Friday, December 19, 2014

Free Agency and the Problem of Evil

I was thinking this morning about the elect of God and how some denominations believe that the elect are chosen. You can't blame them for that because the scriptures appear to teach it. But that would invalidate their free agency. A husband might say the he chose his wife, but we know it's more involved than that if only because the wife has a choice too. In the same way, God does not force some to be saved and prevent others from being saved. He would love for all of us to be saved. But we choose for ourselves whether salvation is something we want.

While pondering that, I realized that free agency solves the problem of evil. God didn't create good spirits and bad spirits. He created innocent spirits with the gift of agency. Using that agency, some made choices that corrupted them while others made choices that purified them.

Friday, December 12, 2014

Robes Washed White in the Blood of the Lamb

These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. - Revelation 7:14
And no unclean thing can enter into his kingdom; therefore nothing entereth into his rest save it be those who have washed their garments in my blood, because of their faith, and the repentance of all their sins, and their faithfulness unto the end. - 3 Nephi 27:19
I want to repent of all my sins. I want to be clean. I have no egregious sins, but I have plenty of small ones.

How do I do this? The hardest part seems to be identifying the small sins.

My wife and I have been holding a daily contest for almost two weeks now to see who can say the least number of negative things. I have learned that it takes a lot of time and work to overcome small weaknesses.

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Passion

On one of our first dates, my wife asked me, "What are you passionate about?" I responded by saying, "Nothing." She didn't like that answer. I've had to defend my stance ever since.

Passion used to have a negative connotation for me. I associated it with dogma, ignorance, and intolerance. Passion was the the only thing that the far right, the far left, and the Middle East had in common. Even the scriptures counseled us to "bridle all [our] passions."

I'm a little wiser now. I see that passion can also be good. I feel passionately about God, Jesus Christ, and my family. I have a passion for truth, excellence, justice, and mercy.