No Coincidences

Tag: brothers

  • Satan is Jesus’s Older Brother

    Satan is Jesus’s Older Brother

    Stay with me.

    Before I go down this path let me acknowledge some things:

    1. We don’t understand how time works in eternity. It’s likely everything I’m about to say is nonsense from the eternal perspective. Still, have some fun with me. I know I got your attention with that title.
      • It’s very possible that God “adopted” billions of intelligences at the same time. Meaning, It didn’t go Satan, then Jesus, then Moses, then you, then me, etc. It’s probably not that simple. Anyways…

    Now that’s out of the way, I think there is a fun thought experiment/argument to be had that despite Jesus Christ having the title of “Firstborn”, Satan might be “older” than Jesus.

    Everything in this world symbolizes Jesus Christ. Everything points to Him (Moses 6:63, 2 Nephi 11:4). 

    There are some individuals from history that are clear types and shadows of Jesus Christ.

    Examples:

    1. Joseph of Egypt
      • Savior of his people and all of Egypt
    2. Moses
      • Liberator of Israel
    3. Nephi
      • Led his people to the Promised Land
    4. David
      • King of Israel
    5. Isaac
      • Inheritor of all that Abraham had and father of Israel (Jacob)
    6. Jacob (Israel)
      • Father of the covenant people of Earth
    7. Joseph Smith
      • Restorer of the Gospel on Earth (through Jesus Christ, of course)
    8. Peter
      • Leader of Christ’s church after Christ’s ascension
    9. Abel
      • In the likeness of his father, hearkened to the voice of the Lord
    10. Ephraim
      • Received the birthright, descendents are responsible for the gathering of Israel

    All of these men represent Jesus Christ in different but very clear and obvious ways. 

    What do all these men have in common? None of them are the oldest in their family. None of them are the firstborn.

    Interesting, right?

    “Well, but, the scriptures say Jesus Christ is the firstborn of God. Clear as day,” said a hypothetical someone arguing against my point.

    What if “firstborn” has meaning closer to heir, covenant son, preeminent one?

    Psalm 89:27 speaking of David, King of Israel, reads:

    “I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.”

    David was the youngest son in his family.

    In Genesis 22:2 God says to Abraham:

    “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest…”  

    But Isaac wasn’t Abraham’s only son. He also had Ishmael. Maybe Isaac was his covenant son. 

    Jeremiah 31:9 reads:

    “For I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.”

    None of Ephraim, David, or Isaac were the firstborn. Yet they were each described as such in varying ways.

    Now Jesus’s words about Himself:

    “I was in the beginning with the Father, and am the Firstborn” (D&C 93).

    This is a captivating feature of scripture. There is a repeated theme of an older brother rejecting His younger brother who receives stewardship over him. 

    Cain opposed Abel.

    Ishmael yielded to Isaac.

    Esau opposeed Jacob.

    Joseph of Egypt was rejected by his older brothers.

    David was initially overlooked by his older brothers.

    Are these older brothers representative of Satan, the way the younger brother is representative of Jesus?

    Sound familiar? (Satan’s Story and Satan’s Story Continued)

    Maybe all these examples are meant to teach us something. It’s hard to be an older brother and yield leadership to your younger brother. What if Satan had taken another route and humbly accepted Jesus Christ? What if he accepted Jesus Christ’s position as “firstborn of the Father”, the chosen one, God’s beloved? What if Cain didn’t oppose Abel? Where would Cain be now?

    Also, what if Joseph of Egypt’s brothers accepted his position of power over them from the beginning? Joseph wouldn’t have been able to complete his earthly mission of saving all of Egypt. Sometimes, maybe, we need opposition (2 Nephi 11).

    But what happens when older brothers do humbly yield to their younger brother? Joseph Smith’s older brothers were legendarily supportive of his calling as God’s prophet. Esau famously humbled himself and reconciled with Jacob. Moses’s older brother Aaron appears to have accepted Moses’s role as prophet most of the time. Amazing things happen when older brothers can humble themselves.

    What if Laman and Lemuel could have humbled themselves before Nephi? Think of the love, peace, and prosperity that could have existed among the Nephites in the Americas. But then we wouldn’t have had all the lessons the Book of Mormon teaches us about opposition.

    God’s plan is perfect.

    It’s fascinating to look at scripture from a broader perspective, look for patterns, and try to grasp all that God wants us to learn and understand.

    While I prefaced this post saying it could be somewhat silly of an exercise, I stand by it. I think it’s a good exercise to review the scriptures in out-of-the-box ways and try to see the patterns God may be trying to teach us.

    Wherever in the birth order Jesus Christ and Satan landed, we know they were “older.” We know that God chose Jesus Christ to be His Son, the Redeemer of the world, the Savior of mankind. We know God doesn’t make mistakes. I’m grateful for what the scriptures teach me about Jesus Christ and that they can constantly strengthen my testimony of Him and all that He did for me.

  • Love has Afforded Me Much

    Love has Afforded Me Much

    Ivy is the first grandchild on both sides.  Ivy has 13 aunts and uncles.  She has two sets of grandparents who, while around her, make no qualms about her being the princess of the universe and most important thing to ever come to earth. As I watch her with family, I’m blown away by the amount of love.  She is loved so much.  Beth and I love her so much.  See The Greatest Moment of My Life Every Day for further evidence.

    I wonder how much this love positively impacts Ivy’s future.  How much does it impact the person she will become?

    As I watch her, something occurred to me recently.  I was surrounded by this same love growing up.  I wasn’t the first grandchild on either side, but I was surrounded by aunts, uncles, cousins, parents, and grandparents that loved and adored me.  Love was poured out upon me without measure as a baby.  Not only was I loved by those I could see, but I was made to know that God and so many I couldn’t see also loved and cared about me.

    While watching Ivy, it occurred to me how lucky and blessed I was to be surrounded by all that love.

    How much was I positively impacted by the love I was surrounded by?  How much did it shape who I am today?

    Not all children are given this great gift.

    It was a humbling thought.  It’s humbling to consider all that I’ve been given.  If I ever get prideful about any good qualities I may have, I can quickly look at all the attention, direction, and love I’ve been given in my life and realize there is nothing to be prideful of.  I have been afforded much.

    And to whom much is given, much is expected (Luke 12:48, D&C 82:3).

    This used to be a daunting scripture.  Now it is a great responsibility, and a great blessing.

    As I’ve gotten older, I have become more aware of how blessed I was to be raised with the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life.  That is why I write this blog.  That is why I try to talk to friends, family, coworkers, etc. about the Book of Mormon.  That’s why I share my testimony of Jesus Christ.

    I am grateful for The Family A Proclamation to the World for what is teaches authoritatively and without reservation about the importance of the family unit.  My family unit has blessed my life in so many ways.  I wish every child could be loved like I was, like I still am, like Ivy is.

    God expects me to share the love I’ve been given.  Not in a prideful way, but with a humble recognition of how lucky I truly am.

    The two great commandments are to love and to love.  When you receive love, you must give love.  That’s what God asks from us.

  • White Privilege

    White Privilege

    I’ve tried to think if there’s something I can write right now.  There’s nothing I can write that will change the world.  That’s desperately what I’d like to do.  Maybe I could write something that makes a tiny difference. A friend of mine who is in a better position to speak on the pain being experienced by so many said in a video that it helps when we speak up. So, I’m speaking up.

    I’ve tried to decide if there’s something I can write for my black brothers and sisters.

    Let me start there.  I’m not saying African American.  No one calls me Finnish-American.  I am American.  My brothers and sisters aren’t African American.  Few of my friends have ever been to Africa.  They’re as American as I am.

    I’m going to give a personal anecdote that taught me something. Before you read, know going in, this is not me giving a commentary about how discrimination happens to white people too or to share that we are all discriminated against. Please get to my point at the end of the story.

    One early evening a couple years ago Beth and I left my condo to go get food.  I took a right turn a bit hastily through a red light, I didn’t yield as I should have.  I saw the police officer behind me.  He followed me briefly and pulled me over.  He came to my window.  He was a young, white, male officer.  Couldn’t have been older than 30.  He approached my window and asked for license and registration.  I handed it to him.

    He took my information back to his vehicle.  He came back and discussed why he pulled me over.  I knew why. 

    He was not being pleasant.  He was not kind.  He seemed angry at the inconvenience of having to pull me over.  He proceeded to tell me that recently someone was killed at a crosswalk because someone like me didn’t yield.  I apologized and said I understood.  I made a mistake and shouldn’t drive like that through crosswalks.  To this day I think about it almost every time I approach a red light.  I should have been more cautious.

    The officer was very…unkind.  I don’t know how else to describe it.  His tone, his demeanor, his stance, everything was aggressive.  Then he looked in at Beth and told her to give him her license.  She told him she didn’t have her license since she wasn’t driving.  This is where the whole situation turned.  He got really angry.  He told her she was required to provide her identification, and not in a nice way.  Beth said that wasn’t true.  She didn’t say it in a nasty way, just stated that wasn’t true and anyways she didn’t have her license on her.

    He then continued by saying that he didn’t know if we had just stolen this car and he needed her license to verify that, and that she was required to provide it.  He had my license and registration for my car in his hands so he knew the car wasn’t stolen.  I politely stated I lived just down the street and we could get her license if it was necessary.  But now he was being nasty and Beth was upset.  He started aggressively telling her, basically, that she was dumb for thinking she didn’t need her license when she left the house. 

    He got out a pen and paper and took down her information and looked her up.  He then told us he had bigger criminals to catch and to get out of here.  He didn’t give me a ticket, just told us to leave.  He told us we wasted his time because he wanted to catch criminals.

    For those wondering – I’ve since checked the legality of leaving your home without identification.  “It is absolutely not illegal to walk around on the street without ID in the United States of America. Under the 4th Amendment of the Constitution you are secure from unreasonable searches and providing your identification is a form of search.”

    I left that interaction feeling uncomfortable. Beth was extremely upset. I felt uneasy. I felt a little abused. I felt like a man took an opportunity from a position of power to make me feel small, to insult my girlfriend, to show his power.

    I’ve told this story to lead to one big, important point:

    At no point in that interaction did I ever fear for my life or fear for the safety of my (then) girlfriend.  It was uncomfortable.  That was it.  I never felt truly threatened. I’ve since thought what it would be like to be in that situation, to feel everything I felt that day, with the added feeling that my life might be in danger. I’ll likely never know what that feels like.

    I know there are good cops everywhere.  I know only some are bad.  Let’s get that completely out of the way.  That is not what this is about.

    That’s not what I’m talking about.  I’m talking about fear and oppression.  I don’t fear like that.  Why?  Why do some of my brothers and sisters have to fear?

    The title of this post is White Privilege. I want to say something I think I’ve realized far too late. Saying white people have white privilege isn’t an insult to white people.  I am white.  There may have been a time when I heard “white privilege” and took offense to this phrase.  Not anymore.  It’s time we accept that we’ve been given a leg up compared to so many others.  White privilege isn’t a personal attack on me.  It’s a fact.  We have to stop taking these statements of fact as an insult.  They’re not.  They’re facts.

    I’m sorry.  I know these words don’t change anything.  I know things need to change. I’m sorry I don’t know how to help change it.  I’m sorry I don’t know how to bring more love into the hearts of every person here.  I’m sorry there are people that hate.  I’m sorry there are people who discriminate.  I’m sorry there are people that kill.  I’m sorry there are people without empathy when a man is begging for air.  I’m sorry.  I know it doesn’t change anything. 

    I love my black brothers and sisters.  I’m sorry you have to fear.  It’s not right.

    I’d like to share two things a friend of mine shared, two ways we can start to make a small difference.

    1. Stop saying the N word. Don’t say it. Ever.
    2. Don’t let the little comments slide by. When you hear racist remarks or comments, speak up. Say something.

    All I can do is speak up, say my part. I know it’s not much. I love you. Many more people love you than you realize. There is more good in the world than we’re lead to believe.  I have to believe that.  I have to hold on to that.  I know that doesn’t change the world.  All I can do is hope.  Hope that love will eventually prevail.  Hope that discrimination and hate will end.  Maybe it won’t in this life. Or maybe we can still change. Maybe we can still make a difference.

    _________________________

    These are some links, videos, music that I’ve viewed recently that have impacted me. Please listen and read:

    President Nelson Calls for Repentance in Statement on Racism:

    https://www.ldsliving.com/President-Nelson-Calls-for-Repentance-in-Statement-on-Racism/s/92936

    Life of Privilege Explained:

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