184: A DESCRIPTION OF THE LORD

We are approaching the Summer Solstice in a few days, as mentioned in the previous post.  It is a good today to draw closer to Heaven.  It is a good day to ascend. The word ASCEND derives  from ad- "to" + scandere "to climb". Ascend literally means “to climb”. It also means “to rise, to proceed from an inferior to a superior degree; to move upwards; to mount; to go up; 

The legacy that Joseph Smith left is a drive for knowledge, to ascend. He taught the importance of seeking after knowledge…seeking after the mysteries of God…seeking after the things of heaven. Joseph Smith taught the importance of the ascent through the heavens back to the presence of the Father. This is a spiral ascend upward. It is a belief that man can become a God. “As man is now, God once was. And as God is now, man may become.” Eternal progression is what it is all about, which is man's destiny is to become like God. It is the process of ASCENDING.

 

Below are some thoughts that were shared with me.

There are two statements that are repeated in scripture that describe the Lord. (Three times in the Book of Mormon and also in the Doctrine and Covenants,) This two part description says that "His paths are straight and His course is One Eternal Round." 

"For God doth not walk in crooked paths,

neither doth he turn to the right hand nor to the left,

neither doth he vary from that which he hath said,

therefore his paths are straight,

and his course is one eternal round."

Doctrine and Covenants 3:2

Two different things are being described,  His path and His course. It is not the same thing. The path is Him. The path is what He is. The path is straight. If He were not to fulfill everything that He says, then he would deviate from his path. Whatever He takes into his heart to do or to say, that is what he does, that is why his words are endless, and His path is straight, that is why he can not deviate from it.

 

His course is the One Eternal Round. His course is what we are on. In other words, his curriculum, his manner of teaching.. is one Eternal Round. That is why He can be straight, but the course that we take is one eternal round. And the reason why it is one eternal round is because … if you are going to ascend the mountain,.. not by walking straight up.. but go back and forth and back and forth.. in order to reach up. And that process requires cycles of upward movement in incrementally stage by stage. We move by degrees and increments. We are invited to walk in the path, but the way that we get to his path for us , is by following or taking the course that He offers. The course does narrow the higher you get.

 

 

 

Furthermore, we read another description of the Lord. Neither does the Lord  have a shadow…of turning to the right or the left.

"neither doth he vary from that which he hath said;

neither hath he a shadow of turning from the right to the left,

or from that which is right to that which is wrong;

therefore, his course is one eternal round."

Alma 7:20

Imagine yourself perpendicular to the sun, on the longest day of the year, standing at the equator. With the Sun directly overhead, there is no shadow except beneath your feet. There is none. Likewise, the Lord and His path is so reliable that he doesn’t even cast a shadow by leaning to the right or to the left.  There is no shadow between him and being true to the path itself.  He doesn’t cast a shadow,.. neither hath he a shadow of turning from the right to the left, or from that which is right to that which is wrong; therefore, because that is who He is… his course is one eternal round. And that is what we do… And we are expected to improve, and increase and grow incrementally… but like what Joseph said,… it will a great while after we have departed from this world before we will have learned all you need to learn in order to know enough to be saved and know enough ultimately to be exalted.. because that course it just continues.