The sage came to a structure–a thing he had never seen before–and decided to explore its use.  First he tried clinging to the ceiling, but this was hard and inconvenient.  Second he tried the floor.  Though less difficult, it was still uncomfortable and there were ants.  Rejecting these two extremes, he then spied a table.  Clinging to its underside, from time to time able to rest his buttocks on the ground when his grip grew weak, but able to lift himself off the floor when the ants bothered him and his buttocks grew stiff, the sage was satisfied that he had found the right way to dwell.

And there, clinging to the underside of a table, we leave our virtuous sage.

One of the smart person “well ackshully’s” is that the word apocalypse doesn’t mean the end of the world.  It means revelation.

?????????? (apokálupsis): “unveiling” or “uncovering”

It’s just that the Apocalypse of John turns out to be, well, apocalyptic, so the meaning in English has become what it is.

But this apparently random linguistic drift is either a remarkable coincidence or has divine providence behind it. (more…)

God is in the light and is the light, He is in and  moves the planets and the stars, and space and time.  That is essentially what D&C 88:7-13 says.  One implication is that we will at some point discover we have already dwelt in the presence of God.  See D&C 88:50.  Each Kingdom of Glory has the presence one one member of the Godhead because it has to in order to function.

(more…)

Probably better without the colors.

Opinions, please.

The phrase keeps running through my mind,

Virtue is the perfection of vice.

True for some purposes, I think.

We haven’t talked about JG Virtue Sets in almost exactly a year.  The reason is simple and probably surprising.  I stopped being able to make a visual model that I liked the look of and somehow not being able to portray it in a way the eye liked stopped me thinking about them altogether.  You will notice there is no chart in that post from a year ago.

The reasons are two-fold.  First, I switched computers and lost my old standard chart in the switch.  Second,  I tried to complicate the chart to make it more “accurate,” which progressively made it uglier.

As a reminder, here is an example of our old standard chart.

I really liked it and still do (except for the cross-hatch lines).  But after realizing that one pair of the virtues and vices were ‘cool’ and the other pair ‘hot’ I grew dissatisfied with a chart that portrayed both virtues as blue (a cool color) and both vices as red (a hot color).  I tried to redo the chart to be  more accurate and the result was ugly.

An example of the “more accurate.”

I also started trying to include the syntheses of the virtues (or vices) in the diagram.  I never found a good look for it.

A synthesis diagram (from here).  The color in the middle is off,  the color in the upper left diamond is bad, and the shape in the middle is off.  It looks like graffiti.

However, I was recently re-reading some of WJT’s work on JG virtue sets and was inspired by the look of his charts.

Classical simplicity with classical colors for virtues and vices.

Even better, very easy to recreate.  I’m playing around with some versions of it and would like to hear what you think.

(more…)

Here is how it went at Sunday School last week.

(more…)

I had a powerful spiritual experience this morning that I am sharing with all and sundry, because I believe it doesn’t just have to apply to me.

My wife had been woken up in the night with a verse from Isaiah.  She has stocked her mind with Isaiah and the Spirit often uses his words to speak to her.

The phrase that kept coming to her was truth lieth in the streets. (more…)

Our Friend WJT has discovered something true and important that sheds a lot of light on D&C 19.  He has found a number of scriptures that refer to things that are “endless,” “eternal,” or “forever,” but that God then ends.

The idea is that ‘endless’ can  mean ‘something that by its nature will never end despite man’s best efforts’–but God can exceed our best efforts.

Read the whole thing, including the comments.

(more…)

There are several passages of scripture, beautiful and complete, in the Doctrine and Covenants.  The New Song is one of them.  D&C 84:99-102.

98
Until all shall know me, who remain, even from the least unto the greatest, and shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, and shall see eye to eye, and shall lift up their voice, and with the voice together sing this new song, saying:

99
The Lord hath brought again Zion;
The Lord hath redeemed his people, Israel,
According to the election of grace,
Which was brought to pass by the faith
And covenant of their fathers.

100
The Lord hath redeemed his people;
And Satan is bound and time is no longer.
The Lord hath gathered all things in one.
The Lord hath brought down Zion from above.
The Lord hath brought up Zion from beneath.

101
The earth hath travailed and brought forth her strength;
And truth is established in her bowels;
And the heavens have smiled upon her;
And she is clothed with the glory of her God;
For he stands in the midst of his people.

102
Glory, and honor, and power, and might,
Be ascribed to our God; for he is full of mercy,
Justice, grace and truth, and peace,
Forever and ever, Amen.

 

I woke up this morning with the idea that the reason most of our wards are so placid and pleasant is because we aren’t trying to accomplish much.

I’ve seen the most growth in myself on my mission and in my marriage, both of which have had their times of being volatile.

The early church had all sorts of embarrassing drama and infighting; they were trying to build zion, and succeeded to a significant extent.

Zion is the pure in heart.  There are no poor among her.  And so on.

These are the standard definitions of Zion.  They are good.

I just found a new one.

(more…)

“G,” the masses clamor, “do you have something you could share about D&C 81-84 after everyone except the clamoring masses are done with them?”

“Yes, my masses,” I reply.  “Clamor no more.”

(more…)

My newlywed daughter and her husband were at a garage sale looking at some furniture.  One of them said, with emphasis, ‘I can’t put books on missing shelves.”  Said that way, it came out like poetry.

On the family chat, they suggested we all try to make poems out of it.  It was a lot of fun. Some were supremely silly, some had Mother Goose energy, one wasn’t doggerel, but my favorite was this one.

Cultural Christianity

You can’t put books on missing shelves

You can’t make saints of Keebler elves

You can’t have Christ without the cross

You can’t refine and keep the dross