Thoughts on stuff,

Dear Everyone, 

I am talking to my family in a few minutes! YAY! But for fun this week I thought maybe I would just share with you some of my notes from scripture study. This is something I wrote back in March, that I was rereading last night and thought was interesting. Sorry if I used words that aren't really words and made references to things you haven't read, or if you think this is stupid. But hopefully you might find it interesting. 

"What limits we put on ourselves when we consider ourselves to be primarily and most importantly, individuals. As if we have nothing to do with each other. Or as if all that is in the scriptures must refer to us specifically in some very literal, tangible, positivistically credible way. After reading about Faulconer's description of the difference between Hebrew and Greek thinking, particularly the difference between assuming Adam to be a discrete individual (Greek) and assuming him to be a name for all of humanity (Hebrew, see Genesis 5:2), it is really changing the way I look at things. 2 Nephi 2 says that "all men are instructed sufficiently. I often look at that and think, "No, what about the kids who grow up in orphanages, and have no opportunities to learn right and wrong ways to live? They aren't instructed sufficiently." But I don't think God thinks of it that way. He has given to man, at large, his truth. Moroni 7 describes this process--through angels and prophets and "diverse means", God reveals the truth of his existence and love for us to the earth. They then relay it to more people. And we are all connected, one and the same--that orphan is a part of me. I can't conceive of me--the light and truth I have received--as separate from him. It implies that all of us have an innate responsibility to share the truths we have with others--not as a kind, voluntaristic thing to do, but out of a natural, necessary response to who we are. Which is why 2 Nephi 2:8 says, "Wherefore how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth'. 

It is interesting how in the scriptures people talk about how God will bless their 'seed'--simply because several hundred years after an apostasy of sorts, he will reveal to them his gospel again. To an American, western, individualist perspective, this doesn't make any sense. how can a good God consider this fair, when there are so many people in those in-between years who never get an opportunity to know the gospel? From this individualistic perspective, the individual is the fundamental social unit of society and thus a good God must give to every individual the same opportunities/experiences. But in the scriptures, it seems families are the fundamental unit. Sometimes even very large families, including hundreds of years worth of ancestors. What an interesting concept! Because God has been good to the family group, when looked at as a whole, all the parts can consider themselves blessed. This a beautiful truth that is really evident in the restored gospel, with its emphasis on the family and belief and practice of temple work. And it is a probably a truth that we need to understand in order to gain salvation." 

I think by that last part I just meant that in order to gain salvation we need to understand our relation to others for what they are. 

Love you all! 

Diana