A Curious Instrument

In the beginning, Adam and Eve were given a commandment to "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it" ( Genesis 1 :28). This is a key part of the " Agenda of God ", where men and women couple through marriage and seal themselves together through covenant with God to bring children into mortality and raise them up to follow Christ toward the life that God leads, or exaltation. We may use different words to describe it these days, but this is the same plan that God introduced to our first parents many millennia ago. There are some married couples of men and women that, despite their best efforts, cannot have children. As this is through no fault of their own, God doesn't hold them culpable for that part of his first commandment to Adam and Eve - they still came together as instructed and sealed themselves together through covenant. There are also people who cannot find a righteous opposite-sexed mate, but keep God's commandments in eve...

Churches are something of a community.  Many are communities of affinity, a gathering of people who see the world and devotion in a similar way.  They can also be very fluid communities, adding and removing members when such religious/cultural affinity or proximity shifts, either individually or collectively. This is likely an undercurrent of the current ecumenism among many Christians. There is an interesting formation of this on the outskirts of my own "faith tradition":  The Community of Christ .  This is a group of disaffected followers of Joseph Smith that collected in the decades after his death and ultimately morphed into a feel-good, easy-going faith community centered around peace. Its "community" moniker has become central to its existence and is a good example of putting the concept of community before almost anything else. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints  (LDS) also built communities, especially in its Pioneer era, that are still very...

Some want to know why the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints behaves in the way it does and why it accepts some behaviors and not others. In the strange climate of belief that Christ covers all behavior in his never-ending shroud of love, it can be hard to see why a church that considers itself the only organization actually created and led by Christ acts in certain ways. Actually, I think the actions of the Church of Jesus Christ can be readily understood and perhaps even predicted by an understanding of the "Agenda of God", which goes something like this:  to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ as restored through Joseph Smith;  to provide authoritative ordinances;  to administer God's covenants; and  to preach obedience and righteousness that lead people to exaltation . The goal of Christ and his Church is exaltation , the life that God enjoys. The conditions of exaltation are readily known: entering and keeping the temple covenant sealing together of...

The "light of Christ" might be much like the "tribal" subconscious memory of your pre-earth commitments that niggle at you and help you recognize the truth when you see it.  I wouldn't be surprised if most depression and feeling wrong is a person's neglect or even fight against the commitments that were burned into your soul when you chose to follow Christ into mortality - the only way you get here on earth.  Such things can be the consequences of avoiding or fighting your promises to follow the  Agenda  of God. Everything about life needs to be viewed through the lens of bringing ourselves, our spouses then children, and others to the altar of Christ: this is the manifestation of LOVE that matters.  If you truly love God, you will invest totally in his  Agenda .  If you love your "neighbor", you say the truth of Christ to them, so they can "remember" (the light of Christ) their pre-earth commitments and can choose to act on them.  Any...

Here is a wonderful discourse on "Visitors Welcome" directly from Jesus Christ himself. 3 Nephi 18:28-32 28 And now behold, this is the commandment which I give unto you, that ye shall not suffer any one knowingly to partake of my flesh and blood unworthily, when ye shall minister it; 29 For whoso eateth and drinketh my flesh and blood unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to his soul; therefore if ye know that a man is unworthy to eat and drink of my flesh and blood ye shall forbid him. 30 Nevertheless, ye shall not cast him out from among you, but ye shall minister unto him and shall pray for him unto the Father, in my name; and if it so be that he repenteth and is baptized in my name, then shall ye receive him, and shall minister unto him of my flesh and blood. 31 But if he repent not he shall not be numbered among my people, that he may not destroy my people, for behold I know my sheep, and they are numbered. 32 Nevertheless, ye shall not cast him out of your synagogu...

I wrote this bit of an essay some years ago.  It came to mind several times since and I shared the concept of "the Utah cultural center" with others recently and there was general agreement that it rang true with their experience in LDS-dominated places.  "Utah" here can mean an LDS-dominated place (like the State of Utah) or the attitude of only associating in a significant way with certain Latter-Day Saints of the same background. Many people think that where they live and the occupation that they pursue are the basic manifestations of themselves. Can I redirect you into a different way of thinking? Over the years, I have become convinced that it is who we are (our background), who we are striving to become (our attitudes and activities), and (perhaps most importantly) the people that we touch which should be the attributes that define us the most and steer our future plans. Each of us need an ultimate goal to attain, a goal that defines our lives and give purpose...

In updating this, I see that it is a fore-bearer for the Agenda of God .  The concept didn't arise out of nowhere! Often enough on this blog, I have spoken of exaltation, or becoming as God. One could look on that goal as being like a destination. Others, in this case Jesus Christ, have reached the destination of exaltation and have mapped out a path that we can follow to come to the same place.  I have sometimes called this the Mariner's Log  and those within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints often call this the Plan of Salvation . Whatever the name, the road to take and the destination to which it leads are the same. As with any destination, as log as you are on the proper road, faced in the right direction, and moving forward, you will reach it. Prophets and the Savior himself called this road the " straight and narrow path that leads to eternal life." It doesn't matter how slow you move as long as you are on this path, you will reach the promis...

"Jesus loves us all unconditionally..." From the way so many people behave (beyond spoken rationalizations), they think that they are doing Jesus some great favor in letting him be around them.  "Can I bring you your slippers?"  "Would you like a softer pillow?"  To these questions from the Christ-ish figure which most people demand, a spitting in the face is what those same people give as a first answer, and then say:  "You are not offering me enough to be acceptable as my Savior.  My Jesus would do everything so I don't have to do, well, anything!" From all the talk, you would think that one of our purposes in life is to judge whether this Jesus character fulfils our grandest desires at zero cost to us. In holy writ, it reads the other way around: The Lord is judging us to see if we are fit to be one of his people - if we offer him our "broken hearts" and our "contrite spirits". Overly-self-compassionate Jesus-demanders ...

I have heard some lately that say a Christian walk brings peace in our lives, which I have experienced at times. I don't want to appear contrary (but you know that I get a bit of a kick out of being contrary anyway), but Christ himself said that peace wasn't going to be his particular purpose. Matthew 10 : 32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. 33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. 34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. 35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. 36 And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. 37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And he that taketh not his cross...

I have gotten to a wondrous period in the Book of Mormon record in my slow reading. Christ had recently come to establish his gospel and his church and all the people have converted to discipleship to the Lord and the disciples he chose and ordained to lead his church are already about their assigned work.  The condition that Mormon describes most during this blessed time is that there was "no contention" in the land. Christ had made the point often that there should be "no disputations" among the people on points of the Lord's doctrine and ordinances. The people seem to have taken this to heart and the conditions at the time was described as "continual peace". Wouldn't all of us enjoy such a state? Sadly, in our times, there are evil forces at work which breed many disputations and much contention, leaving no room for peace. If one word could describe this day, it would be "compulsion" to my eyes. This is easy enough to see in political...

This isn't the first or second  or third blog post about prosperity here, but it comes up in the Book of Mormon on a regular basis, including instructions on how to obtain it .  In this blog post, we investigate some actions that can be taken to lose the prosperity that righteousness merits. First, just a recap of what "prosperity in Christ" looks like:  4 Nephi 1 23 And now I, Mormon, would that ye should know that the people had multiplied, insomuch that they were spread upon all the face of the land, and that they had become exceedingly rich, because of their prosperity in Christ. There is something here that makes social scientists jump:  The entire idea that people multiplying happened at the same time as people getting rich.  It works the exact opposite way in our time - when people become rich, they have less children.  This is a rock-hard doctrine of our times, but apparently not a feature among the righteous followers of Jesus Christ. What was t...

If the biggest issue with Joe Biden was his verbal gaffs and physical degeneration, that can be forgiven with his age. Personally, I want him and his ilk gone for their devotion to turning America into a weak state of dependent "citizens" that obey the dictums of the government without resistance and stands stupidly by as their economy is destroyed by "leaders" who enrich the ruling class and guarantee permanent power to the current global elites. In spite of what is said of Joe Biden's competency, his behavior is most likely upsetting the apple-cart of the powerful that he has served so faithfully for so many years, the people who made and maintain that "swamp" that Donald Trump speaks of. The current hysteria about Biden's fitness has more to do with his ability to sustain the practical enslavement of most of the American people to a dependency on government handouts and favors meant to buy votes. We need to convince more Americans that their vot...

I continue the theme of Christ's love as expressed through his atonement and condescension through taking on himself our life travails and suffering as we do. Jesus understands us and our sorrows and tolerated injustices quietly and far beyond any that we might endure. He deserved far better treatment in life and got far worse than he deserved, yet his supreme acts were not to justify himself - he triumphed for our deliverance from sin and death. Isaiah 53 and Mosiah 14 1 Yea, even doth not Isaiah say: Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? 2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground; he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorr...