Conference Analysis II: "No Fruits Without Roots"

From Elder Russell M. Nelson's talk "Roots and Branches", given Sunday afternoon:

Recently I met with government officials from a land far from here who were deeply impressed with the Church and its efforts throughout the world. They liked our teachings about the family and wanted copies of our proclamation to the world and guidebooks for family home evening. They wanted to know more about our welfare program and humanitarian help. We complied as we could and then shifted attention from what we do to why we do it. I explained with an analogy to a tree. “You are attracted by various fruits of our faith,” I said. “They are plentiful and powerful. But you cannot savor this fruit unless you know the tree that produces it. And you cannot understand the tree unless you comprehend its roots. With our religion, you cannot have the fruits without the roots.”

"No Fruits Without Roots" is a simple way of saying you can't get the blessings of the gospel without the foundation and the commitment.

Quick--True or False: Every person in the world (of age) would be better off being baptized.

Why, that's TRUE, of course...or wait...maybe not...no, it's still...hmmm...actually that's not really a complete enough question is it?

How about--True or False: Every person in the world would be better off being baptized and leading a faithful life in the gospel.

That's sounds better: the gospel's purpose is to 'make bad men good, and good men better', and to help all of us obtain our eternal potential. Baptism is one of the essentially ordinances of the gospel, and it should be our mission to help as many people as possible get baptized, regardless of what happens afterwards, right?

Many missionaries think that way, since baptism is their most primary concern. They want to get everyone baptized as quickly as they can so that they can obtain the 'blessings of the gospel'. In my mission we saw instances where some investigators were going along with the discussions because they were friends with the elders, or thought it was cool to hang out with Americans but had little or no interest in learning about the gospel. Often the missionaries turned a blind eye to his testimony progression and gospel participation just as long as he still had a baptismal goal, because getting baptized was the 'important part'. But is a baptized person X always better off than a unbaptized person Y? Not at all...only those who are faithful afterwards. What many people forget is that baptism is a 'covenant' which brings blessings, true, but also brings responsibilities. Someone who is baptized but isn't faithful to the covenants afterwards has gained nothing, and in fact is worse off because now more judgments will be upon them. They still have all of the responsibilities, but none of the blessings... What's more, from then on the local ward still has to treat person X as a member in perpetuity, assigning home and visiting teachers and expending effort in re-activation when person X never really was 'active' in the first place.

In short, baptizing a person who's not ready--who has no 'roots'--benefits no one. Not the convert himself, not the ward he lives in, not the Lord--who has to judge him more harshly since he still made binding covenants of his own free will even though He knows he wasn't ready. The only 'benefit' is to the missionary himself, who gets to add another 'tally' to his baptismal ledger and doesn't have to worry about convert X ever again after he leaves.

President Harold B. Lee once said (quoted by Elder Nelson):

"Beautiful, luscious fruit does not grow unless the roots of the . . . tree have been planted in rich, fertile soil and unless due care is given to proper pruning, cultivation, and irrigation. So likewise the luscious fruits of virtue and chastity, honesty, temperance, integrity, and fidelity are not to be found growing in that individual whose life is not founded on a firm testimony of the truths of the gospel and of the life and the mission of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Baptism is not an end to itself; it is only a step in the process of eternal progression. Baptism opens the door to future blessings but provides no inherent blessing itself (even the gift of the Holy Ghost is useless if you're not worthy of it...) And I think the Church would be better off if missionaries were a little more selective and realize that investigators who don't live or believe in the gospel should probably not be baptized for their own benefit...