Maxwell Moments: August 8, 2004

In continuing tribute to the late Elder Neal A. Maxwell:

The strait and narrow way is a precise path we must pursue under the terms given by Jesus Christ. There can be no apologies for this doctrine, because ". . . this is the way; and there is none other way . . ." (2 Nephi 31:21); no amount of mortal argument can create an alternative for man. When we exercise our individuality by choosing to follow this path, we are refusing to be "conformed to this world." (Romans 12:2.) We will experience the dogmatism of the doubter and misunderstanding from those who feel there is no such exclusive path to salvation, and derision or amusement from those who believe there are no paths leading anywhere after death. We will be scolded statistically by alarmists who will use values involving "feet and inches" to describe the "failures" of the disciples—yet these alarmists hold, inconsistently, that there is no cosmic yardstick by which, ultimately, men and values can be measured.

In the fourteenth chapter of Exodus the Children of Israel chide Moses for taking them to the Red Sea with the Pharaoh's armies at their heels. They did not expect to see a narrow path created for them. But it happened! The real choice the Children of Israel faced at that moment of truth was whether or not they would follow Moses between those immense, terrifying walls of water. They were hardly in a position to argue with their Benefactor or to call for a different exit from Egypt, for impotence cannot dictate terms to Omnipotence; it must have been painfully clear to them that there was "none other way." Man is in the same relationship with Jesus Christ, who has ransomed us and identified the solitary, salvational path.

"Behold, the way for man is narrow, but it lieth in a straight course before him, and the keeper of the gate is the Holy One of Israel; and he employeth no servant there; and there is none other way save it be by the gate; for he cannot be deceived, for the Lord God is his name." (2 Nephi 9:41.)

(A Time to Choose, 1972, pg. 18)