Well, I would have to say that this blog has been a resounding failure so far. I really haven't made the time for it.
Anyway, I just got back Thursday night from a business trip to Manhattan, KS. I was there for a food safety and sanitation class. I enjoyed the trip as much as could be expected seeing that I really don't like being away from home. This is my second trip to Kansas (I visited the Kansas City area last year), and I have to say it seems like a pretty pleasant place. I keep expecting Kansas to be completely flat and full of corn fields, but both areas I have visited are hilly with lots of deciduous trees. I liked Kansas State University's campus. All of the buildings were made with limestone which almost gave the campus a European or New England feel.
My goal this month has been to run 15 miles per week. I have done pretty well, but I am staring to get knee pain and shin splints. I got new shoes last week, but they are working my calf and foot adductor muscles differently than my last shoes. I have to stop and stretch after a couple of miles, because my muscles get so tight.
I have lost about 15-18 lbs since I started running more consistently a few months ago, but I could still stand to loose about 20-30 more.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Sunday, April 26, 2009
"I Will Give Away All my Sins to Know Thee"
"I will give away all my sins to know thee." These are the words spoken by the father of King Lamoni to Aaron in Chapter 22 of the book of Alma in the Book of Mormon. His proper name is not given in the Book of Mormon, he is only referred to as the "father of Lamoni" or "the king". The king had been impressed by the generosity of Aaron's brother Ammon who had taught his son Lamoni the gospel. When Aaron came of the land of Nephi in the course of his own mission, the king was prepared to listen.
After Aaron had taught the king the gospel from the time of Adam to their own time, the king asked the following:
"What shall I do that I may have this eternal life of which thou hast spoken? Yea, what shall I do that I may be born of God, having this wicked spirit rooted out of my breast, and receive his Spirit, that I may be filled with joy, that I may not be cast off at the last day? Behold, said he, I will give up all that I possess, yea, I will forsake my kingdom, that I may receive this great joy" Alma 22:15.
Aaron answered:
"If thou desirest this thing, if thou wilt bow down before God, yea, if thou wilt repent of all thy sins, and will bow down before God, and call on his name in faith, believing that ye shall receive, then shalt thou receive the hope which thou desirest."
The king's pure and earnest faith is shown in the fact that he did not wait but immediately acted on Aaron's guidance. From verses 17 and 18:
17 And it came to pass that when Aaron had said these words, the king did bow down before the Lord, upon his knees; yea, even he did prostrate himself upon the earth, and cried mightily, saying:
18 O God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day (Alma 22:17-18).
I have been pondering the phrase, "I will give away all my sins to know thee". This phrase confounds me. I have not yet found the way to say this and really mean it. The fact that the king really meant it is illustrated by the fact that he did indeed give up his kingdom and much else as he promised Aaron he was willing to do.
I on the other hand am probably more like the rich young man in the New Testament who asked the Lord a question similar to the one the king asked Aaron. The account is given in the book of Matthew Chapter 19 versus 16-22:
16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
20 young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?
21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.
22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
This young man was able to keep most of the commandments, but there was at least one that he got hung up on. In his case it was giving up his riches. I believe that many of us have similar hang ups. We probably keep most of the commandments, but there might be a few seemingly simple ones that we just won't give up.
I'm not talking about the fact that we aren't perfect and therefore need the grace of Christ in order to receive Eternal Life. It is highly doubtful that the king lived a perfect life after his conversion, but he was willing; truly willing. I want to achieve this pure willingness, for I know that only then will the atonement take full effect in my life.
After Aaron had taught the king the gospel from the time of Adam to their own time, the king asked the following:
"What shall I do that I may have this eternal life of which thou hast spoken? Yea, what shall I do that I may be born of God, having this wicked spirit rooted out of my breast, and receive his Spirit, that I may be filled with joy, that I may not be cast off at the last day? Behold, said he, I will give up all that I possess, yea, I will forsake my kingdom, that I may receive this great joy" Alma 22:15.
Aaron answered:
"If thou desirest this thing, if thou wilt bow down before God, yea, if thou wilt repent of all thy sins, and will bow down before God, and call on his name in faith, believing that ye shall receive, then shalt thou receive the hope which thou desirest."
The king's pure and earnest faith is shown in the fact that he did not wait but immediately acted on Aaron's guidance. From verses 17 and 18:
17 And it came to pass that when Aaron had said these words, the king did bow down before the Lord, upon his knees; yea, even he did prostrate himself upon the earth, and cried mightily, saying:
18 O God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day (Alma 22:17-18).
I have been pondering the phrase, "I will give away all my sins to know thee". This phrase confounds me. I have not yet found the way to say this and really mean it. The fact that the king really meant it is illustrated by the fact that he did indeed give up his kingdom and much else as he promised Aaron he was willing to do.
I on the other hand am probably more like the rich young man in the New Testament who asked the Lord a question similar to the one the king asked Aaron. The account is given in the book of Matthew Chapter 19 versus 16-22:
16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
20 young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?
21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.
22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
This young man was able to keep most of the commandments, but there was at least one that he got hung up on. In his case it was giving up his riches. I believe that many of us have similar hang ups. We probably keep most of the commandments, but there might be a few seemingly simple ones that we just won't give up.
I'm not talking about the fact that we aren't perfect and therefore need the grace of Christ in order to receive Eternal Life. It is highly doubtful that the king lived a perfect life after his conversion, but he was willing; truly willing. I want to achieve this pure willingness, for I know that only then will the atonement take full effect in my life.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
"Talk" given in Church a couple of weeks ago.
I hope it doesn't seem too pretentious to post a talk I gave in church. I'm certainly not posting it because I think it's great. I'm posting it because I didn't invite any of my family, and because I think it is good to share my faith with others even though my written expression of it is far from perfect.
I haven't edited the talk much. So you'll have to read it with all the punctuation and grammatical errors. The last few paragraphs are actually new, I didn't finish the talk before Sacrament Meeting, so I had to improvise the ending a bit. The subject I was given was Learning and Knowledge.
--
The importance of Learning and knowledge has been ingrained in me from early in my life. My parents home was filled with all kinds of books from the fantasy and science fiction novels that my Dad enjoyed, to my Parent's old College textbooks and to multitudes of church related texts.
I remember many of the books that interested me the most. There was a beat up college text book on astronomy that I liked to flip through and look and the black and white pictures. The was a book of Aesop's Fables with illustrations. There were the encyclopedias that I used multitudes of times when I was preparing for a science project or a school report. There were also Childcraft books which were kind of an encyclopedia for kids.
Every year, Childcraft would come out with a special edition on some subject or another. I remember 3 in particular. There was one on Dogs that had pictures of various breeds and the history of dogs. Another one was on the human body. It had a page with a picture of the human body. The page had several clear plastic sheets attached with the various systems of the human body printed on them. You could flip one sheet and it would superimpose the skeletal system onto the body the next sheet would superimpose the nervous system and so on until you could see all the systems together. The third Childcraft book I remember loving to look though was a book on dinosaurs. My parents still have them, and now my son Caleb loves to look through the dinosaur book himself when we visit my parents home.
In addition to the books mentioned above, the children's readers of the standard works, along with the accompanying cassette tapes were always out on a Sunday. They gave me a good introduction to the stories of the scriptures and instilled an interest in reading the real text of the stories in the scriptures themselves.
There were other books that I remember seeing on the shelf that I didn't read myself as a little boy, but they built a curiosity in me about various subjects. These included a large amount of gospel related books including the Journal of Discourses, a biography of every prophet of this dispensation and and books of the teachings of each prophet of this dispensation. There was Jesus the Christ by James E Talmage, A Marvelous Work and a Wonder by LeGrand Richards and the series of books by Bruce R McConkie: The Pre-Mortal Messiah, The Mortal Messiah and so forth.
These books along with many others and the good example of my parents and older siblings impressed on my mind the great importance of continuous learning. I still have a great appetite for learning new things whether the subject is gospel related or secular.
The importance of learning and knowledge is central to our purpose on earth and our eternal progression. When the Lord put us on the earth, he placed a veil over our minds so that we could not remember our pre-mortal life or any of the knowledge that we gained there. This created a situation where the Lord could test our obedience through faith in Him. It also created an environment where we are forced to learn and gain knowledge throughout our lives. Part of the test of this mortal life is to see we will accept the learning and knowledge that the Lord give us.
The fact that God has given us the scriptures teaches us that he wants us to put forth the effort to search them to learn and gain knowledge of Him and his Gospel plan. He has also provided living Prophets and teachers to witness the truths of the Gospel to us. In Doctrine and Covenants section 130:18-19, the lord teaches that:
18 Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection.
19 And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come.
We also learn in section 93:39 that:
36 The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth.
In the book of John, the Lord teaches us that knowing the truth is the key to freedom. He told the Jews that if they continued in his word, they would know the truth, and the truth would set them free (John 8: 32). We also learn in the New Testament that Jesus himself grew in wisdom and knowledge as he was growing up. Another illustration of the importance of learning and knowledge is that is a step by step process. Lesser knowledge precedes greater knowledge. In other words we can't learn the great mysteries before we learn the little ones. Isaiah taught this principle in Isa. 28: 10.
10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little.
Many of the great revelations if not all are in response to a prophet studying and pondering a particular gospel topic. Nephi was pondering his Father's vision of the Tree of Life. He prayed to the Lord and asked to be shown the same thing. He was given the same vision along with greater light and knowledge in addition. Abraham tells us in the book of Abraham that along with a desire to be righteous, “he desired to be one who possessed great knowledge.” The great revelations in the book of Abraham show us that he did receive that desire. Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdrey received the aaronic priesthood and baptism when they inquired about what they had read while translating the Book of Mormon.
Alma teaches us that this principle of increasing light and knowledge also works in reverse. In Alma 12:9-11, he teaches:
9 And now Alma began to expound these things unto him, saying: It is given unto many to know the mysteries of God; nevertheless they are laid under a strict command that they shall not impart conly according to the portion of his word which he doth grant unto the children of men, according to the heed and diligence which they give unto him.
10 And therefore, he that will harden his heart, the same receiveth the lesser portion of the word; and he that will not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the word, until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until he know them in full.
11 And they that will harden their hearts, to them is given the lesser portion of the word until they know nothing concerning his mysteries; and then they are taken captive by the devil, and led by his will down to destruction. Now this is what is meant by the chains of hell.
Gaining learning and knowledge sounds simple, but there are many who are willing to teach us. Parents, friends, church leaders, school teachers, coaches, work associates, political leaders, newspaper columnists, talk radio hosts and college professors are among the multitudes of people who are willing or even eager to teach us. How are we to determine the truth of what they are saying?
When we are young, we typically accept others teachings at face value. For example, when I was a little boy, my brothers told me that the dinosaurs had still been around when I was too young to remember them. They even told me that one of my older brothers had fallen off of a brontosaurus at one point. I believed what they taught me and I was sad when I found that the story wasn't true after all. As we get older we hear a greater variety of teachings. Many of these teachings are contrary to teachings we have received in our early life. Sometimes we discard the teachings from our youth and adopt new teachings. Religious teachings are no exception. I have been saddened as some loved ones have discarded the gospel truths that were taught to them in their youth.
We all face this choice. We all have to decide which teachers are true teachers, but how do we make this all important decision? It seems, although it may not always be true, that most teachers are sincere in what they believe and teach. How do we decide who is right? In the secular world, we can study the issues and come to a conclusion based on what we have learned. Even then, we have to have a degree of faith that what the experts have taught on a given subject is true. We can also study spiritual issues and come to a conclusion based on what we have learned. In both secular and religious learning there is an element of faith in those that have taught us. I think that may people lead are lead astray by the mistake of believing that all secular knowledge is proven and that there is no faith involved.
Joseph Smith provides us with a good model for learning and gaining knowledge from a higher source. Joseph worked diligently to uncover the truth. He studied the scriptures, and listed to many different teachers. After all of this, his mind was still unsettled on the matter, so he went to the Lord and asked in faith. In other words, he performed an experiment to prove the veracity of what he had learned in James 1:5. He had had been taught in that verse that the Lord would give wisdom to those who asked in faith, so instead of questioning and doubting endlessly, he acted on what he was taught. As a result, he received teaching from the ultimate source. After the first Vision he continued to use this pattern of going to the lord for answers.
The same pattern applies to our learning and knowledge, after we seek diligently, meaning to study and ponder, and gain some faith in the teachings we have received (Alma 32) we can go to the Lord and ask in faith. He will confirm the truth to us and build upon our faith by teaching us further by the power of the Holy Ghost. As we repeat this pattern continuously in our lives our spirtual learning and knowledge will grow eternally.
I haven't edited the talk much. So you'll have to read it with all the punctuation and grammatical errors. The last few paragraphs are actually new, I didn't finish the talk before Sacrament Meeting, so I had to improvise the ending a bit. The subject I was given was Learning and Knowledge.
--
The importance of Learning and knowledge has been ingrained in me from early in my life. My parents home was filled with all kinds of books from the fantasy and science fiction novels that my Dad enjoyed, to my Parent's old College textbooks and to multitudes of church related texts.
I remember many of the books that interested me the most. There was a beat up college text book on astronomy that I liked to flip through and look and the black and white pictures. The was a book of Aesop's Fables with illustrations. There were the encyclopedias that I used multitudes of times when I was preparing for a science project or a school report. There were also Childcraft books which were kind of an encyclopedia for kids.
Every year, Childcraft would come out with a special edition on some subject or another. I remember 3 in particular. There was one on Dogs that had pictures of various breeds and the history of dogs. Another one was on the human body. It had a page with a picture of the human body. The page had several clear plastic sheets attached with the various systems of the human body printed on them. You could flip one sheet and it would superimpose the skeletal system onto the body the next sheet would superimpose the nervous system and so on until you could see all the systems together. The third Childcraft book I remember loving to look though was a book on dinosaurs. My parents still have them, and now my son Caleb loves to look through the dinosaur book himself when we visit my parents home.
In addition to the books mentioned above, the children's readers of the standard works, along with the accompanying cassette tapes were always out on a Sunday. They gave me a good introduction to the stories of the scriptures and instilled an interest in reading the real text of the stories in the scriptures themselves.
There were other books that I remember seeing on the shelf that I didn't read myself as a little boy, but they built a curiosity in me about various subjects. These included a large amount of gospel related books including the Journal of Discourses, a biography of every prophet of this dispensation and and books of the teachings of each prophet of this dispensation. There was Jesus the Christ by James E Talmage, A Marvelous Work and a Wonder by LeGrand Richards and the series of books by Bruce R McConkie: The Pre-Mortal Messiah, The Mortal Messiah and so forth.
These books along with many others and the good example of my parents and older siblings impressed on my mind the great importance of continuous learning. I still have a great appetite for learning new things whether the subject is gospel related or secular.
The importance of learning and knowledge is central to our purpose on earth and our eternal progression. When the Lord put us on the earth, he placed a veil over our minds so that we could not remember our pre-mortal life or any of the knowledge that we gained there. This created a situation where the Lord could test our obedience through faith in Him. It also created an environment where we are forced to learn and gain knowledge throughout our lives. Part of the test of this mortal life is to see we will accept the learning and knowledge that the Lord give us.
The fact that God has given us the scriptures teaches us that he wants us to put forth the effort to search them to learn and gain knowledge of Him and his Gospel plan. He has also provided living Prophets and teachers to witness the truths of the Gospel to us. In Doctrine and Covenants section 130:18-19, the lord teaches that:
18 Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection.
19 And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come.
We also learn in section 93:39 that:
36 The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth.
In the book of John, the Lord teaches us that knowing the truth is the key to freedom. He told the Jews that if they continued in his word, they would know the truth, and the truth would set them free (John 8: 32). We also learn in the New Testament that Jesus himself grew in wisdom and knowledge as he was growing up. Another illustration of the importance of learning and knowledge is that is a step by step process. Lesser knowledge precedes greater knowledge. In other words we can't learn the great mysteries before we learn the little ones. Isaiah taught this principle in Isa. 28: 10.
10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little.
Many of the great revelations if not all are in response to a prophet studying and pondering a particular gospel topic. Nephi was pondering his Father's vision of the Tree of Life. He prayed to the Lord and asked to be shown the same thing. He was given the same vision along with greater light and knowledge in addition. Abraham tells us in the book of Abraham that along with a desire to be righteous, “he desired to be one who possessed great knowledge.” The great revelations in the book of Abraham show us that he did receive that desire. Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdrey received the aaronic priesthood and baptism when they inquired about what they had read while translating the Book of Mormon.
Alma teaches us that this principle of increasing light and knowledge also works in reverse. In Alma 12:9-11, he teaches:
9 And now Alma began to expound these things unto him, saying: It is given unto many to know the mysteries of God; nevertheless they are laid under a strict command that they shall not impart conly according to the portion of his word which he doth grant unto the children of men, according to the heed and diligence which they give unto him.
10 And therefore, he that will harden his heart, the same receiveth the lesser portion of the word; and he that will not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the word, until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until he know them in full.
11 And they that will harden their hearts, to them is given the lesser portion of the word until they know nothing concerning his mysteries; and then they are taken captive by the devil, and led by his will down to destruction. Now this is what is meant by the chains of hell.
Gaining learning and knowledge sounds simple, but there are many who are willing to teach us. Parents, friends, church leaders, school teachers, coaches, work associates, political leaders, newspaper columnists, talk radio hosts and college professors are among the multitudes of people who are willing or even eager to teach us. How are we to determine the truth of what they are saying?
When we are young, we typically accept others teachings at face value. For example, when I was a little boy, my brothers told me that the dinosaurs had still been around when I was too young to remember them. They even told me that one of my older brothers had fallen off of a brontosaurus at one point. I believed what they taught me and I was sad when I found that the story wasn't true after all. As we get older we hear a greater variety of teachings. Many of these teachings are contrary to teachings we have received in our early life. Sometimes we discard the teachings from our youth and adopt new teachings. Religious teachings are no exception. I have been saddened as some loved ones have discarded the gospel truths that were taught to them in their youth.
We all face this choice. We all have to decide which teachers are true teachers, but how do we make this all important decision? It seems, although it may not always be true, that most teachers are sincere in what they believe and teach. How do we decide who is right? In the secular world, we can study the issues and come to a conclusion based on what we have learned. Even then, we have to have a degree of faith that what the experts have taught on a given subject is true. We can also study spiritual issues and come to a conclusion based on what we have learned. In both secular and religious learning there is an element of faith in those that have taught us. I think that may people lead are lead astray by the mistake of believing that all secular knowledge is proven and that there is no faith involved.
Joseph Smith provides us with a good model for learning and gaining knowledge from a higher source. Joseph worked diligently to uncover the truth. He studied the scriptures, and listed to many different teachers. After all of this, his mind was still unsettled on the matter, so he went to the Lord and asked in faith. In other words, he performed an experiment to prove the veracity of what he had learned in James 1:5. He had had been taught in that verse that the Lord would give wisdom to those who asked in faith, so instead of questioning and doubting endlessly, he acted on what he was taught. As a result, he received teaching from the ultimate source. After the first Vision he continued to use this pattern of going to the lord for answers.
The same pattern applies to our learning and knowledge, after we seek diligently, meaning to study and ponder, and gain some faith in the teachings we have received (Alma 32) we can go to the Lord and ask in faith. He will confirm the truth to us and build upon our faith by teaching us further by the power of the Holy Ghost. As we repeat this pattern continuously in our lives our spirtual learning and knowledge will grow eternally.
Hello
I'm starting a blog.
I'm not sure if this will be a passing fancy or something I will keep up on. I very much enjoy writing, but I'm pretty slow at it, because I over analyze what I write.
I also wonder if it will be worthwhile. You know the proverb about the tree falling in the forest. In that same vein, I wonder; if a blog is posted on the web, and nobody reads it, does it really exist? I guess we'll see. Even if nobody reads it, I may just do it anyway just for the release of putting my thoughts in written form.
I think I will have three blog categories:
I'm not sure if this will be a passing fancy or something I will keep up on. I very much enjoy writing, but I'm pretty slow at it, because I over analyze what I write.
I also wonder if it will be worthwhile. You know the proverb about the tree falling in the forest. In that same vein, I wonder; if a blog is posted on the web, and nobody reads it, does it really exist? I guess we'll see. Even if nobody reads it, I may just do it anyway just for the release of putting my thoughts in written form.
I think I will have three blog categories:
- Keeping up with Dan.
- Religious
- Political/Philosophical.
This way, the reader/viewer can ignore aspects that they aren't interested in.
And so it begins...
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