The Wonders of Eternity

By Charlie Brown Generally it isn't an easy thing to do, that is having a conversation about sacred experiences.  We live in a skeptical secular world.  Our spiritual experiences may not even be a welcome subject to discuss outside of our church fellowship.  This post is to write down something of my spiritual journey, and the moments that caused me to seek understanding about life, eternity, and have brought me to my present place in life. When I was young, our family attended various Protestant churches, mostly the Methodist and Congregationalist. One of my grandfathers and his son, my uncle were pastors in the Assembly of God church. From these experiences, I gained a basic interest in God, but never felt any desire to know much more beyond Sunday School and the sermons. Sunday church meetings may not the most eagerly anticipated event of our week but we went regularly.  When I was eight years old, a month before I turned 9, my mother died in an automobile c...

Perhaps one of the most apparent facts of life is that we make choices and decisions. This opportunity to act is often referred to as free will.  Most people don't seem to think twice about their apparent freedom or how it came to be other than being born and alive to take part in a society someplace in the world. One primary question debated by Christian apologists and agnostics is if God is all good and loving why does he allow for evil and suffering? Atheists claim that this fact alone is contradictory enough to disavow traditional Bible theologian's claims of a loving God.  This discussion also has some companion considerations: Why do bad things happen to good people and why would God create someone knowing in advance they would go to hell?    Some truth-seekers and atheists are interested in discussing the nature of our "free will". The debate about the validity of religious theology and the existence of God from various points of contention is nev...

Was Joseph Smith a true prophet of God, a genius conman or possibly a boy who made some lucky guesses to establish a church that would grow to be found throughout the world. The falsehoods of his detractors are not supported by the facts of history. From his personal history we read this verse. 25  So it was with me. I had actually seen a light, and in the midst of that light I saw two  a Personages , and they did in reality speak to me; and though I was  b hated  and  c persecuted  for saying that I had seen a vision, yet it was true; and while they were persecuting me, reviling me, and speaking all manner of evil against me  d falsely  for so saying, I was led to say in my heart: Why persecute me for telling the truth? I have actually seen a vision; and who am I that I can withstand God, or why does the world think to make me deny what I have actually seen? For I had seen a vision; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not  ...

The limited scope of mankind's technology and lack of vision into eternity does not allow us to gather all truth in a lifetime or many lifetimes.  Currently, we only have a recorded history of the earth that covers some 6,000 to 10,000 years. The fossil record gives insight but uses theories, conjecture, and speculation as to how it all developed. Scientists and religionists both debate within their respective spheres for and against each other. What is a valid source of revelation with which one can confirm eternal truth? It is a challenge of mortality and the debate will go on. We can see things in the cosmos things that were never before seen until the invention of powerful space-based telescopes.  We live in an expanding universe. Will our capacity to understand it shrink as fast as we gain insight?  Much of what governs the laws of physics is discernible but not viewable. We understand much of the earth, our bodies and minds and yet we know very little, certainly ...

Two Basic Philosophies contrast each other Modern World The secular side of our society with the scientific method seeks to demonstrate that mankind ascended from some kind of slime or cell and therefore that amorality is a perfectly acceptable philosophy for worldly culture.  The philosophy of scientism, the idea that what science turns up is the sum of what there is doesn’t necessarily come from scientists, however.  It comes from amoral activists seeking to promote their philosophies.   What we get from science is the vastness of what we don’t know and these activists don’t care to acknowledge that their lack of knowledge might have some effect on the ideals it takes to have a cohesive and peaceful society. They basically promote the ideology that there is no God unless science can prove it and that will never happen because they ignore the evidence. The theistic side believes that we descended from the Gods or a God. The first seeks through its philosophy...

For nearly two hundred years, The Book of Mormon has been studied, analyzed, criticized, and scrutinized by educated religious scholars, common folks and everyone in between.  Hugh Nibley, a Latter-day Saint educator published the following parable many years ago to demonstrate the responses by some of those that have examined the book and Joseph Smith's claims. This parable highlights the allegations, motives, and criticisms of those that have spoken against it over the last two centuries.  “A young man once long ago claimed he had found a large diamond in his field as he was plowing. He put the stone on display to the public free of charge, and everyone took sides. A psychologist showed, by citing some famous case studies, that the young man was suffering from a well-known form of delusion. A historian showed that other men have also claimed to have found diamonds in fields and have been deceived. A geologist proved that there were no diamonds in the area but only qua...

As a young man my search for truth was a consistent desire to know something about the purpose of life and whether or not there was actually a God.  What I sought was not given to me in an instant.  Being able to look back and connect some of the experiences that shaped my understanding, it was a process of about 8 years.   I don't know all of the reasons some of us seek understanding as to the purpose of life, but it seems certain events may tend to cause us to look both inward and upward.  These events may often be deemed as negative in nature, not because God wants to punish us, but because they happen in the course of normal living.  I am speaking of illness, accidents, injuries, and death that interrupt, or disrupt our day to day activities and relationships.  To observe that the world exists and that we exist on some basis of eternal principles is a fundamental step in seeking truth. Is there a God that created us or not? If so then what demonstr...