I was working on my laptop and Ivy saw a picture. It was an abstract-looking drawing of a long-haired individual meditating.
Ivy said, “It’s Jesus.”
Her and Sage say this if they see pretty much any image of a long-haired individual.
It makes me happy every time.
I chuckled.
Then Ivy said, “Show Jesus with the light.”
I paused like you often have to do when talking with 4-year-olds to figure out what she meant.
Jesus with the light…
Hmm…
Then it came to me what she meant. I pulled up this image and showed it to her:
“Yes! That’s it!” She looked fondly at the picture.
My happiness turned to joy.
This picture has a special place in my heart as it was once an answer to prayer that I’ve remembered ever since.
When I was just returning to church, I attended a fireside one Sunday evening. I dragged Chris along with me. As he and I were walking around the church building halls before the meeting got started, we paused at the above picture, which is present in so many of our church buildings.
We both looked at it.
“Why do they look the same?” Chris asked.
Huh. I’d looked at this picture at least 346,000 times but never really realized or thought about it. They did look the same. I didn’t know the answer.
Chris shrugged and moved on. I was kind of annoyed I didn’t know the answer to a question I felt I should know. Or at the very least something I should have noticed in my 346,001 viewing of the painting.
We went into the fireside.
The speaker was introduced and he stood to speak. He powered on a projector and an image was displayed behind him.
Drum roll please.
You guessed it.
The image displayed was none other than the painting Chris and I had just been observing in the hall.
The speaker began, “Does anyone know why the figures in this image look so much alike?”
My head jerked to look at Chris next to me. Was he hearing this?!
I can’t remember why the speaker talked about this. It wasn’t a major point. It was something I think he assumed most of us knew (I didn’t!). He proceeded onto his main point that I can’t remember.
I was shocked.
Chris asked a question. We received an answer.
I considered this a miracle.
I think Chris shrugged and thought, ‘what a coincidence.’
I have joy today because I came back to church. I have joy today because I consider every day what Jesus Christ did for me yesterday, today, and tomorrow. I have joy today because Ivy and Sage say “Jesus!” every time they see an image of a long-haired man.
I’ve heard of the “Adam-God Theory” but never looked into it. Until recently, I really didn’t know what exactly it referred to. Here is my research into the Adam-God theory for those interested and especially for those who may have concerns about this theory and its history in the restored Church of Jesus Christ.
Before I begin, almost all my thoughts come from this link:
It was a great resource on this topic and I recommend it if you want to learn more.
If you want a quick, short video that sums up the whole history of the Adam-God theory, watch this video:
Now, my thoughts.
The Adam-God theory is the theory that Adam and God the Father are the same person. This theory was mentioned by Brigham Young.
First – Adam is not God the Father. Adam is not who we pray to. This does not fit the teachings of the scriptures, does not fit modern revelation, is not a doctrine of the restored gospel. So why are we talking about it, you ask?
Second – Yes, Brigham Young did make some bold statements about Adam being God. He also made countless statements contradicting that statement. Brigham Young was a convert and a prophet. Try to imagine the dichotomy of those positions. Try to imagine someone a few years into the faith trying to lead the entire church. Is it so shocking that there were erroneous statements made, especially when we consider and understand the personality and boldness of the prophet who led the saints across the rugged wilderness of the West?
Third – Because Brigham Young made incorrect statements does not mean he was a false prophet. It means he was learning line upon line, and he made false statements. He has made statements to try to help us, the people of the church, reconcile some of his more questionable comments. For example, when speaking generally about who Adam was and proposing some thoughts about Adam, Brigham started by saying, “I propose to speak upon a subject that does not immediately concern yours or my welfare….I do not pretend to say that the items of doctrine and ideas I shall advance are necessary for the people to know, or that they should give themselves any trouble about them whatever.. (Brigham Young, Oct 8, 1851). If it does not concern our welfare, don’t get too hung up on it. The church was young and growing when Brigham was prophet. God has always worked through us, mortals, to fulfill His works. This has always resulted in fallibility. Brigham Young was a prophet, even if he made mistakes in the thousands of public discourses he gave during his learning period as a prophet/convert.
Fourth – Because prophets are fallible does not mean we cannot trust and follow them. As The Church has grown out of its infancy, it has strengthened itself in countless ways. One of those strengths has become the checks and balances of the church organization. The First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles must be unanimous in any declaration of doctrine. President Nelson speaks hundreds of times a year. Not every word from his mouth (in my opinion) is scripture. It is guidance and direction from God’s anointed prophet, yes, but not scripture. But when President Nelson, the First Presidency, and the Quorum of the Twelve sign their names to a declaration, it becomes binding guidance on doctrine, church policy, etc. Such was the case with “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” for example.
Now, the statement made by Brigham that when Adam and Eve came to the Garden of Eden they already had celestial, resurrected bodies is interesting. I more think they came with perfect bodies as they came directly from the Father and hadn’t yet been corrupted by the fall, not that they were necessarily resurrected bodies yet. Celestial, maybe, resurrected, I don’t think so. That’s all I will say on this matter, though, to support my point earlier that things that distract from our salvation should be discussed with caution. I haven’t done enough research, pondering, or praying to comment on this with much confidence and would hate for my children 150 years from now to claim I believed Adam was already resurrected when put in the Garden of Eden. See how these small comments can be blown out of proportion? Grateful I’m not a prophet.
Another thought – the eternal nature of the plan of happiness is not something we can begin to comprehend. If it ultimately distracts us from our current efforts towards salvation, we should tread with ultimate caution. Such is the thinking about if Adam lived on another planet before he came here and countless other thought experiments that might distract from what is important, which is, Jesus Christ performed the ultimate atoning sacrifice for my sins. He died so that I can live. He suffered so I can be forgiven and can live with God, my Father, again. All other questions, while interesting and can expand our minds and thinking, if they distract from the ultimate source of our salvation – the Plan of Salvation and Christ’s personal role in it for us – should be avoided.
Those are my thoughts on this from my research. Here are some final items to really, I hope, put this theory and any issues involved with it, to rest.
As mentioned, Brigham contradicted himself many times on the idea that Adam was God. While he mentioned the idea a couple times in public, there are many other instances of Brigham Young speaking where he clearly separated Adam and God the Father as two separate individuals.
BYU professor Stephen E. Robinson sums it up well:
“Yet another way in which anti-Mormon critics often misrepresent LDS doctrine is in the presentation of anomalies as though they were the doctrine of the Church. Anomalies occur in every field of human endeavor, even in science. An anomaly is something unexpected that cannot be explained by the existing laws or theories, but which does not constitute evidence for changing the laws and theories. An anomaly is a glitch…. A classic example of an anomaly in the LDS tradition is the so-called “Adam-God theory.” During the latter half of the nineteenth century Brigham Young made some remarks about the relationship between Adam and God that the Latter-day Saints have never been able to understand. The reported statements conflict with LDS teachings before and after Brigham Young, as well as with statements of President Young himself during the same period of time. So how do Latter-day Saints deal with the phenomenon? We don’t; we simply set it aside. It is an anomaly. On occasion my colleagues and I at Brigham Young University have tried to figure out what Brigham Young might have actually said and what it might have meant, but the attempts have always failed. The reported statements simply do not compute—we cannot make sense out of them. This is not a matter of believing it or disbelieving it; we simply don’t know what “it” is. If Brigham Young were here we could ask him what he actually said and what he meant by it, but he is not here…. For the Latter-day Saints, however, the point is moot, since whatever Brigham Young said, true or false, was never presented to the Church for a sustaining vote. It was not then and is not now a doctrine of the Church, and…the Church has merely set the phenomenon aside as an anomaly.”
“As far as can be determined, none of Brigham Young’s successors in the presidency of the Church continued this teaching in public, and by the presidency of Joseph F. Smith (1901–18) there were active moves to censure small groups that taught Adam-God.
One of the earliest statements from the Church rejecting Adam-God teachings was made by Charles W. Penrose in 1902:
‘The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has never formulated or adopted any theory concerning the subject treated upon by President Young as to Adam.‘
In October 1976 general conference, Spencer W. Kimball declared the Church’s official position on Adam-God:
‘We warn you against the dissemination of doctrines which are not according to the Scriptures and which are alleged to have been taught by some of the General Authorities of past generations. Such, for instance, is the Adam-God theory. We denounce that theory and hope that everyone will be cautioned against this and other kinds of false doctrine.‘”
Other statements by future general authorities refuting Brigham Young’s opinions:
Bruce R. McConkie – “What I am saying is that Brigham Young, contradicted Brigham Young, and the issue becomes one of which Brigham Young we will believe. The answer is we will believe the expressions that accord with the teachings of the Standard Works.”
And Brigham Young himself – “I am more afraid that this people have so much confidence in their leaders that they will not inquire for themselves of God whether they are led by Him. … Let every man and woman know, by the whisperings of the Spirit of God to themselves, whether their leaders are walking in the path the Lord dictates, or not.”
Finally, while some might consider everything said here to be a sign that the church changes and is “wrong,” I would completely refute that. The church is changing. The church is growing. The church is living.
Doctrine and Covenants 1:30 is Christ speaking and reads “And also those to whom these commandments were given, might have power to lay the foundation of this church, and to bring it forth out of obscurity and out of darkness, the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth, with which I, the Lord, am well pleased, speaking unto the church collectively and not individually.”
While so many would criticize the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for changing, the Lord describes it as living. The only living church on the face of the earth. This is a power of Christ’s church- not a weakness.
I don’t have a Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, how many etceteras do I need nowadays?
I’ve really tried to follow the advice I wrote about from my first post on The Social Dilemma (Netflix). For a while I turned off suggested videos in YouTube, but I found the blank pages and the difficulty in finding what I was looking for to be too much to deal with. Instead, I only go to YouTube with a purpose and try as best as I can to watch only the video I go there to watch. As of this writing the suggested videos in my YouTube has ballooned to 273 (273 videos!) since I’ve stopped looking at suggested videos. That’s a little red 273 on my phone home screen. That’s 273 times YouTube has said, “this video is just right for you.” That is countless hours (or hours I don’t want to count) of video footage YouTube has suggested to me. Yikes. I’m going to continue to avoid those videos and see how ludicrous that 273 number can become.
I’ve also tried not to use Google which I’ve found to be way harder than I anticipated. There’s a reason Google has the best search results, and that reason is they don’t care about your privacy. With my job in IT support, I’ve found it impossible to use other search engines. I still have the Qwant extension installed in my Google Chrome but find myself searching through Google anyway.
Like YouTube, I avoid Facebook as much as I can. As I write this, checking my battery usage, Facebook is still 11% of my total battery used. When I do get on Facebook, the worst thing that can happen is I watch a video. It’s the same reason I avoid YouTube as much as possible. Facebook I find to be much worse than YouTube, at least for me. Let me explain what happens when I get on Facebook and if I watch a video:
I stumble upon a video title that I can’t avoid watching. Something like, “The reason Donovan Mitchell will never win a championship for Utah.”
Now I’m stuck.
That video ends and is followed by, “I gave $1,000,000 to a stranger on the street!”
I’m losing my free will.
Next video, “I bought 10,000 black widows and put them in my mom’s bathroom!”
I’ll emerge from a sequence of videos like the above hours later and think to myself, “what just happened?”
The above is only a slight exaggeration.
The disconcerting, uncomfortable, and completely frightening truth is – once I watch that first, then second, then third video that has clearly been sent because they know it catches my attention – it’s really difficult for me to get away. I’ll feel it happening. Like, I’ll be on minute 6 of a 9-minute video and think, “after this one I’m done.” Then as minute 8 starts to end I get this feeling, this urge. Like – I have to watch another one. I’ll feel this urge. I’ll fight it. And somehow, I end up watching another video. I may sound dramatic, but it’s truly terrifying.
Am I the only one?
Beth and I have gotten into a routine with Ivy’s sleeping where I’m usually up briefly with Ivy around 11pm and Beth is up with her briefly around 4am.
Every once in a while (not often), I wake in the morning to a 4:15am text from Beth with some video or article. I realize that, in a stupor, she was drawn to her phone. This likely happened while she was lying in bed watching the baby monitor, waiting to see if Ivy would fall back asleep so she could go to sleep.
Recently Beth took a picture of Ivy and I together on the couch. I watched Beth open Facebook to share the picture. I watched Beth somehow end up finding herself watching some video. 10 minutes later, talking to herself, Beth said something like, “what was I doing?…”
I told her she likely looked at her phone to post a picture.
“Oh yeah…” was her reply.
I’m not the only one.
Beth and I aren’t the only ones.
Back to the first sentence I wrote for this post. I am AFRAID for the youth today. How do they survive in a world where advertisers know what they want to see, then put it directly into their hand over.. and over…and over…..and over……
Something needs to be done for our youth, but I’m not sure what. It’s too easy for them to be completely enveloped in this digital world. We are frighteningly close to a Black Mirror-esc existence where kids only exist in their phones. Maybe the only way we can help our youth is leading by example.
I try to only be on my phone to read the scriptures. I’m not even great at responding to messages, as some of you know. I read physical books. I’m aware of Facebook’s and other social media companies’ pull on my attention, and I try to fight it. I think it’s important we teach our kids the same thing.
This must be the way we can help kids today. Lead by example. Read books. Show that the phone can be set aside. Go on day trips where the phone is not allowed to come. Set a requirement where there are no phones after dinner. I don’t know, anything! Something needs to be done and this is the first place to start.
Otherwise the below picture is every family’s future. And that is a sad future.
*Credit to photographer Eric Pickersgill who took these pictures depicting people with their mobile phones and devices removed from the photo.
I’m not going to cite a bunch of scriptures supporting my point. In my experience that does nothing because individual scriptures can be interpreted in a million different ways. Any scripture I give that seems clear as day to me to show God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost as three distinct personages is quickly explained away and followed up with another scripture that someone believes shows they are one being.
Instead of trying to convince anyone of this doctrine, I more want to give my thoughts on it. I also want to briefly discuss the importance of this doctrine and why I believe it has been so adamantly fought over throughout the centuries.
First, the “they are one” controversy with the many scriptural references is so easy for me to understand. They are one in intent and purpose, so they are one. Christ, when praying to His Father said, “let them be one, Father, as you and I are one.” (John 17:21-23) Why would Christ say this? Given the doctrine of the trinity, was Christ praying that his apostles would morph together into one super spiritual being? No, it doesn’t make sense. What Christ was praying for was literal. “Let them be one, as you and I are one” – in intent, purpose.
Second, what sense does a unified being make? I know we are human, and we don’t understand much of anything about the true nature of Heaven, of eternity, of what is next. I have faith in a lot, but I understand little. Maybe the next life is filled with multiple personality Gods and beings that I’m meant to worship. Maybe God can split into three personages. Maybe He did this to make us understand some deep, important principle. Maybe? Or maybe every person who counseled over this principle (the famous Nicene Creed) and ultimately came to a decision we follow hundreds of years later didn’t understand. God isn’t setting out to confuse us. He doesn’t want us to NOT comprehend Him. He wants us to know how much He loves us. He wants us to know He SENT His only begotten son, who also loves us. He wants us to know the Holy Spirit can be a constant companion to us. He doesn’t want to confuse us. He isn’t throwing out stumbling blocks all along the way to make things more difficult. This life isn’t intended to be a maze of confusion that we may be lucky to determine what God wants us to know. He wants us to seek Him and to seek truth. He WANTS us to understand. God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit are three separate, distinct beings. I don’t know this (yet), but I have faith and hope that it’s true.
Joseph Smith saw them. That’s why that moment was so significant. They didn’t speak to Him from the clouds. They appeared in their bodies. To show him, “you are like us, and we are like you.” They have bodies of flesh and blood. Christ really came here, His Father’s Son, to attain a body and die for us. That principle is pure and beautiful.
Have you ever wondered why Christ ate fish and bread with the apostles after his resurrection? Why was that account included in the scriptures? The scriptures are full of important information, obviously. Why was this seemingly unimportant detail included? Not because Christ was trying to make His apostles comfortable. It was included because it was important. Christ was showing that He had a body. Just as we, when we are resurrected, will be resurrected with our bodies.
This brings me to the third point, exactly why this doctrine was fought so hard against for all of history. Satan is cunning. Satan knows what is and isn’t important to our salvation. With the fervor and aggression Satan has fought this doctrine with, it seems obvious to me how important it is. This doctrine is so important because the corruption of it distances us from our Heavenly Father. That is Satan’s great purpose. What greater way to distance us from our Father than corrupting His image into some unknowable, un-understandable, un-comprehendible being? It is the opposite of what God is. He knows us, He understands us, He comprehends us, and he wants us to understand Him. This bizarre trinity He’s been morphed into makes it so hard to communicate with Him. How do you communicate a triple being you can’t imagine? Not the same, personal way you can communicate with your own father. Not the way your loving Heavenly Father wants you to communicate with Him. A father that sent His only begotten Son to save the rest of His spirit children.
I wish I could be more eloquent on this topic. Of all topics I wish I had a poet’s or philosopher’s eloquence for, this is it. Because it’s important. But I’m not a poet or a philosopher. My words fall short of what I want to portray. I wish so much that everyone could know Heavenly Father the way I feel and know Him. He and Christ are so important to me. Combining them in one takes away one of the most important persons in my life.
This truth is eternal, and this truth is important.
To learn more about the truth of the Godhead, visit here:
One Sunday I was in my car with a friend, CJ Matthews. We were driving after church to go do something. I can’t remember what it was. Visit someone or give a blessing or something that like.
A few minutes into the drive I realized I was out of gas. I remembered I’d been out of gas since I left my home that morning to drive to church. It was 20 minutes to our location. It would be 20 minutes there, 20 minutes back to CJ’s car. Then the drive home. No way I could make it without getting gas.
Not me on a Sunday unless CJ is in the car.
I informed CJ of our dilemma. I let him know I wouldn’t be getting gas on a Sunday. God would get us there and get us back. If you could see the look on CJ’s face! It was great. His response, “Is God going to turn air into gasoline for you to return? Pull over and get gas. I’m not walking to a gas station.”
I eventually complied with his request, though begrudgingly. I had the faith that God would help us accomplish what we needed to accomplish without having to stop for gas.
This is a topic my wife and I playfully debate often. I try to say that I have no concern about my life or well-being. If I’m meant to die, I will die when God needs me back and not a second sooner. I joke often that the best way to die would be by lightning at the top of a mountain. That would clearly indicate an urgent need God had for me to return and start serving Him on the other side.
My wife is in the other school of thought. She agrees with CJ. Don’t put yourself in harm’s way. Don’t put yourself at risk. Don’t be stupid. Boring! I’m inclined to be stupid. Sometimes I consider it my way of showing God I have faith. I know, my wife has already told me I’m stupid.
Anyways.
I’ve made this a joking introduction but it’s something I truly struggle with.
Where does faith end and wise action start?
The principle is told in a story that I love and think about often. The story goes like this, I’ll tell my version.
A great flood comes, and a man gets on top of the roof of his house. A man comes by in a canoe. “Hop in!” he yells. The man on the roof calmly tells him no thanks. The water gets higher. A couple in a boat comes by. “Get in! The water is rising!” The man on the roof calmly denies the gesture and stays on his roof. The water gets higher. The man on the roof is close to being overtaken by the water. A helicopter comes by and throws a rope down. The man on the roof waves it away.
The man on the roof is finally overtaken by the water and drowns.
When in heaven he looks to God and asks, “I prayed the whole time I was on the roof. Why didn’t you help me?”
God replies, “I sent you a canoe, a boat, and a helicopter! What else did you want from me?”
I know what the scriptures tell us. I know God wants wise servants. I know he wants us to be prepared. I know He wants us to work problems out in our minds and learn to problem solve. I know we’re here to learn to make good choices.
But I also know we’re here to learn faith. We’re here to learn obedience. We’re here to learn to trust God.
I hope I live my life with a firm belief that God will guide me wherever He needs me as long as I do my part. I often joke about how God holds my hand and guides me to places, decisions, people. I often joke how God has been there with me every step of the way. He has blessed me in so many profound ways I can’t deny His loving guidance in every moment of my life.
I know that God still wants me to do my part.
So, I put my faith forward. God will get me there! Or does God put a gas station directly on my journey so I can get gas? How often is God up there, exasperated, “I put the gas station right along the way!” Or even better, “I put CJ and Beth around you to balance out your silly refusal to take care of yourself!”
I wonder how often I’m turning away the canoe, boat, and helicopter. I only hope I’m ultimately doing what God wants me to do. I think that’s the best any of us can do.
No Coincidences 