Why shouldn't I have my name removed?

[Dark_Jedi]

OP here. Thanks again to those of you have have offered heartfelt, thoughtful and nonjudgemental responses. I really do appreciate it.

My thoughts have really been brought to the whole thing about blessings (no small thanks to JudoMinja). As stated previously, this whole idea of God's blessings are indeed an integral part of where I stand and why I think the way I think.

I did some searching for the definition of "blessing" (dictionaries at home - yes, we have some; and online). Common themes in the definitions are words like "God's favor" "God's protection" "finding favor of God" "gift bestowed by God" and "divinely favored." I agree with those, and given the opportunity to define the word without dictionary assistance or influence, I would probably use very similar terminology. It is further my understanding that such blessings generally come as the result of the expressed worship of God and/or expressed faith in God. In my mind, it is not apparent that those who do not worship or express faith actually get blessings. I do realize that just as the rain falls on the just and the unjust, the sun also shines on the just and the unjust, but then it's not really a blessing, is it? (I suppose it could be a blessing on the unjust who happens to be standing next to the just, but let's keep it simple and straightforward and assume we're homogeneous.)

So for those who believe I am getting blessings I don't recognize (please know I am not trying to offend or mock you), the reason I may not be recognizing them if they are actually there is because they don't fit the definition. Using the example of my neighbor again, he's a great guy, successful, etc., (and probably just) but not worshipful of or faithful in God. I concede that because of any righteousness he may exhibit he may be worthy of blessings - but then again I could say that about just about anybody I know. It's sort of another dichotomy - if everybody gets this favor of God, it's not really a blessing, yet God could bless anyone.

So, if there are blessings there that I'm not recognizing, what are they? How do I recognize them? Are they truly unique to me? If I can look at all of the neighbors on my street (about half have some religion/attend some church, one is openly athiest) and not tell the difference then have I truly been given a gift, found favor, or been protected by God, then is it really a blessing? Note that I certainly don't believe at this point that I am worthy of any such blessings, but at one point I did.

Edited October 21, 2012 by Dark_Jedi

[JudoMinja]

One example of blessings- per your definition of "God's favor"- that may not be easily recognized comes from the story of Daniel, Sadrach, Meshack, and Abednigo where they did not partake of the king's meat. They set themselves apart from the other youth selected to be brought up as the king's wise men and given the "king's favor" by following the diet recommended to them by their scripture as opposed to that offered by the king. Because of this, they were blessed with greater health than those who followed the king's diet.

Likewise, we can receive God's favor to our health in following the Word of Wisdom:

"And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones;

And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures;

And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint.

And I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the destroying angel shall pass by them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them. Amen." (D&C 89:18-21)

Of course, people tend to overlook these blessings either because they focus on the "don'ts" of the WoW or because others not of the church receive the same blessings for following similar dieting counsel supported by science. The last one specifically- the destroying angel passing us by- can go completely unnoticed because we rarely recognize when bad things don't happen. Many of God's blessings for following His commandments are similar to this.

Following the law of chastity- for example- results in no STDs, not having to deal with the heartache of adultery or premarital births, etc.

Other blessings are indirect. For example, obeying the law of tithing provides for the use of our church buildings and therefore gives us a location to officiate the blessings of the sacrament. It also provides for those who end up having to use the bishop's storehouse and so someone who falls on hard times is then blessed by their own giving and the giving of others should they need to ask for this help.

Faithfully completeing our home and visiting teaching provides us with connections in the church so we can build and maintain friendships and recognize when individuals are in need of a little extra attention or help with meals or yard work or moving, etc.

Listening to the advice of the prophets and maintaining food storage helps again when we fall on hard times and have to utilize that food storage to get by, or enables us to bless others by giving that food storage away when they might need it.

Those in high-school- rising early for seminary helps instill self-discipline and gives them a positive start to their day so that not only are they gaining greater knowledge of the scriptures but are blessed by the influence of the spirit throughout their day and must plan their time for homework and extracurricular activities accordingly so that they can get adequate rest.

When you think about your current lifestyle, your family, etc. and compare it to the lives of the average non-religious individual there are SO MANY blessings we may take completely for granted that we receive just from living the teachings of the gospel. We have to have faith that these teachings are good for us and will be a blessing to us if we are to truly commit ourselves to living by them. The world around us seems to split both ways on everything, with many people outside the church recognizing the good that comes from healthy chaste living and following it without any real direction to do so and still many others going the opposite direction and living the "eat, drink, and be merry" lifestyle and suffering for it.

We see the evidence of keeping or not keeping the commandments in the lives of everyone all around us. Rather than asking yourself if these people are religious- ask yourself if they are following the advice which you know comes from God, even if they do so unwittingly. If they are, are they being blessed for it. And if they are not, are they suffering for it? While there are certainly some people out there who seem to be "blessed" for their wickedness, like lying or cheating their way into positions of authority or seeking to get gain through the failings of their neighbors, you can be certain as well that "wickedness never was happiness" and they will just as easily lose what they've gained and find themselves worse off than if they'd just been honest.

Then too- there are many blessings which are completely spiritual and have no temporal side to them that would even be visible from an outside glance. What of the blessings of temple attendance and being sealed to your kindred dead? What of the blessings of the atonement and being forgiven your sins and shortcomings so that you needn't pay the price for them yourself? What of the blessing of overcoming the adversary's influence so that the devil can not claim you his and drag you down the his gulf of bitterness and misery? What of the gift of the Holy Ghost who can be your constant companion, guide, influence, and comforter if you strive to keep yourself in tune with the promptings of his still small voice? What about the blessings of the Priesthood- the power to act in God's name, to officiate the sacrament, to give blessings of healing to the sick, to officiate temple ordinances, to give and receive Patriarchal blessings, and so much more? Can anyone who has not turned their life over to God- to be one of His chosen and protected people- claim such blessings?

Some might say that all these things aren't really blessings from God. We have the science and the know-how and studies and examples to prove how diet and exercise works and what's best for our health. We have all the science and know-how and studies and examples to prove how living chaste helps us avoid diseases and social complications. How raising kids in a family setting instead of singly better prepares them for their own successful lives. How being prepared, planning ahead, and storing for hard-times helps us overcome disasters both natural and financial. And so on and so forth. And all those "spiritual" blessings- do they really mean anything if we can't see the results? Is the Holy Ghost really there or do we just kid ourselves with our "feelings"?

But if these people were so right about it not coming from God, about the results of our lifestyles being so obvious and the spiritual blessings being so meaningless- why then, has this counsel and advice been handed to us through the mouths of prophets before we had any scientific evidence to back it up? And why are there so many people who continue to live contrary to such advice- if the blessings are so obviously apparent?

The iron rod, the word of God, is a blessing in and of itself which we now have in our hands through the most miraculous means. Those who wrote the records we now find in the Book of Mormon wrote them for us, often not knowing the purpose behind their words. Not knowing how God would make use of their testimonies and experiences. But He preserved those words and saw that they were found and translated and printed to go out to all the world. That book alone is a miracle you can be greatful for.

Technology facilitating the work of God through increased speed of communication around the globe is a miracle. That we can sit in our homes to watch conference, participate in forums like these, converse with missionaries, read the manuals of the church and so much more through this near instantaneous exchange and storing of information is a miracle.

Temples dotting the globe so that more and more people can participate in seeing these ordinances done and the completion of this great work is a miracle. Our ability to help with geneological research and indexing at the click of a button...

So many blessings are widespread and reach members and non-members alike because God is no respector of persons, we are all His children, and He delights to bless us. He wants us to take advantage of those blessings, and He wants everyone to come unto Him. And then, there are those blessings which can be had only by His covenant people, because they require the making and keeping of sacred covenants.

Yes, the rain falls on the just and the unjust, and the sun shines on the just and the unjust, and the chain of cause and effects - choices and consequences remains unbroken. Certain actions and decisions lead to blessings, while other actions and decisions lead to suffering. God gave us commandments and counsel and advice and showed us the Way to live a blessed life, and as we- as a people- follow that Way we are blessed. When we and/or those around us fail to live up to His way, suffering follows. Maybe directly upon the individual who acted wrongly and maybe upon others, maybe immediately and maybe delayed, but all suffering, pain, and hardships -excluding things like natural disasters or illnesses that are just part of our fallen state of mortality- come from our inability and/or unwillingness to live according to God's word.

[Dark_Jedi]

I do appreciate your thoughts, JudoMinja, but I'm not sold. For the most part, those things you mention aren't blessings, they're just the way things are. My neighbor (and his wife), for example, goes to the nearby casino every Saturday night. They limit what they spend, and find enjoyment in doing so. Neither of them smoke, but they do drink coffee and on those Saturday nights (and other times) they do drink (sometimes a lot, apparently). He's a few years older than I am, but he certainly works harder than I do and probably overall is healthier than me. His wife is an accomplished local golfer, having won many annual club championships. Again, I think they are good people, and I love having them as neighbors, but them not living the WoW (which they don't know about) hasn't had terrible effects on their lives. It's just the way it is.

And seriouosly, how are we to know if the "angel of death" passes us by? In a situation where someone has a heart attack and survives, he might be able to say the angel of death passed him by - but it probably passed by his alcoholic chain smoking roomie, too, because they had good doctors and good technology.

The favor, protection or gifts of God have to be more than the sun shining or they're not really that at all for individuals. If that's the case, then God really is more like the deist version. I'm not saying the chosen people should be above "regular" (not chosen?) people, but there should be real, tangible evidence that they (I) can point to saying "I am blessed." That said, I don't deny that some people are blessed, but I don't believe most truly are - some just want to believe they are.

Edited October 21, 2012 by Dark_Jedi

[JudoMinja]

This reminds me now of Alma 44:1-9 :

"And it came to pass that they did stop and withdrew a pace from them. And Moroni said unto Zerahemnah: Behold, Zerahemnah, that we do not desire to be men of blood. Ye know that ye are in our hands, yet we do not desire to slay you.

Behold, we have not come out to battle against you that we might shed your blood for power; neither do we desire to bring any one to the yoke of bondage. But this is the very cause for which ye have come against us; yea, and ye are angry with us because of our religion.

But now, ye behold that the Lord is with us; and ye behold that he has delivered you into our hands. And now I would that ye should understand that this is done unto us because of our religion and our faith in Christ. And now ye see that ye cannot destroy this our faith.

Now ye see that this is the true faith of God; yea, ye see that God will support, and keep, and preserve us, so long as we are faithful unto him, and unto our faith, and our religion; and never will the Lord suffer that we shall be destroyed except we should fall into transgression and deny our faith.

And now, Zerahemnah, I command you, in the name of that all-powerful God, who has strengthened our arms that we have gained power over you, by our faith, by our religion, and by our rites of worship, and by our church, and by the sacred support which we owe to our wives and our children, by that liberty which binds us to our lands and our country; yea, and also by the maintenance of the sacred word of God, to which we owe all our happiness; and by all that is most dear unto us—

Yea, and this is not all; I command you by all the desires which ye have for life, that ye deliver up your weapons of war unto us, and we will seek not your blood, but we will spare your lives, if ye will go your way and come not again to war against us.

And now, if ye do not this, behold, ye are in our hands, and I will command my men that they shall fall upon you, andainflict the wounds of death in your bodies, that ye may become extinct; and then we will see who shall have power over this people; yea, we will see who shall be brought into bondage.

And now it came to pass that when Zerahemnah had heard these sayings he came forth and delivered up his sword and his cimeter, and his bow into the hands of Moroni, and said unto him: Behold, here are our weapons of war; we will deliver them up unto you, but we will not suffer ourselves to take an oath unto you, which we know that we shall break, and also our children; but take our weapons of war, and suffer that we may depart into the wilderness; otherwise we will retain our swords, and we will perish or conquer.

Behold, we are not of your faith; we do not believe that it is God that has delivered us into your hands; but we believe that it is your cunning that has preserved you from our swords. Behold, it is your breastplates and your shields that have preserved you."

You attribute the "blessings" you see to "cunning". It's just the way things are- people who are more prepared with "breastplates" and "shields" will be "preserved".

Yet, Moroni thought to armor his people not because of his cunning, but because of his faith. If anyone is a great example of one of God's "chosen" it is Moroni, yet God did not do anything for him that made it so that he could obviously claim "I am blessed". He gave him strength, boldness, courage, etc. Moroni went first to his prophet for direction when determining where to send his armies and always attributed all the good he received and his victories to the Lord.

That is how blessings work. They are small things. Unrecognizable things. They are the "breastplates" and the "shields" and the added strength and conviction that comes from fighting for a worthy cause. Yes, that's the way things are- because that's the way God works. If He worked in a more obvious way, following Him wouldn't require faith, now would it?

It may be nothing more than the way we look at things. I see blessings. You see breastplates. But I cannot convince you to see through the eyes with which I see. You have to decide that for yourself.

[Anddenex]

I did some searching for the definition of "blessing" (dictionaries at home - yes, we have some; and online). Common themes in the definitions are words like "God's favor" "God's protection" "finding favor of God" "gift bestowed by God" and "divinely favored." I agree with those, and given the opportunity to define the word without dictionary assistance or influence, I would probably use very similar terminology.

So, if there are blessings there that I'm not recognizing, what are they? How do I recognize them? Are they truly unique to me? If I can look at all of the neighbors on my street (about half have some religion/attend some church, one is openly athiest) and not tell the difference then have I truly been given a gift, found favor, or been protected by God, then is it really a blessing? Note that I certainly don't believe at this point that I am worthy of any such blessings, but at one point I did.

Immediately, what comes to my mind are three blessings, one of which is solely received after judgement, and the other people receive after baptism:

1 D&C 14:7 - The great gift we receive from God is eternal life, for we know that few be here that actually find it.

2. The gift of the Holy Ghost, as a constant companion. This is peculiar to the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Lord has asked us to apply this gift, this blessing.

3. The Priesthood. We learn in scripture that this is also a blessing to the faithful, and depending on the will of God and the faithfulness of the user, this blessings provides different experiences. Some have moved mountains. Some have caused the sea to be still. Some have caused the bottom of pits to rise up. Prison walls to crumble, etc...

How many man have had the opportunity to be able to lay their hands upon their new baby, and provide a name and a blessing before our Father in Heaven?

Other blessings are for me personally, because I realize others have suffered the opposite of what I consider to be a blessing, and they may ask themselves, "Why wasn't I blessed as such?"

[Arctica]

New here, what a fascinating discussion!

I wrote a story for you:

She met her Knight in Shining Armor, fell in love, prayed about it, and Heavenly Father answered her prayer with a YES! She should marry him! They went to the temple, where they both promised—more than promised-- they covenanted with one another, and with God even, that they would love one another forever. They would go to church together, raise their children in the gospel together, they’d go to the temple together…maybe they even talked about going on a mission together some day. Confident in their joint hopes and dreams, she happily walked out of the temple hand in hand with the one she said she would love for eternity.

She did live that dream for many years, until something happened, that eventually caused Knight to blame God and decide that that dream was not one he chose to live any more. The depth of her disappointment is bitter and deep. How did this happen? Did God, in fact, set *her* up? She did pray about marrying him, and God had said yes! He did know—as He does know everything-- that Knight in Shining Armor would not stay strong, right?

….just making a point, that the bad guys got to choose to cause you misery, just like you get to cause it to those around you. And the main point to remember, the people making these choices are not out to make you miserable, they made these choices are only to make themselves happy (very temporarily, I might add). It is not about *you*, meaning, it didn’t matter, whether it might cause you harm or not, as long as they were getting what they needed. Just like your choosing to go inactive is not about *her*, but she certainly does feel the effects of it. She also, could blame God. Does God set you up for misery? No, but I think agency is such a basic principle, that we are allowed to hurt those around us, very deeply sometimes, when we misuse it.

Also, I was thinking about what you wrote about blessings-- All your neighbors are children of our Heavenly Father, and He loves them all with a perfect love. I believe that his love for them, and each of us, is unconditional, I believe that He will bless all of us (members and nonmembers, atheist etc etc.) with as much as possible. What I mean with unconditional love is, that he doesn’t count whether they keep any commandments or not, he loves and blesses them anyway with as much as possible. Similarly, I don’t think we can count how many commandments we keep, and then expect similar amount of blessings, but rather, that we are also to love God unconditionally…. And keep the commandments –and especially our covenants--anyway, no matter what. Yes, I am aware of the teachings where it is said, that as long as you do A, B and C, you will get the blessings predicated to those commandments. I could be wrong, but it has not been my experience. I believe that those blessings may come, but may not come in this life. The test, that I believe we are in, is what do we do, when those blessings do not come. There doesn’t exist some kind of blessing store, where we go and pay with each commandment we have kept, and pick up those blessings. In my opinion, it is what you do when those blessings *don’t* come, will you still love and serve God? (See Daniel 3). It’s my favorite scripture, particularly the phrase “but if not…”

Back to the blessings. The difference between you and them (your atheist, etc. neighbors), is that when keeping your covenants, you get to keep your blessings for eternity (the ones that matter, anyway. I am, obviously talking about your family.)

From reading what you have posted, I can see a few blessings that you have—it looks like you have a loving wife who has stood by you all these years; your family is active in the church; you have a good BYU-bound son, who considers you the best Dad on earth. (If you don’t consider them blessings, maybe I can trade you my husband’s well paying, prestigious job, my children some of whom hardly talk to me, several of whom are less active, and my teenage son who just told me is gay—for the family that you have.)

Ok. Just kidding (about the trade.) I think the blessings will come someday for me too, although maybe not in this life. I still love the gospel, more than anything!