Great Creations

Great creations are not born from a single moment of inspiration. They come from many such moments, which are acted upon and combined together through diligence and patience. Relationships, homes, and Zion itself are built on the love, brilliance, and determination of a group of God's children.

Science, Morality, and Theistic Values

Can science answer moral questions?

Yes and no. Moral questions are partially based on knowledge of facts, which can be discovered through scientific observation, reasoning, and experimentation. However, all moral questions depend on one decision: what is most important? At the most fundamental level, science can't tell us whether preventing suffering, spreading knowledge, or forming relationships are more important than each other or any other fundamental value.


Once you've chosen what is most important to you, then science is one important way to decide how to reach that goal. If close relationships are the most important to you, then you can become a social scientist and study which relationships are the closest, how to encourage them, etc. Science can focus your values: you may find that marriage influences happiness more than any other relationship, and since you value happiness, you go into marriage counseling.


It is my belief that God is the source of all good values. He gives us a conscience so that we will be able to choose values that are consistent with His. The more consistent our chosen values are with His, the better our existence will be after death, in every conceivable way.


As a Christian, I believe that Jesus Christ exemplified the two most important values: love for God (which includes love for goodness in every form, since God embodies all good values), and love for fellow humans (which includes honesty, compassion, etc.). In Jesus, these two values formed an unbreakable foundation for all other, lesser values.

Selflessness out of Discipline or Selflessness out of Love

Most people who are selfless have a mix of two methods for their selflessness: discipline motivated by an abstract ethical code and love motivated by relationships, particularly a relationship with Christ.

Selflessness is never truly absolute. Why? Because we must obtain for ourselves power, spiritual gifts, and knowledge which we can use for others. It also also right to rejoice, rest, and play. Some of the greatest acts of love consist of simple play.

However, most of our lives and most of our times will be devoted to serving other people if we love God. Therefore, it is useful to inspect where our motivation for this altruism can come from.

The more we are motivated by discipline stemming from an abstract to-do list, set of expectations, or commandments, the quicker we will become weary. Psychologists are researching a new theory called "ego depletion," which states that discipline drains a person's energy and that people only have so much capacity for discipline. This theory at least partially accounts for burning out, cycles of addiction, and general low energy. Of course, service from discipline is better than nothing. However, it is often typified by high stress, either arrogance or discouragement, and perfectionism.

Service from love is typified by joy, satisfaction, and happiness. It also involves more meaningful prayer, greater sincerity, and less self-focus. If a person serves out of love, others will feel it. When others reject their love, they are hurt and disappointed, but they don't feel worthless or discouraged. They keep on trying. I believe that is how the Savior feels about us.

Discipline has its place. It must have taken all the love and all the discipline the Savior possessed to keep going through the pains of hell (D&C 19:15-19). Because He had no lack of love, discipline took its proper place as He kept His vision and His determination.

Business is business

In my Doctrine and Covenants class, Brother Perkins always says that "when you talk about business, there's no spirit, so let's have a prayer," right before the opening prayer. Today it occurred to me that, as one progresses, it's easy to forget that you're helping people for them, and your focus can get too much on the process, the organization, the time management of it all. In other words, one principle of time management is to remember that you're managing your time for the people you're serving, and that they're more important than your system. In Third Nephi, Jesus stayed a little longer with the Nephites because his "bowels are filled with compassion" for them.

Touched By An Angel With Love

I love this poem. It makes me think of Nikki.

Touched By An Angel With Love

by Meena.S.K

There is nothing else I cherish more in my life then have you helping me through my strife in my moments of despair you hear my cry kiss my tears away and to make me smile you try You are always near when the tide turns rough you make situations sound easy when they are tough you understand my needs even before I speak you point out my strength when I fall down weak When I shut you out and sink into my darkness tenderly you open the door and fill me with happiness when I fly into a rage and refuse to be calm you soothe me cradling me in your arms At times I say leave me alone and go away you hug me and whisper from you I will never stray there are times with my words I have hurt you you forgive and forget and say I love you When I am sick and feeling very down you take away my pain and my frown everything you do and say makes me smile listening to your voice I forget my tiring miles You care for me so much you never fail to show my heart to you it belongs I hope you know you are the one God sent to me from above I'm lucky to be touched by an angel with love http://www.poemslovers.com/love_poems/cute_love_poems/poems/9380.html

Mawwaige. And wuv. Twue wuv!

Well, I want to briefly write my thought on marriage.

Firstly, I have had ample opportunity to prepare for marriage in a variety of ways. First, I've developed my living-with-people skills by being kind and learning to work with my family, especially my mother. I believe that the way a young man treats his mother will largely transfer into how he treats his wife. The same skills of respect for womanhood, love, and service are essential. He can learn these skills later on, but it's so much easier to learn them now. Whenever now happens to be. Choices are always made in the present. There is no use procrastinating. Change comes gradually, but it can begin immediately.

Second, I notice that no man or woman alive, including myself, comprehends the potential glory of the marriage relationship. As we begin to look forward and see what a tremendous blessing that central family relationship can be, nurturing that relationship becomes natural and instinctive. Elder L. Tom Perry of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said, "I believe that if we could create in our minds a clear and true picture of eternal life, we would start behaving differently. We would not need to be prodded to do the many things involved with enduring to the end, like doing our home teaching or visiting teaching, attending our meetings, going to the temple, living moral lives, saying our prayers, or reading the scriptures. We would want to do all these things and more because we realize they will prepare us to go somewhere we yearn to go" (“The Gospel of Jesus Christ,” Ensign, May 2008, 44–46). The choices that have the most importance are the ones with the most long-lasting consequences. Marriage has eternal consequences of unfathomable depth.

Third, I love my wife. It is possible to love someone even before you know who they are. How? Because we can know something about them before we meet them. After I received my patriarchal blessing, I had an actual crush on my future wife for several days. Why? Because my patriarchal blessing contains information about her--enough to create a picture in my mind of who and what she is. She is a noble woman indeed, and I love her and want to prepare myself for her love.

Let us be grateful for God's mercy in making marriage such an ennobling, eternal, and glorious relationship.

Sharing Love and Testimony

When we truly feel the love of God and have a sure knowledge that God lives, we want to share that with others.

Understanding of God's love comes in stages. First, we understand it theoretically. Then, we understand that God loves us, values us, and wishes us well--we understand that we need God. We understand His love as a child understands a parent's love. Finally, we begin to understand that love means sacrifice. As we slowly begin to understand Christ's infinite Atonement, the unbounded sacrifice He made for us and the daily sacrifices He still makes in serving us, we simultaneously begin to serve and bless those around us as well. (The reverse is just as true--the more we serve, the more we can understand Christ.) The love of service and sacrifice has potentially infinite power.

Testimony works similarly. At first, we believe because others tell us it is true, and it seems to make sense. Later, we receive our own spiritual experiences that confirm it. Finally, we may receive the grand spiritual gift of a burning knowledge and desire to share the gospel. Before my mission, I had a strong testimony, but it did not begin to burn within me until I specifically asked for that blessing. I find that it slowly wanes unless I continue to thank the Lord for it and ask for it to continue.

Ask, and ye shall receive. This is specifically applied both to charity (Moroni 7:48) and to testimony (Moroni 10:3-5) in the Book of Mormon.

Blogger's Content Policy

As I read over Blogger's content policy, one phrase got me thinking. It says that one cannot publish anything on your blog that promotes hate against any person or group, including on the basis of sexual orientation.

Now, I'm not a proponent of a gay or lesbian lifestyle. I don't believe that God makes anyone homosexual or bisexual or anything like that, and I believe that people can overcome those tendencies, just like people can overcome tendencies towards anger, rampant sexuality, or drug abuse.

However, it's one thing to disapprove of someone's lifestyle or choices. It's something else to restrict those choices by law. And it's another matter entirely to hate someone because of those choices, because they've given in to a very powerful feeling.

So, I decided I thoroughly approve of Blogger's content restriction. Hatred towards someone because of their lifestyle will not help them change. It will only spawn more hatred, leading to war, misery, and everything else that makes this world dreary sometimes.

So, be nice! And mean it. You don't have to hang out with someone if you don't want to be like them. But give them a smile and a handshake. Give someone a high five and a compliment. Why not?