Storms

It is difficult to relate to the stories of storms in the east when here the sun is shining in a clear blue  sky that holds only a hint of autumn and no trace of winter. I wish everyone was experiencing what I am, but they aren't and my heart breaks for the news I keep hearing. It would be so easy to let that kind of news get us down and sink us into the Pit of Illusion. Situations like this often do. They cause some people to wonder, "If there is a God, why does He let things like this happen?"

It is a good question, but it has a good answer. God has the power to heal and recompense and restore. So even though we are in a telestial world and must pass through the adversity and necessary pain of a mortal world, He knows he can make it up to us. He knows He can make it all better. He knows everything will eventually be all right. He knows.

But for Him to make it all right, we must turn to Him and let Him take care of us. That is why He begs us to come to Him. He loves us and like any loving parent He wants us to be better. But we must go to Him or He can't make us better.

Clarification on Yesterday's Post

Today I need to clarify some things from yesterday. 

There is no way a few paragraphs can ever cover all the bases on a topic like why bad things happen. I do not think we cause all bad things to happen. As I’ve written in other entries on Good News! this is a telestial world and in a telestial world there are such things as weeds, abuse, diseases, death, destruction and all manner of natural disasters that cause us problems and sorrow—not to mention the bad decisions other people make. What I was trying to say is that in the midst of all this telestialness, I believe God will always be prompting us how to deal with it in the very best way possible. Sometimes that means we will be guided to avoid the problems and adversity. Sometimes it means we will be strengthened to endure the problems. Sometimes it even means that the adversity is giving us the opportunity to help in the Lord's work by being an example to others. In any case, adversity if endured well will always word for "good to them that love God" (Romans 8:28).

What I was trying to say yesterday is that we need to listen more. I didn't say that adversity happens because we do something bad. I do not believe that.  I said that sometimes the Lord is prompting us to do things that would help us avoid future adversity but because we aren't listening we are unable to avoid it. But whatever the situation, whatever the outcome, whatever the reason, we will be better off if we listen and follow the Spirit. That is what I was trying (and failed) to say: we need to listen better to the Spirit. 

Telestial life keeps us occupied with worry, stress, anxiety, fear and even positive things like excitement, expectation, and busyness. But life becomes easier and better when we learn to break through that mental chatter and listen and follow the Spirit.

PS Thanks to all of you who left comments or emailed so that I realized I hadn't adequately stated what I meant! I hope this helps.

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.

Theodicy

This sleeping sitting up isn’t working. It is 5:00 am and I have been awake since 2:30. That means I’ve been thinking for 2 and 1/2 hours. I’ll try to distill my thoughts down.

Yesterday a friend asked me why God lets some 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 five seconds earlier or five 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 didn’t think, “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 even hear or feel the prompting. 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 it is we who fail to tune in.

None of us like to hear 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, “Don’t eat that!” or give me some other warning that would have kept this tumor from developing, and I either ignored or didn’t hear the prompting? 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.

But God knew we would not always listen. He knew we would be preoccupied or fretting and therefore make mistakes. So he provided an Atonement that not only overcomes our sins, but compensates us for all we suffer if we will just trust in Him. Now is my time to trust and to learn to listen better.