Lies #3 and #4

Last week I wrote about 3 damming (not necessarily damning) lies that some of us LDS People believe. I mentioned that I would get to #3 this week and I thought of a bonus #4 . ;-)

Lie #3

Most of us know that this one is not true doctrine, but when we see ourselves repenting, and committing to do better, about the same thing over and over, year after year, we start to think that we are reaching our limit and we are hopelessly flawed. That "hopelessly flawed" feeling comes from Satan, and if we start to believe it, we begin to loose faith in ourselves and ultimately in God's ability to help us.

Lie #3 There is a limit to how often I can repent for the same thing.

The truth is some weaknesses will only go away in the next life because we need them in this life to remind us to turn to God. Those weaknesses make us strong in our relationship to God. Anytime we turn to God, we learn something - even if we are turning to Him after the 10,011th time we have failed at keeping a resolution we made to Him. We learn about ourselves, how much we need God, what works and doesn't work in our goals, and how infinitely He loves us.

I am always amazed at how quickly the Spirit returns to me after repenting and making a resolution to do better, even if I've made that resolution hundreds of times about the same thing and I'm having a hard time trusting myself that "this is really it." But he does. He forgives me every time.  And every time I am astounded at His endless mercy, how much I need Him and how good He is. I love Him even more.

None of us are hopelessly flawed. We all need God. And until we are perfected in the next life, we are simply asked to follow Him, repent, and try again. And again. And again. That's how we reach our potential, grow close to God, and develop humility, faith, and charity.

Galatians 6: 9,8
And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

Lie #4

This one is related to lie #1 I think. It's important to understand that God wants us to seek Him so he is not going to hand us all the answers on a silver platter.

Lie #4: Darwinian Evolution fits with the gospel

Anyone who studies this seriously will know that the two paradigms fundamentally oppose each other. All of us have made the choice to not understand some things because they don't seem to fit together. We decide that things will eventually make sense and we move on. This is what got me through science classes at school. This is good, it shows humility and trust. But questions also lead to answers and if we want things to make sense, it's okay to ask questions.  In science classes, I did develop a sense that I didn't really like science and that it didn't make sense.

I have since learned that there is evidence for both God and Darwinian Evolution, depending on how you view the data. And, though Darwinian Evolution has some major holes, schools will teach the theory as if were undeniable fact because they can't teach an alternative theory (it implies there is a God).

So, if you are sending your kids to learn science at a government school, it would be wise to teach them the holes in Darwinian Evolution and the evidence for Intelligent Design and even Biblical creation at home (there's a ton!) If we parents simply answer with, "just have faith" to our child's science questions, but the teachers have scientific answers to their science questions - the child will start to think that teachers have answers while parents don't.

If they have a strong testimony, they may be able to weather it, but - as I heard said at a Science presentation by Vince Newmeyer - the heart may not entertain what the mind refuses to believe.

It is now my experience that science makes sense, is wonderfully exciting, is full of the Spirit of truth, seeking and light, and testifies of Christ. It's exciting and inspiring. It fills me with reverence. Too bad our kids have to sit through the many dry pseudo-theories taught at school, but at least there is some good science taught there too. And we can teach them more at home.

This documentary is eye opening. It was recommended to me so many times, but I finally got around to watching it today. I recommend it now as well (my kids were worried that it started out in black and white, but that's only for the intro, just fyi):


I am reading a couple of science books right now that have been a refreshing breath of fresh air to a place in my heart I thought was dead.

One is "The Universal Model." Absolutely fascinating and sure to be mocked by the mainstream science community. At least at first, but truth has a way of coming forth regardless. If this book speaks some truth, and I think it does, it will certainly revolutionize science once truth seeking people start to read it. I don't know how long that will take. Many of us have a distaste for science for similar reasons to the ones I mentioned I had. But I hope it's sooner than later. Here is an introductory video to the book:



And here is a summary of our week (at least the moments I took pictures of 😊)

Evening hike with Cassia...

This is the shortest way to get to it. It looks illegalish, but I've been getting to it this way since high school.

It was dark by the time we got to the waterfall

 I loved it up there at night, but the hike back was kind of scary with the big dark pine trees all around us.  I realized how grateful I am for light and company in this life.  Without those two things, life gets pretty scary. I had to try to focus on the good things and not on what critters or scary people might be up there at night (the grafitti didnt help). In a small way, it was a similar feeling to the glimpses I have experienced of anxiety and depression .  It's a momentary darkness. But I find comfort in the knowlege that the light always returns. And some company and a little flashlight helps until then.

Saturday the girls and I went on a nice walk through old main street, had some Greek food and went to Fiddler on the Roof at Northridge High.

I really like that play. To me, it's an interesting commentary on tradition - it's limitations and it's protection and uniting force. The family draws farther apart as they depart from tradition. Some of that was good, some of it had sad consequences. It was also makes you think about the effects of governmental force versus allowing choice.

Plus the actors were awesome. Several of them were in our South Weber ward, including "Tevye" who was played by the incredibly talented Jack Bell - it was worth the money just to watch him act and hear him sing. And the sweet girls in the picture above were also a joy to watch!

Today we went to see our house in progress. It looks almost the same as it did last week, but I hope they are just doing work that isn't very visible :)

It looks like it has a ways to go. At least we get to hang out with some incredible people while we wait :-) I sure love them all.

3 Damming Lies Some LDS People Believe

I noticed myself getting upset this week when someone I loved, and knew to be very intelligent, was keeping himself from Truth, Joy, Love and Beauty because of a lie he believed about himself.

He was not the first person I knew who had bought into this lie and others like it.  Through the week, I had been having experiences with people who seemed unable to listen to truth because they were assuming a lie. I call these "damming lies" not because I think that those who believe them will go to hell (damning), but because it stops (dams) their progress. It keeps them from reaching their potential and doing God's work for them on earth. These lies lull us into "carnal security" and keep us asleep in an area of our lives where we could influence many if we were awakened.

In fact, I would go as far as to say that if you believe any of these lies in any area of your life, that is probably an area that is very important for you to be awake in. These lies come from Satan and if he has whispered them to you enough times so that you have come to believe them, he knows something about it that would disrupt his work if you were to wake up.

Lie #1:

I have heard people proclaim this lie in how we educate our kids, about the school system, homeschooling, about political views, scientific discoveries, governmental policies and just about anything they need an excuse in for not following a prompting.

"If it was important enough, God would tell the Prophet to announce it to the church so we would all know."

While this is true about church doctrine, it does not mean that God is going to tell us at general conference everything we need to know about what to learn, what to do with our time, or what changes we should make in our lifestyles.

He expects us to seek!

He wants us to ask. He wants us to be hungry for truth because we know that truth leads us to Him - to Joy, Love, Beauty, Peace, Understanding. He wants us to willingly choose Him - not because someone tells us what to do, but because we love Him and trust Him enough to want to follow Him. Instead we often assume He will come to us while we comfortably wait. He will not force us to Him. He wants us to want it bad enough to get up and search.

I am reminded of Nephi's question to his brothers when they didn't understand their father's vision, "Have ye inquired of the Lord?" And their response, "We have not; for the Lord maketh no such thing known unto us." Then Nephi reminds us that the Lord has said, "If ye will not harden your hearts, and ask me in faith, believing that ye shall receive, with diligence in keeping my commandments, surely these things shall be made known unto you."

We will get answers to our questions at general conference, but often they will be personal commandments whispered to us by the Spirit as we are ready for them and not announced to those who are at a different place in their journey.

Lie #2

I hear this one about talents, areas of learning, and life missions. It's so subtle and so detrimental.

"It's just not my thing."

We assume that if we haven't yet found the beauty, excitement or applicable truth in a subject that the subject is not for us! Satan LOVES it when we compartmentalize truth and cherry pick which truth is pertinent to us. He knows this is the perfect way to keep us blind to what God would have us see about ourselves, this world, our place in it - and our relationship to Him and others. He knows he can limit our influence and our growth if we think some of God's truth is "not our thing."

It's true that God has different work for each person and that our part in building His kingdom is unique. It's true that our interests are one clue as to what He'd have us do. But it is a perilous lie that they are our only clue. People with experience will testify that they discovered much of their life's work and passion through their weaknesses.

In addition to weaknesses, we can look at where Satan has attempted to lie to us. If he is whispering to us that some truth is "not our thing," there is very likely something important to us there. Or something important we should know for those we will have the privilege to influence. We must remember that our work on this Earth is not about us but about helping God's children grow closer to Him.

Another big clue to what we ought to learn is the opportunities we are blessed with. Some will be of our choosing, some will not, but either way we should learn as much as possible from each one. This attitude will take us where we are meant to be. And it shows gratitude for those who sacrificed so much so we could have these learning opportunities, including our Savior.

All truth is one whole. Every Truth we learn takes us closer to Christ because He is the Complete Truth.  And the more truth we receive, regardless where it comes from, the more ability we have to receive more truth - even in a totally different area.

"For intelligence cleaveth unto intelligence; wisdom receiveth wisdom; truth embraceth truth; virtue loveth virtue; light cleaveth unto light"

 Let's not ever block Him out because it's not "our thing."

Lie #3

I have a lot to say about lie #3, but this post is getting pretty long and I could write a lot on this one so I think I will save it for the next post.

In the meantime, here are some more updates from the week:

Lined up to Vote

Fascinating presentation about the assumptions made when using scienctific dating techniques that make them rather unscientific.

Presentation about the UM Model. Exciting stuff!

Assuming There Is No Right Or Wrong Makes Us Intolerant

Hike with Cassia yesterday

I helps me to write I'm a little hurt. Maybe because I want to defend myself.  Or maybe because my feelings are closer to the surface so I'm more transparent and writing is easier.

I mentioned before that wanting to "be thought well of" is a weakness of mine, so I think I get easily hurt when it seems like people see me in a different way than I know myself to be. Especially if I think they know me. Sometimes this leads me to see some flaws in myself that I hadn't noticed, but in this instance (and others like it) it happened because I am judged due to preconceived notions about who I am because of labels placed upon me (being conservative and religious means I am intolerant, narrow-minded,  and judgemental) Yet, I feel so much love for people all around me. I really believe I am a very loving and accepting person. I think I've been blessed with the gift of being able to genuinely love people without trying all that hard.

Also in my defense, I really think I am very open minded. I love entertaining new ideas. If that's what is meant by "progressive," than I'd say I'm a progressive conservative ;-) I want to progress out of false limiting beliefs and conserve the ones that bring me joy. I wouldn't say I'm a "go with the flow" sort of person for the most part. I love to question the culture around me when I see negative outcomes,  and to learn and do counter-cultural things that bring more joy into my life (ie. homeschooling, studying creationism, having a large family, living simply in an RV, home-births, natural remedies, nature studies, writing stuff like this...)

Isn't being open-minded basically being a truth seeker?  You realize how much you don't know so you open your mind to learn more... if I was close-minded I don't think I would be so thirsty for learning.

Noticing how unfairly I am sometimes judged makes me think that we humans are very quick to "fill in the blanks" with people - to judge them based on our assumptions from our experience with "people like them." How very wrong we must be about each other most of the time! Each person is so unique and so deep... we misunderstand each other so easily.

I'm not sure how to counter that tendency in our human nature. I think we often try to counter it by saying that there is no right or wrong. If there is no right or wrong than there is no measuring stick to judge others with and we can be content to just love them. But it is my experience that this belief of "no right, no wrong" has the opposite effect. Instead of loving  one another more, we judge each other very harshly for having an opinion about a "right or wrong."

I think the answer lies more on realizing that there is a right and a truth we are all trying to discover. Each of us has unique experiences that have helped us see certain aspects of truth more clearly than those without the same experiences. If we were more able to listen to one another  with love, we could discover that beautiful, joyful, peaceful truth more willingly along side of each other.  We all have something to contribute towards others in clarifying their perspective. Do we realize that every person we meet understands something more clearly than we do? Are we willing to listen? Or do we think we have nothing to learn from "people like them?"

I hope to listen better. I hope my readers will see this blog as my own journey in truth discovery and not as a judgement on them. I'm sure you all know stuff I don't know and if we'd just lovingly listen to each other when we're being sincere, we'd all come away better people with a more clear perspective. Anyway,  thanks for reading this introspective post and taking the time to listen ❤

Some of the latest:
Yes, we are still living in an RV on our friends' driveway. We talked about tender mercies as a family on Friday - we listed this opportunity as a very tender mercy from God. I think we'd be feeling very lonely if we had to go through this transition period alone, but getting to be with our good friends every day has made it a fun adventure. We are so grateful to them.

Following are the only pictures I got of Halloween:

We got ice cream after William's orthodontist appointment. And then went to science class. Then everyone picked out a favorite treat and we watched "scary" movies in our friends' basement.  Earlier in the week we did go to a couple of parties where they dressed up,   but can you believe I forgot to take any pictures of their costumes or the festivities?
I think Bill got some... I will go ask him...
He just got one of Jess:

And I did find this one of Joy asleep in a park pavillion in her BB8 costume:

James was a Obi-Wan and Joshua was Kylo Ren.

Thursday night we got to go to a beautiful presentation about science and how our scientific assumptions directly affect our freedoms. I wrote a few of my thoughts here.  Things have been so busy with the move and the adjustment that I haven't been taking many pictures, but hopefully we are a bit more adjusted now and I will have more time to enjoy the moments and think to take some pictures of them :)