Why is it so hard to do good things and so easy to do bad things?

This question ^ was asked recently in a book club I belong to with other members of the church.  It’s a fascinating one. It made me think.  

Mormon takes a chapter to observe on these facts in the Book of Helaman when he observes how people are quick to do evil and how slow to do good.  But asking why things are that way is a good question that I think worth examining.

I think it has something to do with energy input and entropy.

Doing good takes energy.  Our spirit has to impose a certain level of order on our mortal, corruptible bodies. It also takes energy to sustain that order over time, just like it takes energy to keep the clutter of life from choking our houses.  (Example: I come home from church with a bag of stuff that I have to take some time to put away. I’m imposing order things.)

Maybe I’m out of line relating this to the laws of thermodynamics and creeping entropy, but I find it a helpful metaphor.

The more order you impose on something, the more energy it takes.  For things to fall back into chaos, it takes practically no energy at all. You simply do nothing and wait.  It’s all downhill.

Doing good, you’re pushing uphill.  Imposing order.  Putting in energy.

And where that energy comes from that allows a fallen mortal to do that? That’s Christ and His grace.

Seeing Astronomical Bodies is like Seeing God

http://www.billfrymire.com/gallery/earth-moon-sun-space.jpg.html

45 The earth rolls upon her wings, and the sun giveth his light by day, and the moon giveth her light by night, and the stars also give their light, as they roll upon their wings in their glory, in the midst of the power of God.

46 Unto what shall I liken these kingdoms, that ye may understand?

47 Behold, all these are kingdoms, and any man who hath seen any or the least of these hath seen God moving in his majesty and power.

48 I say unto you, he hath seen him; nevertheless, he who came unto his own was not comprehended. (D&C 88:45-48, emphasis added)

In what way is seeing astronomical bodies like seeing God moving in His majesty and power?

It’s a strange irony that the further away a planet is, the less awesome it seems. The moon is the closest other astronomical body to us, and yet we take it for granted. The further we are, the less we see of all the fascinating individual features and the more likely we are over-simplify our understanding of it.  But the closer we get, the greater it becomes in our view until we get so close that our finite minds can no longer grasp its vastness and all its characteristics.

It’s the same with God. The further we are from Him spiritually, the less we understand of Him, the less awesome He seems (to the point He seems not awesome at all), the less we see of His character. Thus, we greatly oversimplify His idea, and that distorts our knowledge even more.  But the closer we draw to God, the greater and more majestic His perfections become until our finite minds simply explode, unable to comprehend Him fully.

Another case in point: we’re so close to this earth we stand on, and can we fully comprehend its size and complexity and elegant systems? No. In the same way, mortal man was completely unable to grasp the full majesty and power of Christ during His mortal ministry among them.

 (Scroll down to see some related animated GIFs)

via GIPHY

via GIPHY

Christ as the power by which the Sun was made

Which truth shineth. This is the light of Christ. As also he is in the sun, and the light of the sun, and the power thereof by which it was made. (D&C 88:7)

If we look at this only scientifically, it seems absurd. Suns form with gravitation that pull all that hydrogen together, and suns shine because of nuclear fusion.

But looking deeper, I think I can see spiritual principles hiding in the science.

What is gravity, but greatness attracting others into itself over greater distances? The spiritual force of gravity comes from the commandment to “Love the Lord with all our heart, might, mind, and strength” and “draw near unto God.”

What is fusion, but the process of achieving unity between two separate things in such a way as to produce synergistic energy?  That sounds to me a lot like reconciliatory atonement. It says something about what marriage could be too.

Not that all the mathematical details are revealed in above verse, but in its masterful summary, it gives a way we can orient the science toward the gospel, according to a divine pattern.

Also we get this little statement—“which truth shineth.”  To me, this says something about truth as information, and how it acts.  It shines. It also says to me that the shining is the medium or way truth is transmitted.  To communicate truth, you need the message and the medium.  Truth is the message, light is the medium, and it acts so as to increase the energy of the destination system by little packets.  With reference to suns, light is the medium that gives us the message that that fusion is taking place there.  Light is the sign (or message) of energy release.

But what about other truth? We get truth from little marks on a page. The medium is the marks—their shape and order—and the message is the thing they communicate. If it increases the energy and edification in your system, it’s truth.

All of this can get very philosophical pretty quick and go over our heads. Explanations can get more difficult to follow than the plain words of the scriptures. (Heck, when I read over what I wrote above, my mind is a bit boggled too.) But I think we each have a duty to try to unpack the meaning for ourselves and test how far the patterns fit or don’t. 

And the light which shineth, which giveth you light, is through him who enlighteneth your eyes, which is the same light that quickeneth your understandings; (D&C 88:11)

Just like light comes in little packets (quanta), we are enlightened in packets of truth, which eventually show us patterns of how things are.  Everything we read, everything we see adds or diminishes our knowledge of how things are. Every word on the page adds up to a thought that enlightens us or darkens us.  And it seems that is why God wants us to learn so many things—so we can grasp the underlying patterns and learn the laws of nature and choose to live the celestial laws so we can receive celestial glory.

The call to repentance in the earth’s rotation

Recently I was thinking about the symbolism of days in the scriptures, analyzing it, and I thought to myself, “What phenomena creates a day’s time?” and of course the answer was, the rotation of the earth away from the sun and then toward the sun.

It hit me that that motion of turning away from and toward the sun in such a short period of time is a great physical analog for man’s spiritual condition—prone to wander, turning away from God, then to turn back when we find ourselves in darkness.

One thing is different though. It is a good thing the earth doesn’t stop turning and face the sun and stay; one side of the earth would get baked and the other side would freeze. But what would happen if we faced Christ and never turned away?  We might worry we’d wither under the weight of His glorious demands, but will we really?  Surely not. He will help us grow to meet them.

Another message lies in the difference between our perspective on earth versus what is really happening astronomically.  It looks to us like the sun is rising in the sky, then falling and leaving. It looks like the sun is moving toward us, then away. But in actuality, it is us turning toward or away from the sun.  In the same way, when we turn away from Christ, it seems as if God is leaving us, but it is always us doing the leaving.  But our perspective blinds us to what is really happening.

So when the day starts, ask yourself how you are going to turn to the Son of God, Jesus Christ, today. When the day ends, ask yourself what you need to repent of, and then turn to God quickly before you have to fall into a spiritual midnight.

 Animated gif found at: http://media.photobucket.com/user/vicki12078/media/Earth-spinning.gif.html?filters[term]=spinning%20earth&filters[primary]=gif&filters[secondary]=images&sort=1&o=0

How is the Holy Ghost always to be with each of us when there are many of us?

You may have heard someone ask this question, or you may have asked it yourself--

"How can each member always have the Holy Ghost to be with them when there are so many members of the church?"

This is a good question, and there are probably things the Holy Ghost can do as a spirit that we don’t know much about, and I think we need more revelation on how it is done, but I can share a metaphor that has satisfied me so far so that I have faith that he is with worthy members, each and all.

When I was in high school, we got to go see a laser light show.  At the beginning, they showed us a single green dot on the screen and explained this was the only laser they used.  They moved the dot back and forth slowly in a line, then faster and faster until the path of the dot blurred together and appeared to become a solid line.  To our perception that single dot was everywhere on the line at once.  Then they took that line and began to form it into all kinds of curving shapes and designs that morphed from one thing to the next, and the whole show consisted of this kind of thing set to music.  As I considered that all of that laser animation was made of a green dot moving faster than my eye could follow, my brain just about exploded.

http://karenducey.photoshelter.com/gallery/Laser-Lights-by-John-Borcherding/G00005dL26uXRWAc/

Perhaps the Holy Ghost moves among us faster than we can detect.  Yes, this is speculation, and the mechanics by which the Holy Ghost can be simultaneously with us may be something different, but this metaphor helps me have faith that the promise about having the presence of the Holy Ghost can be fulfilled.  If a laser dot can seem to be everywhere in a line, it’s definitely a cinch for the Holy Ghost to be everywhere the members are.

Seeing God’s Hand in All, D&C 59:21

And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments. (D&C 59:21)

I personally think making a positive equivalent of the above scripture is nicer:

“And in nothing doth man please God, or toward none is his approval and blessing given, save to those who confess his hand in all things and obey his commandments.”

There are people who only focus on direct causes and who will say, “Well, how can I confess God’s hand in all things?  Did God make my bread?  No, a factory did that.  Did God make water come out of the faucet in my house?  No, water pressure did that.  How am I supposed to confess God’s hand when He’s not the one directly involved?”

It is up to us to look deeper and see that everything good ultimately came from God.  Maybe God didn’t directly make the water come out of the faucet, but He inspired others to experiment and work to harness scientific principles to bring running water inside.  He inspired the people to make faucets and sinks and all of that.  And so it is with all good things.  We can look around the world at all the beautiful and useful things that man has created and see behind it all the boundless wisdom and kind inspiration of our Father in heaven. 

In the creation of plant and animal life we can see the processes that shaped progression from one species to another and the environmental conditions and changes that made adaptations desirable, and we can know that somehow behind all of that was a command of God that was obeyed by the elements.

Some scientists may refer to a God of the gaps, but we can point to divine principles that are still at work and which we have yet to understand how they were first begun—the drive to reproduce, parents training their young by example, cooperative effort by community, ability to perceive stimuli and react accordingly, and the ability to some spark of intelligence and life to enter complex arrangements of tissue, the ability to learn and plan.. 

One of the things I learn about God when I consider the natural world is how well-programmed nature is to perpetuate itself and recover from imbalances.

While I feel inadequate to post about this because of my ignorance, I suppose if we couldn’t say anything until we had learned it all, we would have a very silent world… so maybe I will point you to some articles that have been helpful to me in seeing the Lord’s hand in the natural world.

“Evolution and the Gospel: Seeking Grandeur in This View ofLife” by Michael F. Whiting

“Time in Scriptures and Science: A Conciliatory Key?”  by J. Ward Moody

(This one is sure to make your mind bend and stretch in interesting ways..)

Re-examining the Liahona

I was looking at the Sunday School lesson manual for the Book of Mormon to see if I could find something thought-provoking for the chapters I’ve been studying, and I was really intrigued by the question, “What were the purposes of the Liahona?”

Simple question, right?  We’ve probably heard the answers over and over, right?

The reference given was 1 Nephi 16:10,29 and somehow I saw it differently with that question.

10 And it came to pass that as my father arose in the morning, and went forth to the tent door, to his great astonishment he beheld upon the ground a round ball of curious workmanship; and it was of fine brass. And within the ball were two spindles; and the one pointed the way whither we should go into the wilderness….

28 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the pointers which were in the ball, that they did work according to the faith and diligence and heed which we did give unto them.

 29 And there was also written upon them a new writing, which was plain to be read, which did give us understanding concerning the ways of the Lord; and it was written and changed from time to time, according to the faith and diligence which we gave unto it. And thus we see that by small means the Lord can bring about great things.

Asking about the purpose of the Liahona seems to be different than asking what the Liahona did.  The Liahona pointed the way and gave little messages from the Lord, but what was the purpose behind it?

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Liahona.jpg

Up to that point, revelation about what to do and where to go had been received through Lehi (and to a lesser extent Nephi).  So why was this revelation externalized in a thing all of a sudden?  Wouldn’t there be a tendency for Lehi and Nephi to stop relying on spiritual things and depend more on this thing?

I suspect that maybe the Liahona was less for Lehi and Nephi; they were pretty good at receiving and following revelation.  I suspect that the Liahona was actually meant for Laman and Lemuel and any other less faithful members of the group because it seemed to separate revelation from any one person.  (It seemed to, but didn’t because faithful individuals could still obtain their own revelation.) With the Liahona, they could not say directions from the Lord were “all in your head” or call them “foolish imaginations of [your] heart.”  It was something everyone could see—pointers going in a certain direction, writing changed from time to time, giving incremental bits of understanding about the ways of the Lord.  Only faith could work it, so Laman and Lemuel probably would not have done well with it on their own, but they would see that there were no foolish imaginations involved.  (Unfortunately, later they seem to start to suspect that Nephi tampers with the Liahona, so even evidence of the eyes requires a certain faith..)

I think this shows how much the Lord understood Laman and Lemuel and tried to provide means even for them to try to build their faith as well.  It shows how much the Lord loved them, difficult and rebellious, and murmuring as they were.

David A. Bednar said of the Liahona that it “was a physical instrument that served as an outward indicator of their inner spiritual standing before God. It worked according to the principles of faith and diligence.”  (David A. Bednar, “The Liahona-A Type and Shadow of the Gift of the Holy Ghost”)

Liahona as Neurofeedback/Biofeedback device

I have always wondered deep down how the Liahona could sense the faith of Lehi and his family and work according to their faith.  I ran across something from a book called ChangeYour Brain, Change Your Life that talked about biofeedback, and I found it very interesting in relation to this.  Beta brain waves are speedy waves that are only achieved during periods of concentration and mental work.  Biofeedback therapy for ADD patients involves teaching them to focus and control their own brainwaves.  When their brainwaves become beta waves, they can play a video game.  When the beta waves transform into slower waves, the game stops.  Biofeedback therapy is used over years.

This suggested to me that perhaps the Liahona was a sophisticated biofeedback/neurofeedback device that sensed beta waves from Lehi and his whole family, and only gave directions when the group were engaging in focused concentration of faith and work.  Just like biofeedback therapy is used over years, the Liahona was used over years.  It is possible that the Liahona was intended to teach the Lehites to exercise their faith by helping them recognize when they didn’t have it and by rewarding them with progress when they did have it.

We can use this principle today if we can learn to recognize what kind of thought mode we are in.  If we are in complaining mode or I-don’t-want-to-do-this mode or the it’s-too-hard mode, that is not the mode of work or exerting faith.  I know the difference between these different brain modes and I suspect you may too.  The story of Nephi with the Liahona challenges us to notice when we are not exerting faith and then to start exerting faith.  (I also have to say that for me, the challenge is also staying in the faith-work mode on an extended basis and deciding what to focus on next.)

The Liahona as compass

The way the Liahona worked was pretty extraordinary, when you think about it carefully.  We are told that it pointed the way Lehi and his family should go.  What would this look like?  It means if you picked up the Liahona, no matter which way you turned it, the pointer would always point in the same direction—the way to go.  We are familiar with how a compass, under influence of the earth’s magnetic field, always points north, but the Liahona didn’t point in that way; it always pointed the way to go.  Somehow the destination exerted a long distance pull on the Liahona pointer.

And yet another consideration comes to mind.  Did the Liahona point to the ultimate destination?  Probably not, since the Lord kept them in the most fertile parts of the wilderness, which would not necessarily follow each other in a straight line to the ultimate destination.  This means the Liahona would have to point to individual, sequential waypoints, one by one as they moved along the route mapped out for them by the Lord.   So the Liahona was reset with a new waypoint each time they reached one, or perhaps it had the whole route “pre-loaded” into it.

This view of the Liahona may help us today because while the fundamentals of the gospel don’t change and our ultimate destination of eternal life doesn’t change, there may be other aspects of our lives that require a change in course from time to time.  We may need to transition to another part of our life mission.  We may need to change how we do things to adapt to changing circumstances, we may need to change focus a bit.  There may be big changes we need to make—a change in career or a move somewhere else.  Sometimes waypoints are obvious, sometimes we try to deny that they exist.  We need personal revelation to discern when these changes are needed, and we need faith to act on them.

The Number of the Beast

Here is wisdom.

Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast:

for it is the number of a man;

and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

(Revelation 13:18)

A lot has been written about the number of the mark of the beast and what it could mean.  There are scores of articles on the internet (and elsewhere, I’m sure) that use symbology to try to figure out who or what 666 refers to, to attach it to different things and people.  I think a much simpler purpose is behind this verse and that it is actually meant to reassure the Saints instead of alarm them.   (As always, this is my well-considered opinion that isn’t binding on anyone, and which is subject to change.)

In a previous post, I wrote about the different aspects in Revelation 13 that led me to believe that one of the beasts in the chapter, the one that came out of the earth, represented secular science. (I recommend a reread of it because it serves as a foundation for my reasoning that follows about the above verse.)  Secular science is becoming more of a social force and that the Lord as omniscient ruler of the universe would surely know this and inasmuch as it threatened spiritual well-being, the Lord would warn us about it, not just through modern prophets, but ancient ones as well, to show us He really knows all things.

So we come to the above verse it promises wisdom from God to speak to the understanding of those most in tune with spiritual things in order to share a secret of detection that will help us detect and resist the beast.  (We readers are put in a high state of anticipation..) And then we are given this number that is associated with the beast.  A label, if you will.  (This is why everyone looks for 666 everywhere.)  It strikes us as odd.  What is so important about this label?

Today I happened to notice the verb “is” used in the statement “his number is Six hundred threescore and six” makes that statement a definition.  Why is this so important?  I asked myself, “Why try to define or label this beast of secular science with a number?”  And I realized, “It’s because science is defined by numbers.  Numbers are everywhere in science.” 

So where does this insight “science is defined by numbers” take us in terms of understanding the whole verse?

“Here is wisdom” – Of course, this was meant to alert us to the fact that God had something extra wise to say about this beast of secular science.  And we are to remember that God’s wisdom is greater than the wisdom of the world, even that of science.

“Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast” – It is very interesting that the spiritual attuned are told to count the number of the beast.  It suggests counting is an act that will help us.  Today, numbers give us a sense of power because we can measure things in all kinds of ways.  I believe the Lord is inviting those who really understand spiritual things to take a count of the beast of secular science, which represents making a measurement or analysis of its characteristics, its strengths and its limitations.  Counting the thing that is obsessed with measurement suggests that we are to be scientific about our analysis yet use what we know from revelation as well.

“for it is the number of a man” – This, I believe, is the true message of this verse—that secular science is as imperfect as man because it only knows what it can count and measure and observe, although there are many important things that you can’t measure which science can know nothing about.   That is what we should keep in mind.  Remembering that science is imperfect will save us from the temptation to worship it and will keep us from believing mistakenly that science can save us.

Several limitations of science are:

• It can’t answer questions of value.  It can’t answer the question “Which flower is prettier?” or “What picture looks worse?” It can’t answer because culture assigns value, and from the eternal perspective, God assigns value.
• It can’t answer questions of morality, right, or wrong.  Answering questions of morality is also something God and culture does.
• It can’t answer questions of the supernatural because they are limited to the natural laws of the universe that they can measure and test. 
• There are limits to what science can observe, due to human limits to observe or to make tools capable of observing natural phenomena.
• Science can’t tell us the purpose of our lives, where we came from, or where we are going after death. 

 So far this seems to be the most helpful interpretation I've found for that verse.  

It spake as a dragon: the two beasts in Revelation 13

Everybody has to take a stab at least once in their life at interpreting the symbolism of Revelation, especially the two beasts in Revelation 13.   So here’s my attempt, which represents my unofficial, but well-considered opinion.  I am sure that there will be new interpretations that come out in the future that will be better than mine as world events progress.  I’m also pretty sure my ideas will change over time as I learn more.  But for now, here’s my take on it. 

1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

 2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

 3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.

 4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

 5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

 6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.  (Revelation 13:1-6)

I suspect that the first beast that rose up from the sea represents apostate religion. 

It rises out of the sea (v1)—It appears from the unstable masses of people in the world.

It has seven heads and ten horns(v1)—Heads seem to represent thoughts to me, and horns represent power.  Its thoughts and ideas are not unified (all kinds of doctrines are taught, making perfect confusion), but having plenty of people with power to back them up.  (Notice some heads must have more power than others, since you can’t divide 10 horns evenly among 7 heads.)

It is like a leopard (v2)—It is predatory.

It has the feet of a bear (v2)—Its acts are vicious and crushing.

It has the mouth of a lion (v2)—Its words are vicious, loud, and fearsome.

The dragon gave him his power, seat, and authority (v2)—The beast’s authority is NOT from God, but based on Satanic methods.

Upon his heads the name of blasphemy (v1)—This is the blasphemy of false doctrine about what God is like or what He can or can’t do. 

One of the heads was wounded to death and was healed and everyone wondered (v3)—There are two ways to look at this.  One way is to see it as a performance staged like Christ’s death and resurrection, not for the sake of truth, but to deceive.  Another way is to see it is that the imagery is meant to remind of the promise given in the Garden of Eden of how Christ’s mission and Atonement would bruise the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15).  So Christ and the former-day church put a huge dent in apostate and false religion, but when the church fell into apostasy, the wound on the head of the beast was healed.  (http://www.bibleprobe.org/rev13.html)  This would certainly cause great wonder and dismay and make people wonder if it was possible to fight it.

Everyone worships the beast, thinking they can’t fight it and there’s nothing else with that kind of power (v4)—I imagine people have felt for a long time that even though they didn’t believe the apostate doctrine, there was no way they could fight the apostate religion.

A mouth to speak great things and blasphemies was given to the beast (v5)—Lots of power over the media, both for greatness and for blasphemy.

The beast blasphemed God, heaven, the tabernacle, them that dwell in heaven (v6)—False doctrine about God, heaven, the temple, and the angels is certainly a sort of blasphemy.

7 And it was given unto him [the beast] to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.

 8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

 9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.

 10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. (Revelation 13:7-10)

It was given him to make war with the saints and overcome them, and power was given him over all kindreds (v7)—Apostate religion stamped out true religion.  Everyone comes under the sway of this religion. Inquisition is just one example. 

Those who worship this beast are those whose names aren’t in the book of life (v8)—It seems that those who do not worship Christ will be worshipping their religion instead.  And worshipping religion doesn’t get your name in the book of life.  The flip side of this is that a true worshipper of Christ is going to get a lot of persecution from false worshippers and probably have to endure marginalization, captivity, and even death.  This is why verse 10 was added—to reassure the true worshippers that those who led them captive or killed them would likewise suffer captivity and death.

The next beast that appears seems to me to represent Science.

 11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.

 12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.

 13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,

 14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. (Revelation 13:11-14)

The second beast comes up out of the earth (v11)—It comes from the study of natural phenomena of the earth.  Darwin studying the animals, the study of dinosaur bones, the discovery of prehistoric cave paintings, men experimenting with chemicals and steam and electricity.

The second beast had two horns like a lamb (v11)—Two represents witness, which can remind us how scientific study needs multiple witnesses with multiple studies to establish advances.  The horns represent power.  A lamb doesn’t start out with horns, but they grow bigger as time goes on.  Similarly, science didn’t start out with power, but its power has grown over time.

It speaks as a dragon (v11)—This is temptation made more fearsome.  If a snake represents Garden of Eden temptation, a dragon is a snake on miracle-gro, or huge temptation.  It is extra tempting to believe science that seems to have such logical authority.  Dragonish temptations are those that say, “Studies show that [something bad for you] is not as harmful as previously believed, but can actually be beneficial.”  Dragonish temptations may also be those that come by way of technology, such as pornography and other addictions.

And he exercises all the power of the first beast before him (v12)—Science has gained the same slavish respect and awe that apostate religion once had all to itself, but…

The second beast causes everyone to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed (v12)—The temptation presented by the second beast drives the people to cling more tightly to their religion, even though it is apostate because while the first beast is bad, the second beast denies God completely.

The second beast does great wonders, so that he makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men (v13)—This evokes the story of Elijah and the priests of Baal in which Elijah called fire down from heaven to burn his sacrifice to prove that Jehovah was God.  The point of Elijah’s story was that wonders were used to prove the truth.  Used in this context, the imagery tells us Science also does experiments to prove scientific truths, and certainly can do amazing things.  Think of the fire of the space shuttle blasting off, or the immolation of the atomic bomb, not to mention all the non-fiery scientific advances the world has witnessed.

The second beast deceives them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do (v14)—We believe science has the answers because science has done so much for us.  Are we deceived by the temptations technology offers us?  Christ said great wonders could deceive even the elect.  Are we deceived by the temptations that come with cell phones, computers, internet, TV, and other technology?

The second beast says to them that dwell on the earth that they should make an image to the beast which had the wound and did live (v14)—Scientific religious thinkers want to remake religion, give it a good reputation, systematize it, use scientific practices to build it up, etc.  They want to use science to make the worship services more appealing with lights, music, saturation of the senses, etc. 

15 And he [the second beast] had power to give life unto the image of the [first] beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

 16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

 17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

 18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six. (Revelation 13:15-18)

The second beast had power to give life to the image of the first beast to make it speak and cause the deaths of those who don’t worship it (v15)—This is evoking the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abedego, who were told they must worship the huge golden image or be killed.  In that story, worshipping that image was definitely silly, since it couldn’t move or talk and couldn’t do anything for or against anyone.  However, in this story worshipping the image is harder to resist because it talks and it seems to have control over whether people are saved or destroyed.  It is harder to discern that it can’t really save anybody.  Here, Science is being used by apostate religion to make apostate religion (which is dead) appear alive.   It has the form of godliness, but denies the power thereof.  And of course, if anyone resists worshipping it, apostate religion causes them so much pain and hurt with spiritual abuse and disfellowshipping that it kills all desire to be involved in religion at all.  This leads to spiritual death. (There may also come a time when the killing becomes literal too, but let’s hope not..)

He causes all to receive a mark in their right hand or forehead (v16)— This is where the Book of Mormon’s doctrine about the mark comes in to give us encouragement.    The Book of Mormon teaches that anyone who is marked chose to be marked, so we need not worry that ALL are FORCED to receive the mark of the beast. 

None may buy or sell without the mark (v17)—Does science want to control all the commerce of the world?   I don’t know the answer.  But another way of looking at buying and selling may be to view it as a symbol for the exchange of ideas.  Do we see a restriction on the kinds of ideas that may be shared and traded in the public square?   I would say so. 

Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.  (v18) –The best idea I’ve run across so far for the meaning of 666 is from the Enduring Word’s webpage “Revelation 13 – The Two Beasts.”   It suggests that 666 is a reference to 1 Kings 10:44, which tells Solomon received 666 talents of gold yearly.  We are reminded that Solomon was a wise, good man, but he was eventually corrupted into idolatry.   This is also adds extra significance to the Revelation verse’s text that says the number calls for wisdom, which was certainly a characteristic of Solomon.  So if Revelation says that the mark of the second beast was 666, perhaps this suggests that those who follow the beasts had great wisdom and goodness that was terribly corrupted into the idolatry of seeking gain.  

I find this interpretation of the two beasts very helpful because it substantially demystifies much of the stranger imagery, it clarifies where we are in history with a sweeping view, and it also gives solid information about the spiritual difficulties we face.

The heavens, they are many

Image: http://thingstolookathigh.com/outer-space-stars/

And the Lord God spake unto Moses, saying: The heavens, they are many, and they cannot be numbered unto man; but they are numbered unto me, for they are mine. (Moses 1:37)

That word “heavens” is baffling.  We know only one sky and one space, so it is hard to say in what manner there can be many.  Because if there are many heavens, then that means there is a discrete and discernable boundary between one and another.  Meteorology has advanced to the point that it can detect pressure gradients in the atmosphere and cold and warm fronts and temperature differences, but that makes sky into amorphous flowing blobs; it doesn’t result in a countable sky.  And it only has to do with earth.    So there must be other astronomical bodies that must have their own heavens with their own characteristics.  And probably space has its own “weather” and gradients and concentrations of particles.

And God can quantify all of this!  He is the ultimate scientist. 

Molting insects and putting off the natural man

I was reading about insects yesterday and I ran across a fabulous picture of an insect molting and it seemed to me that it was a great metaphor and image for putting off the natural man.

For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father. (Mosiah 3:19)

A number of insects molt because they have to grow and their exoskeleton does not grow with them. So, they have to break through the crusty bounds of what they once were. The split in their exoskeleton that allows them to break out happens because of an increase of pressure from their hemolymph. (Hemolymph is to insects what our blood is to us.) Essentially, they expand from within. Their souls expand.

See from these verses how the word of God and the Holy Ghost acts spiritually on us in this very same way, bringing us gradually to put off the natural man:

28 Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves—It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me….

34 And now, behold, is your knowledge perfect? Yea, your knowledge is perfect in that thing, and your faith is dormant; and this because you know, for ye know that the word hath swelled your souls, and ye also know that it hath sprouted up, that your understanding doth begin to be enlightened, and your mind doth begin to expand. (Alma 32:28-34, emphasis added)

And again I ask, were the bands of death broken, and the chains of hell which encircled them about, were they loosed? I say unto you, Yea, they were loosed, and their souls did expand, and they did sing redeeming love. And I say unto you that they are saved. (Alma 5:9, emphasis added)

We see from Alma 5:9 that when our souls expand, just as the insect escapes their old exoskeleton, we escape "the bands of death" and "the chains of hell."

The image of an insect molting from its old skin is a powerful way to help us understand the need to have our souls expand and put of the natural man. Isn't it cool that the Lord gave us these little lessons as part of our beautiful world?

Image: Insect Exoskeletons, http://www.backyardnature.net/exoskelt.htm, retrieved 2/14/12.

Things that make my brain explode inside my skull

Last week when I had to get ready to teach a primary song about reverence, I found myself wondering where reverence comes from. We all know that reverence is more than just behaving respectfully. Where does that respect come from? I asked myself, “How do I cultivate reverence for Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ?”

I remembered some things I learned in my astronomy class in high school. (Humor me on this little scientific diversion..)


This picture has squished all the planets together in one frame and distorted all the sizes of the planets and the sun. The big planets are much bigger and all the distances are much more far apart. (If you want to teach your kids about the real distances and sizes of the planets, here is a link to instructions for a “planet walk” you can do to help bring the proper scale into perspective.)

Consider each of these things carefully..

The earth is about 8,000 miles across.
Light travels about 186,000 miles per second.
(If the earth were completely hollow and two mirrors were placed opposite each other at the equator, light could bounce between them 23 times in a single second.)

The earth is about 93 MILLION miles from the sun.
It is so far away that it takes light 8 minutes to get from the sun to the earth.
Pluto’s average distance from the sun is about 40 times greater than the earth’s. It is about 5.3 light-hours away from the sun.

The closest star to us is Proxima Centari, a red dwarf star 4.2 light-years away.

Now let's jump to the galaxy level.


The sun is about 2/3rds of the way out from the middle of the Milky Way galaxy, or about 25,000 light years away from the center (1).
The Milky Way galaxy is an estimated 100,000 light years across (2). Our solar system is so small in comparison that the smallest dot in its approximate location on the map would exaggerate its size by 100 times.
Astronomers estimate our galaxy may have between 200 to 300 BILLION stars in it (3).

Now.. check out this next picture..


Look at all those galaxies… *

I remember when I saw a picture very similar to this in my astronomy class, it made my brain explode inside my skull. HEAVENLY FATHER CREATED ALL OF THAT AND MORE! It is a testimony to the glory, majesty, and power of God. This awes me to no end. That awe leads to a deep sense of reverence for God.

Mind-blowing Concept #2

There’s something else that brings me to a feeling of deep awe and reverence. When I think of all the mistakes I have made and the sins I have committed and the pain I have experienced in my life, it is amazing to me that Jesus Christ suffered for all of it too. But then when I remember He also suffered those things for my family…

and for my ward…

and for all the people of our church…

and for all the people living on earth right now…

and for all the people who have ever lived or who will yet live on earth….

That causes my brain to explode again inside my skull.

Mind-blowing Concept #3

Heavenly Father hears my prayers and He answers them. He understands my language. He also hears and answers prayers in every other language, even when the prayers are being said simultaneously. The idea that He can make sense of, let alone respond to such a staggering array of messages, languages, pleas, thanks, praise, and more causes my brain to explode again inside my skull.

All of this brings me to a feeling of great reverence for God. With an awareness of Heavenly Father’s powers of creation, we can trust His purposes for us. With an awareness of Jesus’s magnificent demonstration of love in the atonement, we can obey the commandment to repent. With an awareness of Heavenly Father’s ability to hear and understand so many different messages directed to Him, we gain the ability to trust His responsiveness.

Awe for God leads to reverence.
Reverence toward God leads to love and trust.
Love and trust in God leads to obedience.

* There are many galaxies in this picture, and some of them have so much gravitational energy that they actually bend the light of other galaxies, producing multiple images of them. Google "gravitational lens."

Sources

1 Gene Smith Astronomy Tutorial, “The Milky Way Galaxy”, http://casswww.ucsd.edu/archive/public/tutorial/MW.html

2 “Milky Way Galaxy”, Space Yuga, Feb. 6, 2011, http://spaceyuga.com/milky-way-galaxy/

3 Nicholos Wethington, December 16, 2008, “How Many Stars are in the Milky Way?”, http://www.universetoday.com/22380/how-many-stars-are-in-the-milky-way/

Images

Milky Way Galaxy Image from http://spaceyuga.com/milky-way-galaxy/,

Galaxy Cluster Image from Starts with a Bang, http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2010/11/hey_dark_matter_where_are_you.php

Solar system Image from Purple Slinky, http://purpleslinky.com/trivia/science/amazing-things-about-our-solar-system/

The butterfly testimony of resurrection

I was thinking about what picture I could put with my previous post on the resurrection and for some reason I got a sudden impression to look at butterflies. And as I looked at these pictures of butterflies, the realization wacked me on the head that here was a creature whose life cycle is a witness to us of the resurrection.

Caterpillar = mortality (Caterpillars are pretty much earthbound creatures)


Cocoon = death and the grave (The inert cocoon certainly resembles something dead. It's like a little hanging shroud or a little tomb.)


Butterfly = glorious resurrection (The butterfly isn’t earthbound as it was as a caterpillar. Its wings give it greater powers than it ever had before. It also is more beautiful and glorious than a caterpillar.)


Why do we use Easter bunnies and eggs to celebrate the resurrection of Christ? We should be using butterflies!

Image #1 Copyright Dan L. Perlman, EcoLibrary.org, http://ecolibrary.org/page/DP91

Image #2 Copyright Dan L. Perlman, EcoLibrary.org,
http://ecolibrary.org/page/dp93

Image #3 Scenic Reflections, http://www.scenicreflections.com/media/276296/Blue_Morpho_Butterfly_Wallpaper/

Resisting the current of the world by staying in the church’s "boundary layer"

I checked out a book from the library called Rivers and Lakes. It had an interesting section in it that talked about how numerous species of insect larvae, nymphs, and tiny invertebrates find refuge from the turbulence of the streams they live in by staying close to the bottom of the stream in what is called “the boundary layer”.

The boundary layer is a “a thin layer of water above the stream bed where friction virtually stops the current” (p80). The area 1/10th of an inch around a rock at the bottom of a fast-moving stream is quiet.

The implications of this idea for us in a gospel context are clear. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is like the stream bed or the rock in the stream bed. It stays fixed. The closer we stay to this stabilizing influence, the safer we are and the less likely we are to be carried away by the powerful and seductive currents of the world. We will find safety in the Church's "boundary layer".

Image: Britannica.com, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic-art/75630/2327/Flow-past-a-stationary-solid-sphere)

Spiritual parallels to the Kitt Peak National Observatory

Last Saturday was very fun; we went to Kitt Peak (7,000 feet high) to see the observatories there on the top. I was especially excited to know that there was a solar observatory there; I remembered my astronomy teacher Mr. Firebaugh talking about it in class my senior year of high school. (It’s been twelve years and I still remember it; that’s the influence of a great teacher.)

As we were driving up the road to Kitt Peak, I was amazed at how high over the valley it was; it was possible to see for miles. It reminded me of how mountains were used as temples in the ancient world. And I thought, “How significant that the place that is chosen for viewing the heavens also gives excellent perspective for the earth as well."



This is a diagram from the McMath-Pierce Solar Observatory on Kitt Peak. Yes, they point that thing at the sun, but they don’t stare into it, because that would make them go blind. Instead they project an image of the sun deep into the ground and study the image. You don’t know how excited I was to see this thing in real life!!


Here’s what the McMath-Pierce Solar Observatory looks like. It makes me think that something is going to be launched out of it into space.


The sun comes in this opening in the McMath-Pierce telescope.


Some lenses in the McMath-Pierce Solar Observatory. (sorry about the red tint; I was struggling with my flash)

In the McMath-Pierce telescope, the sun goes down that shaft into the furthest reaches of the pit where it hits a mirror and bounces back up where it is reflected into another shaft straight downward.

Light from the sun eventually makes its way through these holes in the ceiling of the McMath-Peirce Observatory…



…to the equipment below. I caught sight of some lenses in that pile of stuff. If you look carefully you can see the bright areas where the sunlight is being projected.



This is the solar projection for us tourists to Oooo and Ahhh over. (I really wanted to see some sunspots, but evidently this is a particularly calm time for the sun.) Still, this was REALLY cool!

I thought how interesting it was that it is impossible to look directly at the sun without being blinded and that we really can’t endure it, so we make instruments that project an image of the sun onto the earth that we can study. In the same way, we can’t look directly into the celestial kingdom; we can’t see into heaven unless we are prepared for it. It is too bright and holy; it might destroy us. Instead, we take the light that we receive and we try to project an image of heaven onto earth, and that image is something that we can work with. It’s called Zion. We study and analyze Zion, we try to fit ourselves for that. We look to the people who teach us about it, and we call them prophets, seers, and revelators. We also have the temple, that mountain where we can set our sights on the Lord and the things of eternity and receive light and knowledge through the instruments He has given us which are the ordinances revealed.

I thought too that it was interesting that Kitt Peak didn’t have just one observatory. It had many. It had 25 telescopes on that mountain, each with its respective job to do. All of them were receiving data about the heavens, all of them had their projects. Many people were involved and many people were taking their turn to see the heavens and study the stars. Isn’t that so like the church? We have all these apostles and leaders in the church, each with their special duties and responsibilities. They take their turn, and then they are called home to God.

Something else too that was very exciting was that they have these telescopes that are so advanced now and are gathering so much data that they don’t have enough people to analyze it. They want to dump it to the internet for everyone to work on; they want to distribute the load. Isn’t that so much like the church? The Lord wants everyone to do their part, and wants everyone to receive revelation and act in their calling according to the will of the Lord. He wants to bring us into the work of the Lord too.