Discussions of Eve and her wise, if perhaps not fully informed choice, are quite interesting. But if Eve’s choice was wise, what does that say about Adam? Was refusing to eat the fruit obedient… and unwise? If her choice was wise, was his not wise? Was Adam unwise to be too obedient?

Now, of course, we are right to point out that eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge wasn’t technically a sin. It was breaking a law, that had consequences. It is also correct that Adam had multiple, partially conflicting laws he needed to keep, such as have children.

If Eve was right, was Adam wrong? And if he was wrong, was he wrong because he wasn’t looking at the whole picture?

Virtues come in pairs in a virtue set, and in some sense opposite pairs.  Boldness and prudence.  Thrift and magnanimity.  Risk and restraint.  Mercy and judgment.  Time and eternity.

By proving contraries, truth is made manifest

-thus Joseph Smith

But the truest virtues seem to be the union of the pair.

Virility and Chastity combine in achievement, marriage, offspring, family.

So does the womanly version.  It is fitting that the highest expressions of male and female sexuality are in combination with each other.

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Our friends have had a lot of wisdom from the springboard of President Oaks recent remarks and the mission-age change for our maidens.

It’s made me think of a virtue set.

For the uninitiated, many virtues and vices or even generally good and bad things seem to fall into a natural pattern of opposites.  Chastity and sexual immorality, for example.  But also many vices seem to be twisted versions of virtues instead of being their opposites.  In fact, it turns out that virtues usually have two vices–an opposite vice and a twisted vice–one vice that is the contrary of the virtue and one vice that is a distorted or misapplied version of the virtue.  But even more amazing, it turns out that the opposite vice is the twisted vice of another virtue and the twisted vice is the opposite vice of that same other virtue.  This is really an astounding fact about the world.

Here’s a typical virtue set

If this interests you, we have done a lot of exploration of this concept and of specific virtue sets under the tag ‘virtue chart‘ or you can just search for virtue chart or virtue set in the search bar.

One of the most useful things about the virtue set is is constantly reveals overlooked virtues and vices, some of which we don’t even have a name for (example here).  Usually those overlooked virtues and vices correspond to real weaknesses in our culture and its fascinating and wonderful to discover them.    Sexual morality is no exception.

Here’s the set:

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Just yesterday I was talking with a friend about Pres. Oaks’ devious plan. About the same hour we were talking, the Deseret News published an interview with Pres. Oaks where he laid out the plan openly, so it is not a devious plan anymore. It is a revealed plan.

For the last twenty years Dallin H. Oaks has been concerned about the future demographics of the church. Around 2007 he presided my stake’s conference, and told us (paraphrasing from memory), (more…)

Sometimes what a verse means changes when the world around you very strongly points you to a meaning and a feel that you haven’t considered before.

I have taken to walking through the orchards in this lovely winter dawns and twilights.  I was doing it Saturday morning when Genesis 8:22 came to  my mind.

While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

That’s the KJV at its poetic best, one of those verses that stick in your mind forever

It was particularly poignant because my dad and I had just been reading about tree crops and a description of a Corsican village surrounded by chestnut groves where they have a rhythm of life.  Every year men plant a few new chestnuts they will likely never see the full crop of until they are old.  Every year they cut down a few of the oldest trees their father or grandfather planted.  He and I have been planting a few  more trees and just finished cutting down the gnarled ancient plum that  had finally died, and it all seemed very poignant.  Like our chores were on the edge of eternity.

Then when the sun rose and I walked home, the kids came down for scripture study.  We read this passage from Moses 1–

And worlds without number have I created; and I also created them for mine own purpose;…

For behold, there are many worlds that have passed away by the word of my power. And there are many that now stand, and innumerable are they unto man; but all things are numbered unto me, for they are mine and I know them….

The heavens, they are many, and they cannot be numbered unto man; but they are numbered unto me, for they are mine.

And as one earth shall pass away, and the heavens thereof even so shall another come; and there is no end to my works…

It felt like the top of my head had come off and my soul was exposed to endless space.

As surprising as it is to find pedagogical numerical symbolism in the Articles of Faith, we should also expect to find similar things in the Book of Mormon. This is one that I became aware of years ago, heard from someone else, but was unclear what I should do it. Now is a great time to bring it up.

This is a pattern of two numbered groups of concepts. The best example is this 3-7 pattern, discussing the Creation/Fall/Atonement.

The pattern is this

1. Creation
   1. Creation
   2. Laws Given (sometimes this is under Judgement)
2. Fall
   1. Fall of Man – carnal, sensual
   2. Death as Consequence of Fall (physical and/or spiritual)
3. Atonement
   1. Christ as Redeemer
   2. Resurrection/Restoration
   3. Eternal Life / Eternal Punishment

In this context, three refers to a sure witness, and seven refers to the covenant. This pattern is repeated numerous times in the Book of Mormon.

Or am I just reading something into this topic? Are there just a number of repeated

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There’s a lot to look forward to in the Old Testament.  One thing is the stories like old friends.

Simple, vivid, told in the beautiful poetic language of the King James’ Version, delighting children… and me.

The Garden of Eden, Cain and Abel, Noah, Sarah and Isaac, Abraham and Isaac, Rebekah and the servant, Jacob and Esau, Jacob and Rachel/Leah, Jacob wrestling with the Lord,

Joseph and the coat of many colors, Joseph  and Potiphar’s wife, Joseph interpreting the dreams,  Joseph and his brothers, Moses and the bullrushes–the burning bush–the ten plagues–the red sea–too many stories from Moses, Joshua and the battle of Jericho, Gideon, David, Solomon, Elijah….  I’ve left off so many.

We wrestle with these like Jacob wrestled the Lord–why did Isaac favor Esau and why did Rebekah lie to  Isaac and so on–because they are so vivid and real.  It is easy to wrestle down abstractions.

With the death of Jeffrey Holland, I was thinking on the turnover in the Quorum of the Twelve since Elder Holland became one of that body in 1994, and Henry B. Eyring a year after him, and the decade after that when none of them died. Now, the longest serving in the Quorum has been there 21 years.

My thoughts turned to considering how Utahn or not the current church leaders are. Below is my ordering of that quality at the time of their call as General Authorities from least to greatest for the members of the Quorum of the Twelve or the First Presidency. Differing evaluations are welcome.

Soares – least Utahn, least experienced with America beyond the Church
Causse – better English at time of call, more US business experience than Soares
Uchtdorf – trained on fighter jets in American West
Kearon – his wife (a California girl) was a BYU student
Bednar – Californian, BYU student, adult life in Arkansas until BYUI president
Gong – Californian, BYU student, son of BYU student, adult life elsewhere until taking job at BYU
Eyring – childhood and youth in New Jersey, much of adult life in Utah
Christofferson – Utah born, adult life elsewhere
Anderson – Utah born, adult life in Florida
Cook – Utah born, adult life in California
Oaks – Utah born, adult life in Chicago until BYU president
Renlund – Utah born, some childhood years in Sweden, out of Utah for medical residency, bishop in Baltimore
Rasband – some time working outside Utah (for a Utah corporation)
Stevenson – whole life in Utah

So, 7 of 14 born in Utah, and only 3 of them stayed past their college days. The life patterns for Oaks, Cook, Anderson, and Christofferson are similar, but Cook feels to me more Utahn, maybe because he is older and probably because of the Cache Valley/Utah State University/Grandpa Crozier Kimball roots he has found useful to pull into his teaching; I have trouble picturing him as a stake president in San Francisco. Eyring was born and grew up elsewhere but is ethnically Utahn and was pulled back.

Now that we have finished the D&C I want to off-the-cuff reminisce about what  my personal highlights were.  I encourage everyone to do this.  Learning and growth require some digestion.

JSH-1, D&C 88, D&c 121 and 122, the vision in D&C 110, and D&C 76 are all stunning.  Same with the New Song for baptism for the dead.    Same with 138. To me, their revelatory character is self-evident.  Our best Sunday School lessons last year were those sections where instead of having a lesson or class participation we just read them out loud, to the great strength of the Spirit.

Speaking of Sunday School, tackling Women n the Priesthood head on went very well.  Incredibly well.  In large part because I said ‘no comments’ but one woman raised her hand anyway and the Spirit said to let her rip.

Our usual Sunday School style is highly participatory, but the part where I did a lecture on demography after the Prophet’s conference talk went over incredibly well.

Since we are  heading into the Old Testament it bears mentioning that the over-all feel of the Doctrine and Covenants is like a synthesis of the Old Testament and the New.

the New Testament is individual, focused on salvation and spiritual matters, personal.  The Old Testament is community/ focused on a people and more temporal.  The D&C is a mix  (so is the Book of Mormon)

Happy King’s Day for all Magi.

This has been, from a certain perspective, one of the happiest Christmases I have known.  Really wonderful.  All the family was here, and who knows when that will happen again.

For everyone, for all of us, no matter our condition, better Christmases are coming.

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me 12 drummers drummin’.

We made a fine procession to the country church.  Back down the road he had brought them on, the drummers drumming, the pipers piping, the lords leaping, the ladies dancing, all for my wedding procession.  Today was to be my wedding day.

— — —

The Eleventh Day and prior

On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love to me eleven pipers piping.

“Are you trying to keep me up all night?” I asked.

“Please, woman,” he said with mock gravity, “try to restrain your lurid imaginations.”

Oh!  I blushed furiously.

— — —
The Tenth Day and prior

On the tenth day of Christmas my true love to me ten lords a’leapin’.  It made for quite a spectacle.

“To marry the ladies, plus one for good luck,” he said.

“So there are going to be weddings, are there?” I said.

“Count on it,” he said.

“But until then,” he said, “I guess I will just have to put up with all these rivals for your affection.”

I told him, at some length, that he had no rivals.  I can be eloquent too.

— — —

The Ninth Day and prior.

On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me nine ladies dancing.  It was not what I was expecting.  I said, drily, ‘some women might worry they had a secret rival for your affection.  I worry I have nine open ones!”

He blushed and bowed.

— — —

The Eighth Day and prior

(It gave me quite the frisson  to drop this trivial bit of fool nonsense on top of Zen’s opus)

On the eight day of Christmas, my true love gave to  me eight maids’a’milkin’.  And the cows to go with them!

It made quite the procession down the road to my family’s old drafty keep.

Well, if there’s one thing we have plenty of, its probably land that’s fit only for grazing.

I said, “Is this because you think my complexion needs bathed in milk every day?”

He smiled.  “It’s because I want our babies to be fat.”  He cleared his throat.  “Speaking of your complexion…”

And then he was eloquent again.