The God That Doesn't Change

I wasn't sure how to begin this at first. I know what I'm going to talk about is sensitive subject matter, but it needs to be addressed. It's about the way people in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints respond to something new, like something said in a conference talk or a new church policy.

Before I really get into it, please understand that nothing I say about this is under the assumption that those who have become inactive or who have left the church all together are any less loved by God or that their moral values are all of the sudden somehow automatically flawed. I understand that there are many different histories and unique circumstances behind each individual who decides to disassociate or distance themselves from the church in any degree. There is at least one person I my own family who currently (July 2017) falls in this category (which can and hopefully will change) and they are one of the hardest working, caring, family oriented people I know.

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So, here we go. I remember when I served my two year mission for the Lord after each amazing experience. The boost I felt for my faith left me thinking "I am seriously never going less active or leaving this church. If this amazing faith boost and love I feel is just a taste of what God has in store in the eternities, there is no way I'll ever let anything drive me away from this. I'm never going to slacken in my prayers, scripture studies and missionary efforts. I'm only going to become more active for the rest of my life."  Thankfully, I married a woman who's faith is much stronger than mine and therefore we've been able to take turns strengthening each other when one of us has a questions. I've been able to stay true to my intentions from my mission. I have seen those, however who have made themselves and the Lord the same promises and then find themselves going a completely different direction when their faith is severely challenged.

For the record, I of all people am certainly no stranger to severe tests of faith, from circumstances in my personal life caused by me and by outside sources or something a church member or leader has said or done, among other things.  I have faced tests of my faith that left me questioning what, to me, seemed like a fundamental part of my faith. Perseverance, study, prayers, doing things that invited the Spirit and trying to stay humble pulled me through them all. Answers and clarity came in every struggle when I least expected them but in a way that left me thinking, "Well that just... makes total sense. I never thought of it like that before." I'd feel the Spirit confirm the answer and I'd know it was for sure the Spirit and not just my feeling because a) it would explain to me why the thinking that caused my doubt was flawed or lacking context and b) it totally matched the perspective of God's prophets AND the teachings of the Savior.

This is where I touch on the one thing I can't help but wonder if people might forget most frequently when they are certain that the answer they've received from the Holy Ghost is to leave the church (whether in activity or on paper as well). That one thing is that answers from God through the Holy Ghost don't contradict God's prophets.  As Preach My Gospel points out, "truth is a knowledge of things as they really are, were and will be.  It does not change with conditions or time. Truth is the same in every age and culture."

Each and every Latter-day Saint hopefully comes to the point where they first received a testimony from the Holy Ghost that the LDS church is Christ's church and contains His gospel and His authority.  That truth does not change.  Some things that we may hear from General Authorities years after our conversion may sound strange of inconsistent to us, but that's exactly the key.  It sounds that way to us, but that does not mean that what we are hearing from them is the problem.  The problem is us.

Not all who distance or completely separate themselves from the church fall into either of the following categories, but I have found that most people I have observed who have done this do so for one of two reasons.  The first one is when policies or statements are made by the First Presidency or Quorum of the Twelve Apostles that the individual believes are inconsistent with the teachings and character of Jesus Christ Himself.  The other is when the individual comes to believe that certain standards of living, i.e. commandments, within the church are too high or just unnecessary.

In both instances, the concept that the truthfulness of God's church cannot change, even if it contradicts our understanding of the gospel, can serve as a compensatory answer or solution to those two areas of concern.

Here's how.

1. When it comes to policies and statements made by the First Presidency or Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, a few things about truth's unchanging nature can eliminate concerns for the appearance of contradictions.  One can be found in the way the Lord engineered the restoration of the gospel in the first place.

I cannot, for the life of me, seem to find the original source of this, but I read once about an allegory that explains why the Lord waited more than 1000 years to restore the gospel in it's fullness.  It describes in great detail the preparations mankind went through, in the long, dark night of the loss of the purity and fullness of the gospel, renaissance and reformation, the discovery and colonization of America and finally the establishment of religious freedom in America leading up to Joseph Smith's prophetic mission.  It then compares all that to the process of a plane landing.  Everything has to be just right.  Communication with the ground, air speed, altitude, proper balance of throttle and steering, etc. is all absolutely essential to have in check.  You can't just press on a brake pedal and have everything come safely to a stop with an airplane.  Relating this to the restoration of the gospel, can you imagine what would have happened if the doctrine against infant baptism would have been revealed and preached when the principle of being "born in sin" was accepted by Christianity as a whole in the first few hundred years A.D.?  It likely would have been condemned as vehemently as the Godhead being three separate persons just before the year 400, and if someone had claimed that God had commanded mankind to stop drinking coffee and tea in the 17th or 18th centuries, they would have been made the laughing stock of all civilized nations.  If the revocation of the ban on blacks receiving the priesthood had happened just prior to the civil rights movement, it likely would have not been received nearly as well as it was roughly 20 years later.

The Lord needed "land the plane" safely, causing cultural changes one little painstaking, tedious detail at a time to make sure the minds of mankind were being sufficiently prepared for the "plane" to land - i.e. the gospel to be restored - without the "aircraft" meeting proverbial bombs, destroying it upon landing.  Each of those changes had to be in presented with special consideration of the cultural "temperature" of each time period and in a way that He knew would be received at least well enough that it could eventually spread throughout the world and stay alive permanently.

So why do I mention this?  Because He has directed prophets to implement the truth and guide His church through changes that make us more perfect as quickly as He dares without overwhelming the world and especially members of His church (i.e. crashing the plane).

The second way that truth's unchanging nature can eliminate concerns for the appearance of contradictions is by reminding us of the following.  Mankind changes, but certainly not God and not truth.  Whether it be blacks receiving the priesthood, restrictions on baptism of children with homosexual "parents" or anything else that has caused no minor stir in society, each of these changes was not implemented because God was changing or because His prophets were misguided at some point before those changes or when they were made.  It did not signify a change of gospel principles.  It happened because the Lord's timing is perfect.  He knows when to inspire the next big change the world needs, even it many people don't understand it.  He knows how to land the plane.  Let Him.  Don't jump out.  There's no need to be scared of all that.  He has promised us that He would never let His prophets lead us astray and that the fullness of the gospel would never be taken again from the earth, never become tainted again.  Like I said earlier, I have faced tests of my faith that left me questioning what, to me, seemed like a fundamental part of my faith.  But I always came to understand that it was not prophet's mortal weakness that was the problem, it was my flawed perspective and failure to remember (or even to trust) that God will not allow His prophets to lead us astray.

2. In the context of people who believe gospel standards are too demanding, or have exceptions that make it okay for them to disobey commandments, the first thing that comes to mind is a quote from Elder Christofferson, "A God who makes no demands is the functional equivalent of a God who does not exist. A world without God, the living God who establishes moral laws to govern and perfect His children, is also a world without ultimate truth or justice."

I am reminded of the story of the Bishop who had a woman in his office for a temple recommend interview.   When asked if she observed the Word of Wisdom, she said that she occasionally drank a cup of coffee.  She said, “Now, Bishop, you’re not going to let that keep me from going to the temple, are you?”  To which he replied, “Sister, surely you will not let a cup of coffee stand between you and the house of the Lord.”

To be perfectly honest, it should actually be a comfort to us that the Lord's standards are so high and will only get higher.  The proverbial guardrails that are the commandments of God are not, as Cecil B. Demille said so well, "a set of arbitrary, irritating, restrictive rules.  [God] made man free and then gave him the commandments to keep him free.  We cannot break ... Commandments.  We can only break ourselves against them or else, by keeping them, rise through them to the fullness of freedom under God."  Eventually it's the world is going to get so complicated and so adamantly opposed to anything that challenges moral relativism that those who refuse to live the gospel will end up in a hyper frenzy of confusion, pain and bondage to the impulses of the natural man and hung by the marionette strings of Satan himself.  Trust me, I know from experience.  They are a protection, not a problem.  You do not want to wait until the pain of the problem for disobedience becomes worse than the pain of the solution, repentance.  I've said this so many times I think it's becoming my own personal "mantra", but you shouldn't be asking "How good do I have to be?", but rather, "How good can I be?" or "How far away from the edge can I get?"  For more on this subject, read this.

Principles of the gospel do not change based on individual circumstances.  The way they are applied - different from when or whether they are applied, which should not be up for debate - may change depending on the person, but, as I cited earlier from Preach My Gospel, "[Truth] does not change with conditions or time. [It] is the same in every age and culture", and I'll add, for every person and circumstance.  Before marriage, the law of chastity is applied by abstaining from all sexual behavior, literature and media and from impure thoughts.  Within marriage, it is applied by keeping sexual behavior and intimate words and thoughts between husband and wife with unwavering loyalty.  The same idea goes for all gospel principles.  At first the Word of Wisdom means no consumption of coffee, tea, tobacco, alcohol or harmful drugs.  As we come to understand it better, however, we realize that there is a lot more we need to be avoiding (and not avoiding) than just those things to truly be living in a way that matches the spiritual purpose for that particular commandment.

Eventually, all cultural, social or personal conduct that is not directly inspired of the Holy Ghost, no matter how good it is in the moment, will have to be discarded if we want to become what God intended us to be and to live eternally with our families in His presence.

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If you are someone who has decided to leave the church or become less active for any of the reasons above, my intent with this isn't to try to prove you wrong or prove myself right.  It is simply to pose ideas that you may have forgotten or in which you have lost confidence and testify to you that they are true.  Whatever you choose to do with my testimony is up to you.  I love you and I encourage you to consider that even though you have heard and been through things that you thought warranted being away from the gospel and/or the church or leaving it completely, I promise you that God's prophets are still leading His church in the right direction.  Not all of it will make sense to us right away.  Sometimes we'll hear or see things that seem to contradict our moral compass, but please know that it is always worth it to trust that God will not let His prophets lead us astray, that His truth in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Sometimes it can seem like the road from questioning to doubt to disbelief to hurt to understanding to healing and back to faith is much longer than it should be, but at least one promise I know is safe to trust is the one in Preach My Gospel where it says "All that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ."  And I promise you if you live it the way His prophets have counselled us to, if you continually work to align yourself and your life with their counsel, that promise will happen for you.  I guarantee it.

To those who are currently struggling with doubts but haven't made a definite decision on how to respond yet, please don't give up.  I can't go into tons of detail here, but if there's anyone who understand the frustration of not having prayers answered for years and struggling for a really long time with questions or hurt or doubt, it's me.  But I can also tell you that continuing the good fight and keeping your heart and life in alignment with the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve as much as you possibly can will win through.  I testify with all the energy of my heart and soul that it will.  If you need to talk about it and ask for perspective, feel free to click the link to my facebook page above and message me (in english, for those of you who read it other languages).  I love questions as long as they are in honest inquiry.

To all.  I testify that Jesus Christ still leads His church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I testify that following and sustaining the prophet will never lead you wrong.

God doesn't change.  A change in church policy or how the truth is implemented doesn't mean the truth has changed, that His church isn't true anymore or that His prophets are misleading us.  It means that we need to change.

Overcoming Pornography - 5 Virtues That Will Help You Beat It

I left a review on the Porn Harms page on facebook in March 2017 that said "Don't listen to all the naysayers who dismiss the dangers of pornography. They're the ones who are too afraid to admit they are addicted to it and that it's ruining their lives. This agency is helping to save people's lives and repair torn families. I have seen first hand the damage pornography does to marriages and families. It rewires the brain to completely ignore feelings of love, empathy, respect and trust.
Thanks NCOSE for all the hard work you do."

Of course I expected people to comment with things like "Oh, it's not as bad as you're making it out to be" or "Stop trying to tell people how to live."

On the contrary, to my surprise, I had people saying things like "k tell me first move", "I like it too... I need to stop" and "I watch it almost everyday... [Please] I want to stop this what can i do"

I have struggled myself with this plague off and on for over 15 years and I know exactly what works and what doesn't when it comes to overcoming that kind of addiction.  Below I have explained 5 different virtues that will help you overcome it.

1. Accountability.  As Neal A. Maxwell said, "Ever wonder why the sensual scene so often features flashing but fading lights? Or why all the reinforcing glitz? Or why all the loudness masquerading as music? Because, fearful of the dawn, evil cannot stand the steady scrutiny of bright truth, nor can it endure the quiet reflections of soul-searching!"  If you want bad behavior or sinful habits out of your life, expose it.  I guarantee you there are few things that will make you overcome the impulse to indulge in pornography more than making it known.  No matter how hyper-sexualized society has become, people in general usually look down on those who they label "perverts".

This doesn't mean you have to spew out on facebook something like "I am addicted to pornography and I watch it every day!"  Embarrasing, much?  However, do find someone (or more than one if you can) who you love and trust and ask them to be a "confession board" for you.  It needs to be someone who can appreciate and support you in your recovery and will treat your addiction seriously enough to help talk you out of consuming pornography when the urge strikes.  Whoever you choose, they must be firm enough in their resolve to help you that they will never say or do anything that even accidentally makes you think you can indulge or that it's "not as bad as you think."  You should feel guilty about it!  But guilt is not shame.  Shame is based on "I am bad."  Guilt is based on "I did something bad."  The worth of your soul is based on your eternal identity as a child of God, not on what you have done.  Make sure your "confession board" person is aware of that and is firm enough to be clear that consuming pornography in any form and to any degree is wrong, but loving enough to make it clear that you can make better choices, you can beat it and you can train your brain to think differently.  When you've found that person (or people), be relentless and even painfully open and honest about the details of your addiction, it's frequency, when your weak times of the day are, what your triggers are, etc. Only use your computer in public places if don't live alone so others can see what you are doing if you are afraid to start with verbal accountability.  Get to that point by making it harder for yourself to "get away with it."  But do find someone who you can talk to.  I promise you will not be able to beat the addiction without help from someone else.

2. Honesty.  Speaking of being open and honest.  You need to be willing to not mince words, sugar coat or in any way attempt to "sneak" around direct, detailed acknowledgement of the nature of your addiction.  I understand how scary that can be.  It's hard to say things like "The first thing I impulsively think of and the first place my eyes go when I see a woman is her breasts/vagina" or "I often fantasize about what it would be like to touch her/him in [private place] or have them [insert sexual act]" or "I saw a person in tight jeans today and all of the sudden I had a powerful urge to [insert action here]."  When you say things like that to your "confession board" person it's going to make you feel awkward and probably dirty or sleezy.  That's okay!  It should make you feel like that!  Godly sorrow - meaning guilt, not shame - is an effective catalyst for change.  You also need to clearly and precisely talk about what you use as rationalizations.  Perhaps you think "So many people do it, what's the difference with just one more person does it?" or "It's a bikini. It's not like their naked" or "It's just a pose, they have all their clothes on.  They're just comfortable in their own body" or "It's just art.  It's meant to focus on the beauty of the body" or "Wow they're hot!  I'll just search for their name and focus on the pictures with clothes on. I just want to see how truly beautiful they are or how their reached their goal weight."

Stop it.  Stop it now.  You're lying to yourself.  These rationalizations and all others are lies.  If you are truly honest with yourself, you know that the mind of an addict will look desperately, even subconsciously, for reasons that look innocent enough to justify "just one search" or "just one click".  The health, weight loss, fitness, clothing, sports, entertainment, food, and even mental health industries often use devious means to sneak little "hints" of sexual ideas into everything they sell.  I saw an advertisement the other day on facebook from Screenrant that said something like "Photos the cast of Harry Potter never wanted to get out" with a picture of Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley) facing her boyfriend, both of them in swimsuits having an intimate moment.  Wow are those people ever sly.  Using social drama to put crap like that out there.  And that's not the only means they'll use.

Pay attention to your thought patterns and be ridiculously honest about them.

3. Vigilance.  The process of over coming sexual addictions take time and keeping your guard up for the many triggers that I'm sure you know so easily get to you.  As you work harder at it, you may find yourself staying further away from whatever it is your addiction involves and feeling like "you got this.  You're good now.  You've beat it."  Whether you're talking about pornography or masturbation or something worse, you cannot let your guard down like that.  Just because you've stopped your addiction for a time doesn't mean those connections you formed in your brain by indulging for all that time will go away that fast.  You can't just detox from pornography.  It's not something you can just "clean out of your body."  You can't just unsee what you have seen.  Your subconscious remembers everything.  All your subconscious needs is the smallest of triggers when your guard is down and, slam! You're on your way back into the addiction. Our minds as humans are easily programmed but very hard to reprogram.  We are naturally creatures of habit.

My addiction started when I was... 7? 8? 9?  Somewhere in there.  Some cousins of mine were over for a family reunion and they had parked their trailer out in the front of our house.  I was curious one day about the trailer and went to explore it with permission because I had never traveled with one before.  Glamour Magazine was in the trailer and while there were no naked women in there or any suggestive poses, etc. The swimsuits, some of them, didn't leave much to the imagination.  My initial response was "This is bad! These women need more clothes on!" and said something to that effect to my cousin.  All he said back was "Oh it's just swimsuits.  It's not that bad."  That was all it took.  I was scared to talk about it with my parents and it kept festering in my mind for years until I found myself fully immersed in an addiction to pornography and masturbation.  You. can. not. be. too. careful. This doesn't mean you can never go to a mall again or walk by a magazine rack in a store.  It just means you need to be on guard everywhere you go and, as mentioned above, stay completely accountable about every detail.  You will probably notice quickly how often you find yourself thinking "Dang! These triggers are coming up way more often than I thought.  This is the 5th time today where I've been triggered/indulged and it's not even 5 o'clock!".  Vigilance will help that decrease and the person you use as a "confession board" will notice the decrease as well as you improve.

4.  Patience.  Speaking of improving, remember what I said about connections in the brain?  It's true.  I've been a pianist for more than 20 years.  I know what it takes to form and strengthen new connections in the brain and replace bad ones with good ones.  It takes years of repetition of a good habit to permanently break strong negative impulses.  It will be difficult at first.  I can almost guarantee you will have relapses.  You will slip.  You will come to points where you are just so sure that you've got it kicked and then fall back into it one random day when you least expect it.  Things like that are typical in addiction recovery.  If that doesn't happen to you that way, great!  Fantastic!  Well done!  But please, do not make the mistake of abstaining for months or even years at a time and use that fact to think "I did it!  I beat it!  I'm done!"  Maybe you are one of those kinds of people who I have heard actually did kick it cold turkey and never went back.  If so, I commend you profusely for this extraordinary achievement.  But please don't count on it.  This kind of thing is HARD.  REALLY HARD to break out of.

You can go 5 years or more without it and still have just one time where the situation is just right for the devil to work, to tease you with something so subtle that he convinces you that you are "still in control", that "you already beat this, you're fine."  The next thing you know you can't believe you've fallen right back into your old habits.  You need to couple vigilance with patience.  I promise you will have days where you yell and scream at yourself, maybe even throw or break something and say "THAT'S IT!!  I WILL NEVER DO THIS AGAIN! EVER!!! I'm so sick of feeling dirty and sleazy!" and then break down and cry and cry and cry.  And then you'll find yourself sometime afterwards doing it again.  And I get how horrible that feels.  It hurts like nothing else you've ever felt before.  Words do not do it justice.  You don't feel worthy to live.  Perhaps you may get suicidal.  I really have been there.  I've been to that horrible, dark, seemingly endless and inescapable abyss.  I know how hard it is to beat something like this.  But patience and faith in yourself and vigilance and accountability and honesty will get you a long ways.  But as my next point illustrates it won't get you all the way there.  You'll need just one more thing.

5. Faith.  Specifically, faith in Jesus Christ.  You need Him.  He already overcame all the temptations, guilt, hurt, shame, weakness and sin you have or ever will commit.  He has done so flawlessly.  He knows what you need to beat it.  He knows that you're efforts and even the help of those around you, who He puts in your path, will only get you so far.  The boost you need to permanently conquer sexual addiction, heal from it and heal those you hurt in your addiction as well can only come by the enabling power of His grace, made available to you because of His atoning sacrifice, His payment for your soul.  Even if you are not religious or an atheist or agnostic or whatever you are, I promise you from my own personal experience, the only thing that will bring you to conquer your problem forever is turning to Jesus Christ, having faith in Him sufficient to follow Him and center your life on Him.

He knows your needs better than anyone else.  Whatever it was that sparked your addiction, a bad breakup with a boyfriend/girlfriend, the pain of divorce, pressure from friends of family, bullying, abuse of any kind at home, stress with work or home responsibilities or whatever else, He understands that perfectly.  He knows how to break that cycle to heal the hurt and harmful effects of it all, both in your heart and cognitively.  No one can transform you like He can.  I know I said earlier that sexual addiction is really hard to beat, but if you are looking for the easiest way out of it, Jesus Christ, The Son of God, is the easiest and the only way out no matter what anyone else tells you.  Just because it's the easiest way out doesn't mean it's just easy, period.  Christ asks us to repent and the pain that sometimes accompanies that is far better than suffering in the chains of addiction.  Repentance comes from the Greek "metanoia", which, literally translated, means "to think differently after" signifying a change of mind and heart, a permanently new and ever improving view of ourselves, God and the world.  It's still hard, but centering your life on Him is better than waiting until the pain of the problem gets worse than the pain of the solution.

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Before I wrap this up, I'd also recommend utilizing the LDS Addiction Recovery Program or Fortify

I've said it probably a hundred times before and I'll say it again.  If there's one thing you can do for yourself that will help in these 5 ways and even help you to come up with more ways to help you beat this or any other kind of addiction, it is this: Stop asking "How good do I have to be?" and start asking "How good can I be?"  In the moments where I was backed up to my wall of faith - staring my weaknesses and sins in the face as they mercilessly, attractively and viciously taunt me - and I actually came out victorious, that is the attitude that made all the difference for me, especially when I do it with faith in Christ.

*edit* Click here to read part 2.

The Song of the Righteous: Part 1

Doctrine and Covenants 25:12 "For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads."

The power of good music in the last few days, especially hymns, has been a balm of Gilead for me through stressful moments.  The peace I have felt and the calm reassurance of the love and power of God in my life, brought to me through them by the Holy Ghost, is the driving force behind my next several entries.  I will doing an in depth look at a number of LDS hymns and attempting to give a Holy Ghost guided presentation of the spirit, message and power of each of them.

As President Boyd K. Packer said: "An organist who has the sensitivity to quietly play prelude music from the hymnbook tempers our feelings and causes us to go over in our minds the lyrics which teach the peaceable things of the kingdom. If we will listen, they are teaching the gospel, for the hymns of the Restoration are, in fact, a course in doctrine!"  So hopefully, these analyses will serve as both and instructive and sanctifying force for my readers.

Without further delay...

Hymn 85 - How Firm a Foundation

(Play the music from here if you are not familiar with the tune)

"How firm a foundation ye saints of the Lord Is laid for your faith in His excellent word

What more can he say than to you he hath said Who unto the Savior for refuge have fled

In every condition - in sickness, in health, In poverty's vale or abounding in wealth,
At home or abroad, on the land or the sea - As thy days may demand so thy succor shall be

Fear not, I am with thee; oh, be not dismayed, For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.
I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand, Upheld by my righteous omnipotent hand

When through the deep waters I call thee to go, The rivers of sorrow shall not thee o'erflow,
For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless, and sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply.
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.

E'en down to old age, all my people shall prove My sov'reign, eternal unchangeable love;
And then, when gray hair shall their temples adorn, Like lambs shall they still in my bosom be born.

The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose I will not, I cannot desert to his foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, I'll never, no never, no never forsake!"

There are just a few hymns where it's as if the Savior Himself is speaking right to us.  This is one of them and I'm not sure I can imagine a better hymn to parallel Isaiah 54:2.  I'm surprised this one isn't in the that little scripture reference section in the bottom right corner of the text in the hymn book.  It's so encouraging: "O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones."

Consecrating our afflictions for our gain - "laying [our] 'stones' with faith colors", etc. - is one of the most reassuring and empowering doctrines of the Father.  This is sometimes a difficult concept for many to understand.  Something else that helps to clarify such a doctrine is where I was actually studying today (Feb 20th, 2017) in my scriptures, 2 Nephi 2, where Lehi says in verse 11 "there must needs be an opposition in all thing" and in verses 14 and 16 "...for there is a God, and he hath created all things ... both things to act and thing to be acted upon ... it must needs be that there was an opposition; ... the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself.  Wherefore, man could not act for himself save it should be that he was enticed by the [good and bad]."

The test of life is to basically see whether we will say, by how we choose to live, "Yes, I'm sure I support Heavenly Father's plan for me.  I'm stand by what I chose before I was born here on earth, to side with Jesus Christ, to have faith in and use His atoning sacrifice to the fullest extent intended." over and over and over until each test of our commitment is either passed or, if failed, hopefully repented of in the end.

Each time we indicate faith in Christ by responding to opposition and trial with optimism and faith and obedience, we choose to "act" instead of being "acted upon" by those trials. When that happens, the Lord promises us, in this hymn, that He "will be with [us], [our] troubles to bless, and sanctify to [us our] deepest distress" meaning that He will make it so that our acting will result in such trials become a purifying and elevating experience rather than something that "acted upon" us and pulled us down.  His grace makes it all possible.  Our faith activates it.

"As thy days may demand, so thy succor shall be" adds an additional source of comfort and encouragement from the Lord as well.  He always gives us exactly what we need in the exact moment we need it.  Whatever necessity is required through out each day, whether it be temporal or spiritual or both, the Lord promises us that He will succor (run to our aid) exactly as the laws of justice and mercy require or "as [our] days may demand."

Something else I love about this hymn is when He says "I only design thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine."  In metal work, dross is the scum that forms on the surface of molten metal as a result of oxidation.  Basically garbage that is completely useless and will only make the finished product look bad.  In symbolism, the Lord is basically saying that anything that we didn't need to go through for our own salvation - like effects of the fall put upon us by others sins or weaknesses - will be like dross.  All of those effects on us will be consumed so that all that is left is purity and holiness - "thy gold to refine".  More generally speaking, that was the whole purpose of the atonement of Christ in the first place, the reverse all the effects of the fall.

In the end, this glorious hymns exits with a short anthemic response of allegiance to our Savior: "The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose I will not, I cannot desert to his foes; That soul though all hell should endeavor to shake, I'll never, no never, no never forsake!

Why would we want to?  He promises us in this hymn that He'll be there as often as we reach for Him.

Moral Absolutes

Yes, the age old battle between moral relativism and moral absolutism.  Today that battle is more prevalent than ever before.  However, something most people miss is that neither side is entirely wrong or entirely right all the time.  That very sentence can seem to side a little with moral relativism, and I realize for sure that not everything is just black in white in this life.  Not every question can simply be answered straight forward or with a yes or no.  However, I definitely do not sympathize much with moral relativism and view it way more as a threat to mankind and the earth.

I will attempt here to show the advantages and disadvantages to both sides of this, but in the end my goal here is to help people understand why the only true morality is God's.  His perspective is perfect and only He sees absolutely everything as it really is.

Of the many examples I could use to illustrate the pros and cons of relativism vs absolutism, few to none may be as prominent or recurring these days than the ubiquitous conflict between the crowds that call themselves "pro-choice" and "pro-life" in the debate on abortion.  On the one hand people are arguing that a women has a right to choose what she does with her body, and that's true.  On the other hand people are arguing that it's murdering an innocent child and that's wrong, and that's true as well.  What neither side seems to be acknowledging is the reason why it's wrong for us to take the life of an infant, born or not.  That reason is where the conflict between relativism and absolutism comes in.  Yes, a mother has a right to choose what she does with her body, but that life inside her isn't her body.  It's the body of another human being.  Yes, it's wrong to kill, but it's not wrong to defend our families and our country from tyranny, even if that means taking a life.  So is it or isn't it wrong to murder?

The answer?  It depends... and it doesn't.  The Lord said "thou shalt not kill".  He didn't put any qualifiers on that statement and everything He speaks is valid and true.  But even He knows that there is a higher principle than truth.  To edify.  Edify: To instruct especially so as to encourage intellectual, moral, or spiritual improvement."  Doctrine and Covenants 50:23 - "And that which doth not edify is not of God, and is darkness."  If the truth does not edify someone, if they are not prepared to receive it, if their perspective isn't at a point where they will be edified by it, it should not be given. Do speak the truth.  Give it boldly.  Teach it completely.  Publish it liberally.  But do it to the right audience, at the right time, in the right place.

To the LDS community this will be an age old example, but lets look at why God told Nephi to kill Laban.  In this instance, would keeping Laban alive be edifying to Nephi?  No.  He would not give the scriptures to Nephi, which the Lord commanded him to retrieve and when agency is misused, it is lessened until it is given away.  Nephi's people would have suffered and, as the verses in that chapter point out, dwindled in unbelief.  Would keeping Laban alive be edifying to Jerusalem?  No.  God had already pointed out to Lehi and Jerusalem was going to be destroyed anyways very soon.  So to be honest, it was better for Laban to die before such a horrific thing happened than to suffer as a live witness to the destruction of his own city.  Would keeping Laban alive be edifying to his family?  Even then, the answer is no.  While his wife and children may not have understood the reason for his death, but when final judgement comes and they see the good that came to an entire nation (via the scriptures) because of his death, I'm sure they'll agree that it was justified, especially considering he was leading his city and his family straight down the devil's path to misery.  Really, taking his life was an act of mercy on the Lord's part through Nephi.

So when it comes to taking the life of another, unless it is edifying to all parties involved (and the Holy Ghost confirms it as such), the morally correct answer is don't do it.

Let's look at same gender unions.  I don't want to call it marriage because marriage was defined by God to be a legal (and preferably spiritual) covenant and bond between a man and woman, so anything else by that standard isn't marriage.  Therefore, what some people call "same sex marriage" is immoral.  However, does this mean that we should be parading around to everyone who chooses to participate in or support that kind of thing and tell them they are immoral without regard to the individual and their circumstances?  No.  Even though it's true, if their minds aren't prepared to hear it, it will not edify them.  It may only cause them to turn against the truth more vigorously than before making it take that much longer to be prepared for the truth than it would have if patience was applied initially.  As the scriptures point out, the Lord works by small and simple things to accomplish His purposes.  He works to prepare people's minds to be ready to receive the truth and how well they do or do not work with Him to be ready will dictate if, when and how we should teach the truth to them and encourage them to follow it.  The Lord knows their heart and knows perfectly what will edify them and when.

Consider for a moment if your undeveloped pallet had tasted a raspberry for the first time and it was too sour for your liking.  (I saw a video with a kid who had that very thing happen).  Someone would have a hard time convincing you to try it again for a long time.  However, if the person who offered it to you, knowing the benefits but having patience, waited to offer it to you until your pallet was developed enough to enjoy the flavor, you'd forever remember that "raspberry = good".

A wise person once told me "Advice is like snow; the softer it falls the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper it sinks into the mind."

However - and this is where I put a different twist on things - this does not mean we should be hyper focused on making sure we please everyone. Nor does it mean that the only time we tell someone the truth is if it will make them happy.  Do you think repentance is supposed to be 100% wonderful and peaceful and butterflies and rainbows, etc.?  I don't think so.  Certain kinds of suffering are, believe it or not, edifying.  Look at Ghandi for example.  When his people were at war with each other (unfortunately I cannot find the official source of this), he decided to fast until, in desperation to keep their leader alive, they stopped fighting and there was peace.  This kind of suffering, on Ghandi's part, was edifying to an entire nation and to himself, since sacrifice is the highest form of love.

The same goes for repentance.  It is supposed to involve a motivational type of suffering, encouraging the repentant sinner to sin no more, thus enabling them to become more like Christ in all His might, majesty and glory.  Of course, there is the kind of suffering that was described in Mormon 2:13, "their sorrowing was not unto repentance, because of the goodness of God; but it was rather the sorrowing of the damned, because the Lord would not always suffer them to take happiness in sin."  The truth wasn't edifying to those people because the more they heard of it, the more they fought against it and it was actually harmful and damning to them.  But for the repentant sinner, the Godly sorrow experienced during repentance is quite edifying because causes in them "a mighty change... in [their] hearts, that [they] have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually." (Mosiah 5:2)

So not all edification feels pleasant.  Either way, the bottom line here is as follows.  If something does not edify all parties involved according to the dictates of the Father through the Holy Ghost, it is wrong.  I will say this though.  Certain things are always wrong, no matter what.  Breaking a promise we make with God to follow Him, for any reason, is wrong.  In the LDS community we are reminded each week when we partake of the sacrament, that we have made promises to God to "take upon [us] the name of [His] Son, Jesus Christ, and always remember Him, and keep His commandment which He has give [us]."  

Some covenants are higher priority than others or encompass others.  A few weeks ago, my wife's sister's celebration of life (in lieu of a funeral) was scheduled on a Sunday at a time that meant missing church to attend.  At first, I had heavy reservations about going, thinking "I have to keep my covenants to my Father in Heaven to attend church meetings and fulfill my calling as ward organist".  However, upon discussion with my wife and other trusted sources, I realized that I was forgetting the principle taught by the Savior, when He said "inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my bretheren, ye have done it unto me".  The principle here is that by missing that event, where no one was asking me to forsake a habit of going to partake of the sacrament at church every week, I would be putting those at church who depended on me as the organist ahead of my wife, who depends on me for moral and emotional support in her time of need; and her needs need to take higher priority than ward needs.  They found someone else to fill in for that week and everything was fine.  And I also kept my covenant to always remember Him by remembering the covenant I made with He and my wife in the temple, therefore attending His sister's event as well.  He suffered for my wife's loss and felt it the same way she did, so by supporting her first, I also kept my promise to Him.

Of course, if I was asked to put something to do with family as more important than church on a more consistent basis, that would be wrong to go along with that because the Savior also taught "He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me."

There are countless situations where there is grey area in what may or may not be morally right.  I firmly believe abortion in 99.9999999% (rough estimate there) of cases is wrong.  I firmly believe that gay unions are wrong.  However, since everyone is different and God knows that each of His children have a wide range of spiritual capacity, in understanding, comprehension and depth (3 different things), learning to discern the right way to approach something for one person as opposed to another requires lots of practice aligning our hearts and minds with the Holy Ghost.

In expressing frustration, pain or fear, for example, I need to hear someone say and provide evidence, perhaps with a similar experience, that they understand. Maybe a "that totally happened to me, too", or an "I feel the same way!"  That tells me that someone else knows how it feels, even if not from my perspective.  My wife on the other hand, hates hearing things like that.  To her those kinds of comments feel like they are saying "Me too! Look at me, give me the attention" in the middle of what she is saying.  She prefers to have people say "I'm so sorry, I can't imagine how hard that must be for you.  I've never been through that."  She says it helps her feel like her problems are unique, so that makes her and her situation special.  So the morally right thing to say to me in time of crisis is the wrong thing to say to her and vice versa.  It really does depend on the person.

As alluded to earlier, somethings are just right almost always or even 100% always or just wrong to the same degree.  Infidelity in marriage always has been and always will be 100% wrong in all circumstances.  Putting our relationship with the Lord first has always been and will always be 100% right in all circumstances.

Just keep in mind that edifying is better than merely speaking or enforcing the truth if it's not done in the right way, to the right person, at the right time.

The Worlds Lies vs. Words of the Wise

Phrases like "don't follow the worlds lies", "don't go with the popular crowd" or "don't worry about what anyone else says, just follow your heart" as well as memes like this:

...are so ubiquitous in today's world that, in all honesty, you'd think that there would be no "mindless lemmings" left in the world.  But of course, no matter how much you repeat truth there will always someone to oppose it.  The irony of how often those kinds of ideas are repeated is easily seen in how many likes, shares and comments are given to those ridiculous "share if you believe in Jesus, ignore if you're a devil worshipper" posts.  That's just one example of the insane number of social movements or fads that somehow convinces people to all of the sudden abandon any individual thought process or logical weighing of pros and cons before deciding that following the crowd is a good idea.

We are surrounded by so many campaigns, movements, fundraisers, hashtags, prayer requests, share requests, etc. that too often anyone who is not paying close enough attention to God's prophets instantly turns into a feather in the ever shifting winds of societal brainwashing the second someone says, in some way, "look at me!"

Don't get me wrong, the world is full of bad and good messages.  I am a huge proponent of anti-pornography groups, supporting victims of natural disasters, Christmas hashtag campaigns and such.  However, even when it comes to causes that I support, there are quite frequently large crowds that have faulty perspectives on the subject matter.  Many times people take a good thing and turn into something bad.  That's how the devil works.  He takes good information and uses it or portrays it in a harmful way.  God presents truth and encourages us with love and open invitation to follow Him.  He does use passive aggressive guilt trips or declare that not sharing or liking a post on social media automatically means we are some kind of antagonist.  Perpetuating those kinds of things, as innocent as the intention may be, is only good for giving immature people the kind of attention they don't deserve and doesn't do anyone any good.

Anyways, I'm not intending this post to just be about guilt trip meme's, so I'm sorry if I seemed a little superfluous there.

The point with this whole thing is to emphasize what Elder David A. Bednar so eloquently said: “Discernment is so much more than recognizing right from wrong.  It helps us distinguish the relevant from the irrelevant, the important from the unimportant and the necessary from that which is merely nice."

One of my personal weaknesses is sometimes latching on to things that energize me without enough regard to any risks of unhealthy dependency on it.  I'm not talking about issues like pornography, drugs, gambling or things like that, although those are definitely huge problems in society and in one of those cases I have first hand experience in the damage it causes.  What I'm talking about is stuff like movies, music, social media and similar habits that, of themselves, aren't bad.  They are actually really good when used right, and I'll go as far as to say they are indispensable tools in building the kingdom of God.  But with my personal weakness, I get so hyper focused on pursuits that are good - not just limited to what I have mentioned - that they turn into a problem when I get too intensely focused them, to the point of putting more important things off and momentarily loosing track of where my priorities should be.

I've had times where I'm engrossed in a new idea I have for a religious piece of music but I'll get so into it (composers understand that, when it's flowing it's flowing) that I forget about other even more important things, like family and home responsibilities, that I should be getting done first.

I need to work on that a lot.

I've heard some people say I talk about the Jesus Christ and His gospel too much.  Bringing this up is in no way meant to point them out.  I've been told that it's annoying how much I talk about or relate everything to Him and His Atonement.  I mourn for those people.  I'm not angry at them.  I feel nothing but concern and pray to my Father in Heaven that they will understand that mortality should not be a matter of "here's my religious life and then there's my regular life."  Our commitment to Christ should never just be something on our daily 'to-do' list.  It needs to be meshed and woven somehow into every waking moment of our lives.  This doesn't have to mean that we over do it by spending every minute studying scriptures, talking to people about the gospel, preparing or studying lessons, etc.  That's ridiculous.  What it does mean is that we live in a way that the reason for everything we do is to strengthen the relationships we have with Christ and, with Him, our families.  I once heard a wise man say he tries to consistently ask himself "would the Holy Ghost tell me to do this?"

I would add "Would the Holy Ghost encourage me to pursue this, want this, encourage this, etc?"  If the answer isn't an immediate, confident, joyous 'yes', then it's time to reconsider.

It is so easy to get swept up in the everything the media and industry giants throw at us, the newest neatest program, toy, fad, campaigns, movement or fundraiser.  I know how difficult it can be.  Whenever a new Marvel movie, new software title, or Tim Horton's doughnut comes out, I'm right on it.  I often annoy my wife and others talking about how much I am excited about it.  I have my personal weaknesses in this area, even to the point of turning a good thing into a bad thing by allowing it to temporarily take my focus off of things that are just as or more important.

It's far better to rely on the Lord's wisdom as given by His prophets over the world's pseudo-happiness.  There is no level of commitment to Him that is too high, no amount of focus on Him that is too intense, no such thing as admiring Him too much, no such thing as wanting to be too much like Him (different from being Him),

No monetary, academic, scientific, political, or democratic success (to name a few) can or will ever compensate for failure to center our homes and families on the Savior.  There is no shame in living words of the wise, His words, instead of being deluded by the worlds lies, no matter how "appealing" they seem.

Building With The Bricks That Are Thrown At You

Sometimes I feel bad for people who don't have 'nose-to-the-grindstone', soul wrenching difficulties very often.  Yes, I know, this probably sounds a bit masochist right off, but I'll explain.  Extensively.

No I do not rejoice in pain of any kind, physical, emotional, financial, social, spiritual, mental, etc.  It really bothers me, to a point that makes it almost impossible for me to endure, to see others suffering, especially those I love most.  But what I have seen happen in my wife's life and mine as a result of exercising faith during difficulty makes me realize how much further behind and ignorant I would be if I hadn't seen the level of contrast that comes as a package deal with holding on to Christ in the midst of that much affliction.

In Truman Madsen's lectures on the prophet Joseph Smith, Truman says: "Let us now do a close-up of the personality and character of the Prophet Joseph Smith. May I begin with the comment of the late Sidney B. Sperry, who was perhaps the Church's most knowledgeable Hebraist. He studied years ago with some of the world's renowned scholars at the University of Chicago and then came to Brigham Young University, where he remained for his entire career. One reason he studied ancient languages was to gain the advantage of reading in the earlier source materials. Because of his scholarly achievements, some of his colleagues spoke of him as "the accomplished SBS."  Early in his life, he said, he had aspired to know more about the scriptures than any man living. He told me, and this is the point, that he had become aware that no man in this generation could possibly know as much about the scriptures as did the Prophet Joseph Smith. I begin with that because a feeling constantly recurs as one studies the life of Joseph Smith. You never quite get to the bottom. There is always more. You can be so impressed and overcome with glimpses that you say, "Nothing good that I could learn of him would be surprising." And then you become surprised. There is always more. It takes deep to comprehend deep, and I often wonder if any of us have the depth to fully comprehend this man. [emphasis added]."

I intensely admire all the quiet, "old souls" of the world, regardless of their actual physical age; those who are, quite frankly the opposite of me, who prefer to quietly observe more than speak because, usually, they are the ones who are like a deep well of experience and wisdom to whom the world needs to pay more attention.  Those who are most like this, when they truly speak their minds, give us some of the worlds most profound and well timed lessons.  Why is this?  Is it simply because of their observatory nature or is there something else?

I believe it is because they, many of them, have been on the receiving end of so much trial, so much abuse, so much being beaten down life and have, of their own volition, followed the Savior's invitation via the Holy Ghost to, as The Script says in their song "Superheroes", "turn[ed] their pain into power".  My wife is one those people.  The things she has seen and experienced dwarf almost anything I have ever heard about challenges of any other mortal alive today.  I have been working, ever since I've known her, to reach the deepness of understanding and heart that she has.  Keeping in mind how sheltered I was growing up from what the world is really like, it has been an extremely grueling experience, easily the most challenging and revealing of processes.  I have seen and experienced things, along side her in private moments, that have stretched my mind and soul to places I, or anyone else who knew me growing up, would scarcely imagine, many times with me "kicking and screaming" through it and sometimes in teeth gritted, head bowed commitment to her and my Savior.  There is very rarely a dull moment in our apartment.

But the reason why I paint this picture is because of that phrase "it takes deep to comprehend deep".  According to doctrines of the LDS church, we all have the inherent ability to become like God.  The total of trials God tailors for us, on a individual basis, are meant to bring us to that point and transform us to become like Him.  That's what will happen provided we don't prevent it by resisting His efforts to build our character through hardship, training us to not be affected negatively by difficulty or "acted upon".  That being said, if someone goes through much of their life, or even just long periods, with very little or even relatively tolerable difficulty, the compensatory level of such they will face may multiply exponentially and quickly.  Only the soul that is highly spiritually conditioned to respond to trials to come with faith in Christ will be successfully brought to total cleansing, healing, perfection, and exaltation.

I hope that the reader does not get the impression that I suggest that they must seek pain or trials, intentionally open themselves up to religious persecution or anything like that.  Those things will come whether we look for them or not the more we are focused on the Savior.  I am also not suggesting that there is some quota of pain, responded to in faith, that will only result in our transformation into divine beings if it is reached.  There is no celestial checklist of roadblocks that we must hurdle over in order to reach our true potential.

Our character can be perfected, our faith completed, our souls eternally glorified with good experiences or bad ones, big and small.  It just depends on whether we choose to act or allow ourselves to be acted upon.  The reason why I said that I sometimes feel bad for people who don't have 'nose-to-the-grindstone', soul wrenching difficulties very often is because, at least for me, those kinds of experiences have always had similar results to Alma the Younger.  The more I have turned to my Father in Heaven and sought the changing power of the Atonement of Christ amid them, the more I have felt "joy as exceeding as was my pain!"  If I hadn't seen and suffered the things I have in my heart, I would not understand the polar opposite on the happy side of life, which always ends up being more than worth it.

*edit (June 2016)
Bruce and Marie Hafen explained it this way: "We grasp meaning on in the midst of contraries.  Thus only those who have lived in the depths carved out of their hearts by tribulation can have room enough for their hearts to contain and truly comprehend the fullness of joy that awaits them."
*end edit

I've still got a long way to go, but I'm grateful for the "bricks" that have been thrown at me.  As David Brinkley once said, "A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him."  The more bricks that are thrown at me, the more opportunities I have to lay with them an iron clad, unbreakable, impenetrable foundation on my Lord and Savior and the stronger that foundation gets.

At this point, I am eternally thankful for the foundation my Father in Heaven has helped me build, founded on His Son, our Redeemer, constructed with bricks of opposition, decorated with the joys and blessings of obedience, all held together with the mortar of faith in Jesus Christ.

Doctrine and Covenants 78:19, "And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more. [emphasis added]"

There's Always Someone Who Understands

With some understanding of how cliche some people may think the phrase "trials are a part of life" is, it has taken new meaning for me this year.  This one is aimed to those who either don't think "that one thing" could ever happen to you or, on the other hand, those that think "no one understands what I'm going through right now".

In 2015 I have seen so many things happen, in my life and the lives of people who I love and am close to, that I was surprisingly naive enough to think "whoa! I never thought that would happen to me/them!"  Most of them were big shockers to me and many of them are things I'm still struggling to process, endure, heal from or change.  From an LDS perspective, I imagine there are many of us who see some people and think "Wow, they are so wonderful! I bet they are just so blessed all the time and are so good. They all look so happy and do so much good for the world and the Lord."  While I'm sure there are those out there who have very long periods like that, I highly doubt that there are many, especially those who appear most faithful to God, that don't struggle with some pretty intense difficulties.

In one case, there is a certain individual who is one of the most incredible spiritual giants I've ever known; someone who works so hard, studies the scriptures so diligently, serves so effectively, is so close to the Spirit, is so forgiving and helpful and selfless that anyone else might take one look at them and think that few things ever go wrong in their life because how much they must be blessed for their Christ-centered life.  If you were to talk to them, though, you'd find out the incredibly intense opposition they are under at work, the unbelievable difficulties they face at home, the willful negligence they experience at church because of old grudges, false rumors and more, but they don't show it because they are strong enough that, through the lens of casual observation, everyone else has no idea what is really going on in their life.

In another case, there's my wife.  I wrote her life story as she dictated it to me.  She had asked a number of other people (I think 6 or more but I could be wrong) to write it as well and they had nightmares after starting what is now chapter 6.  They couldn't do it.  When I heard this and was asked to write it, I knew I'd have to make it a matter of prayer and direction from God if I was to do it and be okay afterwards.  I could spend, at minimum, 10,000 words just getting started on the difficulties she has faced and overcome.  Her book is 36 chapters long!  She goes to church every week and anywhere else she goes with a smile on her face, is pleasant to people, doesn't like calling attention to herself and selflessly serves, studies her scriptures, prays, faithfully pays tithing and fast offering, has the most pure heart I've ever seen in anyone, is a fabulous cook... I could go on for a long time.  I know there are a few people who live near us who have known her since she was a child and yet are totally and completely oblivious to the kind of person she really is and the kind of things she goes through.

There are also those in my extended family whom I have grown closer to (even if not geographically) since I got married who are struggling with things I scarcely imagined would ever happen to a family where our last name is pretty synonymous with faith in and dedication to Christ, His gospel and His church.  Some of them have immediate family members who either hate the church, are struggling with same gender attraction, have had total loss of interest in religion, harbor deep grudges against their own immediate family or struggle with intense Word of Wisdom issues to name just a few problems.  Most of these things I heard about just this year.

However, since this blog is titled, "Good things now and to come", here is the positive spin on all of this.  Because you just never know how much difficulty someone is truly facing, there is always someone who understands what you are going through.  Having trouble understanding the scriptures?  I know another who is struggling with that and I've struggled myself with it.  Has someone in your family been affected by cancer?  Me to.  Have you lost a child?  I know someone who understands that.  Are you having intense struggles with finances, abuse, disability, addiction, homelessness, a crisis of faith or major health problems?  Trust me, there are many who understand, including myself, in many of those categories.  You are not alone.  No matter how good someone else's life may look, believe me, they have their own set of struggles and are fighting a battle you know nothing about.  Everyone has their own individual, tailored set of trials, joys, setbacks and successes.  No one is exempt, no matter how good or bad things look.

No matter what you are going through, there is always someone who understands.  There is always hope, there is always love, there is always a way out.  Even if you don't actually know anyone who you can talk to on this planet for help, our all knowing, all loving, all wise Savior Jesus Christ has sunk beneath it all, so he can help us according to our needs in a way that seamlessly fits our unique personality and circumstances if we are willing to open our minds to see it.

I have been reading The Infinite Atonement by Tad R. Callister recently and there are some life changing perspectives in that book.  In one section he addresses a question asked by some, "As significant as the Savior's suffering seemed, was it tempered by the fact that he possessed godly attributes? ... did superhuman powers give him an edge over his mortal counterparts?"  The answer he gave is such a beautiful evidence of His [Jesus'] love, understanding, total and complete in every way, of human plight, both the sum of it as well as and especially of each individual malady from any and all sources.  "He took upon him infinite suffering, but chose to defend with only mortal faculties, with but one exception - his godhood was summoned to hold off unconsciousness and death ... that would otherwise overpower a mere mortal when he reached his threshold of pain.  For the Savior, however, there would be no such relief.  His divinity would be called upon, not to immunize him from pain, but to enlarge the receptacle that would hold it." He used His Godhood not to lessen the pain or escape from it, but to enable Himself to - in complete, divine awareness of it all - suffer "according to the flesh [mortality], that he may know according to the flesh [from a mortal perspective] how to succor his people according to their infirmities" (Alma 7:12, Book of Mormon).  As Elder Callister put it, He simply brought a "bigger cup" to hold the bitter drink.

His sacrifice for all of us was one of love.  Not even His apostles could know - even from being around Him as much as they were, watching Him heal the sick, restore sight to the blind, raise the dead, forgive sins, provide divine power to His followers and more - what was really going on inside, the kinds of temptations He faced, the inner struggles He faced.  How could they?  He never showed the least sign of weakness to anyone, for He possessed none.  He was so consumed in His mission to show infinite love, provide us with His example and pay the price for our eternal salvation from sin, weakness and all types of death that no one in our weakened mortal condition can comprehend Him in all His glory unless we are changed, of our own will, by Him.  He appeared as and was the ultimate example of obedience and the way to have the greatest possible joy and happiness and yet He faced, radiantly and head on, more than any of us.  It takes deep to comprehend deep and He knows it all.

So the next time you feel overloaded or, on the other end, see someone who appears to always be happy and never have any major problems, remember that (1) they are fighting battles you know nothing about (2) there are plenty of people who really do understand your hurt, even if from a different perspective, and that (3) the Son of God sunk below it all, so you are NEVER truly or completely alone.

Happiness is never out of reach.  There is always a way out, thanks to the Son of God, our loving Brother, Savior and Redeemer.

Routine vs. Change

I've mentioned this analogy in a previous entry, but it's effective enough that I'll use it to introduce my message here.  In the movie Rattatouille, Remy's dad shows him the shop window with all of the rat traps and poisons and he tells Remy that that's nature.  That's just way it is and it won't change.  Remy replies with "change IS nature, dad".

Now I understand that there are good and bad changes people make all the time.  Not all change is good.  Some things need to stay relatively consistent, like our level of frequency in scripture study.  Elder Pearson said recently in General Conference, "Search the Book of Mormon and the words of the living prophets every day, every day, every day! It’s the key to spiritual survival and avoiding deception. Without it, we are spiritually lost."  It's similar with prayer. Everyone should be making prayer a part of life many times every day.  It's easy for me to go on with things that should stay consistent as well as things that should always be changing, but my point isn't to just make a list.  My goal here is to emphasize why we should never be afraid of change.  Bear in mind that nothing I say here negates the need for good habits to remain, intensify and become more a part of who we are over time, but even in those habits, there is a critical necessity to have our attitudes, commitments and faith in habits the Lord would have us develop continually improve and multiply and that means change!

I'll start out with Alma 41:10-11 in the Book of Mormon.  It illustrates very well why change is so important. "Do not suppose, because it has been spoken concerning restoration, that ye shall be restored from sin to happiness. Behold, I say unto you, wickedness never was happiness.  And now, my son, all men that are in a state of nature, or I would say, in a carnal state, are in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity; they are without God in the world, and they have gone contrary to the nature of God; therefore, they are in a state contrary to the nature of happiness."  The nature of happiness.  Think about that for a moment.  It's not natural for us as children of God to be entertaining behaviors, beliefs and thoughts that counter His truth and plan of happiness for us.  At least it shouldn't feel natural.  It shouldn't be an instinct to treat people harshly.  Rudeness and selfishness should not feel normal.  Attitudes that diminish the someone's personal, divine nature or shows a lack of concern for their feelings and well being should not be our impulse.  This does relate to change and I'll get to that in a bit.

Alma also mentions that "Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world."  If we have not made the transitions in our very nature to become godly by the time our personal interview with the Savior arrives, there will be no "Oh, ok, I'm ready to be better now."  We have to already by to that point by that time!  He wouldn't have asked us to do so if it weren't possible.

Another awesome scripture that helps to emphasize this concept is 2 Nephi 2:11, "For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my firstborn in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility."

What this tells me is that stagnancy is worse than misery.  I was talking to my wife when her health was bad a few days ago about this concept in relation to our feelings. (For those who know my wife well who are thinking "when is your wife ever in good health?", yes, yes I know, but bear with me.)  We were talking about the fact that she would rather be sad and miserable than feel nothing at all, that it reminds her of how amazing it feels to have relief and happiness.  She was doing amazing that day, responding with gratitude to her trials and thanking Heavenly Father for the reminder of the good things she has and would continue to have in life.

Now on to the point I am trying to make with these concepts.  Because it is not natural to be stagnant, because it should not be an automatic, knee-jerk reaction to indulge in ungodly attitudes, beliefs, words and behaviors, it thus becomes of pivotal, eternal importance for us to welcome change!  Does it seem easier to just let many of our daily routines stay the way they are?  Of course!  Is change, especially the big changes, scary?  Yes!  That natural man in us makes sure that we perceive change as a burden.  But where would we be if Christ had chosen to condone the age old habits, routines and teachings of the law of Moses and passively allow them to remain a part of Jewish life?  Where would He be if He had simply allowed Himself to fit into the mold of the Isrealite nation and conform to their customs and rituals during His ministry?  Where will we end up if we don't consistently change our lives to match His more and more and confront the hard changes we should be making every day with confidence in Him instead of fear?  Not with our families in the highest degree of Celestial Glory, that's for sure.

I've been to places where the really difficult, scary, but positive changes in perspective, believe and action are celebrated and consistently ingrained into people's lives.  I've also spent time in areas where everyone is so stuck in their ways of life that if someone comes into town who gives off a vibe that doesn't fit their view of the way life should be, they form, many times obliviously, opinions about them that are more close-minded and ignorant than you can imagine; and much of the time they don't even realize they're doing it!

As I pointed out in the beginning, routine is not wrong when it's based on Godly principles and there most certainly are a plethora of bad changes people can and do make all the time.  But please do not allow yourself to fall for the lie that it's just too hard to make the big changes.  Do not allow yourself to be fooled by the attitude that the pain of rejecting the natural man and changing into the god or goddess inherent within you, along side our Savior, will be greater than the positive results along the way and at the end!

Just as a side note, I've noticed that it is within many of the small towns I've lived where making changes that allow Christ to overcome my carnal natures are particularly difficult.  Not necessarily all small towns, or even a majority of them, but enough to mention it here.

I want to point out something taught to me by one of my seminary teachers growing up. If the proverbial sails on our boats are too straight, our progress will be either non-existent or so slow that we will have insufficient growth in our knowledge and faith in our Redeemer and Father in Heaven, eventually being brought to acknowledge that we failed to fill our true potential (which happens to be one of the few and most pronounced fears I have).  Granted, if our sails are turned too far in any direction we will be blown over by the winds of adversity, but if we are not making every effort to see that our sails are turned at the optimum angle to blow us more effectively through the difficulties intended to make us like the Christ, we have much work to do!

I love, so much, these lyrics to "Jesu, the Very Thought is Sweet" sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir:

"Jesu, Thou sweetness, pure and blest,
Life's Fountain, Light of souls distressed,
Surpassing all that heart requires,
Exceeding all that soul desires!"

The transformation we need to make to become what God wants us to be, to have that unlimited joy with our families forever, was never supposed to be something common, mundane or blandly ritualistic.  It's supposed to be something that requires our whole heart and soul, something that brings us to appreciate, at least in the limited way we can, the import of the Atonement of Jesus Christ; to make, every day, the significant shifts in our very eternal makeup that turn us into type of person the Lord is.  If you are not ready when the approaching great and terrible day of the Lord arrives, it won't be because you make too big of a change to be like Him.  If you are ready when that day comes, it will truly be a great day for you and it will be because you never let the ever falling standards of the world prevent you from bringing your nature more into absolute agreement with His.

I know these changes are possible.  I have experienced a number of them myself and I have many left to go.  Every time a major change occurs in me for the better, each time I become more obedient, each improvement in my ability to discern and follow the Holy Ghost helps calm my fears about those major transformations.  Approaching them isn't always fun, but I can honestly say I don't consider them with apprehension and fear anymore.  I ask God for them now because of the increased capacity I have to feel joy and love from Him afterward (and even during them).

Please keep and build upon the godly habits you already have, but form new ones as well, in word, thought, belief and desire.  Do it all the time.  Make a consistent ;) habit of making a big change, internally or externally (or both).  Fill the jar of your life with the rocks of commitment to Jesus Christ and our Father.  I guarantee that if you do so, everything that you need will fall into it's proper place and those that you don't will seamlessly slip out of your life and you will even be able to see it as a welcome relief!

Don't fear godly change.  Confront it, welcome it and embrace it alongside our Savior and you'll never regret it.

Jesus Christ = Protection

Face it.  Incident to the human condition is a test of character, the dangers of human flaws, sins and weaknesses.  Sometimes it can seem overwhelming if we focus on it too much but thanks be to God for providing His Son, Jesus Christ, as a means of protection.

As the third in the current series of articles:

#3 Jesus Christ = Protection

I'll present this concept in three parts, what, how and why.

What

What I'm referring to with "what" isn't about "what is protection" but rather the question "from what does the Savior protect us?"  It's easy to think of protection as a lack of trial or difficulty or peaceful and pleasant circumstances, but that's not always the case, nor does it need to be.  I am reminded of what Elder Neal A. Maxwell said, "Of course Jesus noticed the tremendous temptations that came to him, but He did not process and reprocess them. Instead, He rejected them promptly."  Though Jesus was entitled to perfect protection from His Father through His perfect obedience, that protection did not serve as an exemption from affliction or relief from the pains of a mortal body.  Rather, it protected Him from the ignorance of forgetfulness, being quickened by the Spirit at all times, and from fear of neglect from on high among other things.  His perfect obedience acted as a shield to Him by rendering Him impervious to the consequences of mortal weakness and sin for Himself.  He did not yield to the chemical, carnal inclinations of the mortal body in heart, mind, word or action and, therefore, of Himself, was not subject to the effects of succumbing to those things.

So how do we get the same kind of protection?  Asking anyone who is not He to live in completely flawless obedience to all of God's laws all the time is obviously ridiculous, but this is where Jesus' atoning sacrifice, made in love, comes into play.  Since He paid the compensatory price for all of our weaknesses, suffering and other ungodly conditions of mortality, He is now in a position to provide us relief from the effects of mortality when we obey Him.  As our Mediator with the Father and His justice, Christ can match our level of obedience and commitment to Him with a balanced level of His love and a measure of the Holy Ghost in our hearts that negates the long term effects of our suffering on our mind and heart, even right in the middle of it.  He paid the price for it, so, because He deserves it, He can provide is with that protection.

How

How does it work?  I love what Elder D. Todd Christofferson said, "I don't think everyone realizes that when we do sin, when we turn away from God, it does something in us, and when we repent and turn to Him, that effect in us is taken away. With [Christ's] Atonement, we become different people than we would be without it and it's power is infinite, truly infinite, and can reach down and sanctify and make holy any soul."  When we seek to change and obey Jesus more faithfully and consistently, His atonement takes effect in our lives and, for His sake, we are provided a protection perfectly balanced with our burdens.  Consider Doctrine and Covenant 3:20, "And that the Lamanites might come to the knowledge of their fathers, and that they might know the promises of the Lord, and that they may believe the gospel and rely upon the merits of Jesus Christ, and be glorified through faith in his name, and that through their repentance they might be saved...".  That part where it says "rely upon the merits of Jesus Christ and by glorified through faith in his name" is key.  I wrote a song a while ago for which a few of the lyrics are "His Son is Jesus my Savior, Redeemer of mankind. One in purpose with Father, His reward is me if I but follow Him."  That's exactly how it works.  He lived a perfect life and, therefore, His merits are really the only merits that have eternal significance for our salvation.  Because He did not need to suffer for His own salvation, the price He paid for us warrants our protection, re-balancing the scales of justice in His favor to the degree that we follow Him.

Why

Oh, that universal question, why?  Why are we alive?  Why do we suffer?  Why does the universe behave the way it does?  Why does religion matter?  Why should we obey God? In my opinion, the reason is the same for all those questions.  Love.  Why do the elements obey Him?  Because of His love for His creations.  Why do we get His protection?  Because of His love as shown through the person and atonement of Jesus Christ.

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In short we are protected, as with an eternal shield, from the eternal effects of our mortality on our mind and heart by means of His merits, mercy and grace, because He loves us; and the way to activate that protection is by obeying His laws as fearlessly as possible and acting in faith and love to Him.

Don't Just Be Good. Be Good For Something.

Everyone knows that kind of person.  You know, the one in school who was friendly with everyone, involved in everything, gets good grades all the time.  That one employee at work who always has the most creative ideas, but is humble about them, always gets the promotions and recognition from the boss, but is a good team worker and encourages others all the time too. The kind of person who is really easy to love, talk to, confide in, and truly admire. I knew a few of those people in school and jobs I've had, but one thing I've also noticed about them is something that truly sets them apart from the rest on every level.  They are not just good people.  They are good for something.  They are happy with their successes and that of others, but they don't stick to just being good.  They are always shooting for more.

In Delta High School in Delta, Colorado there was as section in our yearbook - I think it was my freshman year - for quotes and one guy, David Rupp, was quoted as saying something like "the only problem with being good is you have to prove it." Although I would disagree with him regarding the word 'problem' in that quote, it's true.  If you're going to be good, prove it.  Make sure people know you as a good person.  Being a bad or mediocre person is easy and takes very little brain power and active effort.  If you're going to be good, going back to my first thought, be good for something.

From a Latter-day Saint perspective, this article quite effectively, though indirectly and likely unintentionally, carries this point further by illustrating the potential problem of being a part of the same ten, same six or same [insert number here] families.  If it's always the same families carrying the ward, occupying leadership positions, setting up and putting away chairs and tables for events, giving the insightful comments in Sunday School or Elders Quorum and Relief Society, teaching with the missionaries and/or more, those who are a little more in the background and are also active, faithful members of the Lord's church may not get a chance to stretch themselves as much spiritually by going out of their comfort zone.

I've heard my parents and priesthood leaders in different stages in my life express relief and joy when they say "I'm so glad we don't have to worry about [insert name here]'s testimony or faith in the Lord and His gospel. They're rock solid in it." or "It's nice to see [insert name here] doing so well and focused where they should be.  That's one less source of worry for us."  Some are more actively involved in serving within their ward/branch and others prefer to let those who always volunteer take the reins. Many are so set in their habits, even good habits, that they are satisfied with just being good.  Don't get me wrong.  Being good is far better than the alternative.  Most of the world doesn't even want to do that much; and those who are strong in their testimonies still need consistent, proper attention from their families and leaders, but to really break spiritual barriers we impose upon ourselves, we deserve to take things a step further.

I believe that the best way either one of those types of saints can be more and qualify to inherit the glory God has already prepared for us is to go beyond setting any proverbial ceiling of commitment and sacrifice for the greater good.  I believe it requires, as Jack R. Christianson put it, "[coming] to know [Christ]."  The full context of that statement is as follows and I include it because of it's pivotal import in God's plan: "Will you come to know Him better? I don't mean know about Him. That's so wonderful. Knowing about Him is the greatest sweetest thing in all the world, except coming to know Him."  That kind of relationship with our Savior goes quite deep into the fabric of our souls.  I can tell you loads about my wife and myself for the sake of information and knowing about us, but knowing someone goes much further than that.  I love this definitions of the word 'know': "To have a practical understanding of, as through experience."

That's huge!  I cannot fathom in my mortal condition what it would be like to truly have a practical understanding of the Son of God.  But, why would the Savior say "this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent [italics added]" if it wasn't possible?  Of course, He wouldn't.  So how could we possibly come to a practical understanding of Christ through experience if we are not required to suffer what He did and live as He did perfectly?  The answer is simple enough, I think.  We do so by obeying Him more completely, loving Him more fully, serving and trusting Him more willingly and forsaking everything ungodly more deliberately, faithfully and with a brighter hope each day.  How else could I know my wife than by experiencing what she has experienced to the best of my ability or come to know the Savior of the world than by experiencing what He has, within divinely established limits of course, the best I can.  I do not know of any other way to come to know Him than by knowing, first hand, rejection, persecution, and other hardship as well as the purest joys, rewards, trust and love that can only come by living and becoming godly.  We come to know Him by living as He did and becoming as He is.

Resulting from that, I am totally confident, will be the peace of godliness, love of others and ourselves, becoming more than just good, but good for something and, in the case of living and being Christlike, good for all that is good.

So go do something that sets you apart from the crowd and makes you more unified with your Father in Heaven, make a new habit that brings out your individuality and brings others to glorify God, set a new standard for yourself by which you reflect the light of the Lord.  Really make yourself stand out from the world by developing the abilities God gave you in a way that blesses the lives of others and brings all of us closer to our Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

Don't just be good.  Be good for something.  Be good for "bring[ing] to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."