Understanding the Depths of Mortality

Shouldn't we try our hardest to understand Jesus Christ, His character, His perfections, as well as understand the depths of mortality that He submitted Himself to in His atoning sacrifice?

Why would we?  What good would it do for us?  Why should we try to know and understand the gift that has been given to us?  Shouldn't we try?

The answer is: YES!

Now, comes the hard part--how do we?  How can we?  Where should we start?

I think that we have the right idea when we start by praying, when we are sacrificing, when we are fasting, when we are studying and learning, and when we try imitating His charity.

Now, none of us is a god and none of us have accomplished the eternal and infinite atonement--but even though none of will ever experience the fullness of that suffering and borne the griefs of world without end, carried the children of God's sorrows, be wounded for their transgressions and bruised for their iniquities.  Yet, if we are trying to be like Him and trying to become more like Him, then, I submit that we need to try our very hardest to the utmost (try like we've never tried before with and for anything or for anyone else...) to understand Him almost as He understands us.

Next, there must be an element of pain.  I'm not exactly sure where it fits in to the model of becoming like Jesus Christ, but I know that it's in there somewhere--how much, I don't know; I suppose it depends on the person.

Pain, though, is a necessary element to bring yourself closer to the level of humility required in order for you to make the changes that you need to make and to become what it is that Christ would have you become.  (I am intentionally not using the third person singular, "one," as this discussion must be very personal and I don't want to run the risk of intellectualizing the topic!)

You will can and will need to, however, to experience pain--either the pain that comes from sincere repentance or the pain that comes with authentic empathy for others in charity or a combination of both.

What do you think?  How can we best understand the depths of mortality and become more like Christ?

JPS

Second-hand knowledge

Why is that Christ teaches it that second-hand knowledge is given deference to even seeing and hearing for yourself?

Why are you more blessed if you believe on those who have seen and have witnessed, other than yourself?

I guess it takes more faith than if you have seen with your own eyes--you don't have to believe or trust or have faith in anyone but yourself and your own senses, and it's easy to believe yourself--to believe just on a word or a testimony.  Even the self-betrayers of the world--and that basically includes all humans--are experts at believing themselves--regardless of how wrong they are.  But, the edicts about belief without seeing aren't only talking to sinners, they apply to all.

Plus, when you open yourself-up to believing and having faith in others, now, all of the sudden, you can have the law of witnesses working for you (where you might not if you are only believing yourself...unless you think that God is telling you and the Holy Ghost is three...).

Others, those that have testified to you, have more authority when it's not just one person.  Then, you can have yourself and the Spirit testifying and all those who are testifying are witnesses of the same fact--the same truth!

Some additional scriptures that support this doctrinal fact are too numerous to cite or quote, but think about all the times that disciples or even contemporaries of prophets or those written about in the scriptures are asked to believe or have faith, with nothing but the Lord's words or a prophets words before they get the "proof" of what they are asking for.  Remember in the Book of Mormon, in the Book of Ether, chapter 12, verse six:

And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.

Ye receive no witness UNTIL after the trial of your faith.  

Also, don't forget what Alma teaches us also in his 32nd chapter.  In fact, that's just an excellent chapter on faith and you should just read the whole chapter--I'll just point out a few verses: verse 32:21 & 32:28

32:21--And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.

32:28--Now, we will compare the word 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.

JPS

None else...

Let's take as our text, the Doctrine and Covenants section 42, verse 22 (42:22).  

"Thou shalt ^alove thy wife with all thy heart, and shalt ^bcleaveunto her and none else."

President Kimball explained that "none else" was not only referring to no-other-person but also refers to not-another-person-or-thing.  In other words, nothing else should supersede your love for your husband or wife.  You don't love your racquet, sports, cars, job, race cars, chess pieces, computer games, books or magazines, parents, even your own children more or even as much as your wife...  

Does that mean even God?  Well, I don't think you can even love at all without first being anchored to God in a relationship of LOVE.  I can imagine going overboard with that love though...  For example, you break this commandment if you abandon your loved one to go to the temple all day or to do genealogy work every waking moment.  Don't confuse that fervor with which you are immersing yourself with loving God--cause you're not.  If you want to show God that you love Him; do what He asks of you--namely, love your wife with all of your heart and cleave unto her and none else!

P.S. Jesus the Christ, in the New Testament said, "For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?"  It was that same perfect being who spoke both of those verities/commandments.  In the first case, though, the words were given from an already resurrected and perfected God.  One flesh?  How can that be?  I think that in a similar way to Christ and the Father and the Holy Ghost being one, but for a husband and wife, we have added one "flesh" because when we become one like the Father and the Son we also are married in the temple and literally are one.

JPS

Whenever I feel guilt, is it because of sin?

Or, is feeling guilty, always, to some degree, a measure of guilt from sin?

The words to a hymn written by Eliza R. Snow's (How Great the Wisdom and the Love,” Hymns of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, no. 195) has me thinking about this question:

His precious blood he freely spilt;
His life he freely gave,
A sinless sacrifice for guilt,
A dying world to save.

In the second verse (quoted above) we read the line, "A sinless sacrifice for guilt," talking about Jesus Christ's atonement and one purpose that He gave His life: to spare us guilt or make it possible that we need not feel guilt because of any sin we have committed.

We have all experienced guilt.  "Do you feel guilty?" We might be asked if, for example, we have stollen a candy bar from the local supermarket.  My question, however, is: do we always feel guilt, only, because we have sinned?  We all know that it is wrong to steel.  We all know that intentionally making a choice that we know is wrong and that we should not do, is sin (we can talk about the legality of things some other time, but to do so now would only confuse the issue...  Regardless, the fact remains that being against the law does not necessarily factor into one's morality...  We can address that at some other time--now stop confusing the issue; I told you that would happen...).

Let's think of times that you might feel "guilt" but you didn't sin.  Let's say that you embarrassed your friend and she started crying...you feel guilty about it, but did you sin?  I am afraid that this may sound judgmental because all that we have to look at is my description of the facts at hand, but, yes, the reason you feel guilt about making your friend feel embarrassed and cry is because you have sinned.  If you start to justify yourself when we're only talking about the scenario that I've written, then I suggest that maybe you (you that are feeling guilty!) need to revisit something in your own past and ask forgiveness of someone...

Let's say that you feel guilt over stubbing your toe on the sidewalk some morning.  Well...stop it!  There is no reason to feel guilty over stubbing your own toe.  In fact, I am going to tell you something else: you aren't feeling "guilt."  You maybe feel embarrassed.  Maybe feel like you shouldn't have done that, but don't say you feel guilt.  You feel something and you know that feeling guilt makes you, at least, feel uncomfortable, but that's not what you feel when you simply stub your toe.  Let's reserve that word, "guilt," for times that one (possibly you or possibly someone else...) has sinned and not for silly acts of embarrassment.  The answer that I've just given to my own question is: No, you don't feel guilt for a reason other that for sin (but, didn't you just give an answer to your own question by just restating the original question in a statement form where the question is ruled out and one is left with just the answer to the question itself?  Well, that is what one does when it's a single-person-dialogue, otherwise known as a monologue, and the actor asks himself a question: he or she simply answers her/himself.  Not satisfying enough?  Take the question and start your own dialogue with somebody that you trust enough to help you discover the answer to your own question--be warned though, my answer simply came about by changing the question (I could just reword the question to make it not even need to be answered: If I only ever feel actual guilt because of sin, what is it called when I act in such a way that I think I am experiencing built, but, in fact am not?).

Now we can get at the meat of the issue: Why do we feel guilt because of sin?

I was told last Sunday what one person believed and it coincided with my thoughts and feelings as to the reason we feel guilt...  It is because...

Why do you think?

Let your answers come flooding in.  Take down that blogspot server because of too many people trying to post at the same time!

JPS

Self-Analysis II

Remember what I first wrote about here, in Self-Analysis; where I talked about self analysis and I wondered if we shouldn't take time, weekly at least, to analyze ourselves and see what there is, if anything, to change.  Actually, I didn't wonder, but emphatically said that we should take time weekly to see if we're doing the things that we've decided to do in the past.




You see, all of us, every single one of us, lives our life from moment to moment and the moment we're living currently was decided by the moment we've just lived.  In other words, we are a synthesis of our past, where we have been acting/deciding, our present--where our future dreams, hopes, worries, fears, knowledge, and beliefs, are in the present moment and where our decisions take place and our actions turn into doing and not just thinking/sitting/laying/falling/wondering, and our future--what our actions will be, what our beliefs will be, and what our knowledge and beliefs will be after our present choice is made.

Almost all of us live our lives on autopilot and are making decisions only based on what would feel good to us, or sometimes based on what we've already chosen in the past, and this is good and necessary.  We can't be making brand new choices every second of every day or we would become exhausted at the very thought of acting.  Make decisions based on the past decisions that have gone well.  Only by doing that can we have the energy to move forward.  Only when we know what is the best way to move, and we move that direction, can we know that we are going in the right direction.

As I said before in Self-Analysis I, as a counselor, I have learned that in order to counsel with someone we should be in a state of relative congruence. That means that I shouldn't be acting in a way that's contrary to the things that I know to be right and good. Shouldn't all of us be living in such a state? Shouldn't all of us be living according to that which we know and believe to be right and good and true?

JPS

School Counseling memoirs

There are just so many fun stories, that I feel obligated to record a few of them for you (of course, though, the names and the places where these stories originated have been kept confidential...).  And, of course I will need to be hired and working with students first...  Until then I'll leave you with a little self-contradiction or enigma:

When it gets to be the end of the school year and we are about to leave for summer-break, we feel excited to have three months (Ok, two, maybe two and one half months...) away from our job and away from working with students.  Yet, we also, simultaneously feel bad about leaving--just never so bad that we end-up forgoing our vacation and stay at school.  Why is that?  One, it's the student's vacation too and we would never want to deprive them of their precious vacation, and two, part of our job includes a summer break, just like it includes all of the holidays throughout the year...  It's as much our vacation as it is the students!  But really, Marco, it isn't ours as much as the students because we wouldn't even have a job without them...  We wouldn't work in a school, where the whole school takes a vacation, without the students.  So get over yourself!

And what about year-round-schoool?  If that's your answer or your question, then write your own blog!  Go ahead, start it and write that as one of your first posts, because that's just silly!

JPS

Are we like Latter-Day Jews, looking beyond the mark?

What do I mean by that--"looking beyond the mark"?  And, how could Latter-Day Saints be guilty of something that the Savior condemned the Jews for doing?

Well, if we can imagine a path or a destination and we imagine somebody looking along the path, then looking "beyond the mark" might be anyone looking beyond the here&now or not focusing on the importance of the trail right in front of you.  Looking beyond the mark might be trying to focus on parts of the plan of salvation or the doctrine of the LDS church that is nothing that we can work on or contribute to right now.  LDS members might be guilty of this if we are:

• reading about things that are scriptural and something that we, as the church, will do in the future, but not right now (having spirit children, creating worlds, etc.);
• worried about the Second Coming of Christ and the minutia surrounding it that we, as the church, can't know;
• focusing on the Law of Consecration, Plural Marriage, the United Order, etc., and trying to implement them now, without any direction from the First Presidency of the church;
• looking at certain words or phrases in the scriptures and attributing to them certain meanings or interpretations that lead to other conclusions;
• taking a certain principle or idea and either focusing on one aspect of it, until the principle loses significance, or blowing the idea up until it envelopes other doctrine that it shouldn't;
• concluding that because a general authority has said, at some point, it means or supports some idea or doctrine that is strictly personal; or
• focused on "space doctrine" (what some may call "doctrine" but that doesn't concern us now in this life and is nothing that you hear from over the pulpit in General Conference--although maybe someone said something that hinted of it not in this lifetime or one may have blown the Savior's words out of context...).

If the answer is "yes" to any of these possible scenarios, then "YES," we are looking beyond the mark.

Can you think of any more ways to be "looking beyond the mark" that you want added to this list?

JPS

The problem with talking about religion at a state owned and run facility

Separation of church and state.  It's a delineated separation established in our constitution, but is it good or not?  I mean, what is the problem with talking about religion with co-workers?

Well, the problem is, as I see it, is not just that you could be fired, but more fundamental than that:

If there was not a separation between the state and churches, then the government would be able to dictate to churches and religions exactly what they can and cannot do.  If there was not a separation between church and state, then religion's beliefs, practices, ordinances, scriptures, and sacred rites would be at the mercy of the state and the federal government.  Or worse yet, they would be at the mercy of the voting population and the politicians that are elected!

However, if there was the trouble with the most populous churches lobbying for more power from the government, then it would ultimately come down to one church, or a state church.

What about the other side of the stated problem:

If there was not a separation between church and state, then the churches would...  well, the problem would be that the religions would...  nothing!

But, we might run into the same troubles as before about there might be with the churches vying for power and audience and following.

When it comes down to the final analysis, the framers of the declaration were inspired men following the promptings of the Holy Spirit who built, wrote, promoted, and established an inspired document that will stand until wicked men decide that freedom, equality, and God have no part in this land of liberty.

How soon will that be is not for me to know, but what is for me to do is to not discuss matters of religion at work (especially when I work for a state-run facility!).

JPS

Perfect Love

We read in 1 John chapter 4, verse 18:

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love."

Again, in the book of Mormon, The Book of Moroni, eighth chapter, sixteenth verse:
"Behold, I speak with boldness, having authority from God; and I fear not what man can do; for perfect love casteth out all fear."

I would like to have no fear--not be afraid at all, of anything!   I suppose I need to have perfect love, though, if I want all fear casteth out.

What does that mean, however, to have perfect love?

In order to have perfect love, I am suggesting, that you need not be perfect, not perfect yourself (because, only God is perfect, or you would be like God if you were perfect), you can only love God perfectly (or, approaching perfection) and when you love Him perfectly, you will not be fearful or afraid of anything. With your Heavenly Father, it's not so much that you, in your human condition, are capable of loving anyone or anything perfectly--but you have an innate capacity to love spirit-to-spirit perfectly.  Your spirit was created by God the Father in the existence we had before we came to Earth and our spirits don't have this fleshy natural man to weigh us down or hold us back from feeling that perfect love.  We naturally or innately LOVE our Father and our God.  So, when you love your Heavenly Father, you will want to obey Him and keep His commandments--what is there to be afraid of when you have your Lord and your God (because you can't love God and not love Christ as well and in fact, the only way to even approach God the Father is through His Son.

JPS

Unworthy?

Wondering why many prophets talk about abasing themselves and not believing that they were worthy (Book of Mormon, book of Alma, chapter 6, verse 5), I began to think more deeply about what it is that makes them unworthy or almost inherently sinful.  I had memorized Mosiah 3:19, in the Book of Mormon, which talks about the natural man being an enemy to God. That had something to do with the conundrum, I thought.  Why, though, were these men and women that were always doing so much good abasing themselves?

I began to realize that the fact that they considered themselves “unworthy” had little or nothing to do with what it was that they had done; the sins that they had committed or the repentance fort he sins committed, and had more to do with the fact that they were human beings and therefore had fallen natures, like King Benjamin reminds us in Mosiah.  

In the book of Alma, chapter 42, verse 5 it explains that if Adam had immediately partaken of the fruit of the tree of life, he would have lived forever and would have had no space for time to repent, and the Plan of Salvation would have been frustrated.

Thus, Alma teaches in Alma chapter 42, verse 10, man had “become carnal, sensual, and devilish, by nature.” Man is by nature carnal, sensual, and devilish, and therefore sinners.  Man isn’t able to do anything good by himself, and must rely on the Lord to do anything good, must repent, and also rely on the Lord to become sanctified and good—to be reclaimed from this fallen state and allow himself or herself to have the atonement work to make them clean and have the demands of justice appeased and return clean the Celestial kingdom, having had mercy work on their behalf (Alma 42:12, 15-16).

JPS