Black Friday is the worst way possible to start the Christmas season. It is the single most shameful manifestation of American consumerist society. It starts the month during which we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ with our collective sights firmly set on what most of our culture seems to worship: stuff.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not against giving gifts on Christmas, or even getting gifts, for that matter. Gifts, in fact, are a way to commemorate the first Christmas. In case you forgot in your mad dash to get your hands on the latest electronics for deep discounts, our gifts at Christmas are meant to echo the gifts that the wise men left the newborn babe in Bethlehem, and I don’t think the wise men were paying their credit cards off until the second Christmas.
Of course, everyone knows all of this. No one will honestly say that they love Christmas for the mad shopping sprees and expensive booty that they rake in. But I even have a problem with what people claim as the “Reason for the Season” when they’re being honest.
“It’s about serving others,” they say. Or, “It’s about spending time with family.”
Okay. Those things are nice, and are some of the things that I enjoy about Christmas. But, whereas getting gifts is a tertiary benefit of the season, those other reasons are secondary. The primary reason we celebrate Christmas is to commemorate the birth of the Son of God, who was born to “save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). Because of that birth over two thousand years ago, and the Atonement that that baby would ultimately perform, all of our service and all of our family relationships would be meaningless.
I like to imagine myself in the fields with the shepherds who were watching over their fields by night. I wonder what it would have been like to suddenly see an angel and hear him make the pronouncement, “Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). Would I have known that I was witnessing the second most important moment in the history of the world? Would I have reached out to touch the newborn Christ? Would I have recognized in Him the King of Kings and Lord of Lords?
It is because of Him, his birth, life, and Atoning sacrifice (which is the most important moment in the history of the world) that makes all our service and our cherished relationships meaningful. Without Him, no matter much service we did in this life, we, with those whom we serve, would all be condemned to die and stay that way forever. Without Him, we would have no hope of seeing our family again after this life. Because He now lives, we will all live again. Because He took upon Himself our sins, we can overcome them, and one day live the life that our Heavenly Father lives with our families with us. He is not only the “Reason for the Season,” He is the reason for everything. He is the only thing that makes life worth living.
Of course, all of you know that, and I thank any of you who have read this far for humoring me as I put some of my thoughts into words. So, I will reward all of you faithful readers out there. Do yourselves a favor and get a copy of the film The Nativity Story. It’s a magnificent film that tells the story of Christ’s birth with great reverence. If it’s too late to enjoy it this year, get it in time for next Christas. It’ll be a great addition to your Christmas movie collection, alongside It’s a Wonderful Life, Elf, and A Christmas Story.
Friday, December 25, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
The Right Question
While we were in Europe, my family traveled north from Italy to Munich, Germany. Near to Munich, is Dachau Concentration Camp. I think that it was only fitting that we were there in November, when the trees were bare and the air was chill. It made the grounds harsh and uninviting. That’s the only way that place should feel.
Nazi Germany is an enigma to most modern people. It’s something were still grappling with as a society. That’s why books and movies about the Second World War are so popular. We still have questions that haven’t been answered. The main question is how could it have happened? How could they have done such horrible things?
Maybe they all suffered from mass hysteria. But that answer is really a non-answer. It doesn’t help us understand what happened. Reason and motive does not enter the brain of the hysterical. We have nothing to learn from them.
Maybe the Germans are a hateful people. But that just gives us an excuse to dismiss them. Hateful people are wrong, therefore I don’t need to understand them. We aren’t going to get any answers that way. And can we really believe that they are or were more hateful than any other people?
Maybe they were easily manipulated by their leaders. The Germans? They are one of the best educated nations on the planet. The notion that all of them were just used for the personal vendetta of their leaders is silly. Also, that argument just delays the question. Eventually we are going to want to know why their leaders would want to kill millions of people.
I think that these answers are hard to come by because we aren’t asking the right questions. Instead of asking, “How could they have done that?” we should ask, “What would I have done in their place?” That changes the way we think about the problem and gives us a better chance of solving it.
Between the world wars, Germany suffered one of the worst financial collapses ever experienced. To pay for its debt from the first war, the government just printed money until the German Mark was worth next to nothing. People would burn heaps of them for warmth. Milton Bradley collected them to put in the Monopoly game because that cost less than printing his own fake money. When the currency was hyperinflated, people’s savings became worthless. Businesses went under and unemployment was rampant.
Enter the young, charismatic leader of a new political party. The leader: Adolf Hitler. The party: the National Socialists. Hitler promised to put the country back on track. He promised to solve these economic problems. He promised to give people jobs again.
And in his first months in office, Hitler was true to his word. He solved the unemployment problem. He did so by going into so much debt that they had to invade and plunder their neighboring countries and seize the property of minorities to pay for this, but the average German didn’t know that. All he knew was that before he had no job, now he had one. All she knew was that before she had no bread, now she had that and more.
Now they hear rumors that people are being gassed in what are supposed to be worker retraining camps. Who are they going to believe? The people who gave them their life back, or unsubstantiated rumors? But what about the soldiers? Are they going to disobey orders and defy the people who made their country great again? When anyone else would flip the switch in his place?
If he was moral he would, we say. I think that is the answer. A moral person would do what is right. He would not be an executioner of innocent people even if it meant that he would have to lose his own life. Moral strength was lacking in Nazi Germany, which is why such atrocities were allowed to happen.
But I don’t think that Nazi Germany was especially lacking in moral strength. I think that most people, most nations are lacking in moral strength. An American teacher reproduced the Third Reich in his classroom, and his students started behaving like Nazis without even realizing it. We do what everyone around us does. We go with the flow. We look out for number one.
It takes great moral strength not to.
It takes great moral strength to stand up for what it right, even when everyone around you says that it is wrong. It takes great moral strength to defy your leaders, especially when they have complete power over you. It takes great moral strength to see the truth, even when it means that what you have been given is ill gotten.
When we stop asking, “How could they?” and start asking, “Would I?” maybe we’ll develop the moral strength necessary to prevent what happened in Nazi Germany from happening again.
Nazi Germany is an enigma to most modern people. It’s something were still grappling with as a society. That’s why books and movies about the Second World War are so popular. We still have questions that haven’t been answered. The main question is how could it have happened? How could they have done such horrible things?
Maybe they all suffered from mass hysteria. But that answer is really a non-answer. It doesn’t help us understand what happened. Reason and motive does not enter the brain of the hysterical. We have nothing to learn from them.
Maybe the Germans are a hateful people. But that just gives us an excuse to dismiss them. Hateful people are wrong, therefore I don’t need to understand them. We aren’t going to get any answers that way. And can we really believe that they are or were more hateful than any other people?
Maybe they were easily manipulated by their leaders. The Germans? They are one of the best educated nations on the planet. The notion that all of them were just used for the personal vendetta of their leaders is silly. Also, that argument just delays the question. Eventually we are going to want to know why their leaders would want to kill millions of people.
I think that these answers are hard to come by because we aren’t asking the right questions. Instead of asking, “How could they have done that?” we should ask, “What would I have done in their place?” That changes the way we think about the problem and gives us a better chance of solving it.
Between the world wars, Germany suffered one of the worst financial collapses ever experienced. To pay for its debt from the first war, the government just printed money until the German Mark was worth next to nothing. People would burn heaps of them for warmth. Milton Bradley collected them to put in the Monopoly game because that cost less than printing his own fake money. When the currency was hyperinflated, people’s savings became worthless. Businesses went under and unemployment was rampant.
Enter the young, charismatic leader of a new political party. The leader: Adolf Hitler. The party: the National Socialists. Hitler promised to put the country back on track. He promised to solve these economic problems. He promised to give people jobs again.
And in his first months in office, Hitler was true to his word. He solved the unemployment problem. He did so by going into so much debt that they had to invade and plunder their neighboring countries and seize the property of minorities to pay for this, but the average German didn’t know that. All he knew was that before he had no job, now he had one. All she knew was that before she had no bread, now she had that and more.
Now they hear rumors that people are being gassed in what are supposed to be worker retraining camps. Who are they going to believe? The people who gave them their life back, or unsubstantiated rumors? But what about the soldiers? Are they going to disobey orders and defy the people who made their country great again? When anyone else would flip the switch in his place?
If he was moral he would, we say. I think that is the answer. A moral person would do what is right. He would not be an executioner of innocent people even if it meant that he would have to lose his own life. Moral strength was lacking in Nazi Germany, which is why such atrocities were allowed to happen.
But I don’t think that Nazi Germany was especially lacking in moral strength. I think that most people, most nations are lacking in moral strength. An American teacher reproduced the Third Reich in his classroom, and his students started behaving like Nazis without even realizing it. We do what everyone around us does. We go with the flow. We look out for number one.
It takes great moral strength not to.
It takes great moral strength to stand up for what it right, even when everyone around you says that it is wrong. It takes great moral strength to defy your leaders, especially when they have complete power over you. It takes great moral strength to see the truth, even when it means that what you have been given is ill gotten.
When we stop asking, “How could they?” and start asking, “Would I?” maybe we’ll develop the moral strength necessary to prevent what happened in Nazi Germany from happening again.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Sacred Ground
I recently returned from a trip to Europe and my posts for the next few weeks will be discussing some of the experiences I had out there. My brother was already in Rome with a friend when I arrived, and the rest of my family wasn’t going to land until the evening, so my brother and his friend, Mike, showed me around the city for the day. We went to the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon, and St. Peter’s Basilica. While we walked through basilica, I was overwhelmed by the size and the beauty of the place.
Mike had been to Rome many times before, and he freely shared his knowledge about what we were seeing. He informed us that the basilica was built over Peter’s tomb, he explained what all of the saints who are immortalized in marble there did to become saints, and he pointed out different relics in the basilica, such as the spear that pierced Jesus’ side. It slowly dawned on me that Mike was a Catholic and that he really believed the things he was telling me. When that dawned on me, it changed my experience inside the basilica.
I didn’t come away from that impressive structure a Catholic, or believing in many of the things Catholics believe. For example, I seriously doubt that the spear kept in St. Peter’s Basilica is the actual spear that pierced Jesus’ side. And even if it was, it would have more historical value than spiritual value as far as I’m concerned. But seeing this place through the eyes of someone who considers it sacred, just as so many people in the world do, was a gratifying experience. After all, if someone was going to tour one of the sites that I consider sacred, such as the grove of trees in upstate New York where God and Jesus Christ appeared to the boy prophet, Joseph Smith, or Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah, I would want them to see it the way I do. I would want them to know why I consider it sacred.
That is not necessarily so they will believe what I believe, although if they did believe it that would be all the better. I would just want them to understand where I’m coming from. We Mormons have borne the brunt of our fair share of disrespect. In the eighteen hundreds, Mormons were persecuted, killed, raped, pillage, and driven from their homes and the Temple they had worked so hard to build. This happened not once, but twice, in Kirtland, Ohio and Nauvoo, Illinois. It almost happened again in Salt Lake City, Utah. In the present, Mormons have been accused of being racist, chauvinists, hate-mongers, and worse. I think that this persecution comes mostly because we don’t compromise our beliefs when they conflict with the demands of the world. Many of the things that we consider most sacred are degraded, ridiculed, and worse yet, exposed to the world’s misinformed scorn.
It hurts when people I meet let their pastors or their ill-informed friends speak for my beliefs. It’s frustrating when I cannot convince them that the falsehoods that they’ve heard are incorrect. Since I’ve had those experiences, I am very careful about not doing the same thing myself. If I am going to learn about a different religion, the least I can do is show those who believe in it the respect of learning about it from one of them, hear what they believe and why they believe it. I unexpectedly got that chance as Mike guided me and my brother through St. Peter’s Basilica, and because of that, I was better able to understand where he and the millions of other Catholics are coming from. Someday, if we’re ever in Salt Lake City at the same time, I would like to be able to return the favor.
Mike had been to Rome many times before, and he freely shared his knowledge about what we were seeing. He informed us that the basilica was built over Peter’s tomb, he explained what all of the saints who are immortalized in marble there did to become saints, and he pointed out different relics in the basilica, such as the spear that pierced Jesus’ side. It slowly dawned on me that Mike was a Catholic and that he really believed the things he was telling me. When that dawned on me, it changed my experience inside the basilica.
I didn’t come away from that impressive structure a Catholic, or believing in many of the things Catholics believe. For example, I seriously doubt that the spear kept in St. Peter’s Basilica is the actual spear that pierced Jesus’ side. And even if it was, it would have more historical value than spiritual value as far as I’m concerned. But seeing this place through the eyes of someone who considers it sacred, just as so many people in the world do, was a gratifying experience. After all, if someone was going to tour one of the sites that I consider sacred, such as the grove of trees in upstate New York where God and Jesus Christ appeared to the boy prophet, Joseph Smith, or Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah, I would want them to see it the way I do. I would want them to know why I consider it sacred.
That is not necessarily so they will believe what I believe, although if they did believe it that would be all the better. I would just want them to understand where I’m coming from. We Mormons have borne the brunt of our fair share of disrespect. In the eighteen hundreds, Mormons were persecuted, killed, raped, pillage, and driven from their homes and the Temple they had worked so hard to build. This happened not once, but twice, in Kirtland, Ohio and Nauvoo, Illinois. It almost happened again in Salt Lake City, Utah. In the present, Mormons have been accused of being racist, chauvinists, hate-mongers, and worse. I think that this persecution comes mostly because we don’t compromise our beliefs when they conflict with the demands of the world. Many of the things that we consider most sacred are degraded, ridiculed, and worse yet, exposed to the world’s misinformed scorn.
It hurts when people I meet let their pastors or their ill-informed friends speak for my beliefs. It’s frustrating when I cannot convince them that the falsehoods that they’ve heard are incorrect. Since I’ve had those experiences, I am very careful about not doing the same thing myself. If I am going to learn about a different religion, the least I can do is show those who believe in it the respect of learning about it from one of them, hear what they believe and why they believe it. I unexpectedly got that chance as Mike guided me and my brother through St. Peter’s Basilica, and because of that, I was better able to understand where he and the millions of other Catholics are coming from. Someday, if we’re ever in Salt Lake City at the same time, I would like to be able to return the favor.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Our Work
Two weeks ago, I dedicated my post to the answer that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints offers for the question, “Why did God create the world in the first place.” This week, I’d like to discuss what we need to do in order to accomplish that purpose.
Just as God’s purpose is found in the scriptures (“For behold, this is my work and my glory--to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” Moses 1:39), our purpose is also found in the scriptures unique to the Latter-day Saints: “Behold, this is your work, to keep my commandments, yea, with all your might, mind and strength” (D&C 11:20). In order to accomplish the purposes that God sent us here for, we must do what He tells us to do.
Many people ask why God would go to all the trouble to create us just to tell us a bunch of things that we can’t do. I would ask the same question of the mother who scolds her small child for reaching up toward a boiling pot of water. That mother went through nine months of pregnancy, a long and painful labor, late nights feeding and soothing the baby, countless diaper changes and a list of other inconveniences, and then has the gall to go around saying to that child, “Don’t do this. Don’t do that.” Did this woman go through all of that just so she could have someone to boss around?
To the child it might seem that way, especially as he grows older. Those of us with a greater understanding, though, know that the mother is motivated by love. Her scoldings may be hard for the child to take, but it is in order to spare the child from painful burns that would result from pulling boiling water all over himself. It would be an unloving parent indeed who allowed a child to seriously harm himself for fear of damaging his ego with a scolding.
God is much the same way. Compared to His perfect understanding, even the wisest of men is a child. We don’t know what is good for us. We don’t know that much of what we naturally want--like the child’s curiosity for the boiling pot of water--is in reality very harmful for us. God does. So, he gives us commandments like, “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” because He knows that infidelity will lead to our unhappiness. Even commandments that could be viewed as selfish when we look at them from an imperfect perspective, like, “Thou shalt have no other God’s before me,” are actually for our own good when we realize that no other God but the true God can offer us salvation.
Jesus taught, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). So, if we want to accomplish the purpose God sent us here to accomplish--and if we believe that God loves us, then we should also believe that God’s purposes are the only way to achieve the greatest possible happiness--then we better follow the way that Jesus laid out for us. That means being obedient to God’s commands.
Christ laid out this path when He visited and taught the people on the American continent, as recorded in the Book of Mormon. “Now this is the commandment:” he said. “Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day” (Third Nephi 27:20). If we do those basic things, we will accomplish our purpose here, we will receive eternal life in the hereafter, which is life like God’s, life with God, and life with our families.
Just as God’s purpose is found in the scriptures (“For behold, this is my work and my glory--to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” Moses 1:39), our purpose is also found in the scriptures unique to the Latter-day Saints: “Behold, this is your work, to keep my commandments, yea, with all your might, mind and strength” (D&C 11:20). In order to accomplish the purposes that God sent us here for, we must do what He tells us to do.
Many people ask why God would go to all the trouble to create us just to tell us a bunch of things that we can’t do. I would ask the same question of the mother who scolds her small child for reaching up toward a boiling pot of water. That mother went through nine months of pregnancy, a long and painful labor, late nights feeding and soothing the baby, countless diaper changes and a list of other inconveniences, and then has the gall to go around saying to that child, “Don’t do this. Don’t do that.” Did this woman go through all of that just so she could have someone to boss around?
To the child it might seem that way, especially as he grows older. Those of us with a greater understanding, though, know that the mother is motivated by love. Her scoldings may be hard for the child to take, but it is in order to spare the child from painful burns that would result from pulling boiling water all over himself. It would be an unloving parent indeed who allowed a child to seriously harm himself for fear of damaging his ego with a scolding.
God is much the same way. Compared to His perfect understanding, even the wisest of men is a child. We don’t know what is good for us. We don’t know that much of what we naturally want--like the child’s curiosity for the boiling pot of water--is in reality very harmful for us. God does. So, he gives us commandments like, “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” because He knows that infidelity will lead to our unhappiness. Even commandments that could be viewed as selfish when we look at them from an imperfect perspective, like, “Thou shalt have no other God’s before me,” are actually for our own good when we realize that no other God but the true God can offer us salvation.
Jesus taught, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). So, if we want to accomplish the purpose God sent us here to accomplish--and if we believe that God loves us, then we should also believe that God’s purposes are the only way to achieve the greatest possible happiness--then we better follow the way that Jesus laid out for us. That means being obedient to God’s commands.
Christ laid out this path when He visited and taught the people on the American continent, as recorded in the Book of Mormon. “Now this is the commandment:” he said. “Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day” (Third Nephi 27:20). If we do those basic things, we will accomplish our purpose here, we will receive eternal life in the hereafter, which is life like God’s, life with God, and life with our families.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
New Features
We just had an Young Single Adult Education Conference here in Boston, which Elder M. Russell Ballard, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles attended. We got some wonderful instruction about how to share our beliefs with other people, both face to face and on the internet. One of those ways is through a blog, which I was proud to say that I've already had for a few months, now (though that is only because I was obeying the council that Elder Ballard himself gave in a talk about a year ago) but I realized that my blog wasn't connected in any meaningful way with other resources on the web. I guess I should just accept that I am not the ultimate source of infomation on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I've put some usefl links in the bar to left to resolve that problem.
Since the purpose of this blog is the share my thoughts on my religion, mostly with a non-Mormon audiance in mind, I figured that I would also expand on my profile info. I want readers of this blog (that means you) to see Mormons as normal people. Yes, I do listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir but I also listen to cool bands like Death Cab for Cutie and Coldplay.
So, for all of you non-Mormons, feel free to check out the links and find out more about the church. And if you want to know what Mormons read and watch, feel free to check out my profile (although, I'm not sure I am indicactive of what all Mormons read and watch, because Mormons read and watch all sorts of different things). For all of you Mormons, find out how you can be a presence on the web to share your beliefs as well.
Since the purpose of this blog is the share my thoughts on my religion, mostly with a non-Mormon audiance in mind, I figured that I would also expand on my profile info. I want readers of this blog (that means you) to see Mormons as normal people. Yes, I do listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir but I also listen to cool bands like Death Cab for Cutie and Coldplay.
So, for all of you non-Mormons, feel free to check out the links and find out more about the church. And if you want to know what Mormons read and watch, feel free to check out my profile (although, I'm not sure I am indicactive of what all Mormons read and watch, because Mormons read and watch all sorts of different things). For all of you Mormons, find out how you can be a presence on the web to share your beliefs as well.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
The Big Question
I volunteered at the Boston Book Festival, yesterday. As a volunteer, I had to wear a bright orange t-shirt with a huge question mark printed on the front, implying that festival goers could come to me with their questions and that I would have the answers. That may have been a little misleading since all of my knowledge about anything outside the room I was assigned to was printed on the programs that everyone got.
At one point, the event in my room was filled to capacity, so many people were being turned away. A couple of girls were among that crowd and since they had a while to kill, now that they couldn’t do what they had been planning on doing, they thought they’d kill a few minutes chatting with me. They commented on the funny question mark and what it implied and we laughed as I joked that, indeed, I did have an answer to every question. The first question they asked, though, caught me off guard.
“What is the meaning of life?” they said.
“To…” I started. I didn’t have an answer ready for that question, which surprised me because I knew the answer. There is a scripture in the Pearl of Great Price that gives that answer very clearly. “For behold,” it reads, “this is my work and my glory--to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39). This is the only scripture that I have found that states why God created the world and us, His children, in the first place. He created us to teach us how to live the life He lives: eternal life.
I could have answered this question, but it would have required a full missionary-type lesson, which was out of the question. I gave them a true, but ultimately meaningless answer, and was left to contemplate the question for the rest of that day, and for a big chunk of this day.
I honestly haven’t heard anyone ask what the meaning of life is for a long time. It’s not a question that ever crosses my mind. I think that is because the question is answered, as far as I’m concerned. I don’t have to go around wondering what the bigger picture is because I already know what that is.
I don’t know how serious this inquiry was from these girls, but it made me appreciate all the more my membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints along with my knowledge and testimony of its doctrines. So many people have not found a reliable answer to that most basic and fundamental question: “What is the meaning of life?” So many people go about their daily lives wondering if anything they do has any lasting meaning. I don’t know if I would be willing to struggle to find a good job, or strive to find someone I can marry, or even brush my teeth for that matter, if I didn’t believe that my life had greater meaning than what can be found in the present.
Fortunately, because of my faith, I do know that life has a greater meaning. So, I do struggle to find a job in which I can have an influence. I do strive to find that woman with whom I can start a family. I do brush my teeth. Because all of that has meaning. All of that doesn’t just disappear when I die. All of the memories and relationships and habits that I have gained throughout my life will rise with me. All of it, even the minutest detail, has meaning, because God created it that way.
At one point, the event in my room was filled to capacity, so many people were being turned away. A couple of girls were among that crowd and since they had a while to kill, now that they couldn’t do what they had been planning on doing, they thought they’d kill a few minutes chatting with me. They commented on the funny question mark and what it implied and we laughed as I joked that, indeed, I did have an answer to every question. The first question they asked, though, caught me off guard.
“What is the meaning of life?” they said.
“To…” I started. I didn’t have an answer ready for that question, which surprised me because I knew the answer. There is a scripture in the Pearl of Great Price that gives that answer very clearly. “For behold,” it reads, “this is my work and my glory--to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39). This is the only scripture that I have found that states why God created the world and us, His children, in the first place. He created us to teach us how to live the life He lives: eternal life.
I could have answered this question, but it would have required a full missionary-type lesson, which was out of the question. I gave them a true, but ultimately meaningless answer, and was left to contemplate the question for the rest of that day, and for a big chunk of this day.
I honestly haven’t heard anyone ask what the meaning of life is for a long time. It’s not a question that ever crosses my mind. I think that is because the question is answered, as far as I’m concerned. I don’t have to go around wondering what the bigger picture is because I already know what that is.
I don’t know how serious this inquiry was from these girls, but it made me appreciate all the more my membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints along with my knowledge and testimony of its doctrines. So many people have not found a reliable answer to that most basic and fundamental question: “What is the meaning of life?” So many people go about their daily lives wondering if anything they do has any lasting meaning. I don’t know if I would be willing to struggle to find a good job, or strive to find someone I can marry, or even brush my teeth for that matter, if I didn’t believe that my life had greater meaning than what can be found in the present.
Fortunately, because of my faith, I do know that life has a greater meaning. So, I do struggle to find a job in which I can have an influence. I do strive to find that woman with whom I can start a family. I do brush my teeth. Because all of that has meaning. All of that doesn’t just disappear when I die. All of the memories and relationships and habits that I have gained throughout my life will rise with me. All of it, even the minutest detail, has meaning, because God created it that way.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
The Voice of the Spirit
I gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting today, so I thought that posting that would cover my blog post for the week. Enjoy!
When I was sixteen, around Christmas, some friends from church and I decided to go around looking at Christmas lights. Since Megan Young was the queen bee of the Laurels, we were all to meet at her house at seven. I parked my truck across the street and knocked on her door precisely as the clock was turning from 6:59 to 7:00. I don’t know why I was surprised that I was the first one there and that Megan was still getting ready. In order to get out faster, Sister Young suggested that I go pick up the people that Megan was supposed to pick up and bring them back there. The only problem was that I only had a pickup truck. Not enough room for a carload of people. Sister Young had a solution for that, too. I could take their family van.
As I took their keys in my hand and walked out their front door, I mulled over in my head the route I should take to pick everyone up, how I could best avoid stop signs and traffic lights. I figured out a way that would take me in a loop that would end up right back at the Young’s house. But, as I turned the key in the ignition, I got a strong feeling that I should go the opposite way. “That’s dumb,” I thought. “If I go that way, I’ll have to turn left onto Fair Oaks Boulevard and that always takes forever.” I started backing up. Again, I got that strong feeling that I should go the opposite way. “But that makes no sense,” I thought again, shouting down that annoying feeling. I continued backing up. I was just about to put on the breaks and pull forward when I heard a crunch. I froze. I was almost too afraid to look. Finally, though, I did. I got out of the van to check the damage. I had backed into my own truck.
If I had listened to the voice of the Spirit that night, I could have avoided paying the twelve hundred dollars to repair the Young’s van. But as it was, it was an important lesson for me. I had a greater understanding for what the voice of the Spirit sounds like. Because even though I hadn’t heeded its warning, I had heard it. And I had a greater resolve to heed the next time.
Even so, I’m still learning how to recognize and heed the voice of the Spirit. It was a little easier when I was a missionary since all my thoughts were focused on spiritual things, but there were still moments during my mission that I wish I could do over, that I wish I could do exactly as the Spirit directed me. Since the mission, it’s been a real challenge. There are so many distractions and other concerns I have to worry about. As a missionary, all I wanted was to do God’s work in God’s way, and many times I got the specific guidance that I needed to do just that. Now, though, I’ve had to worry about so many other things. What should I major in? Where should I live? Which jobs should I apply for? Should I go to graduate school? My own wants and desires are so mashed up into all these questions that I wonder if a prompting is really divine guidance, or just my own stupid ideas. Sometimes, the hardest part about doing the will of the Lord is knowing what His will is. If He would just tell me, there’d be no problem.
When Moses was at the shores of the Red Sea, with Pharaoh and his armies behind him and the eyes of all the children of Israel fixed on him, “the Lord said unto Moses…lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea” (Exodus 14:15-16). Sometimes I read passages like these about the prophets hearing the voice of God and think that they had it easy. God tells them to part the Red Sea or build an arc or take their family to the Promised Land and they do it. Can’t He tell me what I should do with my own little life?
But then I read something in the Doctrine and Covenants that changed my perspective on these questions. In Section 8, the Lord tells this to Oliver Cowdery: “you shall receive a knowledge of whatsoever things you shall ask in faith, with an honest heart, believing that you shall receive…Yea, behold, I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart. Now, behold, this is the spirit of revelation; behold, this is the spirit by which Moses brought the children of Israel through the Red Sea on dry ground” (D&C 8:1-3). So, Moses was prompted by the Spirit to part the Red Sea? It was just a feeling in his mind and heart? That’s what it seems to be saying. So maybe these other prophets--Noah, Lehi, and all the others--were not acting on direct audible commands from God, but on the whisperings of the Spirit. Of course, there have been a few times when God has spoken directly to His prophets--Moses talked to God face to face at times, the brother of Jared saw Jesus’ spiritual body long before He was born in Bethlehem, and Joseph Smith saw and talked with the Father and the Son in the Sacred Grove--but I think that these moments are rare, even for prophets. I think that when God speaks, he normally does so through the voice of the Spirit, because the voice of the Spirit is His voice.
We have a few descriptions in the scriptures of what that voice “sounds” like. Right before Christ arrived in the Americas, we read that the Nephites who were gathered around the temple in Bountiful “heard a voice as if it came out of heaven; and they cast their eyes round about, for they understood not the voice which they heard; and it was not a harsh voice, neither was it a loud voice; nevertheless, and notwithstanding it being a small voice it did pierce them that did hear to the center, insomuch that there was no part of their frame that it did not cause to quake; yea, it did pierce them to the very soul, and did cause their hearts to burn” (3 Nephi 11:3). And in the Book of Helaman we read that the voice of the Spirit “was not a voice of thunder, neither was it a voice of a great tumultuous noise, but behold, it was a still voice of perfect mildness, as if it had been a whisper, and it did pierce even to the very soul” (Helaman 5:30). And we all know how the voice of the Lord came to Elijah not in the strong wind, or the earthquake, or the fire, but in “a still small voice” (1 Kings 19:12). From all these descriptions, it seems clear that the voice of the Spirit connects more to our soul than it does to our ears. God doesn’t communicate with us through sound waves carried by the vibration of air molecules. He communicates with us through His Spirit.
In this past General Conference, Elder Richard G. Scott said, “I am convinced that there is no simple formula or technique that would immediately allow you to master the ability to be guided by the voice of the Spirit. Our Father expects you to learn how to obtain that divine help by exercising faith in Him and His Holy Son, Jesus Christ. Were you to receive inspired guidance just for the asking, you would become weak and ever more dependent on Them. They know that essential personal growth will come as you struggle to learn how to be led by the Spirit.” I have personally wondered if learning to hear and heed the voice of the Spirit is not one of the most important things we are meant to do during our lives.
Now, when I read stories in the scriptures about the great deeds of past prophets, I’m not only impressed with their obedience and dedication to the Lord, I am also impressed with their trust in the voice of the Spirit and their ability to hear it. When Abraham was commanded to sacrifice his only son, the son that God promised he would have and through whom God promised that Abraham’s posterity would number more than the sands of the sea, did he receive that command through an audible voice, or through the voice of the Spirit? I think that it was through the voice of the Spirit, the same voice that told me to go left when I wanted to go right. But unlike me, Abraham obeyed. He walked all the way to Mount Moriah, built an alter, tied his son’s hands, and raised the knife. He was ready to obey God’s command with exactness. He didn’t know as he held the knife that God would send an angel to stop him. He only knew what God commanded, and he trusted that command. As President Eyring has said, when we hear the voice of the Spirit, we are usually “given no assurance of the outcome, just a clear direction—go forward.”
One of the great differences that I have found between the prophets and myself is that trust. Trust in the still small whisperings of the Spirit. When the prophets hear them, they obey, when I hear them, I rationalize my own decision and back into my own car. But I’m learning to trust the Spirit. I have had some successes since that Christmas nine years ago. But sometimes those whisperings are crazy, like telling me to talk to a stranger about religion or something like that. I’m sure that being told to kill his son sounded crazy to Abraham to. One thing to remember is that we “receive no witness until after the trial of [our] faith” (Ether 12:6). I want to use the Apostle Peter as an example of someone who passed a trial of his faith.
“When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?” If Jesus had been going around telling everyone that He was the Messiah they’d all been waiting for, these would have been pretty foolish questions. If they listened to Him at all, they would know who He was. But Jesus didn’t go around saying that. In fact, He frequently told his disciples to keep His identity, His true identity as the Son of God, a secret, at least until He ascended into Heaven. At this point, though, no one, not even his Apostles, had made any indication that they knew His true identity. “And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 16:13-17). Peter hadn’t heard that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah through sound waves carried by the vibrations of air molecules to his ears. He had heard it through the voice of the Spirit.
Peter trusted that divine communication enough to be the first to say it out loud. And he trusted it enough to step out of his boat onto the water when Jesus told him to. And he trusted it enough take a sword and cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant to defend Jesus, even when that high priest’s servant was backed by “a great multitude with swords and staves” (Matthew 26:47). Even though Peter trusted the voice of the Spirit that told him that Jesus was the Messiah, it seems from the record that he and the other Apostles didn’t quite understand what exactly the Messiah’s mission would be. They knew that He was meant to free them from bondage, but they thought that would be from the bondage of the Roman’s who had conquered them. They knew that He was meant to be a king, but they didn’t know that His kingdom “is not of this world” (John 18:36).
What must have been going through Peter’s mind as he watched his Messiah bleed and die on the cross? The man he had trusted in had not freed the children of Israel from Roman bondage. He hadn’t been crowned a king. Did any doubts creep into Peter’s thoughts during those three long days when Jesus lay in the tomb? Did he ever wonder if what he’d thought had come from God was really just some crazy idea of his own? We don’t know for sure, but I think that might have happened. Those were a dark three days. They were the trial of Peter’s faith.
And then Sunday morning came. Mary Magdalene came with news that the tomb was empty. Peter went running to see it for himself. Then Jesus of Nazareth, the man Peter believed in as the Son of God, the Messiah, stood before Peter alive, resurrected. Peter felt the wounds in His hands and in His feet. He was able to confess his love for Him three times. And he went on to lead Christ’s church and preach the good news of Christ’s Atonement to the world. He received his witness, but it was only after he had trusted in the voice of the Spirit.
Most of us have heard that same voice. We’ve asked God to know that the Book of Mormon is true, that Joseph Smith was a prophet, and that Jesus is the Christ. And most of us, if not all of us, have received an answer. Yet, if we were going to write about that experience, would we write that we had a good feeling about these things, or that we heard the voice of the Lord and He said, “These things are true”? That’s how Moses wrote about his experience on the shores of the Red Sea. As he looked at the armies of pharaoh, and the multitudinous children of the Israel, and the vast sea that stretch out to the horizon, he could have thought, , “I’m going to look really foolish if I raise my staff and command the sea and nothing happens.” But he didn’t. He raised his staff. He commanded the sea. And the waters parted.
My prayer is that we can all develop that trust in the voice of the Spirit. That when we hear it we will heed it. I know that as we do we will be doing the Lord’s will, and even if that seems crazy right now, it will always work out for the best in the end.
When I was sixteen, around Christmas, some friends from church and I decided to go around looking at Christmas lights. Since Megan Young was the queen bee of the Laurels, we were all to meet at her house at seven. I parked my truck across the street and knocked on her door precisely as the clock was turning from 6:59 to 7:00. I don’t know why I was surprised that I was the first one there and that Megan was still getting ready. In order to get out faster, Sister Young suggested that I go pick up the people that Megan was supposed to pick up and bring them back there. The only problem was that I only had a pickup truck. Not enough room for a carload of people. Sister Young had a solution for that, too. I could take their family van.
As I took their keys in my hand and walked out their front door, I mulled over in my head the route I should take to pick everyone up, how I could best avoid stop signs and traffic lights. I figured out a way that would take me in a loop that would end up right back at the Young’s house. But, as I turned the key in the ignition, I got a strong feeling that I should go the opposite way. “That’s dumb,” I thought. “If I go that way, I’ll have to turn left onto Fair Oaks Boulevard and that always takes forever.” I started backing up. Again, I got that strong feeling that I should go the opposite way. “But that makes no sense,” I thought again, shouting down that annoying feeling. I continued backing up. I was just about to put on the breaks and pull forward when I heard a crunch. I froze. I was almost too afraid to look. Finally, though, I did. I got out of the van to check the damage. I had backed into my own truck.
If I had listened to the voice of the Spirit that night, I could have avoided paying the twelve hundred dollars to repair the Young’s van. But as it was, it was an important lesson for me. I had a greater understanding for what the voice of the Spirit sounds like. Because even though I hadn’t heeded its warning, I had heard it. And I had a greater resolve to heed the next time.
Even so, I’m still learning how to recognize and heed the voice of the Spirit. It was a little easier when I was a missionary since all my thoughts were focused on spiritual things, but there were still moments during my mission that I wish I could do over, that I wish I could do exactly as the Spirit directed me. Since the mission, it’s been a real challenge. There are so many distractions and other concerns I have to worry about. As a missionary, all I wanted was to do God’s work in God’s way, and many times I got the specific guidance that I needed to do just that. Now, though, I’ve had to worry about so many other things. What should I major in? Where should I live? Which jobs should I apply for? Should I go to graduate school? My own wants and desires are so mashed up into all these questions that I wonder if a prompting is really divine guidance, or just my own stupid ideas. Sometimes, the hardest part about doing the will of the Lord is knowing what His will is. If He would just tell me, there’d be no problem.
When Moses was at the shores of the Red Sea, with Pharaoh and his armies behind him and the eyes of all the children of Israel fixed on him, “the Lord said unto Moses…lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea” (Exodus 14:15-16). Sometimes I read passages like these about the prophets hearing the voice of God and think that they had it easy. God tells them to part the Red Sea or build an arc or take their family to the Promised Land and they do it. Can’t He tell me what I should do with my own little life?
But then I read something in the Doctrine and Covenants that changed my perspective on these questions. In Section 8, the Lord tells this to Oliver Cowdery: “you shall receive a knowledge of whatsoever things you shall ask in faith, with an honest heart, believing that you shall receive…Yea, behold, I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart. Now, behold, this is the spirit of revelation; behold, this is the spirit by which Moses brought the children of Israel through the Red Sea on dry ground” (D&C 8:1-3). So, Moses was prompted by the Spirit to part the Red Sea? It was just a feeling in his mind and heart? That’s what it seems to be saying. So maybe these other prophets--Noah, Lehi, and all the others--were not acting on direct audible commands from God, but on the whisperings of the Spirit. Of course, there have been a few times when God has spoken directly to His prophets--Moses talked to God face to face at times, the brother of Jared saw Jesus’ spiritual body long before He was born in Bethlehem, and Joseph Smith saw and talked with the Father and the Son in the Sacred Grove--but I think that these moments are rare, even for prophets. I think that when God speaks, he normally does so through the voice of the Spirit, because the voice of the Spirit is His voice.
We have a few descriptions in the scriptures of what that voice “sounds” like. Right before Christ arrived in the Americas, we read that the Nephites who were gathered around the temple in Bountiful “heard a voice as if it came out of heaven; and they cast their eyes round about, for they understood not the voice which they heard; and it was not a harsh voice, neither was it a loud voice; nevertheless, and notwithstanding it being a small voice it did pierce them that did hear to the center, insomuch that there was no part of their frame that it did not cause to quake; yea, it did pierce them to the very soul, and did cause their hearts to burn” (3 Nephi 11:3). And in the Book of Helaman we read that the voice of the Spirit “was not a voice of thunder, neither was it a voice of a great tumultuous noise, but behold, it was a still voice of perfect mildness, as if it had been a whisper, and it did pierce even to the very soul” (Helaman 5:30). And we all know how the voice of the Lord came to Elijah not in the strong wind, or the earthquake, or the fire, but in “a still small voice” (1 Kings 19:12). From all these descriptions, it seems clear that the voice of the Spirit connects more to our soul than it does to our ears. God doesn’t communicate with us through sound waves carried by the vibration of air molecules. He communicates with us through His Spirit.
In this past General Conference, Elder Richard G. Scott said, “I am convinced that there is no simple formula or technique that would immediately allow you to master the ability to be guided by the voice of the Spirit. Our Father expects you to learn how to obtain that divine help by exercising faith in Him and His Holy Son, Jesus Christ. Were you to receive inspired guidance just for the asking, you would become weak and ever more dependent on Them. They know that essential personal growth will come as you struggle to learn how to be led by the Spirit.” I have personally wondered if learning to hear and heed the voice of the Spirit is not one of the most important things we are meant to do during our lives.
Now, when I read stories in the scriptures about the great deeds of past prophets, I’m not only impressed with their obedience and dedication to the Lord, I am also impressed with their trust in the voice of the Spirit and their ability to hear it. When Abraham was commanded to sacrifice his only son, the son that God promised he would have and through whom God promised that Abraham’s posterity would number more than the sands of the sea, did he receive that command through an audible voice, or through the voice of the Spirit? I think that it was through the voice of the Spirit, the same voice that told me to go left when I wanted to go right. But unlike me, Abraham obeyed. He walked all the way to Mount Moriah, built an alter, tied his son’s hands, and raised the knife. He was ready to obey God’s command with exactness. He didn’t know as he held the knife that God would send an angel to stop him. He only knew what God commanded, and he trusted that command. As President Eyring has said, when we hear the voice of the Spirit, we are usually “given no assurance of the outcome, just a clear direction—go forward.”
One of the great differences that I have found between the prophets and myself is that trust. Trust in the still small whisperings of the Spirit. When the prophets hear them, they obey, when I hear them, I rationalize my own decision and back into my own car. But I’m learning to trust the Spirit. I have had some successes since that Christmas nine years ago. But sometimes those whisperings are crazy, like telling me to talk to a stranger about religion or something like that. I’m sure that being told to kill his son sounded crazy to Abraham to. One thing to remember is that we “receive no witness until after the trial of [our] faith” (Ether 12:6). I want to use the Apostle Peter as an example of someone who passed a trial of his faith.
“When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?” If Jesus had been going around telling everyone that He was the Messiah they’d all been waiting for, these would have been pretty foolish questions. If they listened to Him at all, they would know who He was. But Jesus didn’t go around saying that. In fact, He frequently told his disciples to keep His identity, His true identity as the Son of God, a secret, at least until He ascended into Heaven. At this point, though, no one, not even his Apostles, had made any indication that they knew His true identity. “And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 16:13-17). Peter hadn’t heard that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah through sound waves carried by the vibrations of air molecules to his ears. He had heard it through the voice of the Spirit.
Peter trusted that divine communication enough to be the first to say it out loud. And he trusted it enough to step out of his boat onto the water when Jesus told him to. And he trusted it enough take a sword and cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant to defend Jesus, even when that high priest’s servant was backed by “a great multitude with swords and staves” (Matthew 26:47). Even though Peter trusted the voice of the Spirit that told him that Jesus was the Messiah, it seems from the record that he and the other Apostles didn’t quite understand what exactly the Messiah’s mission would be. They knew that He was meant to free them from bondage, but they thought that would be from the bondage of the Roman’s who had conquered them. They knew that He was meant to be a king, but they didn’t know that His kingdom “is not of this world” (John 18:36).
What must have been going through Peter’s mind as he watched his Messiah bleed and die on the cross? The man he had trusted in had not freed the children of Israel from Roman bondage. He hadn’t been crowned a king. Did any doubts creep into Peter’s thoughts during those three long days when Jesus lay in the tomb? Did he ever wonder if what he’d thought had come from God was really just some crazy idea of his own? We don’t know for sure, but I think that might have happened. Those were a dark three days. They were the trial of Peter’s faith.
And then Sunday morning came. Mary Magdalene came with news that the tomb was empty. Peter went running to see it for himself. Then Jesus of Nazareth, the man Peter believed in as the Son of God, the Messiah, stood before Peter alive, resurrected. Peter felt the wounds in His hands and in His feet. He was able to confess his love for Him three times. And he went on to lead Christ’s church and preach the good news of Christ’s Atonement to the world. He received his witness, but it was only after he had trusted in the voice of the Spirit.
Most of us have heard that same voice. We’ve asked God to know that the Book of Mormon is true, that Joseph Smith was a prophet, and that Jesus is the Christ. And most of us, if not all of us, have received an answer. Yet, if we were going to write about that experience, would we write that we had a good feeling about these things, or that we heard the voice of the Lord and He said, “These things are true”? That’s how Moses wrote about his experience on the shores of the Red Sea. As he looked at the armies of pharaoh, and the multitudinous children of the Israel, and the vast sea that stretch out to the horizon, he could have thought, , “I’m going to look really foolish if I raise my staff and command the sea and nothing happens.” But he didn’t. He raised his staff. He commanded the sea. And the waters parted.
My prayer is that we can all develop that trust in the voice of the Spirit. That when we hear it we will heed it. I know that as we do we will be doing the Lord’s will, and even if that seems crazy right now, it will always work out for the best in the end.
Monday, October 5, 2009
To and Fro
This past weekend we enjoyed another Church General Conference. General Conference happens twice a year, the first weekend in April and the first weekend in October, and consists of the leaders of the church, the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and other church leaders, speak to the church worldwide. The conference takes place in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City and is broadcast over television, radio, and other communication methods. This year, I watched most of it in my room over the internet. The conference is translated into about ninety languages.
To give you an idea of what General Conference means to me, let me tell you a story. I was a Spanish speaking missionary in the New Jersey Cherry Hill Mission. During one Conference weekend, I was serving in Long Branch. On Saturday morning (conference consists of five two-hour sessions, three on Saturday and two on Sunday) my companion and I arrived at the church to make sure that everything was set up properly for the Spanish speaking members in the area. Everything was working properly. The video was being projected onto a large screen and the audio was hooked up perfectly. All we had to do was wait. So we waited. And waited. And waited. As the hour for conference to begin neared, we started to realize that no one else was coming. We would be watching General Conference alone in a room that could fit over one hundred people.
I don’t want you to get the impression that the Spanish members in the area were neglecting their duty. Many of them were able to watch the session in their homes and almost all of them came to at least one session. The Sunday sessions were especially crowded in that room.
But sitting there, with just my companion in a sea of seats, while the prophets of God were addressing the entire world, I couldn’t help but think about the throngs of people outside. I saw them in my mind’s eye milling about, going about their normal Saturday business--getting the car fixed, going to the mall, having lunch with friends. At that point, I thought of the explanation that Paul gave to the Ephesians as to why Christ called Apostles and Prophets. “That we henceforth be no more children,” he wrote, “tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the slight of men and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive” (Eph. 4:14).
With so many voices screaming for our attention, it’s hard to know who to trust. Who is right and who is wrong? Should I do this or should I do that? We can feel like ships tossed to a fro on a stormy sea. The guidance of God’s called Prophets and Apostles is like an anchor for me. It gives me stability in a volatile world. I have faith, tempered by study, prayer and many experiences, that these men are God’s mouthpieces on the Earth. That they are sources of truth in our day, just as Moses, Isaiah, Peter and Paul were in theirs. After I listen to the ten hours of conference, and yes, it does sometimes take some effort to stay attentive the whole time, I have a better sense of what course my life should take, of how I can do what God would have me do and become what He would have me become. It’s a feeling of stability. Of not being tossed to and fro.
To give you an idea of what General Conference means to me, let me tell you a story. I was a Spanish speaking missionary in the New Jersey Cherry Hill Mission. During one Conference weekend, I was serving in Long Branch. On Saturday morning (conference consists of five two-hour sessions, three on Saturday and two on Sunday) my companion and I arrived at the church to make sure that everything was set up properly for the Spanish speaking members in the area. Everything was working properly. The video was being projected onto a large screen and the audio was hooked up perfectly. All we had to do was wait. So we waited. And waited. And waited. As the hour for conference to begin neared, we started to realize that no one else was coming. We would be watching General Conference alone in a room that could fit over one hundred people.
I don’t want you to get the impression that the Spanish members in the area were neglecting their duty. Many of them were able to watch the session in their homes and almost all of them came to at least one session. The Sunday sessions were especially crowded in that room.
But sitting there, with just my companion in a sea of seats, while the prophets of God were addressing the entire world, I couldn’t help but think about the throngs of people outside. I saw them in my mind’s eye milling about, going about their normal Saturday business--getting the car fixed, going to the mall, having lunch with friends. At that point, I thought of the explanation that Paul gave to the Ephesians as to why Christ called Apostles and Prophets. “That we henceforth be no more children,” he wrote, “tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the slight of men and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive” (Eph. 4:14).
With so many voices screaming for our attention, it’s hard to know who to trust. Who is right and who is wrong? Should I do this or should I do that? We can feel like ships tossed to a fro on a stormy sea. The guidance of God’s called Prophets and Apostles is like an anchor for me. It gives me stability in a volatile world. I have faith, tempered by study, prayer and many experiences, that these men are God’s mouthpieces on the Earth. That they are sources of truth in our day, just as Moses, Isaiah, Peter and Paul were in theirs. After I listen to the ten hours of conference, and yes, it does sometimes take some effort to stay attentive the whole time, I have a better sense of what course my life should take, of how I can do what God would have me do and become what He would have me become. It’s a feeling of stability. Of not being tossed to and fro.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
The Great Outdoors
My ward had a campout in New Hampshire this weekend, so I spent the last three days roughing it in the great outdoors. We slept in sleeping bags, gathered around campfires, canoed on the nearby lake, and participated in group competitions. We ended the weekend with a sacrament meeting in an amphitheater on the side of the lake. When I first stepped into the amphitheater, I was struck with the beauty of our surroundings. The sky was clear, the lake was wreathed in lush, green foliage, and the morning sun was just hitting the water and reflecting off the endlessly shifting ripples. It was a rare opportunity to worship God while surrounded by His raw, glorious creations.
Every time I’m out in nature, I think of the words of the prophet Alma to Korihor, as recorded in The Book of Mormon. When Korhior asked for a sign of God’s existence, Alma responded, “The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator” (Alma 30:44). Being out in the great outdoors increased my faith in God.
At the same time, I understand that there are intelligent people, many of whom have dedicated their lives to the study of the natural world, who don’t see the majesty of the wild as evidence of God’s existence. They can see the same natural phenomena and interpret them to be evidence that there is no God. I’m a well educated person, and I am well aware of their expertise and their arguments. So, why don’t I believe them? Why don’t I accept the opinion of the experts?
To answer that question, I have to talk a little about authority. The world is filled with authority figures, and we submit ourselves to them throughout our entire lives. When we are children, we submit ourselves to the authority of our parents. Then comes the authority of our teachers. As we grow up and start exercising more our own authority over our lives, we are still subject to the authority of others. We let doctors guide many of our health decisions because they are the authority. They know best. We can’t be experts on every aspect of life, so we listen to those who are. But what happens when you have two doctors giving different diagnoses? What do you do when two authorities on the same subject don’t agree?
In these cases, I have decided to look into the subject as best I can, and then make my own decision based on what I know. This is the only option available to me because I am ultimately responsible for my actions and I have complete authority over my life.
In the debate over the existence of God, countless authority figures support both sides of the argument. I’m caught in the middle. Alma also teaches how we can decide for ourselves which side we will join. He explains a spiritual experiment that we can perform this way: “Now, we will compare the word [of God] unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves—It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me” (Alma 32:28).
That’s the experiment I have personally done to find out which side of the debate I will join. I have experimented with prayer, I have experimented with scripture study, I have experimented with fasting, and all the other commandments. The seed has grown. I now know which authority figures are right and which are wrong. I can’t prove that to anyone else. It is evidence for me only. But I can encourage others to perform the same experiment. By the laws of nature, if the same experiment is repeated in the same way, in any other place, or inside any other person, it should end with the same result. So go ahead, do the experiment. And you will be able to see what I see when you go out into the great outdoors.
Every time I’m out in nature, I think of the words of the prophet Alma to Korihor, as recorded in The Book of Mormon. When Korhior asked for a sign of God’s existence, Alma responded, “The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator” (Alma 30:44). Being out in the great outdoors increased my faith in God.
At the same time, I understand that there are intelligent people, many of whom have dedicated their lives to the study of the natural world, who don’t see the majesty of the wild as evidence of God’s existence. They can see the same natural phenomena and interpret them to be evidence that there is no God. I’m a well educated person, and I am well aware of their expertise and their arguments. So, why don’t I believe them? Why don’t I accept the opinion of the experts?
To answer that question, I have to talk a little about authority. The world is filled with authority figures, and we submit ourselves to them throughout our entire lives. When we are children, we submit ourselves to the authority of our parents. Then comes the authority of our teachers. As we grow up and start exercising more our own authority over our lives, we are still subject to the authority of others. We let doctors guide many of our health decisions because they are the authority. They know best. We can’t be experts on every aspect of life, so we listen to those who are. But what happens when you have two doctors giving different diagnoses? What do you do when two authorities on the same subject don’t agree?
In these cases, I have decided to look into the subject as best I can, and then make my own decision based on what I know. This is the only option available to me because I am ultimately responsible for my actions and I have complete authority over my life.
In the debate over the existence of God, countless authority figures support both sides of the argument. I’m caught in the middle. Alma also teaches how we can decide for ourselves which side we will join. He explains a spiritual experiment that we can perform this way: “Now, we will compare the word [of God] unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves—It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me” (Alma 32:28).
That’s the experiment I have personally done to find out which side of the debate I will join. I have experimented with prayer, I have experimented with scripture study, I have experimented with fasting, and all the other commandments. The seed has grown. I now know which authority figures are right and which are wrong. I can’t prove that to anyone else. It is evidence for me only. But I can encourage others to perform the same experiment. By the laws of nature, if the same experiment is repeated in the same way, in any other place, or inside any other person, it should end with the same result. So go ahead, do the experiment. And you will be able to see what I see when you go out into the great outdoors.
Monday, September 14, 2009
No More Strangers
In the past week I moved across this entire great land of ours. I drove myself and all of my possessions from Sacramento, California to Boston, Massachusetts--that’s about three thousand miles--so that I could start graduate school at Emerson College this week. The distance didn’t really bother me. Driving long distance never has. Sometimes I think that my true calling is to be a truck driver; I can drive forever. But then I woke up in South Bend, Indiana with a sore throat. I had already planned out my trip so that this would be the last leg of my journey, and I wasn’t going to let a little sore throat change that. The day progressed just as any other on my trip, but I gradually felt the soreness in my throat invade my nose. Soon enough, I was sneezing uncontrollably and my nose felt like a faucet that was left just a tad open. The drive was miserable, but I finally made it to my new apartment.
My new roommates were ready to meet me when I arrived. We had communicated through emails and phone calls, but this was the first time we were meeting face to face. They introduced themselves, and extended their hands, which I told them I couldn’t shake because I didn’t want to infect them. (Despite all my efforts, I did end up infecting one of them, which I feel very bad about.) They showed me around the apartment and the neighborhood, and have been great about welcoming me into their apartment.
Today was my first time attending church out here in Boston. Many people assume that for a Christian, such as I am, any Christian denomination will do, that one is as good as the other. In fact, one of my new friends told me about how her new landlord mentioned that she and her roommates could go to any of the four churches that she could see from her apartment. They’re all Christian churches, so what’s the problem? I’ve heard the gospel compared to a mountain with many pathways up it, or a cloud with many ropes hanging down. The point of these comparisons is that any road, or rope, is as good as another and will bring you to the same destination. That’s not how Christ described it. He said, “Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matt. 7:14). Christ also prayed that His disciples “may be one,” as He and His father are one (John 17:11). All of the denominations, all of the pastors, all of the doctrines that characterize all of the different Christian denominations could hardly be described as “one.” Many times, you can go to a different church of the same denomination, and because of the interests, biases, and opinions of the pastor, feel like you’re in a completely different church.
That is not the case for the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The teachers in my new ward use the exact same teaching manuals as the teachers I learned from in California and Utah. All church members, all over the world, go to the same three meetings, Sacrament Meeting, Sunday School, and Priesthood Meeting/Relief Society. Not only do all of the individuals in a single ward make up the body of Christ, as Paul talks about in his epistle to the Ephesians (see Eph. 4), but all of the wards in the world comprise that body. This is truly a worldwide church.
The only way such unity can be maintained is with a common foundation. That foundation was also described in the epistle to the Ephesians. Paul says that the household of God is “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone” (Eph. 2:20). We all look to same source for direction, the president of the church, whom we sustain as a prophet, seer, and revelator. And the Lord has said, “though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same” (Doctrine and Covenants 1:38). Knowing where to look for direction, which comes to us in our local wards through the organization of the priesthood is the unifying force for the church. And it was that kind of unity made me unafraid to move across the country, even though I knew absolutely no one out here. Even though I didn’t know what to expect with my new school and my new city, I knew what to expect with my new ward, because I knew not to expect a new church, but the same church I am familiar with. The same church that I know is true.
Paul wrote that the Saints in Ephesus were “no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints” (Eph. 2:20). In my first week at my new ward, I didn’t once feel like a stranger or foreigner. I felt like a fellowcitizen. And like a new friend.
My new roommates were ready to meet me when I arrived. We had communicated through emails and phone calls, but this was the first time we were meeting face to face. They introduced themselves, and extended their hands, which I told them I couldn’t shake because I didn’t want to infect them. (Despite all my efforts, I did end up infecting one of them, which I feel very bad about.) They showed me around the apartment and the neighborhood, and have been great about welcoming me into their apartment.
Today was my first time attending church out here in Boston. Many people assume that for a Christian, such as I am, any Christian denomination will do, that one is as good as the other. In fact, one of my new friends told me about how her new landlord mentioned that she and her roommates could go to any of the four churches that she could see from her apartment. They’re all Christian churches, so what’s the problem? I’ve heard the gospel compared to a mountain with many pathways up it, or a cloud with many ropes hanging down. The point of these comparisons is that any road, or rope, is as good as another and will bring you to the same destination. That’s not how Christ described it. He said, “Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matt. 7:14). Christ also prayed that His disciples “may be one,” as He and His father are one (John 17:11). All of the denominations, all of the pastors, all of the doctrines that characterize all of the different Christian denominations could hardly be described as “one.” Many times, you can go to a different church of the same denomination, and because of the interests, biases, and opinions of the pastor, feel like you’re in a completely different church.
That is not the case for the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The teachers in my new ward use the exact same teaching manuals as the teachers I learned from in California and Utah. All church members, all over the world, go to the same three meetings, Sacrament Meeting, Sunday School, and Priesthood Meeting/Relief Society. Not only do all of the individuals in a single ward make up the body of Christ, as Paul talks about in his epistle to the Ephesians (see Eph. 4), but all of the wards in the world comprise that body. This is truly a worldwide church.
The only way such unity can be maintained is with a common foundation. That foundation was also described in the epistle to the Ephesians. Paul says that the household of God is “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone” (Eph. 2:20). We all look to same source for direction, the president of the church, whom we sustain as a prophet, seer, and revelator. And the Lord has said, “though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same” (Doctrine and Covenants 1:38). Knowing where to look for direction, which comes to us in our local wards through the organization of the priesthood is the unifying force for the church. And it was that kind of unity made me unafraid to move across the country, even though I knew absolutely no one out here. Even though I didn’t know what to expect with my new school and my new city, I knew what to expect with my new ward, because I knew not to expect a new church, but the same church I am familiar with. The same church that I know is true.
Paul wrote that the Saints in Ephesus were “no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints” (Eph. 2:20). In my first week at my new ward, I didn’t once feel like a stranger or foreigner. I felt like a fellowcitizen. And like a new friend.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
The Law of the Land
At the passing of Edward Kennedy, part of the praise he is garnering includes the “dozens of laws that bear [his] name or imprint.” I found it curious that writing so many laws was something to be praised. Of course, I know that law is an essential part of a functioning society. Law, as idea, is good. However, that does not mean that all laws are necessarily good, or that more laws are necessarily good. Just as a man can drown in water, heaping more and more laws on a society can smother it. To use another example, the mother and father who make the most rules for their children aren’t necessarily the best parents.
Latter-day Saints have a unique attitude toward the laws of the land. One of the thirteen Articles of Faith, or basic tenets of our belief is this: “We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law” (A of F 1:12). This makes obeying the laws of the nations in which we live a spiritual matter. The Lord has also stated though modern prophets that “he that keepeth the laws of God hath no need to break the laws of the land” (D&C 58:21). Does that mean that exceeding the speed limit is a sin? That has to be answered by each individual’s conscience. If it does, I’ll have to put that on the list of the things I need to repent of.
Yet, the Book of Mormon tells the history of many societies in which the laws of the land became corrupt. When that happened, those societies were poised to fall. Thanks again to modern prophets, we know how to discern between good law and corrupt law. The Lord has revealed through his mouthpiece that “that law of the land which is constitutional, supporting that principle of freedom in maintaining rights and privileges, belongs to all mankind, and is justifiable before me. Therefore, I, the Lord, justify you, and your brethren of my church, in befriending that law which is the constitutional law of the land; and as pertaining to law of man, whatsoever is more or less than this, cometh of evil” (D&C 98:5-7).
When the legislature creates laws that are outside its constitutional parameters, it is an evil, or corrupt law. That doesn’t give us permission to disobey that law, but it does give us a mandate to ensure that those who enact such laws are not reelected, and that those we elect will work to repeal such laws.
Some might argue that such laws are necessary. The members of our society cannot be trusted to treat each other justly, or make choices that are in their own best interest. To that I would argue that unconstitutional law is evil, as God has said, and is not meant for society’s betterment, but its control. However, I want to follow this reasoning to its conclusion to make a point.
Let’s suppose that men cannot be trusted to treat each other justly. Is creating more laws the answer? I don’t believe it is. Man will only behave with injustice toward his neighbor if he is immoral. He doesn’t obey the highest moral law, Christ’s Golden Rule, “all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets” (Matt. 7:12). Creating more laws in an attempt to make someone moral is like taking a painkiller for a broken bone. The pain might be relieved for a while, but the break remains untreated.
Morality comes from within, not without. It cannot be legislated, regardless of what politicians might think. Making it illegal to hate will not make someone love his neighbor. That love comes through understanding of God’s plan and our place in it. As Boyd K. Packer, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, has said, “True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior. The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior.”
If that sounds naïve, let me give you an example of when it has worked. John Taylor, third President of the Church, recounted the following experience:
“Some years ago, in Nauvoo, a gentleman in my hearing, a member of the Legislature, asked Joseph Smith how it was that he was enabled to govern so many people, and to preserve such perfect order; remarking at the same time that it was impossible for them to do it anywhere else. Mr. Smith remarked that it was very easy to do that. ‘How?’ responded the gentleman; ‘to us it is very difficult.’ Mr. Smith replied, ‘I teach them correct principles, and they govern themselves’” (quoted in Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith).
Government can’t be depended upon to make society better, because it simply cannot do it. The only society that can function for any length of time is a moral one and that morality comes from within, not without. No number of laws can change that.
Latter-day Saints have a unique attitude toward the laws of the land. One of the thirteen Articles of Faith, or basic tenets of our belief is this: “We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law” (A of F 1:12). This makes obeying the laws of the nations in which we live a spiritual matter. The Lord has also stated though modern prophets that “he that keepeth the laws of God hath no need to break the laws of the land” (D&C 58:21). Does that mean that exceeding the speed limit is a sin? That has to be answered by each individual’s conscience. If it does, I’ll have to put that on the list of the things I need to repent of.
Yet, the Book of Mormon tells the history of many societies in which the laws of the land became corrupt. When that happened, those societies were poised to fall. Thanks again to modern prophets, we know how to discern between good law and corrupt law. The Lord has revealed through his mouthpiece that “that law of the land which is constitutional, supporting that principle of freedom in maintaining rights and privileges, belongs to all mankind, and is justifiable before me. Therefore, I, the Lord, justify you, and your brethren of my church, in befriending that law which is the constitutional law of the land; and as pertaining to law of man, whatsoever is more or less than this, cometh of evil” (D&C 98:5-7).
When the legislature creates laws that are outside its constitutional parameters, it is an evil, or corrupt law. That doesn’t give us permission to disobey that law, but it does give us a mandate to ensure that those who enact such laws are not reelected, and that those we elect will work to repeal such laws.
Some might argue that such laws are necessary. The members of our society cannot be trusted to treat each other justly, or make choices that are in their own best interest. To that I would argue that unconstitutional law is evil, as God has said, and is not meant for society’s betterment, but its control. However, I want to follow this reasoning to its conclusion to make a point.
Let’s suppose that men cannot be trusted to treat each other justly. Is creating more laws the answer? I don’t believe it is. Man will only behave with injustice toward his neighbor if he is immoral. He doesn’t obey the highest moral law, Christ’s Golden Rule, “all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets” (Matt. 7:12). Creating more laws in an attempt to make someone moral is like taking a painkiller for a broken bone. The pain might be relieved for a while, but the break remains untreated.
Morality comes from within, not without. It cannot be legislated, regardless of what politicians might think. Making it illegal to hate will not make someone love his neighbor. That love comes through understanding of God’s plan and our place in it. As Boyd K. Packer, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, has said, “True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior. The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior.”
If that sounds naïve, let me give you an example of when it has worked. John Taylor, third President of the Church, recounted the following experience:
“Some years ago, in Nauvoo, a gentleman in my hearing, a member of the Legislature, asked Joseph Smith how it was that he was enabled to govern so many people, and to preserve such perfect order; remarking at the same time that it was impossible for them to do it anywhere else. Mr. Smith remarked that it was very easy to do that. ‘How?’ responded the gentleman; ‘to us it is very difficult.’ Mr. Smith replied, ‘I teach them correct principles, and they govern themselves’” (quoted in Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith).
Government can’t be depended upon to make society better, because it simply cannot do it. The only society that can function for any length of time is a moral one and that morality comes from within, not without. No number of laws can change that.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Baseball’s Steroid Era
I must admit that I am a diehard baseball fan. It has been my favorite sport since I was a little kid playing Tee-ball. But before any of you non-baseball fans click away in disinterest, I think that what is happening in baseball today has larger cultural implications. I would like to take this space to discuss those implications.
Over the past century, some of the greatest cultural icons have come from the diamond. Babe Ruth has an almost godlike position in popular culture, with his herculean abilities and the historic moment when he “called his shot.” Lou Gehrig was such a hero, which is final speech on Yankee field solidified even more strongly, that the disease he was diagnosed with was named after him. Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier wasn’t just a monumental baseball moment, but a monumental American one.
Baseball has a special place in America. Even though the numbers say that the NFL and the NBA have more fans, baseball has an almost sacred status in the hearts and minds of its fans. An NBA player is caught using steroids and he’s suspended for ten games, about twelve percent of the season, and no one bats an eye. Even though players are caught using steroids in the NFL, it gets almost no publicity and incites no public outcry. Baseball, though, is different. That is possibly because baseball has so many sacred numbers that we have seen dropping like flies: Roger Maris’s single season home run record of 61, Hank Aaron’s career home run mark of 755. We hate to see those records fall to people who are “juiced.”
Yet, some people are saying that these people should be inducted into the Hall of Fame. What good is a Hall of Fame if it doesn’t house the player with the most hits ever, or the most home runs? they ask. But I have a question for them: What does that say about us if we honor cheaters?
This is not a cut and dry situation. We will never know the names of all the players who ever used steroids. During the steroid era, which I hope is over, it is probable that even the lowest players on the roster were using, just so they could stay in the league. But the only way we can get cheating to stop is by showing that we will not tolerate it. If someone is caught cheating, yet we honor them for the records they set while cheating, what message are we sending young players? We are obviously not saying that cheaters never prosper. In my opinion, this steroid era, and how we handle it, is indicative of the moral health of our society.
Gordon B. Hinckley, former President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, wrote this in his book Standing For Something: “Without honesty, our lives disintegrate into ugliness, chaos, and a lack of any kind of security and confidence. Imagine a society in which it would be unwise or unsafe to trust anyone--from elected officials to financial advisers to insurance adjusters to your child’s babysitter or kindergarten teacher. Imagine having surgery performed by someone who had cheated in medical school or found a way to short-circuit the requirements of medical residency. Imagine the terror of a society that condones or at least turns a collective blind eye to dishonesty. The prospects are horrifying!” (p. 16)
Some may argue that the honesty of a baseball player means little. I would argue that baseball players have such an iconic position in our society that dishonesty in them won’t end between the foul lines. Those who grow up idolizing cheaters will emulate cheaters. We have already seen scandals in which students are cheating on college exams. Many even have the audacity to say that what they did wasn’t wrong. A culture of cheating doesn’t just fall upon you overnight. It creeps up on you a little at a time. One person finds that he can get away with it, so he tells his friends, who spread it to others, like the disease it is. Pretty soon, you’re living in the world President Hinckley described and wondering how you got there.
Our culture needs to send a message not only to cheating baseball players, but to the young people who look up to them. That is the only way to ensure that young people will not idolize cheaters, but those deserving of emulation.
Over the past century, some of the greatest cultural icons have come from the diamond. Babe Ruth has an almost godlike position in popular culture, with his herculean abilities and the historic moment when he “called his shot.” Lou Gehrig was such a hero, which is final speech on Yankee field solidified even more strongly, that the disease he was diagnosed with was named after him. Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier wasn’t just a monumental baseball moment, but a monumental American one.
Baseball has a special place in America. Even though the numbers say that the NFL and the NBA have more fans, baseball has an almost sacred status in the hearts and minds of its fans. An NBA player is caught using steroids and he’s suspended for ten games, about twelve percent of the season, and no one bats an eye. Even though players are caught using steroids in the NFL, it gets almost no publicity and incites no public outcry. Baseball, though, is different. That is possibly because baseball has so many sacred numbers that we have seen dropping like flies: Roger Maris’s single season home run record of 61, Hank Aaron’s career home run mark of 755. We hate to see those records fall to people who are “juiced.”
Yet, some people are saying that these people should be inducted into the Hall of Fame. What good is a Hall of Fame if it doesn’t house the player with the most hits ever, or the most home runs? they ask. But I have a question for them: What does that say about us if we honor cheaters?
This is not a cut and dry situation. We will never know the names of all the players who ever used steroids. During the steroid era, which I hope is over, it is probable that even the lowest players on the roster were using, just so they could stay in the league. But the only way we can get cheating to stop is by showing that we will not tolerate it. If someone is caught cheating, yet we honor them for the records they set while cheating, what message are we sending young players? We are obviously not saying that cheaters never prosper. In my opinion, this steroid era, and how we handle it, is indicative of the moral health of our society.
Gordon B. Hinckley, former President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, wrote this in his book Standing For Something: “Without honesty, our lives disintegrate into ugliness, chaos, and a lack of any kind of security and confidence. Imagine a society in which it would be unwise or unsafe to trust anyone--from elected officials to financial advisers to insurance adjusters to your child’s babysitter or kindergarten teacher. Imagine having surgery performed by someone who had cheated in medical school or found a way to short-circuit the requirements of medical residency. Imagine the terror of a society that condones or at least turns a collective blind eye to dishonesty. The prospects are horrifying!” (p. 16)
Some may argue that the honesty of a baseball player means little. I would argue that baseball players have such an iconic position in our society that dishonesty in them won’t end between the foul lines. Those who grow up idolizing cheaters will emulate cheaters. We have already seen scandals in which students are cheating on college exams. Many even have the audacity to say that what they did wasn’t wrong. A culture of cheating doesn’t just fall upon you overnight. It creeps up on you a little at a time. One person finds that he can get away with it, so he tells his friends, who spread it to others, like the disease it is. Pretty soon, you’re living in the world President Hinckley described and wondering how you got there.
Our culture needs to send a message not only to cheating baseball players, but to the young people who look up to them. That is the only way to ensure that young people will not idolize cheaters, but those deserving of emulation.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
The Purpose for the Fall of Adam
Many religions consider the fall of Adam a disaster. They blame him for eating the fruit of Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and expelling himself and his wife, Eve, from the Garden of Eden. With this reasoning, if it hadn't been for Adam and Eve's disobedience, all mankind would now be living in peace and prosperity in the Garden. There would be no pain, no disease, and no need to work for sustenance. The food would just be there for the taking. Life would be an easy, idyllic experience.
It's a nice fantasy, and that's all it could have ever been. God did not create man to put him in a natural, open-air cocktail lounge.
First, we learn from the Book of Mormon that Adam and Eve could not have had children in the Garden of Eden. The prophet Lehi taught, "And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of Eden. And all things which were created must have remained in the same state in which they were after they were created; and they must have remained forever, and had no end. And they would have had no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin" (2 Nephi 2:22-23).
Second, God never intended this life to be Heaven. That is to come after, if we live worthy of it. This life is a testing ground. We are here to prove that we can walk by faith. That we will obey despite obstacles, setbacks and doubts. Those purposes would have been frustrated if we were all living in the Garden of Eden in luxury and bliss, and life would be meaningless.
Now, let's consider what it would say about God if He being expelled from the Garden was an avoidable disaster. It would mean that God condemned billions of His own children to live in a harsh, painful, miserable world when they could have been living in the lap of luxury because of the foolish actions of one man and one woman who lived thousands of years ago. That sounds pretty harsh. That's not the God that I want to worship. The God that I worship has plans that cannot be frustrated by the mistakes of men or the designs of Satan. The God that I worship does not punish the innocent because of the actions of the guilty. The God that I worship has a plan for his children, and Lehi makes that plan clear in his discourse: "Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy" (2 Nephi 2:25).
It's a nice fantasy, and that's all it could have ever been. God did not create man to put him in a natural, open-air cocktail lounge.
First, we learn from the Book of Mormon that Adam and Eve could not have had children in the Garden of Eden. The prophet Lehi taught, "And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of Eden. And all things which were created must have remained in the same state in which they were after they were created; and they must have remained forever, and had no end. And they would have had no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin" (2 Nephi 2:22-23).
Second, God never intended this life to be Heaven. That is to come after, if we live worthy of it. This life is a testing ground. We are here to prove that we can walk by faith. That we will obey despite obstacles, setbacks and doubts. Those purposes would have been frustrated if we were all living in the Garden of Eden in luxury and bliss, and life would be meaningless.
Now, let's consider what it would say about God if He being expelled from the Garden was an avoidable disaster. It would mean that God condemned billions of His own children to live in a harsh, painful, miserable world when they could have been living in the lap of luxury because of the foolish actions of one man and one woman who lived thousands of years ago. That sounds pretty harsh. That's not the God that I want to worship. The God that I worship has plans that cannot be frustrated by the mistakes of men or the designs of Satan. The God that I worship does not punish the innocent because of the actions of the guilty. The God that I worship has a plan for his children, and Lehi makes that plan clear in his discourse: "Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy" (2 Nephi 2:25).
Saturday, August 8, 2009
The Work of Faith
The "faith vs. works" argument gets brought up a lot when your talking about religion. Somehow, someone got the idea that Mormons believe that you can work your way to heaven on your own, as if the Atonement of Jesus Christ meant nothing. This is false. We can only be saved by the grace of our Lord. But our Lord has given us commandments to govern our behavior, and if we truley accept Him as our Lord and Savior, we will be obedient to his will.
The Apostle James described it this way, "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also" (James 2:26). The spirit and the body are inseperable. The one without the other is lifeless. Even so, our faith and works are dead if they are not joined together. A Book of Mormon prophet named Alma explained the connection between faith and works this way:
As he was teaching a group of people, he compared the word of God to a seed, so let's talk about planting a seed for a second. When you plant a seed, you have to dig a hole for it in a good spot of soil, where it will get enough sunlight. Next, you plant the seed in the hole and bury it. You have to give it water and make sure that no weeds choke off the seend and kill it. All of this is work, and if you don't do it, the seed won't grow. "Now, this is not because the seed was not good, neither is it because the fruit thereof would not be desirable; but it is because your ground is barren, and ye will not nourish the tree, therefore ye cannot have the fruit thereof" (BoM, Alma 32:39).
Continuing with the analogy, all of that work that goes into nurturing the word of God is faith. The work of faith. That work is praying, reading scripture, fasting, attending church services. All of these things nuture the word of God in our hearts and they are all "works." If we don't do them, the word will die in us, and it won't be the word's fault. It will be ours. So, we must excersise faith in order to partake of the fruit of the tree, which Alma describes as, "most precious, which is sweet above all that is sweet, and which is white above all that is white, yea, and pure above all that is pure; and ye shall feast upon this fruit even until ye are filled, that ye hunger not, neither shall ye thirst" (BoM, Alma 32:42).
That sounds like some fruit I would like to have.
The Apostle James described it this way, "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also" (James 2:26). The spirit and the body are inseperable. The one without the other is lifeless. Even so, our faith and works are dead if they are not joined together. A Book of Mormon prophet named Alma explained the connection between faith and works this way:
As he was teaching a group of people, he compared the word of God to a seed, so let's talk about planting a seed for a second. When you plant a seed, you have to dig a hole for it in a good spot of soil, where it will get enough sunlight. Next, you plant the seed in the hole and bury it. You have to give it water and make sure that no weeds choke off the seend and kill it. All of this is work, and if you don't do it, the seed won't grow. "Now, this is not because the seed was not good, neither is it because the fruit thereof would not be desirable; but it is because your ground is barren, and ye will not nourish the tree, therefore ye cannot have the fruit thereof" (BoM, Alma 32:39).
Continuing with the analogy, all of that work that goes into nurturing the word of God is faith. The work of faith. That work is praying, reading scripture, fasting, attending church services. All of these things nuture the word of God in our hearts and they are all "works." If we don't do them, the word will die in us, and it won't be the word's fault. It will be ours. So, we must excersise faith in order to partake of the fruit of the tree, which Alma describes as, "most precious, which is sweet above all that is sweet, and which is white above all that is white, yea, and pure above all that is pure; and ye shall feast upon this fruit even until ye are filled, that ye hunger not, neither shall ye thirst" (BoM, Alma 32:42).
That sounds like some fruit I would like to have.
Friday, July 31, 2009
The BYU Honor Code
If you don't know, Brigham Young University, the university owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has an honor code that all students must sign. The honor code says that the students can't smoke, drink, do drugs and have premarital sex. It's what makes BYU different from every other university out there. And most of us who are going to BYU, or, like me, who have gone to BYU, are proud of our designation as the number one, "Stone Cold Sober" school in the country.
I heard something about the honor code the other day, though, that makes my blood boil. I was listening to the Dan Patrick Show when they read an email from a BYU student saying that he had to go up to Salt Lake City to get booze. I'm going to rant about that now.
Why are you going to BYU if you want to drink? No one is making you go to school there. Unless, of course, mommy and daddy want you to go there, or are paying for you to go there, and you aren't man enough to live your own life. That's right, you aren't man enough. Contrary to what you might think, boozing up on the weekend doesn't make you a man. If you want to drink, that's fine. Just don't sign a document that promises that you won't. Instead of going up to SLC to booze on the weekend, you can just pack your stuff, transfer to the U of U and booze all you want as a Ute. And that would make more room at BYU for the kind of student that we alums can be proud of, the kind with integrity and honor.
I heard something about the honor code the other day, though, that makes my blood boil. I was listening to the Dan Patrick Show when they read an email from a BYU student saying that he had to go up to Salt Lake City to get booze. I'm going to rant about that now.
Why are you going to BYU if you want to drink? No one is making you go to school there. Unless, of course, mommy and daddy want you to go there, or are paying for you to go there, and you aren't man enough to live your own life. That's right, you aren't man enough. Contrary to what you might think, boozing up on the weekend doesn't make you a man. If you want to drink, that's fine. Just don't sign a document that promises that you won't. Instead of going up to SLC to booze on the weekend, you can just pack your stuff, transfer to the U of U and booze all you want as a Ute. And that would make more room at BYU for the kind of student that we alums can be proud of, the kind with integrity and honor.
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Love Thy Neighbor...
I gave a talk in church a few months ago and I'm finally getting around to posting it to the blog. Enjoy! Judging by what we see, hear, ...
