Spiritual Twinkies

Yesterday my stake had a special stake conference, presided over by a member of the quorum of the seventy, Elder Michael T Ringwood. The day before, President Stewart, our stake president attended a training meeting and was taught by Elder Ringwood, Elder Holland, Elder Renlund, and others.   He shared with us some of the things he learned, and I would like to pass on the lesson of the spiritual Twinkies. I think he said this was taught by Elder Renlund.

Elder Renlund asked for some volunteers to come up and eat a pastry.  President Stewart eagerly volunteered and was selected to come up and receive a Twinkie.  After eating it, he was asked," What percent of the daily recommendation of fiber, vitamin c, and vitamin d can be found in that Twinkie?"

This is what Twinkies do to you

Of course, the answer was none.  Twinkies have no nutritional value beyond empty calories.  

Just as Twinkies offer no nutrition for our bodies, the philosophies of men mixed with some poems and a few quotes are akin to a theological Twinkie. They consist of spiritually empty calories.

Spiritual Twinkies, if they are part of our diet, need to be substituted with the substance of the Gospel.

In our homes and in our teaching responsibilities within the church, do we use spiritual Twinkies rather than relying on the substance of pure doctrine?  Do we rely on cute soundbites and clever memes to try and teach lessons, or do we boldly teach from the lesson manuals, scriptures, and conference talks?  

In order to have the strength we need to survive spiritually in this world, we cannot be offering spiritually empty pastries to our children. They need the substance of true doctrine and principles to strengthen and sustain them.

I loved this analogy and I think it's a great concept to ponder. President Stewart asked us if the words of God's mouthpiece are the most prominent in our lives?  Do we study the words of the prophets?  Do we follow them?  Or are we too "busy" choosing other ways to fill up our time?

So, my challenge today to myself and to anyone who reads this is :

Put down the Twinkie.  Not only are the lacking in nutrition, but they are really gross!
Pick up the scriptures. The longer you study them, the more you will feel like you've been drinking pure goodness, and it won't even make you fat!