Being the Fruit

 In our fast and testimony meeting today, one of the littlish kids shared a different take on the tree of life. He said that Heavenly Father (or maybe Christ - I don't remember for sure) is the tree and we are the fruit, and that some of us are on the tree but some aren't because Jesus hasn't finished making us yet.

He went on to say some good stuff about Jesus helping us grow and He is always there with us to help us, but I found myself thinking about people as the fruit on the tree.

When Nephi had his tree of life vision, he said the tree represents the love of God (not too far from what the boy said, actually). So, as a piece of that fruit, how can I help people partake of that love?

I think it's something worth thinking about.

Christmas Links

Advent
"The Light Began to Come Back to My Heart"
Christmastime: When Our Souls Can Sing
Joy in Times of Lament
Open This Gift and Try Not to Cry
He Did It

Long-Procrastinated Piece To Be Titled Later

Every so often, I learn (usually through facebook) that somebody I used to know has been having struggles with their testimony. My response to such news usually involves an evaluation of my own testimony. As I was doing so several weeks ago - definitely over a month, but I can't say exactly how long - I did as the Lord directed Oliver Cowdery to do and cast my mind back to the sure communications I had received. And I realized something.

My strongest confirmation had changed.

As a young teenager, I bore my testimony in seminary. On this particular occasion, I clearly remembered the confirmation I had received upon praying about the Book of Mormon after I finished reading all the way through for the first time. It had only been a couple years earlier, so that makes sense. During my recentish personal inventory, I remembered that such an event had occurred, but the intervening years had majorly eroded the impression.

I now have a different most clear and vivid witness that the Lord wants me in this church, along with a few newer, subtler messages confirming the same thing.

I have often heard in church that gaining a testimony isn't something that you just do once and check it off your list. You have to continually work at building and strengthening it. I had understood that you need to be continually strengthening it because life is going to get more challenging, so you need a firmer foundation. But now I see an additional reason in that memory fades. And as memories fade, so, too, can the knowledge the events brought you.
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I intended to wait a week or two, then write this up and post it. Obviously, I didn't get to it quite that quickly. Then this morning, I decided I would definitely get to it today.

Christmas Links

I'm changing things up a tiny bit this year and including a couple videos directly in the post instead of just linking to them.

The Time My Family Celebrated "Un-Christmas"

He Is the Brightest Light

How December 25 Became Christmas

'Tis Better to Give

Notable Lyrics: A set of lyrics quizzes in which getting a word in one verse gives you the words for the given note(s) in all verses. About half are Christmas songs.

Memories of Christmas Past

The Christmas Story Told in Quilts

Do You Look Like Christ?

Christmas Links

Wise Men Are Seeking
Feed My Lambs
Knowest Thou the Condescension of God?
Why Do We Celebrate the Pagan-Influenced Christmas and Easter?
Is Christmas or Easter More Important?
Messiah Clicky-oke: Sing (and click) along with Handel's most famous piece of music

His Sheep Know His Voice

During Sunday School today we had a long discussion about how to tell the difference between inspiration from Heavenly Father and inspiration from the devil. At one point the teacher asked why it is important for us to study out the scriptures and words of our prophets for ourselves rather than just accept them immediately. I had two thoughts on that and shared one of them, which was that by studying ourselves we know the doctrine better and can better compare impressions and ideas to what has already been revealed, but by the time I had expressed that thought I had forgotten the other part of my answer. Well, I remember now and want to share it, but first I will tell a story from my life.

Years ago, right after I had moved to Provo, I learned of a blog some neighbors of mine had made in connection with a series of related pranks they had pulled over the course of a semester. They had each written under a specific pseudonym, but as I read through this blog I couldn't keep track of who had written what. In fact, at one point I thought there might be more pseudonyms than people writing.

Over the next couple of years, I spent a lot of time with these neighbors and became pretty good friends with them. Then we all went our separate ways. Some time after I had last seen these friends, I remembered this blog and felt inclined to read through it again. I found the web address and started reading, expecting to be a little confused about who had posted what again, but it was not so. Within just a couple lines of each post, I knew exactly who had written it. I checked against the credits of a youtube video about their pranks and found that I had been correct. After getting to know these men, I knew their individual voices.

The more time we spend prayerfully studying the words of the Lord, the better our relationship with Him will be, and the better we will be at distinguishing His voice.

Christmas Links

'Twas the Day Before Christmas
Stream Christmas music by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir
History of Handel and his Messiah
Come Let Us Adore Him
The Living Christ: The Testimony of the Apostles
The Condescension of Jesus Christ
Reflections of Christ Art Gallery
Free Music Downloads (Christmas songs are the first three links at the far right)

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)

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.

Easter Movies and Music

A while back I read an article about keeping the focus of your Easter celebrations on Jesus Christ. Most of the suggestions related to making a bigger deal out of Easter, sort of like how we make a huge month-long production out of Christmas. The decoration aspect I'd already thought about and have some ideas for, but after reading the article I started thinking seriously about music.

I have some music that is appropriate for Easter but not a huge variety. Christmas music starts playing on the radio the day after Halloween. We don't really play it at home until after Thanksgiving, at least. But even that would be a long time to make due with just 27 songs, which is what I have for Easter. And my Christmas music also has the benefit of a wide variety of genres. I've got stuff with a pop influence, stuff that's countryish, stuff that's jazzy... but I can count my popular music influenced Easter songs on one hand.

Movies are also a big part of Christmas traditions. People make long lists of must-see Christmas films, and I have a few. Now, if I'm going to increase the significance of Easter in my and my family's lives, I should probably also get a collection of Easter movies for us to watch in the weeks leading up to the holiday. And I do have a couple I think work for the purpose: Easter Dream and The Testaments. But I'm not sure what else to add. I know there are movies about Christ's ministry and the events of the Holy Week in Israel, and I'll probably get one of those, but watching several versions of the same story in a month or so might not go over well. I guess The Robe or Ben Hur could work as something different, but are there any good just plain cute or fun shows set around Easter? I've heard of an old show called Easter Parade but what I've been able to find out about it doesn't sell it as an Easter story. Have any of you seen it? Does it work as an Easter movie?

And do you have any other specific recommendations for Easter music or movies I can add to my list of things to slowly accumulate when I can? Or maybe picture books. It wouldn't hurt to have a few Easter picture books as well.

For Our Day

A couple days ago, a college friend of mine posted one of those picture quote things on facebook. Or maybe she just liked it; I can't find it on her timeline, but it showed up on my feed in connection to her. Anyway, it said something like, So you say God hates homosexuals. Well, he is actually perfectly fine with them and loves them at least as much as heterosexuals. What, you ask for my authority to speak for Him? Well, it's the same as yours.

Well, that actually is pretty true. He does love people with same sex attractions, though these days the distinction the distinction between hate and disapproval towards actions is often lost, especially in this particular conversation. But that isn't really the point of the post; it says we have no right to say what He says.

Yesterday I read this passage in the Book of Mormon:

Now Zeezrom said unto the people: "See that ye remember these things; for he said there is but one God; yet he saith that the Son of God shall come, but he shall not save his people—as though he had authority to command God."

Now Amulek saith again unto him: "Behold thou hast lied, for thou sayest that I spake as though I had authority to command God because I said he shall not save his people in their sins. And I say unto you again that he cannot save them in their sins; for I cannot deny his word, and he hath said that no unclean thing can inherit the kingdom of heaven; therefore, how can ye be saved, except ye inherit the kingdom of heaven? Therefore, ye cannot be saved in your sins."

And thus we see the exact same flawed response to our declarations of God's word. Our reports of what He tells us are misrepresented as us saying He agrees with whatever we want Him to say. But He does speak to His prophets, and through them we can know what His standards and teachings really are.

There's a Heaven

I recently saw a snippet of lyrics from Imagine by John Lennon and got to thinking about it. Specifically, I was thinking about the line "Imagine there's no heaven." And I wondered who would want there to be no heaven. I mean, what in the world could you have against a place of reward for good people? The only reasonable explanation I could think of was that you assume that if there is a heaven there must also be a hell and think that nobody deserves to suffer in hell forever. But that's a huge stretch from what the lyrics actually say.

Then I realized that the song's structure implies that there is a heaven. In the other verses, what we are told to imagine is something opposite to reality. Imagine there's no countries, imagine no possessions, imagine there's no heaven. But in fact there are countries and possessions. So if the song is properly parallel, there must be a heaven.

I know that isn't the message it's supposed to be sending, but it amused me to realize. I wonder if that's why the heaven verse came first - to keep people from noticing, or because if it's different there it doesn't count, or something.

Christmas Links

A couple years ago I decided to make a tradition of posting links to Christmassy things I've found around the internet over the year. I actually haven't noticed many this year, and haven't had much free time to seek them out, so this year's list is pretty short.

Longfellow's Christmas video
Christmas Devotional
Gospel Topic Page

Heavenly Nicknames

Potenial spoiler alert: I briefly discuss something major that happens at the end of the season one finale of Once Upon a Time.

That They May Have Rest

A while back in our fifth Sunday combined Priesthood/Relief Society meeting (must have been March) this verse from the Book of Mormon came up:

And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow.

This led to a discussion because spirits in paradise are busy - we know this from people who have had contact with the spirit world. How is that rest?

One idea that came up that I liked is that maybe the state of rest isn't that they are resting, but that they are well rested - they have energy enough for all they need to do.

Believe in Christ

Some time ago I saw a headline on a magazine cover saying something like, "What do we really know about Jesus?" Intrigued, I later looked up the article online. I was disappointed to discover that instead of telling about what the historical record does have to say about Israel during the time of Christ's life it focused on apparent Biblical inaccuracies, lack of consistency, and conflict between what is written vs. traditions - or even finding contradictions where none really exist, by using lack of Biblical evidence as proof that the traditions are incorrect.

But in the comments section somebody left a link to a response by a Christian columnist. He actually planned to write a series of responses but the main argument of this one is that we should build faith in Christ first and believe in the Bible because of Him, not believe in Him because of Bible. If an inaccuracy seems to come up in studying details of ancient Israel, he argues, then God's purpose for writing the Bible maybe wasn't to provide a good historical account.

We are taught as children that the first principle of the gospel is faith. But not just faith in general, and not faith in the scriptures. No, the fourth Article of Faith specifies that first comes faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This concept is also in the Book of Mormon. Helaman's advice to his sons from the twelfth verse of the fifth chapter of the book bearing his name was referenced a couple times already this conference and I will repeat it here: It is upon our Redeemer, who is Christ, the son of God, that we must build our foundation... a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they will not fall.

The very last sentence from the title page of the Book of Mormon directly addresses the arguments used by the author of the magazine article I read against the Bible. Well, it is specifically about the Book of Mormon, but it applies to both. The sentence? And now, if there are faults they are the mistakes of men; wherefore condemn not the things of God, that ye may be found spotless at the judgement-seat of Christ.

And just prior to that sentence is a segment setting out the purposes of the Book of Mormon, which is "...for the convincing of the Jew and the Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God..." The Book of Mormon is intended as a means to gain a testimony, not as the most important thing to have a testimony of. And that is not the only place it says so. In 2 Nephi, Nephi states, "And now, my beloved brethren, and also Jew, and all ye ends of the earth, hearken unto these words and believe in Christ; and if ye believe not in these words believe in Christ. And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ, and he hath given them unto me; and they teach all men that they should do good."

So, from that scripture, I think it is worthwhile to ask, is our testimony of Christ because he is spoken of in the scriptures or do we believe the scriptures because they testify of Christ?

Christmas Links

Last year, I thought it would be nice to have a special Christmassy post up on Christmas day so anybody who found themselves online would have something fitting to read. But I didn't really have a lot of time to plan it out so I just posted links to previous entries on here that seemed to fit the meaning of the holiday. I took it down the next day because it seemed a bit silly to leave a post of links to my other posts laying around.

Then I decided to make a Christmas Link post an annual tradition. But from now on, I will be collecting links to other sites throughout the year and schedule the post to go up early Christmas morning.

Here are this year's offerings. Enjoy.

Stormy
A Gift to the World
10 Free Christmas Songs by MoTab
Rejoice and Be Merry: Nativity Play Music Video
Being a More Christian Christian
1 Free Christmas Song (O Holy Night) by Eclipse
Pay What You Want Christmas Album by Various Artists
First Presidency Devotional Archives