Missionary Work - No Talent Required

There's been a big push in the church for missionary work recently. Since the change in the minimum age for full-time missionaries, there have been a handful of General Conference talks calling for members to engage in missionary work, and our Stake Conference a week ago was pretty much all about member missionary work. So how can we get involved?

Just a few days ago, my mom told me that one of her non-member friends liked one of my blog posts, and she might have mentioned that my blog could be a channel through which I do missionary work (I don't remember exactly whether she said that or not - it was a few days ago). I've been told, by people who teach English to college students for a living, that I have a talent for writing, and I feel like I'm in touch with spiritual things pretty often, at least, I'm good at finding analogies. It makes sense to combine those two things, which may be a part of the reason of why I blog. But I have my doubts.

Writing, like any form of art, is subject to personal opinion. I can form a grammatically correct sentence and punctuate it correctly, but that's where the science of the thing ends. After that, it's all about whether the readers understand, enjoy, and learn from what I've written. I am said to have a "talent" for something that's mostly out of my hands. Yes, there are ways I can write things so that they carry a certain "tone" (one teacher called it a "voice" of writing), but whether it's a pleasant tone is mostly in the ears of the hearer, or the eyes of the reader.

Those sharing the gospel in person face a similar problem. Even if they knew just what to say, how can they know the right way to say it? There are many subtle tones and inflections in speaking in singing, much more than there is in writing (unless I decided to start playing with different fonts). How can we share the gospel in such a way that it won't come out badly or be taken the wrong way?

For that, I'm afraid we need angelic help. Fortunately, in the words of President Deiter F. Uchtdorf, "The Lord can magnify the words you speak and make them mighty. God doesn’t ask you to convert but rather to open your mouths. The task of converting is not yours—that belongs to the person hearing and to the Holy Spirit" (A Word For the Hesitant Missionary, Ensign, Feb 2013). So, maybe you're not too great at talking to people. Maybe I'm not actually all that great at writing. It doesn't matter. All that God is asking of us when it comes to missionary work is to open our mouths or stretch out our fingers and talk or write about the gospel, so the Holy Ghost can carry the message unto the hearts of the people we're speaking or writing to. That's something that we all can do, whether we have a talent for it or not.

Beware of Bondage

Have you ever read or listened to a General Conference talk that was from a session you were sure you had attend, but that you are equally sure you have never heard before? For me, this morning, that talk was Lamentations of Jeremiah: Beware of Bondage, by Elder Quentin L. Cook, from the Sunday Afternoon session of the October 2013 General Conference. I know that I was there. I'm sure that I was listening. But I am certain that I don't remember any of this.

God intended that men and women would be free to make choices between good and evil. When evil choices become the dominant characteristic of a culture or nation, there are serious consequences both in this life and the life to come. People can become enslaved or put themselves in bondage not only to harmful, addictive substances but also to harmful, addictive philosophies that detract from righteous living. 

Turning from the worship of the true and living God and worshipping false gods like wealth and fame and engaging in immoral and unrighteous conduct result in bondage in all its insidious manifestations. These include spiritual, physical, and intellectual bondage and sometimes bring destruction.

Does this sound familiar? I does to me; not in the sense that I've heard it before, but in the sense that it describes something that I have witnessed: Evil choices becoming dominant characteristics of a nation... the worship of false gods like wealth and fame... It sounds a lot like US.

(Subtle word-play intended. "US" can be taken to mean "Us," the pronoun meaning a group of people in which the speaker is included, or it can be taken to mean "U.S." as in "The United States (of America)," the country in which I live.)

Morally, as a nation and as many individuals within this nation, I believe that we are slipping into sin. How do we stop it? We can't stop other people from making bad choices. As Elder Cook noted in the first paragraph above, "God intended that men and women would be free to make choices between good and evil." But he also said, later in his talk, "We should do everything within our power to avoid the sin and rebellion that lead to bondage." Though we cannot force other people to be righteous, we can choose to be righteous ourselves, and the more people choose to be righteous, the more the moral trends of society in general will begin to reverse.

Elder Cook gave us the following specific advice that is directly relevant to the challenges we face in our day (Thank God for modern prophets!) :

Bondage, subjugation, addictions, and servitude come in many forms. ... I will mention four that are particularly pernicious in today’s culture. 

First, addictions that impair agency, contradict moral beliefs, and destroy good health cause bondage. The impact of drugs and alcohol, immorality, pornography, gambling, financial subjugation, and other afflictions imposes on those in bondage and on society a burden of such magnitude that it is almost impossible to quantify. 

This is perhaps the most evil and most powerful form of bondage in our day. Satan has grasped many otherwise good people in chains such as these, and they are difficult to remove. If you are, at this time, free of such bondage, STAY AWAY FROM IT. If you are, at this time, in such bondage, GET OUT OF IT. That's easier said than done, of course. But your Bishop will help you if you turn to him. Your God will help you if you turn to Him. You likely have friends or family members who will help you if you turn to them, and even if you don't (or think you don't), there are support groups for every ailment. You will find help if you seek it, and with that help, you can become free.

Second, some addictions or predilections, while not inherently evil, can use up our precious allotment of time which could otherwise be used to accomplish virtuous objectives. These can include excessive use of social media, video and digital games, sports, recreation, and many others. 

*cough cough* Facebook *cough* Youtube *cough* Just to name the two that afflict me most often. There are many, many others. I'm sure we could each name whichever one eats up the most of our time. We've all been told that it's not wise to spend too much time at a computer, yet, ironically, here we are. Granted, there are many good and uplifting things we can do on the internet. We just need to remember to not let it take up too much of our time. Speaking of which, this blog post is already quite lengthy, and I have at least two more points from Elder Cook's talk to go. Moving on.

Third, the most universal subjugation in our day, as it has been throughout history, is ideology or political beliefs that are inconsistent with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Substituting the philosophies of men for gospel truth can lead us away from the simplicity of the Savior’s message. When the Apostle Paul visited Athens, he tried to teach of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Of this effort we read in Acts, “For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing." When the crowd realized the simple religious nature of Paul’s message, which was not new, they rejected it. 

Some of Christ's doctrines and the doctrines of His true church (which are effectively the same except that some are more universally accepted than the others) are being labelled as prejudiced and intolerant by those who go to great lengths to remain "politically correct," a phrase which here means "popular in the eyes of the masses." In some circles, personal opinions are being taught in the place of moral truths. I, myself, have been guilty of that, on this very blog (which is part of the reason for the recent trend of taking my source material from General Conference talks). Many people believe that everyone should be free to make their own choices, and certainly they are. But it bothers me when actions that are destructive to the souls of those who enact them and to innocents who suffer as a result are treated as common-place and acceptable. There will, unfortunately, be consequences. And the consequences of certain socially-accepted actions can only be avoided by refraining from the actions themselves.

Fourth, forces that violate sincerely held religious principles can result in bondage. One of the most invidious forms is when righteous people who feel accountable to God for their conduct are forced into activities that violate their conscience—for example, health providers forced to choose between assisting with abortions against their consciences or losing their jobs.

And while we're on the subject of socially-accepted actions that are harmful, in fact, fatal, to innocent human beings... Never mind. I don't really want to talk about it any more than I already have.

The good news is hidden in the definition I used for the phrase "politically correct" in a previous paragraph. Politicians get into power by saying and agreeing with things that are "popular in the eyes of the masses." And who are "the masses"? We are. Or at least, we're part of the masses. My point is that we can change the world by making our opinions heard. Politicians fight for everyone's votes, including ours, and if we tell them they can get our votes by supporting a more morally-responsible society, that's what they'll promise to do. Right now, the majority seems to be rallying under the flags of pro-choice and marriage-equality and other things that sound good, but will ultimately lead to destruction. But when a majority of good people take a firm stand for personal righteousness, I believe that we'll see things starting to change in politics.

Society is just a very large number of individuals. If those individuals, you and I, pledge to be more righteous and support righteous causes, society, or at least that small part of it, will change. If enough individual people change, the world will change.

Much of the world is in bondage; to sin, to time-wasting endeavors, to popular opinions, or political correctness. But as we, as individuals, shake off those chains, those chains will also slip off of parts of the world. I believe that the world will someday shake off those chains and worship God in righteousness and peace. It will take a lot of work on our part, and and act of God on His part, but the world will someday be free from Satan's influence. I just hope that I'll be around to see it.

The Scriptures - Warning and Nourishment

This morning, when I first logged on, the internet was acting up, so I thought I'd read an Ensign article and write my feelings about it, so I could blog about it later. That's been my fall-back plan for when I didn't have access to the internet since I started this daily blog. In looking for an Ensign article to read and write about, I saw that there was a General Conference titled The Key to Spiritual Protection. I started to read it, but one of our cats wanted to go through a door, so I got up to help them, and on my way back, I checked on the internet and found that it was working again.

At that point, I could have gone back to what I normally do in the mornings, skim through Facebook looking for a nice quote, but I think that with that brief technical problem, God was trying to tell me something. I remember a time when I would watch and read a General Conference talk every morning and blog about that. Maybe God wants me to start doing that again.

According to President Boyd K. Packer,

The scriptures hold the keys to spiritual protection. ... 

Make scripture reading a part of your regular routine, and the blessings will follow. There is in the scriptures a voice of warning, but there is also great nourishment. ... 

Children taught an understanding of the scriptures early in life will come to know the path they should walk and will be more inclined to remain on that path. Those who stray will have the ability to return and, with help, can find their way back.

As I read these passages, it seems to me that the blessings of the scriptures in offering spiritual protection are two-fold: First with prevention, and second with help to return.

President Packer spoke of there being a "voice of warning" in the scripture. These warnings can help us to recognize the temptations of the devil for what they really are. They can help us resist and avoid those temptations by sharing the stories of those who were wise enough and strong enough to resist temptation, and stories of the consequences that befell those who weren't.  "Children taught an understanding of the scriptures early in life will come to know the path they should walk and will be more inclined to remain on that path."

But staying on that path is hard for everyone, and some of us fall by the wayside sometimes. In these cases, the scriptures offer healing and they help us to come back. I believe that one form the "great nourishment" President Packer spoke of takes is the kind that heals broken hearts and fills in the gaps where we feel empty. In sin, there is despair. Regular study of the scriptures can heal that sorrow and help us feel hope again. Though there is always that warning telling us to "Sin no more," there is also that comforting message that we can be forgiven.

The scriptures repeatedly teach us the basic principles of the gospel. We all need those reminders because the principles seem to be so easy to forget, and they need to be ingrained in our minds to really change us. The scriptures have the power to make us better people and help us live up to our potential. The more we read them, the better off we'll be.

Of course, this is nothing new to any of you, but it's nice to have the reminder.

Mercy - Do We Deserve It? Can We Expect It?

Once again, I've spent a significant portion of the morning not knowing what I was going to blog about. And once again, I found a source of inspiration on Facebook. I'm not sure who keeps attaching General Conference quotes to nice pictures, but I hope they never stop.

Granted, this is probably just a personal opinion, not gospel truth, but it's the personal opinion of someone who, I believe, knows God pretty well and has a strong relationship with Him, so he might know.

I wonder how many people fit into the category that Elder Holland described, those who don't expect mercy and often feel like they don't deserve it? I feel like I'm half-way in that category because I know I don't deserve mercy, but do I expect it? ...Sorta.

Well, yes, I do expect to receive some mercy - probably a lot more than I deserve. Why? Because God is loving and merciful. Another quote I found on Facebook but haven't blogged about... I lost the link, so I'll try to paraphrase it:

Some people we forgive again and again. Not because they deserve forgiveness, but because we don't want to lose them.

God does not want to lose us. I believe that God will give us every chance He conceivably can give us. I believe that He'll accept our apologies over and over again, as long as we're sincerely sorry. I believe that God will count us as being righteous, as long as we're trying to be. I know from personal experience that He doesn't give up on a soul anywhere near as easily as we do.

Do we deserve His mercy? No, we probably don't. Will we get it anyway? I'm counting on it. His forgiveness is something I can hold on to, to keep me going. Without it, I'm sure I've already doomed myself, so there's really no point to keep trying. But God is loving and merciful. He's still fighting for my soul, so so am I. If He's trying to save me, and I'm trying to be saved, then I will be, wether I deserve it or expect it or not.

1 Corinthians 15: 56 - Sting and Strength

Last night, in family scripture study, we read 1 Corinthians chapter 15. In that chapter, the following verse stuck out to me, and right now I'd like to elaborate on it.

The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
1 Corinthians 15: 56

The Sting of Death is Sin

Those with faith in an afterlife don't often see death as fearfully as those who think death is the end of their existence. The notable exception to this norm is those who know they have lived in sin. For those who have unresolved sins in their past, death can be a nerve-racking experience because death leads to judgement which, in their case, will likely lead to punishment - just, divine punishment. But for those who have faith in an afterlife and have lived righteously are sometimes not afraid to die, because their death also leads to judgement, which in their case will likely lead to a reward - a just, divine reward. Thus, the sting of death, the thing that makes death fearful, is usually sin.

The Strength of Sin is the Law

This part of the verse made less sense until I really thought about it. Theoretically, the laws of God justify those who obey them. But the problem is that that's much harder than it sounds. In fact, with the sole exception of Jesus Christ, no one has ever managed to be justified by the Law. Instead, the law condemns all those who have knowingly broken it, which is all of us. According to the law and justice of God, we have all sinned, so none of us are perfect, so none of us are worthy to return to live with God. Thus, the strength that our sins have to keep us out of heaven is given to them by whatever of God's laws we have broken.

But hope comes in the next verse:

But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 15: 57

Jesus Christ is our Savior in at least two ways. Through the Atonement, Christ paid the price of our sins so He could remove our sins from us, thus undoing the strength of sin. This also takes away the sting of death by removing the fear of Eternal punishment. He also broke the bands of death through resurrection, providing the means by which we will all be resurrected, further reducing the sting of death. Jesus Christ defeated both sin and death, and made it possible for us to do the same. Because of Jesus, we can have hope that our afterlife can be a pleasant one and that we can live with God again.

"The Devil Made Me Do It" Doesn't Work

 I have even less time this morning than I did yesterday morning, so I'll just share a quick thought: The idea that "The devil made me do it" doesn't work.

No matter how strong Satan is as a tempter or how weak-willed you are as a person, Satan can't make you do anything. You are responsible for your own actions. He can make a certain sin very appealing, some might say "irresistible," but they exaggerate. The choice is still yours to make. "The devil made me do it" is not a valid excuse. You control your actions, not him.

On the other hand, that can be a good thing. *Copy. Paste. Edit*

No matter how strong Satan is as a tempter or how weak-willed you are as a person, Satan can't make you do anything. You are in charge of your own actions. He can make a certain sin very appealing, some might say "irresistible," but they exaggerate. The choice is still yours to make. "The devil made me do it" is not a possibility. You control your actions, not him.

Wether you're trying to resist temptation or justify a sin, either way you need to remember that Satan is not as strong as some people give him credit for. He can provide very powerful temptations and they may well be very difficult to resist, "but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able [to resist]" (See 1 Corinthians 10:13). No matter how strong your temptations are, God will make sure that you're strong enough to resist them. Sometimes, you have to pray for help to tap into that strength, and sometimes that strength takes the form of the wisdom to recognize and choose to avoid tempting situations. A firm resolution is not always enough to resist the temptations that face you, but it can go a long way.

In Alma 47, the Book of Mormon tells us the story of a man named Lehonti. Long story short, he was in charge of a group of Lamanites who were smart enough to realize that going against the Nephites (when the Nephites were being righteous) was a bad idea. The King sent out a proclamation that they were going to war, and Lehonti and his men said 'No,' "being fixed in their minds with a determined resolution that they would not be subjected to go against the Nephites" (See Alma 47: 6). Figuring that the king might try to "persuade" them to go to war against the Nephites, they gathered together at the top of a mountain and prepared to defend themselves against the king and those who were loyal to him. The king sent a man name Amalickiah with a number of men to go make battle against the defecting Lamanites and force them to go to war, but Amalickiah had a more subtle plan.

He tried to parley with Lehonti, but Lehonti repeatedly refused. Eventually, Lehonti let Amalickiah talk to him, and Amalickiah tricked him into falling into a trap which killed Lehonti and subjected his men to the authority of Amalickiah, and then they all went to war.

The moral of the story is Don't Get Off The Mountain. The devil may tempt you over and over again, but if you are truly fixed in your mind with a determined resolution that you will not be subjected to yield to temptation, (and stay fixed in your mind that you won't give in), Satan will not be able to over-power you, trick you, or destroy you. Amalickiah didn't force Lehonti to come down of the mountain. I personally don't think he could have. Lehonti had to make that choice himself, and paid for it with his life. In our case, the sakes are even higher. If we fall into temptation, we could pay for it with our souls. Satan will try to trick us into giving them up, but we must remember that he can't make us. The choice is always ours to make, and if we remain strong, we can resist any temptation Satan throws at us.

President Packer Repentance Quote

I don't have a lot of time this morning, so I'll just share a photo I found on Facebook and write down a few thoughts.

I find it astonishing that the Atonement literally has infinite power to pay for sins, that every sin can be forgiven, and that every sinner can change. If a person is willing to repent and change their life, they can. If a person wants to put the mistakes of their past behind them and have those sins forgotten about, they can. Even serious sins can be forgiven.

What is required is change, or at least a desire to change, to get the repentance process started. Jesus Christ can cleanse any person from any sin, but it's up to us to stay clean. It's up to us to resist temptation and forsake the sins of which we've been forgiven. That's something that Christ can't do for
us, that we have to do for ourselves. That's part of the test of life, the struggle that makes us stronger.

But I wonder... Who changes our hearts? Who is it that changes our desires and makes us no longer desire to sin? Is that also on us? If it is, I'd really like to learn how to do it! And if it's God's job, I'd love to learn how to convince Him to do it. I can honestly say that I don't want to want to sin. Yet, we all do want to sin, to some extent. If we didn't, on some level, want to sin, it wouldn't be very tempting, and resisting it wouldn't be much of a test and it wouldn't make us any stronger. We need to be tempted, so sin needs to be tempting, so some part of us (the carnal part, perhaps?) needs to want to sin.

Then again, I've also heard of a "mighty change of heart," and I think that phrase came from the scriptures, so I don't think it's just a myth. I don't have time to look it up now, but I'd certainly like to know what a "mighty change of heart" means and how I can get one. I'll have to do some research and get back to you on this. But for this morning, let's just stick with what we know.

Our past is already behind us. We can't change it. What happened happened, no matter how much we wish it hadn't. If there are mistakes in our past, all we can do is give them to God for Him to fix and forgive. That's something that we can't do, but He can. On the other hand, the future is ahead of us. It hasn't happened yet, so it isn't set in stone. We can change it if we choose to, but we are the ones that have to make that choice. God can't make that choice for us. It's something we need to do for ourselves.

Natural Impulses

There are some churches that believe in the "original sin," by which we are marked from birth for simply having been born human. In the LDS church, "We believe that men will be punished for their own sins and not for Adam's transgression" (Articles of Faith 1:2), and yet, there's the concept of the "natural man" being "an enemy to God" (See Mosiah 3:19). I don't think we're born already having a bad mark on our permanent record. We're clean as a whistle until we're old enough to be accountable for ourselves. There is no "original sin," but I do believe that we are all, in some measure, under the influence of "the will of the flesh and the evil which is therein" (See 2 Nephi 2:29), which can end up meaning about the same thing as being born in sin.

I'm starting to think of the natural man as being some kind of anti-conscience. The spirit encourages us to do good and serve others, and the natural man compels us to be selfish and do evil. I think that just as everyone is born with the light of Christ to influence them for good, everyone is born with the natural man to tempt them for evil. Thus, there is a struggle in everyone - their spiritual nature battling against their carnal nature - starting as soon as they're old enough to be aware of it.

I can see why this is important. Resisting temptation and becoming strong enough to overcome it is such a large part of the reason we're experiencing life on earth, it's essential that we face temptation frequently, and what better way to make sure that happens than to make it a built-in part of our physical bodies? Satan and the spirits who follow him can be driven away before they can mount up enough resistance to put up a good fight, if we're on guard and react quickly to the first sign of temptation. In contrast, we're stuck with our bodies until we die, so we can count on them to provide the constant, compelling opposition we need to develop a strong will-power, even after we've learned how to repel our regular tempter.

Some people say that our natural impulses are natural, healthy, and even God-given, and that they should be enjoyed and even celebrated rather than bridled and brought into subjection. I certainly have to agree that they are natural and God-given, and that there's something good in all of them. Most of our natural impulses are designed to help us sustain life - survival instincts - and I certainly don't have anything against survival. But our natural impulses often take us beyond survival and into indulgence, which weakens our self-control and ultimately leads to misery. I agree that God would want us to enjoy some of the things that others call "the finer things in life," but I believe they should be enjoyed in moderation, with self-control, and according to God's wisdom. God will not withhold any good thing from those who are faithful to Him, but often we must prove that we will be faithful to Him by resisting temptations, including those presented to us by the natural man. We can have some cake, but not so much that it makes our stomaches hurt, and only so long as our nutritional needs are also met.

So, we have a natural tendency to certain sins and transgressions. Some say that it's perfectly fine because we're born that way, and we should enjoy those things, regardless of whether or not they're considered "sins." Others say that those impulses are totally evil and that human beings are evil for even having those thoughts. The truth, as usual, lies somewhere in between. Our natural impulses are natural and God-given, given to us to grant us opportunities to learn to control ourselves, and also to serve as rewards to those who have learned to enjoy those things within the bounds the Lord has set. They are not entirely good, to be freely enjoyed without restraint, but neither are the wholly evil, to be rejected and suppressed at all times and in all situations. Moderation and wisdom are the goals here. And that, I believe, is why we are all subjected to the influence of the natural man.

Analogy Challenge - Towels and Repentance

I'm not sure if I can blog today. It's not that I don't have time. I do, or at least, I did earlier this morning. The trouble is that I sometimes don't feel like blogging. Sometimes, I don't have any fresh spiritual insights that I want to share. Sometimes, the insights I have are too personal, or relate to something that doesn't apply to many of you. Sometimes, the "insights" I have are too vague or uninteresting to be worth blogging about.

For example, I thought of an Analogy Challenge: Relating random things to the Gospel. I did it briefly with Snorkeling and Basketball, just to illustrate the idea of the analogy challenge, and I wrote an entire blog post about poop. Just a few days ago, I applied the analogy challenge to Towels.

I related the act of drying off with a towel to repentance. Towels get water off of our bodies (or whatever else we're drying off) and repentance gets sins and transgressions off of our souls. The result is that we become dry, or spiritually clean. But there are some times when drying off with a towel won't help you. For example, if you're standing in the shower and the water's still running, a towel will not help you become and remain dry. Similarly, if we repeatedly allow ourselves to submit to temptation, repeated repentance can help us to get clean, but it might not help us to stay clean. Or perhaps I'm misinterpreting the meaning of repentance.

The way I see it, repenting is what you do after you've committed a sin to get yourself clean of it, and then you need to keep yourself clean of it by avoiding that sin in the future. Some people might say that avoiding the sin in the future is a part of repentance. I'm not sure which is actually more accurate. Just for the sake of the analogy, I'll say that repentance is more of a one-time thing than a process, and the avoiding the sin is something separate that also has to be done in order for the repentance to remain effective.

Either way you look at it, you have to both stop giving in to temptation and pray for forgiveness for past transgressions in order to remain spiritually clean. Whether you achieve self-mastery before or after you repent of your sins may not matter, but in the end, you'll have to do both.

But this is a bad analogy for a number of reasons. Stepping out of the shower is way easier than removing yourself from temptation. Achieving self-mastery is a process, and we're supposed to repent repeatedly along the way. And taking showers is a good thing. I suppose we could change the analogy to mud, saying that it doesn't make sense to wash yourself off if you're still stuck in the mud, but that would mean that it's pointless to repent until you've achieved self-mastery, and that's simply not true.

So, I've been looking at repentance wrong. It's not just praying for forgiveness. It's a process of removing ourselves from sin. It's not something we do after we've overcome our temptations. It's something we do while we're struggling, to help us overcome temptations. Repentance isn't just a way to remove past sins. It's also a commitment to steer clear of future ones. If we continue to submit to temptation without trying to resist it, perhaps that means we're not really repenting, even if we pray for forgiveness every time we give in.

So, no, repentance is not like drying off with a towel. You can probably tell why I wasn't excited to blog about it. I'll have to think of a better analogy later.

War Chapters - In That Selfsame Hour

And they began to stand against the Lamanites with power; and in that selfsame hour that they cried unto the Lord for their freedom, the Lamanites began to flee before them; and they fled even to the waters of Sidon.
Alma 43: 50

This verse refers to the near-immediate result of the Nephites' prayer. I'm not sure if this is a direct cause and effect, with the Lamanites fleeing because the Nephites prayed, or if it was more indirect, with the Lamanites fleeing because the Nephites were fighting more boldly because they prayed, but either way, the prayer of the Nephites was the catalyst,  and the resulting retreat occurred rather quickly.

So what could this represent in our times, relating this to a spiritual battle? At first, I thought I would use this verse to show that God sometimes blesses us as soon as we pray for His help, like He was anxiously waiting for us to say the word so He could come in with some divine intervention. But that's not always the case. Sometimes, we pray for help or some other blessing, and don't get it until long after we pray, if we get it at all. God is not a vending machine. We can't just say "I'd like such and such a blessing," and expect to get it right away.

But perhaps we can expect the blessing to come precisely when we need it (if we even need it at all). In this case, the Nephites were in the act of falling before the Lamanites, so they needed the blessing, pronto. Maybe that's why God blessed them so quickly in this case. Also, personal righteousness may play a role in God's response time in coming to our aid. How often in the scriptures is God "slow to hear [the cries of the wicked] because of their wickedness"? Seems to happen a lot toward the end of the Book of Mormon. Perhaps the inverse is also true; that a very righteous person often gets help right away.

Then again, that's not true either. Sometimes, God lets good people suffer through temporary trials for their eternal benefit, even if they pray for the burdens to be removed and are worthy of that blessing. But does the same thing apply for spiritual battles? If a righteous person is facing strong temptation and pray for help resisting it, aren't they likely to get it, and quickly? Perhaps. Perhaps not. With Satan being as aggressive as he is, a person cannot become righteous by accident. They had to fight for it, and in fighting for righteousness, they became strong. Perhaps a righteous person may pray for help resisting a strong temptation, only to find that they were strong enough not to need the help. (Always pray anyway, no matter how strong you think you are, just in case!) And perhaps facing this particular temptation without the aid of heavenly assistance is exactly what this righteous person needed to help him gain the strength to resist stronger temptations later down the road.

So, what gives? If God doesn't always help us when we ask Him to, when we need Him to, even when we're trying to be righteous, why do we pray for help at all, and what are we supposed to learn from this verse? First question first. We pray because God answers prayers. He answers them in His own way and in His own time, but He always answers them. Sometimes we really do need the blessing right away, and that's when God supplies it. Sometimes, He let's us try to work things out ourselves for a while. All according to His infinite wisdom. I bet we'll understand His reasoning later down the road, and then we'll have to admit that He made the right call on whether to help us immediately or not.

Second question: what are we supposed to get out of this verse? Well, what did you get out of this blog post? If you have a good answer to that question, maybe that's what you were meant to learn from Alma 43:50. But in case nothing has really stuck out to you so far, I have another insight from this verse that I can share. Satan does not have a backbone.

I mean that literally, physically, as well as spiritually. Satan does not have a backbone, or any other body part, because he does not have a body. We've been told that "all beings who have bodies have power over those who have not." That fact alone makes us stronger than Satan in a large number of ways. If we stand up to him... How did that verse go? If we "stand against the [devil] with power," the devil will flee before us, often in that selfsame hour.

See, Satan wants to have it easy. He tries to weaken us with subtlety because he knows that he doesn't have the strength or the courage to take us head-on. Now, knowing that, we can either sit here and allow ourselves to be subjected to Satan's weakening influence, whether we know he's there or not (he can be very subtle), or we can take the fight to him. When we're facing temptation, we can fight it. We can tell that spineless serpent that he's not welcome anywhere near us. We can drive him away. He'll come back later, of course. He's relentless. But he's also weak. Weaker than we are, anyway. When we really put our backs into it, we can force him to leave us alone.

And when we're not facing any obvious temptation, we can shore up our defenses by keeping the commandments and strengthening our testimonies. Anything that attracts the spirit works like bug spray against the devil. Keep a hymn in your heart and a prayer on your lips and more often than not, Satan won't be able to touch you. I've found that he attacks our minds before he strikes anywhere else (at least, in my case, he does), so we can repel him pretty effectively by forcing him out of our minds. President Packer taught that the mind can only hold one active thought at a time. As long as that thought is a hymn or a scripture, it won't be a temptation. Maybe God sometimes doesn't answer our prayers to fight off a temptation because He knows that we already know how to do it ourselves. But I promised that if you pray for God's help and really fight against the temptation as hard as you know how, it won't defeat you. With God's help or without it, you will be able to drive the temptation away.

War Chapters - Fighting on Your Knees

And it came to pass that they [the Nephites] turned upon the Lamanites, and they cried with one voice unto the Lord their God, for their liberty and their freedom from bondage.
Alma 43: 49

This verse goes along very well with what I shared yesterday and the day before. The insight I gained from this short verse is the wisdom of praying in the face of temptation. In this chapter, the Nephites were facing a hard battle. The Lamanites were twice as numerous as they were and were fighting like dragons. The Nephites had the advantage of armor, but they were still struggling, which just goes to demonstrate the strength and power of their enemies. The Nephites almost turned and fled from the Lamanites at this time. In fact, they started to, and I can't blame them. But after a quick pep-talk from their war captain, Moroni, they turned and held their ground and did what any sane, god-fearing person would do when facing an enemy that strong. They prayed.

I mentioned yesterday that our battles against evil are not physical, but spiritual. Even so, the stakes are just as high as ever, and the combatants are just as strong. The evil spirits that tempt us are fighting like dragons to destroy our souls. Many of us have the advantage of armor, the Armor of God, to be precise, but we still sometimes struggle. So what do we do when we fight as hard as we can, but are still struggling to resist temptation? The same thing any sane, God-fearing person would do when facing an adversary that strong; we pray.

Thanks to the miracle of prayer, we don't have to fight any of our battles alone, especially the spiritual ones. Through prayer, we can call upon the powers of heaven in our moment of need and receive the miraculous strength we sometimes need to resist the temptations that challenge us. We will always have to fight to resist temptation, but we don't have to do it alone. Our Heavenly Father and a host of guardian angels are just waiting for us to ask for their help. Don't forget, and never be ashamed, to ask for their help when you need it.

War Chapters - Timely Reminder

You know what I haven't done lately? Blogged about what I've been reading in the scriptures. I'm in the war chapters, and I've been taking my time enjoying the insights I find in Alma 43. This chapter contains the first known battle of Captain Moroni. It's also the chapter in which armor is used for the first time among the Nephites. I'd also like to point out that this is the battle where the Lamanites outnumbered the Nephites two to one and were fighting like dragons, and the Nephites still won. But here's the thing - they almost didn't.

And it came to pass that when the men of Moroni saw the fierceness and the anger of the Lamanites, they were about to shrink and flee from them. And Moroni, perceiving their intent, sent forth and inspired their hearts with these thoughts—yea, the thoughts of their lands, their liberty, yea, their freedom from bondage. 

And it came to pass that they turned upon the Lamanites, and they cried with one voice unto the Lord their God, for their liberty and their freedom from bondage. 

And they began to stand against the Lamanites with power; and in that selfsame hour that they cried unto the Lord for their freedom, the Lamanites began to flee before them; and they fled even to the waters of Sidon. 

Alma 43: 48-49

 Each of these verses carried their own insight for me and could probably all support blog posts of their own. The first one is the one I want to focus on this morning. I just included the other two to show that Moroni's timely reminder worked.

We don't battle evil physically. We battle it spiritually and emotionally. Because of that, our state of mind is even more important in our battles against evil than it would be if the battles were physical. In physical battles, it's hard to forget that you're fighting for your life, which is reason enough for most people to fight as hard as they can (or flee). But in a spiritual battle, it's much easier to forget what you're fighting for and, when the fight gets difficult, to give up.

In this case, Moroni demonstrates the wisdom that he's famous for, inspiring his army with a reminder of what they're fighting to defend. They're not just fighting for their lives, which they could temporarily preserve by running away. They're also fighting for the lives of their families, and for "their lands, their liberty, [and] their freedom from bondage," most (if not all) of which would be lost if they lost to the Lamanites. Motivated by this reminder, the Nephites fought harder and "began to stand against the Lamanites with power," and effectively turned the tide of the battle.

The Nephites had their captain, Moroni, to remind them of what they were fighting for and inspire them to fight with all of their courage. Sometimes, we gain that benefit from the Spirit. The Holy Ghost frequently reminds us of things that we already know and need to remember, such as why it's important to resist temptation and how we can stand against it with power.

So the next time you're facing temptation, and a little voice inside your head reminds you of why you should fight it, try to hold on to that thought and take courage. It may make the difference between victory and defeat.

Kneeling - Weakness and Strength

In life, we all have challenges. We all have things that we struggle with, including commandments that we have a hard time keeping. Unfortunately, that's just a part of life. We're supposed to have challenges so we can learn from them and gain the strength we need to overcome them. The good news is that we don't have to do it alone. God can and does give us guidance, encouragement, and even strength, when we need it and pray for it.

Some people, especially in older cultures, see kneeling as a sign of weakness. Such people see asking for help mostly in the same way. But you know what? Maybe they're right. Maybe it is a sign of weakness. But what's wrong with that? Most of us are weak, at least in some areas. And we're definitely weak compared to the One whom we're asking for help. It may be humbling to admit that we have weaknesses, that we may not be able to win some battles on our own, but being humble enough to admit that is a sign of maturity and strength, and it can enable God to give us the help we need.

I think that we all need God's help sometimes. I'm pretty sure life was meant to be so challenging that we would need to rely on a higher power to get us through it. But when we rely on that power, miracles happen. We may find that we actually are strong enough to overcome our challenges, or that our challenges aren't as difficult as they previously seemed. When we humbly admit our weaknesses and pray to God for strength, He can bless us and give us all the power we need. Ironically, as soon as we admit that we are weak, God can step in and help make us strong.

Will Sacrifice for Blessings

After making a great deal of progress on the talk I'm giving in Sacrament Meeting, I ran out of steam when I got to the last section and decided I'd take a break and find something to blog about instead. After hanging out on Facebook and watching a few Youtube videos, I got the idea to blog about the last section of my talk and see if I could work out the kinks here.

Here's the problem: I'm talking about Fasting and the last section is about Sacrifice. We skip two meals and pay a Fast Offering as a sacrifice to God, partly in hopes that He'll give us the blessing we're fasting for, but it doesn't always work out that way. Sometimes, we sacrifice for a blessing and still don't get it. It's true that sometimes God requires a sacrifice before He gives us a particular blessing, and I know that Fasting increases the persuasiveness of our appeals to God (I'm not entirely sure how that works, either), but there are some things that God is not going to give us whether we sacrifice for them or not. And even if the blessing is something God's willing to give us, we can't just BUY blessings. "I skipped two meals and donated a ton of money to the church, therefore God has to bless me. He owes it to me!" That's not how it works!

So how does it work? What role does Sacrifice play in securing blessings for ourselves and others?

Reading the Gospel Principles Manual's chapter on Sacrifice, which is conveniently located right after the chapter on Fasting, didn't help much. It said "Our willingness to sacrifice is an indication of our devotion to God." Devotion to God is always answered with blessings, in this life or the next. Perhaps we sacrifice, not to "buy" blessings, but to show that we're worthy of them? Or to show how badly we want them? Probably closer to that last one. But the manual also said this, "Only through sacrifice can we become worthy to live in the presence of God." But people, even good, religious people, don't like having to sacrifice things, so perhaps that's part of the reasons God offers blessings to those who give sacrifices. We're not using sacrifices to bribe God into giving us blessings; He's using blessings to bribe us into giving sacrifices. But that theory is really far-fetched, too.

Maybe we give sacrifices to show God how badly we want the blessings we're asking for. It might convince Him, or it might not. I guess that depends on the blessing we're asking for and how badly we want the blessing, which we show by our sacrifices.

Another thought is that God will always give us the blessings we qualify for, but they still might not be the blessings we ask for. Maybe you've got an old, beat-up, run-down car, and you fast and pray for the means and opportunity to buy a replacement, but God knows that a new car isn't what's best for you, so instead, He blesses your old, beat-up, run-down car so that it'll keep trucking for as long as you need it to. We have to remember that God is so wise and loving that He'll give us the blessings that are best for us, even if they're not the blessings we pray for and sacrifice for.

So, maybe for my talk, I could say that sacrifice always brings blessings. As the hymn says, "Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven." But God knows our needs better than we do, and He's more likely to give us the blessings we really need than He is to give us the blessings we pray for and fast for, but wouldn't actually end up being best for us. God is wiser than we are, so we should be humble and try to accept His will and be grateful for whatever blessings He gives us. Odds are, when He gives us something other than what we asked for, what He gives us is better than whatever we asked for.

Yeah, that ought to do it. Thanks for your help!

Can Unbelievers Be Saved?

I found this on Facebook just a moment ago.

We do know that no person can be saved except through Christ. We do not know that only those who know Him can be saved by Him.
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Since we've been reading the New Testament, I've been getting a lot of practice at reading passages that are confusing at first reading, then reading the passages again to find out what they're actually trying to say. I'll try to do that here.

The first sentence is pretty straightforward. You can omit the "do" in today's language, but that's the only real difference between that sentence and a sentence you could expect to hear spoken in modern times.

The second sentence is the one that I had to read twice. "We do not know," or cannot be sure, or have little reason to believe "that only those who know Him," only those who believe in Christ and profess to be Christians, "can be saved by Him."

I personally believe that, for reasons that almost don't make sense to me, God is more forgiving to those who don't know of His commandments and ignorantly break them than He is to those who know His commandments and try, but fail, to keep them (though I suppose that may depend on how hard they were actually trying).

For of him unto whom much is given much is required; and he who sins against the greater light shall receive the greater condemnation.
D&C 82: 3

Could it be said, then, that of him unto nothing is given, nothing is required; and he who "sins" against no light shall receive no condemnation? If that were the case, all of mankind could have been saved simply by not being given any knowledge or evidence that God exists! But that would have defied at least one of the main reasons we came to earth in the first place, and the question is entirely academic anyway, since everyone who has ever lived on the earth has been given at least some light via the Light of Christ, better known as the conscience.

While it's true that many people have no knowledge of, or at least no belief in, Jesus Christ, everyone has a basic knowledge of right and wrong. If a person is trying to be good and do what's right, they earn points for that, and if they do what they feel is probably wrong to do, that goes on the permanent record as well. Even if a person doesn't know about God and His commandments, he is still forced to make choices between right and wrong, and his choices in large measure determine whether or not he'll be saved, regardless of whether he ever hears of or develops a belief in Him by whose power he is saved.

Ignorance is not an excuse to do evil, but nor is it cause for exclusion from the Kingdom of God. In a similar manner, knowledge of God's commandments can help us to keep them, but merely having such knowledge does not guarantee our salvation. We may know that Christ is our Savior, but we still have to actually keep His commandments, or at least sincerely strive to, in order to be saved.

We are all judged according to our actions, according to the light and knowledge we have. Some people are given more light than others, and those people are expected to live according to that light they've been given. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we are given a great deal of light, and we are expected to live better lives because of it. But even if a person is blessed with an abundance of light and is very diligently righteous in living by that light, he should not feel superior to those who stumble in darkness, but are doing the best they can with what little light they have. I'm convinced that such are as welcome in the Kingdom of God as those who know the commandments and keep them.

Our Brother, Our Captain, Our King

According to the 2001 film, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Boromir's last words were (to Aragorn), "I would have followed you my brother, my captain, my king." When I watched that a while back, I could think of only one person in the universe that matches all three of those descriptions: Jesus Christ.

Aragorn wasn't technically Boromir's brother, but they were sort of fraternal brothers, as they were on the same team and had fought side-by-side against many dangers.

Jesus is our Brother literally, as we have the same Heavenly Father, and fraternally, since we're both on the same side and frequently fight side-by-side against many dangers. At least, that's the way it is when we're trying to resist temptation.

Aragorn was inarguably Boromir's captain, starting right after Gandalf fought the Balrog and got separated from the Fellowship. Gandalf had been their leader up to that point, but in his absence, Aragorn took charge, using his wisdom and leadership skills to keep the Fellowship moving forward, despite having suffered a staggering loss.

Placing Jesus in the role of our captain requires a little more imagination. Fortunately, I have plenty of that, and casting Jesus into that role works perfectly with the concept of being a paladin clad in the Armor of God. We are in a spiritual war against the forces of evil, and not only is Jesus fighting by our side as our Brother, He also gives us commands as our Captain. He knows this war about as well as anyone, and He knows our enemy a lot better than we do. He knows what we need to do to win. He gives us commandments, and when we obey them, we are victorious.

Aragorn was not yet crowned king at the time of Boromir's death, but he was the heir to the throne of Gondor, and no one else was sitting in it. He could have officially been king by that point, if he had wanted to be, but he had chosen to live as a ranger instead. He was crowned king later in the story, long after Boromir's death, but whether he was presently wearing the crown or not, royalty was in his blood and in the way he carried himself and led his team.

Jesus, on the other hand, has always clearly been, and always will be, our King. Actually, that might not be true. Yes, He was clearly a leader and the well-favored first-born Son of the Father, our Heavenly King, so He might have been considered royalty then, and He certainly is now and will be forever and ever. But had it always been obvious that He was our King? When Christ was born in a stable in Bethlehem, only a handful of people knew who He really was. This condition of relative anonymity, of seeming normal, persisted for much of His mortal life. He was later to be once again crowned and king of heaven and earth, but in the meantime, He seemed very much like everyone else.

In writing this blog post, I learned that Jesus and Aragorn have more in common than I thought. Maybe that was intentional (Tolkien was Christian, if I'm not mistaken), or maybe it wasn't. It doesn't really matter to me, since the analogy works either way.

What I want to take most out of this is that Jesus is our captain, our commander, in addition to His other roles. He knows how to win this war, and He tells us what to do. The whole idea of commands and commandments can seem stiff sometimes, but there's always order and structure in a good military organization. Our Commander knows what He's doing, and we can't afford to doubt Him. The stakes are too high and the risks are too great. The only way to win is to follow Him. That's why I'll try to think of Jesus as my Captain as well as my Savior, as I go through the remainder of this war.

Permanent Record

Yesterday, I noticed that there was a cord of rope tangled up in a wheel, and I made an attempt to untangle it. Meeting no obvious success, and starting to get frustrated with the wheel and its cord, I said to myself "I'll fix that later," and went back to another project I was working on. Then the Spirit reminded me of the danger of putting things off until "later." I wondered if this was some kind of test; a test of diligence and persistence, perhaps, then remembered that EVERYTHING is a test, so I decided to untangle the wheel sooner rather than later. As I was working on it, I wondered if God really cared whether I untangled the wheel or not, if the test actually had any effect on my standing with God, if the decision I made to untangle the wheel or not actually mattered at all. I jokingly thought of an angel putting a black mark on my permanent record because I chose not to untangle the wheel right away. It seemed ridiculous, but it got me thinking:

Do we have a Permanent Record? Yes, of course. Our actions are recorded in heaven. Even our little actions, like untangling a wheel? I don't think so. It's not big enough to make a difference, so I don't think they'd bother to record it. Is there any evidence in the scriptures to support the claim that we have Permanent Records? Not that I can think of. In fact, the scriptures often speak of repentance and "I, the Lord, [will] remember them (your sins) no more," (D&C 58: 42) so whatever "Permanent" Record we may have doesn't really seem very permanent. If there's no evidence of permanent records in the scriptures, what makes you think that we have them? For one thing, it makes sense. If our sins will be brought up at Final Judgement, they must be recorded somewhere. And for another thing, it's mentioned in a few of our hymns. Consider the second verse of Dearest Children, God is Near You:

Dearest children, holy angels
Watch your actions night and day,
And they keep a faithful record
Of the good and bad you say.
Cherish virtue! Cherish virtue!
God will bless the pure in heart.

I'm pretty sure the record covers more than just our words. They just used the word "say" rather than "do," because they had a rhyme for "say." If they wanted to use "do," they would have needed to change the second line, and that might have been tricky.

So, you have limited evidence to support part of your claim, taken from the second verse of a hymn we rarely sing. Frankly, I'm surprised you even remember that, but I'm even more surprised that you'd use that as "evidence" to support the claim of the existence of some Permanent Record. Tell me you have more.

In fact, I do. If selective information from the second verse of an obscure hymn isn't enough evidence for you, how about some more general information from the first verse of a popular hymn?

Do what is right; the day-dawn is breaking,
Hailing a future of freedom and light.
Angels above us are silent notes taking
Of ev'ry action; then do what is right!

Angels above us are taking silent notes of every action, including whether or not we untangle a cord-bound wheel when we should. I might be in trouble.

But then again, Repentance! Every sin we ever commit may go on our Permanent Record, but sincere repentance can take them off! When we repent, we get a clean slate, as if those sins never happened. Though, we still remember our past sins, partly so we can remember what we learned and do better at avoiding those sins in the future. But as far as the Permanent Record is concerned, the sins of which we've repented won't be counted against us on Judgment Day. Everything we do goes on the Permanent Record, but repentance can take things off.

The Days of Eternity

I recently said "A single grain of sand doesn't weigh much, but a pile of sandbags could weigh a ton." I was relating that to individual acts and the idea that even though a small act will only have a small impact, enough of those acts can add up to having a strong effect. I think that this principle is also true to the days of eternity.

When you think about it, eternity, as a period of time, can be split into an infinite number of 24-hour days. Each of those days happen and they each have an effect on the time-line. Days add up like individual acts do. It cannot be said that a single day doesn't matter in the perspective of eternity, because each and every day is part of that eternity and has a small, but sometimes important, effect on the rest of it.

I wasted most of this morning, I'm sorry to say, but now I'm making a conscious effort to turn that around. Today can still be a good day, and I will make it so.

Still, if one day has an impact, then half a day must account for half of that impact. Even if I spend the rest of the day doing good, I still wasted half a day, and there's no way that I can change that. Every day is important. Every hour is important. Every moment has an impact on the course of eternity. I really should try to remember that every moment I live.

How Far Would You Go to Keep a Promise?

While I was looking up a quote that I wanted to blog about, Boromir's dying words from Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings (2001 Film), I spotted another quote from that movie that I now want to blog about instead.

Here's the context: When Gandalf the Grey sent Frodo Baggins on a stay-off-the-roads road trip to the village of Bree, he sent Samwise Gamgee (Frodo's gardener) with him. At some point before they left, Gandalf told Sam, "Don't you leave him, Samwise Gamgee," or words to that effect, and Sam promised that he wouldn't. Fast forward a couple of months. Their quest has taken them from Bree to Rivendell, from Rivendell to Moria, from Moria to Lothlorien, and finally to the western bank of the Anduin River near the Falls of Rauros, hundreds and hundreds of miles from home. So far, they've fought goblins, wraiths, a cave troll, Uruk-Hai (which are like orcs, but bigger and stronger), and a Balrog (an enormous, flaming demon-creature who, by all appearances, killed Gandalf). It has been obvious up to this point that the Hobbits Frodo and Sam have only survived this long because they were surrounded by skilled warriors who did most all of their fighting for them. Now Frodo has got it in his mind to finish the journey to Mordor alone, so he slips away from the others, hops into a boat, and is already half-way across the river by the time Sam catches up to him. Sam, ever faithful and devoted, attempts to follow Frodo across the river without a boat, despite his inability to swim. He nearly drowns, but Frodo pulls him into the boat at the last moment, and then Sam gives Frodo the explanation of his nearly-suicidal behavior, "I made a promise, Mr. Frodo. A promise! 'Don't you leave him, Samwise Gamgee.' And I don't mean to! I don't mean to."

As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we make promises all the time. We call these promises "covenants," and through them, we pledge to always remember our Savior Jesus Christ, to keep His commandments, and to make any sacrifices necessary to keep these promises and the many other promises we've made to God. Yet, how many of us are truly willing to be as faithful and courageous as Sam was? How many of us would have tried to cross the river, and how many of us would have stood at the bank and lamented, "The river is too wide and I cannot swim. I cannot keep my promise"? How many of us would still be willing to keep our promise to follow the Savior even if that road seemed to lead to certain death? I'm sure I wouldn't have dared to try to cross.

We are not often placed in situations where doing the right thing involves a risk to our lives, but we frequently find ourselves in situations where choosing the right involves a risk to our popularity or position, our friendships, our sanity, or at least our comfort. Are we willing to sacrifice comfort, friendships, and popularity in order to keep our covenants? Sam risked his life to keep a promise. How far are we willing to go?

Fast Talk - What I Have So Far

I'm giving a talk on Fasting next week in Sacrament Meeting, and the Bishop asked me to focus on gaining strength and power through fasting. Here's what I've got so far.

Fasting is, at the very least, a will-power exercise. The Gospel Principles manual, Chapter 25, tells us:

Fasting Teaches Self-Control
Fasting helps us gain strength of character. When we fast properly, we will learn to control our appetites and passions. We are a little stronger by having proved to ourselves that we have self-control. If we teach our children to fast, they will develop the spiritual strength to overcome greater temptations later in their lives.

And, I might add, if we teach ourselves to fast, we will develop the strength to overcome greater temptations.

Even if you don't fast with a purpose, even if you don't pray at all at the beginning, middle, or end of your fast, even if you're just "going hungry" (as many prophets have said fasting without praying is), you are still going hungry, and you are choosing to go hungry. This is not an easy choice to make. Our bodies like food and other sources of physical pleasure. It takes will-power to resist the urge to eat, or to sleep in, or to satisfy our desire for instant gratification. When we fast, we prove to ourselves that our mind is stronger than our body, and our minds become stronger through the exercise. That strength of will-power can help us to resist the temptation to eat and other temptations that we all face in life. We can gain strength and power from a full, 24-hour fast, even if all we do is not eat anything.
But a proper fast is even better. A proper fast includes prayer. Prayer draws our hearts nearer to God, and helps us to feel an increased measure of His Spirit. The Holy Spirit that comes into our hearts through prayer and fasting can help us recognize temptation and resist it. When we fast, we gain the Spirit more abundantly, and He increases our strength and power to resist temptation.

But that can be said for any spiritual event. When we fast, we usually pray for some blessing for ourselves or others. We show God that we really want the blessing that we're asking for, because we want it so badly that we're willing to go hungry for it. I also found this quote about that in a General Conference address.

When we fast, brethren and sisters, we feel hunger. And for a short time, we literally put ourselves in the position of the hungry and the needy. As we do so, we have greater understanding of the deprivations they might feel.
Joseph B. Wirthlin, Law of the Fast, April 2001

This will lead nicely into the principle of giving Fast Offerings, which I'll elaborate on more when I have time. Right now, I need to hurry up and get ready for church.

Connecting With God: Technology VS Nature

I found this on Facebook:

I sometimes wonder if technology brings me closer to God, or farther away from Him. I'd say it does a little bit of both. It helps in that I find inspiring things like this on Facebook, and LDS.org helps me study the gospel, but it also hinders me in that I tend to spend too much time on Facebook and Youtube, when the truth is that we don't really need technology at all.

We can connect to God without a modem, browser, or cell phone. We can develop a relationship with Him without any form of social media. And we can follow Him without a Twitter account or a GPS. God's love and guidance are always available to us, even (or perhaps especially) when we don't have access to modern technology.

The other day, I followed my own advice and biked out to the American River Parkway to find a quiet, natural spot to be alone with God. It worked. I felt the spirit there, and got some much-needed guidance (which I now need to will myself to follow). When Joseph Smith had an important question to ask God, he went into a grove of trees. And in the Book of Mormon, prophets and other spiritual people frequently go into the wilderness or into a mountain to pray. I think that we can connect to God far more easily through nature than through the internet. Perhaps, for that reason, I should continue to follow the advice of seeking more quality time outside than online.

Actually Doing All Those Things

In ages past (by which I mean about 9 months ago) I used to watch a General Conference talk every morning and share my highlights and insights here. I don't know why I didn't do that last General Conference three months ago, but I want to do it again this morning, partly because it gives me spiritually powerful and insightful things to blog about, and partly because I found a good Conference talk for it: President Deiter F. Uchtdorf's October 2012 talk, Of Regrets and Resolutions.





The regret that President Uchtdorf listed that I most want to focus on is the second one, I wish I had lived up to my potential. Yesterday, I blogged about what that potential is. Today, I want to blog about how we can live up to it.

In a lot of ways, God has already told us what we need to do. He has given us commandments and counsel through the scriptures and prophets, He sent His Son to be a living example for us, and He gives us tips and nudges in the right direction through the influence of His Spirit and the Light of Christ. We know of many things that we should be doing. Now what we need to do is actually do those things.

Declaring our testimony of the gospel is good, but being a living example of the restored gospel is better. Wishing to be more faithful to our covenants is good; actually being faithful to sacred covenants—including living a virtuous life, paying our tithes and offerings, keeping the Word of Wisdom, and serving those in need—is much better. Announcing that we will dedicate more time for family prayer, scripture study, and wholesome family activities is good; but actually doing all these things steadily will bring heavenly blessings to our lives.

The trouble is that there's a lot to do and it can be overwhelming. Plus, we're not perfect. We're bound to make mistakes and slip-ups from time to time. While it's theoretically possible to keep all the commandments perfectly (Jesus did it), it's not realistic for us to maintain such a standard. As President Uchtdorf said in another talk, The Love of God, "there are so many 'shoulds' and 'should nots' that merely keeping track of them can be a challenge." God doesn't expect perfection from us. But then, what does He expect, and what should we expect from ourselves?

I believe that God expects us to do what we can. Obviously, that's different for every person, since we all have different talents and time constraints. But there are some commandments that are easier to keep than others, and while we're counseled not to "pick and choose" which commandments we'll keep and which ones we'll ignore, I think we are free to choose which commandments we'll focus on, and right now, I think I'd benefit most from focussing on the basics.

Some of the commandments that we struggle to keep are, ironically, the small things that we're asked to do so regularly that they could become automatic habits. These include things like praying frequently, reading the scriptures, writing in a journal, paying tithing and fast offerings, and fasting itself, for that matter. Even on this list, some of those things are more difficult than others, but I think most people will find that keeping those commandments are realistically doable, and by keeping those commandments (or any commandments) regularly, we increase in the spiritual power we need to help us keep the commandments we find more challenging. I recently prayed for help with keeping such commandments, and the advice that I got back from heaven was to do the basics, frequent prayer and scripture study, and I'd be given the power I need.

It seems too simple, like it's too small of a thing to make any real difference. I can barely even remember what I read in the scriptures last night, or what I prayed about, but I did it, and I'm sure that some spiritual good will come from that, and I'm equally sure that if I do those things regularly enough, the spiritual benefit they bring could really add up. A single grain of sand doesn't weigh much, but a pile of sandbags could weigh a ton.

I think I got off on a tangent.

We know what we should do. We may not be able to do all of it all of the time, but we can do most of it most of the time. And we should do what we can. As we do, the power by which we keep the commandments will increase, and we'll become able to keep more of them more often until we eventually become able to live up to our potential for perfection. It'll take years, even centuries (if not longer) to reach that point, but we can make steps toward that goal, starting today, and it begins with keeping as many commandments as we can keep as often as we can keep them.

Acorns and Caterpillars

We are children of Heavenly Father; His spirit offspring, born with the potential to become like Him. As we grow and progress in mortality and in the Eternities, we can eventually become as wise, as good, and even as powerful as He is, but sometimes I doubt that. Sometimes I can hardly believe that a sinful, fallen human being like me could ever grow so much as to become like God.  That kind of transformation could only be of the miraculous sort, yet, similar transformations happen in nature all the time.

Acorns are nothing like oak trees. Acorns are small and weak. Oak trees are huge and strong. Acorns are easily kicked and thrown around. Oak trees are firmly rooted and not going anywhere. Oak trees offer shade and shelter to many creatures for generations. All an acorn can offer is a meal for one creature once. An acorn is downright pitiful compared to an oak tree, yet after centuries of growth and maturity, an acorn can become an oak tree and produce acorns of its own.

A better-known and more popular example is that of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. Caterpillars are fat and wormy, but butterflies are light and thin. Caterpillars are usually plain colors, like brown or green, but butterflies are beautifully colorful. Butterflies can fly anywhere they want to go, whereas caterpillars can't even jump. A caterpillar is nothing like a butterfly, but through a miraculous process called metamorphosis, it can become one.

There are several enormous differences between me and God. When I think about those differences, I often get discouraged and feel that I'll never be able to change enough to become like Heavenly Father, and maybe I'm partly right about that. Maybe I can't grow and progress enough on my own to ever become like Heavenly Father, but through a miraculous process called a "mighty change of heart," I can be changed into a more pure, more holy person than I am now. I still have to help the process along as much as I can through repentance and trying to improve, but thankfully, I don't have to do it alone.

The transformations of an acorn to an oak tree or from a caterpillar to a butterfly are miraculous ones, but God works such miracles on a regular basis. Perhaps He can also work such a miracle in me.

What Happened Here Changed the World

It has been said that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. That level of isolation is difficult to achieve in a large city. If I wanted to do something in secret, I probably wouldn't go to Las Vegas to do it. I'd probably go to some place more physically isolated from others, where there is less chance of being spotted, like a cluster of trees. There are plenty of less-easily-accessed areas in the American River Parkway. If I wanted to get out and be alone and feel secluded, I'd probably go there. Yet, there is one grove of trees where something happened which was a private thing at first, but now that event is known about by over 15 million people. What happened in the Sacred Grove didn't stay there; it went out to all the world.

I copied this video directly from LDS.org rather than finding it on Youtube for the embed code. Hope it still works.

The people in this video are living evidence that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is not an American church, but a world-wide church. And though many of the events of early church history happened somewhere between New York and Utah, most of the events of current church news are happening all over the world. Missionaries are being sent almost everywhere, Wards and Stakes are being organized in just as many places, and Temples are being built everywhere where the church thrives. Though we often can't see beyond the reach of our own little lives, we are part of an organization that literally covers the globe.

This reminds me that this church is a pretty big deal, not just because it has had far-reaching effects, but that those effects have come because the church is important. What started with one person in a grove of trees has now grown to 15 Million people because this church changes lives, starting with Joseph Smith's, but eventually reaching to affect everyone. So here's my question for application: Is it affecting each of us? How is it affecting us, or how should it be? How should our lives have changed and be changing as a result of having the gospel?

What happened here changed the world. Let it change your life.

The question is, of course, a personal one, but it's one that we could benefit from thinking about occasionally. How, exactly, has this changed our lives? How should be living our lives differently than maybe we regularly do, because the gospel is helping us be better than we normally are or would be? What can we do to show that the church isn't just an organization we belong to, but a force for good in our lives?

It's something I'm going to have to think about some more before I have a good answer. I know that it's helping me strive to refrain from sin, but there's got to be more than that. It's quite possible that I owe my inclination toward service to the many service opportunities afforded by the church, from service projects to setting up and taking down chairs. I know I wouldn't be blogging right now if it wasn't for the church. That's probably worth something. Like I said, I need to think some more before I have a good answer to how the church has affected my life. I'm sure it has. I'm sure it has touched all of us in some way or another. It certainly has changed the lives of the people in the video. This church is a powerful thing; Powerful enough to change to world.

Pushing Buttons in Front of a Box

I'm not much in the mood for blogging this morning because I'm not making much progress at the moment because my computer is being really slow. It's kind of frustrating. Somehow, we as a culture have made ourselves dependent on machines that most of us don't know how to make work. And when they don't work, we find ourselves in serious trouble. I have a provision for how I'll keep my commitment to blog when the internet's not working. I'll write my "Blog Post" on paper, and put up on my blog when I can. Maybe I should do that anyway. I don't often write things by hand. I bet it'd be kind of therapeutic. I spend too much time looking at screens anyway. Maybe I should take a pencil and paper outside and "Blog" out there sometime. You certainly get a different perspective outside than at a computer. It's amazing how nature just makes sense, even if we don't completely know how life works.

Computers are very different creatures than living things. Computers are all based on logic. "If this, then that." Computers don't actually think. They just process information. Computers don't know anything. They just memorize stuff. It seems strange how much time we spend with "creatures" that aren't actually intelligent, and how little time we spend with things that are actually alive. Some people wonder what the meaning of life is, but I bet most of them can agree that it has very little to do with pushing buttons in front of a box.

We believe that the purpose of life is to achieve ultimate happiness by becoming like our Heavenly Father. Heavenly Father is loving and caring, wise and intelligent, forgiving and just. If I'm not mistaken, just about everything He does is focussed on His relationship with us. He's a people person. So, to become like Him, we should all be people people (unless I'm totally wrong, in which case, please disregard this whole blog post). Perhaps I need to spend less time on computers and more time actually connecting with people and nature and God. Don't get me wrong, the internet is a great way to communicate with other people; Most of you wouldn't be reading this without the internet. But to make a more personal connection, it may be better to actually connect in person.

The Purpose of Consequences

Yesterday, in Elder's Quorum, we learned about the consequences of transgression, and specifically the purpose of the consequences of transgression. Simply put, when we do what's wrong, God lets us know that it's the wrong thing to do, not to punish us, but to correct our behavior. One important thing I was reminded of yesterday was that all God does, He does for our benefit, and that includes allowing us to suffer the consequences of our actions.

Understanding the purpose of the consequences of transgression requires an understanding of the purpose of the commandments we transgress. God loves us. He desires our ultimate happiness, not just the short-term happiness that we sometimes seek. God also knows what choices we face, and what the short- and long-term effects of those choices will be. Because He wants us to make wise decisions, He sometimes tells us which paths we should take or what principles we should follow. After that, it's up to us. When we follow God's counsel and commandments, we're blessed, either by a natural result of the choice we made, or with special blessings from God. When we disobey God, we get the opposite, either the natural consequences of a foolish choice or a measure of discipline from the One who is trying hardest to help us.

When we disregard God's counsel, we set ourselves up for failure and misery. God would prefer that we avoid that misery because He doesn't want us to suffer any more than we have to. But if a short period of suffering the consequences of transgression will help us to live more righteously, and thus steer ourselves back in the direction of ultimate happiness, then the pain will have been worth it in the long run, and I personally think that we'll scarcely remember it when we get to heaven, perhaps only remembering the lesson it taught us.

God is not a sadist, nor is He bossy. His commandments aren't to control us, but to protect us from our own ignorance and foolishness and to guide us according to His infinite wisdom and goodness. He really does want us to be happy, but if our choices are leading us to misery, He'd rather let us take the misery now in hopes that it will help us to change our ways rather than leaving us to our own devices and letting us suffer for it later down the road. As an Eternal being, God is a long-term planner, which we, as mortals, are not. While we might avoid any immediate pain or discomfort like our lives depended on it, He knows that sometimes a short period of suffering is needed to bring about a greater period of joy. God has planned an eternity of joy planned for those who consent to follow Him to it, and a lifetime of persuasive arguments in store for those who don't.

The Best Time to Plant a Tree

Maybe I should start previewing my blog posts before I post them. I don't know what that quote did to my blog post yesterday, but I don't like it.

I don't have much time for blogging this morning, as we have church in the morning now, rather than in the early afternoon. In fact, I have hardly any time for blogging at all, which is terrible because I'm not sure what to blog about. Maybe I'll blog really quickly about the First Presidency Message in the current Ensign.

With each new month, there's a new First Presidency Message in the Ensign Magazine and on LDS.org. The current one is by President Uchtdorf, and it's title, The Best Time to Plant a Tree, relates to the last paragraph of his message:

An old proverb says, “The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.”
There is something wonderful and hopeful about the word now. There is something empowering about the fact that if we choose to decide now, we can move forward at this very moment.
Now is the best time to start becoming the person we eventually want to be—not only 20 years from now but also for all eternity.

 A lot of people have a problem with procrastinating, myself included. The best time to decide what I was going to blog about, and maybe even write the blog post itself, was yesterday. But sometimes, it's too late to do things yesterday, making the next-best time to do something today.

I like the message of what President Uchtdorf said, basically that no matter where we are right now, and no matter what we've been doing for the last 20 years or so, we can make the decision to improve ourselves starting today. It's too late for me to have planned ahead for this morning's blog post, but this afternoon, I'll have plenty of time to plan ahead for tomorrow's.

It's Worth a Shot: A Self-Pep-Talk

I want to be a writer.

One of my past English teachers would say that I already am a writer, defining "writer" as "a person who writes." She'd argue that since I write a blog post every morning, I write every morning and therefore am a writer. But I'm not really satisfied with that.

I'd like to submit something to be published. But in order for something to be published, it (theoretically) has to be good. I've received compliments on some of my blog posts, and I've been given the advice to submit a few of them for publication in church magazines. That would be huge! I'm a bit worried, though. I kind of doubt that any of my blog posts are good enough to be published in the Ensign. I guess I'll never know unless I try.

Wayne Gretzky, a famous hockey player, once said, "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." If I never submit anything to be published, I will never be a published author, even if my writing is terrific, which I doubt.

Yet, why should I doubt my writing? I've gotten As on most of my papers in school, I've gotten compliments on my blog posts, and even without the positive feedback, I have to admit that, statistically speaking, at least some of my writing has got to be worth reading, simply because I've been writing so much. I've written blog posts, ranging in length from a few paragraphs to a few pages, at least once per day for almost a full, consecutive year. I've easily written over 300 spiritually-themed blog posts. So even if the odds of any given blog post of mine being worth reading is half of one precent, odds are, I've got at least one good blog post in here somewhere, and I'm pretty sure my odds are at least slightly better than that. After all, I have to admit that I'm a fair writer.

So why not take a stab at getting something published? It'll take a little bit of editing to improve any given blog post to make it more fit for publication, but I've got some good rough drafts here. And it's not like submitting anything to the Ensign will cost me anything. It's free, apart from the time that it takes to write and edit a submission. There is a little bit of risk, though. I have a(n irrational,) petrifying fear of failure. If I submit a blog post and it gets published, I'll be on top of the world, but if I submit a bunch of blog posts and none of them get published... Well, let's just say that it won't affect my self-esteem in any positive way.

But still, weighing the supernaturally inspiring and exciting potential results of success against the minimally depressing potential results from failure, then factoring in my estimated odds of success verses failure, I'm pretty sure that it's worth a shot. I'm reasonably certain that if I submit enough half-decent blog posts (and I'm confident that many of my blog posts are at least half-decent) then odds are that they'll like at least one of them, and if they like it enough to publish it, that will make me extremely happy. It's definitely worth a shot, and if I ever feel otherwise, I'll just remind myself to read this blog post.

Self-pep-talks are awesome.