Human

One of the most stereotypically common responses people would give while I was a missionary when we would ask them why they stopped going to church was that they were offended by someone, most commonly one of the local leaders. It was easy, oftentimes, for us as missionaries to internally berate these people who obviously didn't have enough faith to take such things in stride. If they just had stronger testimonies they could handle that kind of issue.

I didn't realize until we came to Acts 13 in class that even Christ's chosen Apostles, who had walked and talked with the Savior, also had similar personal issues. In verse 13 it says "Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia: and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem." The text doesn't say why John (aka Mark) left them, but context and other things suggest that it might have been the same reason for which Paul later refused to go on a missionary journey with Mark. These guys had the strongest testimonies a person can have--they saw Jesus--and they still had a dispute notable enough that it shows up in the Bible 2,000 years later.

If such spiritual powerhouses as Mark and Paul could still have such a sharp disagreement that they decided not to work together--and still be huge spiritual powerhouses--then I suppose I should be less judgmental of people when they have problems with other people. It's part of being human. Regrettable, unfortunate, and ought to be avoided, but it doesn't make them any less righteous. Just human.

A Brief History of the End of Time

The Prophet Joseph Smith called the Book of Revelation "the plainest book God ever caused to be written." A funny statement, for obvious reasons. I suppose there could be many reasons why he would have said that--for one, he's a prophet, so he sees the things of God much more clearly than we do; for another, he could possibly be referring not to how easy it is to understand but how openly it describes (using complex words and symbols) the Lord's doings in the last days.

I like reading the Book of Revelation because I feel like it gives me a sort of insight into how God sees the world, the people in it, and the events that transpire among us. We know that for God, time doesn't work the same way it does for us. The scriptures tell us that all is as a single day to Him, and all things are continually before His face. So when he sees the history of the world, clearly He sees it from a very different perspective than we do.

I suppose it's just the same as the way a hypercube (a theoretical model of a 4-dimensional cube) looks strange and moves strangely from our three-dimensional viewpoint, and yet if we were able to see it in all four dimensions it would appear perfectly normal and simple.

If that’s too nerdy for you, I’m sorry, I used to be a physics major. It’s just how it makes sense in my head.

The Praise and Glory of God

One thing that has been weighing on my mind recently is the responsibility I have as a member of Christ's church and a holder of the Priesthood of God, to bring other people into the fold of God. I remember a scripture my mission president shared with us at a zone conference once, in which we learned that a big part of the purpose in bringing other people into the church was more than simply increasing our numbers, more than to become stronger members ourselves, and even more than bringing the blessings of the gospel to people who otherwise wouldn't have had them--the scripture said (paraphrasing) God the Father is glorified in that we bring Him much fruit. I remembered that verse because in our class discussion we came to Philippians 1:11 - "Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God." D&C 4 notes that we must have an "eye single to the glory of God," and when we bring forth much fruit, or bring many people into the light of the gospel, God is glorified.

I had always understood the idea of God being glorified as that He receives a fuller joy in His family. That isn't wrong, but it's also not a complete explanation.

When the in-class discussion got to Philippians 2:9 - "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him..." we began talking about how Christ was exalted. In the King Follett Discourse, Joseph Smith taught that when Christ was exalted, He took Heavenly Father's place, and Heavenly Father was promoted as well to a higher exaltation. So by extension, as we each individually approach exaltation, it really does exalt our Father even more, in a pretty literal sense. And when we bring others with us, our Father is exalted that much more.

I love how the gospel makes so much sense.

The Glory Which Shall Be Revealed in Us

Every once in a while we need a good boost, emotionally and spiritually. There are plenty of reasons to feel down about life, disappointed by the circumstances we are in, or by the people we care about, or (which is worst) by our own selves. That's why I was happy to find Romans chapter 8:

 16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
 17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

We talk about keeping an eternal perspective, and how that will help us understand and find meaning and comfort in our trials-- 18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

I love that. It's like a change of warm, dry clothes after coming in from a storm. But at the same time I can't help feeling sometimes that it's not talking about me--sometimes I can't see the fulfillment of those grand promises. Sometimes it all feels so foreign.

 24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope.

I know I should hope for it. I want to. I know we should pray and ask the Lord for all things that we need, and if we ask with faith and sincerity of heart it will be given us. But how do I ask for something I don't know how to ask for? --something I don't even know I want?

 26 For we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

God loves me. This is what I know.

The Unknown God

While I was serving as a missionary in Paraguay, I knew of many missionaries who liked to study the Bible intensively, looking for ways to support the Book of Mormon and the Restoration of the Church using Bible verses. The idea behind this focused study was to better understand where our investigators would be coming from, the scriptures they already believed in, and to build off of the knowledge they already had. We have been told, after all, that we don't come to tear down other beliefs but to build upon the truths they already have.

But I was always disappointed by how little it actually helped people to accept the gospel and be converted.

In Acts 17, Paul had a similar experience. We find him and Barnabas in Athens, trying to preach the gospel as they have always done. The Greeks are a tough crowd, though, and Paul tries appealing to the beliefs they already have--he begins by declaring to them the Unknown God, whom they have included in their pagan worship, and whom Paul identifies as God the Father. He then quotes their own poets, that we are offspring of God. He teaches them profound doctrine in logical terms their philosophical and secular minds would find familiar--and they reject him.

The lesson for me, too late to help me on my mission but timely enough to help me in the rest of my life, is that the gospel is best preached not by reason or logic, but by pure testimony. People don't make the kind of significant changes that the gospel requires simply because you show them that God wants them to do basically what they're already doing, but at the Mormon church; people change their lives when they feel the Spirit testify of truth, and the Spirit accompanies the pure and simple testimony of faith.

Daddy

We often talk about God as our Heavenly Father--and in general, we believe it. However, the gospel becomes so much more profound, simple, humbling and exalting when we think about what that means. When I was on my mission, for example, people would often ask us why God would do this or that, or what God thinks about a certain subject or action, and particularly how God considers them. It's a simple doctrine, but it would amaze people when we would explain that God is our Father, being the same kind of relationship that we share with our earthly parents.

When we came to 1 John chapter 4 in class, Bro. Griffin paused for a few minutes to talk about exactly that--how a father can feel such love for a child. When a baby is born, the father is inescapably lost in love with this little child. This child has, up to this point, done nothing to merit love or respect. It's been little more than several months of discomfort, expense, pain, again and again until it is born. It's done nothing for the father but inconvenienced him. Yet when that little nuisance sees daylight and cries--still just a hideous lump of flesh--the father can't help falling so perfectly in love that all of that simply melts away.

Even for several months after being born the child can't even reciprocate that love--doesn't know how to, doesn't care to. All it does is suck up love and attention from its parents. But over time--after countless irregular nights, messes, smells, and more expenses--when the child learns to show love in return, how unspeakably precious it is.

That is how God sees you.

James 1:5

All throughout my high school years in seminary classes--and even more so since serving a mission--I have read James 1:5 countless dozens of times. Honestly, I've even gotten tired of reading it so much that I've skipped over it in the past, jumping from verse 4 to verse 7. It's a great passage of scripture, but overworked. So when we came to this part of the New Testament in class, I sincerely hoped we wouldn't dwell on it for too long, that horse had been beaten to death a long time ago.

But of course, the things we need to hear tend to be the same as the things we don't want to hear.

The general authorities have taught that when we ask the Lord something in prayer, there are three typical answers we will receive: yes, no, and silence. I had also heard this before, but what Bro. Griffin said next really caught my attention--the implicit principle in that teaching is that the best kind of question to ask the Lord is that one that is well enough researched, and ready enough to be acted upon, that all we need is a simple yes-no confirmation.

Verse 6 contains the quintessential "Let Him Ask in Faith." Note that Joseph didn't just read the scripture, feel inspired, and then pray--that wouldn't have been enough to result in the First Vision. By his own account he read and pondered it again and again. "Some of the best sermons we will ever hear will be thus prompted from the pulpit of memory--to an audience of one." --Neil A. Maxwell