Equality: Worldly and Godly

Disclaimer: this is my thoughts and opinions. I have written this with an assumption (out of many) that equality means people being and having the same things. Also, the example I used about many members of the LDS Church is just what I was thinking about when I decided to write about this. This does not mean that I am exclusively talking about this issue but about any general ideas about equality. Please be respectful of MY thoughts and opinions as I appreciate and respect your thoughts and opinions. If you wish to comment whether be positive or negative, talk to me face to face. Any posted comments will be deleted.

Equality, worldly equality, is man-made. There are many members of the Church (meaning the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) cry out for "equality" in the Church by allowing women to hold the priesthood. However, what, I ask of you, is "equality"? Everyone being equal? What, then, is "equal"? Having everything the same? Being exactly the same? Then who decides what everything is and what it means to be the same? Can I decide? If I were to decide, everyone has to be poor, should only speak Korean, should be Asian, the same height, the same eye, skin, and hair colors, heck, they should all look the same. Oh, and because you can't be different at all, you all should be males. (I do not truly wish for everyone to be "equal" like this.)

God did create us equal. However, I believe that His definition of equal is different than ours, or our definition is so limited by man-made, quantified time and what we can observe. God sees and knows everything; therefore, in a big scheme of things, we all have the potential to have everything that God has and all that He (They) is (are). I do not think that it would matter what we would look like because we will have humility and charity to see past our physical appearances. There would be no judgments or envy. We would all be equal: in powers, possessions, glory, and even the priesthoods. Remember, we are all to be gods and goddesses and priests and priestesses.

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"Help Thou Mine Unbelief"

An excerpt from Thursday, March 6, 2014:

"Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
"And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief." -Mark 9:23-24-

I believe in the Father and His Son. I believe that They are guiding me each day. I believe that They will provide a way for me to accomplish Their will for me. I don't fully comprehend or fully believe how or why things don't work out. I have doubts at times. However, this father of the child with a "dumb spirit" asked the Lord to help him believe more than he does, trust Him more, and draw on the powers of heaven. He has given his weakness to the Lord to be strong. Then what did the Lord do? He blessed this father for his humility, faith and honesty.

When we do our best, give our best to the Lord, He does not turn us away but blesses us. However, we must acknowledge our limitations and ask Him to help us do more, become more, or believe more. He does not expect us to be perfect on our own; He expects us to be perfect through Him.

Elder Holland gave a talk based on that story. He invited us to hold onto what we know when trials and doubts come. Also, we need to acknowledge what we do not know and should ask for help. There are so many profound concepts and quotes, and I wish to write some:

"...imperfect people are all God has ever had to work with. That must be terribly frustrating to Him, but He deals with it."

"Honestly acknowledge your questions and your concerns, but first and forever fan the flame of your faith, because all things are possible to them that believe."

All things are possible when you believe, even the increase of your faith. When you focus on what you know during times of concerns and doubts, the Lord can bless you with a sure knowledge and will enlighten you because of your faith. What you didn't believe, what you didn't know will become clear and sure.

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Possibility & Tender Mercy

An excerpt from Sunday, February 16, 2014:

"Isn't it interesting how we meet people? Out of [7 billion people], we meet certain people then become their friends. Also, in our life time, we meet them at a certain time period. We could have passed by each other so many times before, not noticing each other. However a certain event has brought us together to get to know each other, build a relationship with each other, to learn from each other, and to strengthen each other. That truly is a tender mercy of the Lord."

What is the possibility of meeting someone? There are 8765.81 hours in a year. There are about 7.144 billion people in the world. So it's about 1:62.6 trillion to meet someone in an hour.

You have friends. You have met them at some point in your life. You could have passed by them many times until that one moment that brought you two together. A coincidence? A tender mercy of the Lord? I would like to think that there was a hand of the Lord in meeting people in my life because I would not be who I am without meeting all these people.

Now getting into the gospel, think about how you could influence someone for good today. You will run into someone (someone you know or someone you don't know). It may not be 1:62.6 trillion chance to meet that person; however, the chance still would be slim. But you are there and so is that person. What are you going to do? What will you say?

"And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!
"And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!" (Doctrine and Covenants 18:15&16)

These verses mean different to you now thinking about the possibility of meeting that one soul and helping him/her come unto Christ. The Lord has put you and that person on the same path at that time to run into each other, to get to know each other, and to influence each other. It wasn't a coincidence that you met that person. Now, let's say that through this tender mercy, you were able to bring that person unto the Lord. How great will your joy be knowing that you have taken that crazy "chance" to say what you know to be true and then he/she felt the Holy Ghost that brought him/her (back) to Christ?

"To every man there comes in his lifetime that special moment when he is figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered a chance to do a very special thing, unique to him and fitted to his talents. What a tragedy if that moment finds him unprepared or unqualified for that which would be his finest hour." -Sir Winston Churchill-

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Walking in Darkness

An excerpt from Friday, February 7, 2014:

"What is my future? What does the Lord have in mind for me? Am I to find your* mother this year? Am I to go to a graduate school this year? It feels like the future is very much like a black hole that I don't know where it goes to or what's inside. I am walking in complete darkness. I feel as though I an't see the end. I don't see the light. I am trapped. Trapped inside a black hole called future. There is no end. I take a step but nothing changes. The surroundings look exactly the same. I take another step. I feel something but everything still looks the same. Where am I? Where am I going? Is there an end to this? Will this end? Will I be able to see the light again?
"I keep moving because I don't know what else to do. I know I can't just sit still. I must escape from here. Am I going somewhere? I don't know. I am just walking, hoping that I will get somewhere. I know where I will be. I know what I will have. However, I am in darkness right now, just walking aimlessly hoping I will get there someday..."

*I write in my journal as if I am talking to my future children.

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The War Continues

Captain Moroni has always been one of my favorite Book of Mormon characters (other than Alma the Younger) because of his righteousness, boldness, and love for God and others.

We all know that everyone loves Alma chapter 5 because it helps us reflect on our own conversion and if we still feel that love of God that once we had felt and also the burning desire to share the gospel with others. However, Captain Moroni's epistle to Pahoran also makes us ponder whether we are too comfortable with where we are at. He said the following:

"Have ye forgotten the commandments of the Lord your God? Yea, have ye forgotten the captivity of our fathers? Have ye forgotten the many times we have been delivered out of the hands of our enemies?
"Or do ye suppose that the Lord will still deliver us, while we sit upon our thrones and do not make use of the means which the Lord has provided for us?
"Yea, will ye sit in idleness while ye are surrounded with thousands of those, yea, and tens of thousands, who do also sit in idleness, while there are thousands round about in the borders of the land who are falling by the sword, yea, wounded and bleeding?
"Do ye suppose that God will look upon you as guiltless while ye sit still and behold these things? Behold I say unto you, Nay. Now I would that ye should remember that God has said that the inward vessel shall be cleansed first, and then shall the outer vessel be cleansed also."(Alma 60:20-23)

Have we forgotten how we have been delivered by the Lord? Have we forgotten how many times He has heard our prayers? Do we think that we can just turn to God whenever we get in trouble without giving Him thanks daily? Are we sitting comfortably at home or at church without "fighting" for the Lord and spreading the gospel to others? Or do you think that you can do nothing but sit comfortably to be saved?

The War in Heaven is still here. We have won the battle but the war is not over. We are constantly bombarded by the "Lamanites" who are continually striving to lead us astray and tempt us. Rise up and fight for your freedom and the ones you love. Your choice now changes not just your life, but also for your posterities.

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Still a Missionary

I have been home for over 3 and half years. I have learned Spanish on my mission and refined my Korean.

Recently, I started to speak Korean more often and started watching Korean TV shows which helped me refine it even more.

The reason why I am talking about this is because I had few opportunities to use Korean and Spanish to serve people. There are three Korean nurses at the hospital where I work and on my breaks, I visit them frequently. One night, I decided to visit one of them, Nurse H. I visited her many times before but for some reason that night we started to talk about the gospel. During our conversation, I was surprised to find out that she was not attending church currently. Because I had learned the gospel vocabularies in Korean on my mission and I had been refining my Korean, I had this opportunity to get to know her beforehand and now talk to her about the gospel. Not only that, I was able to share all the things that I have been learning through reading some church books.

Tonight, I had an opportunity to talk to a patient who only speaks Spanish and calm him down when he broke down crying. I had not had many opportunities to speak Spanish; however, since I knew that there was a patient who only spoke Spanish, I had downloaded a Spanish-English dictionary app to brush up on Spanish a little bit and tonight I had the opportunity to use it. Also, I got to translate some phrases that could help other co-workers communicate with him.

I am not a perfect person. I can't say that I am always in tuned with the Spirit. However, I can say that I am grateful that the Lord is willing to use me and my talents to bless the lives of others even if I didn't know that I was being prepared.

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Time for an Update

1. Half Marathon
This will be the highlight of this new year: Utah Valley Marathon.

The receipt for the registration.

My name on a website to verify.

The half marathon course.

I still have a lot of time but I really need to train myself for it. It is a little tough during winter time to train but I am hoping to be more diligent once the weather gets warmer.

2. New Perspective on Eternal Life
I have been thinking about this for a while and I think I can finally put this on words. I have read that heaven is not earned but learned, which made me think about what it means to have Eternal Life. We learn in Doctrine and Covenants 19:6-12 that Eternal is a name of God the Father. This means that Eternal Life is really the way that God lives and having all that He has. If this life, or God's life, is learned instead of being given to us as a reward for being obedient on this earth. It means that we can have Eternal Life or live like He does on this earth through keeping the commandments and being obedient.
We talk about being converted all the time. We know that being converted means to become like Christ. Christ is like God the Father in every aspect with all the Christlike attributes. Then, we know that when we are converting, we are becoming like God. Logically, this means that when we are converting we are becoming like God and have this life eternal.
To become converted, we need to be obedient; we need to keep the commandments of God. When we are keeping these commandments, we do not simply act on what is required of us but let the Holy Ghost change us, change our nature, so that we can become like the Father or have Eternal Life. God did not give us the commandments so that He could reward us when we die; He gave us commandments so that we could learn of Him, we could learn heaven, we could become like Him, we could have Eternal Life on this earth.
Simply put, Eternal Life can be achieved on this earth when we change our nature through keeping the commandments of God.
This is why my overall resolution for this year is "becoming and living."

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First Post in a Long Time: My Personality Type

Hey there! It's been a long time since I have written. I will try to write at least twice a month.

Anyways, I took this super quick personality test and it seems very fitting to what I think of my personality. It's not 100% correct but it's pretty dang close. Especially this part: "Due to your propensity to be introverted you are not into holding major speeches for large audiences. Your real strength lies in working individually with people like therapists, physicians or priests. In those professions, when advancing others in their personal development or to help them in any other way is the issue, you are unbeatable."

I have been thinking about how introvert I am. I prefer talking to people individually because I like how we are focused on each other/each other's interest rather than our focus being dispersed.

My Personality Type: The Harmony-seeking Idealist

Learning about yourself is good because it helps figure out what your strengths and weaknesses are. When you know your strengths, you should use them more often. When you know your weaknesses, you should turn them into strengths.

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Looking for the Perfect One; Being the Perfect One

I am writing this based off of these two articles/posts: How to Find a Real Man and Dating Advice: Looking Past the List.

I have never made a list of qualities I look for in a woman that I want to marry. Don't ask me why because it was never intentional. However, as I went on a lot of dates and dated a few girls, I realized that I don't really have a "list" of qualities that attracts me. In a way, I just go on dates with those whom I find fun and intriguing. However, if I were to make a list right now, I would say that the most important things (see how it's plural?) are me feeling like she has a testimony of the gospel, being able to have intellectual conversations, and being able to see my potential. Those are the things I always look for.

However, I learned that the list that I make should be for us to develop first. It means that we should develop those qualities first before looking for someone with those qualities because if he/she doesn't think you have those qualities, that person wouldn't want to date you either. For myself, if a girl doesn't feel like I have a testimony of the gospel, why does it matter if I feel that she does?

I know that the whole point of the second article is about looking past the list. However, the list that she was talking about consisted of physical qualities; whereas, mine is not (maybe the second one on my list is still a lot to ask). I understand her point. I really do, and there are no buts. Going along with some of her points, I do think that I am focused on finding the perfect one. To me the perfect one is someone who has it all, with whom I would not doubt my decision of dating/marrying her.

However, it is hard to not doubt or fear in a relationship. Why? Because we all want to make the right decision. It's obvious that no one wants to get a divorce and be unhappy. However, as the first article talks about, we need to work at it. I have learned that very recently unfortunately. I have ended a relationship because I thought that relationships are supposed to last forever just naturally. That's not true. Do you have a good relationship with your parents or siblings even though you fought with them all the time? You have to work hard to love them! It's the same with dating; you have to work to continue to love them and love them even more when you find out about their weaknesses and faults (I am sure you will find a lot of them when you get married).

Looking for the one you want to marry doesn't work by just you looking. It takes time and effort searching, but most importantly, it takes you becoming the one that the girl/boy of your dreams would like to marry. You must become the person on your list to meet the person on your list. However, don't let what's not important/worldly/trivial qualities stop you from seeing the perfect person for you. Remember, if you are looking for a person who is perfect, you will miss the perfect person for you and that person will know that you are not perfect for him/her.

*I have said "the one" or "the perfect one" but know that I do believe that there are more than one person who could be perfect for you.

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Magnifying Your Calling

Almost all the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints want to magnify their callings for one reason or another. I want to magnify my calling because it will bring others to come closer to Christ and bring happiness to their lives.

I have been thinking for a long time what it means to magnify a calling that you receive, but first let's talk about the mission/goal of your calling. As an activities committee co-chair, you would want to plan activities where members of your ward would come, mingle, and have fun. As a temple committee co-chair, you want to plan a ward temple trip so that people would have an opportunity to go to the temple at least once a month. As an elders quorum or a relief society president, you find ways to serve brethren or sisters and help them be active in the Church. It may seem like they all have different goals or purposes. However, the foundation of those goals is this: invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end (Preach My Gospel pg. 1). When you focus on helping others come unto Christ, you are fulfilling your calling whatever it may be.

Now, how does that help you magnify your calling? If you are focusing on people who might be struggling or who need help, you plan activities, lessons, times, etc around those people's needs. Instead of planning activities, you are now helping them feel the Spirit and come close to Christ. One thing I noticed when I started thinking this way is that I am constantly thinking about what I can do fulfill my calling better. It doesn't just happen once a week but it becomes a daily routine. I spend some time pondering about it and writing things down, and the Lord sometimes sends me people who gives me more and many times better ideas on how to fulfill my calling. When the Lord commanded us to be "anxiously engaged in a good cause," I believe this is what He was referring to.

I am not perfect at fulfilling my calling, let alone magnifying it. However, when our goal becomes bringing others to Christ, we see more blessings and receive more revelations on how to magnify our callings. Take some time each day to think about your calling and what you can do to magnify it. You will see so much difference.

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