I just finished the best book. It is called “The God Who Weeps”, by Terryl & Fiona Givens (a book commissioned by Sheri Dew, president of Deseret book). It talks about the nature of Heavenly Father and the inherent risks of being our God, His vulnerabilities having set His heart upon us his children and His limitations to being overly involved in our lives due to His respect for our agency. I find it interesting that we are here on earth scrambling to get to heaven, but do we really know what life there entails? It is quite illuminating to consider the ramifications of the life so many of us are seeking to obtain--A life filled with immense happiness and joys, but also a life coupled with tremendous sorrows and limitations. Welcome to the dichotomy of eternal parenthood!
Besides the exploration of life as a Deity, the book provides several insights and new ways of thinking on various gospel topics, each of which would make for a fantastic discussion or blog post. Below is my own extrapolation and summation of some of these points coupled with a few quotes from the book that I found particularly relevant:
- Life is an Ascent: We mistakenly refer to our presence here on earth as a 'Fall' from heaven, due to the ‘Fall’ of Adam and Eve as if coming here to this lone and dreary world was a less desirable thing than staying in heaven in our previous state or as if there was another less messy way we could have progressed to perfection. Why then did we leave the celestial splendor of heaven to 'fall' down to this planet filled with tears, suffering and heartache? The scriptures clearly state that Adam [and Eve] fell that men [and women] might be; and men [and women] are, that they might have joy (2 Nephi 2:25). We are here so that we can have joy, both in this life and more abundantly in the life hereafter--a fulness of Joy, the same measure of happiness that our Heavenly parents enjoy. Therefore, if it was necessary to 'fall to earth' to have joy, what does that tell us about the level of joy we enjoyed before this world? This means--We all gained something by leaving paradise. This life is a precursor to something even greater. We learn then that the 'Fall' of Adam and Eve was not a Fall at all, but rather an 'Ascent' toward something better.
- We are and become what we desire to be: “Our consequences are chosen by us at the time our actions are freely committed. When we choose to indulge in a desire we choose it's fruit--bitter or sweet. We become what we love and what we desire”. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "That which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts will determine our lives, and our character….What we are worshipping we are becoming". Our actions determine and define who we are. “Our choices turn our souls into our decisions”. Membership, attendance, declarations alone do not qualify us for heaven, they only provide us the opportunity to become the identity they presume to offer. “Our identity is the natural culmination of our true 'desires' expressed through a lifetime of choices”. Our ultimate and culminating identity is what actually determines our eternal destiny.
- This life is NOT a test: This life is an opportunity to ascend, to progress and develop further. “We are not in a contest racking up points”. This life is designed for “spiritual formation, not spiritual evaluation”. We are here to improve on what we were before this life. We are here to discover who we truly are and what we truly want to become. We are part of an upward process of advancement. We are not here to earn a place in heaven, we are here to become someone who wants to be and belongs in heaven (becoming heavenly ourselves).
- The primary purpose of this mortal life is to experience mortal life: If the primary purpose of this life is to become a member of His true church, than God has miserably failed the vast majority of His children. Only 0.21% of the world are LDS (Mormon). The sad truth is that this meager number probably represents the greatest assembly of 'Saints' the world has ever known, yet billions and billions have lived and died throughout this earth's history without hearing even a whisper of the name Jesus Christ or his gospel. Is God that blatantly inefficient or is God's purpose for His children in this life more than just discovering the gospel creme at the top of His religious truths? The lessons of this life are vast and all-encompassing. Regardless of our religious beliefs, every person is exposed to the intricate complexities of a mortal life. Each discovers through their own and shared experiences the inherent consequences of actions--some produce happiness and joy, where others produce sorrow and pain. After Adam and Eve ate of the 'forbidden fruit', the scriptures reveal God saying, “Behold, the man is become as one of us to know good and evil” (Moses 4:28). And thus each of us having been exposed to and having experienced both good and evil in our lives are better able to choose for ourselves what we ultimately desire (see 2 Nephi 2:27). This costly education in the school of eternal development exists with or without the gospel in our lives. Each life born into this world regardless of when or where, gains immense insights into the true nature of their soul, the inner desires of their heart and a glimpse at the prospect of what happiness is or could be. For this reason, God seems to feel that a life spent without the blessings of the gospel is still a life well worth living. [Note: To be sure, those so blessed throughout history to enjoy the added truth and knowledge of the gospel and been able to secure gospel covenants, blessings and promises will have had so much clearer the vision and potential to progress, although so also comes with it a greater obligation and responsibility. While many of these lucky ones have spiritually excelled in their lifetimes, I believe that the 'vast majority of Saints live well below their privilege' (Elder Boyd K. Packer)].
- It is not the sin that elicits the tears of God, but the results of sin to our souls: "The prophet Enoch is taken into heaven and records his ensuing vision. He sees Satan's dominion over the earth, and God's unanticipated response to a world veiled in darkness: 'The God of heaven looked upon the residue of the people, and He wept; and Enoch bore record of it, saying: How is it that the heavens weep, and shed forth their tears as the rain upon the mountains? How is it that thous canst weep?' Clearly, Enoch, did not expect God to be moved to the point of distress by the sins of His children. He then again asks, 'How is it thous canst weep?'. The answer, it turns out, is that God is not exempt from emotional pain. God's pain, in fact, is as infinite as His love. He weeps because He feels compassion. The Lord then explains to Enoch, 'unto they brethren have I said, and also given commandment, that they should love one another, and that they should choose me, their Father; but behold, they are without affection, and they hate their own blood...and misery shall be their doom and the whole heavens shall weep over them, even all the workmanship of mine hands; wherefore should not the heavens weep, seeing these shall suffer?' (Moses 7:29-37). It is not their wickedness, but their 'misery', not their disobedience, but their 'suffering', that elicits the God of Heaven's tears". I believe in life we often lose this critical perspective--it is the result of sin, and what that decision makes of us that should be our focus, not the sin itself. As before stated, "Our choices turn our souls into our decisions”. It's not the coffee, pornography, lying or stealing itself that is the offense to God, it is the conscious inward results of that decision. If we mistakenly focus on the 'sin' itself we will miss the true underlining spiritual pathology that is prodding the offender to seek after and eventually finding misery, captivity and death. And it is these ultimate and unavoidable consequences that brings down the tears of heaven.
- Sin is it's own punishment: Obeying commandments naturally leads to happiness and sin naturally leads to misery and pain. "Sin is disharmony. It is falling out of alignment with the pre-mortal state of our spirit and with God." Sin is separation from God by rebelling against the nature of God and therefore the nature of true happiness. Alma explained that when we sin we are choosing to exist in a condition "contrary to the nature of God" and "contrary to the nature of that righteousness" which is the root of God's identity and the source of His perfect Joy (Alma 41:11)". "God's supreme happiness is not an arbitrary category of the divine nature; it is inseparable from the perfection of those attributes that He chooses to manifest through His actions--actions that He invites and empowers us to emulate" We choose who we are and who we are determines our happiness. If we want to enjoy God's happiness we must make the decisions that God makes. If we make the choices that Satan makes, we must likewise experience the misery of our actions as he suffers his.
- Heaven is not a club we enter: “Heaven is a state we obtain, in accordance with our ‘capacity to receive’ a blessed and sanctified nature”. Living in the celestial kingdom requires that we are first celestial people. “Heaven is a condition and a sanctified nature toward which all godly striving tends; it is not a place to be found by walking through the right door with [the right] heavenly hall pass”. “We acquire heaven with our growing capacity to receive heaven”.
- Erroneous theory of Spontaneous Spiritual Metamorphosis: Too many 'Saints' assume that just because they are members of 'God's true church' that they will inherently metamorphose into what God is. As if by some inexplicable miracle, with little to no effort of their own, their nature will suddenly change and they will be transformed (or their spouses) into celestial beings! They lump this in with the 'it will all work out in the millennium' catch-all comment. The truth is, we build Heaven or Hell “for ourselves one brick and one choice at a time”.
Some things just taste good to the soul.
