The world is flooded with things that consume the time of our lives. What of it is truly useful and important - REAL vs. just real? It’s like we are in a “plastic world", but will we be content to live "Ken and Barbie plastic lives"? Will we learn as Pinocchio did what it takes to become "a Real Person"? Will we be found with God, or against God?

• “What is Real?” 1: Science, facts, pursuits - what is "capital R" Real?




“What is Real?” 1: Science, facts, pursuits – what is “capital R” Real?

• Real things have a Capital R. Like Pinocchio, our quest is to become Real.
  
  
• The Great I AM is Chief among all entities that can say “I am”.
  
  
• Possible source or mechanism for God’s Power.
  
  
• The role of Christ: Saved by Grace? By Works? By Both!

Preface: There are Really big deceptions designed to distract us from what is Real to what is just plastic. I use a capital R to signify that in this work Real is not defined as simple facts, or even as activities that may even be good, but they are not Great. Real things cut beyond the haze to solid, beyond this world Realities. Things that have true value are Real. Experience (good and bad) is Real. Acts that comfort others, or bless their lives are Real. The facts regarding God and His purposes are Real.

A popular Latter-Day Saint asks, “What is Real?”

Glenn Beck is a popular conservative talk radio host who is on a quest for truth. He has correctly observed that the earth is awash in propaganda, lies, unknowns, incorrect “conventional wisdom”, knowing enablers of evil, and unwitting enablers of evil. He also has expressed my own feelings when he admits he is mostly just a regular guy and doesn’t know how to find his way out of the mess completely. I count myself as a seeker of truth. But the truth is, I probably buy into a lot of stuff that simply isn’t true, but I just haven’t figured that out yet. I like to think that if all humans were placed on the scale of “how much of what you think is correct actually is correct,” I would rate well above average.  Individually even Einstein didn’t really know very much compared to our 7-billion person collective knowledge.  And even our collective knowledge is still nothing relative to all knowledge (or God’s knowledge).

I mention Glenn Beck because he often ponders out loud on “What is Real?” It struck me when he first asked that because I’ve been pondering that for as long as I can remember. He is bugged by a world where so many things seem pointless or of little lasting value, and mentioned that once in church he saw a sister scratching her brother’s back with a casual comfort that could only come from years of familiarity, respect, and love, and he said to himself “now that is Real.”

Pinocchio wasn’t Real, but he became Real

Pinocchio exclaimed to his fairy godmother, “I want to be a Real boy”. As a puppet, he walked and talked, but couldn’t feel, couldn’t understand, couldn’t love. The story shows how, in his “Pursuit of Happiness”, he was tempted to Pleasure Island where he nearly lost even his wooden life. It then goes on to show his efforts to save his maker, Japetto, and through these heroics he learned to feel and love. All of the experience, good and bad, taught valuable lessons and opened his heart and mind. In the end he was Real. I believe we likewise live unwittingly almost as wooden puppets, or what I like to call “plastic lives”. Like Pinocchio, our challenge is to discover the key to becoming Real.

“I think, therefore I am.”

Let’s start at one the most infamous undeniable Realities. Rene Descartes was one of the greatest philosophers of all time, and was a believer in God. In his quest to find what is Real, he went into a frame of mind where he attempted to devise alternative explanations for everything, even for God and matter itself, in an attempt to identify what few things were truly undeniable. Such mind games as “if I touched a hot stove, it would seem as though I touched something real (hot matter), but what if there is a Being out there who observes me thinking that I’m about to touch a stove, and feeds my mind a sensation of touching a solid object and resulting pain, even though I have touched nothing.”  If you’ve ever seen “The Matrix”, or “Inception”, it’s a little like that.

So in these mind-games, he is able to deny matter, God, and everything. I should say, while he still believed in these things firmly, he had to admit that the fact that his mind had constructed a potential alternative explanation held the remote possibility of being correct from a purely logical point of view. After years of struggle, he finally struck on a single, undeniable “Reality” that he could see no other way to explain. He had denied his very flesh as possibly just an image that some unknown being was casting before his mind. But his mind itself – “I think, therefore, I am!” He could deny that his flesh existed, that the world existed, that his contemporaries existed.  While he firmly believed in God, he accepted that it was not difficult to devise an alternative reality in which God was not necessary.  But something down deep, something with self awareness, something with intelligence, something known to himself as “I,” was still thinking and therefore he MUST exist even if nothing else in the universe existed.

The Great “I AM”

I have found it very interesting that God refers to Himself in the bible as The Great I AM. It’s as if He knows this undeniable truth also, and is telling us that it is true not only for each of us, but also for He Himself. Of all things that are able to say “I am”, HE is the Greatest of all of these. LDS scholar Cleon Skousen once wrote an essay on this subject. His thoughts are rarely part of a Sunday School lesson, in part because they are pretty speculative (though backed by extensive research of existing scripture and seemingly consistent with statements of the prophets), but also because they are “pretty meaty”, and is the kind of stuff that only a few among many active Saints would be able to hear without a lot of obsession or unnecessary confusion, possibly driving them away from what is most important.

I am very reluctant to continue on this thread because I am nervous to put “pearls before swine”, but I also want to help honest truth seekers discover what I’ve found to be one of the most prized pearls! I’ll continue carefully and will gladly pull this or tone it down if ever requested by those in authority.

When The Father names Himself “I AM”, He is placing Himself at the head of all things that can say I am – which is more than just mankind. Man is the only order of intelligence that is fully capable of exercising free will, or in other words, the only entity capable of acting against the will of God. This gets at the very heart of why God is all powerful, or rather it explains the mechanics of how God’s power exists. It is because as an “I am” of the highest order, His is capable of exercising agency, or in other words, theoretically capable of breaking His word. But He has not broken His word, and the Universe of intelligences or “I ams”, whatever that means, respects and trusts Him completely for that. Thus when God speaks and a mountain moves, there is no magic involved, but rather the very mountain itself is aware of and has perfect respect for God. The mountain is capable of acting, but not capable of choosing to act against God – unless – God were to violate His own word and lose the trust of all “I ams”. Clues to this truth lie in scriptural statements such as “If it were not so, God would cease to be God”. This is implying there is a theoretical mechanism by which God Himself would no longer be God if He went against His word.

Possible source of God’s Power

So what is that mechanism? God is King, so maybe we can discover it by looking at the structure of a kingdom. In a kingdom, where does the king’s power come from? The king has power because the majority chooses to obey him.  (Note that with a wicked king, a minority may actively support the king, and a large remainder end up supporting out of fear, but always the sum is a majority – some willingly, some reluctantly). If the King acts wickedly against his supporters, he may insight a rebellion by those who would have willingly supported him if he had treated them with respect. This happened to King Noah in the Book of Mormon. After much wickedness against his people, they finally rose up against him and burned him at the stake when he ordered the men to abandon their families to their enemies in order to save himself.  After that, he had no respect, and was no longer the king because he had no one who would obey him.

God is the All Powerful King because He has the respect and admiration of all matter and intelligence. He is always on display before the Universe, and if He were to violate His word, they would quickly know it and would no longer lend Him their support. In this vein, it is almost natural to view God the Father as who He Really is – a glorified man. It is perhaps easier to see Christ in this light, since we know He is a glorified and resurrected man. But He is also a God. He is the Creator, and all of His Creation loves Him and respects Him for never having violated His word nor any of the commandments (i.e. His sinless state).

When the Universe watched their sinless Creator suffer unjustly on behalf of sinners, they endowed Him with the redeeming power. In other words, the Universe of “I ams” who have obeyed their commandments (animals that were commanded only to multiply, matter that was commanded only to “form an earth”, etc.), stands against us for even the slightest sin. God the Father has stated that every sin must be paid for, and the Universe stands guard at the gate making sure the unclean cannot get in. If God were to make an exception even for the slightest thing, He would instantly become a fallen man not all that different from ourselves. Having lost respect for God, the Universe would no longer hold Him as King, and would cease to obey His command. So where the earth’s present command from God is simply “exist as a habitat for man”, it is conceivable that the earth may simply disintegrate into space dust in rebellion against its former King. If this is anywhere near correct, then the Priesthood really does hold our very planet together minute by minute as many have suggested.

The Role of Christ

This is where Christ’s role is so vital. We have sinned and cannot work our way out of our sins. We cannot be “extra good from now on” and still take away the fact that a law was broken and a consequence is attached to that by the word of God. We could try to repent and live a Mother Theresa life, and there would still be no salvation for us because once fallen we cannot lift ourselves up. Here is where Lutherans and others are correct in noting that we are not saved by our works, but by the grace of God.

Thus a dilemma: our sins must be paid for, and we have insufficient ability to pay for them ourselves. It requires a scapegoat (after the original Old Testament meaning) – a sacrificial lamb (which is why the Jews did sacrifices, but sadly they didn’t understand the sacrifices were all aimed at helping them recognize the Real sacrifice). When the Universe watched their creator suffer unjustly though He had not sinned, the Universe offered to accept this unjust suffering in trade for what would normally be just suffering by those who have broken the law.  Society requires that a law breaker make whatever payment is required for a given broken law. Killers often claim they’ve “found Jesus” in their 10th year, and hope we’ll let them out. A just society rightly says, “Good for you. I hope it’s true. You must still pay your price.”  (Sadly, our legal system is often very confused regarding justice).

The Courtroom

In the Final Judgment, I think the Universe plays the roll of society, or think of the Universe as both witness to our sins, and expecting enactment of God’s word stating there is a punishment required for sin – namely that unclean things cannot be in Heaven. Therefore, “society” will not allow fallen man in Heaven without the right payment, which payment we are not capable of making on our own behalf (hence the need for Grace). It’s as if we killed someone, and the only acceptable payment is to bring the dead back to life. We can pay a billion dollars and give our own life, but society says, “No thanks, God has written that only life restored is acceptable, and if God takes your billion dollars even for a good cause, He will cease to be God because He will have broken His word, and we will not obey Him. And if the King’s subjects will not obey Him, then there is no King and no Kingdom”. I think of the court dialog as something like this:

Christ: “Before the Bar of Judgment we have the man Michael Brown. I know Michael, like Adam before him, has partaken of the tree which We told him not to partake and deserves the affixed punishment, which is to be removed from God’s presence forever. However, since then, Michael has made great effort to repent, and to obey My commandments. I recognize that this alone does not change the fact that He is accountable before the Law, and that the Law must be satisfied. As your Creator, you have seen my infinite and unjust suffering which I endured just for the likes of Michael. Since his knee first bowed down confessing me as his Savior, he has consistently made great effort to do what I have asked. Therefore, I ask you to accept my unjust suffering as payment for his just suffering.”

The Jury: “It pained us greatly to see your infinite and unjust suffering. You have certainly suffered sufficient to pay Michael’s debt. Therefore, we judge that you may own him and do with him as You will – even to set him free in the Kingdom of Heaven if You will. This Court is satisfied with your argument and payment in his behalf.”

Christ’s Grace satisfies the Universe; Our Works must satisfy Christ

Indeed, all the good works in the world cannot of themselves save us – we do need the Grace of God. But the Grace of God is not as easy to obtain as some would have us think. A wise man once said, “What we obtain too easily we esteem to lightly”. This is why paying for freedom with blood makes us value freedom all the more. Christ is now the “the richest man in the world” in the sense that only He can pay our debts before the Universe.  Still, He is a wise investor and doesn’t pay off our debts without getting something He wants more in return. He will not pay our debts for us until we work for Him – until we give our hearts to Him. 

Here is where the “Saved by Gracers” don’t quite have it right. They claim all you need to do is “state that you accept Christ”, and then you’re saved. It doesn’t matter what happened before or what happens afterwards. I know they’d say it’s not quite like that, but close enough for illustration. Thus the Atonement takes something that was unattainable (Society’s strict rules of justice), and makes them still not easy, but attainable (Christ’s rules for obtaining Grace and mercy).

Thus a few things that I know are Real:

God is the Great Governor of the Universe, and all entities in the Universe that can say “I am” obey His command because of their great respect for his proven reliability.  We exist also, and we are of the same order of intelligence that God is (i.e. capable of agency).  We are “I ams” also, but have disobeyed His commands.  We are fallen, but gaining knowledge that is obtained through experience. God created the earth as a setting in which we could prove ourselves and gain wisdom. Christ, having suffered unjustly, is now vested with power from those “I ams” (intelligences) that have broken no laws. Christ is infinite in their eyes, and they will release their just claims against us if He requests it. They give Him ownership of us if He will have us. While we still often suffer the earthly consequences of sin, we are at least free from the eternal consequences if we will but do as He who bought us with His blood requires (repent).

Israel Is Real!

Some time ago I discovered that God like to leave little gems around for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear. Our languages are filled with such gems. Here are a few I have discovered. In English, the Sun gives light and life to all the earth, and the Son also gives light and life to all the earth. Why are these words, so different and yet so the same, pronounced the same?  In Portuguese, the word for “heart” is “coracao” and the word for “prayer” is “oracao”. Coincidence? Or has God left us a clue through one of our languages that we should always have a prayer in our heart? There are one or two others that I’ve forgotten about, and no doubt there are many more. If they come back to me I’ll add them.

And on the theme of what is Real, the House of Israel has a special role in the world, and ultimately we must be a part of Israel if we are to be saved. Israel has the same letters as “Is Real” – therefore we can conclude that Israel “Is Real”.

• “What is Real?” 2: The War in Heaven rages on Earth, and is Real.




“What is Real?” 2: The War in Heaven rages on Earth, and is Real.

• What is the purpose of Earth? Gain experience and demonstrate before the Heavens which side we’re on.
  
  
• Why the veil between heaven and earth makes for a perfect proving ground.
  
  
• There are only “two churches”, and every soul will be judged as having been in one or the other.
  
  
• Are democrats “evil”?  Are republicans “righteous”?

What is Earth for? It’s the “School of Hard Knocks” for critical knowledge that comes in no other way.

Latter-Day Saints believe that the “I am” inside each of us has always existed and always will. We believe that we are spirit children of God, and that we lived with Him before this earth. While we existed as “highest order” intelligences (literally the same type of intelligence that God is), we had a lot of “growing up to do” before we could really be like God. This is hard for many outside our religion to accept, in part because they’ve grown up with a much different concept of who God is and who we are relative to Him. It is simple to see if you know where to look.  We all call Him our Father, and who ever saw a son that did not have the potential to become a Father himself? Children are clearly far from adults, but with time and experience they become adults. Likewise as the “children” of God, we are far from Godlike, and many of us will never become Godlike, but we all have that potential.

So what was it we were lacking that compelled God to create the Earth and send us here knowing full well that many would not “spiritually survive?” A word I think sums it up well is EXPERIENCE.

If you have children or observe children, they exist in a wonderfully blissful state of unawareness. Their lives are Real, their problems are Real to them, their joy is Real. But their understanding is limited by inexperience. We know they will grow and learn, and a good parent is eager to help them learn to react positively to life’s lessons and help them desire to choose for themselves the better parts. God is the same way. He knew there was critical knowledge that could never be had unless we were to be isolated away from Him and set on a stage in which we could be pushed, tempted, pained, pleasured, proven. He and we needed to see what kind of metal we were made of. There was no way to reach our full potential without passing through mortal Experience.

The War in Heaven

This set the stage for the War in Heaven (another essay). Basically, Lucifer in a quest for power, lied to us all and convinced many that there was another way for us to get what God had (knowledge and the respect of the elements), but without having to pass through the trials that are what bring knowledge and respect. One third ultimately bought into this easy way, but the rest sensed that Freedom and Liberty were Real.  They yearned for a chance to make their own way; to learn and grow; to have a shot at saying “I did it!”; and in the same breath to risk the possibility of having to report “I didn’t do it”.  But either way, they wanted to have ownership of the outcome and believed in themselves in spite of the risks.

The Veil makes for a perfect proving ground

So we now find ourselves on Earth with a perfectly thick “veil” drawn between our last existence and this. So thick is that veil that it is very easy to get caught up in this place and to forget or never know that we have a high calling – that the things we do and experience we gain is all aimed at a larger purpose beyond this fleeting existence. The veil is intentional. We may seek for signs of God, but God will not reveal His hiding place to the world so cavalierly. He will not allow “proof” in a “captured on CNN” way (not at the moment, anyway, but Revelations suggests it may be that way in the end).  He will provide spiritual proof, and support to reinforce your faith, but we typically must first exercise Real faith.  That is, really desire to believe for good reasons, and prove it first by being more committed to a God you may feel you don’t yet know, rather than claiming you’ll cease mocking believers if God will put on a magic show.

The “magic” is out there. I’ve felt it, and I’ve seen in hind sight the unfolding of events in my life, the odds of which are beyond Powerball Lottery.  Others can explain it away, but for me “coincidental” is an insult to God because I know better. Further, the events were accompanied with a sixth-sense communication of spirit to spirit that confirms for me it wasn’t just crazy luck or naturally occurring chemicals that affect your senses or psyche. Even further, the continuation of small things seemingly from the other side builds a mountain of evidence in my life that to deny would be like staring at the Sun and claiming it is dark. But personal miracles or communication is in fact personal, and when you tell it, it makes a nice story for other people and may build their faith, but no one will ever be moved like you are.  This is why ultimately you need and can get your own spiritual experiences.

It’s as if God and the universe of God’s supporters were compared to your mom putting a hidden camera in your dorm room at college to see what you’ll do when she’s not around.  But it’s even bigger than that since in this case you can’t even remember you ever had a mom or a life before college! But truly everything we do is known and recorded. It’s like Candid Camera. We can do our hidden works seemingly in complete anonymity, but are we really playing to a Super-Bowl audience? This side of the veil looks so real sometimes, but is it Real? Some charge forward convinced this is all there is and all there ever will be, and mock and scorn any who believe “God is watching”.

Though the list is much longer, I know at least these things are Real:

Family; love in the family; pure love between husband and wife; gratitude; concern for the well being of others; Christ’s suffering; Christ’s forgiveness; God’s children and our duties concerning them; Priesthood; Courage; a noble heart; compassion for others; service to others as they deal with the merely real; Faith in a reality beyond our plastic world, and effort to learn what is required to obtain that better Reality; the talents we were given and what we do with them is Real; the Great I AM is Real; the lesser or developing I ams are Real;

Evil, or the refusal to follow God, is also Real, and it is allowed to exist to challenge our minds, hearts, and souls with the invaluable experience that is so critical for us to become like God as we succumb to it and are pained to repent, or as we fight against it. The fight against evil is Real and never-ending during our lives. The War of Heaven rages on here in the earth. It is a war for the hearts and minds of God’s children, and it occasionally boils beyond just philosophical camps to actual wars that require the brave to take up guns and forcibly send those on the wrong side of the fight (even if propaganda and lies has fooled them into thinking they’re right) on to Spirit Prison where they can hopefully learn and repent.

The world’s two “Churches” are Real

Any war by definition has only two sides even if there are various nations involved and committed by different degrees. It’s like a football game, with the coaches and starters on one extreme and the fans on the other. Even the fans participate on one side or the other. People that claim neutrality – who won’t even come to the game – have in Reality chosen to enable evil by withholding their support of the righteous. If you’re not for the Right, you’re against the Right. “So then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot I will spew thee out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:16).

The camp we end up in IS Real. Nephi’s vision reveals there are but two camps, or “churches”. The two churches are themselves arrayed in different costumes, in different places, and at different times. It is too narrow an interpretation to assume that the “church of the devil” was the Popes who sold forgiveness, and engaged in all kinds of wickedness. It is likewise to narrow to conclude that the Church of Christ is just a handful of Mormons when there are billions of good and decent people.  The camps are all encompassing – like Shiz and Coriantomer at the last battles of the Jaradites where they gathered in all people to one side or the other.

The “churches” are all encompassing umbrellas that sort the righteous of the world from the wicked. From within each nation will emerge many who will be saved in the Kingdom of God, even if few from their nation find the “Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints” in the second estate. Their lives reveal that they support righteousness inasmuch as they can find it.  This habit of accepting truth once understood means they’re already in harmony with the Church of God (it just becomes “official” later).

Within the two churches are subcategories for politics, professions, philosophies, economics, and even religion, etc. The righteous may not presently be engaged in organized religion, but it does not mean they are outside God’s Church. I view being classed as “among the righteous”, not as a function of whether you were born to a life that had Mormonism in it somewhere, or any traditional religion at all. It’s not even a prerequisite to know many truths.  Many are diverted because they’ve been fed a stream of lies, propaganda, or just do not know all the answers – but they can still be counted righteous if they obey in good spirit what truths they know, or what they believe to be truths (so long as they are prepared to act on knew knowledge). We are not accountable for what we do not know.

Saul unwittingly participated in the martyrdom of Stephen and thought he was doing the right thing for God!  God did not hold it against him, but instead led him to the light where he became the greatest missionary of all time. Today, while most terrorists are truly evil, there may be a handful of souls who can be convinced they really are doing God’s will, and God will be more apt to forgive them when they blow themselves up and He’s able to teach them. (Actually that’s probably too extreme, because I think your soul has to wallow in a lot of obvious evil to kill mothers, kids, and yourself in a supermarket.  Thus all terrorists are evil. But there are still many who act incorrectly in the name of God who will easily repent when they understand a better way).

It is “What did you do with what you knew? Where was your heart? Do you accept truth when you recognize it? Do you have essentially more good marks than bad marks?  Will you repent of those bad marks you have?”

Democrats and Republicans as Factions within the Churches

The camps are manifest in American politics as “liberal vs. conservative” generally, with conservative I believe as the more righteous side. This is not to say that in our American understanding, positions that win support of the Democrats are in every case aligned with evil, and likewise that positions that win support of Republicans are in every case something that Christ Himself would support – in fact often I believe Republican positions and rhetoric are very against what Christ would do if He were in charge of the secular government.

Sometimes it really is the lesser of two evils. Thus on a hundred random positions, and if God were making the marks, I think Democrats would wind up fighting against God often and for God on rare occasion. Republicans would be just the opposite. This does not mean the camps are homogenous. There may even be minor third parties that would get higher marks from God than the Republicans. Such would still tend to be conservative (i.e. supporting liberty over coercion), but maybe also more oriented toward personal responsibility, freedom, fiscal responsibility, and promoting voluntary charity (by removing government mandated charity) than the Republicans have been lately. Clearly what I’m stating is my own opinion. The church’s stance is neutral. Many LDS democrats would beg to differ.

Excellent people destined for the Celestial Kingdom, Mormons and non-Mormons alike, are found as great supporters of the Democrats, in part because they see historic positions on what is meant to be “caring for the needy” – a Christian value. This is not wrong, but the wrong comes from following the thread to the end of the line where we can see that government is an ineffective vehicle for accomplishing this, and essentially boils down to Satan’s plan, which is to coerce everyone into doing the right thing (via taxes, rules, etc.), when freedom to choose the right (via charity), is more effective and more rewarding for all involved. Democrats would say “It’s not more effective. We can’t trust that people will give voluntarily”.    To me this shows a lack of faith in the essential goodness of people. Americans would never let other Americans starve or suffer as long as they have the means to do anything about it! That they see “a different dolphin” (or in this case, a turtle) does not mean they are evil, and it could mean we should take time to see if their dolphin couldn’t teach us a thing or two also.




What we do with what we have is Real. Your motion towards God or away from God is Real, but where you’re at on the line between God and Satan is less so (i.e., you may have gone a long way toward Satan, but if you’ve figured that out and are prayerfully clawing your way back, that is Really GOOD!).  Present position on the scale of earthly blessings is less real.  Job lived a VERY real life (small r.  Physically he had it as good and as bad as anyone), but inside he was VERY REAL.  Because his heart was honest, pure, and trusting through good and bad, he gained a VERY REAL life (beyond this world glorious).

• “What is Real?” 3: What is NOT Real.




“What is Real?” 3: What is NOT Real.

• The facts of our birth, and what others do TO us, is not Real.
  
  
• Our “Ken and Barbie” plastic pleasures and lives are not Real.
  
  
• Moses discovered that “Man is Nothing, AND Man is Everything”
  
  
• Can you see the dolphins?
  
  
• Our choices in “the pursuit of happiness” can be both Real and not real.

Our “costume and setting” – our birth and what happens to us – is not Real

There are many things that are Real within the sunrises and sunsets that make up our time here.  Let me start however with what is NOT Real.  The circumstances of our lives, or the stage, costumes, props, and setting, are not real.  They are second estate factual, but if we get caught in the trees we will never see the forest.  It is virtually irrelevant if we are born rich or poor, black or white, American or Iranian, Nephite or Lamanite, far from the truth (as a “confused-but-swear-I-see-the-light” Ivy League liberal), or very near the most valuable truths (such as in a solid LDS family).  These are only the props we were handed and the scene we are acting in.  However, our reaction to them is Real.  Our reaction to others is Real.  The Experience we gain from our setting is Real.  If much is given, much is required to get the same reward as someone of whom little is required because little was given.  This is made plain in the Parable of the Talents. 

Suppose our stage sees us born into a war torn environment where children are taught to hate; where rape, murder, torture, starvation, are the lot of many in your circle and maybe even you.  Whatever momentary gratification the evil perpetrators obtain seems real to them and many of us, but it is not. The pain we experience ourselves or vicariously as we see the suffering of others is Real, but there are greater Real and valuable opportunities here.  Any time we relieve suffering, stand against evil, or maintain our faith when faith is all we have and it’s hard to hold on to, that is all REAL and demonstrates to the Heavens that we are becoming Christ-like!

Our “Ken and Barbie” plastic lives

More on what is not Real.  “Stuff” is not real.  Earthly kingdoms and power are not Real.  Consider for a moment “Ken and Barbie” of dollhouse fame.  From our vantage point, they are NOT real.  They are “made in our image”, but as plastic they are missing out on a lot of the wonders that it is to be human.  Imagine for a minute that Ken and Barbie could move like us, but that they had a veil drawn over them that made them completely unaware that there may be any type of existence beyond their plastic world.  They would sit in their plastic world doing what plastic world people do.  They would eat plastic hamburgers (just like us – when buying from the dollar menu).  They would watch the little TV with nothing on it and marvel at how nice it is (just like we worship all the crap that amounts to nothing).  They would drive around forever in a plastic pink Corvette that never runs out of gas. 

They hear stories from crazy “prophets” who say there is a life beyond their world which is wonderful – like the life of the child who he says governs over them.  He says they may even have a chance to experience such a life it if they will simply believe it is there, stop the infatuation with a TV that won’t turn on, and live as if they really belong in that better place.  However, Ken just can’t get over driving the plastic car or Barbie’s slender figure.  Barbie is desperate to have the biggest plastic house there is, and she just can’t get over her infatuation with clothes.  It never seems to rain in their world, so they ask themselves what could be much better than what they’ve got?

Being plastic or “mortal” and never having seen what our world “beyond their veil” is like, it would be hard to let go of what they have and trust the prophets.  But it is easy for us to comprehend not only our world, but theirs also.  We can judge that the plastic house, the Velcro clothes, and everything that is their world is nothing to brag about, and it would be well worth their time to do what they could to get into our “real world”.

I believe that from God’s perspective it’s very comparable.  Our world is pretty much plastic, and just not that cool to Him.  But because we cannot see or comprehend God’s world, it is hard to value it or even to trust that it exists.  To us, this is an exciting enough place, and many work really hard to gain whatever they can from this life.  Our plastic pleasure seems real.  Our plastic pain seems real.  They are Real in the sense that WE ARE REAL, and how WE react to them can have a Real outcome either positive or negative. 

The Plan of Salvation brings structure and meaning to our lives.  It puts our plastic world into context, and reminds us that the plastic and the Pinocchio are necessary steps to obtain something Real.

The Plan of Salvation, with its first estate, second estate, and third estate is the all-encompassing Reality that helps place the experiences of our world into proper context.  Inherent in believing in this plan is an admission that there are other places, perhaps best described almost as other dimensions to use a sci-fi description, that have a definite X,Y,Z coordinate in space, and that are inhabited by beings who have a different reality than that which we wake up to every day.  For those yet in the first estate, our reality is a step beyond theirs, even if they may be more aware of our reality than we are of theirs (not sure if they are or are not).  For those who have passed beyond this state, they are a step beyond us, and may have an awareness not only of their new place, but perhaps a remembrance of this place and the first estate also.  Our challenge now is to just trust that there is something greater than simply acquiring a billion dollars or marrying a sexy spouse “as seen with the eyes of the world”.

How cool is Mankind…really?

Moses was one of the few earth dwellers whose mind was opened to an awareness of the greater Realities.   As a Prince of Egypt, and party to the most impressive works of mankind to that date, he stated after he was privileged to see the works of God, “Now I know that man is nothing, which thing I never had supposed” (Moses 1, verse 10).

The works of man are arguably more impressive these days, but how impressive are they really?  An awareness of the greater Realities still dwarfs anything we will ever do.  You know how kids come running to show you something they’re so proud of?  You are in fact proud of them.  What ever it is they did is cool in relative terms (relative to them as children), but just really isn’t that cool in absolute terms (compared to the space shuttle or something).  I imagine God is like that with us.  We work for untold years, spend billions of dollars, and figure out what?  Lasik surgery, hearing aids, and the like.  God is proud of us, no doubt, but knows that what is “cool” for us is really amateurish in the grand scheme of things.  “Oh yeah Lasik surgery?  Watch me cure that blind man, and it won’t take even 10 seconds or require an army of PhD’s.”

Man is nothing, Man is everything

So man is nothing, and yet man is everything!  God says, “This is my work and my glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man”.  We understand this when we look at small children.  We know their works amount to nothing, that their problems are minor, and that they have an awful lot of progress to make, but to a loving parent that progress means everything!  It becomes the reason we get up and head out into the plastic world.  Sometimes we misjudge and think that loving our kids means giving them for free the plastic stuff that we always wanted, when actually loving our kids means helping them see the greater vision beyond the plastic.  It means enabling them mentally, physically, and spiritually to achieve the most good they can with whatever talents they obtain.  It means helping them find God, and then them helping others to find God.

The plastic world and what is Real can be well understood with one of my favorite analogies that I call “3-D dolphins”. 

3-D dolphin picture analogy:  A fascinating world of spiritual knowledge is available if only you “have eyes to see”

You know those 3-D pictures made of randomly-sized shapes all of varying shades of say green and blue?  Someone may tell you there’s a dolphin in there, and you stare at it for awhile, but can’t see it immediately so you give up and move on.  They seem trustworthy, but you ultimately don’t believe them or consider them well-meaning but senile.   But then someone comes along and you ask, “Can you see anything in there?” They respond, “Oh yeah, it’s a dolphin”.  You find many people think they see a dolphin, but you never can, and decide it isn’t really worth the effort to keep trying.

 They tell you to look cross-eyed, peripherally, and anything they can think of until you finally have to move on with your day.  Many give up there, but others will try again on a different day and finally begin to “see the dolphins” – an entire world that was right before their eyes, but to which they were previously blinded.  That is the world that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has opened to my eyes.  I don’t see that spiritual world all that clearly yet, but I have “seen some dolphins” and I can tell there is probably a lot more that I can yet see if I look long enough and correctly (prayer, faith, diligence, etc.).  In this case, it’s a lizard!

The Pursuit of Happiness

Real and unreal things can also be found when contemplating that unalienable right that Thomas Jefferson well labeled “The Pursuit of Happiness”.   His insightful and inspired choice of words reveals one of God’s major purposes for life.  He has placed us here with an instinct to seek for things that will bring us happiness, but with a host of competing voices trying to define for us exactly what happiness means.  Yet He does not define happiness for us, and leaves us completely free to “pursue” what ever we think happiness might be. 

Many are born as “Lamanites” and hear few voices advocating from God’s camp on actions and lifestyles that bring Real and lasting happiness.  They are tempted into a life of “sex, drugs, and rock and roll”.  The tainted pleasures that these bring counterfeit for a short time as happiness.  Others so lack God in their lives that they think happiness is being rid of those who have claim on them, so they leave their families or may even murder.  Many born as “Nephites” are raised to understand things that really do bring Real happiness, but they don’t or won’t see the dolphins, and they seek an easier way in short term gratification.  Then there are Lamanites who find Real happiness, and Nephites also.  Real happiness has so many facets.  You can search for those multi-faceted gems and find none, find a few and miss most, or find many.  I doubt anyone has ever found all or maybe even most facets of happiness.  Key is that we all have the same freedom to chase our dreams, and to seek out what we believe will bring Happiness. 

I can say with confidence that I have been at the Tree of Life, tasted some of the fruit, and found it to be very desirable – it truly brings Real Happiness.  I am grateful to live in a free society that places high value on our right to seek after happiness.  I can also say that it is clear that though everyone is seeking, few are really finding Real Happiness.  Sadly, I have also spent some time window shopping in the Great and Spacious Building.  I can report that whatever measures of short-term pleasure are available there, you come away in the end more hollow, shallow, and disillusioned.  There is nothing Real in the Great and Spacious Building, except the fact that we Really will lose our shot at becoming Real if we dwell there too long.

Some things I know are not Real:

Keeping up with the Jones; failing to have a large family or devaluing your family in order to pursue worldliness, or even to pursue a significantly beneficial role in the world; the world’s obsession with sexual sensations (Real in the right setting, but very plastic otherwise); exploiting other people for wealth or selfish purposes (not the same as employing people respectfully, ending up wealthy in the process, and using your wealth to achieve things that are Real); Our costume and stage play is not real (black, white, American, Iranian, middle ages, vegetable IQ, PhD, endless pain, or seemingly endless luxury). 

Are Corvettes Real?

I’ve always wanted to believe that great automobiles are Real.  I’ve hunted around and I believe the creative genius behind them is Real, but our trading valuable assets for vanity instead of for things God would condone is what makes them not real.  Somebody Real had to make Barbie’s plastic Corvette, but the ‘Vette is still plastic.  In other words, there is nothing wrong with the process that seeks to improve upon something – either in its physical quality, utility, or beauty.  The “wrong” comes in our motive for improving or in our purposes for having the improvement.  The makers of Ferraris go wrong when they build into their designs features whose sole purpose is to tempt our vanity into setting ourselves above our brothers and sisters.  But to make a Ferrari purely out of the challenge of making it, and for the beauty and utility it can bring into the world, I do not think is wrong.  We go wrong when we want a Ferrari, not because of its quality and beauty, but because we can then look down on others.

All of these thoughts have helped me immensely to comprehend the larger Realities.  I hope you’ve enjoyed this exploration of “What is Real.”

If you have valued from this, please feel free to email a link to www.latterdaylogic.com to those you believe may be receptive to this essay.

10. Truth is stranger than fiction – and it is beautiful!
9. Gospel is Restored, and Real Prophets Exist Again!
8. Independence, Preparation, Practicality 
7. Saved by grace… after all that we can do
6. Focus on the Family
5. I am a Child of God (Children’s Song)
4. Kool-Aid beats Booze! 
3. He who has eyes to see, let him see.
2. Makes bad men good, good men better 
1. It is where God has Revealed His Plan for Salvation and Happiness

About this list… 

I told a friend, “Maybe there is no life after this and the atheists have it right.  But even if they are right, what do I lose by choosing to live this way? If it isn’t true, I don’t care, because I doubt I’ll ever find a happier way of living than this.”

Years later he said this helped him value the practical aspects the church until he could gain his own belief in “angels and prophets.” BUT... I am quite confident it actually is the truth!  Here are 10 reasons I am absolutely thrilled to be anchored to the Rock of Christ via The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. 

10. Truth is stranger than fiction – and it is beautiful!

Stories familiar to me since childhood sound pretty strange to most people.  Does that make Mormonism a cult?  There are equally strange biblical, koranic, and other stories that others accept as factual, not strange, and certainly not a cult. What’s the difference? They are older, and have a 1000 year head-start on getting more people to believe and accept their weirdness.  Is a religion more true after billions believe it than it was when only a dozen believed? Jesus preached a new gospel, and many found his followers to be cult-like.   

When I realized how unusual our own history and doctrine is, I likewise wondered if I was brainwashed.  But through prayer, study, and living the teachings, my mind has raced and come alive with a fascinating world of Truth that is unbeknownst to most people.  Even if you have a hard time accepting the story of how our church came into existence, if you just read the Book of Mormon, study our practices, and discover how we utilize the Bible, you’ll be amazed at the truths and value you will find.  I heard a religious professor once said something like “I have no idea whether the things Joseph Smith claimed actually occurred, and I don’t care.  But if you look at the pure volume and value of enlightened thought he introduced, it is truly remarkable.”

9. Gospel is Restored, and Real Prophets Exist Again!

If God ever spoke to man through prophets, why would He cease?  In ancient Israel, he did cease during periods of wickedness and darkness, but he called prophets anew when people were hungry enough for them.   Is it reasonable that after the original apostles we would never again have prophets?  God allowed revelation to cease and Christ’s church structure to dissolve during the Dark Ages, in part because Satan simply had too great a hold upon the people of those times.  The righteous were crucified or fed to lions, and those who escaped were left without prophets and apostles, so they did the best they could, but over hundreds of years, corruption and error were obvious.

Luther recognized that the only Christian church was corrupted, and he protested and tried to correct it. But like Humpty Dumpty, no man can put all of the pieces back together again. New reformers discovered things that Luther had missed, and great argument ensued.  God was pleased with so many people finding elements of the original gospel, and those churches have blessed the lives of untold millions.  But the story of all protestant churches also misses something critical that might be shown in an analogy something like this…

Imagine being on a safari only to wake up and discover that your guides (the apostles) have been killed by savages.  Their maps, letters, and survival guides remain behind, but many are torn and pages are missing – but even if it were all there, nothing is quite as good as your living guide was.  You are smart, and learn what you can from what’s available, but there is no doubt this will be a Dark Age for your group.  There is no way to make up for the years of critical personal knowledge your guide had, and his ability to communicate with the outside world (God).  You all select a leader who seems to best understand both how to survive and how to get home.  Your guide moves you forward, but other smart people are reading the same documents, and heated debates ensue.  Smaller groups break off and try to find their way based on their interpretation of the material.  All groups seem to accept that they’ll never have such competent, experienced, prophetic guides like they had before.  They didn’t realize, or they didn’t trust, that if they “lacked wisdom they could ask of God” (James 1:5).  Or perhaps, many did not feel they lacked wisdom.  “I’m brilliant, and I don’t need a living guide – just this guidebook is fine.”

Paul was the “guide” for the early churches where he preached, and Christ was Paul’s living, resurrected guide.  Paul sent letters to correct their course, and would visit as often as he could.  But ultimately he and all other apostles were killed, and the prophetic link between Christ and the churches was severed.  They were left to do the best they could, but drifted off course just as they had when Paul sent correcting letters, but now no one was sending correction.  They set up “Catholicism” at the Council of Nicaea in about 300 AD.  Over the centuries Catholicism degenerated, as Luther and others provided compelling evidence.  The reformer’s paths were better, but they were fundamentally just plain old men trying to find God through university-like study – a fine thing to do, and those who follow them will do better than those who accept atheism or a non-Christian religion – but none of them were established by or are guided by God himself.

When Joseph Smith entered the scene at age 14, he was not old enough to debate interpretations as had so many others were.  Instead, knowing he lacked wisdom, he took up James’ challenge and prayed with real faith as only kids can.  I think God was pleased with both Joseph’s faith and sincerity, and also with the world’s hunger and progress toward finding the lost elements of the Gospel. So this particular prayer was a convenient opportunity for God and Christ to reveal themselves to Joseph, and begin his preparation to restore anew what others could not fully piece together without God’s direct intervention. 

God does pick kids sometimes, as when he picked David as the future king of Israel.  We look for credentials and resume, but God looks only on the heart.

I know that God has restored his church again, as it was first established by Christ.  There are prophets again on the earth as in the days of ancient Israel where one prophet would succeed another, and same as with Christ where one apostle would succeed another.  Is it so hard to believe? 

To me it is almost easier to accept Atheism than to believe God once had prophets, but no longer uses them, because “we have the safari guidebook”.   Up to 10% of the entire human family since Adam is alive today and searching as never before for important truths that are hidden as never before, like a needle within a media haystack.  They search via science, reasoning, religion, etc., but are greatly split on where best to find it.  Given such a huge share of God’s “family” is here TODAY, God is surely seeking to communicate with you through your personal prayers and experiences, regardless of your religion; but he also seeks to communicate to you and the entire world through his special witnesses – modern apostles – just as in times of old.  Christ said “beware of false prophets!”  Ok. But doesn’t that inherently imply there are also be true prophets, and we need to beware and discern which is which?

8. Personal Responsibility, Preparedness, Practicality

God would have His people be of great service to their fellow man, and He counts any service we give to others as service given to Himself (Golden Rule).  So we must first carry our own weight, and then help carry others.  We cannot be “wards of the state” unless there is no other way. To be LDS is to strive for what the Boy Scouts strive for – to keep yourself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight, so that you will be prepared for whatever life can throw at you, and so you can better do your duty to God and your country.  If life deals you a good hand and you’re fortunate enough to avoid serious pain, then it is incumbent upon you act as a good steward and use these gifts and talents in support of those who do suffer – even if their suffering is brought about by their own actions (recall the Lord praises those who visit those in prison, etc.).  To be LDS is to take whatever talents the Lord has given, and to “double them” as commanded in the Lord’s parable of the talents.  I love LDS emphasis on education, emergency preparedness, food storage, and general well roundedness.  The Lord’s true gospel would help each person develop their inner genius across an array of disciplines – and this gospel does exactly that better than any. 

7. Saved by grace… after all that we can do

Like other Christians, Latter-day Saints recognize that even if we could create super-human mountains of good works, those works cannot save us.  We are completely dependent on the grace of Christ for salvation.  But we also believe that Christ sets his own rules for whom he will grant his grace, and he will decide not to save us by his grace unless we obey His commandments, repent regularly when we don’t obey, and do in fact produce good works and good fruits.  We all intuitively know works matter, and it can’t be right to assume that a simple prayer to “accept Christ” is your golden ticket to heaven.  Our physical resurrection is a gift of Grace that even the wicked will freely get.  It is a recognition that they chose to be part of the 2/3rds who supported Christ in the Pre-Existence.  But for our spiritual salvation, we must strive to be more like Him every day, and repent when we fall short.  If we will do that, then He will elect to “save us by His grace, after all that we can do” (2 Nephi, 25:23).  LDS theology brings a perfect resolution to the age old debate between the role of both works and grace in our salvation.

6. Focus on the Family

God has declared that his “work and glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39).   Thus man is God’s mission, and our efforts to mold children into solid individuals who are good citizens and who know him are the fruits that are the most pleasing to God.  Citizenship and knowledge of God is learned in solid religious families.  I once met a man who was greatly concerned about over-population. 

When he learned I was LDS, he noted our typically larger families, but said, “you folks should keep having as many kids as you can because from my experience Mormons are among the world’s most solid citizens, and the benefits of great citizens exceed the costs of a little more competition for resources”.  I have 6 little kids, and what a burden!  It is hard, but they are also such a joy.  Family home evenings, eternal marriage, the list of LDS programs, doctrines, and concepts that support strong families goes on and on.  “No success in life can compensate for failure in the home”, said one of our prophets in the 1970’s.   

5. I am a Child of God (Children’s Song)

There is a strong, healthy emphasis in this church to have every individual on the earth gain a personal relationship with God so they can come to know that He recognizes their personal, infinite worth, in spite of the fact that billions of others also have personal infinite worth to Him.   To be a Latter-Day Saint is to see God very much as a loving parent in whom you can count on, confide in, converse with, and get responses from.   He is the All-Powerful Governor of the Universe, but in spite of our billions of siblings, He is also intimate and personally concerned for your wellbeing, as any great father would be.

4. Kool-Aid beats Booze!

Part of what makes being LDS so valuable to me is that it’s just plain fun.  There is a powerful culture of activities, service, and brotherhood that together just make for a fun life.  Primary songs, goofy neighbors are also your Sunday school teachers, cub scouts, boy scouts, youth dances & activities, seminary, service projects, church history tours, 2-year missions, “vacation-log” testimonies, little kid testimonies, creative and usually harmless unintoxicated teenage mischief, family reunions, green Jell-O at ward parties, funeral potatoes, wedding receptions in the cultural hall, last day of the month home teaching (every other month if you’re about average) – it all adds up to a way of life that is engaging and truly fun.  It is often called a “Kool-Aid lifestyle” as opposed to a sex, drugs, and rock and role lifestyle that qualifies as “fun” for many… until it ruins their lives.

3. He who has eyes to see, let him see.

  There is something almost magical about the Gospel of Jesus Christ as practiced in this church.  Prayer, study, pondering, and time have helped me comprehend so many powerful truths – mysteries of God if you will – that are lost to the view of the rest of humanity and even largely lost to general Christianity.  I’ve only scratched the surface of what I could know through mechanisms revealed by Christ’s restored gospel.  It is as though mankind – Christendom largely included – stumbles along in relative blindness compared to this. 

 The “enlightened” elites are focused on the spiritually inconsequential base sciences and scoff at the thought of anything to do with God.  True, the truths they discover give us cell phones!  Wonderful, but what does that have to do with the meaning and purpose of life? General Christianity does a good job of answering that for billions of people, but they are missing “the rest of the story” that could help them do even better.   There are whole new dimensions of truth to be seen through these lenses.   It’s like being in the shoes of Einstein in some ways, where he could see things no one else could see.  Atheists and intellectuals think they see 20/20 when they worship their own gods, but they are so blind to the most important truths – the Spiritual Sciences.  

  Spiritual blindness vs. spiritual sight is like looking at a 3-D picture.  A few strange “fanatics” claim they see a hidden image that is important and beautiful, but you have to look at it long enough and cross your eyes just right.  The blind either won’t look, or they give up too easily – seeing only a mess of colors and strange shapes, and scoffing at those few who swear there is a beautiful 3-D image if you look just right.

2. Makes bad men good, good men better

Gordon B. Hinckley was a prophet who recently passed away, and this was one of his favorite ways to describe the Gospel.  Certainly all legitimate churches subscribe to the goal of improving the individual, regardless of where the individual finds himself on the path toward perfection.  One beautiful concept emphasized by LDS, but not unique to LDS, is that God is far more interested in the direction you’re headed than where you’re actually at, since all men fall short of the glory of God, and require His Grace for salvation.  I see ample evidence that this Church has a high batting average in helping make bad men good, and good men better.

1. It is where God has Revealed His Plan for Salvation and Happiness

This church provides a satisfying and complete vision that the “I think, therefore, I am” inside each of us existed before this earth, and will exist forever.  God established the earth as a place for our souls to be tested, gain experience, and ultimately gain critical and Godly knowledge that could only be gained as we wrestle here with all of life’s joys and pains.  The vision of who we are, why we’re here, and where we’re going based on how we live, is breathtakingly beautiful and definitely inspires both long-time members and those just beginning to “see the 3-D picture” – to repent and align their lives with Christ so as to be found in a more rewarding afterlife.   This church provides satisfying answers to the most perplexing debates that have raged among the branches of Christianity.

To Be a Latter-Day Saint is to Be Happy  in Your Pursuit of Happiness!

If you have gained any value from this, please feel free to email it or send a link to www.latterdaylogic.com for those you believe may be receptive to this essay.