The Road to Damascus: November 2011

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Conversion...

The story of the Road to Damascus is one of great conversion, of power and of faith. So Paul had a great visitation from Jesus Christ, what an experience that must have been! And the question is inevitably asked, with such a great miracle then how would it be possible to exercise faith? If our Savior appeared to us would we not all follow him? I mean who wouldn't end up following him? This can at times put up a wall or some enmity in our minds toward this experience due to the fact that it can be hard to relate to this particular scene, since the majority of people to my knowledge have not seen Christ. Due to this I will relate another story of conversion with similar context.

Let us begin, Alma 10-12, 15, 31 there is the story of a particular man by the name of Zeezrom. Zeezrom was a wicked lawyer who went about to destroy the gospel of Jesus Christ, attempting to stop the Holy Prophets, Alma, and Amulek.
Alma 10:31 "And there was one among them whose name was Zeezrom. Now he was the foremost to accuse Amulek and Alma, he being one of the most expert among them, having much business to do among the people", Zeezrom's goal was to do away with Alma and Amulek so that the people may continue in wickedness. In Zeezrom's wickedness he tempts Amulek to deny the Christ with large sums of money. Amulek rebuttals by the spirit of God, rejecting the false tempter, during this rebuttal Amulek crys repentance and invites all men to come unto Christ. During this masterful discourse something happens to Zeezrom, he feels the spirit, "Now, when Amulek had finished these words the people began again to be astonished, and also Zeezrom began to tremble"(Alma 11:46). Then something interesting happens to Zeezrom, in chapter 12 of Alma, "And Zeezrom began to inquire of them diligently, that he might know more concerning the kingdom of God", Zeezrom, inquiring truthfully about God, why?

In the next few chapters Zeezrom becomes converted, pleas for the release of Alma and Amulek after their imprisonment, is being baptized, and becomes a powerful advocate of Christ. How did Zeezrom go from fighting against God to becoming one of the Lords anointed(Alma 31:6)? Zeezrom didn't see Christ, an angel, or vision, so how did Zeezrom find the strength to change? Lets see, Alma 11:2(back to Chapter 11)"and seeing that he began to tremble under a consciousness of his guilt". So according to scripture Zeezrom was convicted by his conscience to change.

So what is conscience to change caused by? Romans 9:1 "I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost". Now according to Paul conscience is brought by the Holy Ghost. Knowing this I contend that all men are converted by the power of the Holy Ghost, Paul, Zeezrom, you, and I we are all converted by the Power of the Holy Ghost, manifest in a different ways.

I Know that this particular Knowledge is true, I have felt and applied this in my life, and have used it to bridge the gap of uncertainty and lack of knowledge.

Related Scriptures:
Alma 10:31(http://lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/10.31?lang=eng#30)
Alma 11(http://lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/11?lang=eng)
Alma 12(http://lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/12?lang=eng)
Alma 15:5-12(http://lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/15.5-12?lang=eng#4)
Alma 31:6, 32(http://lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/31.6,%2032?lang=eng#5)

Thursday, November 10, 2011

The Stars a Testimony of Gods Love

Have you ever looked into the sky on a dark cloudless night and beheld the grand view of the Milky Way Galaxy? Envisioning the wonders of the unknown and imagining what is out there? What aw that captures our minds at the vastness and glory that hangs seemingly so close to our eyes but flees from our out stretched hands grasping to touch and longing to know. This scene is causation of many feelings thougths and philosophies, I will speak of two generalized introspective feelings in the soul, first: that we have no significance and that the stars are of greater value and infinitesimally greater then what ever we could or may become, second: that such a scene is a grand spectrum, there is a Divine Creator. I will write on these two thoughts giving my views on the two.

(http://www.astronomy-images.com/images/Widefield/milky_way_in_cygnus.htm)

First thought that the stars have such value that our simple human mind is far below these scenes infinitesimally value and intrinsic character. This thought and these feelings are what many of us, as humans, experience in life feelings or insignificance and of little too know value. Many problems in life arise from these particular feelings, attention is one of the essentials of self actualization, meaning in life, zen, Nirvana, what ever you may call it. This is the reason for which children misbehave, why people drink, smoke, buy red sports cars, burn out, show off, ect... We all want to be known, make a difference and BE IMPORTANT. This is manifest in the previous statements...

Second thought, that the stars raise our vision of what we can become, they inspire uplift and motivate us to become all that we can become under given circumstances. This is a positive out look while gazing into the canvas of God. The stars are Gods testimony to us of his love, he has created the universe for us, so that we may live with him once again. It gives us the knowledge that we are of importance, worth and that HE HEARS US. This propels us beyond the gap of uncertainty and gives us the attention key in our progression to the fulfilling of our purpose, reaching self actualization, zen, Nirvana, ect...

We are of ETERNAL SIGNIFICANCE. The entire human family matter to our Creator, in fact we matter so much to him that he has provided a way to return and live with him, to choose to have eternal progress. "Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God"(D&C18:10) when we pair this knowledge with that of Moses 1:39 "For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" we understand and recognize that WE CAN MAKE IT! That the pain and all the horrific and damaging experiences in life can be worked through and that no matter what we've done, or where we've been, he loves us and that we can change, lay down those problems that we do have.

So if you read my last post I wrote, or blogged, take your choice of wordage, I advocated for application of knowledge, I challenge everyone who has read this to look introspectively into yourself and find one thing that has caused you to doubt Gods love(we all have them) and then question, why? Why did I doubt? Find the reason and fix it, through study... Will you do it?