Drastic times, drastic measures.

First off I hope that everyone who could took a picture with the Book of Mormon today! I love the #discoverthebook campaign. Its awesome even if it is not officially church sponsored. I know that the Book of Mormon has changed my life in ways I will never be able to express. I owe everything to the gospel and it was through the Book of Mormon and prayer that I came to know the truth of it.

Today as I was reflecting on what I wanted to be the subject of my fast I was thinking about my week, what went good, what went bad, what I wish I could have changed, what I wish I would have done. As I thought about my week I realized just how much filth I have had to fight off this week. With many things going on constantly one has been popping up more and more. First a little backround.

I am sure that most everyone has heard of 50 Shades of Gray by now. It seems that everyone on the planet thinks that it is wonderful, or they think it is the most atrocious thing to ever happen. Though I definitely agree that it is an awful precept and it makes me sick that such a thing can be getting screen time in normal movie theatres, I do not agree that it is the first, or worst in main stream media. You know what I am talking about. How many movies have inappropriate scenes, how many magazines portray both men and women as objects of gratification, how many popular songs dont have explicit or provocative lyrics. Media is degrading at an alarming rate, and because we see so much of it, we almost don't recognize it is happening anymore.

It was while I was thinking about all of those awful things that surround us that I knew what I was going to fast about, and I knew what I had to do. I am going on a media fast. I am not going to listen to the radio, I am not going to watch tv or movies. I am going to cut these negative and degrading influences from my life entirely. This may seem rather drastic but what am I really losing here? All of these things are simply time fillers. I am taking something that provides no benefit to my life, that can weigh me down and Im eliminating it.

Personally I am tired of fighting negative influences in my life, I dont want to have to stay strong when something comes up, I dont want to search through the radio stations to try and find a song that isnt "that" bad. Those things are not worth it to me. Those things that really matter aren't going anywhere. I still have the love of my life, I have the gospel, I have work and friends and school. If you ask me, that is more than enough!

Good talks with good friends, and good revelation.

After I got home from class today, I was relaxing for a while before I got into the long hours of homework that will fill the majority of my weekend. Then I got a call from a good friend. Me and this friend often have good talks about life, the gospel, specific doctrines, and our own strengths and weaknesses. I am extremely fortunate to have such good friends in my life. Today this friend was calling with questions about doctrine. In an institute class earlier that day, they had talked about many things, from the garden of Eden, to the millenium. I have always strived to become compentent when it comes to doctrine, and though I have much to learn I feel as if I have a fairly solid understanding of the doctrine.

I am not positive that things didnt die in the garden of eden, but I think they didnt... But that isnt the main point of this post! The Millenium, and more specifically the part about Satan being bound. My friend couldn't quite understand how Satan could justly be bound. It was honestly something I have never thought of before, so like anyone who is confronted with something they dont know, I started shooting off ideas from the top of my head. Maybe it is like the pre-earth life after the war in heaven. We are preparing for the next phase of the test and it is just to not be tempted while we are learning the right? That just didnt quite sound right. It doesnt address why God could justly bind Satan, which would limit our agency.

Then the thought, The scriptures never say that Satan is bound by God, in fact when I looked the scripture up in 1 Nephi 22: 26, It says that because of the righteousness of the people, he cannot be loosed, or in other words he is bound because we wont give him any power to tempt us! Without us giving him power, he has none and can lead no one astray. It is our own personal righteousness that keeps him bound, and it isnt until the second resurrection after the millenium, when the sould of those who did not choose righteousness are resurrected as well, that he is loosed and again has power on the Earth. Whew thats a lot to take in all at once! So lets throw some more on top of it.

The Lord is bound when we fulfill our covenants.
The same acts that bind Satan out of our life, bind God into it.
Jesus Christ and God are bound to each other because they are both perfectly true to their word.
That is why the temptations of Satan had no hold on Jesus in his mortal life (he was bound out the heart of the saviour, who was bound to God.)
Pure light and pure darkness are unforgiving, and absolutes, inclusion of one requires exclusion of the other, being bound to God is by definition binding Satan out of our life.
Jesus Christ , our Heavenly Father, and the Holy Ghost are one because they are all bound to each other
As we align our will with God, we bind him, he binds us, and we all become one
We have the power to bind God, just think about that.
To ever actually bind God, the allure of that power will mean nothing to us, and in the act of becoming bound, we are literally incapable of betraying that bond, because of the power of the bond itself.

Those are just the things I have thought of in the last 15 minutes since having this conversation. This is what is so wonderful about the Gospel, With how many times I had read 1 Nephi, or thought about the millenium, I had never thought of that question. Then because I pondered the doctrine involved I have learned so many things about the nature of obedience and integrity. These are the things that keep me loving this gospel more and more each day.

 Have you learned any new doctrine today? Go and learn something new, it is only then that we can progress in our journey to become bound to our Father in Heaven, and only then that we get closer to binding Satan out of our lives.

That time I didnt waste

For those who know me well, it will not come as a surprise that I am really bad when it comes to procrastination. I have spent Years perfecting the art of doing nothing for as long as possible, then doing everything all at once. I know quite a few people do the same. I have come to realize lately that though I am still working on doing things proactivly, there is a lot of time that I have not wasted in my life.

Just this week I got a text from a good friend asking if I was busy that evening because they were going to the temple. I thought of the homework I could be doing during that time and very quickly agreed to go. I ended up leaving my last class early, but could the professor really complain, I mean I was going to the temple, whats really important here! When we got to the temple, we were told that there would be almost a two hour wait before we even got to go get our baptismal whites. I have never been in a temple for so long while not participating in ordinances, and I loved every minute of it. I could have been doing so many things during that time and I was sitting there singing hymns, but none of it mattered as much as feeling the spirit of the lord in his house.

It is easy to forget when we are living so close to a temple just how big of a blessing that really is in our lives. I remember a wonderful woman that I taught on my mission who is as strong as a convert comes. She gave everything to join the church and it broke my heart knowing that she would not be able to save up the money needed to go to the temple in Lima to get out her endowment. Luckily they announced a temple in my mission and she will get to go to that once it is finished, but I guarantee that if she lived in Provo, she would be at the temple weekly, if not more often. The longer we have been members of the church, the easier it is to take for granted the influence of the spirit in our lives. I still remember what it was like, how big of a difference it made in my life to start living the gospel. I know that those same types of feelings have always come back once I started living it again after slipping up.

If there is anything you get out of this post, let it be this. WE are NEVER too busy for the gospel, NEVER too busy to stop and appreciate the beauty of life, NEVER too busy to help a child of God in need. We are never too busy to be able to follow the example of Christ, NEVER!!!

I called my blog what???

Still converting convert in Provo, wow that's quite a mouthful. Lets break it down

Still converting: Just because I am a convert to the church in the literal sense, the process of conversion is universal and required of all, and definitely does not stop at baptism. I am still converting to the gospel every day, as are all of us. It doesnt matter to me where any one person is in regards to their personal testimony, as long as they are growing. As long as we are searching and striving to grow and better ourselves, our Father in Heaven is proud of us.

Convert: Yes I am a convert to the church, yes I think that a lot of things that are commonplace behaviours are weird. LDS people are strange! Thats just a fact. Once we all accept it we can move on with our lives. Being weird is good as long as we are weird in the right ways. Be weird in the right way people!

Finally... Im living in Provo, the most LDS, LDS city to be in. I have only been here for a month so far and I have already had tons of funny experiences. By far the most common thing I notice is the differences that happen when everyone assumes that everyone has always had the gospel. Or more likely, they do not realize in the first place that what they are saying is an incorrect assumption about those who aren't members of the church. I want to share a quick story from my past, and my mission, that exemplifies this point exactly.

When I was first attending church, I had zero interest in joining the church, learning anything about the gospel, or even whether or not God existed. Those things did not matter to me. No one could convince me to pray about the church, read scriptures, pay attention in class, etc. because those things didn't matter to me. When I was on my mission, I had an experience talking with other missionaries where they were saying that getting someone to read the scriptures is all they needed to find their testimony. In their eyes, all people are searching for God, and are willing to follow him, they just need to be exposed. As someone who grew up in Utah, without being a member of the church, I can tell you that is definitely not the case. It was not until after almost a year of going to church that I had any desire to learn if God existed. I knew all of the teachings of the church, and by the time I finally met with the missionaries, I practically taught the lessons with them.

The point of this blog is to offer a converts perspective on this crazy LDS community we all love. To help others see that they are not the same as everyone else, and that they can stand to grow from understanding the point of view of others. Hopefully I will help someone understand better the mind of someone who does not have the gospel, and how things are really taken by those outside of the church.

I love this gospel, and I am grateful for the knowledge that I have learned, and the drastic difference that the gospel has made in my life. Its impossible to describe the difference to someone who has always had it, and even harder to describe it to someone who never has. But I know of myself the power of the Gospel Alma 36:24. Just as Alma, I will strive all my days to help others receive the joy that I have received, member and non-member alike.