Val's Email Sunday School: Learning to Trust God

In the reading this week the entire chapter of Ether 12 seemed devoted to faith. This makes me think a lot. It’s a great chapter, but it makes me think that a lot of us might be missing what faith is. If faith is the first principle of the gospel, and faith is the power by which miracles are wrought, and you don't get a miracle until after the trial of your faith, and even the faith of a grain of a mustard seed could move mountains, then it seems like a lot of us might be in short supply. Usually when we have talks or sermons on faith, I feel like we talk a lot about what it is and what it does. I’d like to talk a little bit about how I think we can get more, or “build” faith.

Alma 32 discusses this a lot. We’re told to “experiment” upon the words. Why would experimenting on God’s words give us faith? The reading said that faith is things which are hoped for, which are not seen, which are true, but what does this really mean? In a book I was reading this week called “The Second Coming of the Lord” by Gerald Lund, he stated at one point that we should put periods and not question marks after what the Lord says. This was very powerful to me, and much easier said than done.

What would putting periods after what the Lord says instead of questions marks look like? Well, it looks like trust. We believe what he has said, instead of being disbelieving or wondering how, or thinking things are impossible. If God, who cannot lie, has declared something (whether in your patriarchal blessing, in scriptures, or in a blessing) then you accept it as truth, and think and live as if it’s a certainty. I believe this is what faith is. I believe that we build faith, or trust in God, through learning and through experience. A troubling movement in the world today is a deviation from enlightenment values and the scientific method. The scientific method, hypothesis with experimentation, and experiments that are replicable for other people and across time are necessary for determining truth and building trust and faith in God.

When we read the scriptures, we can see evidence of God making and keeping promises to people in the past. We can also see promises that he’s given to his children that are scattered throughout the scriptures. There are lots, but we won’t go into many here. Just one simple example is the law of the tithe (Malachi 3:10), and how God promises that he will open the windows of heaven such that we won’t have room enough to receive the blessings. Simple promises like that, when tested, should give you a pretty clear indication of whether or not that promise is true. If you test the promise and find that it is true, then your faith, or trust in the Lord and what he’s said, should become more solidified. The goal is to reach the point where God has proven himself to you (yes, we aren’t supposed to trust blindly and he even says in that Malachi scripture on tithing that we should “prove me now herewith”), that you will do anything or trust him no matter what, like Job, even when you don’t understand. Again, easier said than done, and maybe it takes a lifetime to learn that lesson, but that’s the ultimate goal.

If we put periods after what God says because we trust him and believe what he says because our experience has proven it to be correct, then we can trust bigger things solely on his word. We can trust that he is coming, we can trust that the United States will be preserved as a land of liberty, we can trust that all things work together for the good of those who love God, etc.

Sometimes our faith or trust in God falters and there are provisions in place for that too. “118 And as all have not faith, 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.” This appears to say that we won’t all have faith, or maybe not at the same time. And at these times we are still taught to seek wisdom, knowledge, and experience. In my mind this is saying that all truth is good, and all truth eventually and ultimately leads to the same place and other pursuits of truth are just as valid and neccessary as religious study. Also it makes me think of inspirational stories of other people and their testimonies which can help us in our times of struggle. 

So, in closing, put periods at the end of God’s statements and promises, not question marks. As we experiment and prove that God’s can be trusted, our faith grows. Faith and trust is where peace lies. “You know, brethren, that a very large ship is benefited very much by a very small helm in the time of a storm, by being kept workways with the wind and the waves. Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.”

Val's Email Sunday School: An Antidote to Fear

Come Follow Me November 16-22

This week one thing that struck me in the reading was the story of the Jaredites crossing the ocean to the promised land. Now, whether we take this as a literal story or not doesn’t really matter. The principles in this story are what’s important. There’s so much that we choose to learn from this story, things that can be helpful for everyone in today's world considering the fear and uncertainty around us.

In this chapter, the people are traveling across the ocean in vessels they made themselves. They're being carried or taken by God to the promised land, or a place that is more bountiful where they can prosper. But before they reach the promised land, they have to undergo a journey. There are no shortcuts, no planes to hop on. The only way around this adversity is through it. So the people, trusting in the Lord, willingly get on these ships they made themselves, trusting in God enough that if they climb in these weird dish boats that they can’t even steer, that they’re going to end up not only somewhere good, but better than the place that they left. Again, whether this story is literal or not doesn’t matter. Even if it was fiction it’s structured in such a way as to teach us something about ourselves, something about human nature.

So again, what do we see here in this story? We see a people leaving a place where they’re probably pretty comfortable, or at least alive, and trusting in God enough that they will literally put their lives and future prosperity at stake because he said there was something better for them on the other side. Now, once they got on this dish boat ride, there was no turning back. They can’t undo what they’ve done. They’re committed. There is no turning back. This journey is one of danger, uncertainty, and fear. 

While they may have been brave to begin the journey, they may have regretted it once they started. They didn’t get to sail on a nice yacht. There were no windows. There was very little light. The only way that they could progress in their journey was for huge “furious winds” that would blow them towards the promised land. It ways “they were tossed upon the waves of the sea.” And “many times [they were] buried in the depths of the sea, because of the mountain waves (emphasis added) which broke upon them, and also the great and terrible tempests which were caused by the fierceness of the wind.” It says that they were buried in the deep. It says that “the wind did never cease to blow.” They were protected from the monsters of the sea and whales that would have marred their boats. It was a long, tumultuous and perilous journey that it says lasted 344 days. 

If we think about what it would have been like to be cramped in some ship for almost a year, we could speculate that it got pretty nasty in there, especially considering even the very basics of hygiene. I think it’s safe to say that the journey was not pleasant. It probably sucked. They had to get tossed around. It had to be loud. Maybe it was cold. How did the people handle this?

It says they sang praises, thanked the Lord, and praised the Lord. And they never stopped. And in the end, when they reached the promised land, they were faithful, thankful, and delivered. They stayed hopeful and had faith in a better future, despite all the surrounding evidence that seemed to prove otherwise that things were not okay, and would not be okay. In fact, all evidence would have seemed to support the hypothesis that things would never be okay again. 

If we want to liken this story to ourselves, we can look at it as a parallel to our lives or to individual adversities. We're on a journey, and we can't really steer. There are so many variables and things that are outside of our control. We are, in many ways, at the whims of the circumstances that surround us. There are many things that are just bigger than us, and while we might be able to control the smallest spheres of our lives, we have little control over what is happening on a larger scale. Sometimes things are kinda nasty and they really suck. We don't see how things could ever turn out well.

 

What this story seems to be teaching us, is that we are to trust God above all else. We are to trust him when he wants to lead us to somewhere better. We are to trust he will protect us and knows our needs even when conditions are crappy and storms rage terrifyingly around us. We are supposed to trust that all things will work together for our good, that we are being taken somewhere better, and that the only way to get to our destination is through the current crap. This is all much easier said than done, but it appears to present a pattern for navigating difficulties and trials, whether they be spiritual, emotional, or physical. It appears that the lesson of this story is to have patience despite justified fear amid uncertainty and danger. It appears that gratitude and trust are the antidote to fear. Let's hope that Dieter F. Uchtdorf is right when he says, "God will watch over and shepherd you during these times of uncertainty and fear. He knows you. He hears your pleas. He is faithful and dependable. He will fulfill His promises."

Val's Email Sunday School: The Gospel of Christ as a Fractal

An interesting phenomenon I discovered recently is that there are actually several groups who believe that they are God’s chosen people, like in the Abrahamic covenant sense, not just in like a crazy cult way. The Jews, obviously, are one of these groups. They believe that they’re Israel, God’s chosen people. Another group besides the Jews who think that they’re God’s chosen people are some Blacks. These Blacks believe that the original hebrews were black, and that they’ve descended from them, and as such are God’s chosen people. Another interesting thing about some of this black culture is that they embrace the concept of being children of God, kings and queens with divine heritage. The third group that I know of which believes that they are God’s chosen people (in the Abrahamic sense) are the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Latter-Day Saints believe that while Jews are the original covenant people, those who have made covenants in the modern day Latter-Day Saint temples are adopted into the covenant. Latter-Day Saints believe that all people everywhere are invited to enjoy the status of Covenant Israel.

Israel, Covenant Israel, the scattering and the gathering of Israel, and the Abrahamic Covenant are big themes in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The whole Book of Mormon has threads of these themes woven throughout it. I think that we talk a lot about Christ and being good, but this is a major part of this religion that I feel a lot of people don't know much about. I also feel like as a Church we've become more focused on understanding the role of Israel in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and what that means to us as individuals who are members of the church and to the rest of the world.

So, in Moroni 7 we get a good glimpse of this. We see the role that being God’s chosen people plays in this overarching story. But before I start this I want to give just a little bit more context. These chapters take place after basically everyone has destroyed one another. Moroni has watched the downfall of tons of people, and he’s seen tons of turmoil, chaos, and death, and this is the message that he thinks is most important to impart before he has to flee and possibly die. So, if we believe that this is story is true, this is what someone who has witnessed the entire destruction of a civilization believes is the most important thing in the world to say.

He starts by saying, “behold, I would speak somewhat unto the remnant of this people who are spared . . . ye remnant of the house of Israel. . . Know ye that ye are of the house of Israel. Know ye that ye must come unto repentance, or ye cannot be saved. Know ye that ye must lay down your weapons of war, and delight no more in the shedding of blood, and take them not again, save it be that God shall command you.” He’s writing to tell us that we who are reading the book are a remnant of the house of Israel. That we must repent to be saved, and that we must be peaceful, unless the Lord commands otherwise.

He goes on to teach about Christ. “Know ye that ye must come to the knowledge of your fathers, and repent of all your sins and iniquities, and believe in Jesus Christ, that he is the Son of God, and that he was slain by the Jews, and by the power of the Father he hath risen again, whereby he hath gained the victory over the grave; and also in him is the sting of death swallowed up. And he bringeth to pass the resurrection of the dead, whereby man must be raised to stand before his judgment-seat. And he hath brought to pass the redemption of the world, whereby he that is found guiltless before him at the judgment day hath it given unto him to dwell in the presence of God in his kingdom, to sing ceaseless praises with the choirs above, unto the Father, and unto the Son, and unto the Holy Ghost, which are one God, in a state of happiness which hath no end.”

So what are we supposed to do with this knowledge of Christ? “Therefore repent, and be baptized in the name of Jesus, and lay hold upon the gospel of Christ, which shall be set before you, not only in this record [the Book of Mormon] but also in the record which shall come unto the Gentiles from the Jews [the Bible], which record shall come from the Gentiles unto you. For behold, this is written for the intent that ye may believe that; and if ye believe that [the Bible] ye will believe this [The Book of Mormon] also; and if ye believe this ye will know concerning your fathers, and also the marvelous works which were wrought by the power of God among them.” So he tells us here that the Book of Mormon was written with the intent to persuade people to believe in the Bible and in Christ.

Now he goes on to talk a little bit about being the people of the covenant. He says to these people to “know that ye are a remnant of the seed of Jacob; therefore ye are numbered among the people of the first covenant. . .” There’s lots of words for being the Lord’s covenant people: seed of Jacob, Israel, House of Israel, Covenant Israel, etc. People who are covenant Israel are entitled to the blessings and promises that God made with Abraham, or the Abrahamic Covenant. He goes on to tell us, “and if it so be that ye believe in Christ, and are baptized, first with water, then with fire and with the Holy Ghost, following the example of our Savior, according to that which he hath commanded us, it shall be well with you in the day of judgment.”

Moroni tells us that the Book of Mormon will be “brought out of darkness unto light, according to the word of God; yea, it shall be brought out of the earth, and it shall shine forth out of darkness, and come unto the knowledge of the people; and it shall be done by the power of God.” He goes on to tell us that it is it is God’s right, not ours to smite, judge, and exact vengeance. He reassurse us that “For the eternal purposes of the Lord shall roll on, until all his promises shall be fulfilled.” What are these promises? We have to study the scriptures to know. We’re reassured a few times in this reading that all of God’s promises will be revealed and he will uphold the covenants he’s made with his people. Moroni here tells us to search the prophesies of Isaiah. Christ in recent chapters told us the same thing.

He tells us that the Bible and the Book of Mormon will come forth, because God said it would, and no one can stop it. He describes this time when the Book of Mormon and the Bible will shine forth as light in the darkness this way: “it shall come in a day when it shall be said that miracles are done away; and it shall come even as if one should speak from the dead. 27 And it shall come in a day when the blood of saints shall cry unto the Lord, because of secret combinations and the works of darkness. 28 Yea, it shall come in a day when the power of God shall be denied, and churches become defiled and be lifted up in the pride of their hearts; yea, even in a day when leaders of churches and teachers shall rise in the pride of their hearts, even to the envying of them who belong to their churches. 29 Yea, it shall come in a day when there shall be heard of fires, and tempests, and vapors of smoke in foreign lands;

30 And there shall also be heard of wars, rumors of wars, and earthquakes in divers places. 31 Yea, it shall come in a day when there shall be great pollutions upon the face of the earth; there shall be murders, and robbing, and lying, and deceivings, and whoredoms, and all manner of abominations. . .”

These passages here and the ones from Timothy in the Bible describing the last days (in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away) sure seem to be describing this exact point in history. That sounds like now. Like this year, or even this week.

Of this time Moroni tells us that to “look ye unto the revelations of God; for behold, the time cometh at that day when all these things must be fulfilled.” He tells us most people will be prideful. They’ll wear fancy clothes and they’ll envy and hate and persecute one another. He says that our society will “love money, and your substance, and your fine apparel, and the adorning of your churches, more than ye love the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted.

38 O ye pollutions, ye hypocrites, ye teachers, who sell yourselves for that which will canker, why have ye polluted the holy church of God? Why are ye ashamed to take upon you the name of Christ? Why do ye not think that greater is the value of an endless happiness than that misery which never dies—because of the praise of the world?”

It certainly seems like we are living in the last days that they spoke about. Sometimes it’s hard to remain vigilant and engaged because they’ve been talking about the Second Coming of Christ since his death, and they’ve been talking about us living in the last days since before we were born. However, this complacency is what could cause us to be unprepared and also fearful of what might come. We’re admonished to study and know the signs of the last days, so that we can be prepared and ready. It isn’t supposed to be a surprise to anyone who’s paying attention. This is why we’re told to study the scriptures, especially Isaiah. We should seek to understand what it means to be covenant Israel, what the Abrahamic covenant is and what it promises, study the scattering and gathering of Israel, and the signs of the Second Coming of Christ.

If we study the scriptures and know what they say, we should be less frightened when big scary things happened. If this revelation and scripture stuff is true, we’ve literally been given the script of the world, and been encouraged to read them. “Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.”

How can we watch the signs and know where we are in the plot history of the world unless we know what those signs are? How can we be prepared to go out and meet the bridegroom (parable of the virgins) if we don’t study and prepare? We don’t have to wonder what’s next if we study the scriptures we can have a very clear picture of what is supposed to occur before Jesus comes. If we’re fearful, we might want to consider Doctrine and Covenants 38 which tells us “if ye are prepared ye shall not fear.” If the world around us is making us fearful, the remedy appears to be more preparation. I think that more knowledge is the preparation we need.

Another way to prepare is to establish good or beneficial habits and patterns. In church today they talked about how there are patterns for happiness and patterns for success. When we follow the patterns we get predictable results. I like this because it reminds me of fractals. Fractals are defined as "a pattern that the laws of nature repeat at different scales. Examples are everywhere in the forest. Trees are natural fractals, patterns that repeat smaller and smaller copies of themselves to create the biodiversity of a forest. . ." I've talked about this before, but it's something I love the very most about the Gospel of Christ. The things we learn about Christ and his directions or patterns for our lives are applicable at all levels. They are consistent. They are constant. They can be universally applied. They repeat themselves at various scales. 

The patterns of morality and happiness are as applicable on a situational level as they are on a daily level in an individual's life. They apply to a person, or a situation, or a life. They apply to families, communities, societies, nations, and the world. When we change the fractal pattern in our lives, we change the fractal pattern of society. We change the world, quite possibly literally. I like to believe that this constistency and constancy of pattern regarding morality, happiness, and success is reflected in God's plans for the world and society. It stands to reason if there is a master plan for the world, and for societies that there would be a master plan at various levels of existence too, like for families and individuals. I like to believe this, and that's one of the things I like most about the gospel of Christ. 

Val's Email Sunday School: The Choice of Nihilism or Redemption

Come Follow Me Mormon 1-6

The chapters in the reading this week are perhaps some of the saddest in the whole Book of Mormon. It’s a story about the decline of a people and a society into annihilation and destruction. What caused this? Why did it happen? Mormon tells us that the people refused to repent, or refused to choose to change and become better.

Initially, when he saw their sorrow, lamentation, and mourning he was hopeful. He thought that God would be merciful again to them and that they’d choose to repent and become better. They would become more Christlike. However, that wasn’t what happened. Instead of becoming humble and being sorrowful unto repentance, they exhibited “the sorrowing of the damned, because the Lord would not always suffer them to take happiness in sin.”

Mormon states, “they did not come unto Jesus with broken hearts and contrite spirits, but they did curse God, and wish to die. Nevertheless they would struggle with the sword for their lives.” He remains sorrowful because he “saw that the day of grace was passed with them, both temporally and spiritually; for I saw thousands of them hewn down in open rebellion against their God . . .” I thought this was interesting because it implies that there was a point of no return. At some point, the day of grace was passed. God is always merciful, so it probably isn’t Him that determines that the day of grace is passed. Instead, it seems to imply that after having been given repeated chances to change and repeatedly choosing open rebellion, and repeatedly choosing to harden their hearts there is a point of no return.  

Mormon helped deliver the people from their enemies three times, but they refused to change. Another interesting part to note is that his people weren’t “the good guys.” They weren’t a righteous people, but they were still given repeated chances to change and become better. They chose not to repent/change of their sins/detrimental behaviors. Mormon told us that “behold, the judgments of God will overtake the wicked; and it is by the wicked that the wicked are punished; for it is the wicked that stir up the hearts of the children of men unto bloodshed.”

All throughout the reading this year I’ve noticed how often the book references people being stirred up to anger, or stirred up to bloodshed. Being angry and murderous wasn’t something inevitable. The anger and desire for revenge and genocide of an entire people was something that some deliberately stoked. A very small number of ill-intentioned people had a drastic and devastating effects on this society’s trajectory. 

When we try to examine what we might learn from this there are a few lessons. We could hope that if a few ill-intentioned people can change the fate of entire societies we could hope that the opposite was also true. We could liken these scriptures unto ourselves and examine whether we are allowing others to stir us up to anger. We must be self aware and exhibit self control as individuals. There are those who would stoke our emotions and stir us up to anger today. We shouldn’t allow ourselves to become pawns in a larger societal game. It isn’t to our benefit, and it isn’t to society’s benefit. We must be masters of our own fates and be conscious of what we are choosing.

Jordan Peterson wrote about the “degeneration of Nihilism” in his book 12 Rules for Life, and spoke of the dangers of wallowing in negative emotions like anger. There’s a predictable progression that individuals or societies follow when they entertain destructive thought patterns and negative emotions. If we allow ourselves to be consumed by these emotions, the pattern of degeneration ends in the same place. When we dwell in anger, we become bitter, and bitterness makes us resentful. When we become resentful, we become cruel, and crueltyis a step on the path towards homicide, and homicidal feelings lead to genocial feelings.

If that’s one end of the spectrum of human emotions, then it seems like the other would encompass love and charity, or the redemption of Christ. In the Sunday School I attended today the teacher talked about the 5 point doctrine of Christ, which was faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, Repentance, Baptism, Confirmation, and Enduring to the end. Essentially this means that first, we have belief in Christ, in a perfect example of love and goodness. We have the standard to which we aspire. Then we have repentance. Repentance is a religious word that basically means change. We change and choose to become better when we know better. Dieter F. Uchdorft said that “True repentance is about transformation, not torture or torment.” Repentance is a tool and a gift that can elevate us above our natural tendency towards degeneration. Baptism is an outward commitment to follow Christ, and confirmation is a gift of guidance and help bestowed on those who commit to follow Christ. The final point in the doctrine of Christ is to endure to the end, or to always seek to improve.

I think we’re all on the spectrum of human emotions working our way towards Nihilism or Redemption. Repentance is the act of changing direction when we realize we are descending towards Nihilism instead of Redemption. The Book of Mormon gives us a broad overview of a people who cycle through periods of degeneration and redemption. The reading today chronicled this people’s last descent into nearly complete physical destruction. The story can serve as a warning to us. Is it possible to live in peace and prosperity when we are on the degenerative path? It certainly seems like physical destruction and murderous behavior may be an outward indication of where we as individuals or societies are on the spiritual spectrum of destruction vs redemption. Clearly, it's better to be aware of this spectrum, and choose a path towards love and charity rather than hate and genocide.