Noah and the Ark

There was a day in the past were my wife once made mention of a theory of multiple Arks. "After all", she said, "how else could there be so many animals in so many unique locations. Why would people be of different ethnicity across the world in different locations unless they were placed there?" Now she didn't have an explanation of Australia but she made sense. Then again Noah had no other children and if there were 4 arks (Noah and three sons) so he could have done Australia.

Noah was asked to do a hard thing. When we look at the city of Enoch and the people who left the earth leaving one man and his family behind, I am certain that there was moments where Noah was jealous of his cousin that got to take a city to heaven while he was left with the responsibility to save the world. He, who knew Christ, recognized that he was being a Messiah of the world by saving the creation of the Almighty. Noah understood the roll of the Savior when he fulfilled the roll and saved his sons and their wives. He also learned what it was like to be a Shepard of the creation of God and understood the roll that Adam of whom he had never seen.

I do not know if Noah had seen all the Earth or that the Arks were conjoined but I am certain that it was quite an adventure for such a man.

Now in Noah's moments of history he had a moment of weakness and got wasted with what the scriptures say was strong drink, got naked and who knows what he did. None the less his boys were looking out for their dad and got him to sober up and finish the task that God had asked him to do. I am certain that the roll of prophet is a tough one and that each man who as been asked to take the mantle of such a roll has had to find comfort in the Lord in one form or another. Countless stories in the scriptures show the persecution of the prophets such as Nephi and Jonah. Pore old Noah had to face the world teaching repentance while building a boat in your front yard. Now like I said if Noah made more than one boat then there would be 4 boats in his yard. Such a guy would not get much respect and perhaps would be mocked and attacked for teaching repentance. Who knows? At any rate, I wanted to honor Noah to day the earthy messiah.

The Beginning

Ok I have had some time to think this through. I originally wanted to make fun of the crazy questions that are asked but I realize that this is divine and that making fun of the holy is well asinine. So I am going to play it easy on the lesson questions but we are going to discuss the question of the creation.

First let’s look at Adam; perfect guy with everything going on for him. Except God can't be his constant companion. He has other things to do. So God in is infinite wisdom creates a woman. Some speculate that there was another woman other than Eve. Now is it true? I really don't know but the Apocrypha says that her name was Lilith. Now if she existed why is she erased from history? The rule was do not partake of the fruit and if she did then she did the same thing that Adam and Eve did. Perhaps she didn't convince Adam to split. Some play her as a seductress but apparently she could not convince Adam, she sucked? Maybe she was too carnal and sensuous and Adam could not handle it so he was glad for her exit.

Well it interesting also to note that she is not mentioned for when they left the garden. I mean, wouldn't that be brought up. They skip immediately to Cain and Able and the history continues.

Now there are, in LDS scripture, three accounts of the creation once in the Old Testament and twice in the Pear of Great Price, yet no Lilith. Now some would say to get off that woman and point out the discrepancies and inconsistencies of the scriptures but let’s give the men who under inspiration wrote the scriptures. I mean hey God could say the same story over and over but who wants to see the story printed word for word three times. I like that the Lord allowed the prophets to use their own words. I am certain that they used the stories to make their own individual points. I mean just look at the account of the Savior; four accounts and none of them match but each of them have a great account and could easily cover the three years of his ministry.

At any rate, here is the first lesson. For those that were expecting this lesson in February I apologize I will attempt to be more consistent. Next week, the Flood and why there are mosquitoes.

The new manual

This year we have acquired a new manual that veers in a different direction then that of the prophets. The book is basically back to the basics; faith, repentance, baptism and the Gift of the Holy Ghost; simple things that were taught in the missionary discussions. My wife and I read through the book and when we read the questions we came across questions that my favorite LDS author once called questions that should be answered with an answer that throws off the teacher. For example:

Did Lehi love his family?

No, he wanted them to starve!

Really is that the question? Come on, now that was one of the most asinine questions I have heard in a while. I thought that when I read his article that that would never happen in Gospel Doctrine. I was wrong. This new book is asking questions that I suppose Gentiles ask themselves every day but us LDS people know the answers to those questions. The new members have a separate class to answer their questions; Gospel Essentials.

So I plan to rectify the situation by going through the questions that I feel need answering. My aim is to answer the questions and make fun of ourselves in the process. I know that I need a good laugh every once in a while and taking myself too serious I would go crazy so look for the new question/answer for lesson one sometime this week.

Happy to be damned?

Image is located at In Gamer
 
Some have asked themselves (inside and outside the church),'why should I care about what faith I belong to'? To those that have this question in mind I would ask about your favorite place to take your car, why care? Aren't they all the same? Of course you would tell me about the product and service that they provide and the extension on the life of your vehicle, maybe even talk up a technician or two. The same principal applies to religion. The fact that we are called to dig deep into our souls for the purpose of life and meaning there of means that we have an innate desire to know the unknown, to see beyond ourselves and discover what is out there and what is next. Such stretches have allowed us to create science, math and other things but has also rooted us in whom or what is god and what does he have for us next.

Now the Mormons (LDS faith) are unique in that they dare say that there is a place for everyone and that this place is a place of happiness. To some this is hard to believe, a Muslim or Buddhist or Hindu (or any other religion other than Christian) would find happiness, but it’s true. Why not? God who is the creator of all things wants all his creation to be happy as he his. To some, they want to be as he is, a God; reasonable request from a child of God. Doesn't every parent want their child to have it all? Just look around you children are given more and more than what their parents had as children all the time. These children grow up to be as their parents, mature full grown adults with all the privileges and powers of being an adult. Mom and Pop look at their offspring and show pride that they got the child to where they were and allowed them to progress from there on their own.

Now comes the part where this title comes from. There are those that want to play house, pretend to be adults and frankly rely on the merits, money and abilities of their parents. Some ask themselves, 'why would God want that kid around; all they do is mooch of their parents?' God wants happy children, period. Many a parent has watched as their child plays the play-boy (girl) all their growing up and when they are pushed out of the nest, let’s faces it they almost kill themselves. God knows that some of his children will want to worship an attribute/ideal of God or even God himself but they do not want the responsibility of being a God because they feel either inadequate or unworthy or better yet satisfied where they got in life. All of that is fine (sad but...). The God of Israel has a place for someone of that caliber, HELL!! Just kidding. It would not seem right for God to damn that kid to be with Satin and his angels who are murderers and deny the Holy Ghost. No God would have to find (create) a place where those kids can be in their own little piece of heaven. Why you ask? Why not be with God and those that want to be Gods. I believe that its best described like this. Imagine you were a silver winner of a race. Now there had been several contests though out the day and many metals given out. Those that had won a gold metal gravitated together, those that had won the silver gravitated together and so on. Not necessarily because of their achievement but because of comfort. If you were to be rewarded to hang out with the Gold winners for all eternity knowing that you were only Silver you would begin to feel uncomfortable, whether or not you were treated differently. To know your place in life would be discouraging.

That is why Mormons believe what they do. We know that God wants to put us in our own winning circle where there is pleasure in what we have accomplished and where we feel great. God does love us. Sometimes looking around yourself you may not realize it but he put you here for a reason. Be happy and when you are not be comforted in knowing your creator.