No Coincidences

Tag: Christ

  • Text to a Friend

    Text to a Friend

    I want to share an exchange with one of my oldest theological friends. I invited this friend to hear me speak in church. My topic was Ephesians 1:10 which reads:

    “That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him”

    I may share that talk sometime in the future.

    My friend was invited to the talk and like the consistent and reliable friend he has been now for years whether across state lines or in the state of Arizona, showed up. I went about ten different directions before I settled on where I would go with my talk. The direction I finally settled on was one in which I knew this friend would disagree. I knew because it was a topic we had regularly disagreed on.

    Afterwards, this friend gave me expected thoughts regarding his side of things and how they relate to my talk. He was pointing out where he disagreed. This is why we have such good conversations! I already knew his points as we’d had the discussion before.

    It resulted in a text I got to send to him that I would like to share (yes, this was one text):

    “Hey, man am I grateful you accept my invitations to things because it’s your feedback and thoughts that strengthen my faith so much.

    Thank you so much for coming. Beth and I talk constantly about how we can’t trust people to keep commitments and do things they say they’ll do. You and [your wife] are one of two couples in our life (outside of family) that when you say you’re going to do something or be somewhere we know you will be. Thank you for that.

    I knew exactly what thoughts you’d have on my talk and I welcome them. I knew it would be somewhat, maybe inflammatory, to you, as I know it touched on things we’ve disagreed on from the beginning. I am glad that you appear to have not been offended by my words. Our disagreement really comes down to one thing, I think. And that’s if the Book of Mormon is true.

    I appreciated the exercise you gave me. As I did it, I came out more convinced that Jesus Christ is the literal Son of God, as the scriptures say. That’s the thing. You read the Bible and see God and Jesus Christ in one way. I see it, without a doubt in my mind, another way. Nothing will change that.

    But why do I see it another way? How can something so clear to you, and something so clear to me, be the opposite?

    As I said in my testimony, it comes down to a prophet. How can I know Jesus Christ is who He is? Because a prophet told me. How do I know he’s a prophet? He would have had to do something miraculous.

    I’ve concluded the Book of Mormon is the miracle God provided so I could know Joseph Smith was who he said he was. And if he was who he said he was, then Jesus Christ is who Joseph Smith said He is: the Son of God, on God’s right hand, as the scriptures say.

    It’s here that I finally thank you for giving me this great gift. It was years ago that you said you couldn’t accept the Book of Mormon because there was no proof the way there was with the Bible – archaeological and otherwise. I have spent the past years seeking “proof” that the Book of Mormon is what Joseph Smith claimed it to be. My list now is well over 400 items (*that was true in 2023 when this was written, now well over 800 individual items) and I am excited to share it with you one day.

    I have you to thank for that. You have built my testimony in a miraculous way and I thank our Heavenly Father, and you for that.

    Of course, “proof” is an interesting word. Despite all the records, eye witnesses, evidences, and testimonies, many still deny Jesus Christ existed, the Bible is the Word of God, etc. My “proof” may not do it for you. But when I review my list, there is not a shred of doubt in my mind that the power of God provided us the Book of Mormon. My faith has become knowledge.

    Until this life ends and we get to review everything, you will never understand how fruitful you have been to building my faith and testimony. Thank you, friend.

    Jesus Christ is the center of everything. He is my King, my Savior, my Redeemer. He is my advocate with the Father. Without Him I have nothing. Without Him I am nothing. I know we see Him differently. That doesn’t change who He is and what He’s done for us. Maybe one of us will change our minds one day. But ultimately, as long as we believe Jesus Christ is our Savior and King, one day we’ll both stand before Him and we’ll know. And it won’t matter who was right or who was wrong. Only He will matter. What a day that will be! Man, I look forward to it!”

    I share this because I think it’s important. The point of Christ is to bring us together. Though we disagree on many, many doctrinal points, this friend and I have fostered a relationship of discussion, debate, and disagreement, always founded on love and respect.

    I am truly grateful for how this person has strengthened me in Christ. That’s what this life is about. There can be good reason there is disagreement in the world – it can be for us to learn how to coexist with those we disagree with. We all have unique experiences in this life. Every moment shapes us and every experience we have changes the way we view the world. It’s through these experiences and listening to the viewpoints of others, someone who has had a vastly different life than we have had, that we can grow and become better.

    The world needs a little more of this.

  • The God You Know

    The God You Know

    When I started writing the post Unity, Peace, and Love, I actually had another point I intended to make. As often happens when I write, my point got sidetracked (I hope by the Spirit) and I ended up going a completely different direction than originally intended. The point I was sidetracked from, I still liked, and think is important, so I decided to write it anyway. Hopefully the Spirit will guide this post as well.

    In Unity, Peace, and Love I talked about a video that shocked me, the video of someone strutting up to a rameumptom to pray. The idea of a follower of God shoving people out of his way to pray was so bizarre to me. I wrote in the aforementioned post what I think ended up being a better point about this. But what really came to mind the first time I watched that video is how corrupt religion can become if people don’t know who they worship.

    In my original post about the rameumpton, I wrote about the God a friend of mine knew. His God was vengeful, exclusive, and selective. This friend believed that I was going to hell despite my best efforts. I assured that friend that I believed he was going to heaven. Do I worship a different God?

    Let me be clear, I believe we’re all trying to worship the same God. I don’t mean to make the same argument that many Christians make against members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that I’m not Christian because I don’t worship the same Jesus Christ. Just because we have different understandings of the person doesn’t completely diminish our worship. My efforts in worshiping Christ, even if others deem it a “different” or “inaccurate” Jesus Christ, is still worship.

    The problem comes when our understanding of who we worship completely alters our understanding and our behavior. The idea that someone could shove someone on their way to prayer was so bizarre to me. But what if the God someone understands has no body, passions, and is unknowable? What if someone thinks God is a selective and vengeful God that needs to be feared?Why not shove someone on their way to prayer? This shoving behavior isn’t as bad as a God who destroys people on a whim, a God who sent us here so 99% of us could be damned to eternal torment. Surely shoving someone isn’t that bad if our example is that God.

    I wrote the above before I finished Alma chapter 21 so I’d forgotten about the next part about the Zoramites, their rameumptom, and their recited prayer.

    Verse 15 of chapter 21, after the depiction of a Zoramite shoving someone out of his way on his way to prayer, reads:

    “Holy, holy God; we believe that thou art God, and we believe that thou art holy, and that thou wast a spirit, and that thou art a spirit, and that thou wilt be a spirit forever.”

    Interesting their beliefs line up with my thinking about how not knowing God corrupts our behaviors not only religiously, but in life. Here we have a recited prayer and the confusion on God’s character destroying a society.

    The culmination of the Zoramites corruption was not in their recited prayers or confusion in God, though. The culmination is found in verse 16 which reads:

    “Holy God, we believe that thou has separated us from our brethren; and we do not believe in the tradition of our brethren, which was handed down to them by the childishness of their fathers; but we believe that thou has elected us to be thy holy children; and also thou has made it known unto us that there shall be no Christ” (emphasis added).

    All their confusion, twisting of doctrine, and beliefs ultimately led to a denial of Christ. We will know the modern religions have truly fallen when they stop believing in He who keeps this all together.

    In an April 2023 General Conference talk, Mark A. Bragg reminded us of the Joseph Smith quote, “If men do not comprehend the character of God, they do not comprehend themselves.”

    This is where modern revelation and especially the Lectures on Faith (See here, here, and especially here for more on those) becomes so important. We must understand the character of perfection and love that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ possess so that we can aspire to those characteristics. An unknowable God gives us an unknowable standard. Knowing God is perfect love, and we can do our best to be like Him, gives us the ability to do our best to emulate His love.

  • Suns Experience

    Suns Experience

    Last week I got to play on the Phoenix Suns court. It was an awesome experience, one of the coolest things I’ve ever gotten to do. Huge shoutout to Robert, his wife Brooke, and Blake for making it happen. We got exclusive access to the court and were able to play pickup for three hours. Well, some of us were able to play for hours… more on that later.

    Some basketball thoughts from playing on a real NBA court.

    First, those lights are bright. When I’d shoot from the corners, if I watched the ball arc up before it got to the rim, I’d be blinded by the lights. If I looked up unconsciously while playing, I got blinded. Never thought about what it would be like to actually play under the “bright lights.”Speaking of the corners, it is a tight fit. Shooting an NBA three from the corner gives barely enough room for your feet. If you take a step back at all to try to explode toward the hoop, you’re stepping out of bounds. I have size 10 shoes. I don’t know how the size 20s even do it.

    Speaking of the lights, part of the package with getting to play on the court was we got to watch the Suns play that night against the Orlando Magic. We got to watch from the suite level with food and drink included. I’ve been to many Suns games, but this was a unique game to watch due to having been on the court just hours earlier. These things I mentioned like the lights and the tight space from the corner were things I considered more than I ever had before. The other thing that stood out to me that I’d never thought about before was how hectic an environment this was for NBA players to play basketball in.

    Basketball is a refuge for me. It’s therapeutic. Playing on an NBA court with thousands of people watching cannot be therapeutic.

    An NBA game is a chaotic and hectic experience. Of course, there are the thousands of people watching, yelling, and trash-talking. That’s crazy in and of itself. But what struck me the most after having played on the court was how loud the music was. While we played, we had a pretty chill March Madness game playing on the big screen with the volume on what I’d guess was around medium. It was still distracting. Watching that game later against the Magic I was focused on the NOISE, the MUSIC, and the BASS.

    It is pandemonium at an NBA game. For some reason I’d always thought the NBA players were a bit sheltered from the noise. After playing on the court, I realized it’s the opposite. They are at the bottom, center of a dome. All the noise and chaos are amplified on the court. It gave me my first true appreciation of home-court advantage. That chaos is one thing, but when it’s a chaos you’re not used to, (on the road visiting another stadium) with fans heckling you the whole time, it’s complete sensory overload.

    So, back to my time on the court, unfortunately I got hurt the beginning of the second game. I was running and just stepped wrong and twisted my ankle bad. It actually happened at almost the exact spot where Kevin Durant twisted his ankle while doing a routine warm-up layup a couple weeks earlier.

    Probably exactly what my ankle looked like, same spot.

    After I rolled my ankle, I at least got to see what it was like to be treated like an NBA player for a moment. Multiple trainers checked on me and brought me ice. It was a bit embarrassing. I got to spend the rest of the pickup session jealously watching with ice on my ankle from the sideline.

    Here’s the part where I insert what I learned spiritually from this experience.

    I’ve twisted that ankle at least 3 dozen times, not exaggerating. It’s never fun. It’s always painful.

    That night, I was laying in bed with my ankle propped up on pillows. I’d already discarded the ice that was on it. It was the middle of the night and my foot was THROBBING. It hurt.

    It hurt badly enough that I started praying for relief. I don’t want to be dramatic. I know that on the pain scale, what I was experiencing was pretty mild. But still, it hurt. That’s when I started thinking about every groin pull, every sprained ankle, every concussion, every headache, every upset stomach, every scalping, every stitch, every ingrown toenail, every scratch, every bruise, every heartache, every heartbreak, every disappointment, every fear, every doubt.

    How could He have felt it all?

    Here I was, writhing in pain, whining, praying for relief, over a sprained ankle. And He felt every sprained ankle of every person that ever did or would exist, all in a moment. He felt it all. How?

    I ponder often on the Atonement. I’ve tried to wrap my head around it. It’s not something we can wrap our heads around. That’s the point. He did something unimaginable. He did something incomprehensible. And he did it for us.

    I believe (I know) that Christ felt it all that night at Gethsemane. I don’t know how; I can’t understand it. But I know He did. It’s why I write about Him, it’s why I think about Him, it’s why I serve Him. Because for a long time, I tried to forget what He did for me because of guilt, or incomprehension, or selfishness. But now I think the most important thing I do outside of anything with my family is write about Him.

    I think the most important thing I do for my daughters is teach them about Him. Few things bring me as much joy as when Ivy sees a picture, I ask, “who’s that?” And she replies, “Jesus.” I hope someone reads this that needs to remember Him and what He did for us. When you think about what He did for us, ultimately it must make us more loving because we’re considering a love that is unfathomable. That makes us better.

  • Dontcha know I know

    Dontcha know I know

    All of Ivy’s life, when she’s been upset or crying, I’ve said, “Dontcha know I know?”

    This is my way of saying jokingly, “Don’t you know I know what it’s like to not want to get dressed, not want to eat certain food, to be hungry, to be tired, to be upset, etc.?”

    Today was Sunday. I woke up from a nap and I watched a video depicting the Atonement that Jesus Christ performed.

    Sage started crying in the other room. She’d been having a rough day. We think she has some acid reflux and stuff like that. Sometimes her tummy gets upset. This day seemed to be hard for her.

    Sage likes to tilt her head way back and stretch out her stomach. Apparently, this is a sign of acid reflux. I went to the other room and picked up Sage and put her into her favorite position. Head in my hands tilted back, stomach stretched, looking up at a ceiling fan (she LOVES looking up at ceiling fans).

    This provided a little relief, but she was still crying on and off.

    When Sage was still fussing, I started to say my automatic, “Dontcha know…”

    And that’s where I stopped.

    I didn’t know what it was like to have acid reflux, and for my stomach to hurt like hers did, and to not be able to find relief whatsoever on my own, and to only attain some relief if Mom or Dad came to hold me a certain way. Even if I had that experience as a baby myself, I don’t remember. I didn’t know or remember what Sage was feeling.

    But someone did. I believe that Christ, during that infinite and indescribable Atonement, even felt the pains of an infant with acid reflux. I believe He felt it all.

    “Children are alive in Christ” (Moroni 8:12).

    I couldn’t know what Sage was feeling. Dontcha know I didn’t know. But He knows, and He felt it, and He remembered it.

    When Sage cries she’s communicating to us that she needs help. It’s me and Beth’s job to come to her aid and help her with what she can’t help herself with. How many things, as adults, do we need help with that we can’t do ourselves? As adults, we think of ourselves as so independent. But all we do relies on the Lord. We rely on Him to allow our breath to work within our bodies, water to hydrate us, food to nourish us. These things don’t happen of ourselves but because of Him.

    God and Christ come to our aid when we need it and especially when we ask for it. Christ knows how to hold us just right to help ease our pain and give us relief. Rely on Him for aid just as little children rely on their parents. Be ye as little children (Matthew 18:3).

    Christ felt it. Christ remembers it. Christ experienced it. Turn to Him and He will help all our pains, challenges, and afflictions.

  • Are Women more Faithful than Men?

    Are Women more Faithful than Men?

    Why are women more faithful than men?

    I’ve often wondered this. Others may disagree, but in my experience, generally, it is true. Why is it that women are more faithful than men?

    There are countless examples of faithful men in the scriptures. There are also examples of faithful women in the scriptures, though less countless. Where the LDS church does have countless examples of women with great faith is in our pioneer stories. There are so many.

    Some of the examples of faithful women in the scriptures include Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, Mary, the mother of Christ, and Mary Magdalene. I think often it is mothers that convert while fathers fight.

    From what I’ve seen today, in modern times, women have more faith than men. Women are more open to spiritual experiences.

    I think this is somewhat due to the “natural man.” In my opinion, man is much more natural than woman.

    I also think it has to do with Christ’s admonition, “be ye as little children” (Matthew 18:3).

    Don’t women possess more of the good qualities of children than most men? Women are generally more humble, meek, kind, caring, and gentle than men. I think few would disagree with this. Women possess more quantities of all the positive attributes of little children that most men lack. It doesn’t make men necessarily bad. I think it does create a gulf between us (males) and God, though.

    If men can learn to be what we are with a positive light, and attain the meekness and humility of little children, we draw closer to God. I think this is what the Priesthood is meant to help us to do. We are to learn to be humble with authority. Learn to be meek with power.

    What was Christ but complete humility with complete power?

    The Priesthood of God can not be wrought with unrighteous dominion (Doctrine and Covenants 121:37).

    We must be as little children. Meek and humble, and let our faith be as the women who surround us, who often far surpass our ability to trust, believe, hope, and have faith.