefore Perfect -- Eventually || Perfection and the Latter-Day Saints

Jesus Christ commanded everyone to, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48) The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word perfect to be: being entirely without fault or defect, flawless, satisfying all requirements, corresponding to an ideal standard, expert, proficient, pure, total, lacking in no essential detail, complete, absolute, and unequivocal. In a General Conference talk entitled, “Be Ye Therefore Perfect—Eventually”, Elder Jeffery R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints said the following concerning perfection: “Around the Church I hear many who struggle with this issue: ‘I am just not good enough.’ ‘I fall so far short.’ ‘I will never measure up.’ I hear this from teenagers. I hear it from missionaries. I hear it from new converts, I hear it from lifelong members. One insightful Latter-day Saint, Sister Darla Isackson, has observed that Satan has somehow managed to make covenants and commandments seem like curses and condemnations. For some he has turned the ideals and inspiration of the gospel into self-loathing and misery-making.” As I pondered the title Elder Holland’s talk it occurred to me that, Jesus Christ never commanded us to “be ye therefore perfect—eventually.” Not ever. Not even once in holy scripture has he ever uttered such a commandment. “Then how,” you may ask yourself, “are we to be perfect even as our father is heaven is perfect?” After all the scriptures make is clear that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) The first step to being perfect is to know the truth the father knows. The truth was revealed to each of us in the Gospel of John, chapter 14 verse 6 where Jesus Christ said, “I am the truth.” Jesus Christ never said that you are the truth, or we are the truth, or they are the truth. He said that he is the truth. In order to be perfect you must first accept and have faith in the truth of what you are. Jesus Christ commanded each of us, “Believe in me” and to “abide in me.” (John 14:1, 15:4-9) Jesus Christ is the truth of all things, which includes you, and all things are of him, both on the earth and in the heavens. For there’s is but one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. (Ephesians 4:6) For in him we live, and move, and have our being; (Acts 17:28) For Christ is all, and in all, and by him all things consist (Colossians 3:11, 1:17) and by his offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. (Hebrews 10:14). That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else. (Isaiah 45:6) For you or I to declare that we are someone else besides the Lord is to also declare that the Lord is a liar. Such a declaration is not the truth and thus is not Jesus Christ; for Jesus Christ said that he is the truth and the scriptures testify that it is the truth that will set you free. (John 8:32) When people try to become perfect or insist in some way their imperfections are actually the truth, this is a denial that Christ is the truth. This is also a denial of Christ’s perfection as the perfect offering which is the atonement. To call the lie the truth is to worship the lie and the lie will not set you free. To call the lie the truth is to also separate yourself from the truth, Jesus Christ, and thus separate yourself from the father whom the scriptures testify is “through all and in you all” (Ephesians 4:6). This separation from God is called Spiritual Death and Spiritual Death is not the truth and that is why Spiritual Death will not set you free. So in response to Elder Jeffery R. Holland’s address entitled “Be Ye Therefore Perfect—Eventually”, I say, “Do not add the word ‘eventually’ to Jesus Christ commandment and ‘be ye therefore perfect even as your father in heaven,’ who is through all and in you all, ‘is perfect.’” The second, and last, step to being perfect is to cease from judging yourself and another. (Matthew 7:1-2) Jesus never said, “by your judgement you will be set free. This is because your judgements of yourself or another are not the truth. The scriptures testify it is the truth that will set you free. Whenever you see wickedness, remember the words of the Apostle Paul to the people of Corinth: For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. (1 Corinthians 13:12)