"God came to Abimelech in a dream by night" parallels "the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night."
Abimelech's dream, like Solomon's two dreams, are visitations of the Lord. The dreams are straightforward with no symbolic elements reported. The Lord speaks in his own voice. The dreamer is able to respond as his own true self. The information imparted, the promises made, the warnings given are direct and reliable - as they would be spoken by the Lord himself. The dreamer is able to speak and choose as himself.
We will call this kind of dream Type 1.
Monday, May 30, 2016
Saturday, May 28, 2016
TG Mortality 14 - Romans 6:12
Chapters 6 and 7 in Romans spell out a good deal about our mortal condition. To fully understand this odd place it is useful to look forward to a chapter we will not reach for some time: 2 Nephi 2. There we are told how the Lord carefully balanced the forces of opposition - grace and sin, the atonement and the fall, the law and temptation - to give us freedom. Within that context, Paul tells us how that drama of agency plays out.
First of all, it is not simply a situation of being enabled to make a straightforward choice between good and evil. Our fallen natures complicate that choice immensely - "the good that I would I do not: but the evil that I would not, that I do" (7:14-24). The choice isn't so much between good and evil as it is between sin and grace. Our way out isn't so much to try to strengthen by our own exertions the good side of our warring nature, but to accept the atonement "through Jesus Christ our Lord" who can "deliver me from the body of this death" which I, strive though I might, cannot do.
Within THAT context, we have an ongoing daily choice between Grace and Sin (Chapter 6).
On the one hand we can
"continue in sin" (v. 1)
"live therein" (v. 2)
"serve sin" (v. 6)
"let sin reign in our mortal body" (v. 12)
"obey it in the lusts thereof" (v. 12)
"yield our members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin" (v. 13)
"yield our members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity" (v. 19)
On the other hand we can
be "dead to sin" (v. 2)
"walk in newness of life" (v. 4)
"reckon ourselves to be dead unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (v. 11)
(this one is done by dwelling on the significance of the symbol of the ordinance of baptism)
"yield ourselves unto God and our members as instruments of righteousness unto God" (v. 13)
"obey doctrine from the heart" (v. 17)
"be made free from sin" (v. 18)
" become a servant of righteousness" (v. 18)
"yield our members servants to righteousness unto holiness" (v. 19)
In both cases it is a matter of surrender. As Bob Dylan once sang, "everybody's gotta serve someone." We yield our body to be used by God or to be used by sin. One or the other will have Dominion over us (v. 14). "Know ye not that to who ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness" (v. 16).
No matter what some of our Protestant brethren say, you can't come to know Christ once, and then be automatically delivered for eternity from sin. Coming unto Christ opens a door through which daily grace can enable us to choose to yield ourselves to God and become obedient through the power of the atonement. After that door is opened we can still (Paul warns us) choose in our daily walk to yield ourselves to sin and be not deceived, if we continue on that road (he warns) , the wages of sin ARE death (v. 16, 23).
First of all, it is not simply a situation of being enabled to make a straightforward choice between good and evil. Our fallen natures complicate that choice immensely - "the good that I would I do not: but the evil that I would not, that I do" (7:14-24). The choice isn't so much between good and evil as it is between sin and grace. Our way out isn't so much to try to strengthen by our own exertions the good side of our warring nature, but to accept the atonement "through Jesus Christ our Lord" who can "deliver me from the body of this death" which I, strive though I might, cannot do.
Within THAT context, we have an ongoing daily choice between Grace and Sin (Chapter 6).
On the one hand we can
"continue in sin" (v. 1)
"live therein" (v. 2)
"serve sin" (v. 6)
"let sin reign in our mortal body" (v. 12)
"obey it in the lusts thereof" (v. 12)
"yield our members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin" (v. 13)
"yield our members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity" (v. 19)
On the other hand we can
be "dead to sin" (v. 2)
"walk in newness of life" (v. 4)
"reckon ourselves to be dead unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (v. 11)
(this one is done by dwelling on the significance of the symbol of the ordinance of baptism)
"yield ourselves unto God and our members as instruments of righteousness unto God" (v. 13)
"obey doctrine from the heart" (v. 17)
"be made free from sin" (v. 18)
" become a servant of righteousness" (v. 18)
"yield our members servants to righteousness unto holiness" (v. 19)
In both cases it is a matter of surrender. As Bob Dylan once sang, "everybody's gotta serve someone." We yield our body to be used by God or to be used by sin. One or the other will have Dominion over us (v. 14). "Know ye not that to who ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness" (v. 16).
No matter what some of our Protestant brethren say, you can't come to know Christ once, and then be automatically delivered for eternity from sin. Coming unto Christ opens a door through which daily grace can enable us to choose to yield ourselves to God and become obedient through the power of the atonement. After that door is opened we can still (Paul warns us) choose in our daily walk to yield ourselves to sin and be not deceived, if we continue on that road (he warns) , the wages of sin ARE death (v. 16, 23).
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
Wisdom - First Synthesis
We've followed all of the scriptural references available in the LDS version of the Bible for our first "Wisdom" passage from the Syntopicon (1 Kings 3:5-14). From here we will take advantage of the footnoted subjects from the Topical Guide. Over the next months we will be looking at Dreams; Understanding; Heart; Spiritual Discernment; and Divine Guidance - all of which promise to shed some very interesting side lights on Wisdom.
Before we take our long detour, however, I want to take some time to look over and summarize what I have learned so far.
First, the foundation of wisdom is humility - a sense of one's own lack, an recognition of one's dependence on God, and an acknowledgement of the need to walk with God, in the path God has laid out. Both Solomon's archetypal gift of wisdom and the wisdom Joseph Smith received as he began the Restoration of the gospel were rooted in a deep recognition on the part of the recipient - "I am but a little child," "how to act I did not know, and unless I could get more wisdom than I then had, I would never know." Whatever our circumstances, the responsibilities and opportunities available to us in which we might do good or evil, influence and affect others are so much beyond our natural abilities and vision that we all, whether we can see it or not, need the gift of wisdom. The first step in wisdom is to be able to see that.
Second, wisdom must be desired. It comes to those who seek God to obtain it. Both Joseph and Solomon verbally sought the gift from the Lord as a result of a deep inner desire to obtain it. "if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God" (James 1:5).
Third, the desire for wisdom has a series of potential competitors in the heart of man. Selfish desires for riches, fame and recognition, power, pleasure and the wants of the flesh can all put the heart of a man in a position where it is not prepared to receive the gift of wisdom. There can only be one ruling passion in the heart, and it subordinates all others. The Lord gave Solomon only one request at Gibeon. He had to decide what one thing to ask for and had to put all other possibilities aside. Joseph's search for wisdom began to consume his mind and energy - a search marked by "serious reflection and great uneasiness... deep and often poignant feelings." His "mind at times was deeply excited." He "often" rolled his doubts and questions around in his mind, which labored "under extreme difficulties." When he encountered the promise in the epistle of James he "reflected on it again and again."
Those who find themselves hijacked by the search for riches are especially singled out in scripture as being on a path that is in opposition to wisdom (as well as to salvation). "Seek not for riches but for wisdom." Like Solomon, we have to choose between them.
Fourth, wisdom includes the following components
Seventh, a key component of maintaining the integrity of our relationship to God is again, Humility. We often begin to seek wisdom at moments of being "compelled to be humble." As we gain wisdom it is possible to lose sight of that deep need. As the Lord responds to our humility and repentance with grace and blessings we have a tendency to lose our willingness to submit ourselves to his direction and guidance. We no longer desire that God rule us or guide us. It is not easy to "always retain in remembrance...your own nothingness" to continually "humble yourselves in the depths of humility" (Mosiah 4:12), and continue to remember in the times when we are not in trouble that we are still comparatively "wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked" before God (Revelation 3:17). Here, Jesus set the ultimate example, submitting his own will and judgment to the Father's in all things.
Eighth, wisdom in its widest and deepest sense includes being wise in our use of our mortality - the sense that Jacob invoked in his exhortation "O be wise; what can I say more." Here wisdom involves not wasting the day of our probation, not resisting the spirit's enticements, not rebelling against God. Instead it is wisdom to become as a little child - to have a broken heart and a contrite spirit, to repent, come unto Christ, and take advantage of the atonement, enter in by the gate and continue on the straight and narrow way by cleaving unto God.
Ninth, wisdom (especially viewed in this widest and deepest sense) seems to bring with it a train of blessings - physical needs met in abundance, a "larger heart" - the increase of sympathy and understanding, and peace.
Before we take our long detour, however, I want to take some time to look over and summarize what I have learned so far.
First, the foundation of wisdom is humility - a sense of one's own lack, an recognition of one's dependence on God, and an acknowledgement of the need to walk with God, in the path God has laid out. Both Solomon's archetypal gift of wisdom and the wisdom Joseph Smith received as he began the Restoration of the gospel were rooted in a deep recognition on the part of the recipient - "I am but a little child," "how to act I did not know, and unless I could get more wisdom than I then had, I would never know." Whatever our circumstances, the responsibilities and opportunities available to us in which we might do good or evil, influence and affect others are so much beyond our natural abilities and vision that we all, whether we can see it or not, need the gift of wisdom. The first step in wisdom is to be able to see that.
Second, wisdom must be desired. It comes to those who seek God to obtain it. Both Joseph and Solomon verbally sought the gift from the Lord as a result of a deep inner desire to obtain it. "if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God" (James 1:5).
Third, the desire for wisdom has a series of potential competitors in the heart of man. Selfish desires for riches, fame and recognition, power, pleasure and the wants of the flesh can all put the heart of a man in a position where it is not prepared to receive the gift of wisdom. There can only be one ruling passion in the heart, and it subordinates all others. The Lord gave Solomon only one request at Gibeon. He had to decide what one thing to ask for and had to put all other possibilities aside. Joseph's search for wisdom began to consume his mind and energy - a search marked by "serious reflection and great uneasiness... deep and often poignant feelings." His "mind at times was deeply excited." He "often" rolled his doubts and questions around in his mind, which labored "under extreme difficulties." When he encountered the promise in the epistle of James he "reflected on it again and again."
Those who find themselves hijacked by the search for riches are especially singled out in scripture as being on a path that is in opposition to wisdom (as well as to salvation). "Seek not for riches but for wisdom." Like Solomon, we have to choose between them.
Fourth, wisdom includes the following components
- an understanding heart - there are two phrases in Hebrew translated thus: first, a heart that listens; second, a heart that discerns.
- the ability to discern between good and evil
- the ability to judge and decide in those areas and for those people over which we are responsible - the ability to "discern judgment."
- it includes the ability to gain knowledge that accumulates over time
- to walk before God in integrity and uprightness
- obey God's personal commandments to him; to "follow" him
- keeping Gods statutes and judgments
- not to go after other Gods to follow or worship them
Seventh, a key component of maintaining the integrity of our relationship to God is again, Humility. We often begin to seek wisdom at moments of being "compelled to be humble." As we gain wisdom it is possible to lose sight of that deep need. As the Lord responds to our humility and repentance with grace and blessings we have a tendency to lose our willingness to submit ourselves to his direction and guidance. We no longer desire that God rule us or guide us. It is not easy to "always retain in remembrance...your own nothingness" to continually "humble yourselves in the depths of humility" (Mosiah 4:12), and continue to remember in the times when we are not in trouble that we are still comparatively "wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked" before God (Revelation 3:17). Here, Jesus set the ultimate example, submitting his own will and judgment to the Father's in all things.
Eighth, wisdom in its widest and deepest sense includes being wise in our use of our mortality - the sense that Jacob invoked in his exhortation "O be wise; what can I say more." Here wisdom involves not wasting the day of our probation, not resisting the spirit's enticements, not rebelling against God. Instead it is wisdom to become as a little child - to have a broken heart and a contrite spirit, to repent, come unto Christ, and take advantage of the atonement, enter in by the gate and continue on the straight and narrow way by cleaving unto God.
Ninth, wisdom (especially viewed in this widest and deepest sense) seems to bring with it a train of blessings - physical needs met in abundance, a "larger heart" - the increase of sympathy and understanding, and peace.
Tuesday, April 19, 2016
TG Mortality 13 - Luke 9:56
A stunning story of the Savior's attitude towards life is found in the 9th chapter of the Gospel of Luke:
51 And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,
52 And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him.
53 And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem.
54 And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?
55 But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.
56 For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.
In the apostle's defense, they had recently seen Jesus transfigured in the presence of Elijah and Moses and had heard the Father's audible voice from heaven testifying to his divine sonship. Surely, one greater than Elijah had come among them, and the penalty for rejecting such a one must be great! But Jesus was on a mission of life, not of death.
51 And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,
52 And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him.
53 And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem.
54 And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?
55 But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.
56 For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.
In the apostle's defense, they had recently seen Jesus transfigured in the presence of Elijah and Moses and had heard the Father's audible voice from heaven testifying to his divine sonship. Surely, one greater than Elijah had come among them, and the penalty for rejecting such a one must be great! But Jesus was on a mission of life, not of death.
Saturday, April 16, 2016
WISDOM 28 - Matthew 6:33
Our final cross reference from our initial passage about wisdom in 1 Kings 3 takes us to the Sermon on the Mount.
24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little bfaith?
31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
The passage is given to those who are about to be sent out two by two to take the good news to the scattered cities and villages of Israel, but its echoes and resonances reach into every corner of the Christian life. Who is your master? Who do you trust? Who do you seek for first? Where is your faith? The wisdom that seeks the Kingdom of God first stands in stark contrast here to a more worldly wisdom that puts physical needs before spiritual needs, that is wrapped up first in needs and then in luxuries.
24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little bfaith?
31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
The passage is given to those who are about to be sent out two by two to take the good news to the scattered cities and villages of Israel, but its echoes and resonances reach into every corner of the Christian life. Who is your master? Who do you trust? Who do you seek for first? Where is your faith? The wisdom that seeks the Kingdom of God first stands in stark contrast here to a more worldly wisdom that puts physical needs before spiritual needs, that is wrapped up first in needs and then in luxuries.
Wednesday, April 6, 2016
TG Mortality 12 - 1 Peter 1:24
18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
21 Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.
22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
25 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
Peter's gloss on Isaiah 40:6, like that of James, focuses not only on the comparison between man's brief earthly glory and God's eternal glory, but also on the contrast between that part of man that identifies with earthly glory (the "corruptible seed" in us) and that part which actually has a share in God's eternal glory. The "incorruptible seed" of the word of God is sowed and grows in us not to wither and watch its flowers fall away, but to endure forever. The flowering of that seed is to "believe in God," to have "faith and hope...in God," to see our souls "purified...in obeying the truth through the spirit," to possess "unfeigned love" and "pure hearts."
19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
21 Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.
22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
25 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
Peter's gloss on Isaiah 40:6, like that of James, focuses not only on the comparison between man's brief earthly glory and God's eternal glory, but also on the contrast between that part of man that identifies with earthly glory (the "corruptible seed" in us) and that part which actually has a share in God's eternal glory. The "incorruptible seed" of the word of God is sowed and grows in us not to wither and watch its flowers fall away, but to endure forever. The flowering of that seed is to "believe in God," to have "faith and hope...in God," to see our souls "purified...in obeying the truth through the spirit," to possess "unfeigned love" and "pure hearts."
Friday, April 1, 2016
WISDOM 27 - I Kings 10:23-25
23 So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom.
24 And all the earth sought to Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.
25 And they brought every man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and garments, and armour, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year.
We now move to the first of two references on a footnote on 1 Kings 3:13, keyed on the word "riches." The implication of this passage is that a significant portion of Solomon's wealth came as gifts. People from distant lands who wanted "to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart" and they brought gifts with them.
Are there echoes here of the Savior's admonition to "consider the lilies of the field" and trust him to meet our needs? It ought to be said that in both the Savior's speech on the Sermon on the Mount and Solomon's situation there is a great deal of context behind the seemingly simple proposition.
24 And all the earth sought to Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.
25 And they brought every man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and garments, and armour, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year.
We now move to the first of two references on a footnote on 1 Kings 3:13, keyed on the word "riches." The implication of this passage is that a significant portion of Solomon's wealth came as gifts. People from distant lands who wanted "to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart" and they brought gifts with them.
Are there echoes here of the Savior's admonition to "consider the lilies of the field" and trust him to meet our needs? It ought to be said that in both the Savior's speech on the Sermon on the Mount and Solomon's situation there is a great deal of context behind the seemingly simple proposition.
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