Thursday, October 1, 2015

334: PRIDE: THE APPEARANCE OF GREATNESS


new world's record was set in Salt Lake City for the most people dressed up in costume in a single location. No it wasn't at LDS General Conference, it was the fans of super heroes and comic books who enjoyed parading around in costume as they attended the wildly popular Comic Convention (ComicCon) last week.

During my lunch break I snapped a few photos of some of the people entering the convention.

Photo taken on September 25, 2015 of Comic Con attendee dressed up as Superman.
 
 
It is human nature to want to appear to be somebody more important than we really are. Many have a need for attention, some want validation, and others desire to be liked and popular. Most of us want to be accepted and needed.
 
It is not always necessary to "dress up" to look important, some use their verbal or written skills to use words in such a way as to impress others. People claim to be something more than they really are using their words. They exaggerate and inflate reality. Especially in this age of social media,  how we speak and what we write can have a profound impact on others. We can use words to influence and persuade others. We can easily deceive others if we want. Those who do so usually desire a following. They want to be "super" in the eyes of others.
 
I am currently reading a book and come across the following sentence, "When a man declares God's truth, immediately two others will imitate it, four will contradict it and dozens will deny it."   When one is asked to preserve the truth, few will hijack the effort and want imitate that truth and in doing so they set themselves up as a light. Others will counter the truth and teach their own doctrine. However, most will just deny the truth.
 
In the Garden of Eden, Lucifer used words to influence Adam and Eve. In the traditional narrative, Lucifer told Eve that she must partake of the fruit in order to become as the Gods knowing Good and Evil. He said there was no other way. In my opinion, Lucifer spoke truth, but he was hijacking God's timeline.  God told Adam and Eve that He would give them further instructions on how to proceed while in the Garden. However, Adam and Eve did not wait. Satan caused Eve to partake prematurely (i.e. enter into the "pass" too soon).  People who prematurely do things out of season usually experience "bitterness" or hardship.  Fruit is bitter when it is not ripe yet. If only we can be patient and wait upon the Lord. This is His Work and His Glory. If we do things out of order or before it is time, (even if we have good intentions) we might be doing things contrary to the Lord will and His timetable.
 
We need to remember and preserve all the light and knowledge we have received through the Restoration from the hands of the Prophet Joseph Smith. We need to live a life of faith and repentance that conforms to what Joseph was trying to restore so that the Lord can move forward the unfinished work of the Restoration. This is important so angels may take notice of us so that we may receive what we never actually got from Joseph since he was taken before it could all be given. Until we have first remembered and straightened out what it was that came to us through Joseph, we have no business going out in zeal. It is arrogant to reclaim things that have never been given to us personally yet. We need patience. If we act in haste, we will be muddying the water. Religious enthusiasm or religious fanaticism will never catch fish. A fisherman patiently waits on the shore to catch a fish. If the zealous and eager jump into the water prematurely with their nets, they will only cause the fish to flee and stir up the water.

Heaven help us to be patient, to wait upon the Lord and not try to appear greater than we are. It is His work and His Glory, not ours.

9 comments:

Sally said...

Yes!!!

hilda said...

Ironically, what we were meant to do is get the record we have, to the Lamanite Remnant, as the Book of Mormon says.

Sadly it has become an outdated concept. We believe nothing of the Lamanite Remnant who are somewhere in need of our Enos-like prayers so that we may get them the records. Thats what the title page in the BoM says. But the LDS church as the others associated with the BoM, have turned the BoM into something all about themselves, or ourselves. Grave error.

We even have well intentioned folks calling THEMSELVES the Remnant, but they are Gentiles. The BoM was written to the Remnant by way of the Gentiles. Not the other way around!!!!

Enos and the others prayed and wrote everything with the Remnant of their people in mind. We have totally forgotten that.

No wonder angels have disappeared. And the miracles.

BARE RECORD OF TRUTH said...

Thank you Hilda.
I think those "well intentional folks" maybe should consider using other names to call themselves instead of The Remnant. Maybe like "Repenting Gentiles"?

Two Cents said...

I find it interesting that many, doing what they think is best, often can agree on the problem, but never can come to a united solution. We can see the weirdo's at comic-con and chuckle at their extravagance, but this new revival of spiritualism, separating from the pack of traditional mormonism, also produces "comic-con" characters just the same. They gather together, converse on the latest complaint or mistake, but offer little knowledge to fill the deficit they discovered.

What would seem to be a breath of fresh air would be someone offering "instruction." I see the gospel as the source of instructions, if we can discipline ourselves to not see through traditional eyes, and let God share His mind on the subject.

What a different gathering we could have if there was thorough instruction, that somehow fit with all the doctrine, apart from someone's marketing advantage.

My Two Cents, anyway.

BARE RECORD OF TRUTH said...

Your comment is worth more than 2 cents. Thanks for sharing.

Steve said...

"However, Adam and Eve did not wait. Satan caused Eve to partake prematurely (i.e. enter into the "pass" too soon). People who prematurely do things out of season usually experience "bitterness" or hardship. Fruit is bitter when it is not ripe yet."

Odd it is that Adam and Eve apparently did not perceive the bitterness in the fruit. Was the fruit then mature?

Looking up bitter in the Book of Mormon, we see the (presumably wild) fruit which was bitter in Jacob 5.

And in 2 Ne. 2:15 we read: "... it must needs be that there was an opposition; even the forbidden fruit in opposition to the tree of life; the one being sweet and the other bitter." So was the forbidden fruit bitter or sweet? Because we read in 1 Nephi 8: "And it came to pass that I did go forth and partake of the fruit thereof; and I beheld that it was most sweet, above all that I ever before tasted. Yea, and I beheld that the fruit thereof was white, to exceed all the whiteness that I had ever seen."

Surely there is a great mystery here.

Steve

Steve said...

Thanks so much for your posts.

Steve said...

Following

Sisteroldmacdonald said...

Sweet fruit [delicious to the taste and very desirable] that turns bitter in the mouth. After taste.