No lies right now, things aren't exactly going well for me at this time in life. There's a lot of stuff going on, not necessarily good, and the new semester is very rapidly approaching. The mix of all of this together has gotten me down in the dumps more than a few times over the last little while, but I've managed to press forward.
Along the way however, there have been a number of scriptures that have crossed my mind that might be helpful for insight. I don't know, I'm just kind of tying here whatever comes to mind and hoping that I can illustrate my thoughts effectively:
1. Doctrine and Covenants 121: 7-10; Doctrine and Covenants 122:8-9
The first set of scriptures is the first response from the Lord to Joseph's "rebuke" for his trials while imprisoned. As the Lord effectively does, he responds by telling Joseph that the trials that he is encountering at that time are to be but a small piece of his life, and that he still has friends, and the he needs to keep his eye on the reward that awaits him for his faithful endurance.
The second set of scriptures in this passage is almost a rebuke of the Lord's own toward Joseph - emphatically posing the question: "The Son of Man hath descended below them all, art thou greater than He?" Then the Lord very tenderly reminds Joseph that his problems are known and that he has been given the blessings of the Priesthood in his life to assist him through his trials.
2. 1 Corinthians 10:13
Yes, I had to throw a Seminary scripture in here somewhere along the way. I like this scripture because of the insight that it gives us, but not the insight which most individuals interpret it as being presented. The common interpretation of this scripture is that the the Lord promises us that if we stay by His side that we will be able to be rid of all of our problems and trials...not true.
Instead, the scripture plainly states that God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptation, also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
Nowhere in there are we promised that our trials will be taken away from us. We are promised escape from our trials, but more importantly, we are promised that if we are faithful that the Lord will make the trial bearable - or in other words - if we enter into the Lord's rest, we will find peace unto our souls.
3. 2 Nephi 31:20
I will quote this one because its good;
Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.
What does this all mean? The key to this is to have a "perfect brightness of hope." What does that mean? To have a perfect brightness of hope is to desire Celestial blessings in our life. Thus, when we hope for Celestial blessings, we are hoping for those things that come with it - family, spouse, health, strength, covenant, learning, knowledge, etc.
These three passages have been on my mind a lot as of late. They are the small things that I am holding on to right now as I go through the trials before me. I'm hopeful that the Lord will bless me accordingly for my endurance and allow me to see the bigger picture in things!
21 August 2009
19 August 2009
Accountable to Ourselves
Over the course of the last few days, I have had the opportunity to think a lot about the topic of accountability and the effects of it on individuals, groups, and the Lord. In another earlier post I brought up the scripture discussing that the Lord is bound when we do what He says (i.e. obey the commandments), but that simply only qualifies us for the Lord's blessings - that does nothing in the way of really improving our lives personally.
The problem with many things in our lives - as a whole human population - is that we fail to maintain any sort of accountability - to anyone. Obviously, as members of the Church we hold a higher accountability to others than nonmembers, but that is also our downfall at times also.
Many people in the Church are your standard "Sunday only Mormons" or believe that their only accountability in life is to God himself and to no one else. They neglect their Priesthood responsibilities, the nurturing of their families, and the maintenance of their personal testimonies - believing that when difficult times arise, that God will provide all the answers.
While in some ways, this might be considered a commendable trait in some individuals, it is simply not the right attitude to have that will take us to salvation with God. This is because we must maintain a strict level of accountability to ourselves before anyone else, and that includes God. Why? If we cannot be true to ourselves and govern ourselves righteously, we are not fit for the Kingdom of God. The Lord himself reminds us in the Doctrine and Covenants that it is "not meet that [He] should command in all things."
Why is it then that we expect God to provide all of the answers in our lives with no effort on our part? Why do we think to obtain great reward for him, when we simply sit along the sidelines of life and plan for nothing? Worse, how can we be expected to command the power of God in the hereafter if we cannot command ourselves?
Thus, we must come to an understanding of ourselves and the desires of our hearts. We may think of ourselves and figure that we can figure out all things introspectively from within in a matter of seconds, but we are only kidding ourselves and cheating ourselves of heavenly blessings by taking that approach.
Jesus Christ asked the Nephites "what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am." In order for us to be like God, we must not expect that those governances will take place in a mere few seconds each day or more infrequently. Rather, we must come unto ourselves and learn of ourselves, and further learn of Christ if we are to pattern ourselves after Him. Christ did not obtain his divine inheritance and dominion on a few seconds of preparation each day. He did not float through life expecting all things to be handed to Him, or to be mandated by endless rules. Instead, he maintained accountability to Himself, and to his Father in Heaven directly through prayer - and governed His life accordingly.
How often to do we communicate with Father on our end? Is it only done at a time of dire straits, or are we good friends with our Father in Heaven? Do we obey the standards and laws where we are at in our lives - because the Church mandates them, or because we have learned to master ourselves and govern accordingly?
Just some stuff to chew on for tonight.
The problem with many things in our lives - as a whole human population - is that we fail to maintain any sort of accountability - to anyone. Obviously, as members of the Church we hold a higher accountability to others than nonmembers, but that is also our downfall at times also.
Many people in the Church are your standard "Sunday only Mormons" or believe that their only accountability in life is to God himself and to no one else. They neglect their Priesthood responsibilities, the nurturing of their families, and the maintenance of their personal testimonies - believing that when difficult times arise, that God will provide all the answers.
While in some ways, this might be considered a commendable trait in some individuals, it is simply not the right attitude to have that will take us to salvation with God. This is because we must maintain a strict level of accountability to ourselves before anyone else, and that includes God. Why? If we cannot be true to ourselves and govern ourselves righteously, we are not fit for the Kingdom of God. The Lord himself reminds us in the Doctrine and Covenants that it is "not meet that [He] should command in all things."
Why is it then that we expect God to provide all of the answers in our lives with no effort on our part? Why do we think to obtain great reward for him, when we simply sit along the sidelines of life and plan for nothing? Worse, how can we be expected to command the power of God in the hereafter if we cannot command ourselves?
Thus, we must come to an understanding of ourselves and the desires of our hearts. We may think of ourselves and figure that we can figure out all things introspectively from within in a matter of seconds, but we are only kidding ourselves and cheating ourselves of heavenly blessings by taking that approach.
Jesus Christ asked the Nephites "what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am." In order for us to be like God, we must not expect that those governances will take place in a mere few seconds each day or more infrequently. Rather, we must come unto ourselves and learn of ourselves, and further learn of Christ if we are to pattern ourselves after Him. Christ did not obtain his divine inheritance and dominion on a few seconds of preparation each day. He did not float through life expecting all things to be handed to Him, or to be mandated by endless rules. Instead, he maintained accountability to Himself, and to his Father in Heaven directly through prayer - and governed His life accordingly.
How often to do we communicate with Father on our end? Is it only done at a time of dire straits, or are we good friends with our Father in Heaven? Do we obey the standards and laws where we are at in our lives - because the Church mandates them, or because we have learned to master ourselves and govern accordingly?
Just some stuff to chew on for tonight.
18 August 2009
Standing As A Witness
Some events going on in my personal life right now have caused me to reflect on yet more gospel principles. (Yes, its quite amazing how those kinds of things cause us to do such.)
Attributed to the Irish statesman Edmund Burke, the quote "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing" comes to mind. The other thing to consider are the people that simply claim "neutrality" on specific issues in the interest of "not taking sides." By claiming "neutrality" - we are taking sides on things. Unfortunately, in many of these cases, that stance is actually more harmful than going against things.
As I further ponder the subject of standing as a witness, I am reminded of one of my more recently beloved quotes:
I love that quote! It is so empowering! Further, it helps to illustrate my stance on things even more. The thing to remember however is that there are times in our lives where we will find that we must stand alone - at least mortally. Those of us with a strong testimony of Jesus Christ and His Atonement will always recognize that we will never be alone in our lives, but there will be those times when we will feel such.
As we consider this stance - we are brought to the recognition of such individuals as Alma, Amulek, Abinadi, Samuel the Lamanite, Nephi, and a plethora of other individuals from the Book of Mormon, and chiefly of all examples - Jesus Christ himself. Now, we may ask ourselves if we can put ourselves in the same category as those individuals - which most of us would probably say - no. Do we give ourselves that opportunity though, or do we "play small" to avoid confrontation?
Is this not part of the covenant that we took when we were baptized however - to stand as witnesses? Mosiah 18:9 clearly states: "Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in"
I'm not embarrassed to admit it either - but I used to have the old Young Women's theme which stated: "We are daughters of our Heavenly Father, who loves us, and we love Him. We will stand as witnesses of God, at all times, and in all things, and in all places, as we strive to live the Young Women's Values..." Priesthood holders of all offices are similarly mandated to do the same thing - especially those holding the sacred privilege of the Melchizedek Priesthood.
There's a great talk on the subject here:
http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=ea19db98e2b9c110VgnVCM100000176f620a____&hideNav=1
As we go about our lives, we must consider what we stand as witnesses of. We know that we shall stand as witnesses of God wherever we are at, but what does this entail? I would submit that this encompasses much more than we realize at times. My prior conversation tonight allowed me to stand up for my allegiance to the United States Government - as a loyal citizen, and as an individual that enjoys the privilege of freedom so valiantly established by our forefathers and maintained by those in the defense of liberty to this day. This of course could not be accomplished without the hand of God present in the formation of this great country. As this has been a blessing conferred upon me personally, and upon those that enjoy this privilege in our country today, we should similarly stand as witnesses of our country wherever we may be - especially against the adversary and his followers that seek to destroy or weaken the freedoms that we enjoy.
No, we will not find ourselves standing for the most popular beliefs at times. In fact, as members of the Church, we frequently find ourselves standing alone. We know that we will be blessed for it though. In the 121st Section of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord tells Joseph:
My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; and then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; though shalt triumph over all thy foes. Thy friends do stand by thee, and they shall hail thee again with warm hearts and friendly hands. Thou art not yet as Job; thy friends do not contend against thee, neither charge thee with transgression, as they did Job. (Doctrine and Covenants 121:7-10)
How grateful I am for the privilege I have to stand as a witness of God in my own right, and to stand up for the country and its freedoms which I so value!
Attributed to the Irish statesman Edmund Burke, the quote "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing" comes to mind. The other thing to consider are the people that simply claim "neutrality" on specific issues in the interest of "not taking sides." By claiming "neutrality" - we are taking sides on things. Unfortunately, in many of these cases, that stance is actually more harmful than going against things.
As I further ponder the subject of standing as a witness, I am reminded of one of my more recently beloved quotes:
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us.We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine we unconsciously give other people the right to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.Marianne Williamson
I love that quote! It is so empowering! Further, it helps to illustrate my stance on things even more. The thing to remember however is that there are times in our lives where we will find that we must stand alone - at least mortally. Those of us with a strong testimony of Jesus Christ and His Atonement will always recognize that we will never be alone in our lives, but there will be those times when we will feel such.
As we consider this stance - we are brought to the recognition of such individuals as Alma, Amulek, Abinadi, Samuel the Lamanite, Nephi, and a plethora of other individuals from the Book of Mormon, and chiefly of all examples - Jesus Christ himself. Now, we may ask ourselves if we can put ourselves in the same category as those individuals - which most of us would probably say - no. Do we give ourselves that opportunity though, or do we "play small" to avoid confrontation?
Is this not part of the covenant that we took when we were baptized however - to stand as witnesses? Mosiah 18:9 clearly states: "Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in"
I'm not embarrassed to admit it either - but I used to have the old Young Women's theme which stated: "We are daughters of our Heavenly Father, who loves us, and we love Him. We will stand as witnesses of God, at all times, and in all things, and in all places, as we strive to live the Young Women's Values..." Priesthood holders of all offices are similarly mandated to do the same thing - especially those holding the sacred privilege of the Melchizedek Priesthood.
There's a great talk on the subject here:
http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=ea19db98e2b9c110VgnVCM100000176f620a____&hideNav=1
As we go about our lives, we must consider what we stand as witnesses of. We know that we shall stand as witnesses of God wherever we are at, but what does this entail? I would submit that this encompasses much more than we realize at times. My prior conversation tonight allowed me to stand up for my allegiance to the United States Government - as a loyal citizen, and as an individual that enjoys the privilege of freedom so valiantly established by our forefathers and maintained by those in the defense of liberty to this day. This of course could not be accomplished without the hand of God present in the formation of this great country. As this has been a blessing conferred upon me personally, and upon those that enjoy this privilege in our country today, we should similarly stand as witnesses of our country wherever we may be - especially against the adversary and his followers that seek to destroy or weaken the freedoms that we enjoy.
No, we will not find ourselves standing for the most popular beliefs at times. In fact, as members of the Church, we frequently find ourselves standing alone. We know that we will be blessed for it though. In the 121st Section of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord tells Joseph:
My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; and then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; though shalt triumph over all thy foes. Thy friends do stand by thee, and they shall hail thee again with warm hearts and friendly hands. Thou art not yet as Job; thy friends do not contend against thee, neither charge thee with transgression, as they did Job. (Doctrine and Covenants 121:7-10)
How grateful I am for the privilege I have to stand as a witness of God in my own right, and to stand up for the country and its freedoms which I so value!
17 August 2009
Friendship according to Aristotle
Today in Elder's Quorum we were instructed on the friendship qualities of Joseph Smith. In that discussion, the teachings of Aristotle were brought up. The ancient Greek philosopher did not define "friendship" with simply a singular blanket term, but rather broke up friendship into three different categories:
1. Friendship because of pleasure - the friendship that exists because that there is a sensual pleasure derived from maintaining that relationship. This type of friendship is only maintained through the reciprocation of that pleasure by both sides and is relatively shallow in nature.
2. Utilitarian-friendship - the friendship that exists because of the usefulness of the other party. This type of friendship is maintained only as long as the other party is useful, and is deeper than the first type of friendship, but still relatively shallow.
3. Virtue-based friendship - This is the strongest form of friendship. It is a friendship that is concerned with the well-being and the best for the other friend. There are no ulterior motives in play, and there is a spirit of equality within the friendship. This friendship is lasting and strong because it is not rooted in one's self, but rather in the building up of the other party.
As I considered these different levels of friendship - the thought entered into my mind of Christ himself. We know that He is the greatest among us and the best friend to all. We understand his feelings of friendship towards us because we know that he desires what is best for us. His performance of the Atonement in our behalf and subsequent ultimate sacrifice reinforces this perspective. Further, His desire to continually bless our lives and guide us back to Father show that his cup overfloweth with that Charity present needed to establish a successful friendship.
What about us however? "We talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies that our children may know what source they may look for a remission of their sins." (2 Nephi 25:25) Do we befriend Christ though? Are we as those spoken of in Isaiah: "...Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of man." (Isaiah 29:13) What about those of us that ask the Lord "When saw we thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?" (Matthew 25:44)
I would submit that after some careful introspection on my end - that our friendship of Christ extends far beyond those words that we may say to another, or the writings we make concerning Christ, or even the charitable acts that one may perform "in the name of Christ."
Rather, our friendship of Christ is much deeper than that - or at least it should be. Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, nation-wide research statistics showed a sharp increase in the number of churchgoers or those that considered themselves believers in God. Several studies show that personal prayer is more of a reality in individual's lives when faced with stressful or depressing situations. Even worse are those that are on "God's side" when "his blessings" favor them and their lives go well, but at the slightest onset of opposition, they become God-hating individuals.
Where do we stand on this spectrum? Do we consider God a friend because of the personal satisfaction that we get out of it? Is He our "go-to" individual because we know we can get blessings from Him while things are going well in our lives? Do we claim to worship God, but fail to supplicate ourselves to Him or follow His commandments while our lives are relatively opposition free? Are we "Sunday-only" worshipers - going to Church when mandated where we live, but then coming home immediately and changing out of our Sunday best and forgetting about him until the next?
If we are any of these things, we have improvements to make. The type of friend we must be to God is the type of friend that He is to us! We must have that feeling in our hearts that our friendship with Him is to further his glory and development - as Christ's work and glory was and is to bring about the immortality and eternal life of mankind, our work and glory is to keep the commandments with all our heart, might, mind and strength (Doctrine and Covenants 11:20) and at the same time serve those around us with godly-intent in our hearts. The conditions upon us being granted the blessing of baptism and subsequent cleansing of our souls mandates that we must be willing to mourn with those that mourn, stand in comfort of those that stand in need of comfort - in all places that we may be (Mosiah 18). Christ himself said during his mortal ministry that "inasmuch as ye do it unto the least of these my brethren, ye do it unto me."
More than serving others, we must also fulfill our Church responsibilities and callings, share the gospel with others, and communicate personally with our Savior on a regular basis - not just when we feel that we can gain a blessing from doing so, or in some form be granted a modicum of salvation from the trials that are befalling our lives at the time. We must not carry a utilitarian or a self-serving motive in our hearts if we are to have a proper relationship with our Heavenly Father and with Jesus Christ. Instead, we must be mindful of the furthering of their kingdom and be happy that we are doing so. Anything less requires us to make improvements in our lives until we are in compliance with this standard.
There you have it everyone! Enjoy! Signing out!
1. Friendship because of pleasure - the friendship that exists because that there is a sensual pleasure derived from maintaining that relationship. This type of friendship is only maintained through the reciprocation of that pleasure by both sides and is relatively shallow in nature.
2. Utilitarian-friendship - the friendship that exists because of the usefulness of the other party. This type of friendship is maintained only as long as the other party is useful, and is deeper than the first type of friendship, but still relatively shallow.
3. Virtue-based friendship - This is the strongest form of friendship. It is a friendship that is concerned with the well-being and the best for the other friend. There are no ulterior motives in play, and there is a spirit of equality within the friendship. This friendship is lasting and strong because it is not rooted in one's self, but rather in the building up of the other party.
As I considered these different levels of friendship - the thought entered into my mind of Christ himself. We know that He is the greatest among us and the best friend to all. We understand his feelings of friendship towards us because we know that he desires what is best for us. His performance of the Atonement in our behalf and subsequent ultimate sacrifice reinforces this perspective. Further, His desire to continually bless our lives and guide us back to Father show that his cup overfloweth with that Charity present needed to establish a successful friendship.
What about us however? "We talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies that our children may know what source they may look for a remission of their sins." (2 Nephi 25:25) Do we befriend Christ though? Are we as those spoken of in Isaiah: "...Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of man." (Isaiah 29:13) What about those of us that ask the Lord "When saw we thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?" (Matthew 25:44)
I would submit that after some careful introspection on my end - that our friendship of Christ extends far beyond those words that we may say to another, or the writings we make concerning Christ, or even the charitable acts that one may perform "in the name of Christ."
Rather, our friendship of Christ is much deeper than that - or at least it should be. Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, nation-wide research statistics showed a sharp increase in the number of churchgoers or those that considered themselves believers in God. Several studies show that personal prayer is more of a reality in individual's lives when faced with stressful or depressing situations. Even worse are those that are on "God's side" when "his blessings" favor them and their lives go well, but at the slightest onset of opposition, they become God-hating individuals.
Where do we stand on this spectrum? Do we consider God a friend because of the personal satisfaction that we get out of it? Is He our "go-to" individual because we know we can get blessings from Him while things are going well in our lives? Do we claim to worship God, but fail to supplicate ourselves to Him or follow His commandments while our lives are relatively opposition free? Are we "Sunday-only" worshipers - going to Church when mandated where we live, but then coming home immediately and changing out of our Sunday best and forgetting about him until the next?
If we are any of these things, we have improvements to make. The type of friend we must be to God is the type of friend that He is to us! We must have that feeling in our hearts that our friendship with Him is to further his glory and development - as Christ's work and glory was and is to bring about the immortality and eternal life of mankind, our work and glory is to keep the commandments with all our heart, might, mind and strength (Doctrine and Covenants 11:20) and at the same time serve those around us with godly-intent in our hearts. The conditions upon us being granted the blessing of baptism and subsequent cleansing of our souls mandates that we must be willing to mourn with those that mourn, stand in comfort of those that stand in need of comfort - in all places that we may be (Mosiah 18). Christ himself said during his mortal ministry that "inasmuch as ye do it unto the least of these my brethren, ye do it unto me."
More than serving others, we must also fulfill our Church responsibilities and callings, share the gospel with others, and communicate personally with our Savior on a regular basis - not just when we feel that we can gain a blessing from doing so, or in some form be granted a modicum of salvation from the trials that are befalling our lives at the time. We must not carry a utilitarian or a self-serving motive in our hearts if we are to have a proper relationship with our Heavenly Father and with Jesus Christ. Instead, we must be mindful of the furthering of their kingdom and be happy that we are doing so. Anything less requires us to make improvements in our lives until we are in compliance with this standard.
There you have it everyone! Enjoy! Signing out!
16 August 2009
A Greater Understanding of the First Vision
I did two things this afternoon that I have not done in quite a long time - I sat down and watched a Disney movie (Hercules on ABC Family) and ate Macaroni and Cheese (with hot dogs in it to boot). As my roommate and I were watching the movie, I jokingly made the remark at the point of the movie where Hercules has his power taken away by Hades and how Hercules was a good parallel to the Plan of Salvation and the gospel (its a lot closer in some regards than one might think).
In any case, through the course of this conversation, I explained an interesting insight to my roommate that I have known for some time, but have not really shared. Thus, this will be the place where I explain such insight to everyone.
We are all aware of the account of the First Vision given in Joseph Smith's words:
After I had retired to the place where I had previously deigned to go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction.
But exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction - not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being -- just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.
It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory, defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other -- This is My Beloved Son, Hear Him! (JSH 1:15-17)
While we often focus on the deliverance of young Joseph from the "unseen power" I don't think that a good majority of anyone really understands the nature of the power which held him bound. While it is understood that it was the Adversary attempting to get to the young boy, that alone does not fully help us comprehend the pains that the future prophet encountered that spring morning. The beauty of having the scriptures in our lives though is that we do have the understanding of those - which in turn help us to understand Joseph's experience.
There are in the scriptures two major experiences that help us to understand the trials that Joseph encountered prior to being introduced to the Godhead:
1) In Moses 1, we learn of Moses' own trials in understanding the Lord and realizing his own potential. His greatest level of despair is illustrated in the 20th verse where we read:
And it came to pass that Moses began to fear exceedingly; and as he began to fear, he saw the bitterness of hell. Nevertheless, calling upon God, he received strength, and he commanded , saying: Depart from me, Satan, for this one God only will I worship, which is the God of glory.
From this we see that Moses struggled against Satan even through the point of prayer - at which point that prayer was answered upon his head with the strength from God. This similar strengthening is also seen in another story we are also familiar with:
2) In Luke, the account of Christ's sacrifice in the garden is given - more descriptive than other accounts in some regards - which description offers us valuable insight:
And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation.
And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed.
Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine be done.
And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. (Luke 22:40-43)
In all of these accounts we see that the superbly righteous person is brought under an unfathomable amount of stress in one form or another - and their pleadings toward the heaven endow them with extra strength in some form, such that their original objectives can be carried out.
Do we know who the angel is that blessed the Lord? No, we don't. I personally speculate that it was probably the archangel Michael - as he would be the strongest individual to have dominion over the adversary short of God himself. In fact, it would be almost appropriate that Michael was present as the Lord suffered the sins of the world - and brought Michael's (Adam's) Fall into full circle again.
In any case however, we are told through other scriptures that the pains Christ suffered in the Garden were known as the "buffetings of Satan" - which when studied are nearly identical to those pains suffered by the boy Joseph in the Grove.
Notice also the similarities in the accounts of both those given in the Garden and in the Grove. Christ - withdrew himself away from others as much as he could and supplicated Himself to the Father to know of His will and to be able to do accomplish it. When the pains grew too great for even Christ himself to bear - an angel was sent to strengthen Him and allow His preparations to the children of men to be finished. Following the accomplishment of His divine work, he was betrayed by His own disciple and brought before the court of public opinion to be crucified there, and later lifted upon the cross and sent out of mortality.
Joseph, withdrew himself away from his family a good distance and supplicated himself to an unknown God at the time, inquiring to know of His will and desiring to accomplish it accordingly. When the buffetings of Satan grew to an intolerable and unconquerable level, the Father and the Son appeared to the boy Joseph and allowed him to make his preparations to the children of God. Following the manifestation beheld by the young boy, he was betrayed by his closest friends at times and those in his community; spent a life being run through the courts of public opinion and persecuted accordingly, only to later on be held in prison until his martyrdom sent him out of mortality.
Thus, we come to understand that the pains suffered by Joseph prior to his manifestation by Father and Jesus Christ were undoubtedly similar to those endured by the Savior in the Garden on a much smaller scale. While Joseph was not responsible to suffer the sins of the world and redeem them from the Fall, I would speculate that the despair and feeling of utter destruction that he felt were largely that pain and despair felt by the world as a whole because of the lack of the gospel upon it. I believe that this feeling that he felt prior to his deliverance allowed him to fully understand the nature of God, and to accomplish all that he did while in his mortality.
How grateful we should be for the pleadings of that young boy on that spring morning in 1820! Through his courage and persistence, we are able to enjoy the blessings of the gospel in our lives today, but also, because of the account given by the young boy, we are also able to more fully appreciate the pains suffered by the Savior in the Garden as he atoned for our sins individually!
And those are my thoughts for tonight!
In any case, through the course of this conversation, I explained an interesting insight to my roommate that I have known for some time, but have not really shared. Thus, this will be the place where I explain such insight to everyone.
We are all aware of the account of the First Vision given in Joseph Smith's words:
After I had retired to the place where I had previously deigned to go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction.
But exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction - not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being -- just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.
It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory, defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other -- This is My Beloved Son, Hear Him! (JSH 1:15-17)
While we often focus on the deliverance of young Joseph from the "unseen power" I don't think that a good majority of anyone really understands the nature of the power which held him bound. While it is understood that it was the Adversary attempting to get to the young boy, that alone does not fully help us comprehend the pains that the future prophet encountered that spring morning. The beauty of having the scriptures in our lives though is that we do have the understanding of those - which in turn help us to understand Joseph's experience.
There are in the scriptures two major experiences that help us to understand the trials that Joseph encountered prior to being introduced to the Godhead:
1) In Moses 1, we learn of Moses' own trials in understanding the Lord and realizing his own potential. His greatest level of despair is illustrated in the 20th verse where we read:
And it came to pass that Moses began to fear exceedingly; and as he began to fear, he saw the bitterness of hell. Nevertheless, calling upon God, he received strength, and he commanded , saying: Depart from me, Satan, for this one God only will I worship, which is the God of glory.
From this we see that Moses struggled against Satan even through the point of prayer - at which point that prayer was answered upon his head with the strength from God. This similar strengthening is also seen in another story we are also familiar with:
2) In Luke, the account of Christ's sacrifice in the garden is given - more descriptive than other accounts in some regards - which description offers us valuable insight:
And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation.
And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed.
Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine be done.
And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. (Luke 22:40-43)
In all of these accounts we see that the superbly righteous person is brought under an unfathomable amount of stress in one form or another - and their pleadings toward the heaven endow them with extra strength in some form, such that their original objectives can be carried out.
Do we know who the angel is that blessed the Lord? No, we don't. I personally speculate that it was probably the archangel Michael - as he would be the strongest individual to have dominion over the adversary short of God himself. In fact, it would be almost appropriate that Michael was present as the Lord suffered the sins of the world - and brought Michael's (Adam's) Fall into full circle again.
In any case however, we are told through other scriptures that the pains Christ suffered in the Garden were known as the "buffetings of Satan" - which when studied are nearly identical to those pains suffered by the boy Joseph in the Grove.
Notice also the similarities in the accounts of both those given in the Garden and in the Grove. Christ - withdrew himself away from others as much as he could and supplicated Himself to the Father to know of His will and to be able to do accomplish it. When the pains grew too great for even Christ himself to bear - an angel was sent to strengthen Him and allow His preparations to the children of men to be finished. Following the accomplishment of His divine work, he was betrayed by His own disciple and brought before the court of public opinion to be crucified there, and later lifted upon the cross and sent out of mortality.
Joseph, withdrew himself away from his family a good distance and supplicated himself to an unknown God at the time, inquiring to know of His will and desiring to accomplish it accordingly. When the buffetings of Satan grew to an intolerable and unconquerable level, the Father and the Son appeared to the boy Joseph and allowed him to make his preparations to the children of God. Following the manifestation beheld by the young boy, he was betrayed by his closest friends at times and those in his community; spent a life being run through the courts of public opinion and persecuted accordingly, only to later on be held in prison until his martyrdom sent him out of mortality.
Thus, we come to understand that the pains suffered by Joseph prior to his manifestation by Father and Jesus Christ were undoubtedly similar to those endured by the Savior in the Garden on a much smaller scale. While Joseph was not responsible to suffer the sins of the world and redeem them from the Fall, I would speculate that the despair and feeling of utter destruction that he felt were largely that pain and despair felt by the world as a whole because of the lack of the gospel upon it. I believe that this feeling that he felt prior to his deliverance allowed him to fully understand the nature of God, and to accomplish all that he did while in his mortality.
How grateful we should be for the pleadings of that young boy on that spring morning in 1820! Through his courage and persistence, we are able to enjoy the blessings of the gospel in our lives today, but also, because of the account given by the young boy, we are also able to more fully appreciate the pains suffered by the Savior in the Garden as he atoned for our sins individually!
And those are my thoughts for tonight!
15 August 2009
The Promises Made to the Children
Earlier this evening, I was engaged in two separate intriguing conversations - one with my roommate about a plethora of gospel principles, which stemmed from a conversation with another friend of mine about situations in her life at the present time.
The first conversation was in relation to her feeling down about some of the decisions she had made in relation to her affiliations with members of the opposite sex. She had expressed her desire to have a relationship in which there was emotional attachment between herself and another guy, but at the same time be able to have all of her deepest physical desires not only satisfied, but continually met on demand. While that is a high demand for many individuals regardless of who is involved, her stance on things caused me to engage in a train of thought in which I came to the conclusion of many things.
The subsequent conversation with my roommate was not only enjoyable, but it also seemed to confirm many of the things I had been pondering, while at the same time "tying up loose ends" that seemingly did not have any connection to them in any form. The crux of our conversation was centered around the simplicity of the gospel and its relation to everything within it. There is not one thing in the Lord's word that does not relate to another, nor does it leave anything unanswered -- if we humble our hearts and focus our minds to understand the simplicity of it.
Now, some may argue that if the gospel is so simple, that the focusing of our minds is overkill and wholly unnecessary. To them, I rebuke them and suggest to them that they are confounded by the "philosophies of men mingled with scripture." Why? Think about those times in which we receive the most Spiritual guidance in our lives - such as during Church meetings or while pondering things in the temple. These are times in our lives when most of the world around us is blocked off and our minds are at rest and at ease. Similarly, the gospel is most easily understood when we have a relaxed mind and countenance that we can grasp that understanding.
To my friend who has the desires of both emotional closeness and physical closeness in her heart, I would say that her inability to obtain such is not necessarily in the decisions she makes concerning who she associates with, but rather her own personal decisions and utter lack of self-mastery. Though she may want to, she cannot even blame her lack of success on God himself, because her current predicament is completely the result of her opposition to God and her lack of understanding of His nature and inflexibility within the bounds of eternal law.
In Doctrine and Covenants 82:10 we are reminded: I the Lord am bound when ye do what I say way; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise. The use of the word promise is very curious in and of itself. In our day and age, when we say someone has promise, it means that they have potential. I do not believe that this is what the Lord is referring to however. Instead, He is referring to the fact that our disobedience to His command disqualifies us from the claim we may have upon Him for specific blessings to be fulfilled.
A number of commandments come to mind when thinking about this, most specifically the Word of Wisdom, the Law of Tithing, and The Law of Chastity, but the one I would like to focus on most at this time is the Law of Chastity.
Throughout the scriptures we are taught that the God is not only unchanging and unyielding to the changes of the world - because of His eternal nature - but that His house is a house of order. As such, we have been prescribed certain standards according to which we must abide by in order to lay claim to the blessings of obedience to those standards. Such is especially true as it relates to the Law of Chastity and marriage.
The Lord has mandated that we save all sexual relations for the time in which we are legally and lawfully wedded to another of the opposite sex and not before then. The prevalent argument among society is that its "just sex" or that its "fun" and such commandments are old-fashioned and outdated. As with the case of most of society's norms - its wrong.
The psychological physics of a relationship do not allow a solid, foundational relationship built on correct principles to occur with both emotional ties and sexual bonding are subsequently taking place. To attempt to do both at once, is to establish a weak foundation and alter the intended approach of that relationship. The psychology of a physical relationship is such that it creates feelings of well-being and emotional security - whether those feelings are foundationally present or not! Thus, a sexual relationship that takes place while emotional ties are weak or non-existent leads to feelings of confusion, and weakens one's ability to correctly rationalize right and wrong. A false feeling of love may be felt and emotional attachment may be present - but it may be attachment to the wrong thing.
One of the main causes of divorce in this country and across the world is because of the rapidity in which couples engage in physical relations at the beginning of a relationship. This rush into physicality produces those feelings which may suggest to a couple that the perpetuation of such is sufficient to establish a marriage on. Then once the honeymoon is over - both literally and figuratively - the couple realizes that they are incompatible for one reason or another, or that their relationship is not built on a strong enough foundation of faith, trust, respect, and wholesome values - but rather rests alone in the throes of promiscuity.
I believe this is why the Lord commands that couples abstain from sexual activity prior to marriage - so that He can ensure that full agency is present between the couple, and that deep emotional bonds may be established where the gospel can be an integral compass in the relationship and where God becomes the focal point for perpetuation of feeling rather than the temporary physical feelings that exist otherwise.
Thus, to abstain from such activity prior to marriage is not only God-pleasing in nature, but also brings with it a strengthened ability to master one's self and develop personal attributes that will serve one well later on during the creation and nurturing of a gospel-centered family. In addition, compliance with this commandment entitles the couple (and later on family) to lay claim upon the Lord's promise of blessings to them for their obedience. In this way, the Lord is able to maintain order while allowing the blessing of individuals and families accord to His promise.
In conclusion - to my friend, I would say to her that if she truly desires all of her physical needs to be met, then she must understand that they should be met at the appointed time by God and that she needs to master herself. No amount of physical interaction can substitute or fill emotional, spiritual, or mental void in one's life. Instead, by mastering yourself and allowing yourself to follow the order of God - it will allow you to build a strong emotional relationship with whomever you choose, and when that leads to marriage, your will find your physical desires adequately met and you'll find that you're a much more equipped individual to handle all the other struggles that life brings with it.
Those are more of my thoughts for the night! More to come tomorrow!
The first conversation was in relation to her feeling down about some of the decisions she had made in relation to her affiliations with members of the opposite sex. She had expressed her desire to have a relationship in which there was emotional attachment between herself and another guy, but at the same time be able to have all of her deepest physical desires not only satisfied, but continually met on demand. While that is a high demand for many individuals regardless of who is involved, her stance on things caused me to engage in a train of thought in which I came to the conclusion of many things.
The subsequent conversation with my roommate was not only enjoyable, but it also seemed to confirm many of the things I had been pondering, while at the same time "tying up loose ends" that seemingly did not have any connection to them in any form. The crux of our conversation was centered around the simplicity of the gospel and its relation to everything within it. There is not one thing in the Lord's word that does not relate to another, nor does it leave anything unanswered -- if we humble our hearts and focus our minds to understand the simplicity of it.
Now, some may argue that if the gospel is so simple, that the focusing of our minds is overkill and wholly unnecessary. To them, I rebuke them and suggest to them that they are confounded by the "philosophies of men mingled with scripture." Why? Think about those times in which we receive the most Spiritual guidance in our lives - such as during Church meetings or while pondering things in the temple. These are times in our lives when most of the world around us is blocked off and our minds are at rest and at ease. Similarly, the gospel is most easily understood when we have a relaxed mind and countenance that we can grasp that understanding.
To my friend who has the desires of both emotional closeness and physical closeness in her heart, I would say that her inability to obtain such is not necessarily in the decisions she makes concerning who she associates with, but rather her own personal decisions and utter lack of self-mastery. Though she may want to, she cannot even blame her lack of success on God himself, because her current predicament is completely the result of her opposition to God and her lack of understanding of His nature and inflexibility within the bounds of eternal law.
In Doctrine and Covenants 82:10 we are reminded: I the Lord am bound when ye do what I say way; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise. The use of the word promise is very curious in and of itself. In our day and age, when we say someone has promise, it means that they have potential. I do not believe that this is what the Lord is referring to however. Instead, He is referring to the fact that our disobedience to His command disqualifies us from the claim we may have upon Him for specific blessings to be fulfilled.
A number of commandments come to mind when thinking about this, most specifically the Word of Wisdom, the Law of Tithing, and The Law of Chastity, but the one I would like to focus on most at this time is the Law of Chastity.
Throughout the scriptures we are taught that the God is not only unchanging and unyielding to the changes of the world - because of His eternal nature - but that His house is a house of order. As such, we have been prescribed certain standards according to which we must abide by in order to lay claim to the blessings of obedience to those standards. Such is especially true as it relates to the Law of Chastity and marriage.
The Lord has mandated that we save all sexual relations for the time in which we are legally and lawfully wedded to another of the opposite sex and not before then. The prevalent argument among society is that its "just sex" or that its "fun" and such commandments are old-fashioned and outdated. As with the case of most of society's norms - its wrong.
The psychological physics of a relationship do not allow a solid, foundational relationship built on correct principles to occur with both emotional ties and sexual bonding are subsequently taking place. To attempt to do both at once, is to establish a weak foundation and alter the intended approach of that relationship. The psychology of a physical relationship is such that it creates feelings of well-being and emotional security - whether those feelings are foundationally present or not! Thus, a sexual relationship that takes place while emotional ties are weak or non-existent leads to feelings of confusion, and weakens one's ability to correctly rationalize right and wrong. A false feeling of love may be felt and emotional attachment may be present - but it may be attachment to the wrong thing.
One of the main causes of divorce in this country and across the world is because of the rapidity in which couples engage in physical relations at the beginning of a relationship. This rush into physicality produces those feelings which may suggest to a couple that the perpetuation of such is sufficient to establish a marriage on. Then once the honeymoon is over - both literally and figuratively - the couple realizes that they are incompatible for one reason or another, or that their relationship is not built on a strong enough foundation of faith, trust, respect, and wholesome values - but rather rests alone in the throes of promiscuity.
I believe this is why the Lord commands that couples abstain from sexual activity prior to marriage - so that He can ensure that full agency is present between the couple, and that deep emotional bonds may be established where the gospel can be an integral compass in the relationship and where God becomes the focal point for perpetuation of feeling rather than the temporary physical feelings that exist otherwise.
Thus, to abstain from such activity prior to marriage is not only God-pleasing in nature, but also brings with it a strengthened ability to master one's self and develop personal attributes that will serve one well later on during the creation and nurturing of a gospel-centered family. In addition, compliance with this commandment entitles the couple (and later on family) to lay claim upon the Lord's promise of blessings to them for their obedience. In this way, the Lord is able to maintain order while allowing the blessing of individuals and families accord to His promise.
In conclusion - to my friend, I would say to her that if she truly desires all of her physical needs to be met, then she must understand that they should be met at the appointed time by God and that she needs to master herself. No amount of physical interaction can substitute or fill emotional, spiritual, or mental void in one's life. Instead, by mastering yourself and allowing yourself to follow the order of God - it will allow you to build a strong emotional relationship with whomever you choose, and when that leads to marriage, your will find your physical desires adequately met and you'll find that you're a much more equipped individual to handle all the other struggles that life brings with it.
Those are more of my thoughts for the night! More to come tomorrow!
14 August 2009
The Economics of Friendship
This has been a topic that has been on my mind over the last several days, especially with the events as of late going on in my life, and I'm just not sure that I've come to any reasonable or foundational conclusion that will allow me to make a decision one way or the other.
There comes a time in all things in life where crossroads are reached and paths must be chosen. Often we find these crossroads facing us in the assessment of right and wrong, better and worse, hot or cold, or any dilemmas which may come upon us that illustrate two distinct conflicts playing against one another. It is in these situations that we should feel most grateful that we have the choices so clearly defined before us allowing us to choose one distinct path over another.
Another type of crossroads enters into scenarios in our lives which prove to be more difficult than any crossroads previously - because they neither offer the correct path to take, offer too many paths to choose from, or rather necessitate the following of one, only to possibly take a tangent to another road fairly quickly if necessary. This is the type of crossroads that is sometimes faced in relationships in our lives.
Now, having not excelled superbly in the Economics courses I took once upon a time, I may find myself inadequately qualified to reference my thoughts to this discipline, however, I believe that economics provides probably the clearest medium by which I might translate my thoughts into the written text.
There are in economics two major schools of thought - supply-side economics, and demand-side economics. The school of supply-side economics allows the people to make the bulk of the decisions - allowing their freedoms and flexibilities to dictate the supply of the market and subsequent drive of the economy. Demand-side economics suggests that a stronger central power is necessary to regulate the market to make it efficient for the maximum amount of people possible. These two schools of thought constantly work against the other and generally makeup the mixture that is the economy.
I believe that in large part friendships work the same way. There are in friendships two major players in the relationship (in deeper relationship, one should acknowledge the presence of God in the relationship and His hand in its efficiency and perpetuation). Unlike the two schools of thought of Economics - where one school advocates the use of itself over the other, friendships are intended to be equally driven 100%. In fact, if the friendship skews too far one way or the other - the relationship is more or less akin to a parasitic relationship instead of the symbiotic intention of the relationship.
Do the scriptures offer any insight to us on the subject? Well yes...and no. We are commanded to love everyone, and "love [our] neighbors as ourselves", but they do offer some counter-arguments for the other school of thought also. While Christ was a friend to all, even He drew lines at times - casting out the money changers from the temple, and even casting our the adulterous woman from his midst. Its true! Christ's message to everyone was to follow Him, and he didn't mean that just metaphorically or spiritually either, he in many times commanded men to cast down their nets and physically follow Him.
What does he do with the woman caught in adultery however? For one, we know that he does not forgive her - he states that he will not condemn her, but he does not specifically forgive her. Further, he commands the woman to "go thy way and sin no more." He doesn't beckon her to follow Him, either because she was not truly penitent or because she was unfit to follow Him and he needed to "distance Himself from the presence of sin." Either way, we know that He had the gift of friendship within his heart, but he did not choose to try and further the relationship into a symbiotic friendship.
Thus, this translates into our lives - because on one hand, we have those relationships in our lives where those people need us in their lives to give them that extra push to move forward or just some kind of abrasion to rub against so that they might grow. On another hand we perhaps need the companionship of specific friends in our lives in order for our personal growth and discovery or because there is something they have to offer us that we can benefit from. If however, the sum of the parts on both sides is not relatively equal, then the friendship becomes a strain on one side or the other, and it is weakened to the point of extinction in many cases.
Does this really offer me any conclusion to anything? No, but it has been what's on my mind lately...
There comes a time in all things in life where crossroads are reached and paths must be chosen. Often we find these crossroads facing us in the assessment of right and wrong, better and worse, hot or cold, or any dilemmas which may come upon us that illustrate two distinct conflicts playing against one another. It is in these situations that we should feel most grateful that we have the choices so clearly defined before us allowing us to choose one distinct path over another.
Another type of crossroads enters into scenarios in our lives which prove to be more difficult than any crossroads previously - because they neither offer the correct path to take, offer too many paths to choose from, or rather necessitate the following of one, only to possibly take a tangent to another road fairly quickly if necessary. This is the type of crossroads that is sometimes faced in relationships in our lives.
Now, having not excelled superbly in the Economics courses I took once upon a time, I may find myself inadequately qualified to reference my thoughts to this discipline, however, I believe that economics provides probably the clearest medium by which I might translate my thoughts into the written text.
There are in economics two major schools of thought - supply-side economics, and demand-side economics. The school of supply-side economics allows the people to make the bulk of the decisions - allowing their freedoms and flexibilities to dictate the supply of the market and subsequent drive of the economy. Demand-side economics suggests that a stronger central power is necessary to regulate the market to make it efficient for the maximum amount of people possible. These two schools of thought constantly work against the other and generally makeup the mixture that is the economy.
I believe that in large part friendships work the same way. There are in friendships two major players in the relationship (in deeper relationship, one should acknowledge the presence of God in the relationship and His hand in its efficiency and perpetuation). Unlike the two schools of thought of Economics - where one school advocates the use of itself over the other, friendships are intended to be equally driven 100%. In fact, if the friendship skews too far one way or the other - the relationship is more or less akin to a parasitic relationship instead of the symbiotic intention of the relationship.
Do the scriptures offer any insight to us on the subject? Well yes...and no. We are commanded to love everyone, and "love [our] neighbors as ourselves", but they do offer some counter-arguments for the other school of thought also. While Christ was a friend to all, even He drew lines at times - casting out the money changers from the temple, and even casting our the adulterous woman from his midst. Its true! Christ's message to everyone was to follow Him, and he didn't mean that just metaphorically or spiritually either, he in many times commanded men to cast down their nets and physically follow Him.
What does he do with the woman caught in adultery however? For one, we know that he does not forgive her - he states that he will not condemn her, but he does not specifically forgive her. Further, he commands the woman to "go thy way and sin no more." He doesn't beckon her to follow Him, either because she was not truly penitent or because she was unfit to follow Him and he needed to "distance Himself from the presence of sin." Either way, we know that He had the gift of friendship within his heart, but he did not choose to try and further the relationship into a symbiotic friendship.
Thus, this translates into our lives - because on one hand, we have those relationships in our lives where those people need us in their lives to give them that extra push to move forward or just some kind of abrasion to rub against so that they might grow. On another hand we perhaps need the companionship of specific friends in our lives in order for our personal growth and discovery or because there is something they have to offer us that we can benefit from. If however, the sum of the parts on both sides is not relatively equal, then the friendship becomes a strain on one side or the other, and it is weakened to the point of extinction in many cases.
Does this really offer me any conclusion to anything? No, but it has been what's on my mind lately...
13 August 2009
To Strive, To Seek, To Find, and not To Yield
...that which we are, we are;Alfred Lord Tennyson - Ulysses
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
The quote above is something that has been impressed upon my mind recently because of the depth of it in its applicability to my life. Those that have read the work quoted above (I believe I did many many years ago) understand that these are the words uttered by the hero as he comes to the realization that death approaches - yet, he chooses to not only acknowledge this prospect, but rather to make the most of the remainder of the life that he did have left.
Now, my examination of this quote is not to suggest that I am anywhere near death - at least not mortally...that I know of. While anything is always possible in life, I'm not dying of any mortal ailment known to me. I do realize however that there are times these days when I feel myself dying a little more emotionally, mentally, and perhaps even spiritually at times. While death of these areas is often akin to the process of molting, there is some permanence of these deaths in our lives if we choose to either fear life itself or rather fail to confront our own lives head on.
There is a caveat that one must acknowledge, no, factor into life's calculation rather. This is the inclination of one's self to be impulsive, throwing caution to the wind, and perhaps placing themselves at higher risk for other forms of death, including those related to mortal death. Two of the most important doctrines of the gospel help us to put this into a perspective which will benefit our lives if we understand them fully (which I do not profess to do necessarily).
The first doctrine that comes to mind is the doctrine of tithing. How does the law of tithing prevent us from death? The law provided by the Lord requiring the reciprocation of our increase to Him teaches us the valuable doctrines of accountability and reliance on others. Were the Lord to allow us to keep all that we earn, we would in essence become little different than the intent sought by the Fallen Son of the Morning when he proposed his plan for the safe return of mankind to Father. The very crux of the adversary's plan rested in the glory, reward, and return of man all attributed to his doing. He sought not necessarily to redeem mankind so much as he sought to usurp power from Father and further, to claim rights upon all his increase.
Jehovah on the other hand illustrates the doctrines behind the law of tithing in a very intangible sense when he tells father "Father, they will be done, and the glory be thine forever." (Moses 4:2) What does this have to do with tithing and our avoidance of death? Our Elder Brother knew that inevitably there would be reward that came from his accomplishment of the Atonement and the salvation of man, such that he did not require the full compensation for such, nor did he even desire it. Rather, in His infinite humility, he suggests that all that he would accomplish and be rewarded for would be attributed back to He whom had bestowed those blessing upon Him. How symbolic this is to the law of tithing as it is commanded in our lives! Heavenly Father in his infinite wisdom understands that as mortal beings, we are inclined to keep all that we have earned for ourselves while additionally attributing its origin to our own efforts. This is the very thing that caused the destruction of the Nephite nation in the Book of Mormon! Instead - through the law of tithing, we are reminded through our obedience to this law, that we have obtained all that we have by means of the Father and His Son. Thus, our faithful payment of the tithe is to submit our will to Father's, and bestow upon him that glory which lasts for the eternity.
The other doctrine that ties in with the quote at the beginning of this post is the doctrine of the Word of Wisdom. As Latter-Day Saints, we often focus on the temporal guidelines provided in this commandment while ignoring perhaps some of the most important counsel given at the end of that section:
And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones;
And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures;
And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint.
And I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the destroying angel shall pass by them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them. Amen (Doctrine and Covenants 89:18-21)
The principle illustrated in the Word of Wisdom is that we are to avoid those things which will harm our bodies, but more so we are invited to practice moderation in all things pertaining to our lives.
Going back to the suggestion that we need to take life head on is a good thing, but we must embrace life head on, with full humility and diligence to God, recognizing that we are bound by mortal limitations that are there to protect us at times. To make sudden changes in life, short of those changes necessary to embark upon a path of discipleship set forth by the Master, is to at times bring upon ourselves the ever burdening threat of death in other areas of our lives.
As we progress through life on a daily basis, we must recognize that we grow closer to our mortal ends each day. While the realization of such is necessary, it should neither be at the forefront of our minds at all times, nor should it prevent us from taking action to dictate our lives as we see fit according to the counsels of God. In essence, we must adopt the phrase at the beginning of the post - "to strive to seek to find, and not to yield" in a more personal sense in our lives.
As Primary children we recall singing the song "Search, Ponder, and Pray" but do we realize the magnitude of the words that we sang at such a young age? I would contend that even now, we understand them not. Is not "searching" "pondering" and "praying" the same thing as "to strive," "to seek," and "to find"? I would contend that if they are not identical, that they are similar to the point of being congruent. We must find ways to strive to follow the commandments in our lives, to seek the Lord and His counsel for us, and to find the talents and blessings within ourselves in order to effectively live life. We are then reminded that we must not yield to ourselves in doing so - including those personality traits that would have us become impulsive, insensitive, overbearing, reactive, or any other trait not favored of the Lord; while at the same time defending ourselves against the buffetings of the adversary and not yielding to his temptations.
Thus, we become as the hero Ulysses in our own lives, determining the epic natures of their conclusions. We can choose to accept that we are mortal beings and that our fallen nature precludes us from reaching everything that we desire now, or we can accept that while death approaches, we have other heroes in dimensions we cannot understand, and we can choose to make the best out of our lives and strive to end them on a progressive note, such that our reward can be claimed in the post-mortal realm.
There's my thoughts for the night, hopefully they are clear enough for everyone. If you have any questions, ask, and I'll try to explain my thoughts better!
11 August 2009
Back To The Basics
So, after the turmoil of the last few days, I have decided to not delve so much into the events of my personal life in this entry, but rather to focus on more general events and whatnot. I believe that the events of the last several days have generally resolved themselves or will continue to do so over the next several.
That said however, there are a few things I'd like to address that have been on my mind as of late. The turmoil that has taken place in my life has been mainly as a result of my doing and my failing to take into account several key doctrines and logical processes. I will address a few of those here:
Fear: One of my favorite scriptures outside of that in 2 Nephi is the scripture section in Doctrine and Covenants 121: 34-46:
"Behold, there are many called, but few are chosen. And why are they not chosen?
Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world and aspire to the honors of men that they do not learn this one lesson --
That the rights of the Priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness.
That they may be conferred upon us it is true; but when we undertake to cover our sins, or to gratify our pride, our vain ambitions, or to exercise control or dominion or compulsion upon the souls of the children of men, in any degree of unrighteousness, behold the heavens withdraw themselves, the Spirit of the Lord is grieved: and when it is withdrawn, Amen to the priesthood or the authority of that man.
Behold, ere he is aware, he is left unto himself, to kick against the pricks , to persecute the saints, and to fight against God.
We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion.
Hence many are called, but few are chosen.
No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only be persuation, by long-suffering, by gentlenss and meekness, and by love unfeigned.
By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy and without guile --
Reproving betimes with sharpness when moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth an increase of love toward him whom thou hast repoved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy;
The he may know that they faithfulness is stronger than the cords of death..."
Sure, we've all heard these scriptures before, and they are very good at face value, but let's look at them in a little further depth, especially how it applies to our lives personally.
First - when we consider the life of a single individual approaching the age at which they may be considered mature enough to wed or to undertake greater responsibilities in life, we must consider the first scripture of this passage - many are called but few are chosen. What does this mean to all of us? It means that for such things such as marriage - which is a calling from the Lord to the world: Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh (Moses 3:24) our calling to do such does not guarantee that we gain any form of mortal exaltation from it or that we are to be rewarded according to our own time schedule. Rather, we take ourselves out of "chosen" status of the Lord when we set our own hearts upon the things of the world and the praises of those around us, rather than keeping in our hearts the true reason for this calling from the Lord. This is where it gets interesting though because the rest of the scriptures have one underlying principle behind them: agency. Agency? Yes! A simple word replacement or rather understanding of the definition of some of the terms listed in this scripture help to bring this into greater light.
The priesthood of God is the power of God. Thus, the rights [to the power of God] are inseperably connected with the powers of heaven (what is bound on earth is bound in heaven and vice versa), and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled, only upon the principles of righteousness. That they may be conferred upon us it is true (i.e. we may be recipients of that power through another source such as general blessings from God, or through Priesthood blessings given by a righteous Priesthood holder), but when we undertake to cover our sins, or to gratify our pride, our vain ambitions (i.e. our hearts being set upon the things of the world and the honors of men)...behold the heavens withdraw themselves, the Spirit of the Lord is grieved; and when it is withdrawn, Amen to the priesthood or the authority of that man.
What does this all mean? It means that if we try to expect big things to happen in our lives without employing agency to all parties involved - including the Lord - we forfeit that guidance and power that he has to bless our lives in making those changes occur. Further, not only do we forfeit those privileges to call upon the power of God to assist us with those changes, but the Spirit of the Lord is grieved when we do so. That is not to say that the Holy Ghost is grieved - because by this point it has already departed from our lives, but the Lord himself is troubled like unto the pains that he felt while in the Garden.
This is further confirmed in the next scripture where it is said "Behold, ere he is aware, he is left unto himself to kick against the pricks, to persecute the Saints, and to fight against God. Two scriptures better explain this specific term: "And it came to pass that when they had fled we did pursue them with our armies, and did meet them again, and did beat them; nevertheless the strength of the Lord was not with us; yea, we were left to ourselves, that the Spirit of the Lord did not abide in us; therefore we had become weak like unto our brethren. (Mormon 2: 26)" and "And the presence of God withdrew from Moses, that his glory was not upon Moses; and Moses was left unto himself. And as he was left unto himself, he fell unto the earth. (Moses 1:9)" How does this relate with the Savior in the Garden? In the Biblical accounts we are taught that the Savior felt alone, in fact to a point that an angel was sent to strengthen him while in the Garden (Luke 22:43). Further, we learn of the utterance of Jesus Christ while on the cross in his feeling of being forsaken - or left alone; And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
(Matthew 27:33). Thus, our failure to exercise agency within the bounds of the Lord's will is to forsake Him and to deny the power of the Atonement to work within our lives.
What does this have to do with fear though? Everything! If we exercise agency in our own lives and live according to the will of God in all things, seeking to do His will always - we adequately understand the next section which begins: "No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood.... What is the priesthood again? It is the power of God Thus, no power or influence can or ought to be maintained by the power of God..." This means that God himself cannot and should not be expected to maintain constant power over our lives and dictate all things to us, just as we cannot dictate our lives to the Lord. It must be an equal partnership that exists within the bounds of agency on both sides! For God to revoke that agency to us and dictate our lives accordingly is to rule by fear - as fear is the antithesis of faith, just as we cannot revoke our own agency from the Atonement which is to invite fear to replace faith within our lives.
Obviously, from here we know the rest of the qualities outlined that will keep us from living in fear, but instead allow us to function according to faith and agency. To try to live life any other way is to completely deny the power of the Atonement and do as Peter did and deny Christ himself - for to know Christ is to know His works, and to know His works, is to know his love, which love triumphs over all fear and sorrow.
Fruits: Another thing that has gotten me into a bit of turmoil lately is to try and anticipate things, assume personalities, and overall not just live in fear, but ignore the tools that I do have available to determine things in life. When thinking about this, I have to consider the scripture in Matthew uttered by the Savior that says "By their fruits ye shall know them." Granted, this scripture was given to us to give us guidance in determining the nature of professed prophets in our lives, but its counsel is more far reaching than we acknowledge. After partaking of the fruit in his account in 1st Nephi 8, Nephi beckons his brethren to come forth to the tree and partake of the fruit for themselves. It was clearly seen from afar off that the tree was grand and immaculate and offered desirable fruit to the eye, but the contents of that fruit could not be determined until one partook of the fruit of that tree and were filled. Likewise, in life, we run into those things that appear to be grand and immaculate and are desirable to the eye, but we cannot determine the contents of the fruit unless we partake of that fruit on our own. It availeth us nothing to try to determine the nature of the fruit by examining the tree upon which it grows, or the location at which it grows, or even in examining the rod of iron or whatever other object is associated with that tree. Rather, we must partake of the fruit on our own, in order to fully understand what that fruit is. While we may encounter those bitter fruits in our lives at times, we cannot shy away from partaking of all fruit simply because we have had bad fruit in the past, nor can we attempt to try all fruit that life has to offer us.
One principle that is overlooked in the account of the Garden of Eden, is the surrounding area of the forbidden fruit. Unlike in life, the forbidden fruit of Adam's garden stood at the central point of the garden. It was surrounded by good vegetation and shrubbery that was to suggest that is was good fruit. The temptation of the adversary at that time is the same temptation that is offered to us in our day. Though Adam and Eve were specifically commanded not to partake of the fruit of that tree, they did so because they were enticed by the desirable nature of the fruit and the consequences that it would hopefully bring to their benefit.
Likewise, the adversary tempts us the same way in this day and age, but his fruits are not identical in nature to the fruits of the Lord. Just as the examination of the surrounding area and influences of the fruit alone are not sufficient to determine the nature of the fruit presented in our lives, nor is the examination and expectations or promises of the fruit while ignoring its origin sufficient either. Other scriptures throughout the Standard Works teach us that a bad tree cannot bring forth good fruit, just as a good tree cannot bring forth bad fruit. Thus, it is necessary to examine both the environment in which fruit is produced as well as the fruit itself in order to effectively determine its goodness. This is known in other gospel terms as the law of two or more witnesses! Simply putting our faith into one source alone while ignoring the other is not only incorrect, but it is wholly inadequate and inappropriate really. Rather, our faith must be placed in multiple locations in order to understand life fully - it is not that we put our faith in God alone, it is that we put our faith in God and his works, or God and his leaders, or God and his teachings. There never is that time when God himself alone will be able to teach us of the validity of certain fruits, just as there are times in our lives when the examination of a specific aspect in and of itself will not be sufficient to give us knowledge of a situation or an individual.
I think this is where I'll stop for tonight and allow those two things to sink in a little bit. I've learned a lot over the last several days and about the many things in life that I don't do as fully or completely as I should. I need to live more of life according to faith and invoke my own personal agency in conjunction with the agency of the Lord in his power and majesty to bless my life. Further, I need to be aware of the many resources available to me that the Lord has provided in order to fully understand those things that come before me in life, and not try to exercise dominion, compulsion or any degree of unrighteousness in any form of life - be it on other people or situations, especially in those situations where other means are available to fully understand the situation at hand without going overboard with another.
I'm hopeful that I will be given the chance to apply these more fully in my life and show some of the things that I have learned, as well as the opportunity to invoke the Atonement on my behalf so that I can correct those situations in which I may have erred in the past.
Just some thoughts for tonight...
That said however, there are a few things I'd like to address that have been on my mind as of late. The turmoil that has taken place in my life has been mainly as a result of my doing and my failing to take into account several key doctrines and logical processes. I will address a few of those here:
Fear: One of my favorite scriptures outside of that in 2 Nephi is the scripture section in Doctrine and Covenants 121: 34-46:
"Behold, there are many called, but few are chosen. And why are they not chosen?
Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world and aspire to the honors of men that they do not learn this one lesson --
That the rights of the Priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness.
That they may be conferred upon us it is true; but when we undertake to cover our sins, or to gratify our pride, our vain ambitions, or to exercise control or dominion or compulsion upon the souls of the children of men, in any degree of unrighteousness, behold the heavens withdraw themselves, the Spirit of the Lord is grieved: and when it is withdrawn, Amen to the priesthood or the authority of that man.
Behold, ere he is aware, he is left unto himself, to kick against the pricks , to persecute the saints, and to fight against God.
We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion.
Hence many are called, but few are chosen.
No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only be persuation, by long-suffering, by gentlenss and meekness, and by love unfeigned.
By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy and without guile --
Reproving betimes with sharpness when moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth an increase of love toward him whom thou hast repoved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy;
The he may know that they faithfulness is stronger than the cords of death..."
Sure, we've all heard these scriptures before, and they are very good at face value, but let's look at them in a little further depth, especially how it applies to our lives personally.
First - when we consider the life of a single individual approaching the age at which they may be considered mature enough to wed or to undertake greater responsibilities in life, we must consider the first scripture of this passage - many are called but few are chosen. What does this mean to all of us? It means that for such things such as marriage - which is a calling from the Lord to the world: Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh (Moses 3:24) our calling to do such does not guarantee that we gain any form of mortal exaltation from it or that we are to be rewarded according to our own time schedule. Rather, we take ourselves out of "chosen" status of the Lord when we set our own hearts upon the things of the world and the praises of those around us, rather than keeping in our hearts the true reason for this calling from the Lord. This is where it gets interesting though because the rest of the scriptures have one underlying principle behind them: agency. Agency? Yes! A simple word replacement or rather understanding of the definition of some of the terms listed in this scripture help to bring this into greater light.
The priesthood of God is the power of God. Thus, the rights [to the power of God] are inseperably connected with the powers of heaven (what is bound on earth is bound in heaven and vice versa), and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled, only upon the principles of righteousness. That they may be conferred upon us it is true (i.e. we may be recipients of that power through another source such as general blessings from God, or through Priesthood blessings given by a righteous Priesthood holder), but when we undertake to cover our sins, or to gratify our pride, our vain ambitions (i.e. our hearts being set upon the things of the world and the honors of men)...behold the heavens withdraw themselves, the Spirit of the Lord is grieved; and when it is withdrawn, Amen to the priesthood or the authority of that man.
What does this all mean? It means that if we try to expect big things to happen in our lives without employing agency to all parties involved - including the Lord - we forfeit that guidance and power that he has to bless our lives in making those changes occur. Further, not only do we forfeit those privileges to call upon the power of God to assist us with those changes, but the Spirit of the Lord is grieved when we do so. That is not to say that the Holy Ghost is grieved - because by this point it has already departed from our lives, but the Lord himself is troubled like unto the pains that he felt while in the Garden.
This is further confirmed in the next scripture where it is said "Behold, ere he is aware, he is left unto himself to kick against the pricks, to persecute the Saints, and to fight against God. Two scriptures better explain this specific term: "And it came to pass that when they had fled we did pursue them with our armies, and did meet them again, and did beat them; nevertheless the strength of the Lord was not with us; yea, we were left to ourselves, that the Spirit of the Lord did not abide in us; therefore we had become weak like unto our brethren. (Mormon 2: 26)" and "And the presence of God withdrew from Moses, that his glory was not upon Moses; and Moses was left unto himself. And as he was left unto himself, he fell unto the earth. (Moses 1:9)" How does this relate with the Savior in the Garden? In the Biblical accounts we are taught that the Savior felt alone, in fact to a point that an angel was sent to strengthen him while in the Garden (Luke 22:43). Further, we learn of the utterance of Jesus Christ while on the cross in his feeling of being forsaken - or left alone; And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
(Matthew 27:33). Thus, our failure to exercise agency within the bounds of the Lord's will is to forsake Him and to deny the power of the Atonement to work within our lives.
What does this have to do with fear though? Everything! If we exercise agency in our own lives and live according to the will of God in all things, seeking to do His will always - we adequately understand the next section which begins: "No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood.... What is the priesthood again? It is the power of God Thus, no power or influence can or ought to be maintained by the power of God..." This means that God himself cannot and should not be expected to maintain constant power over our lives and dictate all things to us, just as we cannot dictate our lives to the Lord. It must be an equal partnership that exists within the bounds of agency on both sides! For God to revoke that agency to us and dictate our lives accordingly is to rule by fear - as fear is the antithesis of faith, just as we cannot revoke our own agency from the Atonement which is to invite fear to replace faith within our lives.
Obviously, from here we know the rest of the qualities outlined that will keep us from living in fear, but instead allow us to function according to faith and agency. To try to live life any other way is to completely deny the power of the Atonement and do as Peter did and deny Christ himself - for to know Christ is to know His works, and to know His works, is to know his love, which love triumphs over all fear and sorrow.
Fruits: Another thing that has gotten me into a bit of turmoil lately is to try and anticipate things, assume personalities, and overall not just live in fear, but ignore the tools that I do have available to determine things in life. When thinking about this, I have to consider the scripture in Matthew uttered by the Savior that says "By their fruits ye shall know them." Granted, this scripture was given to us to give us guidance in determining the nature of professed prophets in our lives, but its counsel is more far reaching than we acknowledge. After partaking of the fruit in his account in 1st Nephi 8, Nephi beckons his brethren to come forth to the tree and partake of the fruit for themselves. It was clearly seen from afar off that the tree was grand and immaculate and offered desirable fruit to the eye, but the contents of that fruit could not be determined until one partook of the fruit of that tree and were filled. Likewise, in life, we run into those things that appear to be grand and immaculate and are desirable to the eye, but we cannot determine the contents of the fruit unless we partake of that fruit on our own. It availeth us nothing to try to determine the nature of the fruit by examining the tree upon which it grows, or the location at which it grows, or even in examining the rod of iron or whatever other object is associated with that tree. Rather, we must partake of the fruit on our own, in order to fully understand what that fruit is. While we may encounter those bitter fruits in our lives at times, we cannot shy away from partaking of all fruit simply because we have had bad fruit in the past, nor can we attempt to try all fruit that life has to offer us.
One principle that is overlooked in the account of the Garden of Eden, is the surrounding area of the forbidden fruit. Unlike in life, the forbidden fruit of Adam's garden stood at the central point of the garden. It was surrounded by good vegetation and shrubbery that was to suggest that is was good fruit. The temptation of the adversary at that time is the same temptation that is offered to us in our day. Though Adam and Eve were specifically commanded not to partake of the fruit of that tree, they did so because they were enticed by the desirable nature of the fruit and the consequences that it would hopefully bring to their benefit.
Likewise, the adversary tempts us the same way in this day and age, but his fruits are not identical in nature to the fruits of the Lord. Just as the examination of the surrounding area and influences of the fruit alone are not sufficient to determine the nature of the fruit presented in our lives, nor is the examination and expectations or promises of the fruit while ignoring its origin sufficient either. Other scriptures throughout the Standard Works teach us that a bad tree cannot bring forth good fruit, just as a good tree cannot bring forth bad fruit. Thus, it is necessary to examine both the environment in which fruit is produced as well as the fruit itself in order to effectively determine its goodness. This is known in other gospel terms as the law of two or more witnesses! Simply putting our faith into one source alone while ignoring the other is not only incorrect, but it is wholly inadequate and inappropriate really. Rather, our faith must be placed in multiple locations in order to understand life fully - it is not that we put our faith in God alone, it is that we put our faith in God and his works, or God and his leaders, or God and his teachings. There never is that time when God himself alone will be able to teach us of the validity of certain fruits, just as there are times in our lives when the examination of a specific aspect in and of itself will not be sufficient to give us knowledge of a situation or an individual.
I think this is where I'll stop for tonight and allow those two things to sink in a little bit. I've learned a lot over the last several days and about the many things in life that I don't do as fully or completely as I should. I need to live more of life according to faith and invoke my own personal agency in conjunction with the agency of the Lord in his power and majesty to bless my life. Further, I need to be aware of the many resources available to me that the Lord has provided in order to fully understand those things that come before me in life, and not try to exercise dominion, compulsion or any degree of unrighteousness in any form of life - be it on other people or situations, especially in those situations where other means are available to fully understand the situation at hand without going overboard with another.
I'm hopeful that I will be given the chance to apply these more fully in my life and show some of the things that I have learned, as well as the opportunity to invoke the Atonement on my behalf so that I can correct those situations in which I may have erred in the past.
Just some thoughts for tonight...
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