Upward Thought

I wrote this on a YouTube video , and I figured someone might find value in it: As you said, little girls are much inclined to beauty and good, in the deepest sense of the words. I don't think it's just social imprinting alone that turns them away from it as they age. You said in another video that every man a woman is with splits her soul. Generalizing a bit, I think young ladies--consciously or not--realize the weight of the importance of who they choose to invest their heart into. It's a horrifically important decision, and when it is made poorly or cheaply (as it most often is), the heart waxes cold on every successive attempt. Less to give and less willing to give with each successive one. It's easy to tell someone facing that situation that there is some easy alternative. It's an easy lie to tell. Much harder: telling young ladies that they ought to have extremely high standards in men and prefer being alone to being with a man who is not worth loving with all...

Andrew Tiner is a disciple of Christ, so far as I can tell. You will find his messages edifying, and you may find his messages more suitable to your palate or easier to share with others than mine. You may find his calls to repentance to be blunt and brusque, or you may appreciate his calm directness.  This is his channel.  Like, share, and subscribe if you find it valuable. [Later edit: On further investigation, I withdraw the following recommendation, but leave it here for completeness.] K atie (I don't know her last name) is a disciple of Christ, so far as I can tell. You will find her messages full of hints of ideas that are massive and important, and you may find her messages more suitable to your palate or easier to share with others than mine. You may find the pace or the lack of distinction of value or accuracy among the flood of thoughts streaming through her to be difficult for you, as it may overwhelm your ability to process or correctly filter, or you may find it c...

No one needs to continue to struggle in temptation. The Lord is mighty to save. Seek him and he will teach you how to overcome what presently overcomes you; he has overcome all things, he knows the way to do so, and he desires for you to follow him. Jesus never sinned [1], yet he learned obedience by the things he suffered [2]. How is it that he had any obedience to learn if he never sinned? Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness, but he overcame him. Nothing the devil did to tempt Jesus during that time would have tempted him after that time. All sin is a misappropriation of desire based on either a lack of information or a lack of honesty. If you find yourself tempted in anything, humble yourself before God and apply the honesty you lack, or seek God to provide you with the information you lack. In either case, he will lead you to overcome what presently overcomes you. And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be hu...

When you lie about something, you present something that you believe will be better regarded than the truth. Many ideas, things, organizations, and so on have lies built into their very names, because if their name told the truth, far fewer people would entertain, support, or defend them. Here are some examples. Progressive politics Progressive politics are the last place you will see any data sought or presented about how exactly the proposed change improves things. Often, you will find ideas embraced whose abject failure has been thoroughly demonstrated every time they've been tried.  A more honest name for progressive politics would be something like "the party where you believe whatever we tell you is good, without the burden of proof, and even contrary to it." Conservative politics Conservative politics styles itself as keeping things just as they were before. The same does not necessarily mean better, but this is less of an obvious flaw than assuming all change to b...

Recently, a dam was blown up in Ukraine. The official story is that Russia blew it up, but it is much more likely for a variety of reasons that Ukraine did it. It's an odd thing for normal people to consider a government blowing up its own stuff, but not so surprising to those who have been paying attention. Many people are now fleeing for their lives as everything they know is swept away by water they were not expecting. Even though they live in a warzone, even though they know their government is likely the most corrupt on earth, and even though they already had a growing list of false flag operations conducted by their government that enrich the rulers at the expense of the people. I have previously mentioned that the ideas and experiences God has led me to and through are like a dam of water. There is an outlet where I have been constantly pumping water out from, and water spills over the full edge every time a gust of wind blows, but almost all of it remains behind the dam. On...

God's light is so much more prevalent, bright, and good than anyone seems to realize. As God opens the eyes of a person, they become able to receive more of his light. As they see the world in this new increment of God's light, they see more of the potential of all things, experiencing a tremendous increase in the desire they have to see all things become more like God knows they could be. They will do much more than they previously would in order to help bring it to pass. A person filled with God's light does not just more clearly see the potential in all things, but also the actuality. Part of that actuality is how many things are worse than they seem. In following their desire to help all things become more like God knows they could be, they will diligently attempt to help others see more of how things are worse than they seem. This is generally experienced as unpleasant by others. Another part of the actuality that a person filled with God's light sees more clearly ...

Marc M. recently recorded a sermon where he teaches about the importance of desire in our actions to seek God. I highly recommend watching it a few times, as I did.

In this video,  Glenn Beck interviews a smart lady who shares uncomfortable facts illustrating the depth to which powerful people actively manipulate our system for their own benefit. I recommend watching it, at least at 2x speed, which will take you an hour.

This is a script I used as a basis of this video. -- O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people! (Alma 29:1) Alma was not sinning in his desire to do more for the kingdom of God. We all ought to earnestly desire to be more capable of contributing greater value in God’s kingdom, which means being more capable of sacrificing ourselves such that it renders this world or someone or something within it into something more closely resembling its full potential in the eyes of God, which is the same as living in the way that yields the most valuable improvements you are capable of enabling. Alma’s “sin” was that he was desiring the outcome independently of the path to obtain it. He was allowing his wish to make a greater contribution to overtake his desire to make whatever sacrifice was necessary to render him capable of doing so. We sin when we desir...

Have you considered the value available in cross-referencing other translations of the Bible? You might be surprised by the nuggets of great value you can extract by doing so. In my experience, this is better done verse by verse, or passage by passage, rather than reading straight through, although you will get more out of reading straight through if you are familiar enough with another translation to remember it as you read, or if you are sensitive enough to the Spirit to notice when God indicates that you should dig deeper on a verse or passage as you read. On my journey this morning, I came across this translation of 1 John 2: 4 Someone may say, “I am a Christian; I am on my way to heaven; I belong to Christ.” But if he doesn’t do what Christ tells him to, he is a liar. 5 But those who do what Christ tells them to will learn to love God more and more. That is the way to know whether or not you are a Christian. 6 Anyone who says he is a Christian should live as Christ did. (1 John 2,...

When I was a professional teacher, I would review my student evaluations to see how I could improve my classes. I would always chuckle when some mentioned facet of the class would appear in equal parts of praise from some students and criticism from others. The extremity of reaction was such that half of the students would find a particular aspect of the class to be exceptionally helpful and something to be continued, while the other half described it as the worst part of the class and something to be removed. It turned out that the highest reviews come when the teacher focuses on providing the greatest good to the greatest set of students, not on avoiding aspects some set of students might not like [1]. I expect that there are people who get irritated by my use of personal stories to illustrate gospel ideas. Believe it or not, I have had several people specifically request that I use more of these for various reasons, including that it helps some better triangulate what might otherwis...

I have known many over the years who make a pastime of learning and sharing the spiritual stories of others. It's a cottage industry among some. These people don't exercise as much effort in repenting as they do learning and sharing stories. They are always looking for a new opportunity to hear or tell a spiritual experience, rather than seeking to learn some new facet of the character of Christ, to better know and live his will in their lives. Nor have they first reconciled their whole life to everything they understand about Jesus. These people uniformly share the belief that if they could just have this or that experience for themselves, they would arrive. Arrival mentality is a terrible thing to live in, for many reasons I don't have the time to presently explore here. In short, it is all backwards. Focus on the process, and the outcomes will take care of themselves. Find and live the causes, and the effects will take care of themselves. This morning I happened across 1...

Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. (Matt. 24:28, NRSV) Those with light will begin by making full use of whatever remnant of light remains from those who left it behind when they died. To those who make full use of what is already given, more will be given. Flies are drawn by excrement and death. Most people are like flies. When there is no more death, they will find they have lost all that they desired. Bees are drawn by flowers. Most of the people who aren't flies are like bees. When the winter comes, bees must survive on what they already gathered, and live in the dark. Fireflies are drawn by light brighter than their own, and few there be who are like them. The light these humans receive in so doing makes what they sought ever-available, because it is always within them.