Family trouble and the worth of a Friend

I have had arguments with the idea of family, not the actual family unit (don’t worry mom I plan on having one of my own one day) but of focus and familial exclusion. It begins, actually, before family does in a place where you can probably all still agree with me. Most of us have experienced this or at the very least seen it. Romance ruins friendships.

Dating (or courtship for you archaic folk) is a dangerous battleground and friends are the pawns, constantly being sacrificed for the greater good. Pawns are limited in their capabilities but if developed far enough they transform into a queen. Umm this analogy is getting away from itself. However without pawns the game of chess would not be pleasant at all. Okay, Moving on.

Some claim that there is no such thing as a truly platonic relationship. And provided it is a friendship with the gender to which you are attracted I think I just might agree. As friends you are always either developing love or losing it. And somewhere along the way someone proposes the idea of romance. This opens people up for rejection and hurt which more often then not drives them away. Or alternately, if by some miracle they are not rejected they become a couple, and if pursued long enough leads to marriage and the inevitable ignorance of previous friends. Romance and Family lead to exclusion, family destroys friendship by placing a new object/desire/goal that did not exist before which supersedes those wonderful friend relationships.

This replacement of friends with family becomes an issue with which I fight, for I place a great deal of importance and value in friends, so much so that I wish I could bring them all with me. Picking just one person and becoming sealed to them, leads to an exclusion of others. This idea in my opinion seems wrong. But this is the way it is. If you have chosen to spend the rest of eternity sealed to another person then you should place them above all others. You do not screw around with a relationship like that; it leads to eternal consequences one of which may be to remain single forever. This is less of an issue if one was to believe in soul mates, having one person specifically suited to you. And with fate conspiring for your good you will have a happy forever. However if you are like me and believe that any two people with enough effort can and will create an eternal felicity, then that throws the options and opportunities wide open provided both parties can put in the proper effort. So if friend A, friend B, random stranger C and ex-girlfriend D all have the same potential then choosing one certainly further excludes the others. For you have rejected them with your choice, It becomes even harder to remain friends with A when you have chosen C. Because A was an option ultimately unchosen that might leave the door open for what ifs, just maybes and all that rubbish.

Are friends really worth so little? Sure we need to develop that important relationship with spouse. But what about parents we leave them and cleave to another yet we remain sealed with them. When you have as great a group of friends as I possess you never want to lose any of them. Not now before I die nor in the eternities after. Why can we not have a unit somewhere between where friends are and where family begins. One of the core doctrines we preach is that families can be together forever, and we are sealed and united for such a goal. But where does that leave me and my friends? Why are blood relations so important and those relations with friends which we go out of our way to develop and cultivate, be throw to the side. To all of my friends, I love you!! I am not satisfied with a till marriage us do part, nor even a till death us do part. Promise me, my friends, to join me in eternity, I hope it is enough that I consider you family. May God look upon us and allow us this great honor.

Becoming Saviors (part 5)

Brigham Young once said that he wishes that every member would be a prophet, God’s work is to make man into gods. Does the Savior also wish us to become saviors? What does it mean to become saviors?

“In our preexistent state, in the day of the great council, we made a[n] … agreement with the Almighty. The Lord proposed a plan. … We accepted it. Since the plan is intended for all men, we became parties to the salvation of every person under that plan. We agreed, right then and there, to be not only saviors for ourselves but … saviors for the whole human family. We went into a partnership with the Lord. The working out of the plan became then not merely the Father’s work, and the Savior’s work, but also our work. The least of us, the humblest, is in partnership with the Almighty in achieving the purpose of the eternal plan of salvation.”

“That places us in a very responsible attitude towards the human race. By that doctrine, with the Lord at the head, we become saviors on Mount Zion, all committed to the great plan of offering salvation to the untold numbers of spirits. To do this is the Lord’s self-imposed duty, this great labor his highest glory. Likewise, it is man’s duty, self-imposed, his pleasure and joy, his labor, and ultimately his glory.” (“The Worth of Souls,” The Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine, Oct. 1934, p. 189.) John A. Widtsoe

We agreed to be not only saviors for ourselves but saviors for the whole human family. Becoming a savior, this is no easy goal. If we examine the life of The Savior we can see that he wept, sorrowed, prayed, grieved and suffered for us. In our process to become a savior after the example of Christ must we also suffer for others?

Charity is the final and highest virtue of the divine nature. If we truly wish to become as the savior we must learn to love others as he loved us. “The world today speaks a great deal about love, and it is sought by many. But the pure love of Christ differs greatly from what the world thinks of love. Charity never seeks selfish gratification. The pure love of Christ seeks only the eternal growth and joy of others.” Ezra Taft Benson – Godly Characteristics of the Master. We must learn to give freely, and not just giving till it hurts, but giving even though it hurts and then continuing to give, giving if necessary for all eternity.

Giving charity opens us up to suffering, the suffering of rejection, of love ignored and squandered. This is suffering the giving of oneself, that deep personal self that comes straight from the heart, and to have that rejected by those whom you care so much for.

Every one of us has our own personal war in heaven and we must choose a side. Do we choose selfless sacrifice and a path of choice, pain, suffering and sorrow and give up the glory to God. Or do we reject that idea. Do we become selfish and choose as Satan a path where there is no pain because there is no joy, no suffering because there is no love, and no growth because there is no choice, no charity. “For many will reject exaltation in the celestial kingdom, not because they do not want the joy that can be had there, but because they are unwilling to pay the price, being willing to suffer for and serve a posterity as God has served us. Exaltation depends on how much you are willing to give.” Becoming Saviors on Mount Zion – Gordon C. Thomasson

What are we willing to give? Christ gave us his life and then gave us his death to make us able to return home. Christ was a perfect being, as a mortal he was living a celestial worthy life, this then must be how celestial beings act. We hear that if man were to just care more about each other we would not need governments, no laws, no poor, and none dying of hunger or war. All that is required is giving up self, but who will take care of my self if I do not do it? While we maintain a concern for self we reject the celestial kingdom, in a mistaken effort to not lose ourselves we lose everyone else instead.

Even as I am (part four)

As we travel through this existence which we call life we are faced with decisions and choices every day. Both big choices and small ones, how we respond to each and every one of these choices and opportunities changes us, if only just slightly. Effectual and permanent change to one’s character is a slow and often deliberate process. We are told to not procrastinate the day of repentance, for we may find that we no longer have the time or ability to make the changes that are required and rid ourselves of some of the most troublesome of addictions, such as pride, selfishness, and procrastination. Thus it is imperative that we have a knowledge of where we are going. With our eyes on a goal then as we make these small changes to ourselves we slowly get a little closer to where we wish to be. Without a directed path the choices we make change us according to whim, luck or possibly indigestion.

Since salvation and exaltation require not only the grace of Christ, but also action and effort on our part then we have to adjust ourselves to make certain we live worthy of that salvation which we desire. So what are our goals? What do we wish to strive for, and what goals need to be part of our life in order to achieve exaltation and godhood?

“This progress toward eternal life is a matter of achieving perfection. Living all the commandments guarantees total forgiveness of sins and assures one of exaltation through that perfection which comes by complying with the formula the Lord gave us. In his Sermon on the Mount he made the command to all men: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” (Matt. 5:48) Being perfect means to triumph over sin. This is a mandate from the Lord. He is just and wise and kind. He would never require anything from his children which was not for their benefit and which was not attainable. Perfection therefore is an achievable goal.” (Spencer W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness 208-209)

“When I ponder what kind of men and boys we should be as priesthood holders, I cannot help but think of the Savior’s questions to the Nephite twelve when He asked, “Therefore, what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am” (3 Ne. 27:27).

To be like the Savior—what a challenge for any person! He is a member of the Godhead. He is the Savior and Redeemer. He was perfect in every aspect of His life. There was no flaw nor failing in Him. Is it possible for us as priesthood holders to be even as He is? The answer is yes. Not only can we, but that is our charge, our responsibility. He would not give us that commandment if He did not mean for us to do it.” (Godly Characteristics of the Master, Ezra Taft Benson)

Here both Ezra Taft Benson and Spencer W. Kimball state that perfection should be one of these goals. For not only will it develop in us the qualities that are required to become gods, but also that it is reasonable and achievable. This is a huge change in outlook for me because perfection is usually an idea I see as being beyond us mere mortals, being beyond the grasp of man, especially myself. Fortunately, however, we are not left to our own devices, God is there distributing both instructions and assistance. Therefore we can say, with God anything is possible. Even perfection.

The apostle Peter teaches us about the process of attaining the attributes of a god.

“Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;

And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;

And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity” (2 Pet. 1:4–7).

All of these attributes could use a little exploring, especially interesting is that the end of the process is charity. But for now we are going to skip all that and go straight to the promise give to us in verse 8

“For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

This is an incredible promise, for I often feel impotent and useless. But here not only do we have a pathway for exaltation, but also the promise that you will be productive and useful. Enduring to the end once seen as a depressive effort looks, no longer, like a process of just struggling to survive, but of a happy time of productive pursuits and growth.

Democracy is Broken

There is something fundamentally wrong with democracy and I will show you why. Go to youtube and look up a video, any video. Now read the comments.
These people are allowed to vote.

Please, please. Save us from ourselves!

Needing more then Christ (part three)

I had this next post all written up and figured out when I suddenly came to a realization of what I had stated in my last post. I had until now completely lost myself in the art of Orwellian doublethink. I had sat there and knew that justification thru Christ was enough, yet I also knew that we need to receive our ordinances and prove worthy to attain salvation. But these thoughts do not fit together. How did I come to not only ignore this cognitive dissonance but to accept it as normal? Perhaps I need to examine my beliefs a little more closely. Here is a quote by Spencer W. Kimball that spells out what I had missed.

“One of the most fallacious doctrines originated by Satan and propounded by man is that man is saved alone by the grace of God; that belief in Jesus Christ alone is all that is needed for salvation.” (Miracle of Forgiveness p.206-207)

Wow those are some pretty strong words stating that Christ and his grace are not enough. This failure to recognize the omnipotence of the grace of Christ is perhaps what keeps us separated from the rest of Christianity. We believe in a different salvation. We have the vocabulary of Christianity, but a new set of definitions. Salvation, Exaltation, eternal life, complete salvation. So how are we different? Well, we separate salvation to coincide with our belief in the three heavens. Salvation is not enough for us; we do not remain content with merely living with God but claim and desire to become gods and to become joint heirs and equals with God.

“This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” (John 17:3)

We need to get to know God, for this is Eternal Life, or exaltation. Why do we need to know God? Joseph Smith states, in The King Follett discourse, this about the knowledge of God.

“Let us here observe, that three things are necessary, in order that any rational and intelligent being may exercise faith in God unto life and salvation.

First, The idea that he actually exists.

Secondly, A correct idea of his character, perfections and attributes.

Thirdly, An actual knowledge that the course of life which he is pursuing, is according to his will.” (King Follett Discourse, Joseph Smith)

And further,

“You have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God.” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 346.)

Here Joseph Smith brings up this belief of our becoming Gods and emphasizes our responsibility in this life. We need to learn about god so that we can learn how to become god. This leads to some theologically thorny ground, for we both need to accept grace but we also demand works. We need to earn our salvation by righteous living and attaining knowledge. But man can not be justified or perfected by his own works but by faith in Christ. (Man cannot earn salvation by his own merits; if he could he would become his own savior and be able to worship himself.) Faith in Christ and Righteous living, these are two separate qualifications that we must meet to achieve Eternal Life, one is not without the other.