11 January 2025

Honoring God as your best Father and Benefactor

Pursuing what we know of God's purpose and commandments and furthering the understanding and compliance with them.

Bringing honor to your "earthly" father and mother (even if they don't merit much respect) becomes an indication that you place the concept of fatherhood highly and that a chief purpose is to present God this fatherly honor, knowing him to be an exemplary father, honored best by obedience and gratitude and making God's purposes your own. When you were sent to earth, which is distant from God, you could cultivate whatever relationship you wanted with your Heavenly Father, including none at all. There would be very little overt reaction from the Father either way during life. A worthy God is not raised through compulsion.

This all presupposes that what one desires is within a father's gift to provide. A knowledge and understanding of more feudal forms such as fealty (from faithfulness) and tenure (being a tenant), as humans are living on the Lord's (very proper title) world. Several parables from Christ indicate these relationships very strongly, and that our tenure in this life is pretty much the only thing we can honestly "own". Everything else belongs to the Lord and your acknowledgement of this will be required.

 Your larger future is God the Father's to bequeath, which term I choose specifically. It is nothing that one such as ourselves can either take or earn. If you are to seek a lofty status, such as exaltation, it is most likely to be gifted to you from a father who has seen your ability to hold it in accordance with his wishes and as something lose to his worthy successor.

Of course, God doesn't die and doesn't leave you "his things". He lives on and is actively engaged in his present pursuits, but the expanding nature of the universe lets him gift you "godhood" and a realm to "lord over" without any diminishment to what is his own.  I can see in his expansive holding, his granting you a galaxy or some such, which also expands as much for the one getting the gift as the one giving.

Our ultimate example of a person who has received the Father's bequeath is Jesus Christ. He accomplished a very heavy assignment, which "pleased" the Father, that can be translated into the gifting of exaltation. I don't think others are meant to do what Christ did specifically, but they are certainly given mortal assignments to perform and opportunity to "please" God.

We reference the parable of the talents where the servants are given stewardship over much. This comes from pleasing the Lord in early, small stewardships. The Lord controls these stewardships and grants them as he wills and as we prove our loyalty to him.

This is where the idea of openness and democracy are revealed as telestial props with God far away. The church and celestial places are the Lord's and not democratic institutions. Stewardship are given via the Spirit which is the telestial conduit to the Lord. 

Temples are not open in democratic ways and cannot be accessed democratically. Bishops authorize priesthood advancement as a standard to meet as opposed to a reward for good behavior or training. This is added responsibility not an honor. The Lord sets standards of responsibility in offices of priesthood and callings, not for convenience or capacity. Think of the talents again. Women in Priesthood would be given as a stewardship from the Lord, not a status or honor or leadership like so many think.

05 January 2025

Hope for a Better World

Is life getting you down?  I get like that often enough when I consume too much news or opinion, but you have to stay in touch with society, only because they will make changes that affect you that you really need to plan for and know about. Otherwise, I might just check out entirely, at least as much as my wonderful wife and autistic son will tolerate.

The prophet Ether lived in a pretty tough time. The government (known as the King) was changing all the time and not by vaguely smooth elections, but typically through insurrections of royal kids against their fathers. Over time, leaders were just rotten guys on the whole but sometimes at least reasonably decent to their followers.  Later, it was just grasping for power and destroying all opposition to their rule, so they were all wicked.

Ether 12:3-4

For he did cry from the morning, even until the going down of the sun, exhorting the people to believe in God unto repentance lest they should be destroyed, saying unto them that by faith all things are fulfilled— 4 Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.

 Ether's teaching was really exotic in a land of evil. He actually told them what they could have, which must have seemed like some fantasy to the people. I think everyone was ready to be destroyed and it was just a matter of when and how much luxury one could acquire and enjoy before the destruction happened.  I would say that most of the people didn't think much about the future, especially an afterlife, in the push to get ahead today and in the immediate tomorrow.

But that is exactly what Ether was preaching about - a better life and afterlife that God offers to those who follow his ways. It isn't an exclusive offer only available to certain people; this is available to ALL that are willing to pursue it. The key is the words SURITY and SURE above. If you do things that God asks you to do, like repenting of your sins, You will ABSOLUTELY get A BETTER WORLD with a promise from a God that you can completely TRUST.

If you have been tricked or promised something that couldn't be delivered, you might get really jaded and un-trusting.  God can be trusted to do what he says especially as he sent Jesus to do his Atonement to overcome sin and death. Jesus did it and God had him do this most difficult thing. Do you trust God yet?

As we learn that God can be trusted to make good on his promises, we can obey him and reap the seemingly impossible rewards he says he will give us.  I, for one, am working to align with God and his purposes and get the rewards promised!

04 January 2025

The Enduring Influence of Women

You have to understand that women are powerful sorts. They can be really good or really evil or something in between. Of course, we can't say women could be evil because they will destroy anyone who makes such an accusation. My basic philosophy is to keep a safe distance from the women unless you are married to one, and then you better keep that one woman very, very happy. If you are blessed (lucky?), she will not have an inclination to see you suffer.

Always start with a bad example...

Read Chapter 8 of the Book of Ether within the Book of Mormon and you will learn about a powerful harpy that the book dare not name, only known as the Daughter of Jared, who practically re-introduces evil into the world of the Jaredite nation.  She seduces her future husband named Akish, and influenced the hubby to murder her father and take his kingship.  Apparently, she was so effective that her sons plotted against Akish and killed their father to take the kingship for themselves, ultimately squabbling amongst themselves and killing their entire tribe and themselves.

It's not every woman can convince every man in her circle to slaughter each other without lifting a finger. That is the kind of power every woman can choose to command.

But remember to follow up with better examples....


Rebekah went off to marry someone she didn't know -  Isaac, son of Abraham. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/ot/gen/27?lang=eng&id=p11-p17#p11

The mother's of Helaman's Stripling warriors that fought but didn't die. - https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/alma/56?lang=eng&id=p47-p48#p47

The harlot in Jericho, who recognized God's people and helped them. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/ot/josh/2?lang=eng&id=p1-p9#p1

Eve in the Garden of Eden understood that having children and learning the difference between good and evil was more important than living a blissful but purposeless life.  https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/ot/gen/3?lang=eng&id=p6-p7#p6