Warnings From Jesus

During this pandemic, my local church holds these priesthood Zoom meetings twice a month. Every now and then, the lesson makes it here to these weekly spiritual thoughts, and evidently today is one of those days.

Around A.D. 60, the Jewish people in Jerusalem were not happy. As contention increased, they rose up -- first in smaller rebellions, and then in bigger ones. As a result, the Romans came in en force and put a rest to the rebellion, destroying the temple, and killing more than a million Jews, and capturing 100,000.

However, according to Josephus' account, there is no mention of Christians perishing in these attacks. How did they escape? Readers of the New Testament may already know the answer -- they were warned by Jesus. He spelled out the signs, and the Christians saw them and knew what to do to avoid capture and death.

This article explores the whole idea of Jesus preparing his people for the upcoming Roman siege:

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1989/06/be-ye-also-ready-the-amazing-christian-escape-from-the-a-d-70-destruction-of-jerusalem?lang=eng

I strongly recommend reading that article, and then come back here, because think on this: If Jesus felt it was important to warn the Christians for an event that would occur more than 30 years later, then why is it that the leaders of my church felt it necessary to give us the most political "talking to" I've ever seen my whole life at a General Conference?

For those who don't know my church, we have worldwide conferences twice a year -- usually 5 sessions of two hours each over one weekend. I listened to 4 of those sessions three weeks ago, and practically every talk was about current events ... riots, plagues, contention, racism, and so on. That was eight hours of warning and guidance on how to survive times like these.

Further, in our bi-monthly priesthood meetings, we go over talks in the most recent conference ... meaning we're going to be discussing these topics for another 5 months before the next conference in April begins.

It's funny ... my wife asked how I felt to have the same lesson two times in a row, and I answered, "We got a whole lot more coming!"

The last meeting two weeks ago was on "Love Your Enemies" by Dallin H. Oaks. This week, we took on the same talk, but explored different aspects ... how to avoid contention, and how to recognize warnings from the Lord.

Our instructor took on some pretty heavy topics, and did a good job discussing it while at the same time keeping us from delving into divisive political talk. I don't think anyone said "Trump" or "Biden" at all, and it was pretty nice.

But for today, I'm focusing just on the warning aspect. Because, I think it ominous that our leaders (who I believe to be inspired by the Lord), showed enough concern to give us some pretty scary advice. 

Elder Oaks' talk seems more geared toward avoiding what may come next. Even before Trump became president, I had been complaining about how much we were divided, and we were increasingly becoming so. It only seems to get worse and worse every year that progresses -- so much so that I no longer refuse to take a side -- I am now "unaffiliated." And this year has been particularly bad. People are becoming increasingly more polarized, and much less willing to have good open discussions with each other.

There is no more a desire to work things out, but rather to work to remove opponents from power, to lob insults and disrespect, and to say their opponents are completely wrong and the sole cause of today's ills.

There is only one outcome to such a trend. Just as the Jews let contentions build up, and riled up the Romans, I think on our current path there is no way for us to avoid the strangest civil war we've ever seen and it could get ugly. Millions of deaths? I hope not.

If members of the church were to wake up and start to work toward diffusing this growing toxic situation, we might be able to avoid this internal war, and get back to working together as strong American citizens. But maybe it won't be enough. There were several talks on how to survive in situations beyond your control, and that scares me. Perhaps we're already doomed.

But yet the message was clear from many of the talks in aggregate: if you're prepared, you will fare well. Just as Jesus provided instruction to the early Christians to avoid and/or survive the Roman siege, the Lord may be giving us instruction now on how to avoid and/or survive the upcoming difficult times.

We may not be able to stop what's coming, but we can at least be prepared.

And the Eyes of the Blind Shall See

 

Today I've decided that I want to reveal one of my selfish deepest desires. I realize the title that I've picked is usually used in allegory, but today I'm actually talking about the physical action of healing the blind.

I've always had bad eyes. I'm severely myopic (near sighted), meaning everything I see is out of focus, and I also have an annoying stigmatism that kind of shifts the horizontal and the vertical. Plus, in recent years I've started the early stages of cataracts in both eyes.

I hate glasses, but I can't do without them. Yet, they come with their own issues. Scratches are annoying. In fact I saw some fresh new scratches on my glasses this morning, which helped me to choose today's topic. It's so demoralizing to realize that each scratch is permanent until I get my next pair -- but then how soon will those get scratched? It never ends!

Since my prescription is so heavy, I'm forced to get the high index lenses, which really messes with the brain and gives me headaches. And still, the weight pushes down on my ears, often causing sores and more headaches, and even the nose gets sore, and sometime my cheeks under the lenses. We glasses wearers quickly recognize our own when we see the nearly permanent dents just above the nose.

I once tried contacts, but my wimpy eyes can't handle them ... you can ask my high-school friends who went down with me to Panama City. The contacts were a disaster. But man was I cool for a few days!

I know ... a lot of whinging going on, but I'm getting there. I'm going to pause for a moment and let you think of your own selfish deepest desire. We all got something ... that one thing that's annoyed you your entire life that you feel you can do nothing about. (Okay ... something else besides Mel.)

For me, the miracles of Jesus really resonates. I mean, Jesus touched a blind man's eyes, and then he was healed. If I were alive during that time, Jesus could touch my eyes, and I'd be cured. In fact, I long for the day where I no longer have to wear glasses ... one of my deepest desires ... to see clearly unaided and without pain, to take in the full beauty of the world around me, and never be blind again.

But then again, in my current state, would I actually go up to Jesus to be healed? Now that you got that one selfish deepest desire in mind, would you be first in line to have Jesus fix what ails you?

Think about it.

I know that even with the pain I go through every day, I know there are others who are far worse than I am. My eyes aren't that bad ... I can wear glasses with a prescription that cancels out all adverse effects, and I really can see clearly (except for the scratches, and the glare, and now my early cataracts that make rainbow colors around lights at night, and then when my eyes change and -- oh there I go again). But there are others suffering from far more painful maladies. Some are entirely blind. Some are deaf -- I'm reminded of one of Beethoven's famous letters about his selfish deepest desire. Some can't walk. Some have terminal diseases.

I could in no good conscious be the first person to be healed by Jesus -- partly because I have a remedy -- and those guys need the healing a lot more than I do. But still, I would really, really, really love to be healed. If Jesus were to walk directly up to me and say he was going to fix my eyes, I would not say no.

But still, I'm wondering: why can't I get healed right now? What good was all that healing of the sick when we got people today who could use that healing? Maybe it's just me sour-graping things.

Yet, Jesus isn't the only one capable of healing the sick. His apostles could do it. In my own church, it's said that Joseph Smith did it, and there are some accounts of of more modern day church leaders who have been reported to heal the blind.

In fact we are taught that all of us who hold the Priesthood have the exact same healing powers. Plus, there is this in D&C 84:65-73:

And these signs shall follow them that believe. In my name they shall do many wonderful works; in my name they shall cast out devils; in my name they shall heal the sick; in my name they shall open the eyes of the blind, and unstop the ears of the deaf; and the tongue of the dumb shall speak; and if any man shall administer poison unto them, it shall not hurt them; and the poison of a serpent shall not have power to harm them. But a commandment I give unto them, that they shall not boast themselves of these things, neither speak them before the world; for these things are given unto you for your profit and for salvation.

So, why can't I go up to my bishop and say, "Heal my eyes"? 

Well, I suppose any of us could do this, but who has enough faith to heal, or enough faith to be healed? That could be a topic in and of itself. I know Jesus could heal me, but it's difficult to have enough faith in someone like me doing it.

Then again, I've seen and have been a part of several miracle healings. As a missionary, I developed an anomaly in my eye that we all thought was going to be permanent, and after I got a blessing for the sick, it miraculously healed itself at the same moment I went to see the doctor. He was amazed, and so was I.

And again - again, I feel that I was given this malady to give me experience. To help me constantly think about "seeing" all the time, perhaps it has made me a lot more sensitive in seeing things that other people don't. I can evidently hear things that other people can't, and I notice a lot more than other people do about surroundings -- kind of like Monk or Sherlock Holmes. ... And did I just now bring this back to the allegorical meaning of my title?

Anyway ... thanks for letting me whinge away. In the end, all these experiences help to increase our character, and give us more perspective. I ought to be thankful, but I wouldn't mind to be healed nonetheless.

Love Your Enemies

Last week I mentioned that my church held the most political conference I've ever seen. Our church leaders seem to be very concerned with the level of anger rising in our nation, and they gave us several talks touching on this anger, because they believe that we need to hear it at this particular time.

Today in our Zoom church meeting, we discussed one of these talks entitled, "Love Your Enemies."

For those of you who care to watch the talk, here is the full version. It's originally meant for Mormons in the USA, but the concepts are universally Christian. (Watching the video is not required for continuing to read this post.)

The main scripture comes from Jesus in Matthew 5:43-44:

43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.

44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

And we heard this scripture at least three if not more times throughout the whole conference. The solution to the anger plaguing our nation now? Love. Or perhaps in less religious terms: Respect.

The first thing to realize is that it's okay to disagree. The scriptures says contention is of the devil, but disagreement in and of itself is not contention. Rather, contention rises from how people choose to handle those disagreements. Having disagreements just rises naturally from thinking differently and seeing the world through different lenses.

But how exactly does one disagree without "contending"?

I've struggled with that question my entire life, as I am a very opinionated dude. I love a great discussion, especially when there are opposing viewpoints. A good argument may be one of the best ways to exercise the brain and test skills of logic, and so on. And an argument, in the technical sense, has no need of being contentious. The latter only comes when an argument turns into something personal.

So, throughout my life I've sought to participate in engaging arguments, trying to toe the line where we hold respect for each other, and learn things in the end. But more often than not, I'll touch a nerve, or someone will touch one of my nerves, and then anger ensues, and it turns into a nonproductive brawl. 

Once or twice, I've even had someone de-friend me on Facebook -- kind of a drastic measure for just having a conversation. And once I had a bunch of actuaries team up on me in a forum to let me know that I was at a level of stupid that they had ever seen and how I just needed to leave the discussion. (Though in that last case I did have some other actuaries reach out to me in PMs to give me support -- they just didn't want to do it in public.)

So, being argumentative, though lots of fun to me, has its costs. I think that in all cases it went bad, I made mistakes -- it only takes one small one to blow everything up, and then I'm the bad guy. But with every mistake I learn how to handle it better the next time. At least I hope that I have gotten better.

The key? It really is Love and/or Respect. If you have no intention of understanding your opponent's way of thinking, then it's probably best not to even engage in discussion. 

For example, when it comes to Trump vs. Biden, I believe that I understand almost all of the arguments as to why people prefer one over the other. I prefer one candidate, but I also fully understand why people like the other one, and I'm perfectly fine with that. This one is a debate best settled by voting, and not anger, riots, and unproductive contention.

I am also very willing to change my views, as I'm a big proponent of the scientific method (which is showcased in Alma 32). As an opinionated dude, I do indeed have a very strong "null hypothesis" belief system. Locking this puppy down gives me a strong sense of perspective, to which I judge everything I see in the world. But every day I see things that challenge my belief system -- little tiny "alternative hypotheses" that I go and research, and every day I will accept several of them and update my belief system. I think everyone could benefit from this same approach to life and there would be a lot less anger in the world.

If you love/respect your opponents, then you may find that you can have engaging conversations. Even if you don't persuade them to change their views, you can end up learning each other's views and have better perspective. Sometimes it can help you to have a better understanding of why you are "right." Or maybe you can gain a better appreciation for your "enemy."

Either way, it seems that Jesus has laid out the path to avoiding contention. We don't need to remain silent, but we do need to Love, and that is such a simple concept. 

What can you do to love your "enemies"?

Conference Report - Oct 2020

For this week's spiritual thought, I'll give a quick report from my church's October General Conference, which ended about 10 minutes ago from the time I started writing. For those of you not familiar with these conferences, we hold these twice a year ... first Sunday in April and first Sunday in October. Usually these are held in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City and broadcast throughout the world simultaneously (complete with language translations and sign languaging, too).

This is the second session impacted by COVID-19. Usually these conferences attract thousands of attendees, but this year, both conferences were held in a small room with zero attendees, also featuring previously recorded broadcasts of the previously-named Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

This, of all conferences I've witnessed, has been the most political I've ever seen. This is most likely because of the political upheaval the US has suffered throughout this year. Topics included...

• COVID-19: this has been a source of much tribulation and disruption, whether it be from sickness, death, or cancelled activities and loneliness. Most of the talks that touched on this centered around the ideas that we're being tested, we're becoming stronger through tribulation, we're receiving opportunities to serve others in their times of need, we're having more opportunities to worship at home with the help of "Come Follow Me," and some families are becoming closer to God. One talk (Elder Holland?) came very close to what I wanted to hear ... that we should follow the promptings of our governments and work together to shorten the duration -- that we're being tested in our response, but it didn't quite hit. Instead, most of the talks seemed to treat COVID-19 as something we can't do much about, like a flood, or fires. 
• Racism: in light of recent happenings, it was made clear several times that we are all equal, regardless of the color of our skin. Racism against black people is real and we should take steps to continue eradicating it. And also racism against Asians, Mexicans, and other races.
• Peaceful protests: It is more than appropriate to hold peaceful protests -- in the first session, somebody also said that we should not take away the right to peacefully protest.
• Violent protests: In the US it is inappropriate to have violent protests, as we have avenues to peacefully influence laws and change things peacefully.
• The election: We must have an unencumbered voting process, we must peacefully accept the results, and we must have a peaceful transition (if needed).
• The Constitution: It was inspired by God by imperfect people, but it has provided us with the freedoms that we enjoy, and we should strive to maintain the Constitution and its freedoms.

And then there were the big topics that were repeated several times in conjunction with everything above:

• We must have patience. God allows tribulations for our own good, and with patience, we come out stronger and more experienced.
• Love one another. Recent events have deepened the divide of our nation greatly. We must learn to "love our enemy" and those who "despitefully use us." We are in desperate need of healing and renewed unity. Loving is the greatest commandment, and as we exhibit it, people will listen to us and we can then begin to work together.
• Remember God and turn to Him. Even though the world has changed, our relationship with God should remain the same. We can still offer up our prayers. We can still go back to church (when possible). We can listen to the answers to our prayers even if we don't like the answers or the timing.

Overall, it seems the leaders of our church are very concerned with all the negativity hitting us, and the negativity we've been exhibiting toward each other.

The message that I got specific to me: It's okay for me to voice my opinions and participate in all the political discussions, but I must remember to love everyone ... don't get angry, and respect everyone's opinions.

As for COVID-19, specifically, where I'm most frustrated, I need to let go the anger and frustration ... though, I'm not sure how to do that yet. I could be nicer toward people. Or in my presentations, I could be a little less emotional, and stick more to presentation of the facts and helpful tips. I do want to help save lives, and I do want us to get back to normal as quickly as possible -- and though I know how to get there, I need to remember to have patience with all my friends. Be happy. Love the life that I have. Do the best I can do, personally, and keep on looking toward the time when we all come out of this stronger and wiser.

What did you get out of Conference?