Political Ramblings

On the subject of religion and politics, and particularly on the church's stance on politics, there's a really good video on Youtube, posted by LDSPublicAffairs, that helps to clear things up.





As the video explains, the church does not participate in party politics. It does not support or oppose any specific candidates, and church buildings and property are not to be used for political events or messages. However, the church maintains the right to speak out on moral issues that could affect society.

I personally think that those who have extra knowledge of what's right and wrong should try to help others to make good decisions. Now, I don't think we should force people not to sin (that was someone else's plan), but I do think that it's a Christian attribute to want to help people avoid the suffering that would be caused by the consequences of making bad choices. So, here's my question: Does making something illegal force people not to do it?

At first glance, that seems like a stupid question, and maybe it is. It's illegal to kill people, but (surprise, surprise), people still kill each other. It's also illegal to steal, kidnap, abuse certain substances, and do all kinds of wicked things, but people still do them. The law does not force them not to break God's laws.

But what about marriage? To get married, you need a marriage license, right? In order to be legally married, you need the government's help. If two people want to get married, but it's illegal for them to do so, they're not going to get the government's help in getting married, so they literally can't do it.

Then again, marriage as recognized by the country and marriage as recognized by God are two separate things. God may recognize a marriage that the government may not, and the government may recognize a marriage that God does not. The government can say that two people are married, but as far as God's concerned, they may not be.

So part of me is thinking, what's the big deal? So those two guys have a piece of paper that say they're married, and the government recognizes that piece of paper and treats those two as if they were married, but what does it really matter? Their marriage was probably "until death do you part" anyway, so they know it's going to be dissolved as soon as one of them passes on, and if their marriage was never valid in God's eyes in the first place, you can bet it won't be valid on the other side, where God has full jurisdiction. So why should we get all worked up if some people say that certain types of marriage are valid on Earth?

My answer to that question, along with so many others, is that I don't know, but thankfully, God does. Only God knows what kind of affect same-sex marriages will have on society. Some say the affect will be positive - that no one will judge other people for being different - and others say that the affect will be negative - that children will grow up learning that something that's morally wrong is socially acceptable, encouraging them to abandon the moral principles that hold society together. I certainly don't know enough about society or psychology to know what people are going to think or do if certain laws are or are not passed. All I know is that God knows what's going on a lot better than we do.

God wants us to make our on decisions, but He also want us to make the right decisions. He tells us what the right decisions are, and He encourages us to choose them by telling us about the rewards for righteousness and the consequences of sin.

You know, maybe that's what law is trying to do. It creates consequences for doing things that aren't acceptable, to try to dissuade people from doing such things. Does that force people not to do those things? I don't know. But what I do know is that I've allowed my political ramblings to get me WAY off-topic. I do want to get back to the basics - to things that even I can understand. Maybe I'll talk about the Holy Ghost next, or maybe some more about Faith. We'll see. Until then, I'm going to try not to try to figure out anything as complicated as politics. Religion is tricky enough.

What Grounds Had They to Hope for Salvation?

My scripture reading last night took me to Alma chapter five, where Alma the younger reminds the people of the church in the city of Zarahemla how God changed the hearts of the people who were converted by his father, Alma the elder:

7 Behold, he changed their hearts; yea, he awakened them out of a deep sleep, and they awoke unto God. Behold, they were in the midst of darkness; nevertheless, their souls were illuminated by the light of the everlasting word; yea, they were encircled about by the bands of death, and the chains of hell, and an everlasting destruction did await them. 

8 And now I ask of you, my brethren, were they destroyed? Behold, I say unto you, Nay, they were not. 

9 And again I ask, were the bands of death broken, and the chains of hell which encircled them about, were they loosed? I say unto you, Yea, they were loosed, and their souls did expand, and they did sing redeeming love. And I say unto you that they are saved.

I love this kind of doctrine. I'm grateful for reminders that even people who have eternal punishments in store for them, even those that deserve such punishments, can be forgiven and saved. I find it absolutely wonderful how open the arms of God's mercy are.

But that doesn't mean that everyone will be forgiven, just because God loves them. Just saying, "I'm sorry," isn't enough. There are conditions to being saved.

10 And now I ask of you on what conditions are they saved? Yea, what grounds had they to hope for salvation? What is the cause of their being loosed from the bands of death, yea, and also the chains of hell?

The answer is in verse 13, but 11 and 12 help to set the stage.

11 Behold, I can tell you—did not my father Alma believe in the words which were delivered by the mouth of Abinadi? And was he not a holy prophet? Did he not speak the words of God, and my father Alma believe them? 

12 And according to his faith there was a mighty change wrought in his heart. Behold I say unto you that this is all true. 

13 And behold, he preached the word unto your fathers, and a mighty change was also wrought in their hearts, and they humbled themselves and put their trust in the true and living God. And behold, they were faithful until the end; therefore they were saved.

Taking that last verse in the context of yesterday's blog post, one phrase stands out in particular: "and they humbled themselves and put their trust in the true and living God." This makes me think that they were wise enough to choose God's path rather than their own. And yes, that takes humility. It takes humility to acknowledge that you don't know what's best, even for yourself. I'm grateful that God does know what's best, and He's willing to guide us out of darkness, away from our sins and the consequences to which they would lead us, and unto the path of light.

Faith and Following

I might have said a few days ago (I really can't remember), that it may be time to, once again, try to bring this blog back to the basics of the Gospel, such as faith and repentance. Today, I'd like to write a little bit about faith.

Faith links pretty strongly to what I wrote about yesterday. Faith in Jesus Christ leads us to trust Him. As far as I'm concerned, that includes trusting His honesty, His goodness, and His wisdom. His wisdom allows Him to know which paths are the best ones to take. His goodness inspires Him to desire for us to follow those good paths. His honesty is shown as He tells us, through the scriptures and prophets, which paths we ought to take.

If we trust all that, then we know that He knows which path is best for us, and we know that He wouldn't lie to us, so when He tells us which paths we should take or avoid, we know that we should follow His advice. That's great in theory, but in reality, it's a little bit harder.

At the risk of getting political again, I'm going to bring up the recent events concerning the Supreme Court and Proposition 8. I support freedom and equality. I want people, all people, to be treated fairly. If it were up to me, I'd let people - no, I'd want people to follow their hearts courageously, and not have the government or the general public trying to tear them down for acting according to their beliefs.

Prop 8 is a complicated issue for me, as I think it is for many Mormons. Everyone agrees that freedom and equality are good things. I don't think homosexual marriages would really hurt anybody. It might have some kind of effect on future generations, but whether that effect would be net-positive or net-negative, I can't tell. I can't predict the future. But God can. And while I'd normally not try to tell people what they must or must not do, God has spoken.

So, here I stand at the crossroads of opinion on gay marriage. I can support it, oppose it, or try to stay neutral. I have no idea where any of these paths will lead for me or for society. But I do know (or at least believe) that God has made it pretty clear which way He's going. So the question for me is: Am I going to follow Him or not? I trust Him. But do I trust Him enough to make a decision that doesn't make sense, is rather unpopular, and seems (to my logic) to be wrong?

I know that He knows more than I do. I know that He's wiser than I am. I know that when He says that a certain decision is the right one, then it is, even if I would have chosen something else. God makes better decisions than I do.

Without God's guidance, I might have chosen to try to stay neutral. If they win, then whatever. They can live their lives while I live mine, and when this is all over, we'll all end up wherever we end up, and we'll have no one to blame (or thank) for getting us there than ourselves (or God, if we follow what we think He's telling us and it happens to work out).

But, apparently, God thinks that's a bad idea. In fact, He seems to think it's such a bad idea that He wants it to be illegal. I don't understand that, but I have to trust Him. I oppose gay marriage - not because I think it's wrong, but because I believe God said it's wrong. I guess that amounts to about the same thing, doesn't it? It seems different enough to me. This may be another piece of evidence that my logic is flawed. Which is why I'm trying to rely on someone else's logic to help me make good decisions.

I mean, if a foolish man knows that he's a fool and that he makes bad decisions whenever he makes any decisions at all, and he knows that someone else is wise and makes good decisions all the time, wouldn't it be wise for the foolish man to follow the wise man's advice, rather than his own, at least until he gains some wisdom for himself? That's what I'm trying to do. And some people may call me a "sheep" for that, but at least I've got a Good Shepherd. Being completely lost, but following a good Guide is better than just being completely lost. And I feel completely lost most of the time. Without a good guide, I know I'd just wander around aimlessly and never get anywhere at all.

I am a sheep. I need a shepherd. And if I need to put all my faith into somebody (and I know I can't trust myself with that kind of responsibility), I have to put my faith in God. So I'm going to lemming behind my Heavenly Father, and if we both fall off a cliff, so be it. I probably would have stumbled off a cliff anyway. But if we both end up in heaven, at least I got there somehow, and hopefully I'll have learned some wisdom along the way.

God voted Yes on Prop 8. And for that reason alone, so did I.

Light, Knowledge, and Wisdom

Josh Groban has performed some of the most beautiful music ever sung by humankind.
Just thought I'd throw that out there.

So anyway. Yesterday, after blogging, I spent some time puzzling out the connection between light, knowledge, and wisdom. Here's how it went:

Wisdom is the ability to make good decisions. Such wisdom requires knowledge of choices and consequences.

Picture a man in a dark room. He sees two doors ahead of him and he's asked to pick a door to go through. He flips a coin in his head and chooses the door on the left. Then the light is turned on and he now sees another door even farther to the left. This was not an option before because he was not aware of it. Wisdom requires knowledge of choices.

Then there's another man at a fork in the road. There are two paths (with no hidden third paths), but the trails are obscured, so you can't see far down either of them. From what you can see, the two paths look exactly the same. This time, the man can't decide which path he wants. When the darkness lifts, we see that the path to the left leads to an angry pirate with a cutlass and the path to the right leads to a nice man giving away free balloons. The man at the crossroads couldn't make a wise decision on which path to take until the darkness lifted because, until then, he did not have any knowledge concerning where (or to whom) each path would lead.

In both of these cases, an increase of light increased our knowledge of our choices and the potential consequences of those choices.

Now, let's say that the man at the fork in the road chose the right path (in both senses of the word), and got a free balloon. His friend asked him, "Where'd you get that balloon?" The man with the balloon gave his friend directions, and now his friend goes and stands at the fork in the road. The darkness is back, so he doesn't know where or to whom each path leads, but he knows he's been told to go right, so right he goes, and he also gets a balloon. This friend never learns what was down the other road, and he sometimes wonders if what he might have gotten there may have been better than a balloon, but he doesn't know, and he certainly doesn't know that choosing to go right to get a free balloon was a choice that saved his life.

Jesus Christ is the Light of the World. In this circumstance, I've always taken the term Light to mean Example, and since that matches what I'm going to say next, let's just go with that. An Example is a person we want to follow. Why? The answer I wrote down yesterday is "Because they're going to good places." Which implies that they A: know where they're going, and B: know how to get there.

Jesus Christ went to the Celestial Kingdom, and He told all of us how to get there. We can follow His example (with a picture of two men at the fork in the road, with both of them turning right), and/or we can follow His counsel (with a picture of a man saying to turn right, followed by a picture of a man on the road, turning right). Either way, that'll put us on the right path toward the Celestial Kingdom.

Note that neither the man following his friend's directions, or even the man following the guide, has any more 'light' than they would have had if they went to the fork in the road alone, without advice. Either way, they couldn't see where each path would lead. But they did have other knowledge that helped them to make the right decision.

The same is true with us, with spiritual decisions. We can't truly foresee the consequences of our decisions, but God can. He tells us where we should turn and where we shouldn't, and then puts us on the darkened path and lets us make our own decision. Since we can't really discern between one path and the other, we can't really make our choice based on our own wisdom, but we can choose whether to follow God's advice or not. But there are many other people in the world, giving us advice. Some of them are giving us bad advice. We need to know who we can trust.

We can help others along the path by relaying the advice that we've received from those that we trust to speak for God (like mirrors). And when we've gone far enough down the paths to learn that going right works out better than going left, we start to need other people's advice less and we can make decisions based on our own light (like candles). We may even find that people start to follow us because they think we know where we're going, and as long as we're following Christ when that happens, that's a good thing.

This analogy started simple enough, but progressively got more complicated. I guess the bottom line is that the main difference between spiritual light in the analogy and physical light in real life is that a person can't show another person what they see with their spiritual light, though they can still tell others. Then it's up to the hearers whether or not they will listen.

Psalm 119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

Candles and Mirrors

I'm having trouble with this blog post because I'm not sure how to explain what I'm thinking. Basically, I've been thinking about Light, and how Jesus is the Light of the world, but He also said to the Nephites in 3 Nephi 12: 14-16

Verily, verily, I say unto you, I give unto you to be the light of this people. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. 

Behold, do men light a candle and put it under a bushel? Nay, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light to all that are in the house; 

Therefore let your light so shine before this people, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

So, Christ is the Light (Example) to the whole world, and His followers are like little lights, to be examples to the people in their area? That thought coincides with the Hymn, Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy, in which God is symbolized as a lighthouse, probably on a hill near the ocean, and we are, symbolically, the lower lights along the shore.

I like this idea, of us being little lights, after the image of the Light, though admittedly nowhere near as bright or powerful, but that concept was shattered by a quote I found in a General Conference talk.

In October 1991, Ted E. Brewerton said, "We can be like a mirror and direct light even into dark places. We are not the sources of light; nevertheless, through us light can be reflected to others." [Link]

I guess my pride is taking issue with that. See, I feel like I generate a little bit of spiritual light. Sometimes, I feel like I generate a very little bit of light. But I'd like to think that at least part of that light is mine. If you ever feel like you gain a little bit of spiritual light from this blog, that light must have come from my direction. Either I generated that light, or I reflected it from somewhere else, from God.

Is Jesus Christ a source of spiritual light? If He is, and we're supposed to become like Him, we're supposed to become sources of light, too. But Brewerton said we're not sources; We're reflections. Are we supposed to become sources? Another possibility is that Jesus Christ isn't a source of light, either, but a reflection of Heavenly Father's light. Does that mean Heavenly Father is a source of spiritual light, or is He a reflection, too? Where does His light come from?

I'd rather think of it as fire. Fire is a source of light. If Jesus Christ was holding a lit torch, He could use it to light candles for us to hold, so we could shine the light, too. In that case, Jesus would have gotten the fire for his torch from God, who symbolically has a huge bonfire going right now. Whether He got His fire originally from someone else or sparked the fire Himself doesn't matter too much. As long as He keeps his fire burning, it's His fire, not a reflection of someone else's. And my little candle that was lit by Jesus' torch? It's mine.

Maybe both analogies are wrong, or maybe the truth lies somewhere between the two ideas. Maybe we're supposed to reflect the light of Christ like mirrors until we somehow get our own lights. Maybe I'm taking the analogy too literally, and I need to step back and recall what the light represents: Knowledge and/or Wisdom.

We can't really create knowledge. We can find it, maybe, or have it given to us, and then we can share it with others. Can we be our own sources of wisdom? Can we gain wisdom on our own? Yeah, kind of, maybe. If somebody does something stupid and realizes that it was a stupid thing to do, he found out that it was a bad idea, not because anyone told him, but because he learned it himself by experience.

On the other hand, I disagree with what the Buddhist pamphlet said about wisdom needing to come from within. If someone you trust tells you that something's a bad idea, you know it's a bad idea, so you may be wise enough not to do it, even if you don't personally understand why it's a bad idea. You didn't get that wisdom yourself, but you still have it.

But what do knowledge and wisdom have to do with light? They can offer guidance, and show you things. That might be about it. I think I'm going to have to study this some more before I blog again tomorrow. Maybe I'll have an answer for you by then.

Unbind You Tongues - A Voice For God

I just rewatched (Why does spell-check not think that 'rewatched' is an actual word?) Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's October 2011 talk We Are All Enlisted. I watched it partly because Youtube says it's a popular video from the channel, LDS General Conference, and partly because I remember it being a good enough talk to be worth rewatching (Apparently, that's not a real word either).

With this talk, as with other scripture, you can't get the full message by reading it (or watching it or listening to it) just once. They are layers, tidbits, connections, and symbolism that, not matter how observant you are, you will miss the first time you receive the message. So you read it again. Then you read it again. And each time you read it, you have another chance at catching a hidden gem that you had missed the previous times. The same is true with this talk.

The talk is mostly about missionary service. He said that we need more Aaronic Priesthood holders to be active and worthy, so they can serve missions. In talking about this, he also gave a stirring message on moral worthiness, which had subsequently been turned into a Mormon Message video. Though, as many times as I've watched or read this talk in its entirety, I seem to have missed the "hidden gems" at the beginning and end of the talk.

At the beginning of his talk, Elder Holland reminds us of a part of the Joseph Smith story that I almost always went out of my way to avoid. Just as Joseph Smith knelt down in the grove now called sacred, and just as he began to call upon God in his first personal spoken prayer, he was overcome by the spirit of evil, by the devil himself. In Elder Holland's words:

When we rehearse the grandeur of Joseph Smith’s First Vision, we sometimes gloss over the menacing confrontation that came just prior to it, a confrontation intended to destroy the boy if possible but in any case to block the revelation that was to come. ...

Joseph recorded that in an effort to oppose all that lay ahead, Lucifer exerted “such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak.” ...

Satan cannot directly take a life. That is one of many things he cannot do. But apparently his effort to stop the work will be reasonably well served if he can just bind the tongue of the faithful. Brethren, if that is the case, I am looking tonight for men young and old who care enough about this battle between good and evil to sign on and speak up.

Then Elder Holland spoke of Missionary Work, the need for more missionaries, and the need for those missionaries to be morally clean. But as we learned the other night, Missionary Work is not a task given exclusively to full-time missionaries. Every member of this church is meant to be a missionary. At the end of Elder Holland's talk, he said (and I didn't mention this before, but he was speaking in a Priesthood Session. I personally believe that his message applies to all members.) :

From every man, young and old, who bears the priesthood, I ask for a stronger and more devoted voice, a voice not only against evil and him who is the personification of it, but a voice for good, a voice for the gospel, a voice for God. Brethren of all ages, unbind your tongues and watch your words work wonders in the lives of those “who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it.”

As I read that paragraph, I thought to myself, "I hope they can find it here, on my blog." I thought about what I share on my blog on a daily basis. Are the messages that I share here true? If so, are they the kind of truths that can lead people to the Gospel? I'd like to think that maintaining this blog is a simple way of doing some small form of missionary work, but does it really count?

Another tidbit I caught out of this last paragraph is that Elder Holland asked "for a stronger and more devoted voice, a voice not only against evil and him who is the personification of it, but a voice for good, a voice for the gospel, a voice for God." (Emphasis Added)

When I consider the battle for our souls, to me it's always been a battle against Satan. How do we block ourselves from his attacks? How do we strike back and put him on the defensive? How do we defeat our enemy? For me, it has always been anti-enemy. Now I believe the spirit, through the voice of Elder Holland, is asking me to be less Anti-Satan and more Pro-God. As Elder Holland said, "We don’t talk about the adversary any more than we have to, and I don’t like talking about him at all," Perhaps I ought to try to follow that example.

We should never make the mistake of forgetting that Satan exists. Those who do frequently find themselves being influenced by him. But perhaps it would be better if I didn't put so much focus on him. The ultimate goal isn't to overcome Satan (though that is an essential part of the plan). The ultimate goal is to become like Jesus Christ. Maybe I ought to focus my blog more fully on Him. I want this blog to be what God would want it to be, and now I think that that God would want it to be "a voice not only against evil and him who is the personification of it, but a voice for good, a voice for the gospel, a voice for God."

Sleeping Beauty - Paladin vs Dragon

Something that I probably should have included in the Struggles in Mortality part of this multi-blog-post message is the Forest of Thorns. Once Prince Philip had escaped the Forbidden Mountain, Maleficent was still determined to keep him from reaching King Stephan's castle. She tried several times to blast him with lightning bolts, but those attempts luckily failed. Then she cast a powerful Forest of Thorns spell around King Stephan's castle to keep Prince Philip out, but with his mighty Sword of Truth, he was able to slowly cut a path through the Forest of Thorns.

I'm not sure what the Forest of Thorns could represent in real life. It could be general opposition. It could be the multitude of temptations that face us throughout life. Since it's overcome by the Sword of Truth, it may represent such things as lies and misconceptions. I like the idea of it representing general temptations, partly because Prince Philip's cape gets caught on the thorns for a moment or two, and partly because of what happens next.

***

When Prince Philip made it through the Forest of Thorns, Maleficent was very angry with him, and challenged him directly.

"Now shall you deal with me, O Prince, and all the powers of hell!"

These words were meant to frighten Prince Philip, to weaken his resolve. Satan usually uses such tactics when he attacks someone directly. You remember Moses vs Satan. When Moses proved that he wasn't a pushover, Satan tried to scare him. It almost worked. And Maleficent's threat almost worked, too. I mean, if someone told me what Maleficent told Prince Philip, then transformed into a dragon, as Maleficent did, I'd be pretty scared.

But Prince Philip wasn't. At least, not for long. He took his sword and charged at Maleficent. She knocked him back with a breath of fire, but he caught the attack on his shield, so he wasn't harmed. Then Maleficent shot fire at the ground, just to show what her fire could do. It utterly and instantly destroyed the stone bricks Prince Philip had been standing on. Then she blasted him with her fire again, but again, his shield protected him.

That Shield of Virtue was one powerful shield! No wonder we encourage the youth of the church to hold on to their Virtue; to preserve it, so it will preserve them against the power of the enemy.

***

At about this point, Philip decides it's a good idea to put some distance between him and the dragon, and once again, there's a Forest of Thorns in his way, but this time, he had already cut himself a path through it.

This is an excellent example to me of how we can escape temptation - by already having an escape route planned. If Prince Philip had had to cut his way through the thorns while the ferocious dragon was right behind him, he almost certainly would have died, but since he had already put in the time and effort of cutting a path through the thorns, we was able to make it back out the same way.

Modern-day prophets have suggested memorizing a favorite scripture or hymn to recite when faced with temptation, to focus our minds on something uplifting, something that will help us stay true and resist temptation.

***

Finally, Prince Philip reached a point where he could no longer retreat. Backed up to the edge of a cliff, the Prince was then hit with a very well-timed burst of dragon fire that knocked his shield off of his arm. This is a very discouraging and frightening event. As you remember, this is the Shield of Virtue. Losing one's virtue can only happen one way - by committing a serious sin. This leaves the person who loses their virtue more vulnerable to further attacks. At this point, Prince Philip is only one fireball away from utter destruction.

But Prince Philip still has his Sword of Truth! To me, this sword represents one's testimony. To be a strong testimony, it would have to be centered on Jesus Christ. And any testimony of Jesus Christ would have to include a belief in His role as our Savior, and a belief in the power of His Atonement. Through the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, all our sins, even our serious sins, can be washed away, and we, even those of us who had lost our virtue some time in the past, can defeat Satan and be welcomed into the kingdom of heaven. Satan would have us believe that once we had lost our Shield of Virtue, we are doomed to be destroyed, but the TRUTH is that there is always hope.

Holding on to this hope, Prince Philip threw the Sword of Truth into the heart of the dragon and killed her.

***

When I think about the symbolism of the events in this scene, it makes me think about my own personal battle with Satan, and I reevaluate how I'm doing in that fight. Do I still have my Shield of Virtue? How strong is my Sword of Truth? Am I defeating Satan, or is he defeating me? These are important questions I need to ask myself frequently to make sure I'm doing okay and to find out where I can be doing better. Our battles with Satan aren't nearly as visible or dramatic as Prince Philip's fight with Maleficent, but the stakes are just as high, or even higher. The Dragon isn't trying to end our lives - He's trying to steal our souls. That is a very frightening thought to me, but I can take courage from the story of Prince Philip. He defeated his dragon, and so can we.

Sleeping Beauty - Struggles Through Mortality

After Maleficent finishes her monologue and leaves Prince Philip alone in his cell, the three good fairies  come in to bust him out, but before they all left the cell, Mistress Flora armed Prince Philip with an enchanted shield of virtue and a mighty sword of truth, which I felt was somewhat unnecessary after noticing one of the items in the background.

Also in Prince Philip's cell, perhaps to make it obvious that an eventual release wasn't in Maleficent's plans, there was a large, stained, wooden block with a black ax embedded in it. If I were escaping this dungeon, the first thing I would do would be to grab the ax. And if I had magical help, which the prince did, I might have asked them to turn the wooden block into a wooden shield.

On the other hand, a sword is more practical and versatile than an ax, and, being a prince, Philip probably had received training on how to use a sword, while he may not have received such training to ax-wielding. Besides, the ax was all black and probably cursed. The sword was shiny and silver and was probably blessed. And the shield of virtue was both lighter and stronger than a wooden shield would have been, and we've been specifically told that it's enchanted.

So, what was the point of explaining all that? To illustrate the point that God's ways are better than our ways, and His plan is better than anything we alone could come up with. He knows of possibilities we couldn't possibly imagine. I wouldn't look to the three good fairies, whose magic "can only to good... to bring joy and happiness" (quoting Fauna, after the bonfire), to provide me with magical weapons, but that's exactly what happened. We can try to get through life our way, using our own ideas of what's good and best, or we can trust God, knowing that his plan will work out best.

***

Armed with his new weapons of righteousness, Prince Philip and the three fairies get out of the cell, but are immediately spotted by that nasty crow. (Or raven. Whatever.) The crow flies off, cawing its head off, and quickly returns with an army of goblins. Prince Philip runs from the goblins at first, then gets cornered and holds them off long enough to find another way to escape. He jumps out a window, slides down a slope of loose rocks, and makes his way to his horse. Escaping the Forbidden Mountain wasn't as easy as the prince might have hoped, and he did have to fight his way out, but he made it.

However, the goblins weren't going to quit as easily as that. Once the Prince got out o the castle, they tried to drop boulders on him from a high ledge, but the fairies turned the boulders into bubbles. Then the goblins tried shooting Prince Philip with arrows, but the fairies turned the arrows into flowers. Finally, the goblins poured a scalding liquid over an archway, so the waterfall would block Prince Philip's escape, but the fairies turned the scalding waterfall into a rainbow, and the prince got out under it. The fairies even turned that annoying raven to stone.

In real life, we talk about how God always makes it possible for us to win against the various struggles of life, but He doesn't make it easy for us. Now, I'm not so sure. If Prince Philip hadn't looked up, he might not have noticed the boulders, the arrows, or the scalding waterfall. At least, not until it was too late. But he still would have gotten past them. With absolutely no effort at all on his part, Prince Philip got past all those obstacles and rode off toward King Stephan's castle, simply because the fairies were helping him.

I wonder how many boulders and arrows there are in our lives, of which we may only be partially aware, which would easily destroy us if God weren't protecting us from them. How many times would something have crushed my spirits or steered me down the wrong path, but God saw fit to protect me from them? Granted, there are some obstacles in life that we have to face head-on with minimal heavenly assistance, like the goblins that fought Prince Philip after he left his cell, but even so, God provides us with the weapons of righteousness that we need to defeat them.

Maybe God does make life easy for us. At the very least, He makes it easy enough that we can actually win. And for the most part, we have no idea how challenging life would be if God wasn't giving us any help at all. If it weren't for the fairies, Prince Philip would never have gotten out of his cell. And even if he had, he would have had a hard time fighting off the goblins armed only with an ax. If he had managed that, he still would have been crushed by boulders, pierced by arrows, or burned by scalding liquid. If it hadn't been for the three good fairies, Philip never would have made it out alive.

***

We have no idea how lucky we are that God is on our side. We have no idea how hard life would be without His help. Most of us think that life is hard enough already, but it would be practically impossible without heavenly aid. I'm grateful that God has always been pulling for me, taking care of problems that I never even see. When this life is over, and we look back with clearer vision, I think we'll be surprised at how much help we've really been getting, and how much harder life would have been without it.

Sleeping Beauty - Sarcastic Sorceress Speaks Eternal Truths

A few days ago, I watched Sleeping Beauty. Not all of it, mind you - just the part where Prince Philip escapes the Forbidden Mountain and kills Maleficent. [Spoiler Alert, but then again, who hasn't seen Sleeping Beauty?] Because our copy of Sleeping Beauty is on a DVD, I was able to just jump ahead to the scene where Prince Philip begins his escape, but before that happens, Maleficent comes into his dungeon cell to mock him. As I listened to her monologue, I was surprised at how much of what she said reflected eternal truths. President Uchtdorf's talk, Your Happily Ever After came to mind at least once, and many other things she said reminded me of truths I've been taught since I was a child.

Oh, come now Prince Philip, why so melancholy? A wondrous future lies before you. You, the destined hero of a charming fairy tale come true.

First of all, she addressed him as "Prince Philip." She did that because he was a child of a king. Now, that should sound familiar to all of us. She makes reference to a "wondrous future." God has a wondrous future prepared for all of His children. And what Maleficent says about "a charming fairy tale come true" reminded me instantly of President Uchtdorf's talk. Maleficent didn't mean to be giving a Sunday School lesson to anyone, but she certainly reminded me of my heavenly parentage and potential.

Next, she gave us some details.

Behold, King Stephan's castle. And in yonder topmost tower, dreaming of her true love, the Princess Aurora. But see the gracious whim of fate - 'Tis the selfsame peasant maid who won the heart of our noble prince but yesterday. She is indeed most wondrous fair, gold of sunshine in her hair, lips that shame the red, red rose. In ageless sleep, she finds repose.

Naturally, King Stephan's castle doesn't hold a candle to the Celestial Kingdom, but that doesn't matter. It's just a symbol. And not every "Princess Aurora" has golden blonde hair or ruby red lips, but they're all beautiful in their own ways. And there's also no guarantee that the Princess will the resting in heaven  for a while before the Prince gets there. But that doesn't matter either. Whichever one gets there first, they'll both get there eventually, and the important thing is that they'll be together when they're there. That's one of the most beautiful promises of the Celestial Kingdom - We can be with our eternal companions there.

But first, we have to get through life (more on that in my next blog post). From our perspective, life is long and difficult, but God encourages us to stay faithful.

The years roll by, but a hundred years to a steadfast heart are but a day.

As part of our mortal lives, we all sin. That sin separates us from God, and makes us unworthy to enter the Celestial Kingdom. It puts us in a dungeon, so to speak. But God knew that would happen, and He had a plan for it. He sent His Son to suffer for us, to take our sins upon Himself and then die for us, so we could be freed.

And now, the gates of the dungeon part, and our prince is free to go his way. Off he rides on his noble steed, a valiant figure, straight and tall, to wake his love with love's first kiss, and prove that true love conquers all.

I know Maleficent was just mocking Prince Philip. I know that she didn't mean any of this. And I also know that an evil sorceress is not a good person to ask to teach a Sunday School lesson. But, wow. So much of what she says can be linked perfectly to the plan of salvation and our Eternal Potential. True love does conquer all. Or at least, Christ's love does. Through His Atonement, no matter what happens, it can be made right, and we can be freed from sin. I am so grateful for the Eternal Truths that are taught in the scriptures and in church. And I'm glad to hear a few of those truths, ironically, echoed in the words of an evil witch.

The Light of Wisdom

Wednesday night, my Mom and I were at a Buddhist temple for Jacob Cooks Eagle Scout Board of Review. We got there early, so I picked up a pamphlet or two to learn a little bit about Buddhism and to pass the time. One of the pamphlets I picked up was about Buddhist symbols, including Buddha statues, beads, and incense. It was very informative. But the part of the pamphlet I liked best was the part that talked about candles:

Candlelight is a symbol of wisdom. In our physical world, we see things through the medium of light. If there was no light, this world of ours would be so dark that we could not see anything. In trying to get around, we would stumble and run into many objects. Spiritually, without the light of wisdom,we would stumble and bump into many obstacles in life. 

Wisdom is very important in Buddhism and is different from knowledge. Knowledge is something acquired from external sources, such as read, listening to lectures, etc., but wisdom cannot be acquired externally. Wisdom must come from within a person's own life. Wisdom is realized only through direct and immediate personal experience. 

It is through being a sincere truth seeker that one's eye of wisdom can be opened. The word "Buddha" means the "awakened" one. The Buddha woke up to the truth of life and lived accordingly. The ordinary person goes through life spiritually asleep. True religiosity is not a search for light; light is all around us but our eyes are closed! Enlightenment is to "wake up" and see the light that has been shining all the time.

I really liked this message because so much of it rang true to me. If we don't follow spiritually light, if our eyes or hearts are closed to it, then we end up stumbling. Actually, life is difficult enough that we might stumble anyway, but when we follow the light, we don't stumble as much.

I also like what the pamphlet said about knowledge and wisdom - that knowledge can be gained externally, but wisdom must come from within. I think I agree with that for the most part, but what the pamphlet fails to mention about wisdom is that it requires knowledge as a base. Say there are two doors that look exactly the same. You know that behind one door is a very nice person who will give you ice cream, and behind the other door there is a very angry person who will cut your head off. Without the knowledge of which person is behind which door, you can't make a wise decision about which door to open (Unless, of course, you decide not to open either door. A 50% chance of getting ice cream isn't worth a 50% chance of getting killed. But you needed to know that there was a killer behind one of the doors in order to make that judgement, so again, knowledge was a prerequisite for wisdom).

The pamphlet probably didn't include all of that partly because of space, so I can't fault them for that. But I can compliment them on how much good stuff they did fit into those paragraphs. I find it striking that even though much of our doctrine is different, many of our core beliefs are the same. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we believe that one of the main purposes of this mortal experience is to gain wisdom and experience, so the emphasis that Buddhism places on gaining enlightenment, or advance wisdom, makes a lot of sense to me. And like they said, the light is all around us. We just need to open our eyes to see it, and then to put our feet on the right path and follow it.

I'm grateful for a God who loves all His children, and who shares gems of light and truth with everyone. I'm grateful for the guidance that I've been given, and I hope that I'll be able to gain more wisdom and knowledge as my life progresses. I want to be more enlightened.

Quick Post About Scriptures

There's a video on LDS.org called What the Scriptures Mean to Me. It's only five minutes long. I wish I could embed it, but I couldn't find it on Youtube, and I don't know how to embed videos from the player it's using. Perhaps I'll figure it out later. Until then, a link will do.

I don't always make time for effective scripture study. Yes, I read the scriptures just about every night, but I usually don't really focus on what I'm reading. I agree with the young man that spoke first in this video; the combination of prayer and scripture study is powerful. Prayer helps you set your mind on the things of God, then scripture study helps you to learn God's will. (It also helps to have your scripture study when you're not really tired.)

God loves us and wants us to do well. He knows what we need to do to be successful, and He tries to give us the guidance we need. A powerful source of that guidance is the scriptures. Through prayerful study of those inspired words, we can be led to read the messages God would share with us. I'm grateful for the scriptures and the guidance they provide, and I'm grateful for a Heavenly Father who cares enough to give us that guidance. I should definitely spend more time each day really studying the scriptures.

The Doctrine of Christ

On my mission, my favorite lesson to teach was the Gospel of Jesus Christ, or the Doctrine of Christ. In 3 Nephi 11, when Jesus Christ visits the Nephites, one of the first things He teaches them is His doctrine, which is simply Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End.

I liked this lesson because it was so simple, and it has so much common ground with so many other people. All Christians believe that Faith in Christ is important, and all good people believe that if someone does bad things, they should repent or change their ways. Many churches believe in baptism, but the mode of baptism, who has the need to be baptized, and who has the authority to baptize are the topics of many inter-faith religious arguments. Not many people know what we mean by the "Holy Ghost," but many are familiar with the Holy Spirit or the Spirit of God, so it isn't too hard to explain, and Enduring to the End simply means to continue living a Christian life - to continue to strengthen your faith, to continue to repent as needed, etc. It was a very easy lesson to teach, and there wasn't much in there that those we were teaching would disagree with.

A few nights ago, I reread that chapter, following along behind our family scripture study, and I was impressed by something Jesus said after telling the Nephites His gospel:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, that this is my doctrine, and whoso buildeth upon this buildeth upon my rock, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against them.
3 Nephi 11: 39

While I was reading this chapter, I was still thinking about defense; about how I can defend my soul against Satan's attacks. That verse stuck out to me. The basics of the gospel - the Seminary answers that pop into your head immediately when someone asks you what Christians believe in - this is how build upon the rock. This is how we make sure our testimonies are strong. This is how we defend our souls.  It's astonishing how easy it is to forget the basics, considering how important it is to remember them. I'm so glad I read this the other night. I think I needed the reminder.

Reversing Discouragement

It occurred to me as I was biking home from the excellent LDS Employment Workshop that the negative feelings I was having yesterday morning could only have been coming from Satan. That meant that Satan didn't want me to go to the Employment Workshop, and after attending the workshop, I can see why. It was a positive, encouraging, empowering experience for me. I can see why God would want me to go to a workshop like that. And, at the same time, I knew why Satan would want me to be too discouraged to go.

What God wants and what Satan wants are two very different things. In fact (if I understand the term correctly), they may be polar opposites. Whenever God wants something to happen, Satan doesn't want it to happen, and vice versa.

Satan is very fond of discouraging people from doing the right thing. When Joseph Smith went into the grove to ask which church was true, Satan tried to stop him. Satan didn't want the First Vision to happen, but God did.

So now I'm thinking - If Satan is trying to prevent something, that must mean that God wants it to happen. If you remember my blog post about agency with the red and green branches, where the green branch represents God's chosen path for us, and the red branches represent every other path, the ONLY path that Satan would want to stop us from going down is the one God has laid out for us. Thus, by trying to stop us from doing something, Satan is also confirming for us (with "us" here meaning all those who struggle to correctly interpret God's will) which path God wants us to go down. By trying to stop us from doing something, Satan is revealing that he knows that's what God would want us to do.

So, when you're trying to do something good, and you're feeling really depressed and discouraged about it, that may be a good thing. It's likely that you're doing something that your Father in Heaven would want you to do, which means, naturally, that Satan doesn't want you to succeed in it. Satan will always try to stop you when you're trying to do the right thing, and that thought alone could be discouraging, but it shows us, by Satan's opposition, that God wants us to continually strive to do the right thing. And I strongly believe that if God wants us to do something, either He's willing help us to do it, or He knows that we're already capable to do it on our own. And when we do it, whether we had Heaven's help in doing it or not, God'll bless us for doing it. And I'm pretty sure that the blessings He gives us, in this life and in the eternities, are fully worth the struggle Satan puts us through to get them.

So when you're facing extra struggles and you feel you can't go on, try to think of what God would want you to do and you may discover that you're already trying to do it. Then you'll know that the opposition you feel is from the devil, and you can pray for God to strengthen you to overcome his opposition. God will be with you to bless you, strengthen you, and comfort you as needed, and with His help, you will succeed.

A Quick Post Before I Go

I can't blog much today. I need to get ready and go to an LDS Employment Workshop. It starts at 9, and it'll take me at least and hour to get there. I need to get dressed and put on sunscreen and pack a lunch, or pack cash for a fast-food lunch. I'm not doing well this morning. I'm tempted to just call in sick. Anyhow, I need to get going.

But first, you need something spiritual. Hold on.

Picking up a random verse in the Book of Mormon isn't working. I've tried a couple of times now, and they've all been about death, and the wicked being put to death, and how hard it is to repent once you've been caught in a snare of sin.

Finally, a good one.

Alma 26: 27 Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success.

That's encouraging. I hope it's true.

Up, Awake, Ye Defenders of Zion!

Last night we went to a session of Stake Conference, and the thing that stood out most to me (beside the relatively recent convert giving an engaging and encouraging talk about her conversion) was President Alan Fisher's talk about the spiritual war for the souls of the world. It's one of those topics that appeal to me.

I told you that I've adopted a new system in which I gain XP through righteousness, and I can spend the XP on Skill Points to increase my Stats, that will make me a better Paladin. I also told you that I wasn't sure whether I should start by training my Magic Stat or my Defense Stat. Now I am. As I was reading through the Book of Mormon, I found (or rather, was led to) 3 Nephi 3: 26 which references bucklers, shields, and strong armor. When I read that, I knew I had found my answer.

So I went to conference with the question: What can I do to strengthen my defense? It's one thing to keep a list of tally marks on a piece of paper, and say that I gained one point to my Defense Stat, but it's another thing entirely to actually raise the strength of my spiritual defenses and increase my power to resist temptation. So I asked myself that question as I listened to conference, and the answer actually came to my mind very quickly, and it was confirmed by President Fisher's talk.

The opening hymn was one of those war hymns. It might have been Behold, A Royal Army! That's a good one. Or maybe it was Hope of Israel. Yes, I think that was it. Anyway, whatever hymn it was, it was during that hymn that I felt that I needed to remember that I'm almost literally at war for my soul. Seems so easy to forget, between Satan being subtle and there being so many other problems going on. But I felt that I needed daily reminders that I'm fighting for my (Eternal) life. And I realized that I haven't been saying morning personal prayers. I knew that I needed to correct that.

The need for frequent reminders was confirmed by President Fisher's talk, which focussed on the phrase, "We are all enlisted 'till the conflict is o'er!" During his talk, he said something to the effect of, "We are enlisted today. We will be enlisted tomorrow. We will continue to be enlisted for the rest of our lives." The battle for human souls isn't going to stop if we just forget about it. It's still going on, with or without our help. Satan won't stop trying to destroy us just because we're tired of defending ourselves from him, and he's not going to stop attacking others just because we're too timid to fight for their souls, too. Yes, eventually, the war will end and Satan will be defeated, whether we help to counter him or not, but as he goes down, he's going to take a lot of people, possibly including us, down with him, unless we fight for them.

We need to defend our own souls against Satan. We also need to help strengthen each other's defenses as much as we can. President Fisher did that last night by giving us a powerful call to arms, and now I'd like to repeat that message for anyone who reads this blog:

Up, awake, ye defenders of Zion!
The foe's at the door of your homes!
Let each heart be the heart of a lion,
Unyielding and proud as he roams.
Remember the trials of Missouri;
Forget not the courage of Nauvoo.
When the enemy host is before you,
Stand firm and be faithful and true!

By [God's] power is Zion surrounded;
Her warriors are noble and brave,
And their faith on Jehovah is founded,
Whose power is mighty to save.
In each soldier a brave heart is beating,
Tho our numbers, compared, may be few.
We'll not rest till our foes are retreating,
And we'll always be faithful and true.

That's one of my new favorite hymns. I love the lyrics. I wish I were more familiar with the tune, though. I was really stumbling over it when we sang it last night. Maybe I can find another tune I can sing it to, or maybe I can just recite the words like a poem. Anyway, the message is inspiring. When I get the chance, I'll have to thank President Fisher for sharing it.

The Savior Wants to Forgive

One of the hardest thing about maintaining a daily, spiritual blog is continually finding fresh things to blog about. I read the scriptures every night, and I usually get an insight or two out of that, but frequently, the insights I gain are either too personal to share, or repeated messages of things I've already shared. Then again, how many times have we heard a lesson on Faith or Repentance? I suppose if God doesn't have a problem repeating Himself, neither should I.

Last night, in our family scripture reading, we read 3 Nephi, chapter 9. In the previous chapter, the record relates the cataclysmic event in which many cities were destroyed by the hand of the Lord, then a terrible darkness came over the land, so no one could see anything. Out of the darkness, the voice of the Lord spoke to the survivors of the great destruction, telling them what all He had done, and then he said:

O all ye that are spared because ye were more righteous than they, will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you? 

Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me.
3 Nephi 9: 13-14

What strikes me about this invitation is that the Lord wants to forgive them. He wants to heal them and welcome them into the Kingdom of God. Even as He had just demonstrated His power and justice in destroying the wicked, that's not what He wants. It's necessary sometimes, but it's not what He wants. He wants us to repent so He can take our sins upon Himself and accept us into the fold of God.

I'm comforted in knowing that the Savior is always eager to forgive our sins and help us to repent. No matter what mistakes we've made, no matter what bad habits we struggle against, Jesus Christ will always be there, willing and waiting, to help us overcome our obstacles and shortcomings and become more like He is.

I sometimes feel like I'm hopeless, but thanks mostly to scriptures like these, deep down I know that I never am. As Elder Holland said, "It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ’s Atonement shines." As I'm sure I've said before, I find it very comforting that the Savior wants to forgive.

To Strengthen Your Relationship With God

On the last page of the current Ensign, you'll find this quote by President Uchtdorf, "To strengthen our relationship with God, we need some meaningful time alone with Him." The quote goes on to say more than that, and so does the talk this quote came from, but this is the part I wanted to focus on.

To strengthen our relationship with God,

We all have a relationship with God. We are His children. However, just as children can become distant from their mortal parents by not communicating with them or listening to them, we can become distant from God by not communicating with, or listening to, Him. We can communicate with Him through prayer. He communicates to us through scriptures, the words of prophets, and through the thoughts in our hearts. The more we communicate with God and listen to His messages to us, the stronger our relationship will be.

We need some meaningful time

Let's place some emphasis on the word meaningful. As we've all been taught before. It's not enough to just say our prayers read the scriptures. We need to pray to God fervently and study the scriptures diligently. The quote I cut short continues with:

Quietly focusing on daily personal prayer and scripture study, always aiming to be worthy of a current temple recommend - these will be some wise investments of our time and efforts to draw closer to out Heavenly Father.

And these aren't the only things we can do to spend meaningful time with God. There are many things that can draw us closer to Him. For example, the image in the Ensign that goes with this quote shows us a pleasant-looking grove. I'd say that spending time in nature is a good way to bring oneself closer to God. But we have to have God in our hearts so we can really connect with Him. Otherwise, we'll just be taking a nice walk in the woods.

Alone with Him.

This phrase reminds me of a fact that I very frequently forget - We are never alone. God, through His angels, is always watching over us. He is mindful of every thought, every action, every event in our lives. Yet strangely, though He is always close to us, we don't always feel close to Him. Sin can cause feelings of separation from our Heavenly Father, and this includes sins of omission, such as not praying and studying the scriptures. To regain that closeness we once had, we have to put sincere effort into trying to bring our hearts closer to God. Prayer and scripture study are essential for this, but there are other things we can do as well. Anything that you do that makes you feel closer to God will probably help you to become more like Him.

I wonder if President Uchtdorf meant to imply that being alone (as defined as being away from other people) is a requirement. Certainly, it helps. When I'm at church and want to feel especially close to God, I try to find an empty room where I can pray and, if I can find an empty room with a piano in it, play a few hymns. Being alone with God is nice.

But you can't always be alone and I'm not sure you have to. In the Celestial Room, only one person per session has the room to themselves, and they only have that solitude for a few seconds (unless they wait until every other patron leaves - then they can have the room to themselves for quite some time). But despite there almost always being another handful of people in the room with you, the Celestial Room is one of those special places where a person can feel close to God. You don't have to be alone with God to be with God. But do you have to be alone with God to strengthen your relationship with Him, as President Uchtdorf's quote suggests? Can you be "alone with God" even when you're not literally alone? I don't know. I don't want to misinterpret prophetic counsel. Maybe we should, schedules permitting, set aside time when we can be, literally, alone with God every so often, just to play it safe.

Conclusion

What I mostly take away from this quote is that God is a lot like everyone else in that if you want to have a good relationship with Him, you've got to spend some quality time together. Do things you both enjoy, like going for walks in nature or playing nice music. Become better acquainted with Him by learning about His traits through those who know Him well. Bond with Him by talking with Him honestly, openly, and frequently. I promise that as you follow any of these suggestions, especially those suggested by President Uchtdorf, your relationship with God will improve.

The Pride Cycle

Last night, as we were reading from 3 Nephi 7, it struck Mom and I as odd how frequently the Nephites went from being righteous to being wicked in a short space of time. It seems like every time the Nephites become righteous and start to get blessings for being righteous, they forget God and start being wicked again. Helman 12: 1-3 reads:

And thus we can behold how false, and also the unsteadiness of the hearts of the children of men; yea, we can see that the Lord in his great infinite goodness doth bless and prosper those who put their trust in him. 

Yea, and we may see at the very time when he doth prosper his people, yea, in the increase of their fields, their flocks and their herds, and in gold, and in silver, and in all manner of precious things of every kind and art; sparing their lives, and delivering them out of the hands of their enemies; softening the hearts of their enemies that they should not declare wars against them; yea, and in fine, doing all things for the welfare and happiness of his people; yea, then is the time that they do harden their hearts, and do forget the Lord their God, and do trample under their feet the Holy One—yea, and this because of their ease, and their exceedingly great prosperity. 

And thus we see that except the Lord doth chasten his people with many afflictions, yea, except he doth visit them with death and with terror, and with famine and with all manner of pestilence, they will not remember him.

This is unfortunately true. And, come to think of it, it may be part of the reason why bad things sometimes happen to good people - to keep them good. Of course, that's just a wild guess. I'm probably wrong. But, sticking to what I know, people do tend to forget how much God is helping them when they find out that they're doing well. I believe I recently posted about a time when the Nephites boasted of their own strength when they were winning battles, so God left them to their own strength, and they started losing again. It's an example of the Pride Cycle that we hear of from time to time:

People are righteous, and God blesses them.
Because of their blessings and, as Helaman put it, "because of their ease," they begin to forget God.
The People grow wicked and God starts withholding His blessings from them.
People struggle without God's blessings, and they eventually turn to God for help.
As people repent and become righteous again, God blesses them again, and the cycle continues.

If you continue reading from Helaman 12, Helaman goes on to lament how foolish people are to not obey God, even when God is blessing them, and I frequently feel like lamenting that with him. It seems that too many people are stuck in the same endless cycle; being blessed, then forgetting where those blessings came from, ignoring God, losing the blessings, struggling, and maybe, if they ever wise up, turning to God again with a renewed effort to be righteous.

The good news is that we can, theoretically, break the cycle by choosing to remain righteous even when we're blessed. And the trick to breaking the cycle may be Gratitude. If we thank God for our many blessings, we may be able to remind ourselves that all our blessings came from Him. And if we remember that, we may feel an increased desire to thank God by keeping His commandments. If we continue to keep His commandments, He'll continue to bless us, and we can thank Him for the continued blessings by continuing to keep the commandments. And that cycle can also be endless.

The Blessings of the Temple

This afternoon, Mom and I are going to the temple. This is nothing new. She's goes every Wednesday and I often go with her. But this morning, as I was browsing the videos on the Mormon Channel, I thought it would be fitting to share a message about the temple, and I was blessed to find this:





In this video, Elder Russell M. Nelson and several other members share their thoughts about the temple and why it's special to them.

I think my favorite part of the video is when Elder Nelson said, "No unclean thing can enter His hallowed house. Yet anyone is welcome, who prepares well." Then we heard from a woman who couldn't enter the temple yet, but she still went to the temple, just to be near it. She said, "I always felt a sense of peace there."

I tend to feel a sense of peace there, too. I don't go to the temple as often as I should. More regular attendance would probably help to fill in the gaps where I feel that I'm lacking, especially in regards to spiritual matters such as faith and will-power. I'm not as strong as I'd like to be in some areas, and I think that going to the temple more often will make me stronger. I'm glad I'm going today.

If you haven't gone to the temple recently, think about the blessings that these members have experienced in the temple, including a sense of peace, a better relationship with your Heavenly Father, and an abundance of the Spirit, and consider whether having those blessings in your life would be worth taking the time to go. If you get the chance, I would recommend that you go soon. I highly doubt that you'll regret it.

Shall the Lawful Captive be Delivered?

In our family scripture study, the Nephites just finished having another war, but this time, it wasn't against the Lamanites. This time, they and the Lamanites were fighting against a separate group called the Gadianton Robbers. After a tremendous battle and a handful of smaller ones, the Nephites and Lamanites defeated the Gadianton Robbers.

And now it came to pass that when they had taken all the robbers prisoners, insomuch that none did escape who were not slain, they did cast their prisoners into prison, and did cause the word of God to be preached unto them; and as many as would repent of their sins and enter into a covenant that they would murder no more were set at liberty.
3 Nephi 5: 4

This verse stuck out to me, not because they preached the gospel to their prisoners (they've done that before), but because they then let the prisoners go.

A reoccurring theme throughout the Book of Mormon is Deliverance. The good guys frequently escape bondage and/or destruction in the Book of Mormon, but this time, the shoe is on the other foot. This time, it's the good guys letting the former bad guys go after they've promised not to repeat the offense. This didn't sound very wise to me, but it did sound familiar.

Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered?
Isaiah 49: 24

 God is, in some ways, a gatekeeper. He judges between the righteous and the wicked, and the righteous go where the righteous belong and the wicked go where the wicked belong. It's totally just and fair. In that case, we who have sinned would become lawful captives. We broke the law. We go to jail. End of Story. Or is it?

Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered? 

But thus saith the Lord, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.
Isaiah 49: 24-25

God is always fair and just, but He's also merciful. Even though we have sinned, and we deserve whatever punishment He sets out for us, He doesn't want us to suffer. He'd much rather that we learn from our mistakes, accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ, repent, and enter into a covenant to keep the commandments. Then, even though we don't deserve it, He will set us free.

God is good. And He wants His people to be good. He wants us to seek His forgiveness and to grant our forgiveness to whomever needs it, whether they deserve it or not. It probably wasn't easy for the Nephites to let the former robbers go. I'd probably hold a grudge against them, but that isn't God's way. God's message to all is repentance, and forgiveness for all who repent. I'm thankful for that.  I'm grateful that I believe in a God who believes in deliverance.

Dissensions Among the Nephites

In church yesterday, the instructor in Elder's Quorum shared Matthew 6:24: No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

This scripture is almost always used to illustrate the concept that, since you can only do one thing at a time, you can only serve one person at a time (unless there's one thing that you can do that would serve multiple people). Since there's no one thing you can do that would serve both God and Satan, you cannot serve them both at the same time.

But this got me thinking - You can only fight one person at a time, too.

Of the many times that the Nephites were losing in their fights against the Lamanites, a few of those times, it was because they were too busy fighting amongst themselves. They couldn't fight themselves and their enemies at the same time, and still expect to defeat their enemies.

Similarly, we can't expect to defeat our enemy, Satan, if we're busy fighting ourselves. Every negative thought we have about ourselves redirects our attention away from our real enemy, and since we're fighting the wrong target,  we're not going to win.

Worship Through Music

I spent a good portion of this morning listening to hymns performed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I love those hymns. They lift my heart and raise my spirits, no matter how joyful or miserable I felt when I started to listen.

In his talk, Worship Through Music, Elder Dalin H. Oaks said, "The singing of hymns is one of the best ways to put ourselves in tune with the Spirit of the Lord. ... Music is an effective way to worship our Heavenly Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. We should use hymns when we need spiritual strength and inspiration."

And may I point out that we could always use more spiritual strength and inspiration.

This is going to be a short blog post because I spent so much time listening to music and I need to take a shower soon and get ready for church, but if you've checked this blog hoping to feel the spirit, I'd advise you to repeat in your mind the words and/or the music of the first hymn that comes to your mind. I wouldn't be surprised at all if you feel the spirit quickly by doing that.

Your Happily Ever After

I feel good today. Last night, I babysat my sister's kids and had a lot of fun, and I borrowed my niece's Disney Pixie rubics cube, which I eventually managed to solve. (It was hard getting all their faces just right!) Then I slept well and slept in. (It's Saturday, so I can get away with that.) And this morning, I made a partly, if not mostly, inspired system for turning something important (and unfortunately too personal to share details) into something fun. Basically, through righteousness, I earn XP, which eventually translates into Skill Points, which I can use to increase my "Stats." Since I just started this system (and back-dated it to start last Monday), I only have a few XP, but I'm excited to earn more so I can earn my first Skill Point. I'm probably going to put it into my Magic Stat for versatility, or into my Defense Stat for endurance. It's a tough choice (even though it doesn't actually change anything), but I've got another week to think about it. (I don't want to "earn" XP or Skill Points too quickly or they wouldn't mean anything. Then again, they literally don't mean anything anyway. But anyway, I want to really earn them, and that should take time and effort.)

My new system is based off of fantasy-style, pencil and paper role-playing games, and it's got me thinking about knights and heroes and magic, and stuff like that. That leads me to a talk from President Deiter F. Uchtdorf, which I have actually never heard since it was given in a General Young Women Meeting, but I've wanted to share on my blog since the day I learned of its existence: Your Happily Ever After.

“Once upon a time” promises something: a story of adventure and romance, a story of princesses and princes. It may include tales of courage, hope, and everlasting love. In many of these stories, nice overcomes mean and good overcomes evil. But perhaps most of all, I love it when we turn to the last page and our eyes reach the final lines and we see the enchanting words “And they lived happily ever after.”

Isn’t that what we all desire: to be the heroes and heroines of our own stories; to triumph over adversity; to experience life in all its beauty; and, in the end, to live happily ever after?

It certainly has great appeal to me! I would love to have more courage, greater hope, and a deeper feeling of love, and I especially want good to ultimately triumph over evil. Thankfully, these are all blessings that God has promised to the righteous.

And, most glorious of all, He offers you a gift beyond price and comprehension. Heavenly Father offers to you the greatest gift of all—eternal life—and the opportunity and infinite blessing of your own “happily ever after.”

But such a blessing does not come without a price. It is not given simply because you desire it. It comes only through understanding who you are and what you must become in order to be worthy of such a gift.

The next section of President Uchtdorf's talk talks about trials, both in stories and in real life. He recalls a few classic fairy tale characters, then says, "Sandwiched between their 'once upon a time' and 'happily ever after,' they all had to experience great adversity." "Cinderella [had] to endure her wicked stepmother and evil stepsisters." "In 'Beauty and the Beast,' Belle [became] a captive to a frightful-looking beast in order to save her father." In "Sleeping Beauty," Princess Aurora was taken away from the home she'd grown up in and was enchanted with a powerful curse, while Prince Philip was captured by goblins and had to battle a sorceress/dragon.

And these are people living in fantasy worlds! When someone in real life is "living in a fantasy world," we imagine that they think that everything is wonderful and that it'll all work out in the end, but if we pay closer attention to the middles of those classic stories, we'll find that fantasy worlds aren't always as wonderful as we think. In that way, they're a lot like real life.

In stories, as in life, adversity teaches us things we cannot learn otherwise. Adversity helps to develop a depth of character that comes in no other way. Our loving Heavenly Father has set us in a world filled with challenges and trials so that we, through opposition, can learn wisdom, become stronger, and experience joy.

          ...

My dear young sisters, you need to know that you will experience your own adversity. None is exempt. You will suffer, be tempted, and make mistakes. You will learn for yourself what every heroine has learned: through overcoming challenges come growth and strength.

One of my least favorite of the truths that we learn in church is that some lessons can only be learned the hard way, that there has to be adversity and opposition. And, even worse, just suffering through affliction is not enough.

It is your reaction to adversity, not the adversity itself, that determines how your life’s story will develop.

Enduring adversity is not the only thing you must do to experience a happy life. Let me repeat: how you react to adversity and temptation is a critical factor in whether or not you arrive at your own “happily ever after.”

So, we have to not only endure the trials of life, but we have to endure them well. This is starting to get depressing. Let's go back to the good news.

We all search for happiness, and we all try to find our own “happily ever after.” The truth is, God knows how to get there! And He has created a map for you; He knows the way. He is your beloved Heavenly Father, who seeks your good, your happiness. He desires with all the love of a perfect and pure Father that you reach your supernal destination. The map is available to all. It gives explicit directions of what to do and where to go to everyone who is striving to come unto Christ and “stand as [a witness] of God at all times and in all things, and in all places.” All you have to do is trust your Heavenly Father. Trust Him enough to follow His plan.

          ...

I understand that, at times, some may wonder why they attend Church meetings or why it is so important to read the scriptures regularly or pray to our Heavenly Father daily. Here is my answer: You do these things because they are part of God’s path for you. And that path will take you to your “happily ever after” destination. 

“Happily ever after” is not something found only in fairy tales. You can have it! It is available for you! But you must follow your Heavenly Father’s map.

I'm grateful for a Heavenly Father that has such a glorious future planned for His children, and I'm grateful He shows us the way to achieve it. I'm very much looking forward to the "happily ever after" after all the struggles and conflicts of life are over. In the meantime, I'm grateful that Heavenly Father is always there to help us endure the storms of life and reach our divine potential. I'm thankful there's a "happily ever after" waiting for us all.

Perspective From the Kennel

I'm not going bike-riding today. As I was making plans yesterday, I hadn't taken into account how hot it's going to be today.

This morning, I found and article by Elder Neil L. Andersen. It's titled The Master's Love. It's about a man Elder Andersen once met while he was at an airport in France. The man was there to pick up his dog.

Through his work, he'd been transfered to Bordeaux, and couldn't take his dog with him right away, so he put his beloved pet in a kennel while he arranged things so his dog could join him in the new city.

As Elder Andersen though about this, he considered how frightening this must be for the dog: To have gone from a comfortable and familiar home with a loving master, to a kennel full of strangers.

He did not realize that his master had a plan for him, that they would soon be reunited, and that in the meantime, his master was paying for his kennel and his food, ensuring that he would be kept in a warm place out of the cold. All that time his master was preparing a place for him at an even finer house in Bordeaux.

Then the dog would be put through an even more frightening experience - air travel.

Again, in my mind I could imagine two men arriving at the kennel one day, taking the dog, and putting him in the crate. Soon the Labrador found himself in the belly of an airplane. Again he must have wondered what was happening. I could imagine his fear.

When  he arrived at the airport and was let out of his crate, he was obviously scared and confused.

Then suddenly the eyes of the black Labrador met the eyes of his master. Immediately, the dog’s behavior changed. His barking stopped and his tail started wagging. He jumped into the arms of his master and they embraced,

Elder Andersen went on to explain what he'd learned from witnessing that experience, but in my opinion, the analogy is obvious.

We once had a home in heaven. God, our Father, was with us, as were Jesus Christ and everyone else. We probably could have spent eternity there and have been fairly happy, but God had other plans. He had an even better future planned for us, but as an essential part in that plan we'd have to spend some time on earth. Earth isn't quite as bad as a kennel for most people, but it's not exactly heaven either, and the worst part about life on earth is the doubt and the fear. We forget sometimes that there's a God in Heaven who loves us. We forget that He has a plan for us. We sometimes forget what we must do to fulfill our part of that plan. And sometimes we can only wonder whether there is a plan at all.

Then an even more frightening experience happens - death. Death, while not so frightening to those who have great faith, is so shrouded in mystery that most people fear it and try to prevent it for as long as they can. But death is another essential part of the plan. As Elder Andersen said:

Someday we will return to stand before our Master. At that moment, if we have lived as we should, we will experience in person His great love, and with the greatest happiness and satisfaction we will hear our Master say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: … enter thou into the joy of thy lord” (Matthew 25:21).

Like the dog, it's only natural for us to feel confused, afraid, and discouraged. But unlike him, we have been blessed with a way to communicate with our Master and receive comfort and encouragement from Him. We don't have to feel alone. God is preparing great things for us, and His love is always only a prayer away.

Planning a Bike Ride & Discouraging Discouragement

This morning, I felt discouraged. So I went on LDS.org and typed "discouragement" in the search bar, hoping to be lead to a talk or article that would tell me how to counter it. The first one just made me want to cry. Not too helpful, except for the part where the speaker quoted D&C 136:29 "If thou art sorrowful, call on the Lord thy God with supplication, that your souls may be joyful." That's the part that really got me, so I tried it. It worked, sorta.

God asked me what I really wanted to do. I knew He wasn't talking about life or the future, or even Eternal Life. He was talking about today or tomorrow, in the foreseeable future, sometime soon. I told Him that I wanted to go for a run, or a bike ride; that I wanted to go far away (and come back the same day, of course). I wanted to go out farther than I had gone before, to see things I hadn't seen before. And I got to thinking: The American River Bike trail goes all the way to Folsom Lake.

I thought that was an incredible distance for a bike ride, but that it was possible. I looked it up on Google Maps, and sure enough, biking from my house to Folsom Lake would take nearly six hours. I almost gave up on the idea right then. Six hours to get there? More than six hours to get back (since I'll be tired)? That's more than 12 hours. Do I really want to spend the ENTIRE day riding my bike? I don't think I have the stamina for that!

But then I saw that, on the map, the path to Folsom Lake seemed to loop around itself. I zoomed in on that and saw that Google Maps was giving me directions to the tip of a peninsula on the far side of the lake. I took that part out of the trip and told Google Maps that I wanted directions to the point where the American River comes out of Folsom Lake. Three hours. That couldn't be right. You remember I'm biking, right? Yep. And it's only going to take me three hours? Yep. But, wait! I rode my bike to the Nimbus Fish Hatchery, along that same river, but closer, and it took me nearly three hours! Give me directions to the hatchery. Two and a half hours. The map showed it being just shy of Folsom Lake. No kidding. Maybe I actually can make that trip in one day.

"It's still going to take you a lot of time, though," God reminded me. "If you want to make that trip tomorrow, and feel good about it, you'd better do a lot of good work today, first."

So, I started a load of laundry, mowed the lawn, and had a wonderful plate of eggs for breakfast. Not surprisingly, now I feel great. But I still need to blog, so I went back to that discouragement page and found an article with the tag line, "If you want to be happy most of the time, do the things that bring happiness."

That sounds good to me! I read the article, and it is good. Here's a link, and my highlights:

How to Discourage Discouragement - Elder Gene R. Cook of the Seventy

I hope you are not really down on yourself or think you are not worth very much. That is the devil speaking. He is the one who keeps pounding away to make you feel that you are not worth much. That is not the Lord speaking.

Discouragement is a pretty common ailment. We all struggle with that to some degree, but I want to tell you how to remove discouragement.

1. Prayer

You need to pray. If you really want to not be discouraged, one of the best solutions I know of is to pray. Have a prayer in your heart always. To the degree you will learn to pray your way through a day, you will find that Satan and his evil influence will leave, the Spirit of the Lord will come, and you will be on top and be able to go through the trials that come your way.

2. Scriptures

Read in the scriptures prayerfully every day. Do not set aside your scripture study or you will be inviting in the devil, who will try to discourage you.

3. Cleanliness

Be especially careful to keep yourself clean. One thing that can surely discourage you very quickly is to get involved in some kind of sin.

Moroni 10:22: And if ye have no hope ye must needs be in despiar; and despair cometh because of iniquity.

In Helaman chapter five, Nephi and Lehi are in a prison. There is a dark cloud hanging over the Lamanites and they are asking, “How do we get rid of this dark cloud?” Discouragement is like a dark cloud when it is hanging over you. How do you get rid of it?

The simple answer in Helaman 5:41 is, “You must repent, and cry unto the voice [meaning unto the Lord, to pray], even until ye shall have faith in Christ, … and when ye shall do this, the cloud of darkness shall be removed from overshadowing you.”

The Lord is teaching here that the reason we are down is that we have sinned. And if we will repent and humbly ask the Lord to forgive us, in faith, His sweet Spirit will come back.

4. Testify

Look for opportunities to bear your testimony. If you want to chase discouragement away, find some nonmembers and bear your testimony to them, or maybe just to a friend who’s a little disheartened today.

5. Hymns (My personal favorite)

Use the hymns of the Church. This is a great way to stay above discouragement. I used to think when I was younger that I would sing when I got discouraged. To me, that is a good way to get free of discouragement, but it’s a little late. A better way is to sing all the time. And if you will do that, you won’t go down into one of those troughs. Get in the habit of singing hymns every day.

6. Love and Gratitude

Express love and gratitude to God and men. You can truly express your love to someone and have the Spirit of the Lord come right now, and discouragement will leave. If you are feeling down, go find someone to cheer up. If you are down, go and tell someone how much you love them. I’m thinking of some of your dads and moms who need that from you. Go throw your arms around them.

Remember, too, that if you don’t like the way you are feeling, you need to correct the way you are thinking. When you first have a bad thought come, or a discouraging thought such as, “I’m not worth much,” or “I’m going to flunk this test,” or “People won’t like me,” cast it out immediately.

7. Share spiritual experiences

If you are down, go tell someone about something positive that happened to you yesterday. Share a spiritual experience, and the Spirit will come right away.

The Lord is in all of His creations, and especially in you.

8. Priesthood Blessings

If you are really struggling with discouragement of some depth, seek a priesthood blessing now.

A priesthood blessing has great power in keeping Satan away and gives you strength to turn him away when he does come.

Conclusion

I bear witness to you that if you will adopt a pattern similar to this, it will take the dips out of your lives. I testify that a man can be happy most of his days, most every hour of every day. The key to it is to have the Spirit of the Lord with you, to love people, to give your heart to others, to seek to build them up, to lift and strengthen them. This will bring true happiness and true peace. I testify that there is no other way to receive that happiness and peace except by keeping the commandments of the Lord.

Moses vs Satan

This morning, LDS.org didn't load, but to be fair to their servers, I only tried once. Then I went to youtube and went immediately to the Mormon Channel. After a little browsing, I found this:





This is a powerful video, and not just because the videographers did a good job with the effects and editing. In this video, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland teaches that even when we have spiritually uplifting, empowering moments, the tempter is never far away, and Moses shows the power of his testimony in resisting Satan.

The most instructive part of this video for me was when Elder Holland said that Satan was defeated, "always to come again, we can be sure, but always to be defeated by the God of glory - always." It reminds me of the eternal nature of this struggle. Satan will never stop trying to steal our souls, and God will never stop being stronger than him. God will never stop coming to help us defend ourselves from Satan, when we call for His help, but Satan will never stop coming back and trying again.

This should be encouraging, but it's not. I should be glad that even though Satan continually fights against God, he will always lose. Instead, I'm discouraged because Satan will never grow tired of attacking me, and I do, too frequently, lose. I realize that I only lose because I fail to call on God when I'm tempted, but sometimes it takes a while for me to discover that I'm even being tempted. Satan's not always as direct as he is in this video. I suppose then, Elder Holland's advice is even more applicable: "Don't let your guard down." Thanks for the tip. I'll try to remember it.

But my favorite part of this video is the response one youtuber made to it.

movieguru42:

This same scenario is played out multiple times everyday inside our own hearts and minds. We are tempted and have a choice. We can choose to live as children of God and have hope or to bow down in despair and give up. Even though our experiences defying evil might not be as dramatically visible as was Moses', it doesn't make them any less real.

It's comforting to know that there are people like movieguru42 posting comments like this one online. Somehow, I find the words of a normal, everyday person more encouraging than the words of an Apostle of God. "We can choose to live as children of God" I'm going to try to find a way to send him a message so I can thank him for posting this comment.

I also like that Moses defeated Satan by remembering that he, Moses, is a son of God. He remembered his worth and value and divine potential. He remembered his Heavenly Father, the one being he is supposed to worship. He must have called on the Lord, in his heart at least, and he received the strength and courage to counter Satan and send him away. May we follow Moses' example and repel the tempter every time he attacks.