An Answer to Every Question

I was reading in last December's Ensign and I found an article that I thought was interesting. The title is what caught my attention, An Answer for Every "What If".  It appealed to my desire for some universal statement that can cover all sorts of situations, and it certainly started to. The author uses the Atonement to answer questions about "what if [something bad] happened?" The Atonement of Jesus Christ is the most amazing and powerful event that has ever happened on this planet, and it covers every injustice and injury possible. The Atonement can, if you let it, answer every "why me?" or "what if...?" question bringing you down.

He will fix all injustices and uncertainties

However, there are also other questions we might have. We might not understand the "Why...?" or the "How...?" or any number of things. This is a fine place to be! Having a question is part of the process of gaining knowledge. If we have a question, asking an authority will get us the answer. For instance, if we want to know the amount $100 from today would be equivalent in 1801 we could ask a data-bank instead of asking a stranger or somebody not trained to know the answer. Questions are best answered from a trustworthy source. However, all human based information has the potential for error. Representatives might be biased towards their company, any human can make a mistake, and even data-banks could have erroneous information. I sometimes wonder, where can we go to find a trustworthy source?

This is something that I, as a stranger (or even if you actually know me) on the other side of the Internet, cannot answer definitively for you. You are currently reading the words of a representative of my church, and I said earlier that representatives might be biased. This is why I put so much emphasis on reading the Book of Mormon and praying to know if it's true. While I cannot give you perfect knowledge, the Holy Ghost can and will. Moroni teaches this very principle; in Moroni 10:3-5 he exhorts everybody to ask to receive knowledge (I talked about these scriptures in a series of posts a while back). I especially like the shortest of those three verses: "And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things." If there is anybody you can trust, it is God, who speaks through the Holy Ghost. He is the most trustworthy source of information possible, and if you sincerely desire, also the most available source. So, give it a try! What is there to lose (besides some time)? Or, more importantly, what is there to gain (measureless joy in this life and the next)?

Canon and Zombies and Scripture

Another zombie, with a different
requirement for destruction

A little while ago, another online missionary (which means he also has a blog and a Facebook) wrote a post about zombies that I highly recommend reading, especially if you are a well cultured and interesting person. After reading that (or before) I'd invite you to go about halfway down the post and read something he said: "There's two ways to kill a zombie: Crush the body or remove the head. It's as simple as that." The purpose of today is to expound on this statement, and perhaps why it's not quite as simple as that.

The simple reason it's not so simple can be summed up with the word "canon." In fiction, the canon is the official rules, occurrences, people, and facts of the related works. So, when Elder Whitlock referred to the two ways to kill a zombie, he was drawing from a certain canon wherein the rules were as such. On the other hand, I normally draw my zombie canon from the works of Max Brooks, which includes the Zombie Survival Guide. This work of fiction (we hope) has extensive details into the hows and whys of zombies, and I personally think it is a great read. However, the canon for this book is that the only way to kill a zombie is to destroy the brain (if the head is simply removed, it can still bite). This is a clear and obvious difference of opinion, which can easily be resolved by saying the canon is different and going our different ways. That is perfectly fine in the world of fiction. This is not quite as easy to say in the world of religion.

Canon is classically used to describe what is official in a church (be it Catholic, Ecclesiastic, and sometimes Mormon). This extends to the holy scriptures; what is canon is accepted as truth, while what is not canon just doesn't carry the same weight. What do Mormons consider canon? The simple answer can be found in the Articles of Faith numbers 8 and 9, which I'll summarize here: the Book of Mormon, the Bible (correctly translated), and the continuous revelation given by God's prophets are canon. We believe in an open canon, not confined to the pages of books written in the past, just as the Apostles of old and the original Christians did (if they didn't, where did the New Testament come from?). I testify to you, humble reader, that this canon, and the Church it supports, has blessed my life and will bless yours. As I've suggested before, give it a read and try it out yourself.

The Choice of Faith

The topic on my mind lately has been an interesting one, and something that I think is rather difficult to talk about. It has to do with the thought "how do I know I'm right?" It stems from my natural tendency towards skepticism. When new information is presented to me, I first disbelieve it before accepting it. If I have a new idea, I second guess myself. If I see new research, I feel like it will be a while before it's useful. If I hear a conspiracy theory, I'll doubt it. And yet I present myself before the world, saying that I know the Book of Mormon is true. This brings us back to the previous question: "how do I know I'm right?"

Questions. I have a few.
But I don't let that stop me.

The skeptic in me would like to say that nobody can truly know of personal correctness. However, then I would dwell in an unfortunate state of not knowing what to trust, and that is not acceptable to me. The truth is, having faith is a choice, just as not having faith is a choice. This I can do. I can choose which influences that I receive, either internal (my thoughts, my doubts, my conclusions) or external (what I read, what I hear, what I feel), and I can choose which ones can convince me. I have chosen to place the highest priority on the spiritual witness I have received, or the powerful feelings of peace, joy, and certainty that I receive from following through with my responsibilities in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Because I've given these experiences priority, I don't let other things (such as controversial history, angry shouts, or moments of confusion) have an effect on me. Even my existential doubts have lower priority.

I have sometimes wondered that maybe I'm "drinking the Kool-Aid," or blindly following something I haven't completely proven to myself. If the fact that I choose in this world to trust something I've never seen before seems weird to you, I invite you to to consider the following. Consider the happiness that I enjoy when I think about Christ and His church on the earth today. Consider how you feel right now. If I, with all my skepticism and worry that I might be wrong, can say that this is true, that I have received more joy from following the principles and ordinances of the gospel, and that I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is God's kingdom restored on the earth, what is to stop you? Do you want to have joy? I know you can overcome your doubts, your questions, your angst. I know because I have felt the Holy Ghost testify to me of truth and I have chosen to listen, and I have overcome my doubts, my questions, and my angst. The Bible says "by their fruits ye shall know them" (Matthew 7:16,20). Well, this joy and peace is mine.

What I Am Thankful For: Big Things

This last week (since Tuesday, up to Today) I've been saying things I'm grateful for. I've mentioned silly things, such as celery, and serious things, such as modern technology. I am thankful for each of the things I've mentioned, as well as many other things, but today I'd like to be thankful for the truly life changing things that come from my membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

I am thankful for the prophet Joseph Smith Jr. I am grateful for the faith and endurance that he showed and that God used to restore the true church again on the earth. I am also grateful for the early Church members, that suffered at the hands of others and that endured anyway and so built the foundation for the Church that I am a member of. I am grateful for the prophets and leaders that have since led us under Christ's direction. I am grateful for the history that has led up to me being here today.

I am grateful for the truths that I know. I am grateful for the revelations given to the living prophets and prophets of the past that help me understand my place in the universe, and tell me how I can best fulfill my purpose in life. I'm grateful for the knowledge of what my purpose in life is, and that it is good! I'm grateful for a religion that makes logical sense as well as spiritual sense.

I am grateful for a Brother that loves me perfectly. I am grateful that I have the opportunity to follow Him, and that He has opened a way that I can return to Heavenly Father. In the end, this is the truest thing to be grateful for. This I know, that I am eternally grateful to Christ for his infinite atonement. I hope you want to feel this joy as much as I love feeling it, and that you'll give the gospel, which has brought me so much joy, a chance in your life. Talk with missionaries, and start an amazing change in your life!

Try the links I've included. Most will take you to a place that will explain my word choice. Also, Mormon.org is a great website for explaining mormon related questions!

Euler's Identity

Screen cap of the Identity,
by way of WolframAlpha

If you were to name the single most beautiful equation, what would you say? Would you say the first thing to come into your mind, such as 2+2=4? Something a bit more complex but still conceivable, such as the Pythagorean Theorem? Or would you agree with the readers of The Mathematical Intelligencer and name Euler's Identity as number one?

So, what is Euler's Identity if it's so great? Simple explanation, check Wikipedia. It is based off of Euler's Theorem, and combines 5 amazing numbers, as explained in the article. I've seen the proof, yet it still boggles my mind a little bit to think that numbers as hard to understand as e and π could be reconciled into a simple, logical number, let alone throwing i into the mix. Despite the difficulty of fully understanding this concept, I still hold it as a fact and I think that this is a wonderful example of math working despite our lack of knowledge of how it works.

I've mentioned this idea of knowledge based on faith before. Just as I have seen the proof of this identity and can tell you that it is good, I've tested The Book of Mormon and can tell you it is true. You need to do this for yourself, since that is the only sure way you can learn of the truth. You will discover a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and learn that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the restored church on the earth. You have my testimony before you, and now you need to test it out for yourself.

Faith and Knowledge

I consider myself relatively well educated. I enjoyed learning, be it from books or from experiments. One of my early goals in life was to read every book in the non-fiction section of the library. I did not accomplish this goal, but I did learn much including the fact that most books on the same subject hold the same information (there's only so many ways you can say that sharks are endangered or what the boiling point of water is). Almost all the things I learned, however, I had to take in faith. I have never touched the sun, but I can read that the surface temperature is around 5500°C. How can I learn this if I've never seen the test done? By trusting that the scientists who have done it wouldn't lie to the world. Furthering this dilemma, how can those scientists know that the test was successful? It's not as if they can verify it completely without a bit of doubt. They can only repeat the test enough times that the law of large numbers comes into effect. This is the way science works, because otherwise it would only be guessing perpetually without any facts to build and work on.

Many people partially apply principles of science to religion. They want some sort of proof, be it a sign or evidence in the world that there is a god, just like scientists are required to cite their reproducible experiments. A common response is that "all things denote there is a God" (Alma 30:44) but this is not good enough for them. They want a proof that these things denote God, or some thing they can test themselves. This is where they tend to stop applying science, giving up on understanding instead of finding a test they can do. They then hide behind the idea of science, when they haven't even followed through! This frustrates me to no end.

Gravity in action.

For example, do you know exactly why gravity works? You can research and learn from experts and get a good idea, but you can't do the same experiments unless you have the same equipment laying about (one test included 4 atomic clocks on 2 plane rides. Another measured Mercury's apparent shift in orbit by a few inches). You can do simple tests, such as dropping a tennis ball and a bowling ball, and find the results are consistent with the experts' opinions, but rarely will you be able to do the same tests. Since you are being a scientist, you accept this limitation and use the experts' published facts.

The same should be done with religion. You can research from the experts by reading scriptures and modern-day revelation, understanding what it is about and how you can apply it to your life, but you won't have the same experiences since you probably don't have the full measure of faith or responsibility they have. You can, however, try out the simple tests that are available to you and decide based on your personal results what to believe. Just as you wouldn't say gravity is a lie because you don't know the full truth, the same should be true of religion. And just as you can know for yourself if gravity affects your daily life, the same happens to be true of religion. So, are you going to be a scientist to the end and base your opinions on your results, or hide behind somebody's opinion instead of forming your own?

Opinions and Truths

How many buttons? More than an Xbox.

One of the first things you should know about me is that I love computer games. I also enjoy other video games, but they never give the same amount of control as a computer. Two joysticks are simply not as good as a mouse and wasd, and a keyboard has so many more inputs than any controller I've ever seen; just look at it! I'm not here to step on anybody's preferences, since opinions are diverse and we are all free to have them. I know some love the two joysticks and the finesse they give, and there are many other ways to play. I can't say I've tried every game and every way to play it, but I do know what I like and you'll have a hard time convincing me to change just by listing the merits of one way or another. I will admit that I could be convinced if I was given the chance to learn and try out a different method for long enough. It's just an opinion, I can change all the time.

On the other hand, I find it hard to choose a favorite movie or a favorite game. I see a movie or play a game, and I can enjoy it quite thoroughly. However, I have learned how to analyze my entertainment with a different eye and I can find flaws in almost everything I enjoy. As such, I hesitate to call a certain movie or game my favorite because I can see its flaws and I don't want somebody to associate the flaws with what I like. I have decided certain movies are high quality, such as Toy Story (1-3) and Serenity, but these choices are conscious decisions based partly on nostalgia and a love of the genre. This means they might have less weight on you, but I have the right to base my opinion on whatever I want. Of course, if you don't like sci-fi you probably won't even give Serenity a chance, but that's okay. It's just an opinion, and it doesn't have to be based on anything.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ, however, is not an opinion to me. It is a matter of truth, even of absolute truth. Unlike how to play a game, it is true for all people of all situations, times and circumstances. Unlike a favorite movie, it doesn't matter if you like the genre or if you've studied out every little flaw and defect. I did not come to this knowledge because of lengthy testing to see if I like it more than others. I did not choose based on studying it and reasoning that it is the best. I know of this truth because I followed a simple test and found the result to be positive. Trying out a different one will not change my mind. Reasoning against me will only frustrate one of us. Likewise, ignoring me will only harm one of us. Indeed, part of knowing this truth is that you need it as well. You need the truth that can only be found in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You have your agency to choose, but I know that the result of your choice is simple: "liberty and eternal life... or... captivity and death" (2 Nephi 2:27). Please, choose liberty and start by giving the Book of Mormon a chance.