So I've recently had an interesting idea lodge itself into my head.
Missionaries have study time built into their daily schedule: one hour of free study, by themselves. This has been a great blessing in my life because I have been able to understand, to some limited degree, just how applicable and relevant the scriptures (that is to say, The Holy Bible, The Book of Mormon, The Doctrine and Covenants, and The Pearl of Great Price available here) in today's day and age. Basically, despite our technology, society today faces essentially the same problems that people have faced throughout human history. Human nature is still largely the same, we just have cooler toys.
The idea that I have in my head is this: the word of God can be used to bring us closer to God (and therefore make us happier) or keep us from God (and therefore make us miserable.) In The Book of Mormon, there is a symbolic dream that refers to the spiritual condition of each and every individual person. (1 Nephi 8, the meaning of elements of the dream given in 1 Nephi 11) One element of the dream is a "rod of iron", which represents the word of God. People who clung to this rod of iron were able to receive the love of God, despite having their path obscured by mists of darkness. Those who did not cling to this rod wandered off the path and were lost. A little later in the Book of Mormon,(1 Nephi 13) a prophet of God is able to see the history of the world, past and future. Shortly after he sees the ministry of Christ and the 12 Apostles, he sees the devil deceiving the world using a church. The devil brings the saints of God (all followers of God) into bondage with "a yoke of iron."
I've read these passages multiple times, but it was only recently that I noticed that the rod and the yoke are made of the same material: iron. So I pondered for a little bit. I thought along the lines of: what is the signficance of that fact? And, I have an anwer. Of course, this is entirely my own opinion, but so is this entire blog (aside from the links I put in). The answer that I received is that the "yoke of iron" represents the evil use, misue, and abuse of Holy Writ.
Here's an example of how scripture can be entirely misused to suit one's motives:
In the Old Testament, it says that "children suck" (Genesis 21:7) Therefore, children are not good, because they suck.
Of course this thinking is entirely wrong. Modern connotations of words were applied to a thing where it wasn't intended at all, scripture is quoted without any context whatsoever, and the conclusion contradicts what the scriptures actually teach. (For example, Psalms 127:3-5 and Matthew 19:13-15)
It is that type of logic that enables the word of God to be used as a form of bondage. It is that type of thinking that has led to the very ugly parts of religious history. Such things are not of God, but are of the devil, plain and simple. The devil loves to misquote and twist scripture (Luke 4:9-13)
Our own knowledge of the scriptures can enable us to see through the twisting of scripture. But you don't have to be learned in the scriptures, or ancient languages, or history, or anything else really, in order to understand when they aren't used properly. God will not have us without any guidance. We can ask of Him, through prayer, and we will receive the truth. (James 1:5-6, Moroni 10:4-5)
This is a topic that I feel stronly about. That is because, anyone who is familiar with history can see that bad things have happened when the word of God is ignored and/or misunderstood. While scripture is contained within the forms of literature and language, it cannot be fully understood by academic understanding alone. Since they were written by the spirit of prophecy, which is testimony of Jesus Christ, (Revelation 19:10), scripture can only be truly understood by one having a similar Spirit. Having academic knowledge can help, but that it not what we are to rely on. We are to have faith and seek the guidance of the Holy Ghost. Consider this:
"Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Corinthians 2:12-14) Just using our natural thinking alone will not help us understand what we need to. In the words of Hugh Nibley, "The essential information for solving almost any problem or answering almost any question is all brought together in the scriptures, but it is not put together for us there."
It is my testimony that the scriptures are meant for our guidance through life. Everyone is going to have their challenges, none are immune to that fact of life. When we have regular scripture study and live what we understand of them and learn from them, we are able to get through our challenges better. We learn from our experiences and are able to see the good in an otherwise bad thing.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
The Golden Rule and Optimism
"Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets." Matthew 7:12
This is the passage often referred to as "the golden rule." In essence, it says: If you want people to treat you a certain way, them you treat them that way. Sounds like a simple idea, but it has immense implications. One implication that I've found in my life is that I am much more optimistic about the future.
Lately I've had the opportunity to consider optimism and whether it's a valid outlook on reality and history. I served 4.5 months, middle of October to middle of February, in Clearlake, California. This place used to be a tiny resort town, because the lake called Clearlake used to be a tourist and vacation attraction in the state of California. Well at some point Clearlake stopped being clear, and as a result, the industry supporting that town left. Nothing else has replaced that. A large portion of that town is unemployed, and has had a history of drug and alcohol use, and that's if they aren't using now. The kids that live there largely don't know any better type of life, and so they cause a lot of damage to themselves, family, and friends without realizing the full implications of their actions. The people that I talked to regularly seemed to have no hope, and no manners either.
That's sounds pretty depressing right? I was pretty bummed out when I was first working there. I was miserable, and the place felt like a prison.
One day, I realized that the people that live in that place are largely the "forgotten people", or the downtrodden, of society: drug addicts, those with mental disorders, the poor, and the immediate family of such people, especially the children. Society at large seems to have given up on these people, written them off as somehow less than human. These people have hard lives. Some of that hardness is the result of their own choices, and some of it is the result of where they live and their economic standing. Whatever the source of the hardness in their lives doesn't truly matter because these people are in need of hope and kindness, and Clearlake seemed to have a tragically short supply of both.
So, I decided to try something new: be the type of person that I hoped to find. I wanted to find polite, hopeful people trying their hardest to make a better situation for themselves and their family. So I needed to be that type of person, and show it. This took me a while, but I was able to have those things more in my thoughts than when I first arrived at Clearlake. Once that happened, I found people like that. And some people that I had written off in my mind as not worth the effort to talk to showed that they were indeed worth the effort of talking to. Of course, there were still those had no desire to change, and while I was sad for their sakes, I also realized that people are capable of using their agency in order to change at almost any point in their lives. I cannot, and neither can anyone else, force a positive and uplifting change to happen to another person. At some point, they have to make the choice themselves to change.
No one is capable of living a perfect sinless life. It is part of human nature to err in judgment and make mistakes. Sometimes the mistakes are small, and sometimes they are huge. The only person that has ever lived a sinless life has been Jesus Christ. As such, we need to keep in mind that when working with other people, that we too are imperfect. Christ taught in the New Testament that we need to refrain from making judgments of other people because we have our faults and those faults obstruct our view. (Matthew 7:1-5, Luke 6:41-42) To put this idea into bumper sticker language: "Don't judge me because I sin differently than you do." In fact, a member of the First Presidency of the church recently talked about this. (Click here for that talk in various formats.)
In closing, please remember that everyone has moral agency, the ability to discern and choose between good and evil. There are going to be somethings that are simply beyond our ability to control or influence. But, we always have control of our attitude and our outlook. When we dwell on how awful the world is, how unjust society can be, and how awful our lives are, we are missing the good things of the world. Yes, there is evil, and it is prevalent in modern society. But, by choosing to be optimistic, we are combating the evil, and that is something that requires a lot of effort and is worth the struggle. Being optimistic does not, by itself, make one blind to the existence of human sufferings and trial. What being optimistic does is allows you, as it did me, to face those problems and find how to address those issues far better than a pessimistic, self-defeating attitude. part of my testimony of the gospel revolves around faith. If we have faith, we are more likely to find/achieve what we are looking for. If we have faith that there isn't much, if any, good left in the world, then we are likely to find that. Likewise, if our faith is toward optimism, you will find good in people.
This is the passage often referred to as "the golden rule." In essence, it says: If you want people to treat you a certain way, them you treat them that way. Sounds like a simple idea, but it has immense implications. One implication that I've found in my life is that I am much more optimistic about the future.
Lately I've had the opportunity to consider optimism and whether it's a valid outlook on reality and history. I served 4.5 months, middle of October to middle of February, in Clearlake, California. This place used to be a tiny resort town, because the lake called Clearlake used to be a tourist and vacation attraction in the state of California. Well at some point Clearlake stopped being clear, and as a result, the industry supporting that town left. Nothing else has replaced that. A large portion of that town is unemployed, and has had a history of drug and alcohol use, and that's if they aren't using now. The kids that live there largely don't know any better type of life, and so they cause a lot of damage to themselves, family, and friends without realizing the full implications of their actions. The people that I talked to regularly seemed to have no hope, and no manners either.
That's sounds pretty depressing right? I was pretty bummed out when I was first working there. I was miserable, and the place felt like a prison.
One day, I realized that the people that live in that place are largely the "forgotten people", or the downtrodden, of society: drug addicts, those with mental disorders, the poor, and the immediate family of such people, especially the children. Society at large seems to have given up on these people, written them off as somehow less than human. These people have hard lives. Some of that hardness is the result of their own choices, and some of it is the result of where they live and their economic standing. Whatever the source of the hardness in their lives doesn't truly matter because these people are in need of hope and kindness, and Clearlake seemed to have a tragically short supply of both.
So, I decided to try something new: be the type of person that I hoped to find. I wanted to find polite, hopeful people trying their hardest to make a better situation for themselves and their family. So I needed to be that type of person, and show it. This took me a while, but I was able to have those things more in my thoughts than when I first arrived at Clearlake. Once that happened, I found people like that. And some people that I had written off in my mind as not worth the effort to talk to showed that they were indeed worth the effort of talking to. Of course, there were still those had no desire to change, and while I was sad for their sakes, I also realized that people are capable of using their agency in order to change at almost any point in their lives. I cannot, and neither can anyone else, force a positive and uplifting change to happen to another person. At some point, they have to make the choice themselves to change.
No one is capable of living a perfect sinless life. It is part of human nature to err in judgment and make mistakes. Sometimes the mistakes are small, and sometimes they are huge. The only person that has ever lived a sinless life has been Jesus Christ. As such, we need to keep in mind that when working with other people, that we too are imperfect. Christ taught in the New Testament that we need to refrain from making judgments of other people because we have our faults and those faults obstruct our view. (Matthew 7:1-5, Luke 6:41-42) To put this idea into bumper sticker language: "Don't judge me because I sin differently than you do." In fact, a member of the First Presidency of the church recently talked about this. (Click here for that talk in various formats.)
In closing, please remember that everyone has moral agency, the ability to discern and choose between good and evil. There are going to be somethings that are simply beyond our ability to control or influence. But, we always have control of our attitude and our outlook. When we dwell on how awful the world is, how unjust society can be, and how awful our lives are, we are missing the good things of the world. Yes, there is evil, and it is prevalent in modern society. But, by choosing to be optimistic, we are combating the evil, and that is something that requires a lot of effort and is worth the struggle. Being optimistic does not, by itself, make one blind to the existence of human sufferings and trial. What being optimistic does is allows you, as it did me, to face those problems and find how to address those issues far better than a pessimistic, self-defeating attitude. part of my testimony of the gospel revolves around faith. If we have faith, we are more likely to find/achieve what we are looking for. If we have faith that there isn't much, if any, good left in the world, then we are likely to find that. Likewise, if our faith is toward optimism, you will find good in people.
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