Who are the real bad guys?

     What if I stopped judging the "bad guys" in the scriptures and put myself in their place? Why do I always think about myself as Nephi, Amon, Moroni, Peter, the Good Samaritan. Why don't I see myself as Laman, Zeezrom, or the Prodigal Son? I may know why. It is that little piece of dirt on the top of my nose, called pride. This little pride dirt that make me feel so righteous, and unable me to see how SELF righteous I am.

  

     My religion class last week opened my eyes to humbling myself and placing me in the lives of two "bad guys" of the New Testament: Malchus and Barabbas.

     In John 18:10 and Luke 22:51 tells us how right after Jesus suffering in the Ghetsemani, as Judas came to betray the Master, Peter cuts off Malchus ear. At that moment Jesus reaction could have been sarcastic, mean or rude. Jesus had only suffered the most agonizing pain a human could ever suffer without dying. And He was looking at Malchus, having an ear just cut off, feeling a strong pain, but nothing compared to the pain Jesus had just suffered. However, moved for perfect love and compassion, Jesus without hesitate, in a natural act of kindness and mercy heals the one who had come to capture and take Him to be killed. How am I like Malchus? How many times have I deliberately chosen to do something which I knew was not right? How many times have I offended my Savior only to immediately suffer the consequences of my bad decisions? However, when I was in the most agonizing pain, Jesus with His kind hands came and showed me His infinite mercy and love, healing me. I can relate a lot to this man.

   

    Let's think about Barabbas now. In Luke 23:19 we read that Barabbas had been condemned to prison for sedition and murder. He was one of the worst prisoners. Pilates, as part of the Passover tradition of freely releasing one prisoner presents Christ (the pure and innocent) and Barabbas (the murder and robber). Ironically the one who is made free is Barabbas, for whom Jesus takes the cross and is killed in Barabbas' place. For a long time I thought of Barabbas: awful man, he is the one who should have been killed and let my Savior live. Why was such a bad man freed? Well, what if I am Barabbas? I am the one who sins and make mistakes every single day. However, who is the one who suffers for them? Who is the one who pays for all my sins? Who is the pure and innocent who without complaining carries and is raised in my cross, so I can be purified and receive not only second, but third, twentieth, hundredth chances? Well, Jesus Christ. So, if Jesus did and has continually done this for me, why could He not decide Himself to do the same for Barabbas?

    Why do I keep condemning Barabbas and Malchus, when I am the one that many times have also been in their place? I hope and I personally believe that these two 'bad guys' may have repented and became Brother Malchus and Brother Barabbas. The touching of Jesus in Malchus ear may have gone deeper into his heart, and maybe Barabbas seeing Jesus dying in the cross made him feel something special about the love and mercy of God that made him to change. Who knows? My nose, your nose? I don't know. But I hope that these two men could experience not only the physical healing and salvation that Jesus did for them, but also the spiritual. And I hope that I may humble myself before God, recognizing all the times in which I am the 'bad guy', and that through that process I may be purified by the eternal Atonement of my Savior Jesus Christ.

What is the Gospel for?

     In my religion class last week, as we discussed about many of Jesus’ miracles, my professor asked us the following questions: Why did Jesus heal the people spiritually right away, if He knew that they would sin again? And why don’t we wait to be baptized and do our covenants right before we die, so we can die clean? As a kid I had thought about the second question before, and my conclusion was “because we don’t know when we are going to die”. That is right! But it is not all!

For a long time in my mind I thought of the Gospel as the way to exalt me. That is not false, it is true. In fact, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the way to lead us back to our Heavenly Father’s presence. However, that is not the only purpose of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That is not the only reason why we do covenants with God. It is not the only reason why Christ forgives us. I came to a better understanding of two other reasons why is important to start living the Gospel of Jesus Christ as soon as we can in our lives and do not wait until before we die to do so.

REASON #1 – God is not only concerned about where we are going or what we are doing. In my own opinion, what concerns God most is who we are BECOMING. Exaltation is the possibility to BECOME as our Heavenly Father is. Can I become as God, full of intelligence, wisdom, self-control, and charity towards everyone, from night to day? Will I be ready to be exalted if I repent a night before I die? NO! It requires time, a looooooong time. It requires effort. It requires hard work. And it requires repentance, which means that it requires failing – of course, if we do not fail there is nothing to repent of. But not failing by itself. It requires to try again, and over and over again, until we can overcome our bad habits. As we keep exercising faith in Christ; repenting of our faults; making, renewing, and keeping covenants with God; keep consistently seeking the guidance, comfort and inspiration of the Holy Ghost; and persistently continue throughout this process until the end – which means forever -  our weaknesses will turn into strengths, our bad habits into good habits, our natural man into spiritual man. Eventually, what once was a weakness will become a strength. The divine attributes will become part of who we are. And that is the ultimate goal of God, that through all the difficulties of our lives we may learn and develop the divine attributes He expects us to develop. And that is why He will forgive and clean us, even though He knows that we will mess up and get dirty again.

REASON #2 – The Gospel is not something only to bring joy in the future, after we die, when we can return to the presence of our God. The Gospel of Jesus Christ was designed to accomplish God`s plan, that “man may have joy”. And we don’t have to wait for an eventual Salvation to feel the joy that the Gospel can bring to us. We all can feel that joy RIGHT NOW! As Elder Nelson taught, “when the focus of our lives is on Jesus Christ and His gospel, we can feel joy regardless of what is happening—or not happening—in our lives.” When was the last time you recognized a blessing, even a little one, in the middle of all your trials, and recognized that you didn’t had to wait until the trial was gone to feel real joy? If it has been too long ago, maybe you should take a break now, and dedicate some time to think about what you are missing on applying the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Because this life is the time for man to have joy, the Savior performed the Atonement, to give relief, hope, and joy to all mankind, so we all can feel true joy not only in the next life, but still in this one.

     I know that God is our Heavenly Father and Christ is our Loving Savior, and that what matters most is not where we are going, but WHO WE ARE BECOMING through the journey back to Him 

Seeing Others Through the Eternal Lenses

Once upon a time, there was a little girl called Elisa Belle. She was full of energy and loved to mess around with her brothers. She had a very strong personality and was very hardheaded. Luckily, she had a loving mother, who would make her to go in front of the mirror every single day, pass her hands in her own face and repeat the words: “I am a daughter of God. I am a princess. I love myself.” Elisa Belle’s mom gave her many hugs and kisses and made her feel loved. But that was not everything. Her mom also would correct, chasten and emend Elisa every time she messed up or that she did not act as the princess and daughter of God she was. Elisa did not like that at all. After being reprimanded by her mother, she would go to her bedroom to cry and say “my mom does not love me”. She was wrong…very wrong, though. The main reason her mom did that was because she loved Elisa Belle, and she could see that little girl not only as a little girl, but as the great woman she could become.

If my mom, being merely mortal, could see so much of my potential, imagine what God sees in me. Imagine what He sees in you. Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin said:

“We see ourselves in terms of yesterday and today. Our Heavenly Father sees us in terms of forever. Although we might settle for less, Heavenly Father won’t, for He sees us as the glorious beings we are capable of becoming.”

A great example of that is when God called Enoch to become a prophet. Enoch’s instantly answered:

“Why is it that I have found favor in thy sight, and am but a lad, and all the people hate me; for I am slow of speech; wherefore am I thy servant?” (Moses 6:31)

Enoch presented to God three main reasons why he was not qualified to become a prophet:

Reason #1 - Enoch was 65 years old when he was called. Well, for me that is not a lad. However, if we take a look back, and remember that at that time people used to live for 7, 8, or even 9 hundred years, a 65 years old is only a little boy, who does not know much about life…and now God wants him to go to all these old people to call them to repentance. Would you hear to a 12 years old prophet?

Reason #2 - Also, according Enoch, people hated him. Why? Maybe he was too righteous and this bugged all the wicked people. Perhaps that may be the reason, but I don’t really know for sure.

Reason #3 - And because these two reasons were not bad enough, Enoch was also slow of speech. That may mean that he probably had some speech impediment, just like Moses. Is not interesting that God would call as prophets men that the world could consider weak, because of their human debilities?

So….with my mere human vision, if I was calling Enoch, after he telling me all of his concerns and reasons why he could not be a prophet, I would probably have said “yeah Enoch, you are right. I am so sorry, I had not thought about those before. So just keep going with your life, have fun, and I will do my best to find someone else more qualified to call as a prophet.” But did God do that? OF COURSE NOT! Instead, God replied: “Go forth and do as I have commanded thee, and no man shall pierce thee […]  Behold my Spirit is upon you, wherefore all thy words will I justify”. (Moses 6:32, 34). God could see Enoch way farther than what Enoch was at that time. He knew the infinite capacity of Enoch, and who he could become in terms of a few years, and especially of eternity. God could see Enoch building up Zion and being translated, even though at that time this could seem something impossible to happen.

Then why is that so hard for us to do the same? The answer is OBVIOUS: because we are not God. Yes, of course….but we are children, and as His children we can taste, practice, and learn how to develop some of God’s divine attributes we have inherited from Him, and I truly believe that one of these attributes we can work on is SEEING PEOPLE THROUGH ETERNAL LENS. How will we do that? Well, I am still trying to figure it out. I am sorry if I brought you to the end of this long text without giving to you any practical solution. Perhaps helping people to remember their divine identity, just as my mom did to me may be a possible solution. Or applying what God did to Enoch, encouraging others to keep moving on despite their flaws, and reminding them that through Christ they can do anything.

These are just a few ideas I had, but I know that through the Spirit you can find by yourself the exact things you can do to see others – and yourself - through the eternal lens and help them to achieve their full potential. I am eternally grateful for a mom who helped me and still helps me to see myself with an eternal perspective, and I hope to be able to do the same for others.

If you still think that seeing people through eternal lens is only optional, I just leave you with President Thomas S. Monson words:  

“We have the responsibility to see individuals not as they are but rather as they can become.”

Science vs Faith

    Science versus Faith… We cannot believe in science and have faith in a God at the same time. That is the point that Satan convinces people to believe in. But WHY? Why does he do that? And how can that work for his benefit? If we look to the creation as an example, the truth is that if you only believe in science, you will believe in an evolution without God. On the other hand, if you believe only in a blind Faith the theory is that the Earth was created out of nothing. And guess what? Both are lies. BIG LIES. And is not that the purpose of Satan, to make us all to get farther and farther from the truth? Well, so if he can make us believe in either way – believing only in science or only in faith – he will achieve his purpose.

But....Why cannot we believe in a God who uses science to fulfill His purposes?        
 
     When I thought about that question someone very special came to my mind. He is boy who I met in Mauá, SP - Brazil, when I served a full time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Saints. He is one of the smartest boys I have ever met, who truly seeks for truth and at that time had this same confusion: science vs faith. It was a little hard for him to believe in the mesage of the Restored Gospel we had to share with him, because seemed to be contrary to the science he knew. I think that he probably does not remember that, but I can remember very clearly when my mission companion and I told him that as members of the church we also believe and have great appreciation for science, and that we seek for truth wherever we can find it. I can remember his face being lit with joy.

This is one of the great reasons why I am so grateful that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was restored in our days. Through Joseph Smith teachings we can learn that God did not create the Earth out of nothing. He ORGANIZED unorganized matter. Just as we do not bake a cake out of nothing, but following the laws of physics and chemistry we bring ingredients together, God following the same laws brought together and organized a bunch of unorganized matter, transforming all of it in something AMAZING: The Earth! Then, we have a God, who is not a passive being, but who is perfectly intelligent, who knows all about science, and through hard work created every single creature and beauty that we can touch, smell, see, taste and hear on the face of this world.  That proves the point that science and faith does not have to be two separate things. One does not annul the other. On the contrary, science and faith can prove and validate each other. Therefore, it does not matter where truth can be found – whether in a scientific article, or in the scriptures - I will seek for it. And I hope you can do just the same. 

Who is God?

     Even though the ideas and concepts of who God is are very different and varied around the world, more than 80 percent of the worldwide population believes that exists a supreme being. However, who God really is? And what difference He can make in my life and in the way I face my struggles?

     Well, I have always heard that God is my Father, but this week during my class of Jesus Christ and The Everlasting Gospel as we studied and discussed the first chapter of Moses and the nature of God I learned so much about my Father in heaven and my identity, which helped me find more peace in life and deal with my challenges.

     What does it mean to say that God is our Father, or that we are children of God? Let's think through this: God is the "Lord God Almighty, [...] without beginning of days or end of years" (Moses 1:3), He is the supreme being, full of glory and power. However, as the prophets said, "of all the titles of respect and honor and admiration that are given to Deity, He has asked us to address Him as Father." Why? From many possible reasons, these following two are the ones which I consider most important.

     First of all, Heavenly Father is not focused on His own power, but in the relationship He wants us to build with him, a relationship of father and child. A relationship of love, trust and proximity. Even though we have the theoretical knowledge of this, how many times have we talked to our Father in Heaven as a child talks to her parent? Every time I have a hard decision to make, a problem going on in my life, a struggle or difficulty, I call my father and discuss with him about it. If I believe that God is my Heavenly Father, why would not I call Him and discuss with Him about what is going on in my life? I love the record of the conversation between Moses and God in Moses 1, because it brought me the confidence that even God having SO many things going on with all of His infinite children, He had time to talk personally with Moses and teach him very specific and important principles related to Moses’ life. If He was concerned about teaching and preparing Moses to do a great work, why would not God be concerned about me and take His time to listen to my problems, to give me advice and teach me how I can accomplish my purpose of being on this Earth?

     Second, He wants us to comprehend our divine identity and potential. What is the mortal life if not only a water drop in the immensity of the ocean of eternity? However, we "cannot behold with [our] natural eyes, for the present time, the design of [our] God" concerning everything that has already passed by, either those which are to come (D&C 58:3). Why? Because we are so drowned in our struggles, problems and challenges of this mortal life that it is so hard to step out of all of them and see the big picture. There is a Brazilian expression that says “The son of a fish, a little fish is.” The same is for us. As children of God, we are beings with an eternal and divine potential. At the beginning of our class Dr. Griffin had written in the board “Who am I?” and I automatically thought that it would be one more class repeating the very well-known principle that we are children of God, and I was ready to just hear a lot of repetition of what I had already learned. He then asked us how old we are. All of us answered with ages between 18 through 28. Then he taught us a very simple principle that helped me to expand my understanding of I really am. He said: I asked how old are you, not how old your physical and mortal body is. That blew my mind. Why have I never thought about that before? Many times when we think about our divine identity we focus a lot on what we can become and in the eternity in front of us. But what about our pre-mortal life and the experiences and promises we made to our Heavenly family there? What about everything I learned there? And the skills I developed? And the gifts and characteristics I have received from God? Why do I have to limit myself to this mortal existence? The physical body I have now may be 22 years old, but my body is not the only thing that makes me. I am not only this mortal body with struggles and problems. These struggles and problems are not what defines me. They are just a very tiny part of a probatory time I have here on the Earth to learn how to develop the attributes that will help me to become like my Heavenly Parents. And that is a big reason that God wants us to call Him our father. However, just as Satan tried to deceive and mess up with Moses’ identity trying to convince Moses to believe that he was a child of man (Moses 1:12), Satan tries the same with us in nowadays. With his cunning and tricks he tries to make us forget of our divine heritage, and to focus in the weaknesses and flaws of our mortal bodies, which as a little kid, we are just learning how to use and control. By doing so, he stops us from achieving our full potential, and he rejoices on that.

     Because God is our Heavenly Father and loves us, He provided a way for us to connect with Him and become like Him. And the scriptures say “there is none other way nor name given under heaven whereby man can be saved in the kingdom of God” (2 Nephi 31:21) and “there shall be no other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent.” (Moses 3:17) Only through Jesus Christ we can access our Father in Heaven. Only through Jesus Christ we can achieve our eternal and divine potential. Just as Moses failed trying to cast out Satan by himself for three times, we will also fail if we try to do so alone or with the strength of men. However, if we seek for God’s help, through Jesus Christ, we will receive power and grace not only to fight the enemy of all righteousness, but also to overcome every challenge, weakness, flaw and struggle we are facing or may face in this life.