Tis the gift to be simple

Jacob 4:14
“But behold, the Jews were a stiffnecked people; and they despised the words of plainness, and killed the prophets, and sought for things that they could not understand. Wherefore, because of their blindness, which blindness came by looking beyond the mark, they must needs fall; for God hath taken away his plainness from them, and delivered unto them many things which they cannot understand, because they desired it. And because they desired it God hath done it, that they may stumble”

I just read an ensign article written by Elder Cook in 2003, where he discussed looking beyond the mark and losing sight of what is really important in our life. He mentioned that members will replace doctrine with the philosophies of man, develop gospel hobbies and become principle extremists, and place more emphasis on rules rather than doctrine. I think that there are times where it is appropriate to delve into a topic to try to understand deeper doctrine, or to more fully analyze a principle, but if that becomes the main focus then it will blind us of what is truly important. In this scripture, Jacob says that the Jews looked beyond the mark. The mark is Jesus Christ and his gospel. They were blind because they were too focused on rules and regulations that they had added to the Law of Moses. For me, this means that I shouldn't tamper too much with policy or esoteric matters, but that I should constantly ponder the simple truths of the gospel principles and the divinity of Christ. The gospel is meant to be simple, even though it is eternally complex. We should strive to have our focus on Christ, and not on anything else. If we do that, everything else can fall into place, and we will gain understanding with time, since that plainness that God took from the Jews will be with us.

What a Wonderful Life!

Many know of the story portrayed in the movie "It's a Wonderful Life" (1946) of a man named George Bailey. This altruistic protagonist goes out of his way and abandons his ambitions to serve others and help them satisfy their needs and their achieve desires. in spite of the communal and financial plight he faces throughout his life, his guardian angel shows him that he has truly had a wonderful life, and certainly the viewer would agree that George Bailey is the depiction of a truly wonderful person.

What emotions filled the life of George Bailey? Pain, love, stress, joy, agony, mercy, depression, compassion. If we imagine him sitting in his heavenly home (I know he is a fictitious character, but just imagine) What would he consider valuable? Just the positive moments in his life, or would be he grateful for all of it? I imagine that he would have gratitude for both the good and bad times, understanding that, in hindsight, trials provide tremendous growth, while blissful periods provide meaning and motivation.

We may not have trials quite like George Bailey, but we may. Trials are not necessarily produced as a result of misconduct (though they definitely can be). This is the same with the delay of expected blessings (at least in our minds they don't arrive at the desired time). With these agitations in our lives, we may not realize that they are as grains of sand that infiltrates an oyster. Those agitations can produce something as lovely as a pearl, if we let them. I think that it's easier to recognize this if we keep in mind the Lord's promises. Here's one that I have been thinking about for the past couple of weeks:

D&C 90:

 24 Search diligently, pray always, and be believing, and all things shall work together for your good, if ye walk uprightly and remember the covenant wherewith ye have covenanted one with another.

The Lord promises everyone that if they live righteously, pray always, and work diligently (for whatever it may be: a job position, a GPA, a developing habit, an eternal family, etc.), everything will come together for their good. It may be soon that it happens, it may be later. I can't tell anyone when, nor can it be predicted. I'm sure in saying, however, that it will happen, because the Lord will always keep his promises. With that view of life, even without hindsight, but maybe even foresight, we too will have a wonderful life like George Bailey.

Willing Spirit Over Weak Flesh

I often think about what motivates me, and what gives me drive. Here are a couple of things that motivate me:

Inspiring poems

Coming of Age movies

Statues of families

Rocky soundtrack

Pep talks to myself in the mirror

A cute girl (who else do I strive to impress?)

Chocolate milk

Outstanding individuals excelling in whatever they do best.

My mom's pep talks (they're the best)

With that list in mind (I could probably continue with it) I think what I should credit most to my will to move on is the power of prayer. Jesus once said to his disciples that the spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak. When we was with the Nephites, he taught them this:

3 Nephi 18:

18 Behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, ye must watch and pray always lest ye enter into temptation; for Satan desireth to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.

 19 Therefore ye must always pray unto the Father in my name;

 20 And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you.

As humans, we naturally want to do what's easiest. We naturally want to put in minimum effort and conserve energy for...the next time we need to conserve energy. Life is full of things that require our energy, whether it be mental, physical, or spiritual. We all have a finite amount of energy, and sometimes things can be too strenuous, even if we are putting in a great amount of effort. However, I know that we can summon strength, spiritual and physical, from the Lord through prayer. Power to overcome temptation. Power to carry on in a difficult time or task. Power to be cheerful amidst adverse aspects of life. As verse 20 says, it can be given to us if we are believing. The energy we need to progress in this life can be found through faithful prayer.

"For the power is in them"

I have been rather curious about genetic engineering and designer babies for quite some time, and I have been thinking about it quite a bit this week. It's a rather controversial topic, and it's not easy to discuss. Something people fear is that designer babies will create a society where those that are genetically enhanced look down upon those who are not. A misconception of genetic engineering is that a person can be programmed to a point and that the person's life would be outlined. That technology is far away from existing, but even if it did, that concept would still be false. Our lives are not determined by our genes. It's not determined by psychological theories or any ideologies for that matter.

I was reading In Doctrine & Covenants this morning, and I found some scriptures that inspired me. They inspired me in a notion to continue in my interest for genetic engineering and to seek revelation to see what God can tell me about it, but as I write this I see that they can be applied in another way.

D&C 58:
 27 Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;

 28 For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward.

D&C 90:

24 Search diligently, pray always, and be believing, and all things shall work together for your good, if ye walk uprightly and remember the covenant wherewith ye have covenanted one with another.

D&C 123:

17 Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.

D&C 58: 27-28 grabbed my attention. I realized that there are many things in existence that can be used either for good or evil. We can make a conscious effort to bring to pass much righteousness, as the scripture says.

Basically, the inspiration I received was to continue to investigate the issue of genetic engineering and designer babies. That's what I'll do. But on that wise, I realize that no matter our genetic makeup, we determine who we will be. Of course, we cannot control our genotypes or phenotypes, but we have been given power to be agents unto ourselves. Scientific studies are part of God's plan, and they provide great information on human health, composition and behavior. But these findings shouldn't limit us in anyway, they are to empower us. Above all, Heavenly Father has given us our agency so that we can become more like him; to act instead of bein acted upon.

Whatever you strive for, don't limit yourself! Keep trying, keep getting back, keep moving forward.

Also, check out this TED talk.

Solitudinous Serenity and Reclusive Revelation

This week, Susan Cain was the guest speaker for the weekly university devotional, in which she addressed the qualities of introversion and extroversion and how more fully creating atmospheres for introverts could create a more efficient and symbiotic community. A quality of introversion is the desire of solitude, as she mentioned in a TED talk. She gave examples of great artists who would go into solitude to unlock their inner creativity, and great leaders, including Jesus Christ, who would seek solidarity for the sake of revelation and celestial communion. I thought about the times that Christ had secluded himself on the mountain top. One example is after the miracle of producing thousands of fish and loaves of bread, found in Matthew 14.

Matthew 14:

 22 ¶And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away.

 23 And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.

It must have been a great comfort to the Savior to go up to the mountains to be alone and pray. Extroverted, introverted, or a combination of the two, I imagine that it's important for every person to get some alone time. Alone time unattached from everything, except the oratory channels to heaven, that is. It gives us an environment to search ourselves, ponder about our lives, goals, challenges, desires, dreams, and to pray and search for guidance. I vaguely remember Elder Ballard inviting all young adults to seek alone time to ponder and just feel peace. I think that's something that all of us can better incorporate in our lives. Maybe hanging out on a mountain top is too cold this season (unless you're skiing, then heck yea) but it's definitely worth while finding a quite place to sit still, think, and pray.

Scientifically Religious and God-willing

I want to share two journal entries dealing with something I learned this week:

1.18.17

"I then decided to go and read Alma 32 starting in verse 27, since 2 Nephi 31 didn't actually talk much about faith or repentance. I realized how scientific the gospel is. It is this experiment of faith that we must test every day. When he hear about it or read about it or think about it or see it in someone's life, we are only observing it. That's a fact, nothing more. We need to form a hypothesis, create our own experiment and test it. I will try to test "If I pray sincerely and with real intent, then I should get an opportunity to serve someone every day if I ask for it." After we test it once and it works, then we should test it again. If we test it and it doesn't work, then we should try again a different way, either changing our approach, attitude, or intention. After various successes in something we can come up with a theory for that seed that we have planted.

Alma just said the word, and did not give us a specific experiment. But that's okay. The scriptures aren't actually complete without our own personal interpretation guided by the Holy Ghost. The Lord will help us specify that experiment. Our theory of an aspect of living the gospel will thrive as we strive to nurture it as counseled in verse 37-43, with diligence, patience, and faith."

1.20.17

"After my study on Wednesday, I was in my religion class on Thursday, and the professor was talking about the difference between scientific and religious inquiry. He mentioned that science seeks to explain the how and what while religion seeks after the who and why. Science is something that can be tested, and if there's a certain theory or law, such as gravity, then it an experiment can be repeated and the exact same results can be expected. He pointed out, "Can you do that with God, with spiritual things? Not so. You can't just pray and expect the same results to come every time. no matter how sincere, no matter how humble, no matter how earnest. You can't control the will of God; God controls the will of God." I thought about what I had studied on Wednesday, and how I wasn't completely right on the whole 'Gospel is like science' thing. But I don't think I was totally wrong. We need to experiment upon the word to know it is true. However, we also need to understand that prayers are answered when God sees it expedient, not when we do. So along with testing our 'hypothesis' we must also test our patience and faith. Alma mentions before:

"Therefore, blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble; or rather, in other words, blessed is he that believeth in the word of God, and is baptized without stubbornness of heart, yea, without being brought to know the word, or even compelled to know, before they will believe." (Alma 32:16)"

"But to be learned is good if they hearken unto the counsels of God." (2 Nephi 9:29)

With a new semester in full swing, I have done a great deal of preparation for my classes. This first week, I have mentally and digitally mapped out how, when, where, with whom, and what I am going to study. But all of that planning was rather superficial, or better said, there was no depth in my preparation. Now, there's nothing wrong with that; making a schedule and seeing what resources to use and such for a course is something I would recommend. But this week I was reminded that I should spiritually prepare myself for school as well, as odd as it sounds. Let me explain.

In my biology class, my professor introduced the course by explaining the effectiveness of inquiry learning, which obviously involves much more student interaction and critical thinking than a traditional lecture does. Then she showed some studies done between a couple of groups: community college students taking Bio 100, BYU students not majoring in biology taking Bio 100, and Bio majors taking Bio 130. Each group of students was given a pre-test before any material was taught. Obviously, the Bio 130 students did significantly better than the other two groups. However, after given the course, using inquiry learning, a test was given and both groups in the Bio 100 class improved greatly compared to the pre-test. Actually, they had better scores than the Bio 130 students, who did not improve significantly. Now, I don't think the reason why he presented this study to us was to talk about inquiry learning, but to talk about humility and willingness to learn. He pointed out that many Bio 130 students already knew quite a bit about biology and thought they knew everything, and so they would not pay attention in lectures or study as much. The Bio 100 groups didn't know half to nothing, but they were also very eager to learn in the setting of inquiry learning (maybe they wouldn't have been in a traditional lecture setting and for that reason inquiry learning was an important factor in the study). So his final points were, in fact, humility and desire. That reminded me of two scriptures that I pondered over today:

Isaiah 28:
9 ¶Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.

 10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:

 11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.

 12 To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.

 13 But the word of the Lord was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

2 Nephi 28:
 30 For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have.

These scriptures reminded me of a couple of principles:
1. The Lord loves to teach the humble. The imagery that Isaiah gives of a child "weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts" is to demonstrate that principle.
2. We learn things bit by bit, little by little, not everything at once.
3. Those that heed the Lord and listen to his council will receive more knowledge and understanding, while those that are prideful and don't look to the Lord will not gain knowledge, and even lose what they had. I saw this in the study that my Bio professor presented. The Bio 130 students learned very little, shown by poorer test scores and a smaller improvement gap than the Bio 100 classes.

There's one more principle that goes with all this. In my religion class, we were discussing Moses' encounter with Satan, and how he tried to cast him off. Moses tries 3 times to cast Satan off, saying "Get thee hence, Satan; deceive me not", "Depart hence, Satan.", and "Depart from me, Satan" (Moses 1, verses 16, 18, and 20 respectively). Unsuccessful, Moses fears for his life while Satan is ranting and screaming. Finally, Moses declares: " In the name of the Only Begotten, depart hence, Satan." (v. 21). Satan then left, and our professor taught us that it was because only Christ has total power to cast off the devil. He explained that it is part of Heavenly Father's plan that we are not capable to do all things on out own, but that through Christ we can do all things that strengthen us (Philippians 4:13). We are supposed to use our agency to follow Christ, and have faith that he will deliver us from whatever trials or vices we may be facing.

I am glad I was able to come across these lessons this week. We can be more successful students and happier people by following these principles. Let me reiterate them:

1. Be humble.
2. Have a desire to learn.
3. Realize that we can't do everything, but Christ can, and he will empower us according to our faith.

I hope that this helps whoever might be reading this, especially if you are a student.