Prayer and Politics

Before every election in my memory, somebody read a letter in church encouraging everybody to be involved in the political process, get informed, and vote. The most recent letter is available to read at mormonnewsroom.org. I have always thought it important to do as the letters advise.

I have also always thought that the results of the elections were important enough that I should make my decisions about how to vote a matter of prayer, but exactly how I pray about my decisions has changed somewhat since I was 18. As I remember, back then I studied the candidates and issues, made choices that seemed logical to me, and then asked if my choices were good or right in a very straightforward, literal following of Doctrine and Covenants 9:8

 But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right.

But after some more experience with seeking help from Heavenly Father in other matters, I've started praying a bit more comprehensively about my decisions. First comes more praying before my studying for discernment and insight. As I study, I tell Him what aspects of the candidates or propositions I think matter most. I tell Him what I'm unsure about. When I start to lean a certain way, I tell Him why, point by point. Because one thing I have noticed is that the more I tell Heavenly Father of my thought process, the more I get out of the prayer. Maybe it's because I'm spending more time praying, giving me more time dedicated to each question for impressions; maybe it's because by actively telling what I am thinking, I am improving my connections with the Father; maybe my this process I am able to solidify my own thoughts. I think it is likely a combination of these factors. So far, I'm feeling pretty good about how my methods have been influencing my decisions.

And while I'm on the topic of politics, here are a couple modern scriptural references about how our government should be:
Doctrine and Covenants 98:4-10
Doctrine and Covenants 134

To Forgive Is Divine

When I was a kid, I got a bit nervous about this verse of scripture:

I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men. (Doctrine and Covenants 64:10)

I interpreted it to mean that people would be forgiven or not based on a whim, and worried that when He got to me, He would feel like not forgiving. I wish that when I'd gotten that impression, I would have remembered this other verse:

Yea, and as often as my people repent will I forgive them their trespasses against me. (Mosiah 26:30)

By the Moon and the Stars in the Sky

I was thinking about swearing on the Bible tonight and I realized that is sort of a strange practice considering what Jesus has to say about oaths.

Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne: Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil. (Matthew 5:33-37)

Marsa Joyoy

A member of one of my facebook groups recently posted a meme thing that has been going the rounds in her circles, saying that you have recently given birth to a daughter and her name must be the first three letters of your mother's name plus the last two letters of your own name.

So, announcement: I am now the mother of a baby girl named Marsa.

Marsa fit in pretty well with the names the other ladies in the group got. But then I tried out the same formula with my sisters' names. And what did they get? Maria. Marte. Maryn.

Every single one of those is a real, reasonably normal name. Unfair!

I was able to console myself with the results I got when I gender-flipped it and used my dad's and brothers' names: Ranam and Ranll. At least Marsa has a decent vowel/consonant distribution.

After that, I played around a bit with other family names. When I was born, I guess I really should have been named Loule or Dorle. And Dad was supposed to have been Othnd. (The men in my family aren't doing too well with name pronouncability, are they?)

My favorite is probably what came up when I moved on to middle names: Joyoy.

Maybe I will name my daughter using this method. After all, who would want to be called Martha Joy or Margaret Joy or Miriam Joy if they could be known as Marsa Joyoy?

Christmas Links

Grace and Christ's enabling and strengthening power
3 Christmas hymn origin stories, lyrics, and performance videos
When Bishop Monson saved Christmas
12 Christmas songs arranged by Mack Wilberg, performed by MoTab
Christmas Is About a Baby
Festival of the Nativity

God is Love

A couple weeks ago in Sunday School, one of the questions (I think from the manual) was Why is it appropriate to say that God is love? We had difficulty answering that question, largely I think because we didn't quite understand what was being asked. It later occurred to me that asking instead what does "God is love" mean? probably would lead to the sort of answers the manual writers were looking for. And I think that basically means that love is the defining characteristic of His character.

But during the lesson, as the discussion about that first question was going on, I thought of one of the questions asked of Christ during His mortal ministry.

But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting (or testing) him, saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. (Matthew 22:34-39)

And since we are told to be perfect, even as our Father in Heaven is perfect, doesn't it just make sense that the greatest commandment is to gain the characteristic that John uses to define Him?

Tell me all your thoughts on God

Because now the chorus to this song is stuck in my head.

Anyway, a friend of mine linked to Mette Ivie Harrison's article Giving Up the Old God on facebook yesterday with the comment, "Some good thoughts! What is your view of God? Is it the real view?"

My response:

There are some good thoughts in there, but some of it doesn't feel quite right. I definitely agree that He is not an arcade game god who gives out prizes when I rack up enough righteousness points, and He doesn't make life a breeze for the good and miserable for the bad. But then in the third to last paragraph, she seems to me to be describing a much more hands-off god than I'm familiar with. Yeah, everything that happens in the world isn't because of His direct intervention, but if I pray for snow on my wedding day for some reason, and He doesn't have some reason it would be better for there not to be snow, then I figure I've got a decent chance of Him sending me snow. Because like she says, He loves us. He wants us to have what's best for us and wants us to be happy, and sometimes He'll directly interfere to help with that happiness.

I'm also not ready to declare that He never hands out tragedies to teach people lessons. I figure just letting the world proceed naturally does provide us with a lot of good hardships to learn from, but at the very least those plagues in Egypt back in Moses' day were from Him, and maybe He occasionally sends me a specially-designed trial. Elder Eyring definitely believes he was sent a trial from God after praying for one, according to his conference talk in April 2102. And I'm pretty sure there's reference in the scriptures to Him sending His people trials to humble them, which upon rereading that section might be closer to what she meant.

And as for whether my view of God is the real view, I have to conclude that my view is probably not complete, but I think I'm on the right track.