But I want to get married!

This is a conversation that Willem and I had today:

Me: Willem, we need to go visit the temple sometime soon.

Willem: We go to the temple with Julia?

Me: You still want to marry Julia in the temple?

Willem: Yup.

Me: Do you know how long it will be until you can get married? You aren't legally old enough to get married. As Latter-day Saints, we believe that we are subject to the laws of the land and we uphold and obey them. That means you can't get married until you are 18, or 16 if you have our permission as your parents.

Willem: But I want to get married! (and cries a little)

This is a continuation of a conversation that Willem and I started a few months ago when I told him that his daddy and I were married in the temple. He said that he wanted to get married in the temple too. When I asked him who he named a little boy who lived next door first. When I said that we believe that marriage is between a man and a woman and that he would have to think of a girl to marry, he picked a friends' little girl: Julia. He apparently remembers that's who he wants to marry.

Wise Stewards over the Earth

I have been searching out the scriptural principles of responsibility towards the earth and how to sustain optimal health. I have found that the scriptures--some included below (at least in my estimation of things) coincide with the following "secular" works. I have begun to subscribe to many of these practices as best as I am able. Often its not very much, but I feel that I benefit from the awareness.

Books:
Food Matters: A guide to conscious eating by Mark Bittman
The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan
Having Faith: An Ecologists Guide to Motherhood
The Body Toxic

Practices:
cloth diapering
sustainable food, body care products, household items, clothing, toys
avoiding dangerous chemicals, poisons, environmental contaminants


D&C 104: 13-15, 17
3 For it is expedient that I, the Lord, should make every man accountable, as a steward over earthly blessings, which I have made and prepared for my creatures.
14 I, the Lord, stretched out the heavens, and built the earth, my very handiwork; and all things therein are mine.
15 And it is my purpose to provide for my saints, for all things are mine.
17 For the earth is full, and there is enough and to spare; yea, I prepared all things, and have given unto the children of men to be agents unto themselves.

D&C 59: 16-20
16 Verily I say, that inasmuch as ye do this, the fulness of the earth is yours, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and that which climbeth upon the trees and walketh upon the earth;
17 Yea, and the herb, and the good things which come of the earth, whether for food or for raiment, or for houses, or for barns, or for orchards, or for gardens, or for vineyards;
18 Yea, all things which come of the earth, in the season thereof, are made for the benefit and the use of man, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart
19 Yea, for food and for raiment, for taste and for smell, to strengthen the body and to enliven the soul.
20 And it pleaseth God that he hath given all these things unto man; for unto this end were they made to be used, with judgment, not to excess, neither by extortion.

D&C 89: 10-16
10 And again, verily I say unto you, all wholesome herbs God hath ordained for the constitution, nature, and use of man—
11 Every herb in the season thereof, and every fruit in the season thereof; all these to be used with aprudence and bthanksgiving.
12 Yea, flesh also of beasts and of the fowls of the air, I, the Lord, have ordained for the use of man with thanksgiving; nevertheless they are to be used sparingly;
13 And it is pleasing unto me that they should not be aused, only in times of winter, or of cold, or bfamine.
14 All grain is ordained for the use of man and of beasts, to be the staff of life, not only for man but for the beasts of the field, and the fowls of heaven, and all wild animals that run or creep on the earth;
15 And these hath God made for the use of man only in times of famine and excess of hunger.
16 All grain is good for the food of man; as also the fruit of the vine; that which yieldeth fruit, whether in the ground or above the ground—

Daniel 1:11-17
11 Then said Daniel to Melzar, whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,
12 Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse (IE foods made of seeds, grains, etc.) to eat, and water to drink.
13 Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king’s meat: and as thou seest, deal with thy servants.
14 So he consented to them in this matter, and proved them ten days.
15 And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king’s meat.
16 Thus Melzar took away the portion of their meat, and the wine that they should drink; and gave them pulse.
17 As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.

2 Samuel 17:27-29
27 And it came to pass, when David was come to Mahanaim, that Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammiel of Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim,
28 Brought beds, and basons, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and parched corn, and beans, and lentiles, and parched pulse,
29 And honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of kine, for David, and for the people that were with him, to eat: for they said, The people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness.

D&C 93:35
35 The elements are the tabernacle of God; yea, man is the tabernacle of God, even temples; and whatsoever temple is defiled, God shall destroy that temple

1 Cor. 6: 19
19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

Blessings of
D&C 89: 18-21
18 And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones;
19 And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures;
20 And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint.
21 And I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the destroying angel shall pass by them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them. Amen.

Coincidence?

I'm working on two projects right now: a letter writing campaign to the Presidential Advisor on Violence Against Women (an office of the Department of Justice) describing the violations of civil rights and federal law that frequently occur to women during the births of their children and applying to a PhD program for next year.

I have felt led to do both of these and so have continued in the faith that it was the right thing to do. I have also been seeking confirmation along the way. This is how I have received confirmation for both activities. Its either confirmation or coincidence.

The Visiting Teaching Lesson in the Ensign this month is "Seek Education and Lifelong Learning." Interesting that this topic would be published in the Church magazine and I would read it just after the decision to apply for continued education was made.

The Sunday School less this week D&C:124 where the Prophet Joseph Smith is counseled by the Lord to petition the President of the United States regarding the injustices occurring to the early Latter-day Saints in frontier Missouri and Illinois (during the 1840's). Isn't that an interesting parallel to the letter that I am writing as part of my non-profit?

Could this be coincidence? Sure, it could be. Or one could take into account the belief that "all things are spiritual unto the Lord."

Can Latter-day Saints believe in evolution?

My short answer is yes.

Hugh Nibley lends support:

"It takes us back to the earliest drama of Adam and the animals. He lives with them on intimate terms. He must have because he called them all by name, and they were all around him in overwhelming force. He was living in another world then, and we don't know how long it lasted since "as yet the Gods had not appointed unto Adam his reckoning" (Abraham 5:13). This was before he entered with Eve into the garden and the covenant of marriage. It was the earth's turn to bring forth new types of "beasts after their kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after its kind; and the Gods saw they would obey" (Abraham 4:25). Again the moment of testing; it is as if new ideas were being tried out in the new world."

--source: http://mi.byu.edu/publications/transcripts/?id=72&cat_id=266 from the Neal A Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

The length of time to create the animals of the earth could be (and based on the preponderance of evidence indicating evolution of species has taken place) long enough for animals to evolution and adapt based on natural processes. If one were to recall the commonly stated belief that extinct animals were "God's mistakes," it would be easy to reframe a mistake as a "test;" as species developed, adapted and changed to suit their environments, and as the earth itself changed over the course of time. Quite possibly the millions of years needed for those natural processes to occur. We can remember that God's time is not man's time--"in their times and in their seasons, in their minutes, in their hours, in their days, in their weeks, in their months, in their years—all these are one year with God, but not with man" (D&C 88:44).

I have in the past read other works that also lend credence to the idea that the periods of the creation allowed enough time--millions of years--before man came onto the world scene. The scriptures refer to each "day" of creation but the same could be understood as "creative periods." If I come across more evidence of this, I will edit and repost.

Study Notes- Covenants

I have thrown myself back into a study of the gospel. I'm now turning my studies into topical research that I hope will illuminate my study of the scriptures so when I go back to read them, I can have an increased understanding from a more scholarly point of view. Its an experiment on my part to see if I can be more engaged in spiritual study.

My newest resource is a dosier of documents compiled by my husband's mission president. I have begun reading through it and find that I want an electronic place to keep notes, especially lists of references of which I would like to obtain and read more.

In an article about covenants and their place in religion throughout history, I want to read the books: Temple and Cosmos by Hugh Nibley, Sinai and Zion by Jon Levenson and The Sacred and Profane by Mircea Eliade. Of course they are not available through my local library system. Maybe I will have to get over my desire to be cheap and actually invest money and not just time to my studies...

I will tag this and other posts about my notes as "notes" and maybe keep track of them that way.

Stumbling into an answer to prayer

A pondering of mine from the last few months is on the topic of social programs offered by the LDS Church. My scholastic and religious education and work experience have instilled in me a belief in social programs. Growing up outside of the LDS Church, I was very familiar with churches which offered social services to their communities. I speculate that one of the reasons for these services was to attract people to learn about and hopefully become members of their churches.

In my home stake, I saw a similar program instituted: the Tell Me About Your Family Program that was piloted in Northern California. It was a service that was offered to all members of the community. People would fill out a card with birth and death date information for their parents and grandparents and LDS volunteers and family history researchers would compile whatever genealogical information they could find for that individual in a span of 6 hours.

While a Marriage, Family and Human Development Major at BYU, I was a research assistant for the National Healthy Marriage Resource Center. BYU was one of the grantee institutions for the center and it was our job to synthesize academic research regarding marriage and family functioning into easy to read briefs which were then posted onto the resource center website as a public service.

My first "real" job out of college was working for a non-profit where my grant required me to provide workshops and trainings to child care providers in my community in an attempt to improve care and early learning experiences and promote school readiness for young children.

In my graduate studies, I learned about the many (surprisingly many!) publicly funded social services programs that can be found in communities around the country. I was most familiar with those funded by the Healthy Marriage Initiative which granted churches, community based organizations, and schools money to provide marriage education and promotion services to communities.

My thoughts of course immediately turned to the LDS church. Couldn't a stake or ward seek after a grant (or use tithing money) to provide marriage and family life education programs to community members? The LDS Church already teaches the Marriage and Family Relations Class to members of the church during Sunday School. But I was thinking of adapting that curriculum to teach it to non-members of the church. The LDS beliefs and teaching about marriage, parenting and families would be incorporated into that so non-members would have the opportunity to learn about LDS doctrines. It could be used as a missionary tool.

I have wondered why the church doesn't engage in this sort of activity. Has it been because no one has tried? Is it because it wouldn't be approved? So far, I've just complained about what I perceive of as a lack and felt discouraged by any (very weak) attempts I've made to inquire about the possibility of it.

Then one night last week, I ran into something that addressed some of my questions. If I had sought out the answers on my own, I wouldn't have come across this document because the search terms I would have thought of and used wouldn't have brought it up. I was actually searching for church published material on spanking in my gospel study of parenting practices. What I found was this article: I Have A Question Sep. 1982.

I love how the article basically says in response to the question, "Why doesn’t the Church launch campaigns to end world hunger and ease the sufferings of the needy?" We do. And you should. And the gospel has the power to solve every social ill. So people should join the church and much suffering will be relieved.

I find encouraging the application of the scripture: "be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness” (D&C 58:27). When discussing this idea with my Relief Society president, I was counseled to do this outside of my membership of the church and as a community member, that it was not within the role of the local church unit to forge relationships with other entities to provide services of any sort (outside the humanitarian efforts). In my personal life, I have been deeply involved with a couple of volunteer organizations so I feel that I'm doing as she counseled, but I have felt a draw (I don't know by which spirit) to engage the church and my ward in something that provides a service and attracts people to the church.

So finding that article was an answer to prayer that I didn't expect to find and wasn't looking for at the time, but it has spoken to some of my feelings and thoughts of the last few months. As I have continued to ponder, I have more to pray over; particularly how I can be involved in services that would help strengthen families and communities by putting my education and training to use; and whether it is through involvement with the church or professionally.

Celebrating the Birth, Life, Death and Resurrection of Christ

Historical accounts widely accept that it is very unlikely that Christ was born on December 25. There is much discussion and writings into why this is, which I'm not going to include here. At this point, I'm relying on teachings that I have learned aurally in the past.

From what I was taught, Christmas was placed on December 25 in an attempt by the leaders of the early Christian religion to eclipse the pagan holiday celebrations of the Winter Solstice. This is evidenced by the many pagan traditions that have become part of the Christian celebration of the holiday. But when scholars have looked to corroborate the date of Christ's birth, they find that it was randomly placed there. Historical records from the time point to other times of the year. The one that I have learned about with most certainty would be in early Spring time as it coincides with the time of year when Galilee was taxed (remember that the reason why Mary and Joseph were traveling was because law decreed that they must go and be taxed). Also from what I've learned, the solar eclipse that was reported around the time of his birth occurred in Spring rather than midwinter.

Most modern Christian churches recognize that Christmas is not truly Christ's birthday, and continue to believe that they cannot know the true date of his birth without it being revealed by God, which in their belief will not occur until after death and being reunited with God. I have heard my Protestant Christian friends say its one of their questions on their list to ask God when they get there--meaning to his presence. Contrast that belief to teachings of the LDS Church which teach that the answer to that unknowable question has been revealed through revelation to modern-day prophets.

The scriptural citation to evidence the actual day of Christ's birthday can be found in Doctrine and Covenants 20:1

THE rise of the Church of Christ in these last days, being one thousand eight hundred and thirty years since the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the flesh, it being regularly organized and established agreeable to the laws of our country, by the will and commandments of God, in the fourth month, and on the sixth day of the month which is called April—

That verse teaches that the LDS Church was officially organized on April 6, 1830 and that day happened to correspond to the birth of Jesus Christ. Later a prophet of the early restored church stated:

"As to the season of the year in which Christ was born, there is among the learned as great a diversity of opinion as that relating to the year itself. It is claimed by many Biblical scholars that December 25th, the day celebrated in Christendom as Christmas, cannot be the correct date. We believe April 6th to be the birthday of Jesus Christ as indicated in a revelation of the present dispensation already cited in which that day is made without qualification the completion of the one thousand eight hundred and thirtieth year since the coming of the Lord in the flesh. This acceptance is admittedly based on faith in modern revelation, and in no wise is set forth as the result of chronological research or analysis. We believe that Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem of Judea, April 6, 1 B.C." 7 Online source

Even though this is believed to be true by LDS people, that date offers some inconveniences for celebrations. It is the day of the organization of the Church, every few years coincides with the semiannual General Conference of the church, sometimes Easter or the celebrations of his death and resurrection. Its certainly easier to celebrate his birth on a different day than the "true" one. And while LDS people strive to be a "peculiar people" they don't aim to be so peculiar as to move their Christmas celebrations to April.

Except maybe me.

I'm still undecided but I feel very odd celebrating Christmas in December knowing all the pagentry is a sham. The intent and heartfelt devotion may be genuine so much to the point that it doesn't matter when the holiday is celebrated, but I find it feels hallow to me.

This year on April 6, my two year old heard me mention to my husband that day was Jesus's birthday. The toddler's next request was to watch a video of Jesus. That was the first time he had requested that, but he knows all about watching videos of cars and animals, so why not about Jesus? Thankfully we did have videos produced by the Church in our video library. The one I could find easiest was called The Nativity which depicts the events surrounding Christ's birth. I was very excited to be able to share the story of Christ's birth with my young child on Christ's birthday.

That is how we celebrated April 6 this year, and maybe it will be a family tradition. I think that I would certainly like it.