Upward Thought

Look no further than this grandma, who is bravely stating what she has learned in life. Look at the hateful comments, especially on Twitter! https://twitter.com/godlywomanhood https://www.youtube.com/@LoriAlexander1980/videos Look at how much attempted shame, blame shifting, and otherwise sidestepping of her arguments, all in the name of feigned empathy. These attackers pretend to be motivated by a desire to help others when they are actually just sacrificing the lives of those who have not yet made their mistake for the momentary alleviation of their own guilt. Without lying women and cowardly men, more than 99% of all problems in this world would probably go away. Why don't older women tell younger women the truth? Because women who feel guilty for having chosen something else will tear them apart. Kudos to the courageous. Lonely are the brave.

Question: I worry that my drive to do good is more for the people I serve than the God I serve. At the moment, I derive most of my joy and encouragement from serving those in my life. Making their life more fulfilling and more full of joy. I understand that this light and this joy comes from God alone. However, as much as I love God conceptually, my love in him is based on faith. It does not feel as full as it could and should be. Having a relationship with God as one person can have with another feels so necessary to my heart. However, I have not met my Lord. Is there any other way to build that personal relationship with the Lord than by meeting him? Short Answer: You don't develop a personal relationship with the Lord by meeting him, but by serving him. Through loving others as God would in your place, you come to better understand the value of the love he has already shown you, and you also come to see more of his love. To love another is to suffer for their benefit, which in i

A friend of mine lives next door to a professional dog sledder. When my friend goes on vacation, she milks his cow, and when she goes on vacation, his family has to exercise her dogs. I was asking him all about it, and one of the interesting things he told me was the most important rule of being on a dog sled: no matter what, don't let go. The dogs will not stop running until they are exhausted. The sled has a brake designed to make it very hard to continue to pull. If they are on a tear, even if the sled tips, if you let go, the lightness of the unencumbered sled means that when they finally stop, you'll never be able to catch up on foot. The Lord made clear that when we sign up on his team, we must be all in.[1] There is no stopping.[2] It's onward from one new height to the next.  And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. (Luke 9:62) As I have walked through a nonstop stream of overwhelming experi

What is the significance of the Lord’s resurrection? A principle component is the evidence it provides that he exists and the certification it provides of what the scriptures record about him. His resurrection proved that his claims of knowing the way to life were true, and that those who live what he taught will receive the same. While these statements are hopefully unsurprising and uncontroversial with professed Christians, they are an example of an all-too-common problem with modern Christianity: the tendency to hold beliefs that contradict each other without seeming to notice or care. I’ll explain what I mean in this case. The common definition of faith is something like “when you believe without evidence.” If evidence is not necessary, why would Christ go through all the trouble he did to die and rise again? Yes, there were other things he came to do. But why didn’t you take issue with my claim that a principle component of the resurrection was the evidence for the gospel he preac

Lately, I've been dabbling on Twitter/x (@upward_thought), searching for those searching for greater light and truth. It's been a while since I've had overtly religious conversations with people outside of the LDS sphere. Boy, am I disappointed. I'd say that more than 75% of people claiming to be Christian know and care less about how Jesus actually is than your average atheist. Instead, they are like pull-string talking dolls with the same 3-4 brainless slogans, depending on their sect. These are not sincere people; these are not people who think and feel according to the light they have. Meanwhile, it's not hard to find someone who, in spite of claiming that they don't believe in God or aren't sure if he exists, actually live life at least quasi-intentionally. The way must be cleared, and it will be, as greater challenges are continuously poured out to reveal the limits of what people mistake for sufficient foundations. Lord, may the dead branches be remov

I found this parable to have great worth to me.

There are all sorts of self-imposed constraints on what each person is able to receive from heaven.[1] It is much easier to receive a gospel truth from another living person than from heaven directly (though, in all cases, it must still come through God's voice to you--your conscience--or you won't/shouldn't believe it).[2] A living person can act as a living seer stone [3] up to the degree to which they have the spirit of God and are free from constraints, but what you receive directly from heaven will be limited to your understanding, sacrifice, faith, trust in God, and so on.[4] If you find someone with greater understanding, sacrifice, faith, trust in God, and so on,[5] you have found a "window of heaven" larger than your own.[6] The spirit will not fight against you to force you to receive revelation beyond your worthiness, but another person can, up to the limits of their love for you.[7] [1] 12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear the