Today in a priesthood lesson, I was struck by the following quotation from a recent talk by
Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints:
Earlier this year, I asked the young adults of the Church to consecrate a portion of their time each week to study everything Jesus said and did as recorded in the standard works.9 I invited them to let the scriptural citations about Jesus Christ in the Topical Guide become their personal core curriculum.10
I gave that challenge because I had already accepted it myself. I read and underlined every verse cited about Jesus Christ, as listed under the main heading and the 57 subtitles in the Topical Guide.11 When I finished that exciting exercise, my wife asked me what impact it had on me. I told her, “I am a different man!”
I had a strong impression that I should take up that challenge myself and write about it. It seems so simple, and yet so difficult. It will be simple in that the content is provided, using the easy reference of the Topical Guide. Yet, I know it will be difficult in the way all meaningful learning is--it will require the discipline of routine, which in our hectic, overcrowded lives is difficult to manage. Still, in times where information is ocean-broad, but wisdom puddle-deep, perhaps nothing could be more meaningful than just such an exercise.
I've decided that with the breadth and depth of the curriculum, I will need to cover one Topical Guide citation daily, which means a new post here each day. I'm not sure exactly how I'll get that done, but I'm going to proceed anyway.
The first cited verses are Luke 1, 26-38 under "His birth is foretold":
26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.
28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.
30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.
32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?
35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
36 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.
37 For with God nothing shall be impossible.
38 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.
Currently much of humanity lives with divided minds. Many people proclaim a higher power but deny any plausibility of direct communication with the divine in daily life. Many believers pray to God but relegate the visiting of angels or direct revelation to the past. Many believers have faith in a living God but discount all earthly knowledge of his handiwork, treating science as if it were myth. Many nonbelievers live their daily lives hell-sure there is no divine director, sure that the only truth is what can be seen or detected through science, but then immediately turn to God (either in desperation or anger) in times of turmoil. I've known many an atheist to curse God for not impacting their lives, fists clenched at the void. I once was one of them.
If many were honest, I think they would admit to believing in Christ not as just a wise man but as their God and their redeemer while simultaneously relegating the visiting of angels to the insane. Immaculate conception?--well just don't think too deeply about that one.
If many were honest, I think they would admit to dedicating their lives to all that is concrete, objective and scientific and discounting all that is spiritual as myth when life is rolling along smoothly but quickly pleading with God or cursing at God when life seems like a runaway train. A clenched fist at the void is a truly meaningless act if at your core you know nothing is there.
This schism is the result of a false paradigm--that the profane and the sacred are somehow separate or even opposite, that one must choose one or the other. I'm not talking about devotion here. I truly believe one cannot serve two masters. Either your heart is set upon the things of mammon or the things of God. I'm talking about belief here--that truth is either what we can scientifically measure or that truth lies somewhere beyond the observable world. What if they are intersecting all the time? What if they can both be measured, but perhaps only using separate paradigms?
For these discussions, I will take the scriptures at face value, and not as metaphor. I will share along the way what I believe is sound evidence for doing so. By sound evidence I mean as solid as the evidence against reading the scriptures literally. I'm not trying to overthrow one system of thought for another. I no longer see them as mutually exclusive. If God is the creator of all things, then all things come from God. But as we also come from God, and therefore are part of the system, we can no more know the meaning of our own existence than a fish in a fish tank can know that his existence not only relies on some distant coal-fired power station delivering electricity to the water pump, but also to lush jungles that lived millions of years ago and died to become coal. It is simply impossible to fully understand a system you are part of unless the creator bridges the knowledge gap.
But why do people find such an act so impossible?
26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.
28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
And so an angel of the Lord was sent to bridge that gap. But even someone as "highly favoured" as Mary had difficulty believing in the divine, especially as it related to her:
31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.
32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?
35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
36 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.
37 For with God nothing shall be impossible.
This is the ultimate human condition. In this temporal state, it is very difficult to wrap our heads around the idea that the impossible is possible, especially pertaining to our own little lives.
If we were honest, if we were brave, we would say: I believe in the divine; I just don't accept the divine can touch me.
But what would happen if we truly taught ourselves and each other, "with God nothing shall be impossible"?
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