A lot of this chat takes into account the fact that both Chris and I have experience and knowledge in the LDS church, so there are some things discussed without any foundation, like what is a “70″ or an “apostle” or the “standard works.”  Sorry about that.   If you want more info, let me know.

Chris

hey greg I am trying to pin down what mormonism is … and since you went on a mission .. you should beable to tell me right

7:04pmGreg

yes, I pretty much know everything.

(and not just about mormonism)

7:05pmChris

LOL

i know!

you are so helpful!

7:06pmChris

ok

so

what is mormon doctrine?

just that standard works?

or are conference talks considered doctrine?

7:06pmGreg

I’ll be AFK a bit while we’re getting kids ready, but I’ll try.

7:07pmChris

thanks

7:10pmGreg

Well, my understanding, which certainly isn’t official but ought to be good for something, is that the doctrine of the church includes the teachings of the prophets and apostles in general conference and in church magazines…

The theory is that what they teach will rarely conflict with the scripture of the church, but when it does the most recent source takes precidence.

(sp)

7:12pmChris

so an apostle from today could contradict the standard works …not sure if that has happened … but the apostle would be the correct source to go to?

7:13pmGreg

Right. An example would be the teaching of polygamy or the word of wisdom.

7:13pmChris

ahhh I see

so what counts as an apostle?

70s?

7:14pmGreg

Polygamy was taught as being acceptable until the turn of the century when the presiding authority taught the church to abandon it. Similarly, the word of wisdom was never a commandment until later on in the churches history.

7:16pmChris

so are 70s considered apostles?

7:16pmGreg

Apostle is something that a person could be ordained to, but it rarely happens any more outside of the quorum of the 12 apostles in the last half century or so.

70s are not considered apostles and have no authority except brief, express authority given to them by an apostle for a specific assignment.

7:16pmChris

so their talks would be considered as just advice?

but not binding … necessarily?

7:18pmGreg

I think in general that’s how their talks are received, but if they’ve received the assignment to speak in general conference or at a local meeting from an apostle it’s the same “authority” as if it had come from an apostle.

70s will often begin by expressing a message from the quorum of the 12 at local meetings.

brb

7:19pmChris

so to be on the safe side … one would say that only the 12 or the 1st presidency would be authoritative about what the doctrine is?

7:20pmChris

if I were to define an algorithm to search out church doctrine … I would start with the current living apostles and if they had nothing to say on it then go the ones before them … and finally stop at the standard works?

7:26pmGreg

to the first question: I think part of the problem I face in explaining it is the word “doctrine.” The church rarely embraces anything as “official doctrine” of the church. For example, a member of the twelve named McConkie wrote a book called “mormon doctrine” while a member of the twelve, but the church has explicitly said that the book is not the official doctrine of the church, but rather what McConkie understood the doctrines of the church to be at that time.

7:27pmChris

yeah I have read mormon “doctrine”

7:27pmGreg

I suppose that also answers the second question. As our world becomes more and more specialized, a more specific doctrine is needed some times to respond to previously unaddressed questions, thus the more recent teachings take precident.

7:28pmChris

that is exactly the issue I am having … trying to pin down what exactly the church teaches … like what is the churches position on evolution … for example …

or can man become a god?

7:28pmGreg

In general, I would say that the algorithm you described would make sense, but you would run accross a lot that the church would officially call “opinion” rather than “doctrine.” It’s a little discouraging.

7:29pmChris

so how do you decide what is doctrine?

7:31pmGreg

Well the church only takes a firm stand on doctrines that could be called “saving” doctrines. The ordinances needed for salvation, for example. The next “level” of doctrine, which might include things like a member’s appropriate behavior or attitude are addressed frequently by the 12 and in general conference and I feel can safely be called “doctrine,” but perhaps more accurately called the “teachings” of the church.

7:32pmGreg

the next “level” would be the things that you’re talking about and the presidency and 12 almost never address it, so I wouldn’t really call it “doctrine” so much as speculation or gospel study.

7:33pmChris

you say it is a next level … does that mean that it is not necessarily perfectly true? could they be wrong on it?

7:34pmGreg

The 12 encourage the membership to research and study on their own, but I know my 70 friend has said that he and all the other 70s have been asked to refrain from “speculating” on what I always think of as the deeper stuff.

7:36pmGreg

I think that that level might be called the “unknowns” of the gospel. While the teaching that man might become as god is a doctrine of the church, the church has no official standpoint on evolution of which I am aware; thus the “man will be become like god” teaching would be a first level doctrine, while evolution and how it fits into doctrine would be a ‘third’ level subject.

7:35pmChris

this is good information

so what do you think is on that first level?

7:37pmGreg

I do know that many speakers and teachers speculate on things like evolution – some very intelligently, I think – and the church encourages it, but discourages getting “stuck” on a subject. In other words, “study all you can, but if you can’t find an answer right away, don’t get discouraged and let it ruin everything else.”

I’ve found that to be great advice as several times in the past I’ve found a piece of that “third” level of doctrine that I couldn’t understand, but after a few years a reasonable answer came along.

7:39pmChris

so what are the first level doctrines … for lack of a better word?

7:40pmGreg

I’d say stuff you’d find on the LDS website. http://www.mormon.org/mormonorg/eng/basic-beliefs/the-restoration-of-truth/the-restoration-of-truth for example.

7:41pmChris

yeah I was just looking at that

wondering if that would be considered doctrine

7:41pmGreg

There is a God the Father, Jesus Christ, Holy Ghost. We are spirit children, etc. The articles of faith.

7:43pmChris

so what about the historicity of the book of mormon … if one excepts that the doctrine outlined in the book of mormon is 1st level and correct … does one also have to believe that the book of mormon is literally true? i.e. really happened?

7:45pmGreg

I would say yes, due more to logic than anything else. Like, can one accept the message as being one of truth without the vehicle being true as well? While it’s certainly possible from a logical standpoint to say that true doctrine could have been shared via a lie, there’s no reason for such a deception since true doctrine from a true source would be just as compelling to honest seekers of truth.

But the book of mormon is a part of the message as well: that God cares for all his children at all times, not just now and in one part of the world.

7:47pmChris

now I do know that the church leaders (apostles) have discourages speculation on the actual geography applicable to the BofM … so … one would only have to except that it happened … maybe even only in a tiny part of sout america … and still be mormon?

dang ./.. can’t spell

7:47pmGreg

clearly!

;->

7:48pmGreg

Not at all. For example, my mom’s dad was writing a book on his speculation on the geography of the book of mormon at the time of his death. (oooh! Maybe that’s why it’s discouraged – cursed subject! joking joking.)

7:49pmChris

lol

7:50pmGreg

I think that the first presidency and leadership of the church is forced into a position of discouraging this sort of thing for the sake of the members who might fixate and lose their testimonies because they’ve not been able to find the answer to one ‘third level’ question when they ought to be fixated on the ‘first level’ questions.

7:51pmGreg

but even in discouraging speculation, the church spends massive amounts of money on the church education system where tons of seminary and institute teachers spend hours every day teaching kids how to ‘speculate’ on all aspects of the gospel.

7:51pmChris

true

7:52pmGreg

I’ve always felt the church encourages curiosity and education, but the leadership has to remain conservative for the sake of those who would love a chance for an ecclesiastical ‘fight.’ if that makes sense.

7:52pmChris

yeah it does

7:53pmGreg

… because if a member of the 12 were to speculate himself, folks could say “well I heard an apostle say___ so it must be true.”

thought resolved.

7:55pmChris

thanks Greg I appreciate your candor … so … one last question is their anything anyone could say that would convince you the church wasn’t true?

i.e. what would constitute proof that the church was false?

8:00pmGreg

I can’t think of anything that could encompass so much. It would be like saying “is there anything that somebody could say that could convince you that science wasn’t true?” of course not. just as science is a method and approach to the world, the church is a method and approach to the world. And just as science adapts and changes, clarifying our view, our understanding of God adapts and changes, clarifying our view. I can’t honestly see how any reasonable person could eliminate God from an approach to universal understanding without first testing the promises of God, just as we should test the promises of science.

8:01pmGreg

(To me, science is just the human effort at what God has already accomplished, therefore there should be no contradictions when “true” science is discovered.)

8:02pmChris

very well stated

8:03pmGreg

yeah, I rock.

8:03pmChris

I like your argument … it sounds like the only “proof” would be to somehow demonstrate that God doesn’t exist …

8:04pmGreg

Right, but only because through testing and examining results I feel I’ve found proof of the existence of God rather than the absence of that evidence.

Got to put kids to bed.

8:06pmChris

night

thanks for the chat

take care

8:11pmGreg

I enjoy it. It’s nice for me to have a talk about religion that is neither hostile nor offensively closed minded.

8:11pmChris

any time you want to chat

I enjoy it too

8:26pmGreg

I have a “religious blog” that I update about once or twice a year. Do you care if I put this chat on it?

8:26pmChris

not at all

sounds great

Before eating the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve either knew that disobeying God was evil or they didn’t.

If they didn’t, then they can’t be blamed for disobeying him.

If they did, then they already possessed the knowledge that God had forbidden.

Either way, God could not justly banish them from Eden.

(Adduced by Richard R. La Croix.)

I think that Richard is doing some great logical deduction work, but his conclusion is based on a few facts not in evidence. First: His logic assumes that we all know that being in Eden was just or good or desirable. It’s unclear what Eden means to Richard. Second: He makes no assumptions about the existence of God, so we will, for the sake of this argument, assume there is a God.

Clearly Richard is trying to prove with logic that either God is unjust or that he simply doesn’t exist. I submit there’s another option:

The logic here states that if Adam and Eve had no knowledge of good and evil and they did something evil, they can’t be blamed for it.

If they can’t be blamed for it, they can’t be punished for it by a just being.

Because they were kicked out of Eden, it must be true that being out of Eden is not a punishment.

Further examination of this thought process reveals something interesting about human suffering and our relationship with God. Can a just God allow us to leave peace and tranquility for suffering? Is pain and struggle in this life a form of punishment? What can this tell us about the nature of suffering and mortality? What does this mean for the idea of original sin and sins of the parents being visited on the heads of the children?

The LDS philosophy and doctrine teaches many unique and thrilling insights on the plan of salvation and the role played by Adam and Eve. Logic tends to back up these teachings and gives us one simple choice: either it’s true or it’s not. The real crux  of religious examination is not found in flaws in scripture or members, but is found in the genuine search for this one simple answer: Is it true?

If we take scripture as being true

Then God is just.

If we take scripture as being true

Then God desires to bless all his children.

If God is just, evicting Adam and Eve was no punishment.

If God is loving, then leaving Eden was for their good and for the good of all their children.

Yes, after translating the Book of Mormon from golden plates, Joseph Smith was commanded to go back and re-translate the Bible.  This is known in the church as the Joseph Smith Translation of the King James Version of the Bible.  For the most part, the record was left untouched save a few valuable clarifications here and there.  The truly spectacular revelations came at the very beginning.  As Joseph began his translation effort in Genesis, a whole new book of scripture poured out:  the Book of Moses, now a part of The Pearl of Great Price in LDS scripture.

The Book of Moses contains many treasures for the diligent student.  Of them, one I treasure most is a brief glimpse into what we mormons call “the Pre-existence.”  It is a bit of the story of the human family before the world was organized, where we learn a bit about ourselves, our savior, and our adversary.

In the first chapter of the book of Moses, we find Moses caught up in a high mountain where he speaks with the Lord. The Lord tells Moses about his divine heritage as a son of God, about the plan of salvation, and even shows him everything on the whole earth.  Soon after this divine experience, Moses finds himself confronted by old scratch himself, who teaches him something about fear and faith.  Here are the words from the scriptures:

“…behold, ^aSatan came ^btempting him, saying: Moses, son of man, worship me.

And it came to pass that Moses looked upon Satan and said: Who art thou? For behold, I am a ^ason of God, in the similitude of his Only Begotten; and where is thy ^bglory, that I should worship thee?”

“And again Moses said: I will not cease to call upon God, I have other things to inquire of him: for his ^aglory has been upon me, wherefore I can judge between him and thee. ^bDepart hence, Satan.”

What happens next would be almost humorous if it weren’t so terrible.

“And now, when Moses had said these words, ^aSatan cried with a loud voice, and ranted upon the earth, and commanded, saying: I am the ^bOnly Begotten, worship me.”

I don’t know that Moses thought it would by any means be easy to rid himself of his foe, but I feel certain that at this point he knew that on his own he would be unable to conquer his enemy.  The story continues:

“And it came to pass that Moses began to ^afear exceedingly; and as he began to fear, he saw the bitterness of ^bhell…”

Now here’s the important part:  “…Nevertheless, ^ccalling upon God, he received ^dstrength, and he commanded, saying: Depart from me, Satan, for this one God only will I worship, which is the God of ^eglory.

“And now Satan began to tremble, and the earth shook; and Moses received strength, and called upon God, saying: In the name of the Only Begotten, depart hence, Satan.
And it came to pass that Satan cried with a loud voice, with weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth; and he departed hence, even from the presence of Moses, that he beheld him not.”

Moses is then blessed to be shown much more of the plan of salvation, including that precious glimpse of the pre-existence.  It is during this vision that the Lord chooses to reveal an important pattern of the behavior of Lucifer. Here is the first verse of the fourth chapter:

“And I, the Lord God, spake unto Moses, saying: That Satan, whom thou hast commanded in the name of mine Only Begotten, is the same which was from the beginning, and he came before me, saying—Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor.”

It is important to try and visualize this to some degree.  Here is God, and he has created a plan whereby his children can experience life, grow, and return to live with Him.  However, the plan also involves risk.  There is a chance that nobody would be able to return at all.   A redeemer is needed to secure the safe return of God’s children.  Now here comes Lucifer.

Lucifer chooses to try and draw the attention of God Himself to what?  To everything he stands to lose.  In essence he says “Look here over your children.  It would be so painful to lose any of them.  My way, you will be certain to see them all again.”   Isn’t that amazing?  From the beginning, the adversary tried to use fear to get what he wanted – pointing out the chance of failure in order to recieve the glory of being the redeemer.

Compare this to the response of Jesus Christ:  ” But, behold, my Beloved Son, which was my Beloved and Chosen from the beginning, said unto me—Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever”

No pride, no arrogance, nor any fear.  Instead we find faith in the plan of the father, meekness, and humility.  Traits he exemplified then and now.

In the pre-existence a great many of our brothers and sisters found they could not develop faith enough in that savior, Christ, to give life on earth a chance.  They gave into the fear that Satan preached, and were called the sons of perdition.  This knowledge gives new meaning to the words of Paul, when he says:  “we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.”

Truly, the antidote to fear is faith – belief to the saving of the soul.

When Moses began to feel fear, he saw the bitterness of hell.  What an appropriate description, seeing as it is hell that the adversary would lead us to, and it is fear that he uses to guide us there.  Without faith in Christ and his atoning power, we will surely fall.  But with faith in Christ, and by calling on his name for our salvation, both temporal and spiritual, even Satan can not stand against us.  Our Heavenly Father knew his Son would be strong enough to carry the load for us all, strong enough to overcome the adversary.  Moses learned it in a high mountain.  Joseph learned it in a grove of trees.  We can put the promise, and our faith, to the test every day in small and simple ways.

Is your fear that you might lose your soul?  Or is it a bit more humdrum?  Do you fear making that important life change?  Is there something you’ve felt you should do but have been afraid to?  Do you worry that your children might end up down paths you don’t want them to go down?  Are you afraid of leaving a bad relationship because you worry you won’t find anything better?

Fear is from the adversary.  I am convinced that it never comes from our Father.  I testify that Jesus Christ is the perfect love of the Father, and that perfect love casts out all fear.  Council with Him.  Trust that what He wants for you is really what is what will deliver you from fear and temptation and carry you to true happiness.  Whatever trial you may face, even if it feels like you are staring into the depths of Hell itself, trust that Christ can and will deliver you as you seek to call on his aid.  I know he will.

I welcome your thoughts, questions and comments.
-Greg

“Faith,” of course, is a bit harder to define.  Rather than go into detail at this time, let’s just say that for this article I when I say “faith” I mean the doctrines that we choose to believe in.

Now that that’s all out of the way, let’s get started.

The reason I wanted to address this topic is because of everything else that is debated or questioned in the world.  Recently atheism has taken on a strange sort of trendiness – especially in online communities.  This means that those who maintain any sort of faith are ridiculed, attacked, or seen as unintelligent.   It’s easy to get caught up into debates, online, and in person, about specific beliefs and about faith in general.

For those of us who believe, it’s important to take a few steps back on occasion to look at the big picture.  When the debate rages about differences in belief or doctrine, or when others try to cast doubt on what seemed so clear once, it’s time to review that foundation of faith.

People say things like “If there is a god, why does he allow bad things to happen?”

People wonder how otherwise rational human beings can believe in things that science contradicts.

To understand these believers, it’s important to understand this same foundation of their faith.  When their beliefs seem so unusual to be verging on nonsensical, we should understand where these beliefs stem from.

The scriptures say “God is Love.”  We believe, above everything else, that everything God does is motivated out of His divine, perfect love for each and all of his children.  All gospel truths stem from that one overwhelming truth.  Members of christian faiths, then, fall into two categories:  those who really believe in the Love of God, and those who don’t.  (as a side note:  people certainly go back and forth between these two categories.)

When faced with a challenge those who believe are able to say to themselves, perhaps unconsciously, that “I don’t know the answer, but I know that God loves me,” and therefore they maintain their stance, believing that understanding will come eventually, and trusting that things will be for the best.  Those who are not believers face challenges and experience and erosion or shift in beliefs.  With no foundation to cling to, those who do not believe in the Love of God find themselves always in a state of doubt.

Truly, “Faith” is not knowing, but believing anyway.  To the believing Mormon, the true foundation of faith is the Love of God.  Even death loses it’s sting when one can say, with complete faith, that it’s a part of the plan of a loving creator.

This love of God is taught over and over again in the scriptures and in our lives.  How often we hear about young couples who find a renewed faith in God as they become parents and recognize that the love they feel for their child is echoed from their heavenly father.

As we study religion and find seemingly endless flaws, it’s easy to say “How could a god allow this?”  The natural response of a faithful christian is to feel that whatever the answer may be, it is for the good of his children.  Thus trials and pains in this life are not evidence of the lack of a divine being, but simply an indication of our lack of understanding.  For the faithful, this, of course, prompts further study.  Answers come with time and careful investigation.  Further insight is gained, and faith is confirmed after being tested and tried.

My nature is to be questioning and critical.  I have found for myself that there is a God and all that he does is for the benefit of his children.  It didn’t come to me through instant revelation or angelic visitation, but through careful study and by testing the promises of a loving father in heaven.  I know that God so loved his children here in the world that He sent his only begotten son, Jesus Christ to perform His act of perfect love for us – the Atonement.

Which brings us, appropriately, to Christ.  There is no better expression of our Heavenly Father’s love than Jesus Christ himself.  His life, mission, teachings, and sacrifice were all driven by the perfect love shared by him and his father – our Father.

A contract is a legal instrument used to document what two parties plan to do.  Your checkbook is a book of blank contracts.  When you fill it out you put what you hope to purchase in the “FOR” section of the check and what you are willing to pay for it in the “Amount” section.  When the person cashes the check he or she signs the check, thus agreeing to the terms of the contract.  The exchange is completed and the contract is fulfilled.

A covenant can be seen as a contract between God and a person.  God sets the terms and makes the offer, we then decide to accept or reject His offer.  When we accept the offer we ‘make’ the covenant.  This is usually done by some outward ordinance, such as baptism or taking the sacrament.  This is our ‘signing the check,’ promising through action to keep our part of the bargain.

Were it left at that point, there would be no real difference between a contract and a covenant except to say that one is between two human beings and one is between a mortal and Deity.  But there’s something more to covenants that hasn’t been discussed.

In the book “Covenant Hearts” by Bruce C. Hafen, the author discusses the difference between a contractual marriage and the covenant marriage by using the example given by the savior in the bible in John 10:

11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
12 But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.
13 The hirelingfleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.

The difference is in the attitude of contract versus the attitude of covenant.  In contract both parties are hoping to limit liability or maximize profit or otherwise make things better for the self.   The contract is then a way of ensuring that things go just as planned and, if necessary, to force the other party to promised action.  This is the shepherd who was hired to watch the sheep.  He’ll do it as long as he gets paid and as long as there’s no danger to himself.  A covenant relationship is one in which certain terms are set, yes, but the parties make the cause of the other their own cause.  In other words, when I make a covenant, the goals and desires of the person with whom I am covenanting become my own.  Conversely my goals and needs and desires become the goals and needs and desires of the One with whom I am covenanting.  This is the lesson of the good shepherd.  Christ makes the life of the sheep as important to him as his own life.

What a blessing it is to be able to make covenants with God.  When we fulfil our side of this ‘two-way promise’ He is able to apply his infinite power and wisdom to our tiny problems and trials.  Even death is overcome by his power.  This is a contract so overwhelmingly in our favor that we would be foolish to reject it.  What a joy to have access to not only this knowlege, but to these covenants we have in the Church.

Today speakers in sacrament meeting spoke on forgiveness.  The lessons in our classes were also on this topic. 

One speaker said that we “often feel that forgiveness is a mountain,” and the peak is so far away and so difficult to reach that it’s unlikely to ever even be achieved.  So we give up.  This is another tool of Satan – to get us to give up.  What we fail to realize (and here we’ve started into my own thoughts and feelings) is that only Jesus Christ stands at the top of the peak of perfection.  He never stepped down.  When we so much as start out on that path, onward and upward - to the light, He is free to forgive us.  As intercessor, Jesus Christ can provide for our complete forgiveness even before we’ve reached that same summit of perfection as He.  I believe all he requires is our effort.

The point, I guess, is that we don’t have to reach the peak.  The peak is perfection and it’s truly distant – but forgiveness is to be had in the journey.  All we need to do is make the effort, and in doing so we will discover the distance to that pinnacle who is Christ is lessened.  Someday we will all kneel truly at his feet.

-Greg

I can imagine the moment when people start to realize that it was night but that there was still light.  I imagine that everybody would call everybody else and say “Do you see it?” and “It’s really happened!”  I imagine that if I had been there and known what it meant I would have wanted to have a celebration. 

Celebrate how real it is, how true.  Celebrate the arrival of the Savior.  It would be so comforting to know that all the things you had stood up for over the years were really worth it – to know that there is a reason to do good and not do evil.  It would be a celebration of everything right with the world, and a confirmation of the hope we all hold on to during our challenges.

What an exciting and gratifying thing it is to contemplate the birth and reality of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  How wonderful it is to know that he lived, and because he did we will find recompence for our labors.  We can know that even if life isn’t fair or good now, it will be someday.  It’s so great to be able to carry that light of hope with us every day through every circumstance of life.

I suppose that’s the point – that it doesn’t have to be a thing of the past.  This excitement and celebration can be any time we experience the conversion to Christ and his message.

-Greg

Keep the commandments – be filled with joy.

Keep the commandments – prosper in the land.

Keep the commandments – be blessed immediately.

Keep the commandments – live in a blessed and happy state.

Keep the commandments – your enemies will have no power over you.

I have often felt that the recurring message of the scriptures is always to keep the commandments.  Yes, the scriptures always tell us about the people who have come to know god and the people who have done miracles and the blessings of the Lord and His characteristics, but the key to all of those things is the commandments.  The people who become prophets and therefore know the Lord the best are those who consistently keep the commandments.

Now I look at myself, and the world in which I live.  When was the last time you saw a television character say “No, I can’t go to work on sunday, I keep the sabbath holy,” or “No, I will not commit adultery with you!” 

Not likely.

And not exactly a character that we enjoy watching as viewers.   I won’t go into if I think this is symptomatic or causal of our societies’ current condition, but I will say that it’s accurate to the world we know. 

You can’t meet somebody who tries to keep the sabbath day holy or obey the law of chastity without thinking that this guy is a radical fundimentalist, or something equally judgemental.

Not so long ago I decided to start putting this promise of King Benjamin to the test.  I would select a commandment that I didn’t feel I was obeying completely (we all have these, right?) and made a goal of really keeping it for the next week or two weeks.  King Benjamin promised immediate blessings, so I figured I would see a difference.

The result is that, despite my doubts and perhaps even some reluctance, I felt my life changed.  I was happy every day for the first time in my life.  I wasn’t even being completely obedient, but I was making progress, and that in itself was enough to allow God to bless me.  I don’t know what blessings I recieved exactly as I started this experiment, but I felt in some intangible way that I was being blessed by a higher power.

The rewards of my experimentation were enough to propel me into continuing to try.  Every week my wife and I try to choose an area of spirituality or commandment keeping that we aren’t doing so well at and we work at it for as long as we feel we need to to make it habit.  The changes that come in our lives as a result aren’t all physical, but are still real.  Recently we began reading scriptures together every morning before work.  It takes about 5 minutes to read a chapter out of the new testament together.  Just this simple act has changed my every-day attitude.  I’m full of energy and more happy as I go through the ho-hum events of the day.

In conclusion:  I highly reccomend that anybody try this out.   Try keeping the commandments for a while and see if it doesn’t start to change your life and lead you into a “Blessed and happy state.”

I remember being in a large choir once, singing “Joseph Smith’s First Prayer.”  At one point in the music I had to stop singing because the emotions within me were so overwhelming.  I hadn’t been expecting it, nor seeking any special kind of “confirmation” of the truth of the witness of Joseph Smith, but I received a strong confirmation at that moment that the testimony of Joseph Smith was true.

Today I snuck into the concert hall as they rehearsed.  I wasn’t looking for anything – just wanting to hear how the music sounded.  What I recieved was a blast of emotion and again that firm confirmation that this church is led by Christ and that He is aware of me and loves me will all of his soul. 

What a great blessing is music when used rightly.  How powerful it is!  Usually a person has to be in the right frame of mind to receive from the Lord, but music can help us immediately into the receptive way of thinking, pondering, and seeking.  Likewise, other kinds of music can keep us indefinitely from the promptings of the Holy Spirit, deadening our spiritual senses and flooding our minds with preventative filth.

I’m glad for the chance to experience this.   And I’m grateful that sometimes listening to music can be powerful enough to be rightly called an experience.

I’m not saying I’m a very Christ-like person.  But I hope that when I do good I can share it, and when I do bad I can learn from it.

We’ll see how it goes.