General Authority Seventy Kyle S. McKay pleaded with students to remember the necessity of Jesus Christ and His doctrine in the March 23 BYU devotional.
“I feel that I must speak concerning the doctrine of Christ. In doing so, however, I speak of a doctrine even more foundational than the principles and ordinances identified by Nephi as the doctrine of Christ,” Elder McKay said. “I speak of the core belief and simple doctrine that there must needs be a Christ.”
Elder McKay said Christ’s doctrine is made of faith in Him, repentance, baptism by proper authority and immersion, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and endurance through life’s trials.
He asked students to ponder on “the frightening hypothetical: what if there be no Christ?”
He said some aspects of mortal life would be extremely different or difficult if Jesus Christ never existed or did not exist today.
The first example Elder McKay spoke on was death. He said if there is no Christ, then there is no resurrection. With no resurrection, death is the end.
“Or in other words, death has no end. Those who reject the doctrine of Christ embrace the idea of extinction, the doom of never-ending death,” he said.
Students should understand that secularist, anti-Christ arguments advertise some variation of an “eat, drink and be merry, because this life is all there is” attitude, he said.
“The good news of the gospel is that our potential is higher, deeper and fuller than simply living the life of a beer commercial. Our life is forever and the resurrection is real because there is a Christ,” Elder McKay said.
The second major example of a Christ-less world was that God’s children would lack the ability to completely heal from life’s sorrows. Elder McKay said many people mistakenly think time will heal all wounds. He taught that time does not heal anything, but Christ heals all wounds over time.
“If there be no Christ, there is no healing, no deliverance from suffering, no matter how much time may pass,” he said.
Another example Elder McKay used was that without Jesus Christ, there would be no way for wrongdoings to be undone or fully forgiven.
He said the wrongs some have committed and the effects of those mistakes would remain forever without Christ. The unfairness and injustice of this life would perpetuate unceasingly, never to be undone.
“Who among you has figured out how to unsay the unkind words you have spoken?” Elder Mckay said. “We have all been injured or wronged by someone else. We didn’t deserve it.”
Elder McKay used these examples to demonstrate a need for Jesus Christ to act as the Savior and Redeemer of all people. He said the acknowledgment of that need is the beginning of a greater, critical understanding of the doctrine of Christ and the beginning of faith in Him.
He concluded his address by asking students to remember the importance of the spirit of revelation and faith in their lives.
“A desire to believe is absolutely critical … You will never believe what you do not want to believe. Please, protect your precious desire to believe,” Elder McKay said. “Never stop nourishing the word. Do not cast it out because of disbelief or resisting the Spirit of the Lord.”
