Aidan Rhiannon (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bladespark) wrote2011-02-06 02:22 pm
bladespark) wrote2011-02-06 02:22 pm
Entry tags:
Sunday sermons
I used to post these all the time. I thought I might try and get back into the habit, though I doubt I'll manage to post one every single Sunday. Just whenever something from church particularly inspires me to thought.
I'm posting this unlocked, and I ask that whether you agree or disagree with my views, that you please keep things civil in the comments. I'm normally very private about this sort of thing, and I'm giving you guys reading this a lot of trust by posting it for you all to see. Please don't abuse that trust. As Thumper's mother said, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all."
There was a lesson at church a few weeks ago, about revelation, and the teacher said "God speaks to all men." Now "men" here doesn't mean "males" it means men in the sense of mankind, of all humanity. And I was thinking about this idea, that God speaks to everyone. I don't think it's a commonly held belief. I think most religions teach, or at least assume, that God speaks only to some certain group of the chosen. But I really do think that God speaks to all of us.
Some of you are probably going "But God has never said anything to me." Well, in the Gospel According To SPark (which is most of the stuff I post, this is always my opinion, not any kind of official doctrine) there are two reasons for that. One was addressed by the same teacher with the quote "God never uses a floodlight when a flashlight will do." Ie. He's not going to descend from on high with a chorus of angels to tell you something that He can say with a little spark of quiet inspiration in your heart. I think many of those moments of small yet profound wonder that we experience are from God.
The second reason we don't always hear God speaking to us is because we don't want to. Do you think, if God spoke to you, that He'd say "You're right about everything you believe, and you're doing the right thing in everything that you do, you're perfect, just carry on as is"? Yeah, no. God always calls us to be better than we are. Even if you're Mother Theresa or some other saintly, devoted, godly sort, there's always something you could improve. But God doesn't force that on us. If we don't want Him to call us to be better and kinder and less lazy and more inspired, then He won't. We have our free will, and how much God we want in our lives is entirely up to us. Though even those who reject God completely aren't rejected by Him, I think. I think He still sends them those moments of wonder, because in the end what God wants is for us to be happy, fulfilled, and accomplished people, who live up to our potential, and who reach out to those around us and help them as well. So within the limits that we ourselves allow, God does what He can to help each of us be that sort of person.
And on the subject of reaching out, I'm opening this post up for question asking. I tried formspring once, but I never did get any questions. :) Not "popu-fur" enough, I think. But anyhow, you can ask questions about the little sermon there, or about my religion, or about me personally, my business, my art, whatever. Any question you like. All questions are guaranteed an answer, though no answers are guaranteed to be the answer you hoped to get. :)
I'm posting this unlocked, and I ask that whether you agree or disagree with my views, that you please keep things civil in the comments. I'm normally very private about this sort of thing, and I'm giving you guys reading this a lot of trust by posting it for you all to see. Please don't abuse that trust. As Thumper's mother said, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all."
There was a lesson at church a few weeks ago, about revelation, and the teacher said "God speaks to all men." Now "men" here doesn't mean "males" it means men in the sense of mankind, of all humanity. And I was thinking about this idea, that God speaks to everyone. I don't think it's a commonly held belief. I think most religions teach, or at least assume, that God speaks only to some certain group of the chosen. But I really do think that God speaks to all of us.
Some of you are probably going "But God has never said anything to me." Well, in the Gospel According To SPark (which is most of the stuff I post, this is always my opinion, not any kind of official doctrine) there are two reasons for that. One was addressed by the same teacher with the quote "God never uses a floodlight when a flashlight will do." Ie. He's not going to descend from on high with a chorus of angels to tell you something that He can say with a little spark of quiet inspiration in your heart. I think many of those moments of small yet profound wonder that we experience are from God.
The second reason we don't always hear God speaking to us is because we don't want to. Do you think, if God spoke to you, that He'd say "You're right about everything you believe, and you're doing the right thing in everything that you do, you're perfect, just carry on as is"? Yeah, no. God always calls us to be better than we are. Even if you're Mother Theresa or some other saintly, devoted, godly sort, there's always something you could improve. But God doesn't force that on us. If we don't want Him to call us to be better and kinder and less lazy and more inspired, then He won't. We have our free will, and how much God we want in our lives is entirely up to us. Though even those who reject God completely aren't rejected by Him, I think. I think He still sends them those moments of wonder, because in the end what God wants is for us to be happy, fulfilled, and accomplished people, who live up to our potential, and who reach out to those around us and help them as well. So within the limits that we ourselves allow, God does what He can to help each of us be that sort of person.
And on the subject of reaching out, I'm opening this post up for question asking. I tried formspring once, but I never did get any questions. :) Not "popu-fur" enough, I think. But anyhow, you can ask questions about the little sermon there, or about my religion, or about me personally, my business, my art, whatever. Any question you like. All questions are guaranteed an answer, though no answers are guaranteed to be the answer you hoped to get. :)
no subject
I don't really understand LDS (specifically I'm not really sure /why/ the temple rituals and stuff, though I know you're not supposed to talk to them) but each to their own. I'm of the school of Cake or Death (Episcopalian)and it works for me :3
no subject
The temple rituals have several different parts. One is actually quite open, it's called proxy baptism. You get baptized on behalf of somebody who died without baptism. We believe the scriptures that say things like "Except a man be born of water ... he cannot enter the kingdom of God" are literally true, you have to be baptized, but we also believe that God is merciful and that people who never got a chance in life will get a chance in the afterlife. (Some people get upset about that, saying that we're presuming to "convert" everybody who's died to our faith, but we also hold that people can choose to accept or reject the baptism, you still have free will in the afterlife too.)
Anyhow! We also perform weddings in the temple. They're in many ways a lot like any wedding, but they don't use the "till death do us part" phrase, because we believe that a temple wedding is eternal, you'll be together after death too. I happen to have a regular civil marriage right now, it's for this life only. I hope to "upgrade" it someday if my husband converts to Mormonism, but if he doesn't that's okay too. A whole lifetime together is not a bad thing.
Then there's the endowment. That's the bit that can't be discussed, at least not in any detail. Honestly even if I could tell you what's done, it would still be hard to explain. It's all about symbols, (very much the way taking sacramental bread and wine are about symbols) so it's all quite deep and complex and many-layered. But essentially it's a ceremony where you solemnly make promises to God. They're not particularly weird promises, even, they center around fidelity, chastity, and holding things sacred. But part of what you promise is to hold what you did and said sacred as well, and not share it around.
If you really want to know, there are people who have broken those promises, and you can find the details on the internet, but I've never gone looking. I'd find seeing somebody break their solemn word to God like that pretty depressing, and I don't want to see it.
Anyhow, the "why" behind it all is (putting it simply) that our church really believes in ceremonies and promises. Baptism is a ceremony and a promise, (you promise to accept Christ as your savior and take His name by becoming Christian) taking the sacrament at church is a ceremony and a promise, (you promise to remember Christ's sacrifice of his body and blood for you) and attending the temple is a ceremony and a promise. They're all steps on the road to our eventual goal of returning to God. There are lots of other steps, including ones we share with nearly all religions, steps like "be decent to your fellow human beings," but the ceremonial steps are important to us.
Hopefully all that makes sense. :)
no subject
I guess it's a cultural difference between churches-- Anglicans don't really have the same level of ritualization, For the vast majority of church members there's only baptism and confirmation, though some people choose to study theology and get ordained. Ceremony isn't as important. I guess that's why LDS seems strange from my point of view, but I definitely have a better understanding of the reasoning now.