The Prophet Joseph Smith, and his brother the Patriarch Hyrum Smith, were murdered 175 years ago today. I wanted to take a break from posting about the Lectures on Faith to take note of their passing, and to recognize some of the potential symbolism to be found in Joseph's life specifically.
Joseph's life began on an auspicious day: December 23rd, 1805, the day after the Winter Solstice. On that date, the light of day was just beginning to grow again after the longest night of the year. Likewise, thanks to the sacrifice and effort on Joseph's part, the Light of Heaven began to return to a darkened world once again.
However, it only began to return.
Joseph's life also ended on an interesting day: June 27th, 1844, six days after the Summer Solstice. On this date, after the day had reached its greatest level of light in the year, the night had increased in length for six days. Likewise, after so much of the Light of Heaven had been returned to the Earth (a Fullness of the Gospel, in fact), a conspiracy among defectors from the Light grew in strength until it snuffed out two great men: Joseph Smith, a Prophet, Seer, and Revelator; and Hyrum Smith, the Patriarch (and by definition, the head of God's Household here on Earth).
It seems to me that, if Joseph's birth was prophetic--and, through hindsight, it appears that it was--his death could likewise be prophetic. And after looking at 175 years of history, and almost 120 different splinter groups and organizations scattered across the globe (some of which only lasted a few years before collapsing), it seems as though we the Church (as defined by the Lord in D&C 10: 67) are no closer to Zion than we were before Joseph and Hyrum Smith were murdered.
Why is that? Is there anything these men taught, that has since been forgotten? If we remembered what they taught, would we get that much closer to Zion?
Your thoughts?
Thursday, June 27, 2019
Sunday, June 16, 2019
Lectures on Faith 1: 10-11
Intro | Preface
Lecture 1: 1 | 2-9 | 10-11 | 12-17 | 18-24
To summarize, we've unpacked the first nine verses of the first Lecture, and discussed 1) the purpose of the lectures, 2) the importance of understanding faith, and 3) the definition of faith. This one will cover how often faith is used in our lives.
Continuing from verse 10:
"If men were to duly consider themselves, and turn their thoughts and reflections to the operations of their own minds, they would readily discover that it is faith, and faith only, which is the moving cause of all action, in them; that without it, both mind and body would be in a state of inactivity, and all their exertions would cease, both physical and mental."
In essence: Think about it. Think about everything you do. How does your mind operate? Or, how do you think, or feel, or act? If you properly and regularly (synonyms of "duly") consider how your actions, feelings, and thoughts occur, you would realize the source of each action is faith: believing something is available, desiring to have that thing, and acting in the way you believe will generate or lead you to that thing. If you didn't believe, desire, and act correctly, nothing would happen, and you would never exert yourself to do anything, physically or mentally.
Instead of assuming that faith is something exclusive to religion, Joseph here teaches that Faith, in fact, is a fundamental aspect of everything in life. He gives examples in the next verse:
"Were this class to go back and reflect upon the history of their lives, from the period of their first recollection, and ask themselves, what principle excited them to action, or what gave them energy and activity, in all their lawful avocations, callings and pursuits, what would be the answer?"
Again, really think about this: Beginning from the first thought you ever had and continuing down through to today, what is it that has moved you into action? What gave you the energy you needed to pursue your jobs, callings, hobbies, and dreams?
"Would it not be that it was the assurance which we had of the existence of things which we had not seen, as yet?—Was it not the hope which you had, in consequence of your belief in the existence of unseen things, which stimulated you to action and exertion, in order to obtain them?"
Could it be that you believed something existed which you didn't know existed? Once you believed, did you hope for and desire what you believed in? Did your belief and your desire drive you to act, and to put in the necessary effort to obtain what you believed in?
After all, "Are you not dependent on your faith, or belief, for the acquisition of all knowledge, wisdom and intelligence? Would you exert yourselves to obtain wisdom and intelligence, unless you did believe that you could obtain them?" (Lectures 1: 11) You must have believed you could learn something, and must have desired to learn, before you acted and learned it. As examples, Joseph asks: "Would you have ever sown if you had not believed that you would reap? Would you have ever planted if you had not believed that you would gather? Would you have ever asked unless you had believed that you would receive? Would you have ever sought unless you had believed that you would have found? Or would you have ever knocked unless you had believed that it would have been opened unto you?"
For a farming community, the crops were vital; if the seeds didn't grow, food would be much harder to come by, especially in the winter. So what farmer would plant crops which he didn't believe would grow? If he had a doubt about that, he probably would have sought after better seeds to plant instead. In fact, why would he go looking for seed? Because he believed better seeds were out there, available somewhere, and because he desired them enough to act in searching for them. To compare this to today:
Why do people apply for jobs?
Why do people work?
Why do people type words or phrases into web browsers?
Why do people sell their phones and by newer phones?
Why do people eat kale?
In each case, they do this because they believe doing so will give them something they don't currently have (a job, money, answers, envy and popularity, and health, respectively), and act in accordance with that belief. "If you build it, they will come," but you'll never know if they come if you don't build it.
"In a word, is there any thing that you would have done, either physical or mental, if you had not previously believed? Are not all your exertions, of every kind, dependent on your faith? Or may we not ask, what have you, or what do you possess, which you have not obtained by reason of your faith? Your food, your raiment, your lodgings, are they not all by reason of your faith? Reflect, and ask yourselves, if these things are not so. Turn your thoughts on your own minds, and see if faith is not the moving cause of all action in yourselves; and if the moving cause in you, is it not in all other intelligent beings?"
I realize I'm being repetitive in an already repetitive lecture, but this seemed to be important enough to Joseph that he wanted to make this subject absolutely clear: Everything you have, everything you do, everything you think depends on you having faith in something. You have faith in your job, so you stay and work; you have faith that grocery stores have the food you need, so you get in your car, turn the key (which you have faith will start the car), and drive there. You even have faith that the grocery store is still there! You don't technically know whether it's still there, or whether it got sold to another company and is becoming a different store, or even if some disaster occurred and the store has closed its doors for good. None of this is known (the job providing money, the car starting, or the store existing) until you act. And as we'll see in the later Lectures, that knowledge is exactly what such faith is intended to produce.
These examples of faith only discuss the applications of faith in physical or mortal matters, which are plentiful in their own right. In the next entry, it'll be shown how this faith extends into spiritual matters.
Lecture 1: 1 | 2-9 | 10-11 | 12-17 | 18-24
To summarize, we've unpacked the first nine verses of the first Lecture, and discussed 1) the purpose of the lectures, 2) the importance of understanding faith, and 3) the definition of faith. This one will cover how often faith is used in our lives.
Continuing from verse 10:
"If men were to duly consider themselves, and turn their thoughts and reflections to the operations of their own minds, they would readily discover that it is faith, and faith only, which is the moving cause of all action, in them; that without it, both mind and body would be in a state of inactivity, and all their exertions would cease, both physical and mental."
In essence: Think about it. Think about everything you do. How does your mind operate? Or, how do you think, or feel, or act? If you properly and regularly (synonyms of "duly") consider how your actions, feelings, and thoughts occur, you would realize the source of each action is faith: believing something is available, desiring to have that thing, and acting in the way you believe will generate or lead you to that thing. If you didn't believe, desire, and act correctly, nothing would happen, and you would never exert yourself to do anything, physically or mentally.
Instead of assuming that faith is something exclusive to religion, Joseph here teaches that Faith, in fact, is a fundamental aspect of everything in life. He gives examples in the next verse:
Again, really think about this: Beginning from the first thought you ever had and continuing down through to today, what is it that has moved you into action? What gave you the energy you needed to pursue your jobs, callings, hobbies, and dreams?
"Would it not be that it was the assurance which we had of the existence of things which we had not seen, as yet?—Was it not the hope which you had, in consequence of your belief in the existence of unseen things, which stimulated you to action and exertion, in order to obtain them?"
Could it be that you believed something existed which you didn't know existed? Once you believed, did you hope for and desire what you believed in? Did your belief and your desire drive you to act, and to put in the necessary effort to obtain what you believed in?
After all, "Are you not dependent on your faith, or belief, for the acquisition of all knowledge, wisdom and intelligence? Would you exert yourselves to obtain wisdom and intelligence, unless you did believe that you could obtain them?" (Lectures 1: 11) You must have believed you could learn something, and must have desired to learn, before you acted and learned it. As examples, Joseph asks: "Would you have ever sown if you had not believed that you would reap? Would you have ever planted if you had not believed that you would gather? Would you have ever asked unless you had believed that you would receive? Would you have ever sought unless you had believed that you would have found? Or would you have ever knocked unless you had believed that it would have been opened unto you?"
For a farming community, the crops were vital; if the seeds didn't grow, food would be much harder to come by, especially in the winter. So what farmer would plant crops which he didn't believe would grow? If he had a doubt about that, he probably would have sought after better seeds to plant instead. In fact, why would he go looking for seed? Because he believed better seeds were out there, available somewhere, and because he desired them enough to act in searching for them. To compare this to today:
Why do people apply for jobs?
Why do people work?
Why do people type words or phrases into web browsers?
Why do people sell their phones and by newer phones?
Why do people eat kale?
In each case, they do this because they believe doing so will give them something they don't currently have (a job, money, answers, envy and popularity, and health, respectively), and act in accordance with that belief. "If you build it, they will come," but you'll never know if they come if you don't build it.
"In a word, is there any thing that you would have done, either physical or mental, if you had not previously believed? Are not all your exertions, of every kind, dependent on your faith? Or may we not ask, what have you, or what do you possess, which you have not obtained by reason of your faith? Your food, your raiment, your lodgings, are they not all by reason of your faith? Reflect, and ask yourselves, if these things are not so. Turn your thoughts on your own minds, and see if faith is not the moving cause of all action in yourselves; and if the moving cause in you, is it not in all other intelligent beings?"
I realize I'm being repetitive in an already repetitive lecture, but this seemed to be important enough to Joseph that he wanted to make this subject absolutely clear: Everything you have, everything you do, everything you think depends on you having faith in something. You have faith in your job, so you stay and work; you have faith that grocery stores have the food you need, so you get in your car, turn the key (which you have faith will start the car), and drive there. You even have faith that the grocery store is still there! You don't technically know whether it's still there, or whether it got sold to another company and is becoming a different store, or even if some disaster occurred and the store has closed its doors for good. None of this is known (the job providing money, the car starting, or the store existing) until you act. And as we'll see in the later Lectures, that knowledge is exactly what such faith is intended to produce.
These examples of faith only discuss the applications of faith in physical or mortal matters, which are plentiful in their own right. In the next entry, it'll be shown how this faith extends into spiritual matters.
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