God is Real, our Father

Paul does a great job explaining some core principles to people. In this, one of his most famous sermons, he explains that God is our Father.

29 Forasmuch then as we are the ^aoffspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto ^bgold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s ^cdevice.

30 And the times of this ^aignorance God ^bwinked at; but now^ccommandeth all men every where to ^drepent:

This understanding is helpful because it affects us meaningfully. If we believe he's a loving Father, we'll want to talk to him daily, about things we've done well and things we haven't done well. I think this understanding of who God is most affects our prayers. He does love us. He knows everything we do anyway, so we really should talk to him about life. It helps us.

Why the devil is less successful than God - No love

Satan is much less powerful and less successful than God. There's a few reasons. One is just that God knows everything and is so much more honorable than Satan. One strong reason is that Satan does not care about people and that makes him act less wisely in many circumstances.

For instance, it might make sense for Satan to help give his followers technological advancements. For example, in the Book of Mormon, it's the Nephites that first think of two things: 1) armor and 2) walls and towers around their cities. They were inspired by God to do these two things. The Lamanite armies just copied the Nephites after they had seen it. My question is, why didn't the Lamanites think of it first? They obviously weren't as innovative or thoughtful, but why?

One could argue the following: 1) Satan had definitely seen these innovations such as armor and fortified cities at earlier points in the history of the world. 2) Satan can influence people; he does, he influences them for bad. 3) If Satan let his followers know about the innovations, they could have killed off the Nephites more quickly and then none of their posterity would have been righteous and none of the Lamanites in the future would have been converted to the gospel (which did happen; for a time the Lamanites were more righteous than the Nephites). 4) Therefore, Satan had incentives and the ability to inspire his followers to advance technologically.

So why didn't/doesn't he?

Because he doesn't care about people. He doesn't love. This keeps him from thinking about the long-term. He won't ever help people in the short-term so it will help his cause in the long-term. He just wants people to do bad things, period. His lack of love and concern for people keeps him from being as powerful, long-term, as he could be.

It's a lesson for us. Why do we want to become like God - kind, loving, etc.? Because it is the best way to live. Also, over the long-term it's a much more powerful and effective way to live. Satan is hindered because of who he is, a selfish person. As we become more like Heavenly Father and love more, we'll become more effective in life.

Purpose of Life - to understand God's role and become little children again

My friend and I were talking about how being a kid means you don't have any worries or responsibility and that all of our responsibility is what wears on us many times. I agreed with this whole-heartedly.

An interesting question though is why? Why do kids have such an easy life? Will we have an easy life at some point like they do? In the post-mortal world, I believe our lives will be very similar to our kids' lives now, although we will still have responsibilities.

Consider this verse about the spirit world in Alma 40:

12And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of ^ahappiness, which is called^bparadise, a state of rest, a state of ^cpeace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow.

Now we also know that when we die there is a lot of work for us to still do. When Jesus died, he went and organized his missionary work in the spirit world so that missionaries (members of the church when they were alive) could teach the gospel to those who did not accept it while alive. See D.C. 138 and also Pres. Eyring's talk in April 2005. So, we're still going to have responsibility and work after we die. So why will it be a state of rest and peace?

I think it's because we'll be much closer to heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Just like my kids are not worried about things in part because they don't know any better but in part because they have an implicit trust in their parents, when we are closer to God and Jesus Christ and know all the things they are doing to help us and take care of us, we will no longer worry about things like we do. In that way, once we see our parents again, we will become like little children. Interestingly, this life seems to be a time where God gives us the opportunity to be as much like him as we can: we have responsibility, it's hard for us to see exactly how involved he is, etc. Then, if we pass this life well, we'll get to go back to him, but this time having a great respect for all he does since we've tried doing it ourselves. This will likely make us act like little children again in the sense that we are very trusting in our heavenly Father (and Jesus) and his ability to take care of things. The difference between our acting as children in the pre-mortal vs. the post-mortal life is that in the post-mortal life we'll have a much greater understanding of how hard a job heavenly Father has after we have tried to be autonomous in this life. He's given us a perfect environment to learn to be like him and also to come to respect him.

In this context, consider the following verses from Matthew 11:

28¶^aCome unto me, all ye that ^blabour and are heavy laden, and I will give you ^crest.

29Take my ^ayoke upon you, and ^blearn of me; for I am ^cmeek and^dlowly in ^eheart: and ye shall find ^frest unto your souls.

It is clear that when we try to come under the watchful care of Jesus in this life, he will also comfort and sustain us. It's not that our pressures and responsibilities will go away; instead, it will be that we completely trust that Jesus will take care of us. We will still have work to do in the post-mortal life, but we'll trust that heavenly Father and Jesus will always be there to take care of things and make sure all will turn out well in the end. We will once again become like little children.

Have a great day.