If, then

There's an interesting "if, then" statement in the Book of Mormon.

In Ether 12:27 it reads:

And if men come unto me then (added for context) I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

I've been thinking about this verse and right now am stuck on that first line. 

Like most, I usually read over this scripture and jump to the bottom idea, "then I will make weak things become strong unto them". It's natural, that's the money maker (and worth further discussion in a separate blog post).

The first idea, "If men come unto me" is intriguing. Throughout the scriptures Christ invites us to, "Come unto me". It's an ongoing and eternal invitation from Christ that we accept, delay, or reject throughout our lives. What does it mean? Many things: learning about Him, accepting Him as our Savior, making covenants with Him that signify our commitment, keeping His commandments, serving, enduring to the end. And more, and more, and more.

Why does this process of coming unto Him reveal our weaknesses.

It's like a picture. From a distance, it's perfect and clean. It's hard to see any flaws. But, upon closer inspection defects are shown. 

Take the picture on my desktop. It's a beautiful picture of my daughters in Hawaii, with them in the forefront, the beach and ocean in the back. At first glance, it's stunning. But, look closer. There are some chunky people in the background playing in the ocean. The light and color on their faces is not perfect. On the far off island in the back are wind turbines. 

As we draw closer to Christ, His light reveals to us our weaknesses and flaws, even those we have tried so very hard to disguise and cover up. The closer we are to Him, the greater the light, and the more apparent the flaws. C.S. Lewis said, "It is when we notice the dirt that God is most present in us; it is the very sign of His presence." That dirt really comes into focus as we draw closer to Christ. 

But, I don't think he intends for this to be debilitating and destructive. I do not believe His intention is to make us anything but humble. Pliable. Open to His constructive molding. 

C.S. Lewis said, "True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it's is thinking of yourself less." As we draw closer to Christ, the point isn't to wallow in our weaknesses, it's to celebrate the light of Christ that makes us strong. Instead, He wants to snuff them out.

One last note to reflect on.

A warning

I wrote this as a fun poem to get my family excited for our trip to Las Vegas. 

So you are coming Vegas?

How fun, how swell, how neat!

Your hungry Klowny is ready,

For buffets of yummy, fresh meat!

Kathy is my dear; my most favorite!

Her love for me is quite enough!

She I will preserve as my fair lady,

By stuffing her corpse with some fluff.

John is quite a little runner,

With him never a quiet or a lull.

So cooking up his juicy leg meat,

Will surely make Klowny feel oh so full.

Mike is known as a deep thinker,

No meat on that skinny ‘lil frame.

So feasting on Mike must always begin,

By dining on his juicy full brain.

Jacob is not coming, oh dear!

Probably better for me that way.

He’s so strong and so muscular,

He’d crush me and ruin my day

Buddy, now there’s a ‘lil fatty.

Roasting nicely on a spit like some pork.

His belly will taste so good and yummy,

As I stick him with my big pitchy fork

Nate, what a great old big softie.

So kind, so loving, so sweet!

Makes cutting into his liver,

Able to produce delicious, red meat.

Mary, oh so kind and so gentle!

She’s known for having a big heart.

Which is why when I grill it for dinner,

For my feast it will be a great start.

Beth is so smart with her skin.

Lotions and creams, how they make it shine!

Which will make it so much nicer,

When I wear it as a coat over mine.

I think that’s it my old dearies,

Can’t wait for you all to arrive!

You’ll expect it to be a fun vacay,

But none will escape me alive.

I anxiously await your arrival,

Already sharpening my knife!

And setting the table for dinner

Ready to take eight Kennedy lives.

We can complain...

We can complain that rose bushes have thorns or rejoice that bushes have roses.

Going home

Recently I was thinking about Heavenly Father and Mother and an idea came to me which I had never had before.

We knew them in our previous life. We were spirits, they had physical bodies. In this state, it would have been hard or impossible to embrace in the way that we know today. It made me think how lovely and powerful it will be someday to embrace fully as resurrected beings.

As I thought about this it made me wonder: what would that first visit home be like? As I wondered this, I had an experience come to mind. Here’s what I saw.

We walk in. We’re beaten, bruised, and crushed from our mortal journey. Whatever journey we’ve had, we will be grown and different from when we last saw them. Although we’ll have felt comfortable on Earth, in this new state we will be disgusting to look at. We will be dirty. If sin creates scars, we will be truly horrific to look at.

In this condition we enter.

We’re not returning home in the way we thought we would when we left. We remember what we wanted to be, how we wanted this life to go, and with this full knowledge we will be ashamed of who we are.

In this state we see Them. They are glorious. Full of love. Perfect.

They welcome us home. They lovingly remove our shoes. Heavenly Mother takes us by the hand and brings us to a warm bath, warm towels. Here we are cleansed. Our sores are washed and cleaned, preparing us for resurrection. Tattoos and other defilements are removed. Our hair and nails are cleaned.

We have a nice meal. We talk. And we embrace. We apologize for failing. We explain what went wrong. They know. They forgive. They understand. Even with our failures, amidst our failings, we are loved. Supported. Listened to. Understood.

And with that, our journey is over.

That’s how I see it.

Golden Records

13 billion miles away from us in the freezing, deep, bleak reaches of interstellar space is a spacecraft called Voyager 1 (one of two Voyager spacecrafts). This probe is currently the farthest human-made object from Earth. It is in the region of space between stars where galactic plasma is present. You can track its distance here.

Interestingly, on both of the Voyager crafts is a very unique and interesting artifact of interest to many, including the LDS faithful. Attached to the hull is a 12-inch LP, “called the Golden Record”. It is fashioned from gold-plated copper and mounted to the side of each Voyager. 

Voyager 1 and 2 were both launched by NASA with a  (For most references, including direct quotes, see the Wikipedia article on Golden Record)

Voyagers’ launch dates took advantage of a rare planetary alignment. In 1977, the giant planets — Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune — lined up in such a way that a spacecraft could swing past all four in less than 15 years, stealing some gravitational oomph from each world as it went.

That lucky alignment happens only once every 176 years. When NASA’s administrator went to President Richard Nixon to ask for funding for Voyager, he allegedly said: “The last time the planets were lined up like that, President Jefferson was sitting at your desk. And he blew it.” Nixon approved the mission.

On the Golden record is a beautiful message from then President Jimmy Carter, which reads:

This is a present from a small, distant world, a token of our sounds, our science, our images, our music, our thoughts and our feelings. We are attempting to survive our time so we may live into yours.

It was developed as a sort of intergalactic message in a bottle. The hope is that some future alien civilization will find it and learn about Earth. Maybe they'll even use it to find us. And maybe, if we don't blow it, we'll be around to greet them. If not, this will act as a sort of voice in the dust. 

When I first heard about this Golden Record a few years ago I thought to myself - it sounds a lot like the Book of Mormon. Here are some of the ways the Golden Record and The Book of Mormon are similar - and different. 

First, their both Golden. Simple, but interesting. Both were put on the metal that they believed would be most able to withstand the weathering of time. As the Wikipedia article points out: 

The record is constructed of gold-plated copper and is 12 inches (30 cm) in diameter.^[3] The record's cover is aluminum and electroplated upon it is an ultra-pure sample of the isotope uranium-238. Uranium-238 has a half-life of 4.468 billion years. It is possible (e.g. via mass-spectrometry) that a civilization that encounters the record will be able to use the ratio of remaining uranium to the other elements to determine the age of the record.

Interestingly, both records were written and compiled for another time and another people. The writers of the Book of Mormon never benefitted from the book themselves, but were dedicated to its creation and survival. They wrote it as a voice speaking from the dust, but with a vision of us in the future who could turn to use it and adore it. The Golden Record is not for this world (although thanks to a recent Kickstarter campaign you can buy it soon).

Both records were created by the best and brightest of their day. The Voyager Golden Records were compiled by Carl Sagan, world-famous scientist and others. The Book of Mormon was written and compiled by the greatest prophets and leaders that lived during the time of its creation. 

If created today, it is likely Voyager would not use a record but some other advanced storage material. This would allow it to store more and do more. But the record was the best tech they had then, and is why they used it. Similarly the Book of Mormon was fashioned with the most advanced technology of its day. Many dispute that it would be impossible for these ancient civilizations to create metal work of the kind represented by the Book of Mormon. True, it would be difficult - perhaps this is why there's little archaeological evidence of metal work. But, it was lovingly created and would have been a technical marvel in its day.

Both records contain as much about their civilizations as was possible to include. The Golden record includes 115 images and a variety of natural sounds, such as those made by surf, wind, thunder and animals (including the songs of birds and whales). The compilers added musical selections from different cultures and eras, spoken greetings in 55 ancient and modern languages, other human sounds, like footsteps and laughter and printed messages from U.S. president Jimmy Carter and U.N. Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim. The record also includes the inspirational message Per aspera ad astra in Morse code, which roughly translates into: Through hardships to the stars

The collection of images includes many photographs and diagrams both in black and white, and color. The first images are of scientific interest, showing mathematical and physical quantities, the Solar System and its planets, DNA, and human anatomy and reproduction. Care was taken to include not only pictures of humanity, but also some of animals, insects, plants and landscapes. Images of humanity depict a broad range of cultures. These images show food, architecture, and humans in portraits as well as going about their day-to-day lives.

The Book of Mormon likewise contains a vast array of information about this ancient civilization - its people, their customs, their wars and conflicts, its currency, the travels of the people, the changing environment, and the spiritual condition of the people. 

Another similarity is that both records are in Heaven - one is billions of miles away, the other was taken back by Moroni. 

It is recorded that it took about a year for those responsible for putting together the Voyager Golden Record to compile its contents. This is with the full support of NASA and the U.S. Government. The Book of Mormon was translated in approximately 65 days. 

Included with the Voyager is a literal record to be played on a phonograph (which was included) by any aliens that might encounter the spacecraft. The package included a needle, a speaker and graphical instructions on how to play the record. Likewise, the Book of Mormon included the means of translation for the unlearned youth, Joseph Smith. 

Lastly, the Voyager Golden Record has a very specific purpose:

Carl Sagan said, "The spacecraft will be encountered and the record played only if there are advanced civilizations in interstellar space, but the launching of this bottle into the cosmic ocean says something very hopeful about life on this planet."

It is a kind of time capsule, intended to communicate to extraterrestrials a story of the world of humans on Earth.

The Book of Mormon has a very different purpose: that of "convincing the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting Himself to all nations."

Both are unique, interesting, and beautiful. But, only one can bring men and women to Christ. And that's what makes it my favorite Golden Record.