I Won't Write A Letter

If you want to get a swing fixed in Ramsett Park you might start a letter writing campaign. Maybe knowing that there are a lot of people inconvenienced by this would hurry up the process of getting it fixed. That's a reasonable request and maybe a use for letter writing campaigns.

But, let's just say that having no swings in Ramsett Park were divinely ordained. It wouldn't matter how many letters were sent in. If the rule was no swings, it doesn't matter how many people are inconvenienced by the lack of swings. If say 50 people wrote saying that they wanted a swing in the park, and no one wrote saying that they did not want swings in the park it might look like a lot of people wanted a swing in the park. But why would someone write in to say that they didn't want swings in the park if there were no swings in the park? Also, if God said no swings in the park, and even if everybody in the town did want swings in the park would you really want someone to bow to your wishes to provide swings in the park?

I think maybe I would just go to a different park.

Some people might say "Look, if you don't want swings in the park, just don't swing on them." But that's not the point. If God said no swings in the park I wouldn't want swings in the park.

If the people who maintained the park believed in the park rules, it shouldn't matter what letters they received. Even if hundreds and hundreds of letters poured in telling them they really wanted swings in the park, and no one wrote to them saying "Hey, I'm cool with there being no swings in the park!" that shouldn't matter. Do the park rules matter or not?

I mean, I guess maybe we could change the park rules? Maybe they're only guidelines and if enough people wanted to change the park rules that would be a good idea. After all, maybe the park rules were written a long time ago and times have changed. Oh wait, did we establish that the park rules were directly from God? Hmm, I guess we don't really have the authority to change them then.

I wouldn't want the park people being persuaded by letters of any kind. I will not be writing a letter to the park people, because my opinion doesn't matter. Because it's an opinion. Also, I don't care if my opinion is heard. Because it's an opinion. The Park Rules aren't gonna change, no matter how many letters anyone writes.

But also, if you want to write a letter telling someone how much you love the park there's nothing wrong with that.

Stop worrying about how many people are coming to the park. Adhere to the park rules and all will be well. I trust the park people. I believe that they are doing their best to follow the park rules.

And really? I trust the Lord. It's really gonna be fine because He's got this. No matter what, He's got this.

The Affirmative Principle

Does the Word have some sort of expiration date I didn't know about? A best used by but maybe could still be okay for a little bit after just not as good? Like food, does it become unhealthy to consume after a certain point?

Why would the Lord write something that would go out of date? After the Lord's first coming the old testament did not expire. 

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. Matthew 5:17

Even after the Lord's second coming, the old and new testaments are not to be thrown out or disregarded. The Lord's Word is never going to be unhealthy. If we are allergic to it that is not because there is something wrong with it that needs to be changed. We can't substitute gluten free doctrine just so we don't react poorly to it. Of course we have sensitivities to the Word! It is not going to sit right with us, because we are not right!

And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. Revelation 10:9

The only way to approach the Word is to assume that the Lord is telling us the truth. That He is not misleading us or gave us some kind of Where's Waldo where we have to look through it for something we recognize.

There are therefore two principles; one of which leads to all folly and insanity, and the other to all intelligence and wisdom. The former principle is to deny all things, or to say in the heart that we cannot believe them until we are convinced by what we can apprehend, or perceive by the senses; this is the principle that leads to all folly and insanity, and is to be called the negative principle. The other principle is to affirm the things which are of doctrine from the Word, or to think and believe within ourselves that they are true because the Lord has said them: this is the principle that leads to all intelligence and wisdom, and is to be called the affirmative principle. Arcana Coelestia 2568:4

I'm not saying that understanding the Word is easy. But it's easier if you assume that is is right. The hardest thing we have to do in life is make decisions. Decisions are really hard, man! My last blog post was about how marriage is the opposite of dating. One of the things that makes marriage SO much better than dating is it's one less decision to make. With dating you have to figure out a HUGE decision: Do you want to spend the rest of your life with this human? With marriage the answer is always yes. You have already made the hardest decision. But it's made. All you have to do now is make a million more decisions, but that one is set in stone.

The same goes for reading the Word. If you constantly have to be wondering if the Lord actually means what He says then it's exhausting hard work. Just assume that He knows what He's doing. AND He knew what He was doing a couple thousand years ago when He told people to write down His Word. Our problems aren't new. He even knew about every single thing we're facing in 2018, and He wrote about it a long time ago. And it's still active and living today. There is no expiration date on the Truth.

Stop dating the Word. Be committed to it. It makes life so much easier if you do.

Dating is the Opposite of Marriage

It's funny how people say that dating is good practice for marriage. Well, I dunno, maybe people don't say that anymore. But seriously, teenagers don't need to be dating. The only point of dating is to find out if you could marry the other person. Not to find out what type of person you like or are compatible with. Not to just have fun. The purpose of dating is getting to know someone with the intention of marrying them if things work out.

But it really is the opposite of marriage. So I'm gonna use gambling as an analogy for dating. Relationships are not roulette. It's not chance. It's not random. There's a plan. But there's also the problem of throwing in good money after bad. When you've invested a certain amount of time into a person it can feel like you just have to make it work out. You have to stick with it and fix it even if things aren't working. But the truth is that there is zero real commitment. If things aren't working they don't have to. 

You gotta know when to hold them,
Know when to fold them,
Know when to walk away, know when to run.

I'm not saying it's easy to know what's worth holding on to, but there is always the option to fold.

With marriage there is not. And I think that often people get used to dating and then breaking up when things aren't going well, and then thinking that that's how marriage works too. With marriage you're all in. There's no folding once you have a winning hand.

Dating is stressful. Marriage can be stressful, but the nice thing is that the decision has already been made. You're still figuring stuff out, but you're not figuring out if it can work but how it can work better and better.

Marriage is forever. Thank goodness dating is not!

13 Drafts

I have 13 drafts on my blog. Because once again I have decided I can't publish a post without it being meaningful and thought provoking. The problem is that I have lots I want to say but I keep not saying it right so I don't write anything. Cause that's the way to get better at anything; thinking in your brain about how everything has to be perfect before action.

So I have discovered that I suck at taking action. Whether it be writing, practicing ukulele, drawing, painting, or any number of things. It's easier to think about it than actually do it. And I don't want to get things wrong so I overthink and underact.

Thinking IS useful. And reading and gathering information, even when it doesn't always feel that way.

I read the Word every day, but I don't often feel like I'm learning anything. I'm also reading TCR and while it can be mind-blowing and inspiring to read, I don't often feel like there is actionable stuff in it for me. When I brought this up at a doctrinal class our minister pointed out that what we are doing is building a framework that everything else rests on and he compared it to med-school where students learn about every aspect of the human body and while a lot of it is not going to be practical information it is nevertheless building a framework for all the hands-on stuff they will be doing.

It made me think of this passage from Matthew Chapter 22:37-40:

And Jesus said to him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God in thy whole heart, and in thy whole soul, and in thy whole mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets.

I have known, from my childhood that I am supposed to love the Lord and the neighbor. But HOW does one love the Lord and the neighbor? That is where everything else comes in. And everything in the Word and Heavenly Doctrine is teaching us how to love the Lord and each other. It is a complex web of knowledge that keeps getting added to. It is an ever growing framework.

Another biblical analogy would be a tree. The roots, the branches and the leaves are useful, but the Lord tells us to bear fruit. We must have the knowledge or the branches for the fruit to grow on.

I love studying the Word, even when I don't get it all at once. If I did, I guess I wouldn't have to read it again. It is living. It is constant.