No Coincidences

Tag: bible

  • Me and Moses

    Me and Moses

    Before you start reading, I will be comparing my WEAKNESS to Moses’s weakness. Don’t worry, I’m not comparing myself to Moses in a good way.

    I liked that title for this blog post because it gives off a good ‘ole image of Moses and I getting ready to go do some fishin’ or somethin’.

    There is never a moment I feel more like Moses than when I’m asked to speak in public, especially in church.

    I’m referring to Exodus 4:10:

    10 And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.

    When I first thought about coming back to church in ~2011 there was one overwhelming obstacle in my path: what if I’m asked to speak??? I know to many this seems absurd. But I hope it goes to illustrate how big a fear this was (and still is) for me. I have memories of being a deacon (12–13-year-old) in church and dreading a Sunday School class I learned would be spent reading scripture out loud. It filled my entire body with fear. It made me lock up. It made my throat tight. It made me gulp over and over. It made me sweat. I would start to feel like I might throw up.

    Some of you think you have a fear of public speaking.

    Now do you get how big a fear this was and still is?

    I know others have it worse than me.

    When I did finally come back to church in ~2015, I had to make a decision early on. That decision was that I would not let my fear of speaking hold me back. God had brought me back and I had experiences to share and people to help. Not only that, but I had to learn to lessen the control fear had on my life.

    I decided when I was asked to speak in church, I would accept. That was until that first text came in one morning asking me to give the opening prayer in church that day. I froze. Instead of responding to the text, I called a mentor (I miss you Jessie) and talked it through. He reminded me that if I said no today, when would it stop? By the time I responded to the bishopric member who asked me to give the prayer, he had already reassigned it to someone else. I was off the hook that day, but I promised myself the next time I was asked to speak, I would accept without hesitation, before I could let the fear and excuses set in.

    Little did I know how much that next call would try my faith.

    I was in the middle of studying for a work certification. I’d already failed the test once and this next test was extremely important. I’d been studying for weeks. The test was a couple weeks away when I got the call. I was asked if I could speak in church in two weeks. The excuses flooded my mind: I have this test I’m studying for, I can’t write a talk, and besides, the added stress…! I can’t, I’ll have to accept next time.

    Then I remembered the promise I made myself. 

    “Yes, I will speak.”

    That taught me an important lesson. If we let our fears control us, they will. There are always excuses why NOT to do something that makes us uncomfortable. I spoke two weeks later in church. Beth still talks about that day, hearing me speak, as being the first day I caught her attention.

    From that day forward if I was asked to bless the sacrament, give an announcement in church, say the prayer, teach a lesson, or speak, I always answered yes without hesitation. It petrified me every time. I remember one day I gave someone the Holy Ghost which entailed laying my hands on a friend’s head and giving her a priesthood blessing in front of our entire church. That same day I also blessed the sacrament in front of the whole church, and I gave a talk in front of the whole church.

    Any one of those things in a given day would have given me nightmares.

    Before sacrament, I started to feel sick to my stomach. I thought I was going to be physically ill. I went to an empty classroom, I knelt, and I prayed for help.

    “Please, Heavenly Father, please, just help me get through this. I need you.”

    That may have been the day I solidified my knowledge that I can’t do anything without God, I’m nothing without Him.

    When I gave that blessing to the friend, bestowing the Holy Ghost upon her, I walked up with knees shaking. I thought I was going to, at a minimum fall over, and possibly faint. My throat was dry, and it hurt. I’ll never forget the feeling when I put my hands on her head, with the whole congregation, heads bowed, waiting for me to speak.

    I’ll never forget feeling like a cold bucket of water was poured over my head. From my head down to my toes I felt a tingling. Calm overcame me.

    My grandpa used to say his favorite thing in the world was to give a priesthood blessing because it was the closest he ever felt to God. He said he could feel God in those moments speaking through him.

    That’s what I experienced that day.

    I wrote this on a day that I was speaking in church. I still get kind of sick to my stomach. I still get extremely nervous. I still have to fight back the panic.

    Sometimes people tell me they can’t tell I’m nervous when I speak. I appreciate that, but sometimes I just wish everyone knew. There’s power in putting it out there.

    For others who have this fear, and I know there are many, my biggest advice is to put it out there. Don’t shy away from your fear. When I’m extra nervous, I might just say, “I’m really nervous right now.” Then I feel like I’ve removed the question from those watching and from myself worrying about it. I’ve found this to really help when public speaking.

    I’m grateful for my fear of speaking. It’s assured me, and is a constant reminder, that I can’t do anything without God.

    For those wondering, on the day I wrote this, I did end up speaking and it did go OK. I was supposed to speak for 10 minutes and spoke for 22 due to an excess of time being available. I feel that with practice anything can become more comfortable, and that’s definitely the case with me and public speaking.

    I’ve now taken to challenging myself a little more, to see just how far I can take this reliance on God. The last time I was asked to speak in church I intentionally put zero preparation into my talk. I was asked to speak last minute, a couple days beforehand, due to someone canceling, and the topic was “personal revelation,” so I thought it was a fitting time to try it.

    I got up before the church with little idea of what I was going to share. As I looked around at the congregation, I knew what I wanted to share.

    I’m grateful for the opportunity to speak in church. I’m grateful to be able to share my thoughts and experiences. This fear is a constant reminder that I need God, and I’m grateful for this weakness. Every time I’m asked to speak I’m reminded how weak and silly I am. We can look at all our weaknesses this way, as a reminder of how much we need Him. I know as we do this we come closer to God and better appreciate all He has done and continues to do for us.

  • An Epistle from the New Testament Apostles

    An Epistle from the New Testament Apostles

    I read a book titled An Epistle from the New Testament Apostles.

    A sentence in the second paragraph of the preface caught my attention and helped me to read this book in a different light. That sentence read:

    “Imagine for a moment how you might feel if you were to go to your mailbox only to find there a long letter addressed personally to you from the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as those church leaders were constituted shortly after the resurrection of Christ.”

    Huh. Do we read the Bible in this way? Do we read the Bible as if Simon Peter, Paul of Tarsus, or John the Beloved were writing to us? How much more power comes from the words as we consider them a personal letter directly sent to us? What is the Bible really, but a letter sent directly to us from these prophets? You could also consider the Bible a letter sent to you from God.

    I’d like to share a part of this book that was especially significant to me. As I said, the book takes all the epistles of the prophets in the New Testament and categorizes them. It’s also worth noting that where there are multiple translations or interpretations of what may have been originally written, this book showed some of those different options. Keep that in mind when reading the quotes below. One category that stood out to me was titled:

    Unity in the Church

    From James 3:14-16 “But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not/do not assume superiority over/ and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.”

    Sounds like Christianity today.

    Another section.

    A Call to Unity in the Body of Christ

    From Ephesians 4:1-6 “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the calling wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is {In} one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” 

    Ephesians 4:11-15: “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we in the unity of the faith, all come and of {to} the knowledge of the Son of God, (MISSING ERASED CONTENT FROM KJV). That we be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive, But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ.”

    Unity.

    I point out the lack of it in Christianity not to try to “dispute” or to create “contention” but to point out the obvious.

    It’s interesting the first things Jesus Christ did when he appeared to His other flock in the Americas.

    1. He proclaims His Atonement, announcing that He accomplished what the prophets said would be fulfilled, announcing that He can save His people.
    2. He ministers to His people one by one. They are each individually allowed to come up and feel the wounds in His hands, feet, and sides.
    3. After the people cry out “Hosana!” literally, “God save us” or “Save now, we pray,” Jesus Christ sets forth the mode of baptism, the way He can save them.

    From here Christ’s complete focus is on unity. He elaborates on the oneness of Himself, God the Father, and the Holy Ghost.

    Then He says (3 Nephi 11:28-30), “And according as I have commanded you thus shall ye baptize. And there shall be no disputations among you, as there have hitherto been; neither shall there be disputations among you concerning the points of my doctrine, as there have hitherto been. For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirrith up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another. Behold, this is not my doctrine, to stir up the hearts of men with anger, one against another; but this is my doctrine, that such things should be done away.”

    May we all avoid disputations and contention. May we always serve with meekness, longsuffering, and love. I hope that one day Christianity can be unified in our faith in Jesus Christ. That will likely not come until the millennium, when we can all look to who we serve, and know without a doubt that we know Him. But we can do our part today to not let the devil have power over us. We can do our part by removing contention and argument from our lives.


  • This is Repentance

    This is Repentance

    Sometimes I struggle with the idea that my sins have been made completely white through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, that I’m completely forgiven for everything I’ve done.

    I know this disrespects the Atonement of Jesus Christ and that’s part of my biggest struggle. The last thing I ever want to do is belittle what Christ did for me.

    The thing is, sometimes I still dwell on my past sins. Sometimes I still think about them. Sometimes I still feel remorse and guilt. Sometimes I wonder if I’ve paid the full penitence to those I hurt. Have my sins been washed away? Are they completely gone if I still remember them?

    I rationalize this, and I believe it’s true, that I remember them for my benefit. I have to remember them or I might return to them. It’s the remembrance of guilt that keeps me from wanting to go back to being that person.

    I understand this intellectually.

    Still, sometimes it’s hard for me to understand how Christ can have forgotten my sins, washed them away as if they never happened, when I can’t forget them myself.

    The young men I work with and I recently studied Isaiah chapter 1.

    Isaiah 1:18 reads:

    “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”

    After reading that I emphatically emphasized something to those young boys. What I emphasized was this:

    “When you truly repent, and show remorse, and try your absolute hardest to not do it again, Christ forgives and forgets your sins. Period. White as snow. It’s as if they never happened. Don’t be deceived. Satan will have you believe you can never be forgiven for a mistake. This is the great lie. You can be forgiven. If you repent, Christ will forgive. Not only that, He won’t even remember it. It’s like it never happened. I can’t stress this enough.”

    That’s what I said to my young men, and I believe it’s true.

    But… do I believe it’s true?

    Given what I just wrote?

    I had a thought today for the first time ever. I often think about the time of judgement. That time when we stand before Christ and have our life reviews. I’ve never feared that moment. The thought that occurred to me today is: why don’t I fear that moment? I have so much to be embarrassed by, so much to be ashamed of in my past behavior. Why haven’t I worried about it before? It occurred to me that one day my wife, Beth, will see how I once was. I’ve tried to tell her, but I don’t think she gets it. Then it occurred to me that my family will see it too. I will be so ashamed! Why haven’t I feared this before?

    Then it hit me.

    Maybe that’s repentance.

    Repentance is knowing – yes, I did those things. Yes, I made many mistakes. But though my skins be scarlet (they are and were) they shall be as white as snow. As I type this, I hold back tears. That’s what Christ has done for me. That’s what repentance is.

    Luke 15:7:

    “I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.”

    D&C 18:13:

    “And how great is his joy in the soul that repenteth!”

    I am that soul. I don’t know how the life review will go. If my sins are forgiven and forgotten, are those parts reviewed? I don’t know. But what I realized was, and why I’ve never feared that moment, is even if all my abhorrent behavior is shown, it will be ok. It will be ok because I changed.

    That thought of Beth seeing how I used to be? It occurred to me that maybe she’ll love me even more after seeing all of it because she’ll see how much I changed. She’ll be able to see the full picture of how far I came to be a semi-decent husband and father.

    I think that’s what repentance is. Knowing that even if all your sins are laid out, you’re still forgiven.

    That’s repentance.

  • Lehi’s Dream

    Lehi’s Dream

    Some thoughts I had while reading about Lehi’s dream. I will not relate every detail of the dream so for those who are unfamiliar, it can be read in 1 Nephi chapter 8.

    The first thing I noticed is the location where Lehi starts in his dream. The people he sees later all start at the head of a fountain of water. It could be this is where they started or this is where Lehi first sees them. What seems significant to me is this: Lehi is wandering blindly through the dark and dreary wilderness (verse 4). It is then that Lehi encounters a man dressed in a white robe who bade Lehi to follow (verses 5, 6).

    What I find significant is that later in the dream Lehi beckons Sam, Sariah, and Nephi, along with others, to come to the tree. Where is their man in a white robe? I think what we’re learning here is the significance of prophets in God’s plan. Lehi was led to the Tree of Life, the fruit, the gospel of Jesus Christ by a man in a white robe. Let’s assume the being in the white robe is Jesus Christ Himself (Sidenote: Let’s be clear, in Lehi’s dream I don’t know that the man in the white robe is necessarily Jesus Christ. It could be someone Christ sent like Gabriel or Adam to lead Lehi. But the principle stands and for simplicity, I’ll refer to the white-robed being as Christ). So, Christ leads Lehi to the gospel. It’s then that Lehi guides others there. Not to say that others don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, just that if we follow the guidance of and heed the prophet, he will guide us to the Gospel of Christ and keep us connected to the iron rod.

    The significance of a prophet is further illustrated by verse 8. Lehi doesn’t encounter Christ and immediately show up at the Tree. He “traveled for the space of many hours in darkness.” I think this represents the trials and tribulations Lehi had to go through. He was scorned, threatened death, and ultimately had to leave his home for his testimony of Christ. Prophets don’t become prophets overnight. They’re often the most persecuted among us. Then Lehi “began to pray unto the Lord that he would have mercy on me, according to the multitude of his tender mercies” (verse 8). It was when Lehi humbly cried out that he beheld “a tree, whose fruit was desirable to make one happy” (verse 10).

    Lehi is led to the gospel. In a way I think he is ordained a prophet in that moment. From there he beckons and leads others to the fruit.

    Another way this can be looked at is that anyone who leads others to the tree of life, like Lehi led his family, can be a type and shadow of Christ. If you are an example to someone of Christ-like love and lead someone to come closer to Jesus Christ, you are acting in the role of the white-robed person, or Jesus Christ. You become a Savior on Mount Zion.

    Another significant feature of Lehi’s dream is the river of water. It can become confusing what exactly the river of water represents if you read Lehi’s dream, then Nephi’s interpretation of it. In chapters 12 and 15 Nephi is clear, the water was filthy and represents the depths of hell (12:16). If you read 11:25 it reads, “the rod of iron…led to the fountain of living waters, or to the tree of life.” I think the significance here is the water is “living water” as it approaches the tree of life. As the water distances from the Tree of Life it becomes filthy. Therefore, at the head of the river, away from the Tree of Life, it was filthy and represented hell.

    Those in the great and spacious building mocked those who sought the Tree of Life. I think one interpretation could be that those in the building were products of ignorance. They knew no better. They were deceived by the “wisdom thereof, the pride of the world.” Laman and Lemuel can not plead ignorance. They had seen an angel (1 Nephi 3). Their father was a prophet. They started from a different point than someone who ended up in the great and spacious building. When Laman and Lemuel denied what they knew and denied all the light they’d been given, they were swept away. To whom much is given, much is required (Luke 12:48). “He who sins against the greater light shall receive the greater condemnation” (D&C 82:3).

    1 Nephi 12:18 “the large and spacious building…is the vain imaginations and the pride of the children of men. And a great and a terrible gulf divideth them; yea, even the word of the justice of the Eternal God, and the Messiah who is the Lamb of God.”

    The gulf that separates the people in the great and spacious building from the Tree of Life is their ignorance, not always of their own fault. Their upbringing might have brought them to the building. They may have been more easily deceived by Satan because of their upbringing and experiences. They may have started with an unfair disadvantage that made them unable to accept the gospel, “a terrible gulf” that made it too difficult to understand “the word of the justice of the Eternal God.” If they only understood how kind and loving their Father in Heaven is, or even that He is their Father, they likely wouldn’t laugh and scoff at those who embrace this great truth and find comfort from this truth.

    That’s why it’s so important that this message is shared with the world.

    This, I believe, is also why we must never judge others. We don’t know the experiences of others. It may be that if we were raised in a certain house, with a certain culture, with a certain understanding, with a certain life, with certain experiences, we would be just like the individual who scoffs at the Gospel. We don’t know the circumstances of someone else. We don’t know why they are the way they are. In their shoes, we may be no different. This is why it is to our greater condemnation to judge others. Don’t judge someone. You can’t comprehend all there is to know about them. Only one person can do that. He will rightfully and righteously judge them.

    Back to Laman and Lemuel and the filthy water that sweeps them away – as said, they are worse off. This is also why those who partake of the fruit and are brought to be ashamed by the scorn of the world “fell away into forbidden paths and were lost.” They didn’t make it to the spacious building. They were lost to wander forbidden paths. Once you’ve tasted the sweet truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ there is no going back. You can try to go back to the world, but most find they are more lost than ever. There are so many examples of individuals who leave the church but can’t ever really leave it. They become lost, always seeking to find something to fill the void the Church of Jesus Christ left. They can’t fill the void so they end up attacking it.

    11:35 reads, “The multitude of the earth was gathered together; and I beheld that they were in a large and spacious building, like unto the building which my father saw. And the angel of the Lord spake unto me again, saying: Behold the world and the wisdom thereof; yea behold the house of Israel hath gathered together to fight against the twelve apostles of the Lamb.”

    Many of these people are deceived, and therefore they fight against God, unknowingly sometimes. The wisdom and pride of the world can be churches that look at the poor and needy and manipulate them. Or it can be individuals who look at any other church and scoff and mock. Oftentimes, these actions are done in the guise of defending God. More evil has been perpetuated under the guise of doing what’s right than just about anything. God needs us to defend Him by our kind actions and good examples, not by slandering, judging, or hating others. Many today of other faiths openly mock what they don’t realize is Christ’s true and living church. They have been deceived by the wisdom of the world. And in mocking “they never knew Him” (JST Matt. 7:33).

    These are just a few of my thoughts from Lehi’s dream of the Tree of Life. I feel there is so much to learn from this simple story. As with all things in the Book of Mormon, this points to Jesus Christ and helps point me in the direction of trying to be more like Him.

  • What the Theory of Evolution is Missing

    What the Theory of Evolution is Missing

    This is going to go a direction you won’t expect. I’m not going to argue against Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. I’m not nearly smart enough to discuss the theory of evolution in much detail.

    What I will do instead, is propose my own theory.

    Scientists who are proponents of the theory of evolution believe that life is constantly evolving. Over billions of years, a process called natural selection has taken place. Natural selection is basically the idea of survival of the fittest. If you’re the fittest, you survive. If you survive, you procreate. Survival of the fittest. Natural selection.

    The disconnect, for me personally, is when the theory of evolution brings scientists to the conclusion that God doesn’t exist. The omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent God, creator of Heaven and Earth, couldn’t allow his creations to change?

    Here is where I will diverge from class Christian thinking. The theory of evolution doesn’t go far enough.

    “As man now is, God once was: As God now is, man may be.”

    What is it to attain the fulness of God? (Ephesians 3:19).

    You think fundamentalist Christians hate the theory of evolution already? Imagine their hate for us if we say it hasn’t gone far enough.

    Now, the theory evolution is more than just change. As I noted, it’s about natural selection. Darwin’s theory is that natural selection leads to change. Christ’s theory is He leads to change.

    I’m not saying that Christ is leading plants and animals to change. They have their own process to fulfill the measure of their creation.

    But Christ does lead us to change, or evolve, if you want to use that word.

    Many of both religious and scientific persuasions would scoff at this notion.

    Look again at the theory of evolution. Living creatures are evolving.

    Why would humans not aspire or evolve to something greater then? I’m not talking about from mushrooms or apes. We are God’s children and as His children we have a divine inheritance. Our evolution is much greater. It’s from what we are now, to what Christ is now. This is possible because our Heavenly Father wants to give us “all he hath.”

    What do I change into while here on earth, in a small amount of time? I turn into my parents. I become more and more like my dad every day. What do we evolve or change to eternally? God. He is my Father. It’s the natural order of things.

    Joseph Smith often talked about how scholars, intellectuals, and religionists ridiculed him. Yet all he ever taught was what made sense. What made sense were eternal truths.

    The boy, like to his father grown,

    Has but attained unto his own;

    To grow to sire from state of son,

    Is not ’gainst Nature’s course to run.

    A son of God, like God to be,

    Would not be robbing Deity.

    Lorenzo Snow

    Paul understood this (Philippians 2:5-6) –

    “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

    Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God”

    So, the scientific-minded, expand your thinking. Religious minded, expand your thinking. Embrace your inheritance and all that the Father has to offer you. Embrace change, embrace the Atonement of Jesus Christ that allows all change. Embrace your evolution. God wants you to aspire to be like Him. It isn’t robbery to Him. What greater joy is there than watching your children grow, develop, and become better? Maybe even become like you.  

    Where does the theory of evolution lead? Where are we headed, what do we become? What is our evolution?

    Our evolution is to become like God, our Father.