Tag: religion

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life

Gathering – President Eyring

In Stake Conference today, when President Eyring got up to speak he started by saying, “President Taylor (our newly called Stake President) said that he would speak later on gathering – I would like to speak about gathering now.”

President Eyring assured everyone at conference that they were not there by accident, but that the Lord had gathered and continued to gather people in. He said, “None of you are here by accident.” He said that when he was called as Deputy Church Commissioner of Education in 1977 and had to leave Rick’s college, where he had been serving as President, he asked the Presiding Bishop for the data (demographics and church activity I imagine) on all areas within a 20 minute commute from downtown Salt Lake City. He was looking for a place where he could raise his children. He identified “this area” (I’m not sure how specific that was, I imagine that he identified the southeast area of Bountiful) as the place to move his family. He did not know how to go about finding a house there (he was still living in Rexburg) but he mentioned to one of the men who came from the church to load the moving truck and move his family that he wanted to live in that area. The man told him that he was a bishop in that area and would find him a house. That is how he came to live on Chokecherry Drive. He said that when they moved in they could feel that it was a very special place but they knew that over time it would change. He said that all the time he has lived there, whenever someone moves out someone else wonderful moves in to take their place.

I thought it was amazing how his concerns were the same as ours and how his reaction to that little Eden was the same as ours too. We know that it will change, but being on the vanguard of young families moving in we have the opportunity to help it remain a very special place.

President Eyring gestured with an embracing motion as he quoted from the Savior, :”How oft have I gathered you as a hen gathereth her chicks.” He told a story of a visit he made in recent months to a place in northern California where he had not previously visited. While there he noticed a man who, he was informed, was visiting the church for the first time. As he observed the man through the course of the meetings he expected that the man would never return to such a foreign place. After the meetings the Bishop asked President Eyring if he would meet someone in his office. It was the man wtih the beard whom he had been observing through the day. President Eyring said that he was prompted to do something that is very uncharacteristic of himself – he told the man that the next time they saw each other he would be a member of the church. He recently got a message from that bishop that the man had been baptized and would be confirmed the next day.

After the story President Eyring said the following:

I don’t always  know what the Lord desires, but I love Him and will do what He asks of me – and He knows that I will. Because of that I would step out of character when speaking to that man. I pray each day to know what the Lord would have me do and to do it. In answer to my prayers He lets me know what He would have me do. (This includes some paraphrasing and I added the emphasis here.)

President Eyring then challenged us that we would pray daily to know the will of the Lord. He assured us that we could do whatever we were called to do by the Lord and he emphasized parenthood as a calling that nobody is prepared to do on their own (meaning without the Lord).

The more that I record and read of my account of this talk, the more President Eyring sounds like Nephi in his willingness to be led and his desire to do the will of the Lord no matter what that turned out to be. He also sounds a bit like Nephi the son of Helaman in Helaman 10 who has the assurance that the Lork knows that he will do nothing contrary to the will of the Lord.

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life

An Apostolic Testimony

President Eyring was attending our ward today and at the end of the testimony meeting, as the first counselor in our bishopric was about to stand and close the meeting, President Eyring leaned over to him and apparently asked for the opportunity to bear his testimony. President Eyring stood and bore his testimony regarding President Monson as the prophet in our day and also his testimony regarding the mission of the Savior.

Besides being a bit distracted by a couple of fidgety children I was so grateful for the opportunity to listen to the testimony of a special witness of Christ. I was reminded that one of our great blessings in the church is the knowledge of where such testimony can be found. His testimony also provided a very convenient reference in my Sunday school class as we talked about the fact that all the prophets and apostles since Joseph Smith have consistently shared their witness of Christ and His mission.

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culture life

Christmas Program

As I was sitting in Sacrament meeting today anticipating the start of our Christmas program the thought struck me of how appropriate it is that we should celebrate the birth of our Savior through so much music. It seems to me that we use music more at this season of the year than for any other celebration.

I think it is appropriate to use so much music for such an important celebration because music communicates with people emotionally and intellectually in a very powerful way. In fact, it may be the generous use of music that helps to keeps our cultural celebration of Christmas so strong. While so many other holidays turn into nothing more than a day off of work or an excuse to hold retail sales Christmas has never yet been relegated to such a bleak fate. Despite any complaints by some about “Happy holidays” or “x-mas” the fact is that I have never found any holiday that carried more spiritual meaning that Christmas. Whatever of secularism might be carried by the figure of Santa Claus we still can hardly go anywhere without some display of the religious side of the season whether we are seeing Menorah’s or nativities or hearing references to Bethlehem and wise men.

An objective analysis would undoubtedly show that Christmas carries more religious significance in our secular society than any other holiday (with the possibility that Easter might rival it for religious/spiritual content). I really would not be surprised if music played a large part in keeping so much of that meaning intact.

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life

“Light of the World”

I’m not sure how long it has been there, but website for the Mormon church’s children’s magazine, The Friend, has a place where kids can Color Online. Savannah was playing there this morning during my scripture study and she called out to me that she was going to put a background of light on the picture of Jesus in the picture she was coloring “because it’s one of His names, ‘the light of the world.'” I thought that was very insightful – I wonder if any artists thought of it that way back when it was standard practice to place a halo of light around the face of Christ.

Categories
culture politics

Challenge vs Competition

I don’t recall what triggered the thought, but over the Thanksgiving break I had a little insight into the vital difference between a challenge and a competition. A competition is something like a sporting event where there can only be one winner (excluding ties). It is an event where the winner is determined as a function of relative position. A challenge is an event where there can be multiple winners because winning is determined as a function of achievement based on static criteria.

A marathon provides a good example of both. Winning a marathon is a competition. The winning time of any one race has no bearing on the outcome of other races. Your time in one race may be too slow to win while the same time in another race would constitute first place. Finishing a marathon is a challenge – any marathon runner will congratulate any other on the accomplishment of running that 26.2 mile race. Finishing a marathon in under 3 hours is a challenge – no matter how many people accomplish the feat, my finishing in under three hours does not diminish your success in finishing in under three hours.

The distinction here might seem trivial, but I believe that we can find valuable benefits from being able to distinguish between a competition and a challenge. For some non-athletic examples: getting elected to a political office is a competition (assuming you are not unapposed) while getting into heaven is a challenge.

Categories
culture National politics

The Case for Telling the Truth

Perhaps it would be better to say that this is the case for tellling “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” After months and months of watching the various arguments for and against Proposition 8 in California – which would define marriage as being between a man and a woman – I finally spoke up. I could no longer sit silent while people on both sides of the debate obscured the truth of what was to be decided.

The way this is the case for telling the truth is that one side received all the benefit as both sides argued about related obscurities that were all false to one degree or another. Those opposing Prop. 8 claim that the measure was designed to institutionalize discrimination. They benefit from this because of the emotional reaction that good people have to the idea of discrimination. When the proponents of Prop. 8 focus their arguments on the secondary effects of legalizing gay marriage, using fear as their tool in place of truth the opponents can easily counter with the idea that the repurcussions of this action will not have a ripple effect citing the fact that gay marriage has already been legal for months (and naturally within those few months we would already be seeing the side effects of such a monumental social change as redefining the primary unit of society).

If the advocates for Prop. 8 would stick to publishing the truth of their position and defending themselves accurately against the false claims of discrimination their opponents would not be able to obscure the real issue as effectively as they have been able to do. The voters would be left to decide on the issue of whether marriage is a construct of man or something more eternal in nature. If the issue were decided based on the real argument then it would almost not matter the outcome of the vote – the people would be declaring where they stand on the issue and the debate would serve as an opportunity to teach the truth.

As it stands, the debate has circled around the central issue and been hijacked by half-truths and high emotions. The people of California will decide the issues based on viceral reactions rather than honest or clear belief. Many will make a choice that they honestly do not understand and cannot be fully held accountable for that choice which means the issue will undoubtedly be revisited without the benefit of so many people already understanding what it being decided.

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life

Excited for Conference

Things have been so busy around here that I have not really had time to look forward at all. In the back of my brain I have known that this was the weekend of General Conference, but this afternoon that realization came to me as if I had not known and I recognized a real excitemnet buried inside me. I am looking forward to this weekend and the opportunity to put the rest of the world on the backburner while I get some much needed nourishment of spirit.

Categories
culture life

Racing Together

We were discussing Concern for the One today in class and as we talked about how some people get lost because they grow weary one of the class members, Travis Staten, talked about a marathon that he ran recently. He talked of how weary people get running a marathon and about how everybody encourages their fellow runners. I thought of my own marathon experience and I can attest to that spirit of cooperation. Not only the encouragement from other runners, but the verbal encouragement from those spectators who are watching and cheering for all the runners passing them on the course. I suspect that the selfless instinct to bolster the spirits of all those who are racing “against you” comes from the fact that the course is so long that you are competing against yourself or against the course more than against your fellow competitors. Finishing is an accomplishment.

Travis summed it up perfectly by describing the feeling among runners as:

I’m going to make it – and so are you.

When he said that I realized that our approach to life should be exactly the same.

Categories
culture

Living With Differences

In another case of starting to write a comment and discovering that the response would be a full-blown post, Frank wrote this excellent post about how we treat people who do things that run contrary to our values. He speaks of these things as differences, but I think it is important to recognize that while some of the situations are mere differences, many are cases where one party views the difference as a matter of moral importance. The reason that I think this is important is that I think that people act differently when they fear for their own moral standing than when the difference has no moral bearing.

There seem to be two main reasons why people shun or harshly treat others who are, or act, differently. One reason is that they fear the difference because they do not understand it, the other reason is that they fear that they will become different themselves if they do not repel those who exhibit the differences in question. In the first case, the solution is education regarding the difference so that there is no longer a need to fear. In the second case there are situations where quarrantine may be appropriate, such as with lepers in Biblical times.

With regards to issues that are perceived as having a moral bearing understanding of oneself might be the best way to differentiate between cases where acceptance is the proper course and times when quarrantine is the more desireable course. For many young people in the LDS culture there are two conflicting messages regarding interaction with those who are different – one is to be an example and befriend others, the second is to avoid the appearance of evil and steer clear of corrupting influences (which can easily be perceived as, or even turn into, shunning). If a person understands their own strengths and weaknesses they can decide when it is best to try to befriend someone who does something contrary to their values and when to avoid someone who would have a detrimental influence on them.

For example, if Person A smokes (to take a real, but hopefully non-political example) and Person B objects to smoking, Person B can decide whether to avoid Person A if Person B has enough self-awareness to know if they have any temptation to experiment with smoking. If Person B has such a propensity then they have good reason to stay away from Person A and others who smoke in order to address their own weakness (the weakness of Person B). If Person B has no inclination to experiment with smoking then they need not avoid Person A. Considering the medical effects of second-hand smoke, Person B may still choose to avoid person A while Person A is smoking but otherwise they may quite safely interact with Person A.

To put it another (generic) way, if we understand ourselves and seek to understand the differences that we encounter in others, we will be able to determine how dangerous those differences are to us personally and we will be able to treat others with respect while still protecting ourselves from those differences which play to our own weaknesses.

Categories
life

How Firm a Foundation

I woke up this morning with my brain making up variations on “The wise man built his house upon the rock.” (ex. “The wise man lived his life above reproach” or “The wise man spent his time above the fray.”) I really don’t know why I was thinking of that, but it fit right in with the lesson in Sunday school today about the foundation that we build our lives upon. One of the great things that Sister Monson did with the lesson was that she started off playing How Firm a Foundation while the class sang verses 1, 2, & 7. I love that hymn – like many that have extra verses written outside the music, we don’t sing the later verses nearly enough.

As we were talking about what it means to build our lives on a foundation of Christ I realized that our real foundation in life, no matter what we might profess, is the thing that never gives when push comes to shove. It reminded me of a discussion that took place on the blog of a friend in early 2007:

The key is to remember that there can be only one rock upon which to build your knowledge. Everything else must be window-dressing. . . Even your rock must be open for reexamination because if it can’t withstand a challenge it isn’t much of a rock.

If the foundation that we claim to be built on can be shifed by the challenges that we face then it is more sand than rock.