Fulness of Times

*This post will likely get added to in the future. I've had it in my drafts for several months but I've realized it probably won't ever get finished, so I might as well publish it. I recently gave a talk in church. During the preparation of the talk a phrase came to mind as I pondered the challenges of being a parent. The phrase is the title of this post, "Crucible of Godhood" Like most Christians--all as far as I'm aware--members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe we, that is all humans on this planet, are children of a loving Heavenly Father. We may refer to him as God the Father. We, as Latter-day Saints, also believe there is a Heavenly Mother, although much of the scriptural references have been lost over the millennia. Personally I believe the limited references to women in the scriptures are partly due to the patriarchal-oriented society of the middle-east, including the Hebrew culture. I also believe we might have more ref...

Democracy. In its shortest definition, it is government by the majority rule of the people. While it sounds good, it is also a messy form of government because in a true democracy everyone votes on every law. There are no protections of those in minorities. It is the rule of the majority. We like the idea of the rule of the people, and so we push the idea of democracy. But, America's founding fathers also knew the dangers of a democracy. So they set up a representative form of government, based on democracy, with elected representatives and an elected president. So, the United States of America is not a true democracy, it is a republic. More current definitions may clarify that it is a representative democracy. The founding fathers knew the dangers of a strictly representative democracy and a true democracy. In a representative form of government it could become easy for representatives to not vote for the people, and the enacted laws could benefit a few. Certainly the ...

Last week, on Thursday, a 6.4 earthquake shook the desert area not too far (202 km) from Los Angeles. Less than 2 days later, a 7.1 earthquake struck the same area...and rattled nerves in the LA area. This is just a small reminder that the faults are active, and the big ones are coming. Not just to California, but to other areas as well. A big factor that helped trigger this recent tremor was the heavy snow pack and subsequent melting of that snow. Imagine the weight of all the snow, across the mountain ranges, adding to the forces already pushing on the faults. As that weight is released, it affects the faults, and may trigger a greater release of pressure. This may not be the end of tremors for the California faults for this year as the snowpack continues to melt. I'm not convinced the Big Ones will strike this year along the San Andreas (LA area) or Hayward  (San Francisco area) faults, but the shifting weight and fault pressure releases on other faults will likely inc...

This week is the 4th of July, Independence Day for those of us living in the United States of America. It is the day the colonists declared their independence from the rule of the British Empire, from the essential slavery and tyranny and lack of freedom that came with being colonies that were subject to the British rule. It was interesting that the primary classes talked about the Savior's atonement yesterday. We had a little discussion and comparison between the atonement and Independence Day. And the Messiah cometh in the fulness of time, that he may redeem the children of men from the fall. And because that they are redeemed from the fall they have become free forever, knowing good from evil; to act for themselves and not to be acted upon, save it be by the punishment of the law at the great and last day, according to the commandments which God hath given.  Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And th...

Mid-June, severed storms ripped through France, devastating crops. The country declared a natural disaster. Many farmers in the disaster area lost 80 to 100% of their crops. https://agroinsurance.com/en/france-to-declare-natural-disaster-after-storms-rip-through-crops/ The third wettest year in history is stressing Michigan farmers. The wet fields have delayed planting a month or more. Early June should have more than 90 percent of the corn planted, but only 68% was planted. Of those, only a third have sprouted where the average is 93%. That means if a normal planting had been done, only about 22% of those seeds have sprouted (a third of 68% is 22.44). https://agroinsurance.com/en/usa-michigan-farmers-are-hit-from-all-directions/ Heavy and constant rains have affected the entire corn belt. In other parts of the world, drought, heat, storms, hail, insects, disease are all making their mark on crop production. I have not seen the agroinsurance.com website before, but some o...

A few months ago, in one of my graduate classes, someone asked how long the abstract of our individual projects should be. In the process of explanation, the professor shared with us a quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the author of The Little Prince. It seems that perfection is attained not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing more to remove. (https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Antoine_de_Saint_Exup%C3%A9ry) That quote really struck me, mostly because it is applicable to how we work towards becoming perfect in this life. A couple of weeks ago in the Come Follow Me--For Individuals and Families (the Feb 18-24 week, Matthew 5; Luke 6 chapter), there was a quote from President Russell M. Nelson. “The term perfect was translated from the Greek teleios, which means ‘complete.’ … The infinitive form of the verb is teleiono, which means ‘to reach a distant end, to be fully developed, to consummate, or to finish.’ Please note that the word does not imply ‘free...

This is a sensitive topic because, unless you fully and completely support the LGBT+ community and their agenda you are labeled as biased, hateful, bigoted, and a number of other negative labels. Those who are least willing to allow for free speech and freedom of religion seem to be many of the LGBT+ supporters. You can express your opinion, but if it's contrary to theirs it's labeled as mentioned. And, they're entitled to their freedom of speech and expression, but too many are unwilling to allow others the same right and respect. God allows us to choose who we will serve. If we choose to serve God, he has given us instructions to become better. We typically call these instructions "commandments", but they are really designed to help us treat each other better, and to help us become better children of God, and followers of Christ. While many view the rules God gives as restrictive, the reality is they lead us from captivity into freedom. If someone chooses to...