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.