Oh yeah, HAPPY GUY FAWKES DAY! (yesterday) (Man, I wish I was in Britain burning
stuff to celebrate.)
Man, it's late, I've been grading awful introductory physics midterms for the last 6
hours or so, and I also took a midterm myself today, and my day is nearing a 24-hour
day, but I just can't help getting involved in this lively discussion. Curses. So I
guess I might as well pull an all-nighter. Sure. Why not.
See, I've been preparing for a talk this Sunday about how getting secular knowledge
can increase your testimony. (Sounds kinda like an oxymoron, and HEY, I didn't pick
the topic, it picked me through the 2nd counselor of the bishopric, real great guy.
Teaches astronomy at a local community college...they just got a new, state of the art
planetarium and I'm trying to talk him into letting me run it every now and again.
It's great for watching movies, too! Just get a projector, hook yourself up, and
you've got your own little theater playing Star Wars IV in reclined seats.) Ya, back
to topic.
Specifically, it's on D&C 88:118 (already, I apologize to those of you who hate to see
it written "D&C"...deal with it) and I've been studying it in a kinda abstract way and
found some interesting stuff that relates to this topic on one level or another.
(Blind obedience vs. faith) - What's the diff?
88:188 "...seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out
of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith."
That's the topic. But see, the first part of that verse was omitted, and I think it's
one of the most important parts...
"And as all have not faith,..."
So I guess the reason some of us study hard looking for answers is because, well, "as
all have not faith...". Of course, I'm not saying we should blindly follow advice
from Joe-Shmoe who quotes "the elders" or Mormon-myth sleepover-party advice. "The
hitchhiker said to get a two-year food storage!!! He looked like one of the three
Nephites!" (Unless it rings true with us. Who knows, maybe it really happened.
Those three Nephites have to be somewhere doing something. And the prophet's been
warning us about food storage for YEARS!)
We should sustain the prophet and leaders of the church, and our stake prez and
bishop, etc. Those men that hold certain keys of stewardship over us. And if we know
they're transgressing the laws of God, we need to do something about it, i.e. bring it
up with them first, and then if they don't change, take appropriate action with those
over them or the public. (D&C 42:88-90)
"And if thy brother or sister offend thee, thou shalt take him or her between him or
her and thee alone; and if he or she cconfess thou shalt be reconciled.
89 And if he or she confess not thou shalt deliver him or her up unto the church, not
to the members, but to the elders. And it shall be done in a meeting, and that not
before the world.
90 And if thy brother or sister offend many, he or she shall be chastened before many."
Anyway, I definitely think that faith is more important than learning. But the two
ARE related. When we have faith, the Lord can reveal things to us, thus increasing
our knowledge and learning. The spirit most definitely can teach us things. And
having charity also beats out learning anyday. We need charity to be able to enter
the celestial realm. We need these things to become quickened. And we grow from
faith to faith, until it's from faith to a perfect knowledge, and we can comprehend
even God himself...
88:49 "The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not;
nevertheless, the day shall come when you shall comprehend even God, being quickened
in him and by him."
The light's always there shining, but are our eyes opened to comprehend it? There
could be concourses of angels around us RIGHT AT THIS VERY MOMENT! (I think that's so
cool.) 2 Kings 6:17.
"17 And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see.
And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain
was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha."
How receptive are we to this "light" that pervades the universe. As perceptive as we
let ourselves be, I believe. There are good things in life, and then there are the
best things in life. Don't let the good things in life rob you of the best things.
I'll return to this point in a moment...
I know we can study all we want about a mountain, its strata, its fault lines, its
composition, and we can KNOW all there is to KNOW about that mountain, but only faith
can actually MOVE that mountain. Faith is power more powerful than knowledge. But
ironically, faith isn't a perfect knowledge. But it's more powerful than knowledge?
How does that work? Well, since we're like ants trying to comprehend a ______ (fill
in blank - DVD player?) when we're humans trying to comprehend the nature of God, I'd
say there are more than a few things that we'll HAVE to take on faith and faith alone,
cuz if we WERE to see the big pic, we'd be SO OVERWHELMED! It would be like my poor
beginning physics students looking at Quantum Mechanic Dirac bra-ket notation. I
mean, I freak out as it is, and I've been doing physics for HOW LONG!? And I learned
it before a year ago. That's why we are led by faith. If we were shown or told, we
probably wouldn't do it, follow whatever path we're suppo
sed to find for ourselves. (My bro-in-law calls it the Danelle-factor. I won't allow
myself to be manipulated, especially during a friendly game of cards.)
Some of us need the rational bits, the 'why's and the 'how's. The reason behind
things and the path that gets us from A to B. I definitely love to ask the question
WHY. I wanna know why things are the way they are. But I think when you learn to
rely more on the Lord and the whisperings of the spirit, then we can be as Nephi, "led
by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do."
Nevertheless he went forth.
I know as life goes on, it becomes more and more apparent how I am led by the spirit.
It gets kinda creepy how some things have worked out like clockwork because I felt
impressed to do something.
Anyway, this was the exegesis of just one verse, D&C 88:118.
Oh, it gets better. Then we expand outward from that verse to get the bigger
picture...
Above the scripture, it talks about calling in your solemn assemblies... below, all
about "a house of learning, a house of God." Clearly refering to the temple. So the
stuff in the middle is also about the temple, as a great place - dare I say - one of
the best for learning. So all that stuff in the verse about learning out of the best
books, teaching one another words of wisdom, etc., that sounded so "academia-ish" &
secular-like, nestled right inside other temple scriptures... it's refering to the
temple. This is a good place to do our learning. (I just found all this stuff on
Sunday during fast & testimony mtg. And Yes, i paid attention to the testimonies too.)
Likewise, BoM. Most correct of any book. A really good thing to be reading. I mean,
you can still read other stuff (personally I like classics, cosmology (not
cosmotology) non-fiction and Nibley Egyptology articles), but this BoM should also be
a staple of your bookworm diet.
Yes, we can't always be reading our BoMs all the time or be in the temple 24-7, and we
need the good happy music that doesn't necessarily invite the spirit (at least I know
I do), but I think our level of faith and commitment is reflected in how much time we
set aside to study and ponder out the things contained in that "most correct of any
books," along with the time we spend in the "best house" for learning. And if we are
*truly worthy* to enter the temple, then we would be worthy to inherit the celestial
kingdom. The blood of the Lamb would atone for our sins.
There's so much good to be done. Get out there and do it. "Don't let the good things
rob you of the best things." and "Small deeds _done_ are better than great deeds
planned."
Okay, real quick. Look even further before, TONS of last days/second coming stuff
preceding the temple stuff. Signs of the times too. Look after D&C 88:118. All
about preparing for it. How to prepare ourselves. This is the stuff that *really*
matters. Are we preparing? All the rest is just details. Who in the heck CARES what
your major is? Seriously, Pom Pom. Are you following the advice in these scriptures?
Even blindly, if you aren't sure it's working? It's really good advice. In fact,
it's not even advice, it's commandment.
One last item:
88:64 "Whatsoever ye ask the Father in my name it shall be given unto you, that is
expedient for you;
65 And if ye ask anything that is not expedient for you, it shall turn unto your
condemnation."
Just this past year my dad told me about how when he was a newly-returned missionary,
he wanted nothing more than to be healed from crippling arthritis (which he 'lovingly'
refers to as Arthur) and to have a sure witness. He fasted and prayed for two weeks,
and then (he's kinda headstrong) went and hiked Y-mount up on top in the pass ... by
himself ... to go pray. He didn't get an answer. As he was hiking back down, the sun
set and his body temperature lowered so that he was having the onset of hypothermia.
His prayers changed to "help keep me alive, for I am very stupid for hiking alone
after fasting for two weeks." It was then revealed to him that the Lord would give
him a sure witness if he wanted it, to his condemnation. I think it was the same
thing about his arthritis. It has seriously been his humbling "thorn in his flesh."
But he knows that all he has today is because of it. He was pretty wild before; I
think if he would have been healed he would have screwed h
is life up with his high tolerance for adrenaline. (Man, glad I didn't inherit THAT.
I think I have an abnormally low tolerance for adrenaline. Else I would be jumping
out of planes with a parachute right now. Or one of those awesome flying squirrel
suits, superrad.)
"retire to thy bed early" <-- ha, that's a BIG one I have to work on. I know I'd be
happier and more focused if I did. When I stay up late, I get depressed and have mood
swings.
And those are my thoughts about that. I've said my piece, amen.
-Danelle
ALL I KNOW IS THAT THIS GOSPLE *ISN'T* ABOUT TEARING OTHER PEOPLE DOWN. IT'S ABOUT
SEEING THEIR AMAZING POTENTIAL.
(Man, my faith really HAS grown over this week, studying this topic on Sunday and then
trying to apply it all week... seriously, my sorry trash-of-a-can was seriously saved
on two midterms when I didn't see a way I could possibly do good. I thought I was
doomed to fail 4 sure. Can I just thank my good friend Joel for TOTALLY bailing me
out? He's one of the coolest grads ever! Out of the kindness of his heart he would
review with me an hour or two before the tests, and I hadn't even looked over my notes
or old hw b/c I have NO FREAKIN' TIME TO and the few problems we went over ended up on
the exam {well, not ALL of them, but a vast majority}.) I mean, seriously, I should
have died with a big fat ZERO. And I have a million other stories like that where I
did ALL I COULD and then just said, "Lord, please let it work out somehow. I don't
see how it possibly can, but I know that 'with God (and faith the size of a mustard
seed), all things are possible.'" Dang, I'm studying t
o be an astrophysicist. Seriously, all things are possible. That means more than
moving a mountain to me.
>On Wed, 2003-11-05 at 20:19, Daniel Crookston wrote:
>> You'd better be careful, Mr. Michael Golden. If you're caught advocating
>> Independent Thought you could be in big trouble! Sure, it starts out small,
>> with stuff like "I think I'm smart enough to know good from evil on my own",
>> but what's next?!? What's next, Mr. We Should Think For Ourselves? Will
>> you be teaching that we should make decisions on our own, and then be
>> accountable for what we choose? Will you be teaching that we can each
>> receive personal revelation directly from God? One day you're saying that
>> we don't need to turn to the Apostles for every tit and tat, the next, who
>> knows?
>
>Well Mr. Daniel Crookston, I'm afraid you've caught me in the act. How
>dare I advocate independent thought when I really should be advocating
>that "the thinking has already been done" by the GA's. That's what is
>righteous. And to even think of making decisions for ourself, how dare I
>come to such unrighteous conclusions. I should humble myself and let the
>church and the lord make all of my decisions for me. I should just shut
>off all of my rational thinking faculties and trust the 12 old men in
>charge of the church. They know what is best for me in my individual
>life. Why did I think otherwise? I need to just close my eyes and walk
>with faith. I don't need to see the pitfalls in front of me with eyes
>open. The lord put them there so I would have my eyes closed and fall
>into them so that I could grow. What better way is there to go through
>life? All of these organizations which I've found myself in like the LP
>and the ACLU are just organizations of Satan to bring us away from the
>blind collective which is of such great virtue. I should switch to only
>the edifying missionary canon for my readings and philosophy from now
>on!
>
>
>--
>Michael Golden <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
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