Beach Haven

This past October our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, held its semi-annual general conference. It was also a weekend full of experience. Over the past few years of conference there has been continued change happening throughout the church. These changes are usually announced and discussed in general conference. I was actually able to attend the Saturday morning session with our son Nathan and son-in-law Kevin. Another son-in-law, Ryan, works for the church and was there for a very long day helping with the cameras. I want to share one experience from the session that reminded me of when I was attending the Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Provo many years ago.

The conference center is large and accommodates many thousands. As you might guess, as more and more people began to fill the venue the noise volume also rose as we all engaged in our small conversations awaiting the beginning of the session. The choir and general authorities eventually were all also seated. Then the entire room hushed. Everyone stood up. There was complete silence. About 30 seconds later the First Presidency entered the room. There had been no signal given. No messages projected on the screens in the room. The prelude had continued as normal. Despite that, we all stood up and stopped talking. It was clear the Spirit we directing.

The reason I was in Utah had nothing to do with conference. Because of some of my national and international association work, BYU Radio had invited me to make two presentations on campus the Monday after conference. One of these they called a ‘masters class’ about radio industry trends, and what they might consider implementing in their station roadmap. The discussion was to be tailored for members of their station leadership.

The other was to be a presentation about my career. This one was odd to me. I often present in public settings about various industry or technology topics, but not about my own career. When I balked at the initial invitation some months before, their staff assured me it would be helpful. They said they look for people with a northern Utah background who have gone out into different industries and managed to be successful. The incentive of these sorts of invitations (they assured me others have been invited over the years) was to encourage students and staff to consider career options that takes them away from the immediate Utah geographic region. It seems they have many students who graduate with some sort of degree but don’t think to move from the area. This can make it difficult for many of them to find good work in their respective chosen fields of study. 

Since I was going to be there anyway, I went early and spent the weekend with some of our children and grandchildren. It was fun. One other unique aspect of General Conference this time was that a number of us had a calling change from the pulpit with no idea it was happening. In my particular case I will still serve on the Stake High Counsel in our stake, but since I have been assigned to support the Young Men program, as announced, that means I will now serve as the Stake Young Men (YM) President in my role on the Stake High Council. I have been involved with the YM program in one way or another since 1988. My wife was still here in Virginia. She immediately texted me that she couldn’t stop laughing, because here I was again coming back into the YM program after my recent release as our ward YM President. We’ll see how this all works out. The new approach seems to have a great deal of potential if families will buy in and make it happen.

Articles of Faith
9 We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.

Recently I posted some thoughts on the natural man, and separately considering the position of King David from the Old Testament of The Holy Bible. I now believe these two to be the same topic.

The first I shared was about the idea of putting off the natural man. My focus on the ideas yielded a basic view in three short statements:

• I do my will because it is my will.
• I do His will because it is His will.
• I do His will because it is my will.

The first I see as the natural man. The second I see as one who is repentant and working on becoming more Christ-like. The third I see as reaching a Godly, Christ-like, or celestial character.

The second area has been more of a combined discussion with my wife. As we read in the Old Testament about kings who followed David and Solomon, they were often compared to David in terms of their standing with Jehovah. Specifically, those who did not follow Jehovah were said to be not like unto David whose heart was right with God all his life. In the earlier post I noted the issue of his committing adultery with Bathsheba. Later he tried to cover it up by having her husband, Uriah, return home and be with her. When Uriah refused to cooperate, David had him sent to where he would be killed in battle. So how could the scripture later claim his heart was with God all the days of his life?

The context of the Old Testament scriptures with such a comparative statement are about the keeping of the Mosaic Law while later kings did not. Many even allowed or participated in the worship of other gods, including Solomon. So it is likely Jehovah refers to this aspect of David’s character. He did marry Bathsheba and it is through her line that both Solomon and later Jesus was born. D&C 132:39 affirms the following:

39 David’s wives and concubines were given unto him of me, by the hand of Nathan, my servant, and others of the prophets who had the keys of this power; and in none of these things did he sin against me save in the case of Uriah and his wife; and, therefore he hath fallen from his exaltation, and received his portion; and he shall not inherit them out of the world, for I gave them unto another, saith the Lord.

So he was not forgiven, or did not fully repent of those sins. Yet he may have been repentant, even if beyond forgiveness in the combination of adultery and shedding of innocent blood. He may have been repentant, but in terms of the question of whether his lifetime of following the law was sufficient to overcome these two grievous sins the answer is no. It would appear David was not repentant sufficiently to receive the full cleansing power of the atonement.

Back then to the question of putting off the natural man. In my mind, I had often wondered in the past that in order to achieve this goal one had to reach the third saying, to become fully Christ-like. Lately I think maybe the answer is to move along the continuum. At one end of the continuum is the absolute of the natural man. At the other the absolute of being Godly. We all likely fall somewhere along the gradation line between the two extremes. I’ve come to believe that if we have moved along the continuum to any degree away from the natural man and toward being Christ-like then we have put off the natural man. At that point, so long as we are repentant and move along the line we are cleansed and perfected through the sacrifice of the Savior. It is not our change that cleanses us, or makes us Godly, but rather it is the power of the atonement that gets us to the celestial. Since we never can be perfected without the atonement, then we are cleansed and perfected throughout our lives.

​I’m comfortable that repenting is the same as putting off the natural man. We don’t have to reach perfection all at once, but over time as we rely on, have faith in, the power of Jesus Christ. Reaching the goal of losing the natural man and becoming Christ-like in this way does not seem overwhelming or impossible. In fact, the gospel, in this way, becomes its namesake good news.

My wife and I have been working on a question. To keep up our Spanish-speaking skills we have been reading scriptures in that language together for many years. Over the past month or so we wrapped up the part of the Old Testament that covers the period of King David, King Solomon, and those that followed immediately after them when the kingdoms of Judah and Israel were divided. We were struck by the profound negative affect David had through his poor choices concerning Bathsheba and her husband, Uriah. Despite these deeply sinful acts many of the later scriptures reprimand his descendants saying something along the lines of their heart was not right before God as His servant David all the days of his life. Of course, we were puzzled by this expression knowing his choice of adultery followed by deceit in trying to have Uriah spend time with Bathsheba so the resulting child would be thought to be Uriah’s. When that approach failed he had Uriah sent to the front lines where the battle was the hottest. The desired result was achieved. Uriah was killed, and David took the widow as another of his long line of wives.

These acts don’t sit well with the idea of David’s heart being 'right' before God. Then over the past few weeks in Come Follow Me we have been studying the life of the apostle Paul (originally Saul). Here again is another example of one who assisted in the stoning of Christians only to repent through miraculous means to become a great missionary to the gentiles. This leads to other examples such as Alma the elder and Alma the younger, as well as the sons of Mosiah in the Book of Mormon. In a few future posts I’ll attempt to share just a few of the small insights conversations between my wife and I have brought about. Do good deeds and a repentant heart somehow counteract former grievous acts and attitudes? How does the Atonement apply under such stark circumstances? I doubt I have many answers, but maybe a simple thought or two.

While at church a few weeks ago I listened to the sacrament talks. They were about freedom and agency. It so happens that I have also been reading some sociological theory. In particular I read some writings of Herbert Marcuse. He argues society is ‘higher’ with more freedom, but his notion of freedom is troubling. He says choice between limited options (socially constructed options) is really not freedom. He also says evidence of ‘higher’ culture is when more diverse forms of sexuality are public, and publicly accepted.

It seems to me like Satan always argues down this path. He cries ‘No boundaries’ and suggests when boundaries are in place they are motivated by power (slave/master) relationships. Yet as I have written in the past, good and evil can be best understood (maybe only understood) by comparison with each other. To understand right from wrong a boundary is necessary.

Book of Mormon apostates inevitably refer to the gospel as a ‘foolish tradition’ or a tool for leaders to exercise power over others (see Alma 30 for example). Unfortunately there have been examples of power hungry religious and civic leaders throughout history willing to compromise ethics, but painting all leaders with this sort of brush is disingenuous at best. It’s another way Satan fights dirty. He inspires such action by some leaders then points to it as an excuse for other, just as bad, behavior.

One of the arguments Marcuse uses is that total freedom to choose any option is a must. If options are somehow limited than one is not really free to choose, only to choose from limited options filtered, or narrowed, by someone with power. The options, goes his position, are intended to control behavior to keep or increase power for those in charge of the options. For example capitalists narrow options to increase profits under the guise of efficiency. Yet if there were an infinite number of purchasing options from any company then the business of providing a commodity is not sustainable. The result would likely be business collapse causing even the limited number of options to be lost. A friend of mine recently read a paper about ketchup. Some stores offered a large number of ketchup options assuming it would cause an increase in ketchup purchases. Instead the study found overall purchases decreased. Once the ketchup options were limited sales increased. The understanding was lowering options helped people to make selections.

​Religion, Marcuse argues, inhibits sexual choice in order to repress people through feelings of guilt. I think straying from Heavenly Father’s description of the law of chastity is less about who or how people love, and more about the effect on family and, by extension, society. 

Memorial Day is when we remember those who died in the service of our country. This year, Michelle and I decided to use the three-day weekend to go sailing. We sailed on our boat from Solomons Island, MD to St. Michaels, MD, a distance of around 50 miles or so each way.

On the way there we had heavier than expected wind and swells. To make it more challenging we had to sail straight down wind. Contrary to what the uninitiated might think, straight down wind (referred to as running) is actually the most difficult point of sail. We got to the anchorage after a long day of sailing, dropped the hook, and had a nice dinner. About dark the winds picked up again and the water was choppy, even in the protected anchorage. About the time we were thinking of going to bed we noticed the anchor was not holding against the wind and waves. We were drifting out into the open waters of Eastern Bay. Michelle took over the helm and motor. I pulled up the anchor. In the dark we went through the process of anchoring all over again. By the time the work was done, and we sat at anchor long enough to have confidence in the hold, it was into the early hours of the morning. Thankfully the rest of that night was uneventful.

The next day was relaxing. We rode the water taxi into town for an enjoyable time together visiting the museum and food venues St. Michaels has to offer. Another water taxi ride back out to our boat finished the visit. Next, we pulled up anchor again. This time to motor into the harbor marina in order to refill our fuel tank in case the wind would not cooperate back to Solomons. Once again we went back out of the harbor and anchored for the third time in two days.

Unfortunately the peace did not last. Around 11pm that evening as we were comfortably dozing I was awoken to a noise I didn’t recognize. Looking everything over inside and out there seemed to be nothing wrong. I laid back down. Michelle was now awake too. Suddenly the calmness of the night changed to very blustery winds. A storm front had clearly arrived. We got up, looked at our relative position to the houses on the shore and other boats. We also watched our position on the GPS system. Thankfully the anchor was holding this time. We never did figure out what the original noise was that woke me up, but because we were awake when the storm blew in we were able to watch over our position. We didn’t hear that sound after the storm was over.

Despite our anchor holding we noticed another boat that was anchored up wind of us was slowly getting closer to us in the dark. The slowness of the movement meant the anchor was not loose, but was dragging. The boat showed only its anchor light, and it seemed like everyone on board was asleep. When it moved to a position alongside us it was close enough that I could have thrown a rock at it and hit it. Worried, we blew our horn several times until someone onboard stumbled to the open and asked if we were honking at them. We pointed out they were dragging anchor. For the next half-hour we watched them moving around in the dark, but ultimately they took no action to change the situation. They eventually drifted a little behind us. It seemed less likely they might bump into us, but we worried our respective anchors might entangle. The winds calmed and the night grew late again so we left them to their decision to take no action. We went to sleep.

We got up early the next morning to get a good start back. The dragging boat had continued to drag and was now further behind us. Luckily for them they were not grounded or close to another boat. Our trip home had the opposite weather than the first leg. The wind calmed a few short hours into the sail and we had to motor much of the trip home.

The experience caused me to think about the idea of watchfulness. On that first night, had we just gone to sleep we would likely have been woken up to the sounds of our boat grounding on the other side of the bay, or worse. On the second night, we were diligent in case a change was needed. Our neighbors were not. Even when it was clear they had moved more than 100 yards in the dark, they chose to take no action. I ask myself, do I take diligent action to ensure I stay anchored in truth? Do I warn others when I see them adrift and moving away from safety? If I drift, am I willing to do the work to reset my gospel anchor, or like those temporary neighbors we had in the anchorage, am I more likely to doze and hope for the best?

One other learning point. I have been a long time afloat before, but Michelle had never been more than on a day sail. She was worried when we wrestled with bad weather and with a loose anchorage. On our way home after mooring back at our home marina, she mentioned to me that having the difficulty instead of an easy sailing day was a good thing for her. She was able to see how we could actually handle the difficult situation even in bad weather and the dark of night. She said she feels more confident for potential future trips. Similarly, when we face life trials and learn to lean on Heavenly Father, we gain confidence (faith) in Him and our assurances from Him.
​

Over the past few months my thoughts have been focused on the idea of putting off the natural man. A number of scriptures jump out at me from the church website:

Natural Man

See also Born Again, Born of God; Carnal; Fall of Adam and Eve

A person who chooses to be influenced by the passions, desires, appetites, and senses of the flesh rather than by the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Such a person can comprehend physical things but not spiritual things. All people are carnal, or mortal, because of the Fall of Adam and Eve. Each person must be born again through the Atonement of Jesus Christ to cease being a natural man.

• The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit, 1 Cor. 2:14.
• The natural man is an enemy to God and should be put off, Mosiah 3:19.
• He that persists in his own carnal nature remaineth in his fallen state, Mosiah 16:5 (Alma 42:7–24; D&C 20:20).
• What natural man is there that knoweth these things, Alma 26:19–22.
• Natural or carnal men are without God in the world, Alma 41:11.
• Because of his transgression, man became spiritually dead, D&C 29:41.
• Neither can any natural man abide the presence of God, D&C 67:12.
• And man began to be carnal, sensual, and devilish, Moses 5:13 (Moses 6:49).

I’ve been thinking about this area to try to understand the carnal nature and natural man to see what else I can do to put my life more in alignment with Heavenly Father. It comes to me that man has a nature, but so too does God. The list of scriptures describing His nature is long. So putting off the natural man does not mean not having a nature, but rather exchanging our carnal nature for His eternal nature.

I tend to think simply, and so I try to wrap big ideas up into simple ways to think about them. As a result the following thoughts are my simple way of considering how I need to transition to put off man’s nature in favor of God’s nature.

• I do my will because it is my will.
• I do His will because it is His will.
• I do His will because it is my will.

​I think from day to day I find myself living a mix of these three statements, but my task is to try to supplant the first more and more with the second. Then I need to continue toward the third. In the first I put little thought into my decisions. In the second I actively (consciously) work to bend my will to His. In the third, I again need little work since my will and His are the same. In the first my nature is carnal. In the third, it is Christ-like. 
​

You may or may not be aware that I’m foolish enough to be embarked on another post-graduate program. I’m not sure why I’m doing this as an old guy at the end of my working career, but it’s what happening. The degree is in Science, Technology and Society. Fall semester was about the history of technology. Spring semester is about sociological issues in science. In both semesters there was reference to a period in American history when industrial machinery moved from human or animal power, to water power, to steam power, then to electrical and petroleum-based power. There was a lot more on this during the technology class, but still some interesting effects in the look at social issues.

Why this is coming up is that while sitting in the temple, listening to general conference, and during down times in my work travel I was thinking about Beach Haven. It’s a town in Pennsylvania that was founded by one of our ancestors who we named our son Nathan after. I grew up in Berwick, a small blue collar town along the Susquehanna River. Beach Haven is just a few miles upstream from Berwick on the same side of the river, and is more like a small village, a sort of hamlet.

Growing up I remembered Beach Haven for two things. Fishing, and the steam-powered laundry that belonged to “Uncle Morris”. His actual name was Morris Kemmerer. By the time I had any sort of understanding he would have been in his 80s. I looked him up in the Family Tree software. I get these notes from them on occasion letting me know about one relative or other that could have temple work done. Now that my mother has passed away I’m paying a little more attention to family history. I had always thought Morris was my dad’s uncle (a sibling to my Grammy Beach – Violet Kemmerer Beach), but as it turns out he was his great uncle (sibling to my Grammy Beach’s father - Alfred).

Fishing in Beach Haven in those days was either done in one of many eddies that form along the bank, or in the remnants of the old 19th century canal system that still existed in pieces. When the water was high there was good fishing in the canals. When it was low there was not. That’s when we’d fish the main river.

The steam laundry was another thing altogether. For a young boy like me at the time it was an enticing maze of machinery, large conveyor belts driving the machinery, and the sound of hissing steam everywhere in the hot damp atmosphere. My dad told me how he used to help work there when he was a kid. I learned through my academic work that such businesses were common in the days when laundry machinery in homes was uncommon. By the time I came along they were not really doing laundry for families anymore, but were doing more industrial cleaning like for restaurants, hospitals and hotels.

In Beach Haven there really was nothing else. You could count the total number of homes on your fingers and toes, and there were no other businesses but Uncle Morris’ laundry. Today the landscape has drastically changed. The laundry closed after Morris died. Just before we moved away in the mid-1970s construction was started on a nuclear power plant that now stands on a hill overlooking (overshadowing) the town. The last time we visited there were still a few homes and an old cemetery where some of our ancestors are buried. We couldn’t see any remnants of the old canals anymore.

What was the same was the river. It flows continuously at varying heights depending on the time of the year. The water still looks the same as it did when I was young, as does the countryside of rolling, tree-covered Appalachia. Looking closely the downstream pointing ‘V’ shape of the old eel walls are visible just under the surface of the water. From Beach Haven you can look across the river and see the cliff face of Council Cup. It’s a promontory that gets its name from the fact that it served as a place where the old Indian tribes that lived in the area held their councils before the whites moved in, or at least that’s the story I heard back in the day. When I was young we used to go up to the back side of the cliffs at Council Cup and pick wild blackberries in the summer.

I felt inspired to consider how in some ways our times are changing. Like the town, human society shifts with successive generations, but only within limits. There really are no new ideas at the macro level of society. We humans just keep rotating and combining ideas that have been around throughout history. Some ideas are adopted to the detriment and suffering of millions of people. Others bring more or less stability.

What stays constant are the basic principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We can choose to align ourselves with them and find more joy in life, or not and find less of it. 
​

Over the week of July 4th last year Michelle and I visited our son Matthew in Italy. One of the cities we visited was Trieste. It is very close to Croatia. The area around Trieste is very beautiful. The water in the Adriatic Sea is crystal clear and a deep azure in color. 

This week I was thinking of our trip with Matthew. Each day we would venture out to visit a different city. A few days we hit more than one. We were on the go constantly with the help of our local tour guide, our son. It was lots of fun. We saw all sorts of castles, cathedrals, museums, cobble stone streets, and ocean views. That part of the trip was memorable, and we have the pictures, and the sore feet to remember it by. We did have three specific experiences that I think were the best. They involved getting to visit with some locals.

While in Padua, one of Matt’s friends who lives there joined us for a nice evening meal and stroll. Her name is Eleonora Russo, and she is working on a degree in education in Padua. It was refreshing to hang out with two young people and take in their enthusiasm for Italy and life.

Later in the week we had dinner in the home of another of Matt’s friends and her parents. Her name is Valentina Mazzoni, and she just completed a degree in education. I’m trying to remember the names of her parents. I think it was Eduardo and Anna. You can see how old I’m getting, in particular when it comes to remembering names. The dinner they treated us to in their home was terrific! When we got there it was raining like crazy. By the time we left the rain had passed and the evening was cool.

The other main interaction we had with locals was Sunday morning. Matt was nice enough to take us to the little branch of our church that was closest to his home. It is in the city of Treviso. He had planned on us touring the city anyway with its old walls and interesting streets. The town itself has multiple streams running through it that are channeled through some of the most picturesque scenes. In some places we saw actively used water wheels.

On the Sunday we visited there were about a dozen people in Sacrament. Three of the dozen were us. It was fast and testimony Sunday. I remember how those go in a small branch. After most had shared a few thoughts it looked like the Branch President would conclude the meeting early. So I brought Matthew to the front with me. The sister missionaries offered to translate, but I asked Matt to.

What I shared with them, and what I want to share with you, was my experience in small branches. My first church experience was in a small branch in Sunbury, PA. It was about a 45 minute drive from where we lived in Berwick, PA. Not long after we joined the church a new branch was formed in Berwick. We were about four families and a few single adults. I also attended several small branches as I served my mission in Spain. For example in Algeciras we met in a three bedroom apartment rented by the church. Our children also remember the seven years we lived in Leadville, CO where at times our family made up about 1/3 of the active branch members. Our youngest, Jacob and Emily, were born there.

Today we attend a ward of about 150 to 200 active members. What each of these congregations has in common, as I mentioned that day in Treviso, are humble people, doing their best to serve God and their neighbors. I could feel the same Spirit in that little branch in Italy as I have felt in the larger metropolitan wards we have attended in Salt Lake City, UT, San Diego, CA, Lincoln, NE, Atlanta, GA, and now near Washington DC. The number of members in a unit does not change the amount of the blessings that come from the presence of the Holy Ghost.

One note, I learned later that one of the sisters (not a missionary sister) was from Spain. I wish I’d have known that before we left so I could have chatted with her. One of the sister missionaries serving there came from Australia and the other from Virginia. She lives near Lynchburg, and was close to finishing her mission. I'm sure she has finished by now. Whether one serves in a large or small ward, or a tiny branch of the church, we are about the Lord’s errand. 
​

I know there is a posted headline version of this story on the BHP page, but I wanted to make some additional comment here.

After attending Mom's funeral, we returned to Utah a few weeks later. This time there were two reasons for our visit. The first and most important was to attend the wedding of our oldest son, Nathan, to Vicky Summerville. They were sealed in the Ogden, Utah temple. The weekend included all sorts of family activities. After the wedding, the happy couple took advantage of the week of Nate’s college spring break for their honeymoon to Portland, Oregon. We are so pleased to see them both happy, and to see them start their life together under the strength of eternal covenants.
 
The other reason for the trip was to help finalize the closing of my mother’s home after her passing. There were some larger items that needed to come back to Virginia with us. My wife, Michelle, took a friend from our church with her, and the two of them drove to Utah pulling a near-empty trailer. I flew out for the wedding. After all the wedding festivities, Michelle and I drove the car and full trailer back to Virginia. There are still a few items awaiting us in Utah to haul back, but they will wait where they are until summer time when we will go back out due to the impending birth of our ninth grandchild, John Coates.
 
In clearing out all my mother’s things there was one in particular that had some real monetary value. It was one of those high-end motorized wheelchairs. When we looked online it seemed to be worth several thousand dollars. We posted it online for sale and waited to see what would happen.

What actually happened? In a word, nothing. Despite the need and the value it was clear the two were not matching up. It became obvious that those who could afford to buy one likely already had, and were not in the market for another. Those who needed but could not afford it, continued to make do with whatever arrangement they already had. Basically, we had nobody interested in buying it.

So my sister, Lisa, asked around. The last few years of her life, my mother lived in a neighborhood where many other older folks lived. After asking around, Lisa was able to get a referral of a Vietnam veteran in the neighborhood, Leon Snow, that could really use the chair, but had no way to pay for it. We decided to donate the chair to him. Mom would have liked that. As it turns out, the fellow is a member of my other sister Crystal's church, and is good friends with Jerry, my brother-in-law.
 
It makes me think about how although life can be unfair at times, and it’s not intended to be, that there are little things here and there we can do to help in very specific positive ways. Although Christ taught to the multitudes, his miracles were almost always in service of the one.

As we see all the need around us, or have needs in our own lives, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed and discouraged. I see it every day on the street as I walk from Union Station in Washington DC, to my office only a few blocks away. Good news! We don’t have to help everyone we see with everything they need. We do what we can and have faith that God can have others help where we can’t. We also need faith enough to know that some won’t be helped in this life to the level that we (or they) believe they ‘ought to be’. We act in the present, as ineffective as our efforts may seem. We make a difference where we can. We do our best to try to keep an eternal view that this life is not meant to be fair. It’s meant to give us opportunity to learn and to help.
 
I know these ideas can sometimes sound like platitudes. I have seen firsthand when people have used the idea that they can’t do enough so they won’t do anything. They don’t even know what they are giving up when they focus on themselves, or only on the here-and-now. So with that here are a few phrases that have come to be my personal guiding thoughts:
 
“Wisdom through knowledge, integrity and service.”
A family motto we developed with our children when they were still young.
 
“I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded”
1 Ne. 3:7
 
“My Father worketh hitherto, and I work”
John 5:17
 
“And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity”
1 Cor. 13:13

​Like many others these days, I listen to a selection of podcasts. One of my regulars by NPR is titled Hidden Brain by Shankar Vedantam. Recently he had an episode titled Creating God and featured an evolutionary scientist named Azim Shariff. In essence, the ideas the guest shared pointed to an evolutionary need in early human development for creating community. The result, says Shariff, was the invention of religion, the invention of God. Creating a belief system, goes the argument, helped small groups form a common ethos and a method of bonding. Toward the end of the episode Shariff affirmed he is an atheist. Here is the description of the episode on the Hidden Brain website:

If you've taken part in a religious service, have you ever stopped to think about how it all came to be? How did people become believers? Where did the rituals come from? And most of all, what purpose does it all serve? This week, we explore these questions with psychologist Azim Shariff, who argues that we can think of religion from a Darwinian perspective, as an innovation that helped human societies to survive and flourish.

https://www.npr.org/series/423302056/hidden-brain

I have made an argument many times about science and faith, but after listening to the podcast I feel a need to make it again. I firmly believe that human intellect has limits, and the amount of data available to human kind is limited as well. A limited reasoning ability coupled with a limited amount of information often leads to only a partial, or sometimes completely inaccurate, understanding of truth.

A few days after listening to the podcast I listened to a Ted Radio Hour that was focused on this issue of what science knows about truth. The episode is titled The Spirit of Inquiry. In particular, a recurring theme in the episode was about the trap of arrogance scientists often fall into by believing the conclusions science draws. Multiple presenters, scientists not religionists, spoke about how science really doesn’t prove anything, but gives us a reasonable framework to try to understand the world around us, and the worlds in the cosmos. Here is the description of the episode on the TED Radio Hour website:

The force behind scientific progress is the simple act of asking questions. This episode, TED speakers explore how a deeper and more humble style of inquiry may help achieve the next big breakthrough.

https://www.npr.org/programs/ted-radio-hour/archive

There is a danger in this approach as well. A follower of this line of thought can come to the conclusion that truth is not really knowable. In his epistle to Timothy, the apostle Paul describes people in the last days. One way he describes them (us?) is in 2 Timothy 3

7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

When atheistic scientists remove the possibility of the existence of God, and accept completely the ideas of evolution, I can understand how they, like Azim Shariff, come to the conclusions they do. That said, if you assume one possibility should be completely ruled out (the actual existence of God for example), and you assume another possibility as the only description of reality, then how can someone really put stock in such a one-sided perspective? Isn’t that the same argument such scientists use to discredit those who claim a belief in God?

Personally I put little hope in any version of truth that relies only on the logic arguments of human kind, be they scientific or religious. By my own experience through prayer, and seeing results in the lives of those who choose to live the gospel of Jesus Christ, I find reason to view any idea through the lens of how it does or does not align with truth revealed through ancient and modern prophets. Coming to know truth requires more than thought. The Savior puts it this way in John 7

17 If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.

For me, faith is stronger than belief. Believing in something does not make it true, nor does belief imply action. Faith is doing His will (taking action). Doing His will increases faith. As faith increases, so does understanding. As understanding increases, a person comes closer to truth. As the scripture notes, doing His will discloses truth. Stated in the negative, if the doctrine is not from God, is not true, then doing the act will reveal to the doer it’s untruth, and faith does not increase.

I’m just fine that many do not accept my perspective. I’m also aware that when considering religion there is a great deal of variation and contradiction among belief systems. I wonder, though, how that is any different than the variation and contradiction among various scientific camps. Scientific evidence is just that, evidence. Scientific theory is just that, theory. So much of what gets represented as "fact" later proves not factual. Religions have come and gone throughout human history. So too have scientific theories.