Still Greatly Blessed

When misfortune befalls me or someone I care about, as it sometimes does, I occasionally try to remember that, despite our misfortune, we really don't have it so bad. We suffer setbacks, and we sometimes have to do without some of the comforts and conveniences of modern, first world life, but that's pretty close to the extent of our misfortune. We have enough tasty food that we won't go hungry. We have adequate clothing. We have sufficient shelter to remain comfortable. We even have the luxuries of indoor plumbing, electricity, and access to the internet. Compared to many people in the history of the world, we are incredibly richly blessed, even if we have to go without some of those blessings sometimes.

Someone I love has suffered a setback, but that's all it was. They will soon have regained the blessing of which they are now temporarily deprived, and though regaining the blessing will have cost them some money, it won't have broken the bank. This person was, and still is, greatly blessed, setback notwithstanding.

I am thankful to have been blessed in such great abundance, and I try to be grateful for the blessings I retain, even when others are temporarily lost.

Don't Sweat the Temporal Stuff

One thing we discussed in Sunday School today was some instructions God gave to the early saints. Mostly, He gave them the call to do missionary work, and He told them where to go and instructed them to travel quickly, but He wasn't too particular about how they got there, whether they traveled by road or by river, whether they bought their watercraft or made their own, whether they used horses or mules or wagons or not. He told them where to go and what to do, but He wasn't too picky about how they got there.

As we reviewed these instructions, it seemed clear to me that God seemed more concerned with spiritual matters, like the missionary work moving forward quickly, and less concerned with secular matters, like exact modes of transportation. With His eternal perspective, God may not put so much focus onto things that won't ultimately matter in the long run. So maybe we shouldn't either.

Maybe we should learn to pay more attention to spiritual matters and matters of eternal consequence and worry less about mundane, everyday things. It may not ultimately matter which tie or dress we wear on any particular day. It may not matter exactly how we travel or what route we take. Even some of the bigger questions, like what we study in college and what we do for a living, may not matter much, eternally. Instead of worrying about matter of merely temporal significance, perhaps we should place more of our focus on matters of eternity.

We've all heard the advice to not sweat the small stuff, but we should remember that, from the perspective of eternity, anything that is merely temporal is small.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame - Is Hellfire Good?

Today, I watched a video exploring the meaning(s) of the fire metaphor(s) in the song titled Hellfire, in Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The maker of the video argued that hellfire exists to punish the wicked, and punishing the wicked is a good (or at least just) thing, so hellfire is, arguably, a good thing. However, I believe that it's possible for punishments to go too far and/or to be executed by someone with the wrong motivations. Satan can be said to punish the wicked, but he does it to watch people suffer, not to purge them of their sins of deliver a just punishment to them.

I believe that there can be such a thing as a cleansing fire, a purifying fire, a fire that burns away the evil in us and leaves the good relatively unharmed. Such a fire would be a good thing. But a fire that merely torments someone, without helping them, regardless of how much or how little they deserve that torment, is almost certainly evil.

Hellfire can be good, if it helps someone repent while they still have a chance to do so. But if it's merely a punishment, then that, in my mind, is a bit harder to morally justify.

A Wrongish Warning

While I was visiting a friend of mine, he had to go do some grocery shopping, and I tagged along with him. While we were checking out, a man ahead of us assumed that we were a couple, and he told us that God hates homosexuals and that we needed to repent or we would go to hell. Despite how wrong he was, I tried not to be confrontational, partly because he was partly right, and I can imagine that his heart might possibly have been in the right place.

God does not hate homosexual people. God doesn't hate anyone. God loves all of His children, even those who don't always listen to Him. However, God does hate sin, and there are certainly consequences for committing sin. If the man ahead of us was genuinely concerned for the welfare of our souls, then perhaps warning us of those consequences could be seen as an act of kindness rather than close-mindedness. God warns us of the consequences of sin, and there are certainly times when we should follow that example, if that's what that man thought he was doing, then blessings on him. However, even while we warn others of the consequences of their actions, we should always be kind.

In a way, I'm almost glad that this stranger was brave enough to warn us against the sin he thought he saw. He was acting on his convictions, and I respect him for that, even though I think I would have approached the situation a bit differently, if I reacted to it at all. Personally, if I saw a pair of people that I thought were gay, I don't think I'd even say anything. Any warning against the sin of sexual impurity would be more likely to ruffle feathers than change minds or hearts, and it's more likely to lead to a discrimination lawsuit than to repentance. Frankly, I don't think I'd bother. Sure, I'd warn a friend about the consequences of such a sin, but I don't think that that warning would be as effective coming from a stranger in a checkout line.

There is are good times, places, ways, and reasons for warning others about the consequences of sin. I'm pretty sure that man failed on at least three of those counts, but I respect him for trying, regardless of how wrong he was.

Judgement and Directions

Tonight, in our family scripture study, we read some advice to use both "judgment and the directions of the Spirit" (D&C 62:8). I believe that it's important to be able to follow either. There are times when God trusts us to follow our own judgement, and there are times when we need to trust God and follow His. We need to learn how to hear, recognize, and follow the voice of the Spirit, but we also need to learn how to make our own decisions in the absence of God's guidance. Both skills are essential for good decision-making. We can't always trust our own judgement, and we can't always count on God to tell us everything that we should do. When either our own judgement or the directions of the Spirit are lacking, we need to be able to lean more heavily on the other. Each for their own reasons, neither of them are always completely reliable. To make it safely through life, we need to be able to confidently follow either of them, so we need to learn how to trust them both.

Beneficial Opposition

This afternoon, I ran a game of D&D for others for the first time in several months. As the DM, it's my job to create obstacles for the characters to overcome. These obstacles include monsters, riddles, traps, puzzles, and environmental hazards. All of these things are meant to be challenging, and many of them can be harmful, or even deadly, but that's just how the game works. The tougher the obstacles the characters overcome, the stronger they become, allowing them to tackle even greater obstacles and gain even greater strength. That's how D&D works.

It's how real life works, too. God gives us challenges in the forms of afflictions, commandments, and even temptations (or at least allows them to happen), at least partly so we can gain experience from those challenges and grow into stronger people. So, even though God puts afflictions into our path, that doesn't mean that He's trying to destroy us or stop our progress. In fact, it's quite the opposite; God give us challenges so we can grow. Like a good DM, God tailors our challenges to our individual needs and abilities. God is not an antagonist. Rather, He's helping us become the best we can be.

In D&D, the DM is not fighting against the players, even though the DM is the one controlling all the villains and monsters. Those villains and monsters exist to help the characters become stronger, and in that way, these obstacles actually help the characters improve. Similarly, in real life, God is not fighting against us, even though He's the one creating many of our afflictions. Those afflictions exist to help make us stronger, and in that way, those afflictions actually help us.

God would be a good DM for many reasons, and one of them is that He is already a master of providing beneficial opposition.

Joy and Happiness

I was looking through some old papers of mine today, and one of them reminded me that the purpose of life is joy. We are on this Earth to find true joy and pure happiness and to share it with as many people as possible. I know that I certainly feel a lot better when I'm able to be happy and make others happy, and it's really just a more pleasant way to live. Some people don't care to try to bring others joy, and some people feel like they can't be happy because of their circumstances or because they haven't reached a certain goal yet, but I'm confident that joy and happiness can be found in almost any circumstance and is most likely to be found when sharing it with others.

Joy and happiness are some of the greatest blessings we can have in this life, so one of our top priorities should be to find true happiness through the gospel of Jesus Christ and share it with as many people as possible.