Déjà Vu ~ Times II: To bless & prosper?

Saturday, May 15, 2010

To bless & prosper?

This morning, I finished Joel ben Izzy’s The Beggar King and the Secret of Happiness and was again reminded¹ of the contradictions and contraries that “plague” this life.² Stories that continually affirm what we try to forget—that life is full of Job-like contradictions that challenge our notion of a just and loving God, of meaning and purpose, of success, of the blessed life. Stories that “make no sense,” yet could bring us to a more perfect sense of what it means “to bless and prosper,” if only we would LISTEN!

Stories of:

▪ Storytellers deprived of their voices*
▪ Great musicians imprisoned in silence*
▪ Artists / filmmakers blinded by circumstance*
▪ Superman bound to a wheeled, breath-giving chair*
▪ Gifted souls afflicted with manias and depressions*
▪ Perfect souls reduced to wretchedness*
▪ Rich men in hell; beggars in heaven³
▪ An Omnipotent God crucified, and
▪ Dreamers everywhere who dwell in sackcloth and the ashes of their dreams and labors while the Heavens wait for them to be still long enough to hear.

Why is it that we continue to define “blessed and prospered” from the dictionary of Babylon when the stories (from antiquity to the present) beat a constant drum of contradiction?
Why do we persistently forget the corrosiveness and divisiveness of worldly wealth? ⁴
Why do we keep judging by appearances instead of the eternity of things?⁵
How long does it take for us to understand that “What seems like a blessing may be a curse; what seems like a curse may be a blessing”?⁶

-------------/
1. http://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/search/label/AgonyofContradictions
2. … the Son, … ordained from before the foundation of the world to be a propitiation for the sins of all those who should believe on his name, and is called the Son because of the flesh, and descended in suffering below that which man can suffer; or, in other words, suffered greater sufferings, and was exposed to more powerful contradictions than any man can be. But, notwithstanding all this, he kept the law of God, and remained without sin, … (Lectures on Faith [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1985], 5:2, emphasis added.)
"Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds" (New Testament Hebrews 12:2-3, emphasis added).
* Including: Joel ben Izzy; Beethoven; Hugues de Montalembert; Christopher Reeve; Patty Duke; Biblical Job; etc
3. New Testament Luke 16:20-26
4. Book of Mormon & prosperity cycles; New Testament Matthew 19:24
5. "But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart"(Old Testament 1 Samuel 16:7).
6. Story: The Lost Horse (see Izzy’s book, p. 11-12. See also http://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/search/label/AfflictedWithRiches http://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/search/label/TraumaHappens

Revolving Accounts

"The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us." (Old Testament Ecclesiastes 1:9-10)

"Dwell in the past and you'll lose an eye. Forget the past and you'll lose both eyes." (Old Russian Proverb)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This Déjà Vu ~ Times II blog is devoted to my religious / spiritual musings (sometimes political), mainly concerning the recycling of our follies since the world began.

Over time, it will contain:
thoughts
observations
poems
quotes

Déjà Vu ~ Times II blog © 2009 - 2020 by SMSmith (unless otherwise noted). Some Rights Reserved. See Creative Commons License at the end of this column/page.

Déjà Vu ~ Times II blog was established August 17, 2009 while the author was living in Canada helping caregive an aged mother.

“No Comments” Rationale

1) Time & more needful priorities;
2) Problems observed with many open-comment blogs as so bluntly expressed at http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/comment-policy/
3) People are free to post divergent or convergent views on their own blogs;
4) Learning from comments here would be preferable, but— (see 1, 2, & 3).

Brief note to the OFFENDED: Just because allowing "comments" is a blogger's option, it does not mean every blogger must conform to the "expectations" of others. Every soul can consult the Spirit and decide what is best and right in their circumstance. And if one has a blanket policy not to read another's work because there is no opportunity to comment, it seems one has closed oneself off to potential guidance of the Spirit. Besides, in this world of "overwhelm," the guidance of the Spirit is the best resource we have to lead us to things of importance in our unique life. So, if you have found your way here, perhaps there are a few things of import for you here. I try to trust the Spirit to lead me likewise to things of import within my purpose and priorities.

My World / TransWorld View

▪ Truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come; (Doctrine and Covenants Section 93:24)
▪ If we have the truth, it cannot be harmed by investigation. If we have not the truth, it ought to be harmed. (J. Reuben Clark)

▪ Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (New Testament 1 Thessalonians 5:21)

▪ 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.(New Testament Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:13; 3 Nephi 13:24)
▪ See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men.(New Testament 1 Thessalonians 5:15)
▪ For that which ye do send out shall return unto you again, and be restored; ... (Book of Mormon Alma 41:15)
▪ Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend. (Book of Mormon Mosiah 4:9, emphasis added)
▪ ... the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. (New Testament 1 Corinthians 1:25)
▪ For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Old Testament Isaiah 55:8 - 9)
▪ ... the Lord doth grant unto all nations, of their own nation and tongue, to teach his word, yea, in wisdom, all that he seeth fit that they should have; therefore we see that the Lord doth counsel in wisdom, according to that which is just and true. (Book of Mormon Alma 29:8)
▪ The Bible is true, as far as it is translated correctly. Some things are to be understood literally; others metaphorically or symbolically.
▪ God is neither a Republican nor a Democrat; a Liberal nor a Conservative, just as Christ was neither a Pharisee or Sadducee. [For God doth not walk in crooked paths, neither doth he turn to the right hand nor to the left, neither doth he vary from that which he hath said, therefore his paths are straight, and his course is one eternal round.(Doctrine and Covenants Section 3:2)]
▪ Life is an escalating series of tests.
▪ “...we will be asked again and again to release the parts of our lives that mean the most to us.” (Caroline Myss, Sacred Contracts, p. 76; also preview lives of the prophets and saints.)