Are you going back to fishing?

2 There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples.
3 Simon Peter saith unto the, I go a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately;.. -John 21:2-3

After Christ's death the Apostles were faced with a difficult situation, they weren't quite sure what to do with themselves. It must have been an uncomfortable situation and so Peter did what most would do, go back to something that he understood and was good at. Unfortunately for Peter, and for us, those things that we are good at and are comfortable for us, will rarely help us or others progress toward Christ. That isn't to say that they are bad for us, but to come unto God requires us to get out of our comfort zone and do hard things. We cannot shy away from our commitments behind our hobbies and passions. All of us who have are or ever have been a disciple of Christ should ask ourselves, have we gone back to fishing? If so, what should we be doing instead?

If we have gone back to fishing, consider this invitation from Elder Hales.

"To Christians who have returned to their old, less faithful ways, consider the faithful example of Peter. Do not delay. Come hear and recognize the Master’s voice calling. Then straightway return to Him and receive His abundant blessings once again."

How do we become one with God?

That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us..." John 17:21

How to become one with God the Father and Jesus Christ is simple in process yet difficult in application. It has two main steps. First, humble prayer, and second, sincere petition.

Through humble prayer we examine our souls and come to know ourselves, when we share this with God, we come to know him as he helps us with our imperfections and counsels us.

Through sincere petition we ask God for the opportunity to become one with him. As he has promised, he will always allow it to happen. However it is implied in a sincere petition that we will do what is then asked of us.

In essence it is the same process that we use to get to know anyone else. We talk to them, we share things about ourselves, and we do things together.

You have seen evidence, as I have, that we are moving toward becoming one. The miracle of unity is being granted to us as we pray and work for it in the Lord’s way. Our hearts will be knit together in unity. God has promised that blessing to His faithful Saints whatever their differences in background and whatever conflict rages around them. He was praying for us as well as His disciples when He asked His Father that we might be one. -2008–O:68, Henry B. Eyring, Our Hearts Knit as One

Neither Do I Condemn Thee

In most of my religion courses, the story of the woman taken in adultery is presented as yet another clever way of Christ turning the Pharisee's trap back on them. But there really is so much more to it than that.

Christ is Jehovah, the God of the Old Testament. He gave Moses the law that commanded that an adulterer should be stoned, so why did he not agree to have the woman stoned? One reason that is often suggested is that the conditions of witnesses as required by the law were not satisfied, but Christ wouldn't have needed any witnesses to have known if the woman was guilty. In my personal opinion I believe the reason to be deeper than that.

The Law of Moses, was a law of Condemnation. Those that committed sins were condemned to pay full price. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life. But Christ came to fulfill the law of Moses and to teach the Gospel in it's fullness. This fulfillment of the Law of Moses and introduction of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a representation of the satisfaction of the Law of Justice and implementation of the Law of Mercy done by Christ's Atonement.

I do not believe that Christ decreed that adulterers should be stoned in the Old Testament because he wished for them to die, rather the Law of Moses was a representation of the Law of Justice and was supposed to point the people towards the coming of a Savior that would introduce a new Gospel and the Law of Mercy.

Jesus could avoid condemning the woman and still uphold the Law of Moses because the proper witness conditions were not met, but I believe he chose not to condemn her because as stated in John 3: 17 "God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.'

What are your riches?

21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.

22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.

This advice was given specifically to a young man seeking to come closer to God. He had asked for this counsel, but was unwilling to obey it. Often this scripture is used to suggest that to be wealthy is unchristian. However I would suggest that this scripture is teaching something else.

It is probable that Christ perceived in his heart, that his wealth was of great importance to him. And not unlike Isaac being asked to sacrifice Jacob, this young man was asked to give up something he dearly loved and put God first in his life. Sadly the young man did not at this time do so. 

Are we any different? That is a question we must each answer personally. Is there anything,money, work, sports, talents, friends, family, etc. that we put before God in our lives. These things are for us are like the riches of the young man. It may be that we are one day asked to give them up to do God's will. The questions that we ask ourselves should be, Is God first in my life? and is there anything that I would not give up to follow God?

Are you wheat? or tare?

Something has always seemed a little off to me about the parable of the Wheat and the Tares. Until I had an insight this week. The parable goes...

• The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:
• 25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.
• 26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.
• 27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?
• 28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
• 29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.
• 30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
•  
• I mean, I understood the idea that if you pull of Tares that you will also pull up Wheat because of how the roots intertwine in the soil, but I never really understood the practical application of this. I mean life is hard enough without having a bunch of tares in it. 
• But then I thought, how and who would decide who is  tare, and who is wheat. The only reasonable answer would be that God must judge, but then why did God through Christ say to let them grow up together? I understand the farming complications, but I've never really thought it would be all that hard for God to do something about the bad people.
•  
• As I was thinking about this, I remembered that you can't tell the difference between Wheat and Tares until harvest time. So it follows logically that God will not judge the difference until the end of our lives. Certainly we can do both good and bad things now, but I suppose to God, we really aren't all that different from each other, and it won't be until the final judgement that we are judged whether we are wheat or whether we are tares. The good news is that we can choose.

Being Hypocritical?

"And why beholdest thou the mote that is within thy brother's eye, but considereth not the beam that is within thine own eye? . . . Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to east out the mote out of thy brother's eye" Matthew 7:3-5

I've often wonder, about this scripture. If I love someone, and I see them doing something that won't lead to happiness, I feel like I should help them. But I don't want to be that person with a beam in their eye... so how is it that we avoid that.

In the 1960 October General Conference, Henry D. Taylor said "Many years ago my mission president gave this sound advice: "If criticism is just and given kindly, accept it and give thanks for it. If it is just and given unkindly, accept it. But if it is unjust and given unkindly, pay no heed to it." 

Although this refers to accepting criticism, it can equally be applied to giving criticism. We need to make sure that the criticism, or help that we give is just. And we should ever endeavor to do it in a kind way. 

In order to be just, I think it is important that we do not set ourselves up as the example of proper living, but rather understand that in God's eyes, we are probably little better than the rest. But if through the spirit we feel prompted to reach out to someone, we should do it, remembering always who it is that really will pull the mote out of their eyes.

God is Good

"Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?"-Matthew 7:9-11 
God is Good, it's a plain and simple truth. I think we sometimes get confused about this when we confuse God's almighty power as almighty control. God does have all power, and he does have all control over the elements and creations, except those creations unto which he gave agency. One of the greatest examples of God's goodness is that he gave unto all of us the ability to choose, and because he is good he set rules, more commonly known as commandments, that would either lead to the expansion of our agency, or the restriction of it. To each of these commandments blessings and punishments our set.

When life is "unfair" or unpleasant, we shouldn't blame God. It is not his fault that others may have chosen to use their agency against us. None of us are free from the stain of hurting others and if God was to take away the agency of those that did wrong.... well none of us would have agency. And we would never learn.

If you struggle believing that God is good I challenge you to test the scripture above. Pray. Really truly and humbly pray and ask for that which you need, not for that which you want. Bread and fish were not fancy foods and are no representations of wants but needs. Likewise if you pray for what you truly need you will find that God will give it to you. And if you start to look for the blessings, you'll notice that he gives a lot more than you give him credit for.

Whom say ye that I am?

Matthew 16 tells us of a time where Christ was with his disciples and he asked them two questions. First he asked, "Whom do men say that I the son of Man am?" And they responded, with a few suggestions of the various beliefs about him. Then Christ asked "But whom say ye that I am?"

I don't really think that Christ really wanted to know what it was that others said about him. Rather it seems to me that his purpose in his first question was to draw the distinction between what the disciples had heard, and what the disciples believed. That's a distinction that we all need to find. We've all heard a lot about Christ. We've been told many things about who Christ is by others, but what do we actually believe?

This  isn't really the sort of question that can be answered off hand. It's the kind of question that requires some searching of the heart. It requires determining what of all the things we have heard and learned do we truly believe, and what is just opinion that we repeat. Such a search may bring to light beliefs that we are not entirely certain of. This will hopefully lead to more earnest study and prayer, and in the end and increase in faith.

Know ye what I have done to you?

I just love the questions that Christ asked, there is so much to learn from them. This week I've been thinking about John 13:12. After having washed the feet of the disciples, Jesus poses the question, "Know ye what I have done to you?" I imagine this question confused the disciples. Obviously he had just cleaned their feet, but they probably could not fathom as to why. Jesus went on to clarify exactly what he had done. He had given them a powerful example of the importance of serving others, especially those that might be considered lesser.

I wonder how we might respond if Jesus asked us, "Know ye what I have done to you?" Would we know? Would we simply respond with the superficial answers like, you died for me, you suffered for me? Or would we be able to really understand what it is that Christ has done to us and for us? It's important that we know what Christ has done for us personally, it is the only way to come to know him.

Why Persecutest thou me?

As I've mentioned in some of my earlier posts, I have been doing a study on the questions that Christ asked in the New Testament. It's taken a while, but I finally completed step one of the process. That is I finally finished compiling a list of all the questions he asked. Today I'd like to talk a little about the last one. 

Unless I've missed something, the last recorded question from Christ in the New Testament is "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" Acts 9:4 We don't have a record of Saul giving a direct answer to this question. But based on what we know about Saul, I think he would probably have answered something along the lines of "Lord, I did not know I was persecuting thee." 

Saul's purpose in persecuting the saints was to serve God. He truly believed that he was doing God's will. He did not know that Jesus Christ was the son of God. He was doing what he thought was right, but was completely in the wrong. 

Perhaps we don't go around persecuting those that believe in Jesus Christ, but that doesn't mean we don't make the same mistake Saul did. In our efforts to stand for what is right and defend our beliefs, whatever they may be, do we ever overstep our bounds? Do we ever exercise unrighteous dominions? Do we ever take our personal opinions and treat them like gospel truth? If this is the case, we may be giving cause for Christ to ask us the same question he asked Saul so many years ago. "Why persecutest thou me?"

Like Saul likely would have, many of us may answer "Lord, I did not know I was persecuting thee." 

Christians of all denominations can get a bad rap for how they treat those who are not christian. This is sad, because the essence of Christianity is that of pure love. But I believe that, not all, but many of the poor interactions between people are caused by a lack of understanding of what one is doing. Therefore, if we desire to be good examples of Christians, we must strive to understand what we are doing and follow Christ's example when standing up for our beliefs. 

We should remember:

•  Those who have the spirit of contention are not of Christ. Although others may contend against us, we should not contend against them. 
• People are agents, not objects. It is our desire to teach so that they may act correctly of their own choice, not restrict them according to our desires.
• We do not know as much as we think we do. Only God know's all things. Thus we should be careful in our judgments.
• We should seek to understand others, rather than forcing others to understand us.
• It is best to loving, merciful and forgiving in our thoughts, words, and actions.
• Our opinions are opinions, not facts.

The point of this blogpost, for those of you who made it this far, is to invite you to reconsider how you act when you are trying to do what is right. To ponder on how those around you might feel in response to your actions, and to modify your actions accordingly. I am not asking you to stop standing up for what you believe in. Anyone who has read the New Testament knows that Saul mended his ways and continued on with the same fervor for serving the Lord. The difference was that he began to do it in the Lord's way. And that is what we all should do.

The 99 "righteous"

One scripture that has always bothered me was Luke 15:7. It's the scripture that says "I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just person, which need no repentence." I completely understand why there would be great joy over a sinner that repents, but I have always felt that to say that there was more joy over the sinner than 99 righteous people makes it seem like the heavens take the righteous for granted. Furthermore the scripture doesn't really make much sense because face it, there aren't 99 of us that haven't sinned. There was only one man on earth who didn't and the fact that he never sinned and that he completed the atonement caused more joy in the heavens than possibly anything before or after. So for this and more this scripture has always bothered me.
However today I had a most interesting insight. To me it resolves my concerns and provides a more fitting interpretation of the scripture, especially when one takes into account the fact that these words were being directed towards Pharisees who were murmuring about Christ consorting with sinners.
There is a website Greekbible.com that gives the greek text for scriptures along with a variety of possible meanings for each word. Curious as to if this site could help me resolve my concerns with the scripture I decided to try it out. What I learned completely changed the scripture for me. The word that is often translated as righteous is, δίκαιος,a. The word "righteous" is a perfectly acceptable translation for this word, but Greekbible.com also says that another possible translation is "self-righteous."
Before I continue I would just like to say that I understand that it is entirely possible that Jesus truly meant for the word to be righteous. But consider with me for a second the implications if the word had actually been intended to be "self-righteous." If this is the case, Christ is giving a warning to us. He is saying that it is better to be a sinner and recognize ones sins and come unto him, than it is to be a person who professes the name of the Lord and believes themselves to not need repentance. This teaching ties in perfectly with Christ's words in Matthew 7 where Christ declares that not everyone who says "Lord, Lord"  will be accepted into the kingdom of heaven. Further it also is a much clearer answer to the murmurings of the Pharisees. Christ is not only telling the Pharisees why he is spending his time among the sinners, but he is also telling the Pharisees that their attitude of self-righteousness will do them no good in heaven.
If looked at it this way I believe it is fair to say that God does not find more joy in the repentant sinner than he does in the loyal servant, I think they all find equal joy in each other.
I sincerely hope that if you made it this far, that you found it worth your time to read it. But more than anything I hope you can see that if there are scriptural passages that bother you, with some searching and pondering you can come to an answer.

Even if you're Right, You May Still Be Wrong

"For verily, verily I say unto you he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me."

-3 Nephi 11:29

These were the words of of Jesus as he taught the Nephites about his gospel. And for me they highlight a very important truth. It's important to me, because it's something that I struggle with and I want to improve on.

If you always want to be "right" then you need to be on Christ's side. And in this scripture Christ clearly states that those that are on his side must not have the spirit of contention.

The application of this teaching is that we must realize that sometimes it is better to let others be wrong, if making them see the "right" would cause contention. Because if in seeking to proclaim truth, whatever truth it may be, you bring contention you will be wrong. This applies to sports, school, casual conversations, and serious matters. Because in the end these things are mostly temporal and it is more important that we be Christlike than that we be "right."

Lacking Faith is Lacking Trust, and That's Ok.

I think we all have read the story of Jesus walking on the water and how Peter came out to meet him. When Peter became afraid and began to sink Jesus rescued him and said "Oh thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" -Matthew 14:31 Then they walked back to the boat together. I at least have heard this story about a hundred times. But here is something I've started thinking about more recently.
I think it's fairly safe to assume that Jesus wasn't angry with Peter. I don't think that the words "Oh thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" were a reprimand.
Rather it sounds to me more like the sort of thing a parent might say to a child who has fallen over while riding a bike. After picking up the child and dusting them off a parent might say something like "you just need to peddle a little faster, don't be scared." This sort of thing isn't meant to make the child feel bad, but to point out to the child what they can do to improve.
Peter walked on water, he was doing great, and then like a wobbling child on a bike, he got scared, froze and fell. So Jesus picked him up, and told him where he needed to improve. While walking he had not had sufficient faith, and in order to be a disciple of Christ capable of performing miracles, he would need to develop more faith. It wasn't that he didn't have any faith, for heavens sake he just walked on water! but it was that he didn't have enough faith to be able to do anything in the name of Christ. And you know what? That's ok. Peter is not a horrible person because at that time he didn't have the faith necessary to finish walking to Christ. I don't think anyone has the faith sufficient to finish walking to Christ the first time, or the second time, or the third time. It's something that develops with time. We learn to walk to Christ as a child learns to walk to a parent falling, over and over again, but getting a surer footing with each try as we learn from his loving guiding arms.
In short, faith is trust. Faith in Christ is trust in Christ. You can't just decide from one moment to the next that your faith in Christ is going to go up 100 points, it's something that develops over time.
So how can this idea help you? Well let me address for a second a rather sensitive subject.

Prayers that never were answered, or that were answered with a no or promised blessing that were never realized.

Some people will tell you that God answers every prayer. This is not true. Prayers are to be given in Christ's name. And when we pray in the name of Christ we pray that which he would have us pray. Sometimes our prayers are not answered because as James said "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss." If we ask after our own selfish desires and we do not pray striving to pray as Christ would have us pray, then the prayer may very well go unanswered.
But we are imperfect beings and even when we try to ask for what is right, we occasionally ask for something that isn't right and we are told no. In these two situations those that are praying have a lack of faith. That is not to say that they have no faith, but their faith or trust in Christ and knowledge of Christ is not sufficient to have prayed in a manner that may have been better.
I have been guilty of this thousands of times, so yes you could say that I lack faith, and that's ok! It is ok that we are not perfect in our faith. When we realize that we are lacking in our faith that gives us a chance to improve! What is NOT ok is when we try to blame something else and not recognize our lack of faith. Which brings me to my last point which is probably the most sensitive of them all.

Promised blessings that  went unfulfilled.

I believe the culprit for a promised blessing that went unfulfilled in most cases is a lack of faith or trust. It may be that by a lack of faith we have failed to see the fulfilling of the blessing, or it may be that we simply did not receive the blessing. Thinking it this way can cause people to feel stung or hurt, but I hope it doesn't. At least not too much. Because in the end, the only blessings that really matter are the blessings of Eternal life. Earthly blessings are just ways for us to practice developing faith so that we may receive the blessings of Eternal life. God does not hate us for our lack of faith, he understands that it is something that we develop.
We would never get angry at a little league pitcher for failing to strike out a batter in a Major League Baseball Game. Why? because he's not ready to play at that level. In the same way God doesn't get angry if we fail to have enough faith or trust in him to receive certain blessings. Certainly he may sorrow in our suffering but he isn't angry with us.
One of the best things that we can do in a situation where we have failed to receive a blessing is to humbly accept that we are lacking in faith and approach the Lord so that we may have our weakness strengthened. For as the Lord said through the Prophet Moroni "I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."
Sometimes our weakness is our faith. And if we can have just enough faith to approach him so that he can help us with our faith, he will make us strong.

Lying to Yourself

I'd just like to start by saying that everything I'm gonna say is based purely off of personal experience, this may or may not be helpful to you.

I think we all have at some point or another really struggled to overcome a bad habit, or possibly even an addiction. It may be a rather trivial character flaw or something quite serious, regardless of what it is the process which we go through to change is much the same and it's one where we learn a lot about ourselves. I'd like to just share with you something I've learned.

For a lot of people, one of the hardest things to do is to admit to others that they need help. But although this is hard for me, there is something much harder. For me the hardest thing to do is to be honest with myself. I truly struggle to admit to myself that I need help. Let me explain what I mean.

I do of course recognize that I have flaws that I should work on fixing. But the tendency is to think that if I am not in the moment struggling with a particular flaw, then I should just pretend it doesn't exist and try to avoid thinking about it.

Because of this the following pattern exists in my life, and possibly in yours.
1. I will be living my normal life.
2. Situation arises that exposes a particular flaw in my character
3. I am ashamed of myself, possibly feel guilty and wish I was a different person.
4. The feelings fade and I go on trying to pretend it never happened and never will again.
This pattern happens over and over again with stuff like losing my temper to more important things. The problem is that once step 4 is finished step 1 commences and each time step 3 feels worse and I start wondering if I will ever succeed in overcoming my flaws.

If you've made it this far and this doesn't sound like something you have a problem with you can skip reading the rest, but if you are like me than here's what I have found has helped me.

"...the truth will set you free" John 8:32

This quote has helped me enormously to begin changing who I am. To change who you are, you have to face who you are. You have to face the truth, and be honest to yourself. You can't lie to yourself and pretend you don't have a problem that you do have. You will never overcome your greatest flaws by closing your eyes to them or avoiding situations that expose them.
You can't send little kids to their rooms and expect them to be quiet for more than 10 minutes, so why do we think we can do that to our inner demons? You have to evict them (the inner demons not the little kids).
How do you get rid of your flaws? Idk, I'm not you. But for me, one of the most important steps was realizing that I would have to face my flaws head on and actively work on getting rid of them.

Christ's Question

So recently I've been doing a study on every question that Christ asked in the New Testament, and it's been very interesting and thought provoking and I'd like to share a thought with you.

Christ asked a lot of questions, most however were not the questions of a man seeking information but rather the questions of a teacher trying to instruct. In fact many would argue that Christ never had a need to ask for information because he could discern all through the spirit. Whether or not this is true pertaining to mundane aspects of life is uncertain but it is clearly shown that Christ was taught by God through the spirit on spiritual matters.

From this line of thought I deduced that although he probably knew the answer to his questions before he even asked when speaking to man, when speaking to God the questions Christ asked were probably ones that he did not, at the time, know the answer to.

In searching for questions directed towards God, I found only one. Most people immediately think of Christ's petition for the cup to be removed, however, as recorded that was a statement, not a question. The only question I found was in Matthew 27:46. When on the cross, the companionship of the Holy Spirit withdrew, and Christ was left truly alone. At that time he cried out,

"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

Now it is not my intention to interpret this portion of scripture for you, but rather to suggest that to this question it may be that Christ did not know the answer at this time. 

For me personally as I have considered this possibility it has given me greater appreciation for everything that Christ went through as he did his utmost to show his love for his Father and for you and me. It is my hope that we can all take more time to consider his atonement and take even more time to apply it in our lives. 

Spiderman's Favorite Scripture

The new Peter Parker hasn't quite managed to get his lines right, but for those who are fans of the friendly neighborhood Spiderman love the iconic quote "with great power comes great responsibility." There is profound truth in this statement, so it shouldn't be overly surprising that this principle is actually stated in the scriptures.

D&C 82:3 "For of him unto whom much is given much is required"

In the movies and comics it's pretty obvious that Peter interprets his Uncles words to mean that he has great responsibility because of his spidey powers. But what about us? What have we been given? And what is required of us?

What have we been given?

The easy answer to this question is to say, "well God has given us everything." Although true, that answer is lacking in useful details. The problem with just thanking God for "everything" is that you really aren't thanking him for anything. If you cannot notice what everything you have actually is, you can't actually be thankful for it. Try making a list of everything you have ever recieved from God. If you open our mind you'll soon realize that the list will never end, but as you work on it you will also begin to notice that your gratitude increases because instead of being grateful for a generic "everything" you'll be grateful for a more specific "everything"

What is required?

Sometimes it's really hard to know what it is that the Lord wants from you, but I'm a believer that God gives you the tools needed to get the job done. He won't give you hammer to cut a board and he won't give you a chisel to perform brain surgery. In other words, your gifts from God will tend to line up with your duties to God. Perhaps you have a gift for listening, my guess would be that your duty to God is to give comfort to those who are troubled. I'm confident that one of the best ways to see what direction you should take in your life is to take a look at your talents and gifts and then consider with what purpose in mind did God give these to you.

As a final note, sometimes we are guilty of resenting requirements and the expectations of others. If this is your viewpoint towards God's expectations and requirements you will likely live unhappy and you will certainly experience the old adage "use it or lose it." But on the other hand if we soften our hearts, you will find that your "duties" to God will actually bring you greater happiness than anything else. Why? because you will be using a combination of your greatest skills to do the greatest good.

Tip for Happiness

Tip for Happiness:

I've been trying something new these past few weeks. You see I spend a lot of time waiting for busses, or walking to and from places. And generally while doing that I'm wishing I was somewhere else and with that I could be with people. But these last few weeks I've plugged in my headphones and danced. I dance at the bus stop, and I'll sometimes (especially at night) dance down the street. I may not be going full out but it's certainly enough to get some weird looks and a few laughs. But it's ok!

For me dancing is my passion and when I listen to music it's something I feel a drive to do! Now here's the really fun cool thing, since I've started doing this somethings changed. Instead of waiting or walking and wishing I was elsewhere and with someone, I enjoy where I am and I wish people were with me to enjoy it too!

Now I know some of you guys don't like dancing, but that's not what I'm suggesting. What I did is that when I found myself not wanting to be where I was, I changed things so that I did want to be there. If you put something you love into something you dislike or hate, you'll find that pretty soon you love everything about your life.

Try it, let me know how it goes!

Taking the Gospel with a Grain of Salt

One of the best ways to avoid falling into erroneous actions and beliefs is the practice of taking what you hear with a grain of salt. In other words, having a healthy skepticism for what you read and what others tell you.

All of us can think of at least one time where we took someone for their word and got sucked into doing something or believing something that wasn't true. Perhaps you listened to a silver-tongued salesman, or maybe you jumped on a political bandwagon only to learn the full story later on. The fact of the matter is that as humans we are often more emotional than we are logical and most of us have the tendency to believe that others are being honest with us. The problem with this is that even if I am perfectly honest with you, it doesn't mean that what I say is true, it just means that I believe it to be so. 

Because of this it's a good idea to withhold a full acceptance of what is being said until you go and confirm for yourself the truth. In some cases a complete confirmation isn't possible, but in almost every case you can find supplemental sources to give different viewpoints.

So what does this have to do with the Gospel? Do I dare suggest that it may be important to have a healthy skepticism towards the Gospel? Yes, yes I do. Why? Because in the scriptures there are some mistakes and the Apostles and Prophets make mistakes as well, and Stake Presidents, Bishops, Sunday School teachers, and Seminary teachers most definitely make mistakes. 

Moroni once stated that there were possibly mistakes in the Book of Mormon, he said "And if there be faults they be the faults of a man. But behold we know no fault; nevertheless God knoweth all things;" Mormon 8:17. Notice that as far as Moroni was aware, the Book of Mormon was without fault, but he acknowledged that there was a possibility of fault. In admitting this he also provided how we may learn to distinguish the truth from the faults of man. He said "God knoweth all things." It is our responsibility to take what we have learned to the Lord before fulling accepting new teachings. If we simply accept what we are told in General Conference to be the truth because it is General Conference then we will likely accept whatever the internet says because it is the internet. 

I am not saying that we should disbelieve the Prophet and Apostles, or any teachers in the church. I am trying to say that we are each responsible to verify their teachings through our own study and prayer so that we may receive a witness from the Lord of it's truthfulness. "Ask and you shall recieve."

To conclude I wish to clarify what I define to be the difference between healthy skepticism and unhealthy skepticism. A healthy skepticism is one that encourages you to consider the implications of a new teaching, to ponder upon it and to seek a confirmation through study and faith. An unhealthy skepticism drives you to reject and doubt teachings. It urges you to condemn it as worthless. Please do not do this. Do not doubt what you believe, rather seek to confirm what you believe, that is how you turn faith and belief into pure knowledge. (see Alma 32)

When did we see thee?

Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Matthew 25:34-40

The above passage is probably the most commonly cited scripture on performing scripture. When used in church I've generally heard the emphasis placed on the last part, "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." But when I was studying this passage of scripture this week something struck me about the question posed by the righteous. After being told that they had performed all these great deeds in God's service they were surprised, and they asked when they had done such a thing. My thought was why were they so surprised? Sure some of them may not have realized that they were serving God by serving their fellow man, but I think there might be something else there that may serve as a valuable lesson. I don't think that serving our fellowman because we desire to serve God is the best motive for service.

First I must say that I believe that it is good to serve our fellow man out of a desire to serve God. But I don't believe God really needs our service. He is a God after all, and anything we can do, he can do better and faster. In truth I think we are the true beneficiaries when we serve God, because of what we can learn from him when we do.

I believe that a higher motive for our service would be to serve our fellowman out of love for our fellowman. "To love thy neighbor as thyself" is the second great commandment. If this is our primary motive for service than we will truly be blessed. Sadly it often occurs that when we perform service with the idea in mind that we are serving God we often miss out on the real needs of who we are trying to serve. But if in the front of our minds is a love for those we serve than we will be more attune to spiritual promptings as to how to be of service to our fellowman. I believe that Christ more than anything wishes to see that we love each other.

If genuine love is our focus, than we will find that when we get to heaven we will be truly surprised as to how much Christ appreciates our efforts.

I guess what I'm trying to say is this: It is good to serve the Lord out of love for him, but if we do not perform our service out of love for our fellowman as well, than we will likely fail to cultivate relationships with the rest of God's family and we will miss out on truly coming to know the Lord.

Have I Not Earned Heaven?

Christ was the Master Teacher. He stunned the most learned of his day with his understanding and insights. One of his best techniques was his use of questions. It's interesting to study the sorts of questions that he would ask and how they furthered his teaching. One question that he posed called my attention as I was reading in the seventh chapter of Matthew.

"21. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23. And then I will profess unto them, I never knew you.

I've heard this scripture cited many times by missionaries trying to talk about the importance of having the Priesthood when doing the Lord's work, but that interpretation has never sat very well with me. This time that I read this passage I noticed something I hadn't before.

In these verses Christ is asking a question, but it isn't directed at an audience, rather he is posing a question that he knows that some of us may be tempted to ask of him at judgement day.

Evidently the individuals that would ask this question are those that are not pleased with the judgement passed and are trying to justify a higher reward. They begin to list all the good deeds that they did in Christ's name thinking that they deserve to heaven. Essentially what they are doing is looking at the Lord and saying "Do I not deserve better? Have I not earned Heaven?"

The Lord's response to such is instructive. He responds "I never knew you." It appears in that all their doings, individuals that would be tempted to ask such questions of the Lord, failed to develop a personal relationship with him. They thought that they could earn their way to heaven. They completely failed to understand that such a thing is impossible. We do not earn heaven, rather we are given the opportunity through Christ to be accepted into heaven. It is through Christ and his atonement that salvation is achieved, not through the merit of our actions alone. 

Think about it like this. Everything on this earth is temporal. Even the most precious substance of this earth is most likely considered to be worth less than the lowest substance in heaven. All of the most wonderful sincere acts of goodness that we can perform pale in comparison to the least of the works of God. So how is it that some of us think that by our actions we can earn a spot in his kingdom? We simply can't. Heaven cannot be earned. None of us truly deserve heaven. Heaven is perfection, and we most certainly are not perfect.

I am not saying that none of us will be received into heaven. It is my sincere hope that all of us become sanctified through the blood of Christ and enter into God's kingdom. I am merely trying to emphasize that it is spiritually dangerous for us to feel a sense of entitlement towards are admittance to heaven based upon our actions. Instead we should seek to humbly follow Christ. When we perform acts of goodness it should not be to earn points on some imaginary entrance exam for heaven, rather it should be because through our personal relationship with Christ we learn to be better people, we learn to desire to do good, and we do good out of love for God and our fellowman. If we do this, then through the power of his atonement, Christ will perfect our imperfections and make us fit to be citizens of God's Kingdom.

Achieving Resolutions

We are now two weeks into 2017, and those of us who did make New Year's resolutions have probably broken a fair few. For myself, my resolution of going to the gym was made difficult by a pair of painfully swollen knees. I've spent some time reflecting on the outcomes of my different resolutions and I can't help but compare my efforts to the Lord's when he brought the house of Israel to Egypt.

These last two weeks I have been studying the first five books of the Old Testament. I was particularly intrigued by Joseph's words in Genesis 45:4-7.

"...I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance."

In previous readings I've always considered this passage to be just another example of Joseph's great character. But this time while I was reading, my attention was called to the words "God did send me before." I've always known that God had intended that Joseph go to Egypt to prepare a place for his family. But I'd never really considered how this kind of advanced planning could apply in my life.

It was God's will that a famine should come upon the land. It was also God's will that the House of Israel survive the famine. Had your's truly been in charge, I doubt anything would have been done until it was too late and the House of Israel would have perished. God on the other hand, knew what sort of obstacles there would be and planned how to overcome them so that he could achieve his goal. 

It is unlikely that the House of Israel at this time had the resources to gather stores of food sufficient to outlast the famine. It is also unlikely that they had the resources to purchase food for all the years of the famine. The Egyptians themselves had to sell their lands to Pharaoh for food, and I doubt very much that Pharaoh would charge foreigners any less than his own people. Knowing this God planned ahead and prepared to obtain his goal. Most importantly he planned for obstacles.

So what does this have to do with achieving resolutions? Well it is an eternal principle that there is opposition in all things. If you have a resolution to push yourself to be better, I can guarantee that you will have things that get in your way. For example, I didn't foresee that my inadequate shoes during my daily mile runs would be an obstacle for my resolution about going to the gym. I didn't prepare for that obstacle and my resolution has faced a setback. However there is one resolution that I have that is going on strong.

I resolved that I would study the scriptures for an hour a day every day. Although I started this resolution on the New Year, I began preparing for this resolution weeks before. I knew that my biggest obstacle was finding a time which I could use to study consistently.  The only reasonable option would be to wake up at 6am, and read before my morning classes. The problem was that I had a habit of staying up until 2am and sleeping right up until the start of my morning class. So I made plans to prepare.

Two weeks before the New Year I began going to bed earlier and waking up earlier. It was quite the adjustment. I would go to bed and lay their for hours feeling completely restless. Often times I would lie there for about 4 hours before falling asleep but little by little I started bringing my sleep schedule back in line. The sleep schedule is still hard for me, I still lie awake for a long time before sleeping, but I can guarantee that if I hadn't planned for this obstacle, I would have failed in my goal.

So here's what I'm trying to say. God achieves his goals, not only because he plans a way for success, but because he also plans for obstacles and how to overcome them. God foresaw the obstacle of sin and with his Son Jesus Christ planned how to overcome that. In a similar way if any of us wish to obtain our resolutions, reach our goals, or conquer our weaknesses, we should follow God's example of planning for obstacles and how we will overcome them.