Why dost thou offer sacrifices?

Adam was asked, by an angel, after being obedient in worshiping the Lord and making making sacrifices to Him, for many days, “Why dost thou offer sacrifices unto the Lord?” (from the Book of Moses in the Pearl of Great Price, which is a selection from the revelations, translations, and narrations of Joseph Smith first prophet, seer, and revelator to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints):

    And Adam said unto him: “I know not, save the Lord commanded me.”
    And then the angel spake, saying: “This thing is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father, which is full of grace and truth.
    Wherefore, thou shalt do all that thou doest in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent and call upon God in the name of the Son forevermore.”

Why didn’t Adam already know why he had been offering sacrifices?  It wouldn't have been blind obedience, regardless of "why" he was offering sacrifices, as he was trusting in the Lord and he knew it was a form of worship--he knew he was worshipping the Lord as he was sacrificing.  But, why had he made sacrifices for many days without knowing why?

I have given this some thought and have come to a conclusion that makes sense to me: When you get in trouble, maybe have broken the only commandment given to you (but of the fruit of the tree which thou beholds in the midst of the garden, God hath said—"Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die").  Nevertheless and notwithstanding, Satan knew not the mind of God, wherefore he sought to destroy the world by beguiling Adam and Eve to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil.  

Adam and Eve ate the fruit.  We are all alive, thanks to that act!  It is not a bad or terrible decision, it was wise and good.

Back, though, to the "Why".  Why didn't Adam know?  When you were young and in your parent's house, did you feel like you should ask questions about your "punishment"?  Even though sacrificing was in no way a punishment, it followed Adam breaking his Father's rule: "Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die"  And you did eat it.  I don't know how Adam and Eve felt, but I know that they must have been crushed when they realized that they were going to die and that they were going to forever be cast out of the presence of God.

When God tells you that there is a way to be able to be resurrected and be able to enter God's presence again--because of the Atonement of Christ.   Out of absolute gratitude you are asked/commanded to offer sacrifices.  You just perform those sacrifices and never even ask why--even for years! 

That's why, I think, he never asked why...

JPS

Cause you to commit sin, did we?

True, true...

Mosiah 4:28 says:

And I would that ye should remember, that whosoever among you borroweth of his neighbor should return the thing that he borroweth, according as he doth agree, or else thou shalt commit sin; and perhaps thou shalt cause thy neighbor to commit sin also.

I think “causing your neighbor to sin” is just putting another in any situation where they would have to choose to do right, because the natural man (or doing nothing or just following the crowd or your neighbor, will lead to sin!).

So, when you sin and leave a terrible example for your neighbor—your sin of omission you are saying that it’s all right if you choose NOT to do everything good or commission, that it’s ok to sin a little...  Your example can “cause” others to sin.

Not really, because everyone has their agency.  Not even Satan can “cause” you to sin.  But the scriptures are warning us not to teach others incorrect principles—especially your children or others in your family!

JPS

Thou art mine younger brother...

Because of righteousness, the following younger brothers did rule over the elder:

Abel, son of Adam (ruled over the other brothers that aren’t even nominated in scripture)

Joseph, son of Jacob

Jacob, son of Isaac

Nephi, son of Lehi

... jealous of that right to rule, but lost it, so then envious of the right to rule that their younger brother now has!

JPS

Bitter vs Sweet

So, if the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil was "delicious to the taste and very desirable," then the tree of life's fruit is necessarily bitter...  Tree of life fruit is bitter without the knowledge, experience, memories of trials and children and successes and joys that necessarily come with life!  Fruit of knowledge of food and evil is delicious to the taste like milk is to a newborn but fruit from the tree of life is like a gourmet meal...  hardly bitter, but to a baby, it would be!

JPS

The Gospel Irony

In 2 Nephi 2:7, we read that, “Behold, he offereth himself a sacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law, unto all those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit; and unto none else can the ends of the law be answered.”

Now, there are dozens, if not hundreds of scriptures that I could use to point this out, but the thought came to me while reading this verse of scripture about the irony of the Savior of Man suffering, bleeding, and dying for every man, woman, and child born on this Earth and many more Earths, when it is HE who has done nothing wrong.  Him who has not offended the law or any person or perfect rule or Spirit.  Him who is the person who deserves it least of all, and yet He did it willingly for us...

Jesus Christ suffered unimaginable pain and anguish, pressure and absolute mind-numbing-sorrow, when He was the only man or person who needed to face Justice because of anything done wrong or out of any debt whatsoever!

He volunteered to go-through or experience all of that for us.  Another part of irony is that, it is because of Him having experienced that first-hand, in the flesh, experientially (not knowing it "through the Spirit" or because He is one with God that Father)--His blood, His sweat, His tears, His body bruised and broken, that has brought out both the possibility of Eternal Life (through His mercy and grace) as well as the Resurrection (through His mercy and grace).3

He only asks of us (those who will partake of the two glorious gifts or even the gift of the resurrection) only to have a broken heart and a contrite spirit.

The tragically ironic part of this "story" is that every person who is born (on this world and others), will be resurrected regardless of what they do or what they believe...  Just done--perfected body!  Even those Sons of Perdition will receive one.  Jesus Christ paid for everyone's sins, though--in other words, everyone could have been made pure and clean to live eternally with their loved-ones and God the Father.  Everyone might have enjoyed this ultimate gift, because the price was already paid, and paid-in-full; millions or billions or more (especially if we're counting numberless worlds...) will have wasted that gift.

Everyone will be resurrected, regardless of what their choices were, but many if not most will have already been paid for "full-admission" into the Celestial Kingdom, and that price was or will have been wasted!  Or, if you want to think of it, in terms if some sort of punishment, that wasted pain and suffering will damn you in the end if not accepted.  Sorry, but true.

JPS

Is it weakness or not asking for help?

So, all things being equal or starting from scratch, or setting-it-up the best way that I can think of, we were born on this Earth? Or YOU were born on third Earth, and therefore followed Jesus Christ when we were in Heaven.  There was no vail of forgetfulness then, and you chose the right when before our Father.

What’s the difference now?  Your mom loves you and you love her, so why isn’t her desire for you to follow the Father enough of an incentive?  Unlike your Father and Mother in Heaven, you can see your mom...  Why is the weakness of the flesh (2 Nephi 4: 17-21) and the natural man (Mosiah 3:19) enough to keep you from choosing what you know is right?  Choosing not to disappoint your mom?

Dr. C. Terry Warner would say that it all comes back to self-betrayal in his book, “Bonds that Make us Free”.  I am asking that even more fundamental question: Why do we choose and do things we know we shouldn’t?  Thinking in a place and a way that isn’t limited by man or your body or temptation or even the devil/Lucifer/Satan, we have shown that we are able to choose the right over the wrong—why not do it every time?

Guess the answer is: we are mortal and weak!  That’s just not good enough for me, though...  Because we can and do choose the right oftentimes. We are still left with the question: Why not every time?  Why do I have the strength sometimes but not all of the time?

You could say, “Well, that’s the trial of Life, Josh!”  The only thing that makes it easier to make that right choice over what your weak flesh wants, is to align yourself with the power that comes from the Atonement of Jesus Christ—the Enabling powers of the Atonement of Jesus Christ!

JPS

Example from Laman & Lemuel

What do I need to personally do to not become hard in my heart and not look into God as I ought?  What were Laman & Lemuel not doing that they I should be doing?  Because, besides the overt offenses to Nephi, we don't know that their thoughts were so bad, EXCEPT when we look at their OMISSIONS or things they did not do, that they were commanded to do:

• Were they reading their scriptures?

• Were they praying?

• Were they obeying their father & their mother?

• Were they going to the Mountain of the Lord, oft?

• Were they having FHE with their wife and children?

• Were they teaching that which had been taught to them to others?

• Were they activating less-active family members?

• Were they performing service?

• Were they loving their wife with all the love they had?

• Were they loving their children like their wife?

All of this is contingent, though, on a supposition that they were being prompted by the Holy Ghost to follow Christ—so, only like a 0.00% chance that they weren’t...

JPS

Can/Does man see one member of the Godhead simultaeoisly or at the same time?

Sure, in cases like John the baptist at Christ's baptism or with Joseph Smith in the Sacred Grove...  Or in verse 1 Nephi 11:27 where Nephi sees Christ and the Holy Ghost (with the Father recognizing the Son--which is exactly like John the Baptist...).  But what about 1 Nephi 11:12 (where the Holy Ghost had gone before Nephi's presence when the Virgin was with child...) or how the disciples aren't given the Holy Ghost till after Christ is no longer with them!  --  in the economy of God, I just don't think that man needs more than one member of the Godhead there at once (redundant?)!  Just as scriptures are not re-translated if it's possible to get your hands on the already-existing copy!

JPS

Escape Velocity

Another scientific concept that conceptually is very similar to “event horizon”, that I have already written about here and here.  You could say that the concept that I have tried to analogize to this celestial concept--doing the sort of things and being the sort of person that will call down the blessings of heaven into your life--to an event horizon, but you might also think, "Don't you mean to compare it to 'escape velocity'?"  Wikipedia defines it as: "In physics, escape velocity is the minimum speed needed for an object to escape from the gravitational influence of a massive body. "  Let me explain why the idea of an event horizon lends itself "better" than of idea escape velocity...

Simply put: We are continuously and constantly being called HOME to our Heavenly Father's kingdom--where our intelligences were given spirit bodies and where we originally all shouted for joy as we accepted our Elder Brother's presentation of our Father in Heaven's Plan of Salvation!  We all do all we can to return to Him and our Heavenly Family (some of us are taking a long detour, but our wanted destination is the same...).  We aren't wanting to escape His love and blessings.  We all feel the tug and pull back to our Heavenly Home.

Thus, we are returning to God or being "sucked home", as an event horizon, and not trying to escape our home.

JPS

Calvin Stott's baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and becoming a newest member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

He did it.  On 10:30 this day, October 7th, 2017--he was baptized!

Pianist: Quentin Carney (older brother -- in vivo)

Opening prayer: Samantha Stott (little sis)

Talk on Baptism: Brenda Stott (paternal grandmother)

Baptism: Josh Stott (father) & Calvin Stott (in se)

Talk on the Holy Ghost: Addison Stott (older brother -- from Solinas, CA; video uploaded to YouTube)

Confirmation: Josh Stott (father) & Paul Stott (paternal grandfather), Brian Larson (maternal grandfather), Jeff Larson (uncle), Rory Brooks (4th ward [homeward] bishopric representative)