We've All Asked "Why?"

A friend once asked me a question we've all asked from times to time; 

"Why does God let bad things happen?" 

He used the example of a mother of five struggling on life support after a terrible car accident. If she had reached the intersection three seconds earlier or three seconds later, she wouldn’t be near death. But across town at the very same time someone has lost their keys, prays about it and the tender mercies of the Lord lead the person to the keys. Why did God take care of the keys and not the mother?

That does seem like a perplexing problem. But I would be very, very careful about blaming God. How do we know that the Spirit didn’t say to the woman, “Slow down. You’re going too fast”? How do we know that she didn’t think, “But I’m late. I can’t slow down now.” Or maybe before she left the house the spirit said, “Call Sister Smith.” And she thought, “Why should I call Sister Smith?” or “I’ll do it when I get back.” Or maybe she was so preoccupied stressing about what happened that morning with a child or fretting about all the bills that needed to be paid tomorrow that she didn’t hear or feel a prompting to turn down a street before the street where the accident occurred. From what I know about God, it is much more likely the case that God is always prompting, always transmitting the necessary help and guidance, but that we fail to listen or hear.

None of us like to admit that it is our fault that we have a problem. But how do I know that a few months or years ago the Spirit didn’t prompt me to do something that would have kept Grizelda from entering my head. Perhaps I ignored it or was too busy to hear a message that could have saved me from the ordeal I went through. I firmly believe that God is no respecter of persons. So the logical conclusion for me is that bad things don’t happen because God wills them or allows them. Bad things happen because in our mortal frailness we make mistakes. Sometimes we disregard and sometimes we don't even hear.

But God knew we would not always listen. He knew we would be preoccupied or vexed and therefore make mistakes. So he provided an Atonement that not only overcomes our sins, but compensates us for all we suffer unfairly, if we just trust in Him.

Sabbath Scripture

"Blessd are the poor in spirit who come unto me, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (3 Nephi 12:3).

Poor = lacking

"And again, blessed are all they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." (3 Nephi 12:4)

 Blessed are all they that mourn because they are poor (or lacking) in spirit.

Wonders of Heaven

Stairway to Heaven by Jim Warren

As we go about our days, our minds are full of various thoughts. 
We usually don’t think about how those thoughts get there. We usually assume they just happen. But while they might just happen, they are completely within our control. That is the secret most people don’t realize. Worry creeps into the head. Stress punches its way in. Fear grabs us. Critical and judgmental thoughts sweep in on the wings of pride. The world says we have no control over these thoughts; they just come. But the gospel (the Good News!) teaches something very different.
While those thoughts may enter uninvited and unexpected, we don’t have to be hospitable to them. 
We have the power to show the unwanted intruders to the door and boot them out.

When we consistently evict negative thoughts and emotions we are living in Truth. And when we live in Truth we live in an awareness of God. Instead of negative thoughts, we are filled with an awareness that God is near, that He cares for us, and that He is helping us. That awareness comes from simple things like admiring the symmetry of a tree or delighting at the first signs of spring or even appreciating the snow in winter. Those thoughts come from savoring the hug of a loved one, or admiring the talents of others. As we evict negative thoughts, we make room for positive thoughts to enter, and with each positive thought, we grow in our awareness that God is near.

As the scriptures tell us, “And behold, all things have their likeness, and all things are created and made to bear record of me, both things which are temporal, and things which are spiritual; things which are in the heavens above, and things which are on the earth, and things which are in the earth, and things which are under the earth, both above and beneath: all things bear record of me.” 

(Moses 6:63).

When we expel negative thoughts and concentrate of positive thoughts the very windows of heaven begin to open up to us and increase the view we have of God's grace.

Afraid of the Light

Marianne Williamson in her book Return to Love, says, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world.” I love this quote and what it teaches us about ourselves. 

I once heard a student say, “I don't want to get A’s because then the only place to go is down.” That philosophy is flawed. I like the thought that if you shoot for the stars and fall short and hit the moon, you are still far above earth where you started. 

But this attitude of mediocrity is being fueled by something besides our attitudes about ourselves. Sometimes it is other people’s light and not their darkness that we fear.

The self-esteem movement led us into the “everyone gets a trophy” era, and that way of thinking has become detrimental. We have stopped giving children and ourselves models of what light is. Therefore, mediocrity has become the standard. We have stopped praising and acknowledging the light of others. Thus in subtle ways we have stopped encouraging our children and each other to shoot for the stars. We avoid touting other people’s accomplishments because it might make someone else feel bad. We cringe at the very thought that laying out several people’s accomplishments side by side might make one of them feel bad. But while this may sound like it is a Christian, charitable thing to do, it contributes to the problem of no one understanding what constitutes lights or having models of what can be accomplished or what possibilities of achievement are out there.

When we live in Truth, instead of avoiding any mention of a person’s “brightness” or their accomplishments, we recognize the truth that we aren’t going to reach every star every time. But we also realize that by studying, learning from, defining the “stars” and seeing how others have reached those stars we are all helped to grow closer to them. No one is helped by hiding other people’s light or pretending it isn’t there. Everyone is illuminated when we not only allow others to shine, but we acknowledge and help share their light.Playing others as small or all alike does not serve the world.

The Plan of Blessedness

Words are imprecise. They represent concepts and ideas and that are far grander and bigger than a single word can express. This means that we need to look at words carefully to determine how they are being used and what is intended by the author. This is especially true of the gospel. God uses words in different ways and so a great way to study his teachings is to look closely at words.

For example, we say that the gospel is the Plan of Happiness. Which is true. But what is happiness? President Harold B. Lee when speaking about the Beatitudes made a distinction. He said, "Happiness comes from without and is dependent on circumstances; blessedness is an inward fountain of joy in the soul itself, which no outward circumstances can seriously affect" (Decisions for Successful Living, 56-57). Obviously the Plan of Happiness is really the Plan of Blessedness as Pres. Lee is using the term.

What is important here is that we learn that words are used in different ways in different contexts and we must look beyond the word to the meaning. What we learn about happiness from these examples is that there is an earthly quality that people call happiness that is about pleasure and comfort and lack of adversity. However, there is a spiritual quality that transcends earth that people also call happiness. This is a blessedness, joy and unexplainable delight that is God’s Plan for us. When we walk in Truth we must be careful to not confuse the two.

It's the Telestial Truth

When we live in Truth we realize that we are spirit children of God. That means we have a spiritual identity and heritage and roots that are not of this world. This is something we often sense in joyous fleeting glimpses. But in the meantime, we must deal with things like gravity, kinetic energy, and other laws of a physical, telestial world. But what gives us the most trouble aren’t the physical laws, it is the laws of human nature that belong to a telestial world that cause us problems.

Other people’s negative behavior vexes us. “They shouldn’t be doing that!” We shout to ourselves. But at those times we have to step back and realize that while that isn’t right in a celestial world, we aren’t in a celestial world. We are in a telestial world and those things happen (and there for are Truth) in a telestial world.

The big test of life isn’t to identify what shouldn’t be done by others. The big test of life is for us to learn to live a celestial life in a telestial environment. Just think . . . If you can live a celestial life in this wicked environment, how amazing and easy it will be in a celestial environment. 

So when you are vexed with all the things and people and experiences that shouldn’t be, stop and remember that all you need to be concerned about is what you should be.

New Scriptures

When my grandson, Eli, was just three years old his father was putting him to bed and began to read to him from the Book of Mormon. Eli immediately stopped him saying, “Dad, you don’t need to read that to me. I already know Lehi does what he’s supposed to do.”

While that makes us chuckle, it should also make us take note. How many times do we miss important things in the scriptures because we are reading them with the attitude, “I already know!”  Instead we should be reading the scriptures as if we were reading for the very first time. There are several things that can help us do that. One is to read in different ways. Here are a few suggestions (1) Read looking for the big picture and patterns in the picture. (2) Read slowly looking for details and then ponder on the significance. Scriptural writers are abridging so that when they do choose to give us details those details are important. Find out why. (3) Examine the words and concepts used very carefully. Often a word you’ve used all your life and think you know has several connotations, and using a dictionary to discover how the scripture is using the word is often enlightening. (4) Decipher the symbols. Scripture writers use a “shorthand” that is made up of symbols. Learn their meaning. (5) Along with symbols, take time to ponder on the metaphors used. They often contain more than one lesson. (6) Compare and contrast the teachings on a specific principle by different prophets. (7) Ask questions. Why? What? How?

These are just a few things that can make scripture study more meaningful. But the most important thing is what we started with. The adversary may tempt you to think you’ve already learned it all, but with scripture study there is ALWAYS something new to discover.They are meant to be new every time you read them.