Elder David A. Bednar: Spiritual rebirth explained by 'parable of the pickle'

In a "parable of the pickle," Elder David A. Bednar brought a better understanding of the process of being born again.

In his address Saturday morning, Elder Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve spoke of his boyhood home during canning season. He said he spent hours on the back porch removing stems and scrubbing dirt off the cucumbers his family picked. The cucumbers were then immersed for a prescribed time period in brine his mother prepared with special ingredients and precise procedures, and then were packed in canning jars that had been sterilized and purified. "The procedure requires time and cannot be hurried, and none of the essential steps can be ignored or avoided," he said.

"I pray this parable of the pickle may help us to better understand the eternal importance of spiritual rebirth,..." he said. "Through faith in Christ, we can be spiritually prepared and cleansed from sin, immersed in and saturated with His gospel, and purified and sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise — even born again."

Elder Bednar said the Lord's authorized servants repeatedly teach that one of the principal purposes of mortal existence is to be spiritually changed and transformed through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

"Indeed, the essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ entails a fundamental and permanent change in our very nature made possible though our reliance upon the merits and mercy and grace of the Holy Messiah. As we choose to follow the Master, we choose to be changed — to be spiritually reborn."

Elder Bednar said just as a cucumber must be prepared and cleaned before it can be changed into a pickle, Church members can be prepared with "the words of faith and of good doctrine (1 Timothy 4:6) and initially cleansed through the ordinances and covenants administered by the authority of the Aaronic priesthood."

In addition, he said, just as a cucumber is transformed into a pickle as it is immersed in and saturated with salt brine, so Church members are born again as they are absorbed by and in the gospel of Jesus Christ

"The spiritual rebirth described in the verse typically does not occur quickly or all at once; it is an ongoing process, not a single event. Line upon line and precept upon precept, gradually and almost imperceptibly, our motives, our thoughts, our words and our deeds become aligned with the will of God. This phase of the transformation process requires time, persistence and patience."

Finally, he said, cured cucumbers are packed into sterilized jars and heat processed in order to remove impurities and to seal the containers from external contaminants. The boiling water-bath procedure enables the pickles to be both protected and preserved over a long period of time.

"In a similar way, we progressively become purified and sanctified as you and I are washed in the blood of the Lamb, are born again, and receive the ordinances and honor the covenants that are administered by the authority of the Melchizedek priesthood."

Elder Bednar said purifying and sealing by the Holy Spirit of Promise constitute the culminating steps in the process of being born again.

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