Book Review: FOCUSED

This is a perfect book. 

It's a short, simple, heartfelt autobiography of a women overcoming tragedy and defeat.  It is the story of Noelle Pikus Pace; and Olympic athlete who was #1 in the world until her leg was broken by a 1,400 pound runaway bobsled going 60 mph.

This is a story about family and faith.  Noelle tells us what it was like to have her career derailed. How she struggled to get back to the top, only to finish one tenth of a second too slow to get the bronze medal. 

She tells of the heartache of being away from her husband and children.  Her lack of focus and scattered goals while meandering through years of Olympic training.

Then her decision to take her family with her for the rest of her training.  Her realization that in order to be the athlete she wanted to be, she also needed to be the wife and mother she wanted to be.  As her focus became clear and she chose family and God, AND Skeleton racing - she was able to live the life she wanted.

She realized that she didn't need to focus on other racers, or be competitive AGAINST them.  She could be a competitive athlete, by becoming the best version of herself.

As she says in the book:
"Be fearless and love yourself for who you are and what you can offer. Share your talents, whatever they may be, with those around you. Be humble when you recognize you have a gift, and continue to develop it. Help and encourage others as they try new things and develop their talents. Don’t be afraid for them to succeed. Their success cannot diminish your talents unless you allow it to. Compliment yourself when you do something praiseworthy. Compliment others as well. Be honest with yourself about your weaknesses, and strive to make them stronger. Don’t strengthen your weakness in order to beat someone else, but strengthen them to become the best version of yourself. Finally, and most important, dare to be you!"

The Scientific Process IS the Revelation Process

This week I got to hear a Pharmacist speak about how great science is, and how it's always wrong.  Sometimes it's completely wrong, and sometimes it just needs to be tweaked.  It moves us in the right direction.  But usually we find out that we knew a little - and assumed a lot.

We make theories, we test them, we analyze results, we make new theories.  Every once in a while a breakthrough is made.  We find something out that we'd never thought of before.

For example - We went from seeing the atom as a random mixture of particles, to realizing it was a condensed mass of positively charged particles in the middle, surrounded by negatively charged particles circling around it.  Later we found particles with no charge were also in the middle.

Then we found that electrons can be transferred.  We found that neutrons can be added to change the weight of elements.  We found that the number of protons determined what element an atom was.

We discovered the element Helium not by finding it, but deducing it from the Sun.
We found a way of releasing energy through nuclear reactions.

These particles only scratched the surface. 


Will cold fusion ever work? How about string theory? What do we know about quarks?
What about gravity?  We still don't know what CAUSES gravity.  We know large objects attract smaller objects.  But it isn't by mechanical force, or magnetic force, or electrical force.  It's by some gravitational pull that we all see and recognize and can describe, yet we have no idea what it really is.

Religion, Revelation, Prophets, Faith - it all works the same way.
The Scientific Process is much the same as the Revelation Process.

I believe all God has revealed, all that he now reveals, and I believe he is yet to reveal many things.

People seem to have this belief that God just gave us knowledge. *poof*  It just descended upon the people and prophets like dew in the morning, and after 4000 years of progressively teaching and revealing, It all stopped.

God said, "No more. Good Luck. Do with what you have. Oh, and pray all you like, there is nothing new to discover."

How does that make sense?

How did Moses get the 10 Commandments?  Did he just sit on his throne next to his adopted brother Ramesses until God dropped the stone tablets at his feet?  No!  God first gave him a wake-up call.  Then Moses worked for them.  He worked to gain knowledge.  He practiced using God's power.  He practiced talking to God.  He practiced getting revelation.  He prayed, he worked, he thought, he taught.  Eventually when he received stone tablets with laws and revelations that would help a people ready for them - the people weren't.  So Moses broke those tablets and asked God for something the people could handle.  They were the 10 commandments.  They were a great "discovery."  They would advance mankind and be a guiding map for centuries to come.  They are still recited, read, and used today.

Were they the end all, beat all, immutable law?  No.  They were a step.  They were the simpler law, the one the people were ready for then.  God had something better in store, but it would have been like giving electricity to cavemen - they'd have no idea what to do with hit.  So then Christ came and explained - There is much more.  There is more to being morally clean than just "not having sex with a married person."  There is more to brotherly love than just "not killing other people."

The scientific process is usually not about seeking better answers, but asking better questions.

Joseph Smith never planned on starting a new religion.  He didn't pray to ask how he could change the Methodist church or reform the Presbyterians.  He asked God which church was right.  He asked a new question, a better question.  God then told him  -None of them are right.  They all come close, but none are correct. -  Over the next 15 years Joseph kept praying, kept studying, learning, reading.  He worked on projects to learn how to receive revelation.  He translated an ancient book of scripture into English.  He read the Bible over and over again.  He pondered about passages that didn't seem to make sense.

1. Why does 1st Corinthians 15:29 talk about baptisms for the dead?
2. Why does 2nd Corinthians 12:1-4 talk about a third heaven?  How many heavens are there?
3. Why does Jeremiah 1:4–5 talk about God knowing us before we were born?  Did we exist before birth?
4. Why does 1st Peter 4:6 talk about preaching the Gospel to those who are dead?  Can we still learn and progress and be converted after death?

To find better answers, we have to ask better questions.  Joseph Smith was not the first nor the last to ask better questions.  We can all ask them.  There are so many things we don't understand.

Look at the world around us.  Could you explain to someone who lived just 100 years ago how cell-phones work?  How about the internet, microwaves, atomic energy, space travel?

The key to spiritual knowledge and revelation is much the same as the key to physical and scientific knowledge.

Will Power or Willingness Power?

I read a lot about addictions, go to a lot of 12 step meetings, and treat a lot of addicts.

I am finding that it really isn't about will power.  As I read the Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book I found this:

"The fact is that most alcoholics, for reasons yet obscure, have lost the power of choice in drink. Our so-called will power becomes practically nonexistent. We are unable, at certain times, to bring into our consciousness with sufficient force the memory of the suffering and humiliation of even a week or a month ago. We are without defense against the first drink."

I agree with that.  It doesn't excuse an addicts actions.  It doesn't relieve them of consequences, or tell others to just forgive and forget.  It simply points out the fact that it isn't about will power.

Then the AA book says this about a man who decided he was willing to try the 12 steps:

"The moment I made up my mind to go through with the process, I had the curious feeling that my alcoholic condition was relieved, as in fact it proved to be."

That is how life works.  That is how God intended it to be.  This is like the age old question about Faith v. Works. 

Are we saved by grace, or by our actions?  Can an addict exert enough will power to overcome his addiction?  Can a sinner work hard enough to pay for his sins and be perfect?  Should everyone stop trying because we never can do enough?

It says in Ephesians "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God"
Then it says in James 2 "faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone."

WHICH IS IT???

I think the answer to my first question and this question are the same.  It's not about Will Power.  It's about Willingness Power.

When we admit we can't do it alone, and we are willing to seek the help of God - he gives us the ability.  We must be willing to place our faith in something greater than ourselves.  We must stop relying on our personal strength and will - at which point we are given exactly that strength and will which we lacked.

It's like C.S. Lewis said:
"In one sense, the road back to God is a road of moral effort, of trying harder and harder. But in another sense it is not trying that is ever going to bring us home. All this trying leads up to the vital moment at which you turn to God and say, "You must do this. I can't.” 

After we make that admission, and really beleive it - we then work with all our heart, might, mind, and strength (which God has given us) to do what we should.  We help others and avoid those things which we know destroy our lives.

We become WILLING to stop trying on our own.  We use Willingness Power, and are then granted the Will Power we could never attain by ourselves.

We are always responsible for our actions.  There is always a choice, and we always have access to the power to choose the right- The power is often not within us, but we can accept that power from above.

Does Faith = Ignorance?

Sometimes I am treated like I must be an ignorant, uneducated moron because I believe in God, follow my religion, and try to live my life according to the teachings of God as I understand them.

I walk in very well educated circles - and sometimes people think "Once you're smart enough you don't need a belief in God anymore, you know better."  They can reason their way past a need for faith.

So I decided to do a quick check on the leaders of my church; a group of 15 men.

Is it possible they are just blind faith followers?  Are they just well intended sheep who blindly follow and do what they're told? 

Or is it possible they are well educated, intelligent men who despite (or likely because of) their education believe in God and have made him the center of their lives?

Here is what I found on a quick, cursory search:

Among the 15 men there are:

3 lawyers
1 surgeon
7 masters degrees
6 doctorate degrees including Nuclear Engineering, Business, Religion, American Studies, etc...
4 University Presidents
3 Harvard Graduates
1 Stanford Graduate 
1 Yale Graduate

These men are smarter than me - but even if they weren't, I would still follow them.

They don't need all those degrees, but it's nice to know that very VERY educated men can still humble themselves, get on their knees, and admit that they would be nothing without their creator.

Source of Information: LDS Church News