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.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
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.
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Love Thy Neighbor...
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