With Exactness

[Anonymous]

Old-Timer wrote:

As Roy, I believe, has said here in the past (sorry if it was someone else), it also is the human tendency to confuse formulas with patterns – turning general concepts into universal absolutes.

I did say that but that was born of some discussions that we had here so I can’t claim all the credit. Essentially people assume that if healthy eating and excercise tend to bring better health then healthy eating + excercise = blessings of health. Sometimes this becomes a problem because people assume that they are owed a blessing because of their works. My favorite example of this is Hawkgrrrl’s sister? that couldn’t understand why her decision to stay home with the kids out of obedience wasn’t delivering assumed financial blessings.

IMO the biggest problem with this concept happens when we look for reasons that people might deserve thier trials. “Too bad about their kids rebellion. If only they had held FHE with exactness.”

This is not just a mormon concept but we do tend to excel at it.

[Anonymous]

I do not recall hearing that we are not a works based church.

I recall hearing that we need works + faith + ordinances for salvation/exaltation. We have the ordinances/priesthood. We have the works. We show our faith… (you guessed it!)… by our works.

But I don’t let it bother me (too much). Part of my strategy for this is to supplement my spirituality from outside sources. There is a place for works in a healthy life. When that place begins metastasizing and cannibalizing the other components of my life, I know that it is time to drink from a different well of thought for a while.

[Anonymous]

Roy wrote:

But I don’t let it bother me (too much). Part of my strategy for this is to supplement my spirituality from outside sources. There is a place for works in a healthy life. When that place begins metastasizing and cannibalizing the other components of my life, I know that it is time to drink from a different well of thought for a while.

Yes, thank you for that reminder. We have a tendency to feel a want for a one stop shop approach many times(myself included). To fight against this tendency and be ok with shopping around for what works best for each individual is the real challenge and courage in life since it takes so much more energy and thought to work through it then a one stop shop approach.

[Anonymous]

I agree. What we can do is focus on loving our neighbor with exactness, or listening to the personal directions of the spirit with exactness.

I don’t see the interpretations of others as something that exactness can apply to for me.

[Anonymous]

In my TBM days, I used to get so caught up in the “with exactness” that it nearly tore my family apart. I’m SOOO glad those days and feelings are gone. I’ve expressed to all of them how much I regret some of the things I did. Fortunately, we survived it. Now I do what is exact to me, as Ray said, and I don’t care what anyone thinks. it’s between me and God.

Quote:

As an aside, my wife who is a TBM women I love dearly but not American sees this not as a gospel thing but an American culture thing that Americans and American authority are obsessed with. She sees it distinctly in that light and not as a gospel topic. She hates that part of our culture with a passion even while being very TBM. Because it wasn’t emphasized in the church where she grew up. She sees it as an American cultural attitude she hates to death. It’s interesting but the Lego movie has become very popular amount those I know who have grown up in this type of culture, even outside of America to many of my friends HK or japan.

THIS! Thanks, FC for posting that.

[Anonymous]

Old-Timer wrote:

Quote:

there is no quantitative measure for loving your neighbor or loving God

Amen. That is the real issue – that the things that are the most important are immeasurable and that humans are naturally inclined to measure.

In addition, we also tend to measure ourselves against others. It’s our tendency to want to be better or faster or stronger than our neighbor – probably from our survival of the fittest instincts. But I’m not sure God measures us against others because He is no respecter of persons. In all likelihood God measures us against us – at least that’s what I hope a loving and merciful God would do.

[Author]

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