“If you’re the same species as God, prove it. Make a bunny.” (Russ Bales)

Asking, “Why evangelize the lost if God has already predestined the elect to be saved?” is like asking a surgeon, “Why do surgery on the sick if God has predestined many to be healed through surgery?”

Today was my first day at my “Scripture Study Fundamentals” class at the LDS Institute of Religion. It’s honestly dead boring, and I’m not sure if it’s worth going to with even the purpose of sharing. The class is large, and the interaction doesn’t consist of anything very gospel-oriented. Furthermore, I really don’t like it when everyone thinks your “investigating the church” as they say.

Anyway, Mr. Barker (known as “Brother Barker”) talked quite a bit in regards to the importance of reading the chapter headings. One of his examples was the new LDS chapter heading to Genesis 3. He announced to the class that before the LDS print of the Bible the chapter heading was, “the shameful fall of man”. About half the girls in the class let out one of those awww’s—you know, one of those girly laments of sadness—almost like it was a tragedy that people should consider the fall of man shameful. The LDS header:

The Serpent (Lucifer) deceives Eve—She and then Adam partake of the forbidden fruit—Her Seed (Christ) shall bruise the Serpent’s head—Role of woman, and of man—Adam and Eve cast out of the Garden of Eden—Adam presides—Eve becomes the mother of all living.
The negative tone was taken away to reflect the LDS view of the fall as actually a gain for mankind, where we might all experience life in order to be joyful. Their logic is that in order to appreciate God’s goodness we must experience pain and sin and repentance in order to fully reap the blessings of God’s love. Philosophically it’s their belief that all good things must be known in some sort of duality. I’ll have to read up more on it. Anyways, if I had the choice to leave God’s presence and experience sin, I’d be like NO WAY! I’m staying RIGHT HERE with YOU, forever! And as far as Eden goes, we had it MADE there. We had a personal relationship with God, where HE was the source for our knowledge and joy. That’s what I gain back. The best thing God had to offer me was Himself. That’s what I want through the atonement… not the ability to procreate billions of spirit babies to populate other planets and reign as a god? Of course, the contrast isn’t articulated like that, but you get the picture.

Oh, how could I forget? In teaching the importance of “marking” scriptures to learn them and even using a system of colors, Mr. Barker said that every time he read the Book of Mormon he learned something new. So new, in fact, that it seemed like it was never there before. He joked, “Who the heck is messing with my scriptures?” I kept my humorous thoughts to myself.

I miss Stacie. Oh, I miss her so much. I can’t wait to see her August 23rd.

aaronshaf: Man, you should be here. Fly over tonight
SDelicious: You should be here are you kidding me!
aaronshaf: I need a hug
aaronshaf: And you need a hug
aaronshaf: And we need some chips and salsa
SDelicious: YEah I do!
aaronshaf: And Chocolate Molten CAKE!
SDelicious: I miss you so much
SDelicious: YUMMMMMMM!!!!!!

The following is from chapter 4 of A Marvelous Work and Wonder, by LDS Author Legrand Richards, a standard work (not canon, but representative of) usually given to missionaries.

One erroneous teaching of the many Christian churches is: By faith alone we are saved. This false doctrine would relieve man from the responsibility of his act other than to confess a belief in God, and would teach man that no matter how great the sin, a confession would bring him complete forgiveness and salvation. What the world needs is more preaching of the necessity of abstaining from sin and of living useful and righteous lives, and less preaching of forgiveness of sin. This would then be a different world. The truth is that men must repent of their sins and forsake them before they can expect forgiveness. Even when our sins are forgiven, God cannot reward us for the good we have not done.

Justification by faith is through and through, thematically and explicitly, succinctly and passionately taught in the New Testament. The LDS interpretation of James is in direct contradiction with the foundational reason of why the gospel was needed. It forces a dichotomy and ambivalence wherein Mormon teaching works win.

Justification by faith does not preclude an inevitable justification of sin. Justification by faith, rather, was taught as a completely different means of upholding the law of God. Yes, if sin increases, grace increases. Hence, believers really are completely forgiven; but that does not consequentially necessitate a reckless behavior under fire insurance! The fact is that plenty of people believe that they are justified by faith alone, and they follow up with presenting themselves to God as a living sacrifice, not even partly as their means of attaining salvation, but purely out of a confident worship. If the wages of obedience were salvation, then salvation would no longer be a gift! Obedience is a believer’s response to God’s perfect love, not a fulfillment of God’s prescribed conditions.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) The atonement of Christ was powerful. The LDS thought is that some people are more worthy of forgiveness than others, and that the blood of Christ does not cover all sins. Yeah, that’s right you death row convicts, sexually defiled, and fellow reprobate sinners, there won’t be any easy love from LDS doctrine. Fear not though, for Christ’s blood really does purify the believer from ALL unrighteosness. The ultimate benefit we reap is a gift, and not a reward or wage according to our work. We have done nothing to deserve it.

I’ve expressed myself in my last couple of entries primarily with caustic material, and it certainly doesn’t do justice for me as person. For those who know me I get pretty wrapped up in the pursuit of truth. I will have you know, that—don’t get jealous—the milk… is delivered to the house I’m staying at. Not only that, but they have broadband. Milk. Broadband. Ohhhhhh sweet mercy I am taken care of.

It’s pasteurized and 2%, rich, and mmm oh so good. It calls to me at night, and in the morning, and in the evening… it beckons me to partake of the fruits of a cow’s labor. Golden Grahams then cry out to be united with his bride, and then the matrimony ensues upon the bowl, and sealed with a spoon. Meanwhile, millions and billions of bits bounce off my head. The broadband here is wireless. It sings to me sweet soft songs of data at night.

To add to the joy, David, the 15-year-old guy who lives here informed me yesterday that if you beat WarCraft III in the hard mode you get to see a preview clip of StarCraft II. I eagerly await it. Oh, and I found my camera at the bottom of my backpack. Kim added to her perception of me as oblivious—directionless, short-term memory… I can’t remember names without some persistent use of a memory device. You get it. Well, now I’m hoping to finish a poem, which I am supposedly going to read tonight at a reading in downtown Salt Lake City. I need to go mow someone’s lawn, so you take care.

Kim and I spent most of the day at Brigham Young University, a beautiful campus surrounded by breathtaking mountains. We made sure to visit the library, check out the religion section (and an interesting one it is), and use the copy machine. This excerpt is from the third volume, page 268, of Journal of Discourses, by former President and “Prophet” Heber C. Kimball:

Compared with the hosts upon the earth, only now and then one will receive the Gospel, and after that, only now and then one of those who do receive the truth will be saved by it, and obtain celestial glory. If all the Saints would obey counsel, doing as they are directed, is there any difficulty in their being saved? No, no more than there is raising a crop of grain. We have only to take a wise, judicious course, listen to counsel, and obey those instructions, which we receive from this stand, from day to day, from Sabbath to Sabbath, and from year to year. Can I save you? No, I can only advise a righteous course, and encourage and aid in walking therein, it then remains for them to take the course, which I advise, and I always advise people to adopt that policy which Joseph taught and advocated, and which brother Brigham now lays before us, from day to day. This is what will save you, and you cannot be saved upon any other principle. I have power to save myself, and if I do not save myself, who will save me? All have that privilege, and naught can save us but obedience to the commandments of God.

It’s the same mistake the Jews made.

“… the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the “stumbling stone.” As it is written: “See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” (Romans 9:30-33)

Tomorrow I start classes again. Pray for open hearts and words from the Holy Spirit. Oh yeah, I found my camera!

Take a look at the new photo gallery, you won’t be disappointed.

My family is taking a trip to King’s Island tomorrow along with B.J. Jeffries, a friend that used to live next door. I excited to see what type of pictures I can get out of my digital camera. King’s Island, near Cincinnati, Ohio, seems like small beans compared to Busch Gardens in Florida. One is clean and wide open, the other is smelly and dirty. But both have great roller coasters, and that is what matters. Speaking of coasters, Team Woo is making a trip soon.

From a man’s perspective:

1. Never ever ever tell a girl she is fat.
2. Never hit your girl.
3. Never try to solve a problem over e-mail.
4. Surprise her often.
5. Burn her a CD with meaningful songs.

A man’s response to the woman’s perspective:

1. Always look for an opportunity to be valiant.
2. Save all her letters, and read then often.
3. Always eat her food no matter how burnt, good, or bad it may be. Tell her it’s excellent and ask for seconds.
4. If you notice her start to smile and nod, keep talking, you do it enough for her.
5. Always, always tell her that you love her.

I took Stacia skating from Eastwood Park to Riverscape, downtown Dayton, and back, which is about a seven mile trip. This was Stacie’s second time on inline skates in a long while, but I still insisted that we make the attempt. Sorry Stacie :( She is a good skater, but she was hindered by the seeminglyABEC –3 bearings in her wheels. They defied gravity. She could get a good start, pick up some speed, and start coasting downhill, but would come to a gradual stop. She said it was like working with those little plastic skates you had when you were just a little kid. Oh, did I mention these are twenty-dollar skates from Target?

Please pray that I find a good job, particularly something computer related (the web development market is tight). I need to raise money this summer.

The clock in my car broke. Well, not really. The fuse that is hooked up to my radio, interior light, and clock died. I don’t really mind, as frequent clock-checks never really help me out anyways. I know where I’m going, and I drive there at a reasonable speed, so there’s no problem. Hey, it’s nice to get in a vehicle safe from the nag (but not the continuum) of time, because I can think about more important matters. Or better, pray.

Speaking of time, it’s about time I finalize the Summer Project 2002, a collaborative blog for some Campus Crusaders here at Wright State. First, I need to get the prayer requests page back up. If not, Charlie is going to yank out his Aaron-prod!

Tentative. That describes my summer so far. I might be in Ohio, I might be in Utah. Who knows? God.