Proving Contraries

I'm only in the firs 25 minutes of this weeks scripture study by Jared Halverson, but I loved all the thoughts about proving contraries - starting at 1:38

Complementary virtues that keep each other in check: Justice & Mercy - Truth & Tolerance - Love & Law, Faith and Works, Agency and Inspiration - this active tension that allows us to balance in our discipleship. 

Any virtue, when taken to an extreme, becomes a vice (like Javert in Les Miserables who is all justice and no mercy) But Mercy can become a vice too merciful and overly permissive. We're working to find the goldilocks zone in the middle, the celestial center.

As the winds and the waves of culture push us, we seek to keep balance through our extremity.

Jesus always proved these contraries.

The Cross - vertical and horizontal - 

Am I supposed to look up or am I supposed to reach out? YES. 

Love God - Love Thy Neighbor - 

Christianity - there is a contradition and thus constant course correction. Sections 60, 61, 62 are so merciful. Section 63 comes along to remind them of justice and they are called to repentance. Section 64 - Forgiveness which is an amazing combination of justice and mercy itself. The Lord gives messages depending on which extreme we are listing to. 

History (minute 11) the Engligthenment period was too much head, Romantic period came after and overcorrected saying it was all about heart. French Revolution fought hard against tyranny, but overcorrected too much into anarchy. Ask a gymnast - what does balance take? Incredible core strength. That is what the Lord is trying to develop within us all. 

Humbly Bro Halverson suggests that no other religion does as careful a job as the restored church at seeking to balance those furious opposites, those opposite positives. The pulls of the opposites of Catholocism and Protestantism = the Restored Gospel. The genius behind Judaism and Christianity = "Mormonism" (13:30)

Divinity and Humanity in the church - divinity (it is guided by God and contains his true and restored gospel) humanity (it is run by mortals who make mistakes along the way)

We Struggle Even After We Commit to Follow Christ

I really liked this. We shared it with the kids tonight. 

We will still have war with our flesh after we are saved by Jesus. It happened with followers of Christ anciently and it happens with followers of Christ today. I have been saved and I seek God's heart daily, but I struggle daily. My struggles are not the same as others, but we all struggle and are all on our own journey. There is redemption and it's beautiful. And it's for all of us. and that is why we need Jesus. 

I have loved watching the Chosen. It truly has helped me see Jesus through new eyes. I trust that I will continue to be impacted by Christ in the same way they were, I hope it will help me to change and become more like him. I can identify with their struggles, I can identify with their sin patterns, you can identify with their questions, and therefore I can identify with the answers and the solutions:

It's Jesus, it's loving as he loved. By this shall men know ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. 

Birthday Quote

I was over at my parents' house today and was able to take a picture of a quote that my mom shared with me cause she loved it and cause it was on my birthday. Now it is on her fridge. This is from her Mr. Roger's quote desk calendar. 

"It's not honors and the prizes and the fancy outsides of life that ultimately nourish our souls. It's the knowing that we can be trusted, that we never have to fear the truth, that the bedrock of our very being is firm."

I am so thankful to have a bedrock testimony of the Jesus Christ. I love Him, I love his gospel and I love his church so much. He knows I will follow him. I will give all my life to him. He is my firm foundation. 

Living with Contradictions

Listened to this lecture tonight as I did dishes, found it on fb page of Dr. Heward who was just interviewed on the Follow Him podcast. 

Excellent lecture!

Why Doesn't God (Fill In Blank)??

Lily and I just had a little conversation about God's justice when we read about this sweet little boy, who I think is just barely 2 years old, from the Worldwide Unified facebook page:

"My sweet baby boy is dying from a rare genetic disease and we are asking all to please pray and spread awareness so he can receive the treatment he needs. More info can be found on my personal bio. Thank you."

So Lily asked me: "Why didn't God heal every leper?" "Why does he let some people suffer and let other people control their lives?" (like mother's who choose to abort their baby - the baby didn't get to choose, their life got controlled by someone else).

It reminded me of this article that I've posted before - about winning debates against God. This time I noticed two comments, one by Janet: I remember one day when I was a teenager, in frustration I "informed" God that the world was a big mess, but I had some good ideas on how He could fix it if He'd only ask me! I distinctly heard His response, "My dear, you can't even manage yourself so what makes you think you can manage the world?" He had a good point. Since that time, I've been less inclined to judge God's ability to manage His children as a loving Father, and I try harder to take counsel from His hand.

And the author of the article added this reply in his comment: I should add that in sharing this, I recognize that some will wonder why God would help or attempt to help one individual on their journey while millions suffer, as if small miracles don't count when big problems remain unresolved. Why doesn't he solve global problems now and make everyone better off more directly? In fact, many of us are shocked that God doesn't do things our way. Some conclude that He either must not exist or is simply incompetent based on His failure to accept our arguments and comply with our logical demands. Incredibly, so far He has still failed to stop all disease, eliminate death now (not in the distant future!), ensure high wages for all, prevent climate change, stop tooth decay, provide us with more sustainable packaging materials, reduce traffic jams, redistribute wealth in our direction, and ensure that all students have above-average grades. It takes little more than a third-grade education to recognize the absurdity of God not doing everything our way and failing to distribute unlimited blessings uniformly and immediately. Instead, it seems that He only occasionally works miracles and often rather minor ones, healing a few random people long ago in Israel, for example, instead of providing cures for all globally. So unfair! Believers may opine that His purpose is not to make us as comfortable as possible on earth, but to send us here briefly to learn, grow, face trials, get a body, choose good over evil, etc., however brief the journey. The needs and purposes of each journey may differ, and God's personalized responses may differ wildly from person to person even if they seek Him in faith. For those who view God as a loving parent, some will say that the purpose of parenting is not to spoil kids with all the toys and treats they want now nor to ensure they never have to struggle, study, face consequences, or experience grief and pain, but rather to help them grow, mature, make decisions and realize their own potential, even if it means being sent away from home and facing painful trials, even the risk of failure. Believers will say that each of us are on a unique journey through mortality and that God is there with great love for us and sometimes inspiration, regardless of where our journey takes us or even if we make choices that take us far from His intended path. Some will die or suffer today by His will, others by their errors or the sins of someone else. Some will be guided to avoid a crisis such as a war or a pandemic, while others will be needed to stand in the heat of battle and play a painful role. Some He may try to guide one way or the other, but they may not listen. But many will testify that even in their darkest hours, they found His love and sometimes even tender mercies. We could complain about God allowing harmful viruses to spread at all. We could complain about why millions are trapped in Wuhan and so many are dying. The complaints are many. Answers are few. Certainly we should be concerned and pray for relief and do what we can to help, if we can do something. But whether one is trapped in a prison, a locked-down city raging with disease, or forced to leave home in an unprepared manner, when we turn to Him for guidance, there are blessings that await in our ongoing journey. There may be comfort and peace in times of trial. There may be the "tender mercies" like Nephi experienced on his painful 8-year trek through Arabia that helped shape and prepare him for great things. For some of us, there may be a second chance to get a valuable record that a stubborn soul should have brought. My journey has been a mix of trouble and joy, with many tender mercies but very few of the big miracles that I have wanted. But while His ways are not my ways, I'm gradually learning that for wise and eternal purposes, it's best for me to not criticize His ways and to endure in faith and patience. I fail frequently and am tempted to rail and moan, but am gradually learning that His ways are worth accepting and His gentle, personal whisperings are worth listening to when they come.

It reminded me of Elder Renlund's recent conference talk about Infuriating Unfairness. God has done something about all these problems. God hasn't overcome death for us now, today, but HE HAS OVERCOME it.  Another talk by Elder Hallstrom - Has The Day Of Miracles Ceased? The day of miracles has not ceased

Glory

Senator John McCain Oct 2020 - Foreword to "Devil At My Heels" book by Louis Zamperini:

"Like Louis Zamperini, I learned the truth in war: There are greater pursuits than self-seeking. Glory is not a conceit or a decoration for valor. It is not a prize for being the most clever, the strongest, or the boldest. Glory belongs to the act of being constant to something greater than yourself, to a cause, to your principles, to the people on whom you rely, and who rely on you in return. No misfortune, no injury, no humiliation can destroy it.

"Like Louis, I discovered in war that faith in myself proved to be the least formidable strength I possessed when confronting alone organized inhumanity on a greater scale than I had conceived possible. In prison, I learned that faith in myself alone, separate from other, more important allegiances, was ultimately no match for the cruelty that human beings could devise when they were entirely unencumbered by respect for the God-given dignity of man. This is the lesson many American's, including Louis, learned in prison. It is, perhaps, the most important lesson we have ever learned, 

"Through war, and in peace, Louis Zampernini found his faith."

Divine Discontent

Sister Craig: Divine Discontent: "These prophetic calls to action, coupled with our innate sense that we can do and be more, sometimes create within us what Elder Neal A. Maxwell called “divine discontent.” Divine discontent comes when we compare “what we are [to] what we have the power to become.” Each of us, if we are honest, feels a gap between where and who we are, and where and who we want to become. We yearn for greater personal capacity. We have these feelings because we are daughters and sons of God, born with the Light of Christ yet living in a fallen world. These feelings are God given and create an urgency to act.

From Elder Maxwell: Notwithstanding My Weakness - A few suggestions to help us manage our vexing feelings of inadequacy:

1. We can distinguish more clearly between divine discontent and the devil’s dissonance, between dissatisfaction with self and disdain for self. We need the first and must shun the second, remembering that when conscience calls to us from the next ridge, it is not solely to scold but also to beckon.

2. We can contemplate how far we have already come in the climb along the pathway to perfection; it is usually much farther than we acknowledge. True, we are “unprofitable servants,” but partly because when “we have done that which was our duty to do” (Luke 17:10), with every ounce of such obedience comes a bushel of blessings.

3. We can accept help as well as gladly give it. Happily, General Naaman received honest but helpful feedback, not from fellow generals, but from his orderlies. (See 2 Kgs. 5:1–14.) In the economy of heaven, God does not send thunder if a still, small voice is enough, or a prophet if a priest can do the job.

4. We can allow for the agency of others (including our children) before we assess our adequacy. Often our deliberate best is less effectual because of someone else’s worst.

5. We can write down, and act upon, more of those accumulating resolutions for self-improvement that we so often leave, unrecovered, at the edge of sleep.

6. We can admit that if we were to die today, we would be genuinely and deeply missed. Perhaps parliaments would not praise us, but no human circle is so small that it does not touch another, and another.

7. We can put our hand to the plow, looking neither back nor around, comparatively. Our gifts and opportunities differ; some are more visible and impactful. The historian Moroni felt inadequate as a writer beside the mighty Mahonri Moriancumer, who wrote overpoweringly. We all have at least one gift and an open invitation to seek “earnestly the best gifts.” (D&C 46:8.)

8. We can make quiet but more honest inventories of our strengths, since, in this connection, most of us are dishonest bookkeepers and need confirming “outside auditors.” He who was thrust down in the first estate delights to have us put ourselves down. Self-contempt is of Satan; there is none of it in heaven. We should, of course, learn from our mistakes, but without forever studying the instant replays as if these were the game of life itself.

9. We can add to each other’s storehouse of self-esteem by giving deserved, specific commendation more often, remembering, too, that those who are breathless from going the second mile need deserved praise just as the fallen need to be lifted up.

10. We can also keep moving. Only the Lord can compare crosses, but all crosses are easier to carry when we keep moving. Men finally climbed Mount Everest, not by standing at its base in consuming awe, but by shouldering their packs and by placing one foot in front of another. Feet are made to move forward—not backward!

11. We can know that when we have truly given what we have, it is like paying a full tithe; it is, in that respect, all that was asked. The widow who cast in her two mites was neither self-conscious nor searching for mortal approval.

12. We can allow for the reality that God is more concerned with growth than with geography. Thus, those who marched in Zion’s Camp were not exploring the Missouri countryside but their own possibilities.

13. We can learn that at the center of our agency is our freedom to form a healthy attitude toward whatever circumstances we are placed in! Those, for instance, who stretch themselves in service—though laced with limiting diseases—are often the healthiest among us! The Spirit can drive the flesh beyond where the body first agrees to go!

14. Finally, we can accept this stunning, irrevocable truth: Our Lord can lift us from deep despair and cradle us midst any care. We cannot tell Him anything about aloneness or nearness!

Yes, brothers and sisters, this is a gospel of grand expectations, but God’s grace is sufficient for each of us. Discouragement is not the absence of adequacy but the absence of courage, and our personal progress should be yet another way we witness to the wonder of it all!

True, there are no instant Christians, but there are constant Christians!