Classic and clean

Time for another email!!

To be honest, this past week has been long. I've been under a load and I've learned a few things, so I've got some thoughts to share.

1. Keeping the commandments are more important than having a good attitude. Fix your life, then enjoy the blessings of peace.

2. The first vision is extremely doctrinaly correct. At the time of Joseph Smith, Catholic and Protestantistic ideas and theology was the standard of truth. All they knew about God was he was a force of nature without body parts or passion, without form and without understanding. This was likely what the boy prophet was thinking when he went seeking answers. If he went out of the forest that day saying God the Father spoke to him, and answered his questions it would immediately be accounted for false doctrine. Among those who spend any reasonable time studying the Bible, or really any standard work, we know that Jesus christ is the Mediator. He is the one who answers our prayers, and whom we receive direction. That's part of what a mediator does. The fact that he came out and said that there were two persons and Jesus was the one who answered his question, is completely doctrinaly sound.

Those are a couple things you can munch on for now I guess. I've learned them in a practical sense this week and I'm grateful for it. I love my savior and how much sense his gospel makes. He is not a God of mystery, he is not a God of hatred. His ways are mysterious, but that word must be understood correctly. It's not that he is trying to be difficult here, we are the ones who go around trying to do things the hard way. Asking for things at no cost to us. Asking for faith without thinking of the trials needed to acquire such faith. In our limited scope, we do not see that the result of our behavior will not be meeting our needs over time, God can see it, he has all time and all things before him, do you think he might have a good idea about what things you can do to be happy? He definitely can.

Well we've got lightning storms right now, which is really rare here actually. I'm going to go back to watching them for the next bit till we got to leave. 

See you next week!