Intellectual disciples of the God of Abraham

I was asked to prepare some thoughts for a youth camp, discussing intellectual disciples. I put some thought into it, and although I was not able to attend the camp, I thought that I could at least share my thoughts on my blog so that, just maybe, some person will have some upliftment and draw closer to the God of Abraham as we strive to be His disciples.

Some of my study of Moses 5

I invite us all to prepare ourselves as disciples of Jesus Christ whom the Jews and Christians worship as Jehovah, Jesus Christ, Father God, Elohim, Lord, and various names, and whom the Muslims worship as Allah. I write using some scriptures, but the concepts apply to all and can be found in the Old and New Testaments, Torah, and Qur'an. The most important things that I share is that what I write is simply here as a guide to the reader to read his or her own scriptures, ponder how what they are reading applies to situations in their own lives, and then to ask God to guide them in applying what any scripture inspires us to do to change our lives and become more one with the God that Abraham followed.

• All that the Father hath shall be given unto you. D&C 84:38. My younger brother pointed out that this includes all intelligence, His creative priesthood power, glory - it sets a high target for us in this life! We need to prepare ourselves to become worthy to be trusted with that greatest of all powers. (See also scriptures under footnote b, e.g. Luke 12:44, John 17:11-24, Rev 21:7, Rev 78:5-7, 3 Ne 28:10, D&C 132:18-20).

• I looked at For the Strength of youth - if we follow these guidelines, we will have strength, and the aged folk like me can have strength like youth - well, a lot more than we would otherwise - if we follow these basic principles. 

• I would invite who reads this to share things from the FTSOY Guide that they have felt inspiring to help them to achieve greatness, and not just to be;

• Make inspired choices;

• Walk in God's light;

• Truth Will Make You Free;

• Find joy in Christ;

• Temple recommend questions for youth; Young Women Theme; Aaronic Priesthood Quorum Theme; The Ten Commandments;

• Index: Education, integrity.

• I looked at the Children and Youth: Introductory Guide

• Vision; Following the Saviour in All Areas of Your Life; Keep Moving Forward (Gospel learning, Service and Activities, Personal Development); What's Next? Start the conversation.

• Looking at the Youth Guidebook

• You Have a Purpose;

• You Are a Precious Child of God;

• You Can Follow the Saviour (Jesus grew in “wisdom.” You can study in school, learn new skills, and improve your talents);

• A Pattern for Growth (Discover, Plan, Act, Reflect);

• Get Started!

• Impressions and Ideas;

• Things To Remember;

• Ideas for Growing in All Areas of Life (Intellectual);

• Resources.

• I believe that the Lord probably does not see minimum wage earning as our potential. 

• He has provided so much guidance and opportunity to enhance education that I am confident that He would wants us to rise far above slavery. He would want us to rise and shine! But - if we were slaves, as were the children of Israel in Egypt, He would want us to be excellent slaves, having a godly walk and conversation, walking in holiness before Him (see D&C:20:68-69).

• We need not be hopelessly competing with thousands of other candidates for a minimum wage position. The Lord makes many resources available to us to help us to stand out among others - to be a light, like salt, like leaven in the loaf;

• The Lord expects us to make our desert blossom as a rose, to be a blessing in the nations, to eat our bread by the sweat of our face, to be fruitful, to multiply, to replenish the Earth, subdue the Earth, and to have dominion over the fish of the seas and the fowls of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth, and so many other challenges that suggest to me that we need to aspire for high goals;

• Our aspiring for higher is not for our own glory, but to add to Zion - our fruit is not for our glory, but to give glory to the true vine, and to seek for riches to help our fellowman. That is the consecration that we give in the Temple. I love how King Charles said in his coronation 'I am here to serve and not to be served'. That should be our intent, not to accumulate glory for ourselves, but to elevate all of His children to become closer to what He would have them become.

• Topics and Questions: Education

• Whether or not we pursue formal education, we need to rise far above just existing. We ought to act and not just be acted upon. 

• Members of the body of Christ are strongly encouraged, and it is made possible to receive a good education. We have to choose to obtain that education.

• That does not mean that everyone must be doctors or lawyers. As my mother often said, 'The world needs street sweepers. But, more importantly, the world needs excellent street sweepers.' I pondered this years later - what if everyone never littered? Then the Spirit pointed out that even if everyone was perfect and never littered, the trees would still drop their leaves and street sweepers would always have a place. If sweeping streets is your passion, then do it - excellently. You will not always remain at the lowest rank if you are excellent in what you do. 

• Choose your love, then love your choice. I suggest that this applies to your life mission as well as to your eternal pal and partner.

• My sister, a psychologist, shared with me a lot of information about Types and Temperaments. I was struck by the comment that in any school class anywhere in the world, there is likely to be a similar mix of the following temperament types: choleric, melancholic, phlegmatic and sanguine. 

• Temperament refers to behavioural style, the 'how' of behaviour. Personality describes 'what' a person does or 'why' they do things. Long recognized as different, researchers have investigated connections between the biological aspects of behaviour seen in temperament, vs. personality structure and development.

• You will have a basic type and temperament. But - as I went through it all, I wondered - 'Is Heavenly Father deficient in any type or temperament?' and I received the confirmation that He is not deficient, but has a wonderful balance of each.

• There is a place - and need - in the world for each type and temperament. Our goal should be to use our talents as best that we can, to multiply them, to magnify them, and to balance ourselves in them.

• The origin of the four personality types goes back to more than two thousand years. In ancient Greece, Hippocrates termed the types of personality after body fluids: choleric, melancholic, phlegmatic and sanguine.

• Think of the messages in the most recent General Conference - and in any General Conference - that encourage us to be more than the world would have us be. I think that just about every talk guides us to elevate ourselves higher than the norm.

• I have shared with a few people how I was once hearing a friend telling how much he was earning - about 4 times what I was earning! I felt sorry for myself, but I loved my work and I remained true and faithful to my employer, and ended up retiring with adequate while it appears that this friend cannot retire yet and will possibly not have as much as I do when he is no longer able to work. We need to seek to earn well, and then to make wise use of what we earn.

• Career Explorer For Teens — an online assessments that is personalised, and offers specific feedback on areas of improvement.

• Finding out your talents, aptitudes and Interests is very important in finding your best potential career, and then using every opportunity that is made available for you to develop those potentials and to use them to build Zion where you are.

In conclusion, I invite each reader to pray to the God of Abraham and ask if this - having all that the Father hath - is indeed your potential, and start now to build foundations on which to structure your life in order to reach that potential. Start today. The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is today! Please do not underachieve your eternal potential.

Sumerian tablets - are they in harmony with the writings of Abraham and Moses?

Some time ago, while working in the garden, I listened to something about Sumerian tablets. I had also listened to other reports about ancient civilizations and subjects. My thoughts were turned to my readings of the Bible, Qur'an, several of the works of Charles Darwin and other valuable and interesting books as I listened. I found a wonderful harmony between each of these - a reminder to me that there is one story of the creation and early history of man that has been passed on through generations in different groups of descendents of Adam and Eve who have changed the story according to their traditions and cultures. My impression was that there is a common thread in each of the accounts, and I can see the basic harmony with the account of the creation as told by Abraham who lived about 2000 years after the fall of Adam and the start of mortality. Abraham lived about 2000 years before Jesus Christ, and we live about 2000 years after Jesus Christ. Adam lived for nearly half of the time between Adam and Abraham, and many patriarchs who would have faithfully recounted the stories lived to ripe old ages and would have shared the more true accounts with their descendents who would listen. We are told in the Book of Moses that there was a book of remembrance kept in the language of Adam, so I am confident that there is a reliable source of the true story.

The world as a whole have the account of creation as given by Moses who lived about 500 years after Abraham. We know that Abraham had taught the Egyptians of the creation, history, astronomy, and versions of the same stories would have been recounted in all civilizations before and after the time of Abraham.

It is not surprising to me that there are many versions of the same story. If we look at our own history, there are many versions told in official sources and newspapers of the same events. There is a common element to each story, but each account differs. There are some fictional and non-fictional accounts including research tomes, historical novels, fantasies, and representations of facts that add embellishments to the simple stories. I would not be surprised of some of the differences in ancient records are similar in their telling about the stories.

There is one God who does know the actual facts, and each of us can look at whatever version of the story we have and ask that one God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, what we need to take from the account that we read in order to be faithful followers of His plan for us. He will help us to have insights to guide us in our individual understanding of the fundamental principles. It is not likely that He will give to each and every person an individual audience to hear the full story, especially if we fail to do what we can easily do to find what is readily available to us to read and ponder, then to pray for confirmation or guidance. 

We are able, particularly in the year 2020, to gain access to the alternative accounts of the story and not rely only on the one with which we grew up if there is more truth available. The interpretation of what we read is guided by the spirit of God with which each of us was born. The Spirit will guide the honest reader to the most reliable account of the story of the creation and the plan of life and salvation. If the reader lets God lead him or her to truth, God will lead, because He wants us to know Him. I was impressed that the Qur'an advises the reader to read the Torah - and I understand this advice because the Qur'an talks about Abraham, Adam, David, Aaron, Noah, Solomon, Jesus, Mary, John, Zechariah, and other biblical characters, but does not give as much detail as is in the Old Testament and New Testament.

I have conducted the experiment that millions have conducted and I have come to know God. I have studied the Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon, the Pearl of Great Price containing the books of Abraham and Moses, Doctrine and Covenants and other words of modern representatives of that God who spoke to man from the days of Adam and continues to do so today. I have learned about these scriptures, and have come to know them rather than simply knowing about them. I have come to know God rather than simply knowing about Him. 

I have come to know personally that, if any person will do the will of the Father, she or he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or if they are simply the stories of men. I have knocked and the door has been opened. I have done my seeking and I have found. I have asked and I have received. I know you can too.

Let Him In

I have come to know that simply being exposed to facts does not make the difference. The children of Israel personally experienced the sea parting and themselves walking on dry ground, they saw the pillar of fire and the cloud, they were eating the manna, and yet they hankered for the flesh pots of Egypt because they were not switched on to trying to do the will of Jehovah. Laman and Lemuel had seen an angel, felt the shock when Nephi touched them, but were failing to do the will of the Father and just said that God did not make such things known to them. The citizens of Jerusalem saw Jesus of Nazareth, but some cried out 'Crucify him!' while others followed Him.

There is an abundance of fascinating information available, like decoding the Exodus, and other speculations and deductions relating to the stories told in the Old Testament. I have been edified considering many descriptions given by people of their research into these ancient events and accounts. 

The main thing is to go to the source of the scriptures - if they are true, as I am confident that they are - then there is a Heavenly Father who loves His children and will want to manifest Himself to those who diligently seek Him. But it does not help drinking from the water downstream after many people have paddled and done other unmentionable things in the water before it reaches you when the God who revealed His word is waiting to speak directly to and guide you and you can enjoy the perfect living water right at its source.

Remember what you know before just believing what others tell you ...

I was given a lot to think about when my brother Tim posted something on Facebook on 12 Nov 2018.

 

I see the image may not display because it contained text. It was the great pyramid with its geographical coordinates. I am trying again, this time with a cropped picture as well...

It gives:
Speed of light: 299 792 458 m/2
Coordinates of the Great Pyramid of Giza 29.9792458°N
COINCIDENCE?
His comment was 'Not in billions of years is this by chance........'

I posted the comment:

That depends... The pyramid spans about 29.97817°N to 29.98019°N, One of about 20200 points with 7 decimal place, each about 7 mm apart, along the approximately 150 m stretch from the northern to southern edges of the pyramid is indeed 29.9792458°N. That point is about 10758 out of about 20200, so reasonably close to the middle of the pyramid. It is TRULY REMARKABLE, but you have to have real faith in the precision of the surveyors of about 4578 years ago to think that they calculated the speed of light and plonked the pyramid on the ground at precisely that point to match that great number :-). This requires just about the same amount of faith as those have who believe that the millions of species in the world are the result of natural selection and the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life rather than the work of an intelligent God :-). But thanks for giving me something to think about :-)

I thought a lot about that.

The pyramid was built around 2580 to 2560 BC.

The speed of light was first considered about 1676 AD, and postulated by Albert Einstein in 1905 AD.

One has to ask why it was decided that a circle can be divided into 360 degrees, and that the Earth must span from 90°S to 90°N rather than any other number of degrees.

Then - the second is based on 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, and 24 hours in a day - instead of some other numbers for seconds, minutes and hours.

The length of a metre is defined based on the length of a path traveled by light in a vacuum - instead of some other number like foot or yard or mile or something else.

These decisions and postulations put the pyramid close to 29.97817°N.

When I teach the process of georeferencing, or assigning geographical coordinates to record where museum or herbarium specimens were collected, I teach that one should not use more than 5 decimal places, nor less, because 5 decimal places puts one appropriately within 1 metre of the determined place, and using more decimal places adds false precision. So, I would have georeferenced a specimen of a bird or lizard with 'the Great Pyramid of Giza' as its location at about 31.13425°N, 29.97925°E, with a confidence of about 150 m representing the radius of a circle surrounding and including all four corners of the pyramid. If it had been a plant, then I would have given it within about 300 m or even 1000 m from the centre of the pyramid. Something like a bird or lizard can be 1000 m from the pyramid and can feasibly move onto the centre of the pyramid, whereas a plant is pretty much stuck in one place from the time of germination to its death, and is not likely to have been growing on the pyramid itself, and looking at aerial photography or satellite imagery shows the nearest visible vegetation at about 300 m from the pyramid.

My GPS is good to about 5 m - and I have benefited from that precision by locating a small plant ten days after recording its locality with my simple GPS, so I know. To get less than 1 cm precision in 2018 requires using a Differential GPS, costing many thousands of Rands or hundreds of Dollars.

What prompted the pyramid consulting engineers to place their pyramid precisely there? Perhaps an all-wise, loving, gracious and merciful God prompted them about 4600 years ago so that this picture would be posted on Facebook in November 2018 so that I would think about the question and saying to me 'It's OK, Les. I am here' :-).

Hopefully my comments will prompt you to search your thoughts and remember what you know.

So - think.... remember.... ponder.... dare I say pray?....

Some thoughts about a question to me on the beach near Kwesani

Thanks, Rohan, for this picture of weird clouds.

This morning, storm clouds from my study window.

And the rain gauge which measured 9 mm for 07:00 to 07:00.

WeatherSA had forecast 80% chance of 10 mm for City of Cape Town.

As we face a tremendous storm in the Cape of Storms, my mind is turned again to a question asked a few days ago by a colleague from the Kwelera National Botanical Garden as we stood on the beach near Kwesani. He asked me about my thoughts regarding creation and evolution.

I don't know what prompted his question, but I shared some thoughts about the many questions that evolution has never answered for me, and that creation can be the only answer. Like, who keeps the celestial clock wound? Who keeps topping up the gas bottle? Who helps the flimsy little insect species to survive despite the individual that I see caught on a raindrop clearly not being 'the fittest'? What were the levels of radioactivity millions of half-lives ago? How is the distance between the Earth, the Sun and all other celestial bodies constant so that day lengths and year lengths seem to have been consistent for thousands of years? These fiery suns, without some intelligent governing force or power or influence, must be constantly losing mass as they emit infinite quantities of solar energy, and the planets that must be constantly gaining mass as they absorb small proportions of the solar energy emitted by their suns.

I failed to go beyond the academic and intellectual in answering the question. 

The reality is that I know about evolution, and I know about creation, but far more importantly, I know the Creator. I know that Heavenly Father lives, loves us, is merciful to us.

 

I apologise for not giving this piece of essential evidence to my friend. I sent it to him this morning. And I give it to you.

I hope that you can learn to know the Creator instead of only knowing about him. It is essential to read His word - not what people say about His word. Read the Torah, Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price, or the Qur'an. It is essential to speak to Him through prayer so that He can speak to you through His holy scriptures. Sometimes He will give you something that He has not already spoken through the prophets, but most of His answers have already been given. We just need to discover them in the scriptures. Prayerfully read with a question in mind and you will find answers. Not many of us are like Saul of Tarsus, Zeezrom, or Alma the younger who will be called to repentance on some road to Damascus or Zarahemla or in the land of Ammonihah. Rather get to know the creator without having to spend days in eternal torment or anguish because of being harrowed up by the memory of our sins.