Change

Change can be enriching or dangerous, depending on the direction.

Isn't the definition of a slave this: someone who is regulated externally?  The problem with the victim mentality is this that if I believe others are responsible for my actions, the realization of that belief is that others will be responsible for my actions.

The Lake

Sex addicts call them happy endings, because they stand in direct contrast to the unhappy time between orgasms.  

Like all pleasure-seekers, "life" consists of a long, dull, dark ache, interspersed with fireworks.  "Life" is enacted mundanely while the pleasure is not popping.  Between hits, time is spent either reminiscing about the previous point of pleasure or anticipating the next, like trying to jump from one mountain peak to another.

This big bang theory purports that if one just gets enough fireworks popping, the entire scene will light up with no more darkness.  Utopia will be created, without work, just by pleasure-seeking.  But that is not what happens.  It doesn't happen here on earth, and it won't happen after earth.

What happens is the pleasure is removed.  Sex addicts become impotent.  Drug addicts become incompetent.  Love addicts become detached.  Food addicts feel starved.  Control addicts lose control.  This happens here on earth.  There are millions if not billions of examples, and we see it as plain as day.

When the day comes that our pleasures are removed, what will it feel like?  When God takes away the drugs, and the orgasm, and the ability to escape?  When we say, "I will die without another hit" and there is none?  Without the fireworks,  it is just a dark night. 

What will be left will not be a new feeling.  It will be familiar.  Only our escape from it will be removed.  It will feel like all the time between points of pleasure.  It will feel like a lake because there is no aim, no purpose, no goal, no labor.  Think about it.  When you go out on a lake, your goal is to go out on the lake - THAT IS the goal.  When the reward of being on a lake is removed, you will burn for it.  That's why it's called the Lake of Fire and Brimstone.

Your boating expedition will become a lake of thirst with nothing to quench it, of unhappiness with no ending, whose sole purpose, being removed, will be to suffer.

The Climax and the Whore

As man and woman keep The Law respecting sexuality, they climb a mountain.  We all want to conquer.  It is a need we have as children of God.  We, in attempting to meet that need, often “conquer” in a damaging way.  

Men coax, then have sex with women.  He then feels that he has achieved some feat.  That he has “conquered” a woman.  That he is strong.  He has power over her.  Women offer or lure, then have sex with men.  She then feels that she has value.  That she has “conquered” a man.  That she is needed.  She has power over him. 

As sons and daughters of God, we are designed to conquer and have power over (1).  Men are designed to be strong.  Women are designed to be needed.  But, to conquer all, we must keep The Law.  Climbing a mountain is a metaphor often used by spiritual leaders.  Getting on top is a culmination of adventure and the accomplishment of a difficult challenge.  There, we find that we are strong and that we are needed, for a lifetime.  Promiscuity is the exact counterfeit to this, where the adventure and accomplishment of "getting on top" and the accompanying sense of strength and importance last only for a moment.

Keeping The Law respecting sexuality takes work.  Breaking The Law respecting sexuality is effortless.  As we stay on the light side of The Law, we acquire all the light the mountain has to offer.  We acquire respect, security, dignity, self-control, satisfaction, we get to know one another’s insides, spirits, or personalities; we obtain vision, knowledge, and the pleasures of spiritual, emotional, and intellectual intimacy; our hearts are knit together by light.  We then own the light trod beneath our feet, and conquer.  We reach the top.  We climax.  We have conquered the mountain together, rather than conquering each other.  But, that’s just the beginning.

When we reach the top, something counter intuitive happens.  

A new world of never ending pleasure opens up.  Once married, we are not only permitted, but encouraged to explore each other’s bodies intimately.  The physical bonding is now added to the recipe of spiritual, emotional, and intellectual intimacy which was forged in climbing the mountain.  We might call this the icing on the cake, but it is so much more than a wimpy, missionary style, mostly in the dark, candle on top of a cake. 

It is a portal to, literally, unending happiness.  The possibilities for pleasure through sexual exploration are grand.  Does anyone disagree?  This includes non-physical dimensions of sex as well.  Of course, The Law still exists after marriage, even if no ecclesiastical leader will tell you what to do behind closed doors (please no!).  In other words, it doesn't look like this:

This kind of thinking is a classic error of poor expectations, and it can ruin a wedding night, or a decade full of good behavior, with severe disappointment.  But, the sexual possibilities do continue to expand and increase eternally. You might even call it a second climax - a climax which never ends.

However, the benefits of this second climax are not limited to just physical pleasure.  We also experience the pleasure of posterity.  Children are born and we enjoy the pleasure of watching them grow.  We can experience all of our own pleasures again vicariously, over and over and over again.  Additionally, the other intimacies developed by climbing the mountain augment with sex and time.  This will not happen for breakers of The Law because those other intimacies were never established.  Between the first and second climax, keepers of The Law gain everything.

This post is about sex, because the issue of sex most profoundly affects our happiness 2, and I like the play on words.  But, this idea of a first and second climax is applicable in all cases where The Law is kept.  The place where the mountain peaks and meets the beginning of the second climax is a place of end and beginning.  It is a place of death and life.  Concerning the duality of man, it is the death of our devilish self and the birth of our godly self.  It is being born again.  This point also symbolizes the Atonement of Christ, performed in the meridian of time, of which act Christ said, "now shall the prince of this world be cast out."  

It was the moment of His death.  It was also the moment of Christ's victory, accomplished through the crucifying of His flesh.  The Law leads us all, in like manner, to crucify our flesh, or devilish self.  What looks like defeat to the rest of the world is a moment of victory for each of us, each time we die, or crucify the devil in us.  After we die, we can be born again.  

I believe this image can represent the beginning of our human story (birth), the climax (the Atonement), the end (final judgment), and the present moment.  At Christ’s birth, He exited God’s presence and came to earth – from the Glory of Heaven to the dark, small manger; look what has grown from that!  Of the Atonement, Christ said, "Now is the judgment of this world."  But, He also said, "I came not to judge the world, but to save the world."  It's a play on words.  I love Jesus' duplicity!  The Atonement enabled judgment because without the Atonement, all was lost.  The Atonement brought some hope, and hope for some brought judgment for all.  Ultimately, The Law executes judgment or justice.  But, the effects of justice will be no different on Judgment Day than they are on This Day.  Our final destination and our manner of arrival there look the same. 

In 2D, this image is an hourglass and the point of climax represents the present.  In Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, this image in 3D is called the light cone, where the climax represents the Present, the cone above is called the future light cone and represents all possible results from a present action, the cone beneath is called the past light cone and represents all possible occurrences leading up to the Present, and the black sides are called “elsewhere”.  The size of the angle maxes-out at the speed of light  3.  Christ being light, all of our past, through His Atonement, can lead to a happy present, and our choice this very moment, through the Atonement, can maximize the width and breadth of the future light we might enjoy. 

This symbol declares that NOW is the time to repent!  Or in other words, now is the time to substitute my will and path for God’s.  Albert Camus said, "Do not wait for the last judgment.  It comes every day." 4  In fact, it comes every moment.  Every moment we have the opportunity to sacrifice our will (death), and then accept God's will (birth) 5.  Eternal life is to truly live each moment, eternally.  

Back to sex.  As men and women break The Law respecting sexuality, they lose.  The lure to break The Law is that all of the pleasure from the first and second climax can be had by doing nothing.  We can just sit there, be attractive, and conquer.  We can satisfy our Godly need to conquer and own everything the mountain has to offer, simply by sitting there and being attractive.  It is a lure. 

Consider physical exercise.  It is obvious that when we don’t exercise our physical bodies, our muscles atrophy.  People who climb mountains maximize their muscular potential through exertion.  People who don’t climb spiritual mountains atrophy in similar way.  They do not acquire respect, security, dignity, self-control, or satisfaction; they do not get to know one another’s insides, spirits, or personalities; they lose vision and knowledge of the pleasures of spiritual, emotional, and intellectual intimacy; their hearts are severed.  Where there is no work, there is entropy.  Heaven is the everlasting flame, fueled by work.

Yet, we market our shame and glorify our pain.  We must, or our behavior won't make sense.  Because The Law stipulates that sin will bring remorse of conscience 6, we tell The Lawgiver, “I can sin and be happy.  Watch me.  Yeah, it’s painful.  And no, it doesn't get me what I want.  But, man! It’s awesome!”  But, it isn't.  We are lying.  We are regurgitating the lie we've swallowed, which is that we can eat fruit without labor.  We try to say it ain't so, but the devil's love is a heartbreaker, a life-taker.  We cannot have everything by doing nothing.

The author of this lie is a whore.  God himself refers to this lie as the whore of the earth 7.  What is the defining characteristic of a whore?  For the receipt of that which is most valuable, they require nothing of us, except a token.

What a counterfeit!  Can you see her legs spread out before you? Promising every satisfaction, the fulfillment of every need, for only a token.  She promises that every human need and longing will be satiated endlessly, without work, making lure into a virtue.

When a man keeps The Law regarding sexuality, he helps his woman fulfill her roles and reach her potential.  When a woman keeps The law regarding sexuality, she helps her man fulfill his roles and reach his potential.  When they do this, they become valuable to each other.  God does for us all what women and men can do for each other.  He encourages us to keep The Law by blessing us after we keep it, and not before.  He also respects our space, never trespassing without our consent.  In so doing, our performance is enhanced, and we feel safe and valued. 

 

When we fail to keep The Law of chastity we miss out on the growth which comes through exercise.  The result is a loss of strength.  In taking and giving our greatest gift and our greatest pleasure without work, we eventually become impotent. 

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(update: expanded uses of these symbols here and here)

1 Genesis 1:26

2 "How we feel about and use [sex] will determine in large measure our happiness...and our destiny"
3 A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking, p.24-28.

4 "Do not wait for the last judgment.  It comes every day." - Albert Camus

5 Whosoever shall save his life shall lose it; but whosever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it - Luke 9:24

6 Alma 42:18   

7 1 Nephi 14:10, 2 Nephi 10:16, 1 Nephi 14:11, 1 Nephi 22:14, Doctrine and Covenants 29:21, Doctrine and Covenants 86:3,

1 Nephi 22:13, Revelation 19:2, Psalms 106:39, Revelation 17:15, Proverbs 23:27, Ezekiel 16:28

Love

Love is positive action and the feelings it produces.

As a verb, love is the meeting of needs.  Connecting with others is love in action.  Bonding, building trust, enjoying each other - that is love.  The actions of love produce the feelings of love.  This is true for all love including romantic love where our needs are deeper, the work to fill them is more difficult, and the feelings produced when we do fill them are greater.

The Demystification of Revelations and Miracles

If I say that something was revealed to me by God - some truth, some insight - many people may wonder.  But, it's really not that complicated.  When my son wants to know how plants grow, I share with him a bit about photosynthesis.  When he wants to know about things falling, I explain about gravity.  He then understands because I communicated that light and knowledge to him and he received it.  This is revelation.  Revelation occurs whenever one individual in possession of light and knowledge communicates it to another individual not in possession of that same light and knowledge, and that second individual receives it. 

None of us creates light or knowledge; it's already in existence.  God possesses all of it.  We're just the recipients of it.   

Whether a child is receiving light and knowledge from his earthly father or his Heavenly Father, the process is the same.  The only difference is the medium of communication.  Our Heavenly Father stands behind a veil and speaks to us through mediums we're not yet able to explain or dissect.  But, that's not bad.  In fact, it's very good!  

Like our physical bodies, our spirits have senses.  Our senses are mechanisms through which we experience.  God, our Father, can engage our  spiritual senses.  Spiritual experiences bring knowledge unlike what we experience through our physical senses.  Precisely because the spiritual is permanent and the physical temporary (we are not physical beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a physical experience), real experiences amass real, permanent knowledge, while temporal knowledge accrued through the temporal senses feels, well, temporary.

If I explained budgeting to my child over a cell phone, he could still learn the information.  I'm not near him, and he can't see me.   This is no different than God communicating with our spirits through spiritual senses.  Whether in person, over the phone, or through spiritual mechanisms, the concept of revelation remains the same.  

The idea of miracles is also frequently and similarly mystified.  The process of a seed being planted in soil, growing into a tree, and then producing fruit which I then eat, gaining energy for that day, is by some standards NOT miraculous because each stage of this process can be explained.  We can even draw pictures which illustrate our understanding.  However, when bread falls from heaven, it's thought to be different because we don't know how clouds can produce bread.  Regardless of means, miracles are Gods blessings for His children.  

The mystification of revelation and miracles stems from the belief that the explanation of a process is the same as the creation of the process.  In no case has a man or woman taught another a truth which did not first exist in God.  And in no case is any man or woman blessed by any thing resulting in any measure of joy which did not proceed from God, and which could not be called a miracle. 1

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1 A miracle is any expression of God's love - A Course in Miracles

Living the Dream

In plan A, there is a point called "as good as it gets".  Our Advocate has said, "There is no greater gift than the gift of Salvation" 1.  Plan B theology rejects the notion of "as good as it gets" 2.  Our adversary believes there is a gift greater than that which Plan A offers.  Part of the infamous lure of Plan B is derived from this prospect.  It is natural to want to maximize our happiness.  Therefore, we often do not accept limitations until we endure more pain in futility than the pain of disappointment.

Because our agency or Choice is our "self", eliminating it, even for a cause as worthy as Utopia, is self-defeating (pun intended). Because we are all interconnected (because we are all children of God) we cannot meet our own needs by eliminating another person's choice.  When we compel someone, we remove their choice.  When we remove their choice, we are eliminating them. When we eliminate them, we are destroying ourselves.

Here is the great dividing principle between people who live life, and people who are “living the dream”.  People who choose to believe that agency or choice is the essence of our "self" go on to live life.  People who choose to believe that agency or choice is not the essence of our "self” go on to live a dream.  We are either living life, or we are deluded. 3  

From the moment a person chooses to try and eliminate choice, a covering grows 3.  It grows over an empty pit - the one we are digging in our "selves".  This pit contains all the misery of unmet needs.  The unwanted removal of this covering is the stimulus for all violence.  This covering, or cloak, serves at least 2 purposes: 1) Painted attractively, it serves as The Lure to draw others unto it; 2) It hides them from The Love - God's light shining upon them.  

Hidden, covered in darkness, souls naturally begin to sleep 4.  There becomes less and less TO DO under that cloak.  Work is the tool for meeting needs. It's what adherents of Plan A do.  In the darkness, there is neither actual work nor a need for it. The Lure of the covering is supposed to instigate connections while the pressure of coercion maintains them, thus fulfilling one's every needs without work.  That’s Plan B.

God lets them sleep, mercifully.  Dreams become sinners' only refuge from the misery of unmet needs.  In their dreams, they can be the rulers of kingdoms of only imaginable varieties and glory.  There, their minds flitter through chaos, deifying bits and particles of unconnected imagery... 5 

…Until they are needed 6.  They are never destroyed 7.  For God’s purposes, there must be opposition.  And so, God allows them to R.I.P., under cover, in outer darkness.  However, when needed to fulfill God's purposes in the end of man, to bring about a marvelous work and a wonder, their covering is removed and they are roused from their slumber.  The removal of their covering exposes their pain and impels them to action.  But, they are bridled by God, for He can replace their covering at will.  God has subdued all His enemies.  Their actions suit God’s purposes 7.  This is how Lucifer, imagining himself a great usurper, came to be the catalyst in starting our great journey toward Godhood by tempting Adam and Eve to partake of the forbidden fruit, or how he contributed to the greatest good since creation's dawn. 9  Here is God’s description of His enemy: “His watchmen are blind.  They are all dumb dogs…lying down, loving to slumber.”  The zombies indeed rise from the dead, but all hell never breaks loose.

And so the anesthesia one imbibes for pleasure at the onset of path B, becomes one’s sedative in the end.  Choosing sleep is equated with death in scripture.  Can you see it?  Not working, waiting for Bliss to spontaneously combust, lying down to rest while waiting, in a coffin, captive to the covering, unable or unwilling to see the light of reality.  Limitless creations and kingdoms-for-one sustain the sweetness of slumber…until the lights turn on.  Then, there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. 10

antidote

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1 D&C 6:13

2 Isaiah 56:10-11

3 "All real pleasure comes from doing God's will. This is because not doing it is a denial of Self. Denial of Self results in illusions, while correction of the error brings release from it." - ACIM chp1, VII-1 ~ "For behold, the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep. For behold, ye have closed your eyes, and ye have rejected  the prophets; and your rulers, and the seers hath he covered because of your iniquity. - 2 Nephi 27:5 

4 Behold, he changed their hearts; yea, he awakened them out of a deep sleep, and they awoke unto God. Behold, they were in the midst of darkness; nevertheless, their souls were illuminated by the light of the everlasting word; yea, they were encircled about by the bands of death, and the chains of hell, and an everlasting destruction did await them - Alma 5:7.  O that ye would awake; awake from a deep sleep, yea, even from the sleep of hell, and shake off the awful chains by which ye are bound, which are the chains which bind the children of men, that they are carried away captive down to the eternal gulf of misery and woe - 2 Nephi 1:13.  Consider and hear me, O Lord my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death - Psalms 13:3.  In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the Lord - Jeremiah 51:39.  ~  "Thus with the baggage of the world was I sweetly burdened, as when in slumber; and the thoughts wherein I meditated upon Thee were like unto the efforts of those desiring to awake, who, still overpowered with a heavy drowsiness, are again steeped therein. And as no one desires to sleep always, and in the sober judgment of all waking is better, yet does a man generally defer to shake off drowsiness, when there is a heavy lethargy in all his limbs, and, though displeased, yet even after it is time to rise with pleasure yields to it, so was I assured that it were much better for me to give up myself to Thy charity, than to yield myself to my own cupidity; but the former course satisfied and vanquished me, the latter pleased me and fettered me.  Nor had I aught to answer Thee calling to me, 'Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.' And to Thee showing me on every side, that what Thou saidst was true, I , convicted by the truth, had nothing at all to reply, but the drawling and drowsy words: 'Presently, lo, presently;' 'leave me a little while.' But 'presently, presently,' had no present; and my 'leave me a little while' went on for a long while.  'O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death' but Thy grace only, through Jesus Christ our Lord?" - St. Augustine (354 - 430 A.D.) in The Confessions of St. Augustine. The Easton Press, 1979, The 100 Greatest Books Ever Written. pg. 129-130.
5 Perhaps the history of the errors of mankind, all things considered, is more valuable and interesting than that of their discoveries.  Truth is uniform and narrow; it constantly exists...but error is endlessly diversified; it has no reality, but is the pure and simple creation of the mind that invents it. In this field, the soul has room enough to expand herself, to display all her boundless faculties...extravagancies and absurdities. - Benjamin Franklin, Report of Dr. Benjamin Franklin, and Other Commissioners, Charges by the King of France, with the Examination of the Animal Magnetism, as now practiced in Paris (1784), as quoted in Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error, in the introduction, by Kathryn Schulz.

6 For the day cometh that the Lord shall utter his voice out of heaven; the heavens shall shake and the earth shall tremble, and the trump of God shall sound both long and loud, and shall say to the sleeping nations: Ye saints arise and live; ye sinners stay and sleep until I shall call again. - Doctrine and Covenants 43:18 

7 1 Nephi 14:3  ~  "You can choose between loveless and miraculous channels of expression. You can make an empty shell, but you cannot express nothing at all.  You can wait, delay, paralyze yourself, or reduce your creativity almost to nothing.  But you cannot abolish it.  You can destroy your medium of communication, but not your potential.  You did not create yourself." ACIM 1-V-1,4-8
8 Isaiah 10:5-19, D&C 121:4
9 John 12:23-33
10 Matthew 22:13

The First Eternal Principle

Faith is the greatest, most essential ingredient to filling our needs.  Of course, remaining in existence is prerequisite to filling our needs. 

Because we are all children of God, we share some of the same matter.  Because we share some of the same matter, we are inseparably connected.  Because we are inseparably connected, one of our own needs is to meet the needs of others.  When we meet others' needs, we are meeting some of our needs.  When we meet our needs, we are meeting some of the needs of others.  It is an endless, synergistic circle.  The Glory of God is beyond scale.  What is the end of an endless, synergistic cyclone? (1)

Therefore, faith in ourselves is, in a measure, faith in others, and vice-versa.  When we do not have the faith to try and meet the needs of others, we cannot honestly believe that our own needs will be met. Our own needs are what generate the desire for faith in others, which faith acts like a thousand outstretched hands calling them home. Losing faith in others means we stop believing that all of our needs can be met.  

In speaking of "practical spirituality" Marshall Rosenberg suggests that the meeting of needs is love.  I love you by meeting your needs.  And because meeting your needs meets mine, it can rightly be said that "no love is ever wasted. Its worth does not lie in reciprocity." - Neal A. Maxwell

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1 Ether 12:3 "by faith all things are fulfilled"

Gnome Sayin?

Some people refuse healing because their power is tied to their hurt - their own hurt and their ability to hurt, which are the same.

How can something be both true and false? By being incomplete.

The righteous love & hate the wicked.  They hate their unnatural behavior and love their natural identity and potential as sons and daughters of God.  The wicked just hate.

Both God and Mammon have their limits. God is limited in what He is permitted to do, but has power to do anything. The devil is not limited in what he is permitted to do, but has no power to do anything.

Self-interest can be interpreted as focus on one's own choices, 100% personal accountability, or, the opposite of blame.

You can't believe that we're all interconnected and believe that the choices of others do not affect you.

I suppose when you live in a culture saturated with easily and deceitfully offended people, offending people becomes a virtue.

Whatever they throw at me makes me stronger. Whatever they throw at me makes them weak.

The "key of knowledge" is forged in the furnace of faith.

Not knowing what we do begins with not knowing who we are.

What is stands, among all existence, as the greatest condemnation of what is not. And what is not stands, among all existence, as the greatest witness of what is.
   The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that "by proving contraries, truth is made manifest" (HC 6:248). 

The outcome is not in my hands; only the effort is.

When you see someone be mean toward themselves, expect them to be mean toward you later.

All light and knowledge is contained in a library which is owned by the Gods.  We are permitted to check items out, and even make copies, but the copyrights all belong to the Gods, so they can pull our copies at any time.

If you communicate exactly how you feel, you'll never send the wrong message.

Art has no beauty of itself.  The beauty we experience with art is being drawn from us.

It's good to recognize how God has guided my life.  It's better to trust that He's doing so now.

Everybody burns.  Some turn to gold.  Some disintegrate.  But, everybody burns.

All things testify of AA's step 3, which is work; specifically, it is the work we have to do.

The darkened path NEVER brings reward.  The lit path brings NEVERENDING rewards.

All creative power is bridled.  Of what use is unbridled power?  Therefore, bridle your passions, or be bridled.

Only those can help who have been helped; so, receive!

I am not ashamed because of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

By reason of what I might not have, I have much; by reason of the fact that I could have nothing, I have everything.

Don't expect to find Eternal Life before you find your present life.

Mock now, burn later.  Burn now, mock later.

There are two types of burning: 1) the burn of work, or 2) the burn of unsatiated desire. 

Burning serves to refine, and those who will not be refined will burn forever.

Don't reprove those who mock goodness; it's the only happiness they have.

Whether I walk through a wilderness, and pick my manna off the ground each day, or walk through the promised land and buy my resources with the money in my bank account, it is the same.  One is not more miraculous than the other.  One is no less provided by God.

If I believe it, one day it can make sense to me.  If I disbelieve it, it can never make sense to me.

'Living in the past', and 'livinging in the future' are misnomers.  Living only occurs in the present.

Evil must exist, but existing is evil's final value.

In terms of accomplishment, direction is everything; distance is nothing.

The obstruction to learning caused by the poor delivery of information can be overcome by the eagerness of the student.

My will is death; and the death of my will is life.

The purpose of plenty is to assist those in need.

Know yourself, and help yourself.

If God is in my heart, then I'm in heaven.

The doctrine of determinism offers the hope of the lottery. The doctrine of agency, or individual choice, offers the assurance of certainty. 2 Nephi 10:23

A person cannot sustainably be "made to see" or understand.  It can occur for a moment, but 'a man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still'.

Don't be surprised that some people avoid understanding.  They don't want it.  Understanding comes with responsibility the way choices come with consequences.  Some people don't want responsibility. Therefore, logic and reason are to some adults what chores are for most children.  Jeremiah 4:22

All I have to do is work, and the kingdom is mine. In other words, the path is paved and the incline is adjusted to my capabilities, so that all I have to do is walk.

There is a pervasive notion that doing nothing is the way to be. But, because choice is followed by consequence, doing nothing yields nothing. Doing something yields something. And, doing your best yields the best.

If the world is run by those who show up, then so, too, by extention, is the universe.

Because God is everything that is light, true, and real, and choosing anything other than God is pride, pride, then, is a choice for darkness, lies, and illusion.

What do you call someone who invests in a plan that has never before worked? A dreamer. Plan B Groupies have an undisputed claim on that title. And who else dreams, but the sleeping?

Why do we receive no witness until after the trial of our faith? Because we have to want it.  Why won't God give to one who doesn't want to receive?  Because he'd have to force our hands open, and that possibility is not provided for in Plan A.

Decisions determine destiny, and ideas determine decisions.

Don't let the pain of missing a solution prevent you from finding an alternative.

Christ is to my mind and heart what a chiropractor is to my muscles and bones.

All things are possible for Christ, even when he's partnered with me - Ed

Equality ends the rat race.

The Old Testament is to God's people what manual labor was to the Karate Kid (original).

Ritual is to us what painting the fence was to the Karate Kid.

Hurt people hurt people, and healed people heal people; so, seek Jesus.

The problem with relativism - which is the alternative to The Law and the logical outcropping of the concept of evolution - is that it contradicts itself; the relativist says "no one can know anything, and I know it!" could there be greater evidence of delusion or immaturity?  And we are supposed to take these people seriously?

When some guy gives away free candy bars, people from miles line up for miles.  But, when some God gives away free life, few extend their arms to receive. 

Every being is interconnected; and every action influences other beings. My goal is to maximize my positive influence and minimize my negative influence. I cannot cease to influence without ceasing to exist, nor can I cease existing.

To be righteous, I must be willing to kill (let people die); this out of respect for Choice.

Seek life eternally, and you will find eternal life. Eternal life is as much a place as infinity is a number. 

Since all who do God's will know it's better, we can conclude that those who disagree aren't even trying.

I can not earn my salvation, but I must choose it, again and again.

Pleasure is dessert, not the meal.  When pleasure becomes the meal, the body and soul suffer because the greater needs of the body and soul go unmet.  I sometimes use pleasure to anesthitize my suffering.  But, I must face suffering in order to overcome it.  When I avoid suffering, I am eventually overcome by it.

I am always working to meet the needs of others, because that is a need of mine; and when efforts become counter-productive, I wait actively.

When relativists cry "tolerance!", justice laughs. 

In theory, political correctness is about respect. In practice, it's about protecting certain agendas through playing the role of victim.

Those who are disappointed in God are not looking to Him.  They are looking toward their own expectations or to some counterfeit.  God never disappoints.  This fact will be witnessed on the day when every knee bows, and the power which will bow knees is derived from this fact.  

The only hope the world has of breaking from the cycle of self-destruction is if a critical number of us do our best to comply with The Law, thus becoming whole, and connecting with each other in unity.

Saturating cultures with reflections of Deity is as intolerant and disrespectful as the sun saturating earth with its rays. Let your light shine!

The Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
The Platinum Rule: Treat others the way they want to be treated.
The Rule: We treat others the way we treat ourselves.

The powers of sin aren't bad; they're unbridled.

God is under rock bottom.

The righteous don't take God's name in vain for the same reason the sane, when in peril, don't taunt and mock their only rescuer.  Anyone who doesn't see that this world is in peril, lying constantly on the brink of destruction, has his eyes closed.

Like light cuts through the darkness, speak reason in a world of confusion. 

Of course the wicked speak 1/2 truths, they're only 1/2 way through their journey.

The classic victim bait and switch: you hate me because   (some unalterable trait)  ; now, grant me advantages because  (some unalterable trait)  .

To 'harden' one's heart is to believe that God's motives are other than what He says they are