Christmas

Christmas is about potential.  We celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, who grew up to be the Saviour of all men.  We collect as families and close friends to celebrate what will be.  Maybe I'm not making sense.

Before the world was formed, God had a plan.  His spirit children (us) needed a world to come to and experience life in a body and learn how to master bodies.  He knew we would make many mistakes and needed a way fo us to be able to return to Him.  (He is perfect and imperfect people can't come back to stay.)

Jesus Christ volunteered to come to earth as a mortal, like us, and suffer more than any man had ever suffered.  He would experience the entirety of human experience and atone for all pain, lost, sickness, and sin--all imperfections--so we could return to God and live with Him forever.

We had known Jesus for a long time, and knew He was the only spirit sibling we had who could possibly make good on such a promise.  We supported this and looked forward with faith to His life.

On Christmas day (or what we celebrate as Christmas day), Jesus was born to a virgin mother.  Heaven had such trust in Jesus that angels proclaimed his birth across the world.  A new star appeared, telling everyone the Saviour was born.

It is the beginning of His perfect life we celebrate today.  We celebrate the potential of a tiny baby child; born in the muddy, flea-ridden stable; lain in an animal's feed trough for a bassinet to become the perfect example to all mankind of how to live and how to return to God's presence.

Christmas reminds us of our potential.  Each of us can choose to be like Jesus.  We can live following His example, repenting of our mistakes because He atoned for our sins.  His suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane and on Calvary's Cross allows us to repent and have our sins, though as scarlet blemishes on our souls become white as driven snow (see Isaiah 1:18).

Jesus allows us to fulfill God's plan, to fulfill our potential as children of the Most High.  We can achieve limitless heights because He performed His mission on earth.  We each must do the same.  We must follow all His commandments and help other do the same.  We must find and fulfill our purpose of life.

Then we, too, through Jesus' atonement that rights every wrong, will realize our potential as we stand before God and are ushered into His loving arms once again.

Jesus Logic

At first this may sound a little blasphemous. It's not, I promise. (As an aside, I freaking hate toaster ovens. I can't even toast things properly.)

In Toronto I met a lot of people whose opinions about Jesus varied. "He was a good guy." "He was a fraud." "He taught good things." "He was the Son of God." "He was a charlatan."

While opinions are well and good, we can know Truth. We can know exactly what Jesus was/is/will be. The Spirit will guide us to this knowledge as we are prepared.

However, what helps me is whether things make sense. Regardless of what my mother claims, I feel I am a logical person whose opinions are based in fact and reason. Thus we shall take a lawyer-influenced look at Jesus and His claims.

We know Jesus taught many things taken as truth and as beneficial. However, are they really? Can we really trust a man who claimed he was the Son of God? In a court case, if a witness is proven to have lied on the stand, even once in hours of testimony, the entire testimony is often discounted and the witness is assumed to have lied about everything. This must happen because picking truth from lies is impossible.

Similarly, we can put the testimony of Jesus on trial. Without doubt, the claim that he was the son of a God and a mortal woman is the most questionable he ever made. If someone can disprove that claim, the entirety of his teachings falls apart. Thus the Beatitudes become useless--for they are obviously taught by a liar, His commands to love one another become unnecessary, etc.

Following that track, any teaching that has come since derived from Jesus' words is also false, any teaching from other perceived great men (Ghandi, Confucius, Mohammad, etc) agreeing or citing Jesus must also be taken as false. As you can see, claim Jesus is only a great man and not 100% what He said He was leads to the disruption of much of the moral code the world follows.

However, if He is the perfect Son of God--a knowledge any willing person can gain--all of His teaching (even the ones you don't like) must be true (because He could not lie) and must be followed in order to gain the Eternal Life He promises to His disciples. This is the case because the Son of God would have full authority to speak on any subject, and His words would be eternal law. Thus evaluating Jesus' claim to divine sonship is the crux of most arguments about Christianity.

So the decision comes to you. Will you throw away the morality of the world by believing He is less than what He claimed to be, or will you discover whether He is the Son of God?

My knowledge is that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He died and was resurrected so each person who ever lived may gain Eternal Life by following His teachings. Logic supports it and the confirmation of the Spirit irrefutably confirms it.

John 5:39

Here's some vintage Lee J blogging:

I get really annoyed with people taking the scriptures out of context. Take John 5:39 for instance.

"Search the scriptures; for in them you think you have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me."

So pretty much every person I know quotes this scripture in order to prove the importance of reading the scriptures. The logical reasoning they use is that the scriptures contain eternal life.

With a more accurate reading of the text, we realise that Jesus is rebuking people for believing that the scriptures contain eternal life. They don't. No matter how hard you try, you will never gain eternal life from reading the scriptures.

The verses surrounding v. 39 tell us that everything Christ does testify of Him as the source of eternal life. And v. 39 supports this reading. Jesus says "[the scriptures] are they which testify of me." They testify of Him as the source of eternal life. He follows with v. 40: "And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life." Coming to Him is the only way to achieve eternal life. Period.

So read the scriptures right. Don't take them out of context. Know what Jesus (or whoever is writing them) is really saying, and don't quote it to make the wrong point. Just make sure you cite John 5:39 to prove the point that the scriptures testify of Jesus and He brings eternal life.

Jesus the Lamb

As Christmastime approaches, our awareness of the Jesus story increases.  His birth comes to our minds, and we remember why we celebrate the season.  However, one misunderstood aspect of our Saviour's birth story helps us better understand why He is the Lamb of God: the shepherds.

We know Jesus is the Ultimate and Last Sacrifice, sent by the Father to fulfill the Law of Moses.  On the day of Atonement, unblemished lambs were sacrificed as the offering for Israel's atonement.  With these sacrifices made, the nation once again stood pure before God.  Jesus was sent as the Final Sacrifice--the Sacrifice to End All Sacrifices by the shedding of blood.

Jesus' entire mission was spent leading up to the hours of his Atonement, but His birth, and particularly those to whom the message of His birth was announced, give greater insight to what he was.

We learn, from Luke, that there were shepherds abiding in the fields by night on the eve of the Saviour's birth.  Though we often think "wow, the angels came even to the lowly shepherds," this is not the intent of the announcement.  These were not ordinary shepherd, these were shepherds who watched over the temple's flocks (this is known because of significant internal and external evidence).  These were not the average, poor, run-of-the-mill shepherds.  These shepherds were well-cared for, well-off, and not what we think of when we think "shepherd."

So this may destroy the popular notion that the angels came even to humble shepherds.  But there is a reason the angels came to these shepherds--a symbolic, and, therefore, much more important reason--they watched over the sheep to be sacrificed for Israel's atonement.  The angels came, in essence, to say "Come, see the reason you have a job.  See who will end the need for animal sacrifice."  This symbolism, of shepherds leaving their flocks and coming to Jesus, foreshadows what the early saints had to do:  leave behind the Law of Moses--it had been fulfilled--and come to Christ, recognizing Him as the great and last sacrifice.

The Samaritan Woman and Us

It seems that every time I got to my New Testament class my respect for women grows. Much of my astonishment come from realising the negative connotations women had in that time. So as I see the high praise women are given in scripture it sharply contrasts with the societal conventions of the day.

Today we discussed John 4 when Jesus converses with the Samaritan woman at the well. According to Jewish tradition Samaritan woman were perpetually unclean. Thus anything accepted of the by any Jew was unclean and the Jew would then be ritually unclean as well.

Yet Jesus asks her to draw water for Him. Imagine her confusion, knowing the Jewish tradition, to have this asked of her. But He then teaches her of the water He has to give. Over the course of their conversation she realises who He is and why His water will truly quench thirst eternally.

I love the symbolism of what she does as well. Because she is a woman, she likely makes the trek to the well daily to draw the water she will use to clean, cook, and give the thirsty inhabitants of her house. This water is life-giving. It is necessary to the survival of all. But it is necessary she draws it from the well daily, for they will surely thirst again.

So as she learns of the water Christ gives, she leaves her waterpot behind to tell the men in her house of Christ. In the same way she brings the water of physical life to her house each day, she brings the water of eternal life when she finds it.

What I love is this is not a role relegated to this woman alone. It is a divine role given to all women. Each is to bring that water of eternity to her home, what a blessing she has in being given this privilege!

Christ's Role in My Life

It's funny at first to think that someone I've never seen could be the central focus of my life. I mean, seriously, I centre my life around Jesus Christ, His atonement for me, and His example.It seems ridiculous looking in with no shared understanding of the effects Christ can have in a life.

I take comfort knowing I have felt His atoning influence in my life. I am grateful to have often felt the ease of the burden of guilt and shame for my actions. We often think of atonement in the terms of sin, but it covers much more than that. I have felt effects of the atonement for sadness, sickness, depression, and hatred. Truthfully, I have felt it in so many different situations I'll bet it covers everything. At least that's what the scriptures teach, and I'm pretty inclined to believe them.

Even when I'm not in the middle of some trauma, I kneel down and seek the love of the Lord. It comes. He gives it that freely.

When I ponder what Christ endured and overcame I am astounded at the amount of love He has for me. (I do not limit that love to just me, but this is about His influence on me.) His atonement wasn't a finite, calculable experience. It involved infinite suffering and strength to perform. To kneel alone in a garden and take--individually--the sins of each person upon Himself shows more love than I can imagine. In some small way, I have suffered pain for others, usually emotional, but never the full extent of what they feel. never physical, spiritual, mental, emotional, and any other way you might think.

I know it's an act of love that I could not perform. But because He was perfect, He could. Only He could. Only He can help us perfect ourselves. It's something I know. And that knowledge supports me in my times of trial.

Art of Atonement

I visited the Museum of Art yesterday with my New Testament class. The museum has a collection of religious and Christ-centred art. My favourite painting was Triplus Number 3 by Ron Richmond.

It is of three vessels sitting on crossed cloths. Each vessel is full of a different medium. The near vessel holds water. The far one looks to hold nothing, but actually holds Spirit. and the centre vessel holds Blood.

The symbolism cannot be ignored: three vessels sitting on crossed red and white cloths certainly have reference to our Saviour. It is also interesting to realise the only things in full focus are the vessels. The edges of the painting are hazy , drawing our attention to the middle.

I was touched how the vessel of blood takes the centre spot in the line of vessels. It is because blood, the blood of Christ, His atoning blood, is what sactifies us. We know by the water that we keep God's commandments (baptism as Christ was), by Spirit we are justified (brought back to even level prior to sin), and by Blood we are sanctified (made Holy and able to enter God's presence).

Christ, though absent in form is the centre of this painting, through the use of symbols.

Promises of Scripture

As I was reading my scriptures this morning, a passage struck me. In The Book of Mormon, a passage from the Book of Ether struck me. This interlude by Moroni was particularly interesting considering current world events.

Speaking of the American continents, he says,

9 And now, we can behold the decrees of God concerning this land, that it is a land of promise; and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall serve God, or they shall be swept off when the fulness of his wrath shall come upon them. And the fulness of his wrath cometh upon them when they are ripened in iniquity.

  10 For behold, this is a land which is choice above all other lands; wherefore he that doth possess it shall serve God or shall be swept off; for it is the everlasting decree of God. And it is not until the fulness of iniquity among the children of the land, that they are swept off.

  11 And this cometh unto you, O ye Gentiles, that ye may know the decrees of God—that ye may repent, and not continue in your iniquities until the fulness come, that ye may not bring down the fulness of the wrath of God upon you as the inhabitants of the land have hitherto done.

  12 Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ, who hath been manifested by the things which we have written. 

We live in a land of promise. A land wherein if we keep the commandments of God, we will prosper. It is one of the Book of Mormon's main messages. But the inverse promise also exists--and is often recorded as an example for us: if we will not follow God, we will be cut off. There will be punishments for our iniquitous actions. Moroni does not give this warning lightly.

It is evidence to me of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon: its truths speak to us. They are applicable to our day. More importantly, though, as I read it, the Spirit of the Lord tells me through my thoughts and my feelings that the book is of God.

Jesus and Marriage

So I ought to blog a little in the midst of my mass of posted videos. I thought it rather appropriate to ponder on Jesus' teachings on marriage. For some reason He might have a little authority on the topic...

Perhaps why I use this example is because I have heard from more than one proponent of gay marriage that "Jesus would favour it. He told us to love everyone." I had never imagined people were so shallow.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches us to love everyone. True. I will even agree with my friends who say Jesus was a radical of His day. Again, true. But what was His motivation for radical thought? Where did His teachings come from? Unlike the radicals of today whose teachings are founded in ever-changing philosophical ideas, Christ's teachings came straight from God, the Maker of the Universe.

Jesus taught people to live with a greater devotion to God. He taught them to love the scriptures and the word of God. Do the radicals of today teach this? Or do they put themselves in place to interpret scriptures? (And doing so ignore all scriptures that teach doctrine contrary to theirs.)

Also in the Sermon n the Mount, Jesus teaches a higher law of chastity than the Jews lived at the time: He taught that whoever looked at a woman to lust after her was as guilty as the adulterer or the fornicator! So he taught lust and acting immorally was wrong.

Where does that fit in with homosexual marriage? It basically shoots every case for it out of the water. While I do not deny people feel they are born gay, they have control over their desires. Christ does not limit who is commanded to be chaste. It is applicable for everyone. Period. End.

And while homosexuals are to be treated with love and mercy, their sinful choice to engage in immoral acts cannot be allowed to infect our society. We've already had enough of that as people have chosen not to accept the consequences of their actions by using abortion and divorce as increasingly popular ways to shrug consequences off. Why would we allow the degradation of society to continue?

Knowing Christ

I have a great opportunity to have a class about the New Testament, focusing specifically on the four gospels, as a part of my course schedule. This class allows me to learn about the life of the Saviour in a way much different from the unguided study we usually take.

I am learning WHO Christ really was and who He is now. I am learning the context of the world at that time, which opens up a huge amount of knowledge I'd never even considered.

I'm learning, most of all, which questions to ask myself and others in order to strengthen my understanding and testimony of the man we call Jesus* as the literal Son of the Living God.

The more I learn the more I am curious (and the less I realise I know). Referring back to Sunday's scriptures, to know God and Jesus is life eternal. And this is one step closer in coming to know him. Corey mentioned that we will know Him because we are like Him. And I add, if we don't know what he was like, how will we become like Him in order to know Him. (Again, perhaps words muddle my meaning.)

Coming to know Him is a lifelong goal, but if we don't start now, to what purpose will our lives have gone when they end? And do we want that startling realisation?

I suppose this is why, in my weak and imperfect way, I strive to be a little better, coming to know Christ in knowledge and in action each day. A smile here, a kind word there is all it takes to get started.

Will you?

*The reason I say this is because Jesus is an English translation of the Greek translation of the Hebrew name he would have been called: Yeshua (English: Joshua)