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What do we mean by a new spirit? Or maybe a new heart? If we are embodied spirits, doesn\u2019t giving us a new spirit mean that someone else gets our body?<\/p>\n
Of course that\u2019s wrong \u2014 and we mean something different by \u201cspirit\u201d in this case \u2014 more like the attitude or outlook we use to approach life. In that way it is very similar to getting a new heart. The scriptures frequently talk about us getting a new heart in the sense of a change in outlook and understanding of the world.<\/p>\n
Then how does this spirit or heart go wrong in the first place? Often we assume that each individual person makes bad choices, decisions that seem innocent or unimportant, but that change the person\u2019s worldview.But there is another way that things go wrong \u2014 the entire society becomes corrupt and influences each member of society, Short of a true Zion society, I don\u2019t think it is possible to escape this problem. And I believe these two ways things go wrong \u2014 each of us making poor choices and our society influencing us are a kind of negative feedback loop, reinforcing each other.<\/p>\n
So we need a new spirit, a change of heart, and one that fights against negative influences from society. We need a spirit focused on righteousness, on following the gospel of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n
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All the above focuses on us, instead of on others. The Lord then asks us to focus on others, such as suggesting that we feed His sheep. When we try to do something to help others, and even more so when it combats the ideas embedded in society that are contrary to the gospel, we are changing our spirits to something more compatible with our Heavenly Father\u2019s plan.<\/p>\n
In the following poem, Ruth M. Fox suggests that even a boy can help feed the Lord\u2019s sheep. Like the boy, if we bring the \u201cpearl of great price\u201d, we bring something that will \u201csoften your hearts, and cleanse you from sin. \/\u00a0And lead you to Jesus, whose blessings you’ll win.\u201d<\/p>\n
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by Ruth M. Fox<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
1900<\/p>\n
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Between the sins we commit because we want to, and the sins that our earthly society influences us to commit, we are going to make mistakes, injuring others and ourselves. To help us get to where we are free from the desire to err, the Lord is anxious to forgive and in the process help us change our hearts so that we no longer make such mistakes.<\/p>\n
This forgiveness makes each of us a \u201creturning sinner\u201d, like those described in the following poem. Here the poet not only sees each of us as returning sinners, but also reminds us of our duty to welcome and include them in our lives, for they are us.<\/p>\n
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by H. K.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
1852<\/p>\n
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The process of also changing our society, so that its influence on us is aligned with the gospel, requires building a new society, the communal equivalent of giving us a new spirit. The Lord is therefore gathering us \u2014 in groups where we can put the gospel in practice and learn to live in a Zion society.<\/p>\n
The English poet E. L. Sloane here connects our salvation with living in a Zion society, where we will \u201cJoin with the Saints who now homewards are pressing, \/ \u201c and we will \u201cLeave Babylonish confusion and sin.\u201d<\/p>\n
by E. L. Sloane<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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1853<\/p>\n
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Spiritual Healing is nothing less than the process of changing our spirits and hearts so that they lead us in righteousness. The temple is a part of this change. When we are instructed there, we are taken out of the cares and motivations of this world and introduced to an eternal perspective\u2014something that changes our vision of what both we, and our society, should be. The temple also allows us to grow closer to the Lord, and helps us to receive His word and spirit, healing us from our earthly concerns.<\/p>\n
Prolific 19th century LDS poet Joel H. Johnson here explains the role of the Temple. He says that in the Temple, the Lord gives us His spirit, to \u201cFill ev\u2019ry waiting heart.\u201d May our hearts be among them.<\/p>\n
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by Joel H. Johnson<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
1882<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What do we mean by a new spirit? Or maybe a new heart? If we are embodied spirits, doesn\u2019t giving us a new spirit mean that someone else gets our body? Of course that\u2019s wrong \u2014 and we mean something different by \u201cspirit\u201d in this case \u2014 more like the attitude or outlook we use to approach life. In that way it is very similar to getting a new heart. The scriptures frequently talk about us getting a new heart in the sense of a change in outlook and understanding of the world. Then how does this spirit or heart go wrong in the first place? Often we assume that each individual person makes bad choices, decisions that seem innocent or unimportant, but that change the person\u2019s worldview.But there is another way that things go wrong \u2014 the entire society becomes corrupt and influences each member of society, Short of a true Zion society, I don\u2019t think it is possible to escape this problem. And I believe these two ways things go wrong \u2014 each of us making poor choices and our society influencing us are a kind of negative feedback loop, reinforcing each other. So we need a new […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":111,"featured_media":54981,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latter-day-saint-thought"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/IMG_4737.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/111"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54876"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54876\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54996,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54876\/revisions\/54996"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}