He is Risen: A Belated but Necessary Easter Post

Mormon friends: do you ever get tired of reading in the Book of Mormon about the Nephites and the Jaredites going through the infamous pride cycle over and over again? I mean, do you just sit down to read Helaman or Third Nephi and go uuugggggghhhh?

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And do I need to remind any of you here of the number of times that this happened with the Israelites in the Old Testament? Just as soon as Moses had them going straight, something would happen and they would start murmuring. AGAIN. And their life in the Promised Land was no bed of roses, because they would repeatedly forget the Lord, break the commandments, worship idols, and then end up in bondage to their enemies.

Wheatley Scholars

In our day, the pride cycle can happen in our personal lives, but in society at large it doesn’t seem so much a pride cycle as a long downward slope. And just when you think the world has hit the bottom, things keep getting worse. We turn to the scriptures, and we see the exact same thing: war, wickedness, sin, and destruction. If the Gospel is in the scriptures, then where is the part with the “good news”? The scriptures were written for our day, to help us get through. But seeing more examples of what we’re already seeing doesn’t seem to give much comfort, much less answers.

It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to figure out that those ancient peoples are US. And it probably doesn’t take much more thinking than that to realize that the wicked people who are ripening for destruction are not meant to be our role models.

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So what do we look for? We read about the people who stayed righteous in the midst of all that wickedness and all of their personal trials. We read about Abraham, Joseph the son of Jacob,and Moses; Joshua, Gideon, Ruth, Deborah and Barak, Samuel, Elijah, Hezekiah and Isaiah. We read about Lehi and Nephi and Alma and Alma the Younger and Nephi son of Helaman; we read about Mormon and Moroni and Ether. We read about Jesus Christ. We read about the people who followed Him, His mother Mary, Peter and John and the apostles, Stephen and Paul. What are they writing about their experiences and the lives of those who came before them? What are they learning that they want to share with us? How do they stay righteous in a wicked, difficult world?

This goes for the Book of Mormon, too! (Pinterest)

In His final sermon to His apostles, Jesus shared the secret: “In the world ye have shall have tribulation. But be of good cheer: I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

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Jesus overcame the world. He rose above the sin, the sorrow, the despair, the grief, the lust. He rose above everything evil in this life. He descended below all things, and was thus able to overcome all things.

He did not get caught in the Pride cycle: HE BROKE THE CYCLE.

He is Risen, not just above death but above sin and above pain and suffering. Above repeated human errors and mistakes.

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HE. BROKE. THE. CYCLE.

AND BECAUSE HE DID, SO CAN WE.

In the Intercessory prayer (John 17) He asked the Father not to take his disciples from the world but to keep them from the evil. We are still supposed to be a part of this mortal experience. We came to experience the pros and the cons. But the cons don’t have to make us weaker. Christ can help us overcome the things that are difficult. Christ made it possible for us to be stronger than our pains, our temptations, our sufferings through His Atonement.

He is the Light of the world. He is stronger than the darkness.

All those people in the scriptures who still managed to make it through even though they were surrounded by wickedness and evil and destruction? They made it because they chose Christ.

In one of his last letters to his son Moroni, Mormon wrote a harrowing description of the atrocities committed by both the Nephites and the Lamanites. And then he said something to Moroni that I think we should all listen to: “My son, be faithful in Christ; and may not the things which I have written grieve thee, to weigh thee down unto death; but may Christ lift thee up, and may his sufferings and death, and the showing his body unto our fathers, and his mercy and long-suffering, and the hope of his glory and of eternal life, rest in your mind forever” (Moroni 9:25, emphasis added). Believing in Christ doesn’t necessarily make everything around you perfect or solve all your problems. BUT believing in Christ can help you to be all right when everything else is chaos.

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As he is abridging the record of the Jaredites, Moroni takes a chapter to write out some of his feelings on the subject and some of his experiences in coming to know the Savior. He says that he had prayed that God would “give unto the Gentiles grace, that they might have charity.” But God’s response was,” If they have not charity it mattereth not unto thee, thou hast been faithful; wherefore, thy garments shall be made clean. And because thou hast seen thy weakness thou shalt be made strong, even unto the sitting down in the place which I have prepared in the mansions of my Father” (Ether 12: 36-37). We don’t have any control over what other people choose. But if we are faithful, then our own salvation is assured. Peace in this life. Eternal Life in the world to come. We will be able to overcome the world and have that reward.

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In Paul’s second epistle to Timothy, we read Paul’s counsel to those who were trying to stay true to the faith in a time of difficulty. The Great Apostasy--the time when the true Church would be corrupted and the truth of the Gospel lost--was at the doors. “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4: 3-4). Paul would soon be going to his own martyrdom (vs. 6-8). But Paul’s counsel was simply to be ready for whatever came, and to stay true to the faith. In the previous chapter, he had reminded Timothy to “continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of.” The message for us today is the same: stay true to what you know, do the things you know are right. Doubt and fear can and will be overcome.

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In the book of Revelation, we read of God’s promises to those who “overcome” the sins and temptations that were plaguing the seven churches: they would be clothed in white, named in the book of life, have part in the first Resurrection, receive eternal life, and live in the presence of God (Revelation 2-3). And as recently as the last general conference, Elder Neal A. Andersen gave a talk on the attributes of those who overcome the world as Christ overcame it. Overcoming the world, Elder Andersen said, is not done in a single moment but over a lifetime. But it can be done. Christ overcame, and he will help us to overcome.

MovieQuote Meditation: "Rebellions are Built on Hope"

It would seem like hope is in short supply these days. I don’t really need to elaborate on why people think that the world is in a really bad place (or why I have to agree with them).

I’m going to tell you something that you might not believe:

There is still reason to have hope.

There are a lot of bad things happening now. And bad things will happen in the future. But there are still a lot of things in this world that are good. And many good things are still waiting to happen.

Last December, a little movie called Rogue One: A Star Wars Story came out. This film was about the team of Rebel spies who stole the plans for the first Death Star. Other than the obvious aim to make a profit, why would Lucasfilm want to go back and tell this story?

Wired

It’s like when a leader in my church brings up a story from the scriptures to make a certain point. We already know who wins. We know what’s going to happen. We already know the obvious moral of the story (the good guys win). But in the retelling there is a point being made that isn’t quite so obvious. Rogue One is about the battle against the odds that a mismatched team of heroes had to overcome to accomplish the feat that led to Princess Leia running from Darth Vader at the beginning of A New Hope--odds that included doubt from the leaders of the Alliance itself.

Lucasfilm’s point, whether or not intentional, was that everything those rebels worked for, everything literally fought and died for, was based on a shred of hope that the empire’s most dangerous weapon could be destroyed, and they could take down the empire and help the galaxy to be free of oppression.

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Say what you will about the Empire’s ability to allocate resources and provide a system of order: it was a corrupt institution, run by corrupt people. The Empire didn’t care about what happened to the people it ruled over: it took what it wanted and punished those who disagreed with it. It controlled through the fear of force. Twenty years after the end of the Clone Wars, the Empire had finished constructing a superweapon that could obliterate entire planets. Now the Empire could not only punish dissent but destroy billions of innocent lives at the same time just to make a point.

“If the Empire has this kind of power, then what chance do we have?”

The Rebel Alliance council? They backed out because the odds of success were so slim. And because the Empire could do whatever they wanted. They didn’t have any way to compete with the Death Star. Not enough weapons. Not enough resources. Not realistic.

“We have hope,” says Jyn Erso. “Rebellions are built on hope.”

Cassian Andor had told Jyn the exact same thing when they were on Jedha trying to get a hold of Saw Gerrera. In her experience, there wasn’t really much reason to have hope, because she never had anyone in her life that she could count on to come through for her. Anything she hoped for never worked out. In spite of whatever efforts she made to have a life for herself, everything always went wrong. So she was kind of surprised to hear Cassian say that the Rebel Alliance operated merely on the hope that their contacts would come through for them.

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But what convinced Jyn otherwise? Seeing Chirrut Imwe stand up to a bunch of stormtroopers with just the Force and a walking stick helped her to see that anything was possible. Seeing Jedha destroyed by the Death Star had convinced her that she couldn’t turn a blind eye to the Empire’s atrocities any longer. And the hologram message from her father had given her the hint that, powerful though it was, the Death Star had a fatal flaw that could be exploited. Her father had only worked on the Death Star on the hope that by doing so he could keep Jyn safe and undermine the system he hated so much. He had built the flaw in the reactor. He knew that so much power in the hands of the Empire was wrong. And he knew that Jyn would understand that idea.

The Empire had troops and fighters and ships and endless resources. They had a weapon that could obliterate entire planets in seconds, and it was heavily protected so that attacking it would be futile. Being realistic, the Rebellion didn’t stand a chance. But Jyn and Cassian went ahead and got a team together to steal the Death Star plans from the heavily-fortified archive on Scarif because they knew that somewhere in those plans there was a key to destroying the Death Star and striking a blow against the Empire. If they could steal the plans and find the design flaw, then they had a chance to do something. At every step during the battle, everything could have gone wrong. Every main character--Jyn, Cassian, K2S0, Bodhi, Chirrut, Baze--had to find the hope to take the next step without the guarantee that they would succeed--without the assurance that they would live to see their effort rewarded.

“Do you think anyone is listening?”

The Battle of Scarif was actually a huge decision point for the Rebellion: either they took the opportunity to do something about the injustices of the Empire, or they just walked away. And when a small group of rebels decided that something needed to be done, there was no turning back.

Bustle

Sometimes winning a real victory is not about how many guns and ships you have. It’s about using your brains. And your heart.

“We will take the next chance and the next, until we win or the chances are spent.”

The fundamental thing is, rebellions are about hope. Hope that an unjust government CAN be overthrown. Hope that improving the system will bring provide life, liberty, and happiness for others. Hope that the risks to get those freedoms are worth it. Rogue One is a film about the sacrifices that heroes in a war-torn galaxy made so that hope could be possible.

Geek n' Sundry, via Pinterest

In real life, when it seems like everything goes wrong, it can seem more logical to think that there is no point making an effort to better your lot, because it won’t work out. But when you do whatever it takes to reach your goals, the little things day after day, your hope can become a reality, even if it takes shape slowly.

Whenever you see an opportunity to do something, to make a difference, to change the way things happen, take it. Do what needs to be done even if your chances of failing are astronomical. Take action or else your enemies will win. As a great Jedi master once said, “Do or do not. There is no try.” Either you take action or you don’t. The ability to act is in your control. To attempt the thing is to DO the thing. But you have to believe that your effort will be what is needed.

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Sometimes hope is a lot less substantial than a message from your dad informing you of a reactor flaw and a thermal exhaust port. And sometimes you know that the odds of you getting whatever you’re hoping will happen are a lot steeper than someone being able to actually hit a two-meter exhaust port with a missle.

But it’s okay to hope that things will turn out for the better. Because it’s not unreasonable that they will. You don’t have any reason to believe that you’re going to fail. Your life can be as happy and rewarding as you want it to be. It IS within the realm of possibility. Even when the rest of the world is collapsing, there is still reason to have hope that things will be all right--that you will be all right.

When the time comes and you have the chance to make a difference, seize it. Even if you fail. Even if you lose. Even if you die, it's worth it.

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Have courage.

Have hope.

Remembering President Hinckley

(I apologize for the crappy formatting. Much to learn I still have. :/ )

So a brief intro for those of you reading this who are not members of my faith: the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is led by living apostles and prophets. They lead the Church based on direct revelation from God. The current prophet and president of the Church is Thomas S. Monson. Today’s blog post is about the fifteenth president of the Church and President Monson’s predecessor, Gordon B. Hinckley. President Hinckley’s teachings are the course of study for Priesthood and Relief Society classes in the Church this year. Reflecting on President Hinckley’s life has caused me to feel, how shall we say, a little nostalgic. But personal blogs are for reminiscing, so let me put it to use.

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A Leader During a Time of Change

Technically Ezra Taft Benson was the prophet when I was born. But I don’t remember him. Or President Howard W. Hunter. I don’t remember when President Hinckley became the prophet. He was just always there.

Gordon B. Hinckley made a huge mark on the Church. His administration was a time of growth and growth requires a lot of energy. So I remember his energy, and the energy that everyone in the Church felt at that time. He did a lot in bringing the Church into the public spotlight and representing us to the media. He brought the Church into the age of the Internet. When I was a little kid my family had to go to our chapel to watch General Conference, but by the time President Hinckley passed we were staying home for 3 or more sessions and watching or listening to it on the internet.

During his time as prophet, membership in the church passed 11 million worldwide and then accelerated (Today we’re past 14 million). President Hinckley made long, arduous trips across the globe to visit as many of the Latter-day Saints as he could and to meet with world civic leaders.

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And he built temples. Dozens of them. President Hinckley had a deep reverence for the temple. It was mentioned at his funeral mentioned that every time he reached the underground parking entrance to the Salt Lake Temple he would remove his hat as a sign of respect. With such a reverence for the temple, it’s not surprising that he made such an effort to bring the blessings of the temple to the saints around the world.

While Gordon B. Hinckley was the president, the Church went from under 50 temples in the early 90s to 124 or so in the late 2000s. The San Antonio Texas temple was one of these temples. I saw him in person twice in my lifetime: when he came down to Texas in June of 2001 I think to announce the temple and in May of 2005 when he came for the dedication.

He held a special meeting for the youth right before the Heart of Texas Jubilee, the cultural event we had slaved putting together to celebrate the temple. He told a lot of jokes, I recall, but I can’t remember exactly what most of them were. He did say to the adults that this meeting was for the youth: “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” He gave us four of his nine “Be’s” but I can’t remember which ones. President Hinckley put a lot of emphasis on the youth, in his ministry. He taught us to stay true to our values, no matter what.

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I remember at the dedication he made a joke about green bananas and advised against growing old. He also apologized for his husky voice due to the superior air quality of San Antonio to Salt Lake. That’s some serious shade right there.

He was just so COOL. But more importantly he loved all of the members of the Church. And everyone who met with him felt it.

A Wry Sense of Humor

One thing I loved President Hinckley for was his humor. He was known to share funny anecdotes in his conference talks. And he could crack good one-liners occasionally.

But one way he made people laugh, though, was how he surprised them with his personality. Mike Wallace’s introduction to Standing for Something is one of the most hilarious things ever written, mostly because it is about how taken aback he was to interview President Hinckley, and about how agog everyone else was that President Hinckley had the nerve to go on Sixty Minutes. Nerve. That’s a great word to describe president Hinckley.

President Hinckley didn’t let old age slow him down from doing the Lord’s work--or being his usual exuberant self. I remember at his funeral, President Monson told this story. He and President Hinckley went to the same doctor. One time at a doctor’s visit, the doctor told President Monson that President Hinckley didn’t actually use his cane to support himself while he walked. More often than not, he used his cane to wave at people. The doctor politely asked President Monson if he would intervene and tell President Hinckley to actually use his cane like he was supposed to. But President Monson replied, “You’re the doctor. You tell him.”

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When he rededicated the Tabernacle on Temple Square, President Hinckley informed the congregation with some regret that, although many improvements had been made to the historic structure, the benches were still just as hard.

On humor, he said, “In all of living, have much fun and laughter. Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured.”

He saw humor as a better way to handle life’s difficulties than anger or despair, and that was part of his overall philosophy.

Gordon B. Hinckley and Optimism

Gordon B. Hinckley was an apostle and later president of the Church in times when the world at large was undergoing political, economic, and social turmoil. An address he gave to BYU in 1974 came right on the heels of Nixon’s resignation. He commented on how he had read in the newspapers about Gerald R. Ford pardoning Nixon, and more disturbingly how public opinion at the time criticized Ford for doing so. President Hinckley said to himself, “Surely, this is the age and place of the gifted pickle-sucker.”

“I come this morning with a plea that we stop seeking out the storms and enjoy more fully the sunlight. I am suggesting that we “accentuate the positive.” I am asking that we look a little deeper for the good, that we still our voices of insult and sarcasm, that we more generously compliment virtue and effort. I am not asking that all criticism be silenced. Growth comes of correction. Strength comes of repentance. Wise is the man who can acknowledge mistakes pointed out by others and change his course. I am not suggesting that our conversation be all honey and blossoms. Clever expression that is sincere and honest is a skill to be sought and cultivated.

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What I am suggesting and asking is that we turn from the negativism that so permeates our society and look for the remarkable good in the land and times in which we live, that we speak of one another’s virtues more than we speak of one another’s faults, that optimism replace pessimism, that our faith exceed our fears.”

Gordon B. Hinckley was President of the Church when 9/11 happened. In the General Conference that followed--the very weekend that the war began in Afghanistan--President Hinckley gave an address that, in my opinion, reflected his teachings on the need for hope and optimism even in times of distress.

I do not wish to be an alarmist. I do not wish to be a prophet of doom. I am optimistic. I do not believe the time is here when an all-consuming calamity will overtake us. I earnestly pray that it may not. There is so much of the Lord’s work yet to be done. We, and our children after us, must do it….

God our Eternal Father will watch over this nation and all of the civilized world who look to Him. He has declared, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord” (Ps. 33:12). Our safety lies in repentance. Our strength comes of obedience to the commandments of God….

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Are these perilous times? They are. But there is no need to fear. We can have peace in our hearts and peace in our homes. We can be an influence for good in this world, every one of us.

He told us repeatedly that even though there is political and economic turmoil in the world at large, we should rejoice because of how the Gospel is spreading and how medicine and technology are improving every day--in other words, how God is pouring out blessings for humankind. It is a message that is reiterated in General Conference as recently as last October, and it is a message that needs to be heard more than ever today.

President Hinckley urged Latter-day Saints to remember the Savior, Jesus Christ, who said on multiple occasions to the followers in His day, “Fear not.”

Things Will Work Out

It isn't as bad as you sometimes think it is. It all works out. Don't worry. I say that to myself every morning. It all works out in the end. Put your trust in God, and move forward with faith and confidence in the future. The Lord will not forsake us. He will not forsake us. If we will put our trust in Him, if we will pray to Him, if we will live worthy of His blessings, He will hear our prayers.

(Quote pulled from Positive Thinkers Journal)

I was in the middle of a personal crisis in late January of 2008. One Sunday night, I asked my dad for a priesthood blessing. He was in the middle of giving it when the phone rang. My mom got up to answer it. When Dad had finished blessing me, Mom told us that the call was from our grandma up in Utah. President Hinckley had passed away.

President Hinckley "knights" President Eyring after his promotion to the First Presidency, about ten years ago. From an article written shortly after President Hinckley's death
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I was kind of stunned by the news. Stunned enough that the next day at school I was too dazed to pay much attention to my thorn in the flesh. Sadly, I wasn’t one of those cool teenagers who had a cell phone with a texting plan and I never got the memo that said wear your church clothes to school in honor of President Hinckley.

I was still working on getting my drivers’ license at the time and that Saturday I drove on Interstate 10 for the first time when I went out to help Dad with some errands. In the afternoon we went home and watched President Hinckley’s funeral over the computer.

Even after his passing, he made a big impact on my life. That fall, due to my increasing personal stress, I moved to Arizona to attend school for a year at Snowflake High School. My art teacher there had one of President Hinckley’s quotes on optimism on his desk. But I kind of didn’t believe in it. Optimism hadn’t fixed my social situation back in Texas.

Aggieland Mormons via Pinterest

Then in April of 2009 I went to Disneyland for the first time. Sure, it’s the happiest place on earth, but there were some stressful moments on that trip. Like how I started my period when we pulled over for a break in Flagstaff and I didn’t have any feminine supplies. And then my friends and I were running late to an event with our group and we had to almost run all the way from one side of California Adventure to backstage at Disneyland. And then the morning of the second day I woke up and threw up.

The second night for some reason I didn’t want to ride on Space Mountain. What was more, I made a fool of myself by talking my friends out of not going because we were trying our best to stay together in groups. I felt really bad afterward, and to this day I think it would’ve been smarter to just go on the ride with my friends even if I didn’t want to.

But if we had gone on Space Mountain, we would never have emerged onto the main square at Disneyland right in time for the most amazing fireworks display I had ever seen. Fireworks so big and bright that they made it look like daytime.

Disneyland

When I look back on that trip, I think of everything that went right: the nice hotel we stayed in, riding The Matterhorn and Pirates of the Caribbean twice each, the Aladdin musical, goofing off with my friends, and going to the beach before we headed back to Arizona.

And the fireworks. Especially the fireworks.

And I think of President Hinckley.  Things did work out. Some things went wrong and some things were less than perfect, but the way everything went, it went for the better.

Looking back at my life, things did go wrong, but they also did work out in the end. Leaving the only school I had known was a disappointment, but going to Snowflake for a year was one of the best things that ever happened to me. And then having to leave Arizona and go back to Texas to finish my senior year was the worst, but it wasn’t really so bad. And I was rewarded with tenfold blessings when I got to BYU.

President Hinckley was, in fact, right when he said that things do work out for the better. So I can have the faith that, no matter what bad things I’m going through right now, or will have to go through in the future, someday I will reach a better place, and I will be able to look back and see that everything that I went through happened for a reason.