Sunday, January 27, 2019

Faith to receive revelation

Since 2011, it has been traditional to include my sacrament meeting talks on this blog. Here is the one I gave today, January 27, 2019.

I want to make sure I don't go ever so I give enough time to the elders quorum teacher. But that's me, so it doesn't matter.

In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we value revelation. Our church began because a teenager asked a question and received an answer. Today, we are encouraged to receive personal revelation to receive our own testimony. Revelation is one of the fundamental parts of our religion. But in order to receive revelation, we need to have faith that we can receive it.

As I thought about examples of receiving revelation in the scriptures, I thought of Oliver Cowdery, who was serving as scribe with the translation of the Book of Mormon. He wanted to do some translating himself. As he prepared to translate, the Lord revealed Doctrine and Covenants 8: “Behold, I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart.”[1] But there was a caveat: “Remember that without faith you can do nothing; therefore ask in faith.”[2]

Oliver’s attempt to translate did not go well. In response, the Lord revealed Doctrine and Covenants 9: “Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me. But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right.”[3] Not only is faith required, but so is action on our part.

As I was preparing for this talk, I found a quote from Elder Boyd K. Packer, which he delivered in a BYU devotional way back in 1975. It’s a little long and dated, but he has some good insights. He said:
Now, about revelation. We have all been taught that revelation is available to each of us individually. The question I’m most often asked about revelation is, “How do I know when I have received it? I’ve prayed about it and fasted over this problem and prayed about it and prayed about it, and I still don’t quite know what to do. How can I really tell whether I’m being inspired so I won’t make a mistake?” 
First, do you go to the Lord with a problem and ask Him to make your decision for you? Or do you work, read the revelations, and meditate and pray and then make a decision yourself? Measure the problem against what you know to be right and wrong, and then make the decision. Then ask Him if the decision is right or if it is wrong. Remember what He said to Oliver Cowdery about working it out in your mind.
Then he continued with an interesting insight:

I think I should mention one other thing, and I hope this won’t be misunderstood. We often find young people who will pray with great exertion over matters that they are free to decide for themselves. Suppose, if you will, that a couple had money available to build a house. [This is how we know this is an old talk.] Suppose they had prayed endlessly over whether they should build an Early American style, a ranch style, modern style architecture, or perhaps a Mediterranean style. Has it ever occurred to you that perhaps the Lord just plain doesn’t care? Let them build what they want to build. It’s their choice. In many things we can do just what we want.
 Now, there are some things he cares about very much. If you’re going to build that house, then be honest and pay for the material that goes into it and do a decent job of building it. When you move into it, live righteously in it. Those are the things that count.
 On occasions I’ve had to counsel people that the Lord would probably quite willingly approve the thing they intend to do even when they want to. It’s strange when they come and almost feel guilty about doing something because they want to, even when it’s righteous. The Lord is very generous with the freedom He gives us. The more we learn to follow the right, the more we are spiritually self-reliant, the more our freedom and our independence are affirmed. “If ye continue in my word,” he said, “then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:31–32.)[4]

A long time ago, I was a missionary. I was in my hardest area, Hayden, Idaho, and the work was really difficult. Our investigators kept falling off, and the area was small, so it was frequently tracted out, both by us and by other denominations, so people were very quick to shut us down and didn’t want to talk to us. One day during personal study, I decided that I would really seek revelation on what I could do to help the area. I made my prayer a little more careful that morning, and I spent the personal study hour combing through the area books. I don’t know if missionaries still use area books; iPads weren’t released until I was home from my mission, but an area book is a binder full of teaching records, potential investigator lists, ward directories, and other documents. I hoped that in looking through the area book, a name would stick out to me. That didn’t happen.

However, that night I had a dream that I was in the house of a recent convert in a previous area, but the people who lived in the house were recent converts from a different area. That dream itself didn’t tell me what I should do, but the idea came to me: I should work with recent converts in this difficult area. So we began reaching out to recent converts and spending more time with them.

I can’t say anything dramatic happened, but the area definitely improved after that. I believe it was revelation. But I had to have faith to receive revelation before I got it. And it wasn’t enough simply to ask and go about my day; I was blessed with revelation because I was actively seeking an answer, even though the answer didn’t come in the way I expected it.

Years later, I was in college. (Again, that was a long time ago.) I had an internship at BYU Studies, an academic journal. One of my tasks was to write abstracts, or summaries, of older articles from back-issues of the journal. I was working on one batch of articles from the 1970s that were written by Hugh Nibley about the book of Abraham. In one of these articles, he praised the work of one Dee Jay Nelson, saying that the Latter-day Saints owed him a great debt of gratitude. I wrote that in my abstract, and I was done with it, ready to submit it to my supervisor. But something bothered me about it. I felt that I needed to do more research, which I didn't usually do for my other abstracts. As I began researching, I learned that the Latter-day Saints did not owe a great debt of gratitude to Dee Jay Nelson. He turned out to be an enemy to the Church. But even worse, he was a total fraud. He claimed to have a PhD, but his PhD was just a slip of paper from a company that would send fake degrees in the mail. I think BYU Studies planned to put it in an ebook, but I was able to flag the article as unreliable and outdated.

In that case, I wasn’t actively seeking revelation. But it came to me, and I had the faith to act on the prompting I received.

These are just experiences that I have had, but it won’t always be the same for you or for me. Elder Richard G. Scott said, “I am convinced that there is no simple formula or technique that would immediately allow you to master the ability to be guided by the voice of the Spirit. Our Father expects you to learn how to obtain that divine help by exercising faith in Him and His Holy Son, Jesus Christ. Were you to receive inspired guidance just for the asking, you would become weak and ever more dependent on Them. They know that essential personal growth will come as you struggle to learn how to be led by the Spirit.”[5]

The examples I shared from my own life are a bit more dramatic and obvious. But I believe that most of the time, our revelation comes more subtly and even incrementally. But that doesn’t mean we should become complacent in our ability to receive revelation. Last April, President Nelson instructed us:

I urge you to stretch beyond your current spiritual ability to receive personal revelation, for the Lord has promised that “if thou shalt [seek], thou shalt receive revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge, that thou mayest know the mysteries and peaceable things—that which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal.” . . .
 Nothing opens the heavens quite like the combination of increased purity, exact obedience, earnest seeking, daily feasting on the words of Christ in the Book of Mormon, and regular time committed to temple and family history work.
 To be sure, there may be times when you feel as though the heavens are closed. But I promise that as you continue to be obedient, expressing gratitude for every blessing the Lord gives you, and as you patiently honor the Lord’s timetable, you will be given the knowledge and understanding you seek. Every blessing the Lord has for you—even miracles—will follow. That is what personal revelation will do for you.[6]

I will have you know that President Nelson is speaking in my home ward, but I couldn’t go because I am giving this talk. You’re welcome.

I know that as we exercise faith to receive revelation, we will receive it to strengthen our faith and to make wise decisions. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.



[1] Doctrine and Covenants 8:2.
[2] Doctrine and Covenants 8:10.
[3] Doctrine and Covenants 9:7–8.
[4] Boyd K. Packer, “Self-Reliance,” Ensign, August 1975.
[5] Richard G. Scott, “To Acquire Spiritual Guidance,” Ensign, November 2009.
[6] Russell M. Nelson, “Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives,” Ensign, May 2018.

Sunday, January 20, 2019

The movie conundrum

In case you haven't figured it out already, I live my life by a series of rules. I have rules for pretty much everything: holidays, eating, running, cleaning, music, studying, and so on. Some people might call it OCD, but I call it a way to be successful.

Beginning in 2004, I had very strict rules about the kind of movies and TV I would watch. In the past year, I have mostly revoked these strict rules. But now that I don't have these rules, what do I do now?

It all started in ninth-grade seminary, when I had an overzealous seminary teacher. He didn't tell me to make these rules, but I was inspired to make them by things he said. I started the school year by giving up The Simpsons, then gave up more things as time went on.

I have never gone by the MPAA ratings, because those are wildly inconsistent (and, I might argue, corrupt). Basically, my rule was not to watch movies or TV with objectionable language. Which was pretty much anything made after 1970, except for things aimed at kids and families. (Even many family-friendly films were not permitted. I gotta say, "family" films of the 1980s and 90s were not so family friendly.😲) This solidified my interest in ridiculous 1960s sitcoms, and I have found myself decidedly out of the loop on pop culture. I had stricter standards than anyone else I know, and I think they were even stricter than most (all?) General Authorities.

Real life would not fit my movie standards. It wasn't entirely about the language of these movies, but part of my rationale was that if I set my standards so high, I would stay away from worse content. Even if I stretched my rules a bit, I was still in safe territory.

Of course, my life revolves around holidays, and there are many holiday movies that became off limits for me. Here are examples of holiday shows I would not watch (some of them I watched before I got strict, some of them I have seen since then, but some I have never seen): Hop, Independence Day, Hocus Pocus, Monster House, A Christmas Story, The Santa Clause, Home Alone, Elf.

This might sound like I have negative feelings, but I actually don't regret this at all. It really served its purpose of keeping me away from undesirable content. I mostly think movies and TV are a waste of time now, and my strict standards were one factor (out of a few) that made me devalue them. Now I usually only watch TV when I'm doing something else (usually cooking, exercising, or socializing).

But I came to realize an undesirable side effect of these strict standards: it made me judgmental of others whose values are different from mine. (I used to refer to The Incredibles as The Incredibly Evils.)

This was exemplified last year when I went to visit my nephews, and one of them had his preteen friends over for his birthday party. One of these friends, whom I will call Kid A, kept using language I find objectionable. But then Kid B flippantly used a very inappropriate word, and Kid A said, "Hey, [Kid B], there's no need for vulgarity!" Kid A thought it proper to use clean language, even though his definition was different from mine. And just because someone does things I disagree with, it doesn't mean they are a wicked person. There are weightier matters.

But where do I go from here?

My standards loosened in time for me to work for the Sundance Film Festival. My last day was Friday, and I picked up various items in time for the festival, including ten free movie tickets.

I'm a little nervous to see these films. I don't have restrictions anymore, but I still don't like objectionable content. For example, in the last few months, I have seen movies with scenes of people getting shot by guns or arrows. I did not like those scenes at all, and after one movie, I found myself sad for no reason at all, and I think it was the movie's fault. Going forward, I think I will still mostly stick to kid-friendly films, when I watch films at all. When I chose my tickets, I tried to stay away from the harsher films. I really am a nonfiction kind of guy, because I found myself drawn more to the documentaries. But there are still some films that might have undesirable parts. The 2019 Sundance Film Festival will be a new experience for me, in more ways than one. 

Sunday, January 13, 2019

Fifty things I don't like

Two years ago, I made a post about fifty things that I like.

Well, today, I'm going to make a post about fifty things that I don't like.

Now, there are lots of things that I don't like that could really get my blood boiling: bullies, criminals, drugs, drunk driving, political issues, etc. To keep this more lighthearted, I'm going to focus on more superficial things.

Here we go!


  1. Ice. Ever since I slipped and landed on my teeth six years ago, I have hated ice.
  2. January. It has a dearth of holidays (once New Year's is over), it has ice, it has darkness, and it has...
  3. Smog.
  4. Sports. Yawn.
  5. The packaging of dress shirts. Why do they package them like that? It makes me less likely to buy them, because I don't want to try them on, because I don't want to take off all the packaging. And then if I do try it on but don't buy it, I feel bad that the employee has to put it all together again. Also, it's extremely wasteful of all that plastic, cardboard, and metal (pins). Whoever invented this should be tortured by being stuck with all the little pins.
  6. Throw pillows. People tell me the purpose of a throw pillow is to add color to a room. There are other, better ways to do that. When I go to someone's house and they have throw pillows on their couch, I either have to sit awkwardly with the pillow behind me, or I have to move it and feel like I'm messing up their decorating. Dumb. 
  7. While I do enjoy a good cheddar or mozzarella, there are a great many cheeses that I can't stand. If I get a salad with parmesan flakes in it, I have to pick them out. I don't like parmesan, brie, gruyère, Swiss, or others, but I can usually handle them if they're mixed with other stuff. The worst, though, is feta. You add that, and the whole meal is ruined. 
  8. Speaking of feta, I don't like Greek food: Greek olives, Greek yogurt, feta, etc. Gyros are fine, but they don't taste as good as they look.
  9. This week I went to an Ethiopian restaurant. There's a reason I had never had Ethiopian food. You don't even get utensils; you just eat weird foods with a spongy fermented bread. I hate wasting food, but I couldn't bear the thought of bringing my leftovers home.
  10. Goathead plants. Come back to this blog in June (or look through my June archives) to see how much I hate it.
  11. I had never heard of myrtle spurge until last year, but I had often seen it and wondered what it was. Now that I know it's invasive, pervasive, and rash-inducing, I hate it as well. (Still not as bad as goatheads, though.)
  12. Excessive "sharing" on Facebook. I don't care about those recipes, conspiracy theories, or political or religious posts (even if I agree with them). Make the madness stop.
  13. Breaking into small groups in Sunday School and elders quorum.
  14. When awkward people talk too much or overshare in church.
  15. Christmas stuff before Thanksgiving. I probably like Christmas more than you do, but when you have Christmas during Thanksgiving, it's insulting to Thanksgiving, but it also diminishes the specialness of Christmas.
  16. Pop culture of the 1980s. Good thing I'm too young to remember the 80s, because I'm always amazed at how hokey they were.
  17. I don't like a lot of singing from the 1950s. Specifically that weird rockabilly singing where they deliberately make their voices crack.
  18. Being stopped at red lights. Sometimes I'll be driving and think, "Man, I really hate this song, I'm so tired of it." Then I realize it's not the song, it's the red light.
  19. Steak. Once someone told me I didn't like steak because I'd only had it well done, but I like pink steak even less.
  20. Seafood. Probably because I grew up in a desert.
  21. Getting off of I-15 southbound onto 1300 South. Whoever designed that should be tortured by being required to drive that exit every day.
  22. People complaining about Utah drivers. We don't have a monopoly on bad drivers, you know. Also, when people complain about them, it's with an air of, "I'm such a better driver."
  23. People not shoveling their sidewalks even though they have immaculate gardens in the summer.
  24. Penguins at Christmastime. I like penguins, but they're the wrong hemisphere for Christmas. If you want a cute polar bird, go with puffins.
  25. Eight-pointed snowflakes. Snowflakes only have six points.
  26. Bottled water. How selfish it is to use bottled water just because it's convenient! What a waste of plastic (and money)! But the worst is when I see a water bottle in the trash when there is literally a recycling bin right next to the trash can. Morons.
  27. Hawaiian/Polynesian food. From what I've seen, it's just fatty meat with lots of carbs (white rice, sweet rolls, and gross macaroni salad).
  28. Dogs. I know this makes me sound like a monster, but it's true. I like dogs individually but not collectively. The problem is that everyone thinks they're a good dog owner, even when they're not. I would argue that a good dog is better than a good cat, but a bad dog is way worse than a bad cat.
  29. People saying "whom" when it should be "who." That shows you're trying to sound smarter than you actually are. (I don't care at all if they say "who" when it should be "whom." I'm not a prescriptivist anymore.)
  30. People criticizing Utah (or other) accents. I've talked about accent shaming before.
  31. College and high school rivalries. Why can't we just be friends?
  32. Mushrooms. (As a food, that is. They're pretty cool to look at.)
  33. Nevada. I don't mean to be offensive, because it has its good points. But most of the state isn't very attractive. Its biggest claim to fame is a city that is not family friendly. Once I was in Mesquite, and it was 100 degrees at 9 p.m. Why would you live there? As I drive along I-80 between California and Utah, the rest stops in Utah and California are just fine. But Nevada's are disgusting. It's the state that literally elected a dead Republican pimp. Oh, and I will never forget this astoundingly bad historical marker that says, "A squaw tried to save a child but was chased for days was caught and the child killed. Dedicated June 7, 6008." Yes, 6008.
  34. When there is a whole row of seats (not assigned), and someone sits on the end of the row, leaving the entire center empty, so everyone has to walk over them to get to the inside seats. That's just inconvenient for everyone!
  35. Singing the same few hymns over and over when there are so many good ones we never sing.
  36. Wasps, hornets, yellowjackets, etc. (But not bees.) If I could have one superpower, it would be to kill wasps just by looking at them.
  37. Dances.
  38. Wedding receptions.
  39. People taking horses or bikes on trails where those are specifically not allowed.
  40. The movie The Polar Express.
  41. "Jingle Bell Rock" and "Last Christmas." Covers of those songs are better than the originals.
  42. Know-it-alls. Especially when they are wrong.
  43. The song "Jackie Chan."
  44. All the townhomes going up in North Salt Lake.
  45. The fact that you're not allowed to cross the double white line in a carpool lane. I don't even think about using the carpool lane because it's so troublesome to get in and out.
  46. People not using their blinkers. If you can't flip a switch, how can you possibly drive a car?
  47. People speeding. If you deliberately speed, you have a sense of entitlement. Sorry not sorry.
  48. Parallel parking. I'm not good at it, so I avoid it. I would rather park far away.
  49. Groundhog Day. It's not so bad itself. But it's just a regional holiday based entirely on fictional things (the outcome is predetermined!), yet it gets more attention than Arbor Day, Patriots' Day, Mardi Gras, and Pioneer Day, all of which are regional holidays that are better and more meaningful.
  50. Poorly designed, nonintuitive websites. 
I'm feeling blessed. I had to stretch and think a lot to come up with fifty.

Sunday, January 6, 2019

The last two festive weeks

Since I do my annual year in review the last Sunday of December (except when January 1 is a Sunday), the first Sunday of January has become the time to do my recap of Christmas and New Year's.

Last year's (2017) Christmas was one of the best I can remember. This year's wasn't as great. It was good, just not as good. I think part of this is because of all the overtime I had to work on December 22 and even on December 24. I got to work from home, but still. So that I wouldn't be completely isolated from my family, I did my work in the living room while playing my official Christmas playlist of 1,354 songs.

It was good to spend Christmas Day with all my family, including my brother's family from California. The most creative gift came from my sister-in-law, who made me dish towels for every holiday!

I also got an indoor herb garden, some light-up gloves, a dinosaur bedspread, and a few other odds and ends. 

I had to work December 26, 27, and 28, though only December 26 was in the office. That wasn't so fun, especially when I had my nephews visiting. (Fortunately, I'm done with overtime now.)

I have a bit of a hard time connecting with my nephews because they are so different. Their lives revolve around three things:
  1. Video games. Last year I tried to set up my old Super Nintendo and some other things on our new giant TV, but I couldn't figure it out. So my dad hid it from me, and I haven't had a need to ask him where he put it. I just don't care much about video games, and they are mostly a waste of time. My nephews just got a Nintendo Switch, and sometimes asked me why I don't play video games, as though I were missing out or something. It makes it hard to spend quality time with them. Even when I play the games with them, I wouldn't call it "quality time."
  2. YouTube. I watched a lot of YouTube in college, but it's been more than four years since I've really followed viral videos. Also, my nephews' tastes are very different from mine. I prefer things that are unscripted or unintentionally funny. They're not into that stuff.
  3. Squishmallows, which they call "Fluffies." The last day they were here, we filled out forms about our favorite things, and they tried to make "Fluffy" the answer to most of their questions. I got a few holiday-themed Fluffies over the last few months to try to relate with the boys, but now I'm having a hard time finding space for them.


Of course, my life revolves around holidays, and yet my brother is one of the most holiday-apathetic people I know. As they were preparing to leave, I jokingly said to my nephews, "So you won't be here for New Year's, but will you come back for Valentine's Day?" Preston asked, in total seriousness, "Is that in the summer?" He's fourteen!

Nevertheless, we were able to spend some good time playing other games and doing other things with them. They returned to California on December 29.

That night, I got a late text asking me to teach elders quorum, even though I'd already given my monthly lesson. Even though I didn't have much time to prepare, I thought the lesson went fairly well. I try to base my lessons around questions.

On New Year's Eve, I worked from home for a few hours, then my family went to see Mary Poppins Returns. I rate it a 7/10 and feel generous in doing so. It relied too much on nostalgia for the old one and not enough on its own charm. Also, they missed the perfect opportunity for a ripped bouttonnière. The original Mary Poppins is in my top 10 favorite movies. (That really isn't saying much, since I watch so few movies. I think Mary Poppins Returns was the fifth movie I saw in a theater in 2018, the others being The Greatest Showman [7/10, being generous again], Paddington 2 [10/10!], Peter Rabbit [4/10], and Trek: The Movie [4/10].)

After the movie, I got invited to a couple of parties—one was a football party in a mansion, and then the other was a small New Year's/birthday party in an apartment. It was good to have somewhere to go for New Year's Eve. But no one seemed interested in my official New Year's playlist of 25 songs.

On New Year's Day in 1959, my grandpa took my grandma, my uncle, my aunt, and my mom on their first date. We've been going out to eat on New Year's Day ever since then.

And now we are in my absolute least favorite part of the year. It's smoggy, it's dark, it's icy, there's no holidays. There was even an episode of Arthur about this very idea. But I'm trying to do better at living in the moment. At least I allow myself hot chocolate at this time of year!