Knowledge Does Not Equal Obedience

I recently learned the story of a man named William McClellin.  Before I begin the story I want to make it clear that I am not judging McClellin in any way.  I recognize that I am at lease as prone and able to commit the mistakes that McClellin.  I guess that is the lesson of the story, but we will get to that.

William was a very well educated, talented and smart man.  Through prayer and study he came to know that the Book of Mormon was given of God and translated by the prophet Joseph Smith.  He then desired to meet Joseph Smith and upon meeting him asked Joseph Smith what the Lord would have him do.  Joseph received a revelation from the Lord on the behalf of William McClellin in which the Lord answered five questions which McClellin had asked the Lord in private.  Thus, William McClellin had a sure witness that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God.

William began to obey the commandments that were given him by the Lord, but he faltered in his obedience.  He did things in direct disobedience to things the Lord had commanded him.  He went through several cycles of sin and repentance.  At one point he was even called to be one of the first twelve apostles of this dispensation.  But again he faltered and fell away from what he knew was true.  By searching his journal, in which he bore his soul, we understand what his life was like.  He spent years of his life growing more and more bitter against the truth that he knew.  He knew what he should do and knew that he wasn't doing it and thus he was required by his actions to find a justification for the difference between his knowledge and his actions.  While he was antagonistic against Joseph Smith he never once denied the witness he had received that Joseph was a prophet of God, even though he very much wished he could.

The moral of this story is found in the title of the post.  Knowledge does not equal obedience.  We may have at times found ourselves thinking, "how could that person have fallen, they know so much and their testimony is so strong."  This thought is supported by a false assumption that knowledge equal obedience.

We cannot let our guard down.  We cannot assume that we have reached a point in our climb towards heaven that we cannot fall from.  The Kingdom of our God is a very high kingdom and to get there we must be climbing up steeply.  There are not plateaus in the path where we can stop and rest and not risk falling backwards.  We must always be on our guard and make every step sure so that we do not slip backwards and fall.  Even those closest to the top can still fall.  

Easter and Family

Easter is such a wonderful time.  It would not seem correct to do a post after Easter that wasn't about Easter.  So, this weekend my wife and I got to go to my sister's house in Tremonton, UT and spend the weekend with her and her family as well as my parents.  It was great to be with family during Easter.  Doesn't it just seem right that at a time in which we are celebrating the resurrection of Christ we be with those who we will be able to spend eternity with as a result of that resurrection.  You could say that is my so what for this week.  Family is important, and Christ showed that by overcoming death and allowing us to have eternal families.  We need to make the time to spend with our families, because they are most important.  Easter is a fun time for that.  Here is a video and picture of us having an Easter egg hunt with my nieces.

In addition to the great family fun.  A wonderful lesson was learned concerning the sacrifice of Christ.  While in church, the scripture was read that is found in Matthew 26:39.  Christ asks his father that if it be possible let the cup be taken from him.  He asked his father to spare him.  Isn't it probable that God the Father would have spared his firstborn son the pain and suffering of the atonement if there were another way?  Would he not have taken the easier path.  He would have.  But there was no other way.  This tells me that in these moments when I think I know everything, when I am feeling powerful and maybe feel that I can do things on my own, I cannot.  I cannot be saved without Christ.  He does not empower me to be saved, he gives me salvation.  If it were possible for me to save myself then that is the road our Heavenly Father would have taken.  He would have let us save ourselves.  

So what?  I will remember that in the times when I feel prideful or powerful.  I am nothing if I am not saved and I am not saved without Christ.  Therefore, I am nothing without Christ.  

The Great Commandment

So what?  I can't say that this is something necessarily new that I have learned but it is something that I continually relearn and need to work on applying it better.  The Lord said that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, might, mind, and strength.  The second is to love your neighbor as yourself.  The reason these commandments are so great and important is because following them will lead to following all others.  But how do we do this?

Now what?  Learning how to love others as you love yourself can be a lifelong pursuit.  I believe I mentioned before that it has to begin with loving yourself and knowing who you are.  After that, it is a lot of work to apply that same amount of love to others.  One thing I will try to do to accomplish this goal is to pray daily for the love of Christ.  When I have done this in my life I have always been blessed with greater love and understanding of others.  I am more patient and caring.  

Cholesterol

So what for this week may be a little odd and outside of my normal pattern.  I have learned a little this week about cholesterol and how it affects health.  I have also learned that cholesterol is only found in animal products.  Health is important to me and although I am quite active I think it is important to keep my cholesterol down.

Now what.  I am going to attempt to eat fewer animal products.  I will cut back on cheese and meat and milk etc.  I will also listen to my wife more and be healthier in what I eat.

Who are we?

So what?

In our time answering who we are can be more difficult than it used to be.  We are so globally social that we feel pressure from more fronts than just those who are in front of us.  When we are deciding who we are, what we like to do, wear, watch, and think we are constantly being influenced by family, friends, acquaintances, television, movies, internet, and music.  Those last four didn't exist less than a hundred years ago.  Back then people were taught by their families and friends and became the person a small local society expected them to be.  Now we are more diverse.  We get the perspective of a global society and see the world through more eyes.  This is a good thing when it comes to understanding and cooperation, its a bad thing when it comes to the individual.  It becomes much harder to decide who we are when there are so many different forces telling us who we should become.   We are told that there is a certain way to dress, talk, walk, dance, eat, think, and just about everything else that is cool and if we don't do things that way we are not "cool."  It can be had because we want to fit in, but what are we willing to give up to fit in?  We should take the time to make sure that we act instead of being acted upon.  God gave us agency, why then do we voluntarily give up that agency to society when we say, "I want to fit in and be cool, tell me who I am."  Let's keep our agency and be who we want to be.  Forgot about what others think.  There are enough people in this world and enough ways to connect that you can find people who are like you without changing to meet expectations. 

Now what?

Practical application.  I am going to take more time to observe myself.  I will take time to ponder who I am and what my values are.  What do I like to do? What do I enjoy?  Who am I?  Then, I will find things that I do that are not me and I will change them.  I will act how I want to act.  

Love yourself!

When reading the scriptures this week with my wife I realized something that has a pretty great impact on me.  I was thinking about the words of the scripture in Mark 12:29-31.  I have read this scripture many times but, as is common with the scriptures, there was some significance to my life to be found in the scriptures that the spirit could  teach me that I had not previously seen before.  This verses read as follows.   

29 "And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:

30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these."  (Mark 12:29-31)

The part of these verses that was significant to me on this occasion was the first part of verse 31, "love thy neighbor as thyself."  I believe that it is common for us to look at this commandment and, with the righteous attitude of humility, think that it is telling us to love ourselves less.  For some reason we completely ignore the actual words the Lord says and we think, "this means I shouldn't love myself."  We may not think this consciously but I know that I have been guilty of pulling this meaning from this verse.  Taking the time to really think about the commandment though I realized a simple but important truth.  THE LORD WANTS US TO LOVE OURSELVES.  Love your neighbor as thyself.  is a very weak commandment if we think that means we should not love ourselves.  I believe he would rather we love ourselves more so that we will love our neighbors more.  

While I believe I could write much more on this topic I think you get my point.  So what am I going to do now?

I am going to love myself more.  How?  I am going to apply another thought I had that very much applies to this idea. That thought is that the Lord does not compare us to others when he judges us.  We are each judged individually.  So, if the Lord wants me to love myself and he does not compare my to others I will not do that either.  I believe this will help me to be more confident and sure of myself.  

MCAT prep

So What?
My so what for this week is simple.  I am sorry to anyone who would ever read this blog to glean any type of advice but this week I am going to focus on a specific thing in my life.  I will try to apply it generally though.

This weekend I took a practice MCAT test.  My score was surprisingly good.  It was not perfect.  I have room to improve but I am not doing too bad.  It is now time for me to set goals on how to improve.

Now What?
I need to keep studying material.  The test helped me realize that there is some stuff that I do not know.  I need to master my understandings of specific things such as acid/base chemistry and physiology.

I need to take a lot of practice tests.  The biggest thing the MCAT tests is your ability to problem solve and apply the knowledge that you have.  In addition to gaining the knowledge I will need to need to practice using it with the specific types of problems the MCAT will test on.

I need to maintain confidence.  In an attempt to include a small amount of life advice in this post I will say this.  Have confidence in yourself!  This practice test gave me confidence.  Yes, I made mistakes and was far from the best or even exceptional, but I am confident in my ability.  Think highly of yourself, God does.  He sees your potential and value.  If you sin you should realize your sin was wrong.  It is possible that you will feel sad and have a broken heart over your sin, but do not let your sin become who you are.  When we being to title ourselves by our sins it becomes easier to fall farther into the trap of Satan...

Wow, that got a little off track.  Anyway, those are the steps I will take in preparing for the MCAT.

 

Mid-semester crisis

My so what this week came in the form of what I call a mid-semester crisis.  After a first wave of exams is completed I have found that I have not done quite as well on some of them as I had hoped that I would.  It is disappointing and I find it very easy to get discouraged and think that I am not cut out for school.  After spending a little while feeling that way I knew I had to decide to act.  In moments like these the decision we make can be all the difference.  I can decide to give up and stop trying, or I can decide to evaluate my methods and make the necessary changes so that I can do better in the future.

Now what? I will take the latter of the two decisions.  I am going to begin to evaluate how I am doing things and make changes.  I am going to decide to not worry about the past, as I can't change it any way.  I am going to decide to have faith in God, knowing that he will provide and all will be well.    

The worth of a soul

My so what for this week:

    10 Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God;

    11 For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him.

     12 And he hath risen again from the dead, that he might bring all men unto him, on conditions of repentance.

     13 And how great is his joy in the soul that repenteth!

    14 Wherefore, you are called to cry repentance unto this people.

    15 And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!

    16 And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!

   (Doctrine and Covenants 18:10-16)

What are these verses of scripture saying.  I am going to summarize it by saying that the worth of a soul is equal to the infinite atonement.  The sacrifice of Jesus Christ, with all the incomprehensible pain and anguish that that entails, was the price that he was willing to pay to save a soul.  Even one single soul was worth what he did.

Now what? Now I need to do a couple things.  First of all, I need to spend my life gaining a better understanding of the atonement of Christ because as I do I will understand better what I am worth and what each and every person on this earth is worth.  Second, I must start treating people according to their value.  You could say this is a follow up to my previous post about treating people as people and not objects.  This perspective will help me achieve that previous goal.   

Unbearable blessings

One of the greatest things about going to BYU, a private school run by the LDS church, is that nearly all the professors take the time to include religious teachings and moral applications to their subject material.  It does not matter what class you are taking, they put some sort of plug in for values or doctrine.  For example, in my biochemistry class my professor likes to take time at the end of every class to tell some sort of anecdotal story at the end of every class period.  The other day he told us about a realization his wife had one time.  He didn't really share what triggered this thought but it made me think and gave me a desire to change.  So this is my "so what."  He said that one day his wife came to the realization that we seem to complain about our blessings a lot.  We have a car and all we do is complain about it breaking down, or having bad gas mileage, or being to small, etc.  When we take the time to think I believe we can all think of some sort of blessing that we have in life that we not only take for granted that we complain about.  I know I have some, and probably many more that I don't even realize.  What a shame.  The Lord blesses us and we complain.  I guess it could be similar to the Israelites complaining about the manna from heaven.  Isn't it just so unbearable to have all these blessings?

"Now what?"  The now what is simple to say, difficult to do.  It comes in two parts.  First of all, take time each day to be aware of the blessings I have been given.  Second, be on the look out whenever I begin to complain.  Ask myself, "Am I complaining about a blessing here?"  If I am then I need to reevaluate my attitude.  I need to start being grateful for what I have rather than resentful.  So, the next time I feel like complaining because my food don't taste quite right I will instead be grateful that I have food.

Worth of a Soul

This week may be short.  I am a little crunched for time.  It seems a little ironic after what I spoke of last week but I promise I am not stressed, I just have little time to do many things.

My so what this week is what I learned in my MCOM class tonight.  (This is what you have been waiting for Professor Middleton).  While discussing good presentation skills we learned that a presenter should be sure to focus on their audience rather than themselves.  In the moment of presenting they should forget how they look or what people are thinking of them and instead focus on what the experience is like for the audience.  Are they getting the message?  Are they feeling what you hope they should be feeling?  We should put them before us.

So now what?  I propose that this philosophy can be applied in all aspects of life.  It is a common teaching in The Gospel of Jesus Christ.  We need to be selfless.  This teaching has just helped me see more clearly the practical applications of this teaching.  When I am walking across campus I should think more about what the people I am passing are going through than what I am going through.  I should think of the person who just cut in front of me on the highway as a person and not a car.  I grew up in a small town where people were people.  Moving to a "big town" like Provo I have found that I have fallen into the trap that most people are objects unless they are significant people in my life.  My goal this week is to treat all people as people an not objects.

Perspective

The so what for this week is stress.  When was the last time you met someone that to you that life was calm and they always had an excess of time.  I guess this may be the case for a few people but not many.  I don't think I remember the last time I was able to say my life was like this.  It seems as much as I look forward to the day when I will finish the tasks that are currently making my life a busy list of things to do it never actually comes.  Now before I go any further I want to point out that I completely recognize that this is one of those things that is not unique to me in any way and anybody reading this is thinking to themselves, "you think your life is busy?"  Well it is, and I am sure that yours is too.  The truth is we are all busy, and we will always be busy.  That truth brings me to my now what.

Perspective is my now what.  Life is busy, but what determines whether or not that busyness turns into stress or not is how we look at the situation.  Do we take the time to put things into perspective.  I have found that the best thing to do is step back, look at the big picture, and see that things don't matter as much as I think they do in the moment.  Showing up five minutes late for class will not matter two days from now.  Failing a test or getting a B+ in a class instead of an A- will probably not matter ten years from now.  If we take the eternal perspective it becomes even more clear what is important and what is not.  We start to realize that at the end of this life it will not matter what career we had, our social status, how well known we are amongst men, or how big our house is.  We quickly begin to see that the important things are family, how we treat and serve others, did we live our values, and what kind of person we have become.  In stressful busy times, which is pretty much all the time, a perspective like this can serve to calm us and refocus our efforts on what matters.  Unfortunately it is in the stressful times that this perspective is most difficult to maintain.  I am going to set a goal for myself that I will stop whenever I am stressed and force myself to think about these things and see what matters and what doesn't.  There are many ways to do this.  The one I will use is the scriptures.  I will take the time to read them whenever I am stressed and try to turn my thoughts and heart to an eternal view of my world.  

Foolsumptions

My "so what: for this week doesn't have anything to do with my Writing in Business class.  If anybody ends up reading this besides my professor they will probably be grateful for that because if every post had to do with me improving my grammar or writing ability this blog would probably not me a very interesting read (sorry professor Middleton).  So, my "so what for this week has to do with the assumptions we make.  We have probably all heard what happens when we assume.  You know, when you break of the syllables it makes a cleaver phrase.  In order to avoid any appearance of vulgarity in this blog I will do it with the word "foolsume" instead.  When you foolsume you make a fool out of u and me.   I have been hearing about the truth of this statement a lot lately.  I am in a Doctrine and Covenants class right now taught by Brother Steven Harper and Brigham Young University.  If any of you don't know what The Doctrine & Covenants are you can go here and see for you self.  Anyway, we are learning the history behind the revelations and the biggest thing that Brother Harper tells us is that we need to eliminate our assumptions.  Our assumptions block us from learning truths and can sometimes shake our foundations if those assumptions are part of them.

Then, last Sunday I attended the CES devotional given by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf.  He talked about truth, and how we learn the truth.  He talked about how it is possible for our assumptions to impede us from learning the truth.  I realized that this may be the case for me.  Let me give you an example.

I was at Winco this weekend with my wife.  We were enjoying the wonderfully cheap produce and the wide variety of by-the-pound products.  When we were in line to check out the man behind us began to talk to us about how wonderful Winco is.  This man was large.  Buzzed head, old leather jacket, possibly wearing sweats, and looked a little bit rough around the edges.  For a split second I was inclined to send him a signal through body language telling him that it was socially unacceptable for him to be talking to me.  I am glad I did not.  I decided to be courteous and it turned out to be a wonderful experience.  The guy was kind, happy, and funny.  The conversation we had with him made my day better.

Our interactions with the people around us are full of "foolsumptions."  We just people about the way they dress, the way they talk, and they way they aren't like what we would hope they were.  These foolsumptions cripple us and them.  We decide that we know what they are like without giving them the chance to show us what they are really like.

So what?  Now what?  I am going to think each day about an assumption that I make about people and make an effort that day to not make it.  This may end up being more of a thought exercise than an action exercise but I feel like it may end up effecting my actions as well.  My hope is that if I make a daily effort to remove my prejudices I will be able to see people more as our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ see them.  I will be able to see the truth about who they really are and what they have the potential to become.  I will be able to love them more.

From the beginning

I am currently at the beginning of many things.  I was married 11 days ago and so I am at the beginning of a new family and life as a husband.  I am at the beginning of a new semester of school which appears it will be the most difficult semester I will have as a student at BYU.  I am at the beginning of the process of applying to medical school.  And of course, I am at the beginning of my first blog.

When I was told in my business communication class that I would have to create a blog I was not excited.  I always saw blogs as an interesting mix of two things: (1) entertaining writings from a few people who actually had unique experiences worth sharing and (2) a whole lot of written reality shows where people tell the world about their very normal lives as if they were full of action and adventure.  I have always been sure that I would fall into the second category and have therefore found no reason I should ever write a blog.  On top of that I am no anywhere near an entertaining writer so I was sure my writing would do nothing more than bore and confuse anyone who read it.  So, when I was given the assignment to write a blog I groaned a little inside.

Then, I started thinking about what a blog is and could be.  A few of my realizations came from my professor.  It could be a great learning tool to get me experience at using another one of the many forms of social media important in our age.  It is also a way for me to train my mind to seek for things that I can learn from like and figure out how to apply them for change in my life.  Some other things I realized on my own as I thought about what I would write.  I realized that I may from time to time have a rather unique experience and a blog would be a way to share those experiences with others so that may glean some benefit as well.  I also saw it as a way to share my faith.  I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  My faith plays a bigger role in my life than just about anything else and I hope that will reflect in what I write in this blog.  If just one person who reads this blog gets just a little closer to Christ because of what they read than the whole thing will be worth it.  

As I thought about these things I decided that I was actually excited to write a blog and that I would do my best to make it a positive experience rather than a dreaded one.  I would try to make my blog interesting.  The prompt for the class for our blogs is "So what? Now what?"  In other words we are supposed to take something we learn each week (so what) and fin a way that we will apply it in our lives (now what).  For the next few months this will be the basis behind each of my blog posts.  After the class is over I may continue to follow the same idea or I may change my format.  We will see.  

For this week, my so what is that I learned that writing and reading a blog can be useful and a great experience if we go at it with the correct attitude.  My now what is what is right in front of you now and what you will read as I write.  I will make this blog something useful.  It may not be useful to anyone else but my but nevertheless it will be useful.  I am going to enjoy writing it.  I hope any who read it will enjoy it as well.