"And consider this: I am not free to lay out my own plans or justify special routines as the equivalent of keeping the law of consecration. Every attempt at rationalization fails. The plain fact is that I have promised to keep a law, and to keep it now. I know exactly what I am supposed to consecrate, exactly how, exactly why, exactly when, and exactly where. Consecration is the whole of the covenant of Israel. The chosen people themselves are consecrated, qadosh meaning "cut off, set apart," the same meaning as saints—sanc-ti, sancti-fied (cf. sanctum, "a place set apart"). They are called sigillim, which is translated "peculiar" in our King James Bible, but which means "sealed, reserved."
What is con-secrated is then made sacred, withdrawn from the ordinary economy, dedicated to a particular purpose and to that purpose only. It can never be recalled or used for any other purpose without being
de-secrated."
I'll be honest, Hugh Nibley is a very hard "author" for me to get into...sometimes I feel as though I am reading a scientist's jargon when he could've made things easier to understand! But that's because the extent of my intellectual challenges every day is to figure out every creative way I can teach numbers, letters, and themes.
ReplyDeleteTell me, what you were thinking about when you read this quote? Or what reading it made you think about?
When I ponder the Temple covenants and the call by Elder Callister to become a consecrated Missionary, I want to go beyond lip service with my covent-making, Consider this from the above quote: "Consecration is the whole of the covenant of Israel."
ReplyDeleteNibley frequently tosses in new words and terms which I often look up, but that's just Nibley!
I also liked his play on the terms Con-secration (to make sacred) and its opposite, desecration.
Nibley is often hard because he references so many new things, but this book of his is as fairly clear….and very helpful toward grasping what consecration means.
Thanks for reading and asking!
Something else that came to mind yesterday in District Training:
ReplyDeleteConsecration is what we do with the help of the Holy Ghost. Sanctification takes place when we truly eliminate a sin and the Holy Ghost burns that carnal sin from our natural bodies.