"There is an orderliness in the universe, there is an unalterable law governing everything and every being that exists or lives..."

"...It is no blind law; for no blind law can govern the conduct of living beings."  Mohandas Gandhi

I don’t understand those who put God and science at odds with each other. Our modern understanding of the world around us indicates that ‘nature’ follows certain constant laws. The laws of physics, the laws of mathematics, the laws of chemical interactions, and many more all govern our physical world.  Many would use these laws to argue that there is no God or indicate that if He does exist, God somehow operates outside of these laws. I’ve heard many say that God can do what ever He wants if He is God. I believe that this could not be further from the truth. God is God because He is perfectly obedient to every true law. Therein lies His power. Because He knows, understands and adheres completely to eternal law, He has endless power to use these laws to accomplish His purposes. Think of a musician, whose degree of knowledge of the intricacies and the mathematical laws of music has that much greater freedom to create works of music that awe and inspire. Or a chemist whose understanding of the laws governing chemical reactions can create compounds that would not otherwise exist.

It is commonly believed that freedom is simply doing whatever one wants.  However, true freedom is found in perfect obedience to God’s laws (both physical and moral). Obedience to law gives us freedom, first, because we are then free from the natural consequences of those laws and secondly because we then have the knowledge and power with which we may operate to our full capacity. For example, an understanding of the law of gravity gives us the knowledge that we shouldn’t walk off the edge of a cliff (we know what the consequences of this would be). However, a greater understanding of the laws of aerodynamics and physics allows us to create a device by which we might walk off the edge of a cliff and drift safely to the ground.

The science of man is simply an attempt to understand the laws by which God operates and is in no way contrary to His existence. The greater understanding of eternal law and more self-discipline to obey we achieve, the more freedom we obtain.

"To prefer Evil to Good is not in human nature..." - Plato

Everyone is familiar with the concepts of “Good” and “Evil.” They are the subject of almost every storybook and every movie. And every one of us (except the truly malevolent) hope and expect that the “good guy” will win.  While there is some discrepancy about what qualifies as “good” and “bad,” few will argue about their existence.  Those who do argue that morality is all a figment of our imaginations and created to help us make sense of the world will only contradict themselves in the process.

What is known by most as a “conscience” was called the “Law of Human Nature” by C.S. Lewis, or the “Law of Nature” by other philosophical thinkers.

C.S. Lewis taught: “This law was called the Law of Nature because people thought that every one knew it by nature and did not need to be taught it… Taking the race as a whole, they thought that the human idea of decent behaviour was obvious to every one. And I believe they were right. If they were not, then all the things we said about [World War II} were nonsense. What was the sense in saying the enemy were in the wrong unless Right is a real thing which the Nazis at bottom knew as well as we did and ought to have practised? If they had had no notion of what we mean by right, then, though we might still have had to fight them, we could no more have blamed them for that than for the colour of their hair.” (Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis)

Example after example could be mentioned to prove that we ALL believe in good and evil and that we all have at least some sense of what fits in each category. Good and Evil is not a relationship that exists only on this earth. It is an eternal principle.

I’ve always loved fairy-tells. Stories of a princess and her white knight finding true love and conquering evil are prevalent within our society and stir something in our hearts. As children we believe in fairy-tells – and then we grow up and begin to doubt that they are real and could EVER really happen. The difficulties, the suffering, and the bad things in life overtake us and we lose sight of the simplistic goodness we once believed in as children. However, I believe that fairy-tells do exist and that the “good guy” WILL win. Good will conquer evil. Our desire for it be so proves that it is. One of my favorite C.S. Lewis quotes is this:

“Most people, if they had really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise. The longings which arise in us when we first fall in love, or first think of some foreign country, or first take up some subject that excites us, are longings which no marriage, no travel, no learning, can really satisfy. I am not now speaking of what would be ordinarily called unsuccessful marriages, or holidays, or learned careers. I am speaking of the best possible ones. There was something we grasped at, in that first moment of longing, which just fades away in the reality. I think everyone knows what I mean. The wife may be a good wife, and the hotels and scenery may have been excellent, and chemistry may be a very interesting job: but something has evaded us… Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water… If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others to do the same."(Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis)

We could not have imagined good and evil or right and wrong. You cannot imagine something out of nothing. You cannot see a reflection in a mirror if there is no object off of which the light might reflect. If there were no sugar, we could not crave it. If there were no heaven, no God, no real joy- we would not desire those things. Good is real. God is real. Happily-Ever-After is real…it just may not be meant for this life. 

“You can bend it and twist it... You can misuse and abuse it... But even God cannot change the Truth.” - Michael Levy

Throughout human history, men and women have been in search for meaning in life; in search of truth. Questions about the existence of God and the why’s and how’s of life pervade every society. There are those who for centuries have argued that everything is relative to our experience. A group of philosophers known as “constructivists” argue that truth is not constant, but is only a result of our own individual experience and perspective. This belief seems to be held by many today. While it is true that we each have varying VIEWS of the world that have been impacted by our individual experience, there MUST be one constant reality. Truth must be absolute or we would not exist.

“Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be. All truth is independent in that sphere in which God as placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligence also; otherwise there is no existence.” (Doctrine and Covenants 93:29-30)

Our understandings of truth are imperfect, because we are imperfect. But because we simply fail to see the big picture, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist.

In today’s world, it seems that everything is relative. Morality is no longer believed by many to be an unchanging constant, but a value system unique to each individual and always up for debate. I refuse to accept this belief. I believe in black and white, in right and wrong, and in good and evil. I may be imperfect and therefore have an imperfect understanding of truth. However, I know with absolute certainty that truth exists and is not subject to revisal, re-interpretation, or adaptation according to our whims. And it certainly cannot be determined by a vote or a poll or be compromised. God and truth are real. It is simply our responsibility to discover them and align ourselves as closely as we can with the truth.

This is a subject that has been spoken of by great men and women throughout history: prophets, leaders, philosophers, and teachers. Their names are familiar to us, yet few have actually studied what they said and what they discovered.  In school we read ABOUT them, we read textbooks that dilute the meaning found in their actual words. As Socrates taught, we live as if in a cave. We are shown images on the wall that have been projected by those in power with the intent of maintaining and increasing their power. Instead of seeing the world and truth for what it is, we see images that reflect the truth, but that have lost their true meaning and are often twisted and manipulated by others.

We have two tools with which to discover truth: our minds and our hearts. Our minds and logical thought are powerful tools, but only of use when we listen to our heart as well. We must listen to the whisperings of the Spirit of God. We must not ignore the gentle voice that speaks to our heart of things “as they really are, and of things as they really will be.” (Jacob 4:13, Book of Mormon) God has told us through His prophets that with faith and “by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.”(Moroni 9:23, Book of Mormon)

Once we discover these “truths" or principles, we must then apply them to our lives. If a principle is true then it can be applied to EVERY aspect of our lives including family, friend, and business relationships; politics; raising children; our conduct in private and in public; etc… I would like to use this blog as a tool for personal study. The main source for this study will be *scripture and the word of God as spoken to His prophets. However, philosophers and secular scholars also have taught much that is of value. I would like to also apply the truths that are uncovered to today’s society, politics, religion, culture, etc and attempt to find meaning in what seems to be a very confusing, amoral, and contradictory world.

*"Scripture" includes: King James versions of the Old and New Testaments, The Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and The Pearl of Great Price; "word of God" includes the words of modern-day apostles and prophets of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.