Faith & the Pursuit of Spiritual Growth

My daughter-in-law, son and I were talking today about spiritual planes, specifically if it is part of the human condition to have difficulty visualizing how your own life would be different if you were at a higher spiritual plane than you are now. That got me thinking.

My first thought was to answer in the affirmative. When we are living the gospel the best we know how it can feel like we are at times overcome with the spirit. We tend to remember those moments as long as we continue to live the gospel the best we can. But if we allow ourselves to drift away from the influence of the Holy Spirit then those sacred, spiritual memories of basking in the light of Christ can be removed from our conscious thought.

When we look at others who we admire in the church it is often difficult for us to imagine that we will ever be as "good" or as "spiritual" as they are. But that is because we cannot see around life's corners. We cannot predict with great accuracy how we will grow spiritually over a given period of time. We only have our past and present life to help us to predict our future.

But God can see around our corners. He knows just what trials we need to go through in order to grow in the direction that will benefit us and our family the most. And that is where faith comes in. We not only need to understand that we have lot's of spiritual grow-room, but we need to trust that the Lord will provide us a path on which to pursue a higher spiritual plane.

Those who are perhaps older and more experienced in life may seem to be on a higher spiritual plane, and perhaps they are; but it is more likely that their life experiences have enabled them to evolved spiritually over time. They are not better than the rest of us, they have just had time to smooth out a few more of their rough spots. And all of us will be given opportunities to do the same.

Halo-3 & Evangelical Churches Promoting Violence

The video game Halo 3 was released just 3 weeks ago and already sales have topped 3 million dollars. That isn't my story.

The real story is about the hundreds of protestant churches, including many Baptist and Evangelical denominations, who are promoting the violent game of murder and bloodshed to the youth in their areas. Due to graphic bloodshed, violence and a focus on murder, the game has been rated M for mature players. In fact you have to be at least 17 years old to purchase it. But that hasn't stopped church leaders from promoting and offering it to any child who is willing to come to the church to play it.

In fact many of the churches have purchased more televisions so that they can accommodate more youth who want to play the game. Never mind if the reason the kids don't own the game is because their parents don't approve of it. The ministers are so desperate to bump up their youth attendance stats that, as one pasture stated to CNN today, they are willing to "use the Devil if it will get kids to go to church."

In fact the kids don't have to attend a religion class in exchange for being allowed to play the game, and most do not. In providing Halo, churches are permitting access to adult-themed material that young people cannot buy on their own.

“If you want to connect with young teenage boys and drag them into church, free alcohol and pornographic movies would do it,” said James Tonkowich, president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, a nonprofit group that assesses denominational policies.

The excuse that "everyone is doing it" doesn't make it right to use something as a missionary tool. However that is exactly the argument these church leaders are using to rationalize their decision to promote the "joy of killing" video game. In my opinion,when it comes to Christlike living, the end does not justify the means.

“It’s very pervasive,” said Mr. Palmer a Southern Baptist area leader. His organization recently sent e-mail messages to 50,000 young people about how to share their faith by using Halo 3.

At Sweetwater Baptist Church in Lawrenceville, Ga., Austin Brown, 16, said, “We play Halo, take a break and have something to eat, and have a lesson,” explaining that the pastor tried to draw parallels "between God and the devil. But I just like playing the game. It is just fun to blow people up.”

I am so happy to work with the youth in our ward. Boys and girls alike get up at dawn to attend seminary class before going to school. We pray, sing, study the scriptures and I teach a lesson. There are no video games involved, just a love for the gospel and the fulfilling presence of the Holy Spirit. You can't get that with violent, adult themed, video games.
quotes from: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/07/us/07halo.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1191903520-VuLkiQr74TDBijE5XJ3c3w