Spawn is Driving

That's right.  Spawn is on the road these days.  I'd say "Hide your wives, hide your kids and hide your husbands, too," but she's really good at it. 

Yesterday she did a couple of things for the first time.  We took a longer drive and she filled the car's gas tank. She's helped me gas up a car before, but this was the first time she did the process nearly by herself with minimal guidance.  Now all she needs is a credit card and she can go anywhere in North or South America. 

With this new freedom she decided she wanted to go to Target to buy the new Lindsey Sirling CD.  Excellent choice.  So, she parked in a parking lot near other cars for the first time ever and went looking for the new Album, Artemis.  They were sold out.  That's okay.  She found a stuffed deer she named Artemis.  We ordered the CD online.  I prefer digital music, but Spawn patiently explained that you get tracks you can't get by buying the MP3 album.  Fair enough.

I also got a Lego mini A-Wing Fighter because I'm about 10 years old inside and I like Legos.  Also, it was cheap.  Pretending to be a responsible adult, I also picked up toothpaste and some soap for the hall bathroom.  Then Ellie drove me home while I played with her new stuffed animal like the 10 year old I really am.

Oh, yeah, we're back

So, for a long time we haven't posted at all.  That's because Google decided to lock me out of the account I was using to do this blog.  It was so sweet of them.  Inexplicably, after many repeated login attempts, it let me in.  So, now I have control of the blog again.

None of this matters to you, the gentle reader, because nobody's actually reading this.  That's kind of awesome from my perspective. I can now write anything I want.  Don't worry.  I'll behave.  Mostly.

Soon I shall share some details from a Utah trip we took.  Spawn wanted to go to EFY.  Spawn did go to EFY.  We even took her cousin, whom we shall call GingerNinja.  Spawn may put in some details, too.

Monday morning I called Spawn down for family prayer.  She was already awake and when I asked her what she had been up to she explained:

"I was giving my dragons flying practice from the top bunk.  Most of them faceplanted, but Magma totally stuck the landing."

Our flight champion, Magma.

Boy fun tonight

It's a boy's night out tonight.  Several friends and I are going to the range to sling some lead at paper.  For the curious, I don't hunt, mostly because it's too much work as I recognize how important hunting is.

I cleaned my Ruger 10 22 and was impressed again at what a nice firearm it is.  I need to use it more often, especially given how inexpensive .22 LR is compared to everything else these days.

I realized I need to write more about our daily activities.  Someday, someone might be interested.  As we watched some videos of Spawn on Christmas morning of 2008, I realized I'll be interested.

So, today I cleaned toilets and took care of our parakeet and Russian tortoise cages.  I change the animals weekly (I do to the toilets weekly, too).  Then I added wallpapers to my phone after fixing a USB driver problem that was causing the computer not to recognize the phone (this following an update to the phone's OS). 

Spawn and Bubbles went to the birthday party of a friend and brought back a friend for Spawn to play with.  They're happily about that important business now. 

And tonight, I get to shoot targets with a few close friends.  It's a nice day.

Of Criticism and Complaint

Today our Sunday School lesson mentioned the struggles of the Martin and Willie handcart companies.  It brought to mind a memory of a great story I'd heard about facing adversity without complaint.  A bit of searching turned up the story, given by President Gordon B. Hinckley, then First Counselor in the First Presidency of the Church in the October 1991 general conference.  His talk was "Our Mission of Saving."

Years later [after the suffering of the saints in handcart companies], a group in Cedar City were talking about her and others who were in those ill-fated companies. Members of the group spoke critically of the Church and its leaders because the company of converts had been permitted to start so late in the season. I now quote from a manuscript which I have:

“One old man in the corner sat silent and listened as long as he could stand it. Then he arose and said things that no person who heard will ever forget. His face was white with emotion, yet he spoke calmly, deliberately, but with great earnestness and sincerity.

“He said in substance, ‘I ask you to stop this criticism. You are discussing a matter you know nothing about. Cold historic facts mean nothing here for they give no proper interpretation of the questions involved. A mistake to send the handcart company out so late in the season? Yes. But I was in that company and my wife was in it and Sister Nellie Unthank whom you have cited was there too. We suffered beyond anything you can imagine and many died of exposure and starvation, but did you ever hear a survivor of that company utter a word of criticism? Not one of that company ever apostatized or left the Church because every one of us came through with the absolute knowledge that God lives for we became acquainted with him in our extremities.’” (Manuscript in my possession.)

The Endowment

We're headed to the temple tonight for Stake Temple night.  I was describing what I'm not covenanted not to to my child, and remembered a great article on the ordinance in the February 1995 Ensign.  This is the most I think you can learn about it from an appropriate source:  https://www.lds.org/ensign/1995/02/endowed-with-covenants-and-blessings?lang=eng

Endowed with Covenants and Blessings

A person usually enters the temple the first time to receive what is called the endowment. After receiving the endowment, a person then is able to be married in the temple, which in temple terminology is called being sealed.

Since Latter-day Saints do not discuss in detail the ordinances of the temple outside of the temple, how may an appropriate overview be given to interested members and friends? Fortunately, leaders who have been Presidents of the Church or who have been members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles have given perceptive, helpful summaries.

It was through the Prophet Joseph Smith in the nineteenth century that the Lord restored again to earth the holy ordinances of temple covenants and blessings. The following recollection of President George Q. Cannon of the First Presidency describes the intense interest that members of the Church had in the 1840s when the blessings of the temple were again made available to mankind:

“When the Prophet Joseph [Smith] first communicated that the Lord had revealed to him the keys of the endowment, I can remember the great desire there was on every hand to understand something about them. When the Prophet would speak about his desire to complete the temple in order that he might impart unto his fellow servants that which God had delivered to him, a thrill went through the congregation and a great desire for this filled their hearts” (Gospel Truth, Discourses and Writings of President George Q. Cannon, 2 vols., comp. Jerreld L. Newquist, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1974, 1:228).

An overview of the endowment was given by Elder James E. Talmage, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve and a prominent scholar:

“The Temple Endowment, as administered in modern temples, comprises instruction relating to the significance and sequence of past dispensations, and the importance of the present as the greatest and grandest era in human history. This course of instruction includes a recital of the most prominent events of the creative period, the condition of our first parents in the Garden of Eden, their disobedience and consequent expulsion from that blissful abode, their condition in the lone and dreary world when doomed to live by labor and sweat, the plan of redemption by which the great transgression may be atoned, the period of the great apostasy, the restoration of the Gospel with all its ancient powers and privileges, the absolute and indispensable condition of personal purity and devotion to the right in present life, and a strict compliance with Gospel requirements. …

“The ordinances of the endowment embody certain obligations on the part of the individual, such as covenant and promise to observe the law of strict virtue and chastity, to be charitable, benevolent, tolerant and pure; to devote both talent and material means to the spread of truth and the uplifting of the race; to maintain devotion to the cause of truth; and to seek in every way to contribute to the great preparation that the earth may be made ready to receive her King—the Lord Jesus Christ. With the taking of each covenant and the assuming of each obligation a promised blessing is pronounced, contingent upon the faithful observance of the conditions.

“No jot, iota, or tittle of the temple rites is otherwise than uplifting and sanctifying. In every detail the endowment ceremony contributes to covenants of morality of life, consecration of person to high ideals, devotion to truth, patriotism to nation, and allegiance to God. The blessings of the House of the Lord are restricted to no privileged class; every member of the Church may have admission to the temple with the right to participate in the ordinances thereof, if he comes duly accredited as of worthy life and conduct” (The House of the Lord, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1968, pp. 83–84).

Creation room, Los Angeles Temple.

Another insight regarding the endowment was given by Elder John A. Widtsoe, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and a widely known university president and scientist. Elder Widtsoe wrote:

“The endowment given to members of the Church in the temples falls into several divisions. First, there is a course of instruction relative to man’s eternal journey from the dim beginning towards his possible glorious destiny. Then, conditions are set up by which that endless journey may be upward in direction. Those who receive this information covenant to obey the laws of eternal progress, and thereby give life to the knowledge received. Finally, it is made clear that a man must sometimes give an account of his deeds, and prove the possession of divine knowledge and religious works. It is a very beautiful, logical and inspiring series of ceremonies” (A Rational Theology, 7th ed., Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1965, pp. 125–26).

Garden room, Idaho Falls Temple.

President Brigham Young succinctly described the endowment from a different perspective. He observed that the endowment will prove to be vital for us after we leave mortality:

“Let me give you a definition in brief. Your endowment is, to receive all those ordinances in the house of the Lord, which are necessary for you, after you have departed this life, to enable you to walk back to the presence of the Father, passing the angels who stand as sentinels, being enabled to give them the key words, the signs and tokens, pertaining to the holy Priesthood, and gain your eternal exaltation in spite of earth and hell” (Discourses of Brigham Young, comp. John A. Widtsoe, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1941, p. 416).

In temples, Latter-day Saints receive an overview of the Lord’s plan for his children. They learn of their premortal, mortal, and postmortal lives and of the blessings they can receive in the next life. World room, Salt Lake Temple.

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints often speak of the influence temple covenants and ordinances have in their lives. How might one who has not been to the temple best sense this influence? Elder Joseph Fielding Smith, President of the Church in the 1970s, wrote the following:

“If we go into the temple we raise our hands and covenant that we will serve the Lord and observe his commandments and keep ourselves unspotted from the world. If we realize what we are doing, then the endowment will be a protection to us all our lives—a protection which a man who does not go to the temple does not have.

“I have heard my father say that in the hour of trial, in the hour of temptation, he would think of the promises, the covenants that he made in the House of the Lord, and they were a protection to him. … This protection is what these ceremonies are for, in part. They save us now and exalt us hereafter, if we will honor them. I know that this protection is given for I, too, have realized it, as have thousands of others who have remembered their obligations” (Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine, July 1930, p. 103).

Celestial room, Manti Temple.

To endow is to enrich, to give to another something long-lasting and of much worth. To Latter-day Saints, the blessings of the endowment are as a pearl of great price in their lives, giving endless support and strength, unlimited inspiration and motivation.

Of Faith and Proof

Lately I've been listening to the FAIR Podcast.  I've found out fascinating things that have the power to shake a member's faith if they're discovered in a hostile way.  I'm grateful for the experience.  My last post provides some insight to the foundation that allows me to examine these issues without being shaken.  Understand, that's just a sample, though a large one.  I have had hundreds, if not thousands of smaller experiences that have told me the church is true.  My testimony is built on faith followed by miracles.  The faith came first.

As I listened to these podcasts, I came to an absolutely critical realization.  While the critics put forth many arguments against the Church.  Apologists (classical definition--they're not apologizing for anything) put forth solid, fact-based responses.  Critics then go after those responses with very credible information and facts.  Both sides have very good arguments.  As I've looked at all this, I've wondered a bit.  I know the Church is true.  In fact, I know it so strongly I believe I'd offend God if I were to turn away.

Two weeks ago I had a strong impression that we will never prove or disprove the Book of Mormon via science.  Whether you're looking at archeology or population genetics, there are great arguments and counter arguments for and against the veracity of the Book of Mormon.  Some are enough for a logical, scientific testimony for members.  Others are enough for a logical, scientific basis for other members to leave, and critics to attack.  I realized then that you can't truly prove it either way because in the end, God demands faith.  You must choose what you believe and stick to it.  If you have a spiritual, faith-based testimony, the arguments and evidence in favor of the Book of Mormon are sufficient.  It can not be proved beyond a reasonable doubt to be false.  If you don't have that, then the arguments against may well be enough to make you choose not to live the gospel.

What's astounding to me is that until this morning, I didn't apply that to the entirety of the Church.  There are many credible evidences supporting and in opposition to the truth of the gospel and organization of the Church.  In the end, belief comes down to faith.  To me, that's evidence of truth, because the scriptures tell us that faith is required of us.  Faith is a power and a gift.  It is demanded of us if we are to be exalted.

Part of that realization came because of a podcast featuring Bill Reel.  He told his story and shared a fantastic e-mail from someone who helped him, albeit with a somewhat harsh tone.  He recognized that the tone was what he needed just then, so no doubt that's why the author was inspired to use it.  Here is that e-mail, or the portion Bill Reel shared.  If you'd like to see his post, please find it here.

“There are not problems as you characterize them and the elephants in the room are not the baby elephants you keep hoping are going to trumpet an answer. In the very back corner is a humongous, Massive bull elephant who is sitting on his side, resting from all of the bellowing he has been doing hoping to get the attention over the mass of baby elephants making all the racket. He is obscured from your view because all you keep seeing are the baby elephants covering him from view.

"There is a work underfoot that you do not grasp yet. It seems to you to be a work to hide and protect the church. Completely, incorrect. We can flush these thoughts out further if we need to but when you think of Bruce R. McConkie’s take on the 10 virgins and that they represent the members and that half will fall away, what do you think is going to separate the saints from one another. We do love each other and as a group are very tolerant when appropriate, but what is going to drive a wedge between the members to push them a part.

"Faith is the big Elephant lying on its side resting. The 50 % that fall away are those who do not realize that theology is built upon a requirement of faith. Without it none can please God. One can never overcome the theological demands of faith by an appeal to empirical proof. They are at odds. The one destroy the other. Proof will only leave you weak and unable to stand when stand you must. The one leads to life eternal the other leaves one unable to call upon God when the time is ripe for destruction. The work that is underfoot is the sifting of the wheat from the tares.

"In the coming days, I have no clue how long, but soon enough I am sure, the truths of the history of the church will save no lives. The only thing that will is in those, that live, breath, feel in their hearts and souls the faith that can stand this moment – the beginning onslaught against the church. It is the same ideological battle that pulled the third of heaven to follow Satan. It will escalate form here to becoming a physical battle and the world will be arrayed against us – It will take powerful faith, perhaps Enochian faith to turn the tides against those that would destroy the members of the church. You are only in the beginning stages of the battle of the war of words and ideals and you are already falling prey to the efforts. What will you do when destruction is between you and the powers of heaven to forestall.

"Faith – so few understand it is a genuine power. Sometimes I think that members are hell-bent on avoiding, denying, and fleeing away from the opportunities to exercise faith – the power that holds worlds in their orbits and enables the creative efforts. We lip service it and then ignore it constantly. This day is a blessing to you. You are being tossed and torn and beaten and abused in the crucible of faith. The anxiety you feel is because you are slowly feeling the heat of the flames that will prepare some and destroy others.

"You acknowledge the need for faith but it has not impressed upon your soul the power of what faith really is. Again I ask, what did you think it would look like when we were in the middle of the sifting. IT LOOKS LIKE WHAT YOU ARE SEEING. It is painful, until the faith provides the healing and there is no faith in questioning the motives of the church. They know exactly what is happening and they are stemming it as best they can within the boundaries of agency, and teaching correct principle. I’m not going to expand further, I’ll see where this takes you.”

God promised us we would have moral agency, that is, we could decide our path for ourselves, whether it leads to or away from Him.  He will not provide universal incontrovertible proof, because that would interfere with the agency promised to us and prevent the growth necessary for us to become what He wants us to become.  So, evidence, logic and science must balance for and against the Church so it comes down to faith and submitting our will to His.  We must choose.  Our choices will exalt or damn us.

My proof of the truthfulness of the Church is personal.  I don't think even that proof would have been given against my will, but I either asked for it, or voluntarily chose to serve in a position that led directly to that proof.  Thus my moral agency was never interfered with, much as God never appeared to Joseph Smith until he asked for enlightenment.  He may not have anticipated the life-changing scope of that direction, but God would not interfere until He was invited.  Joseph's agency wasn't infringed upon.

It is by grace we are saved, after all that we can do.  Receiving that grace is predicated upon our faithfulness.  Our faith must be sufficient to provide us a clear path when two equally logical and scientific choices are laid before us.  There will be times when we feel weak or when we don't understand.  There will be times when we don't agree with Church policy.  A spiritual, faith-based testimony will see us through these times.  If yours isn't strong, cultivate it.  I know I must continue to work on mine.