Dan Brooks's Blog, page 12

No Respecter Of Persons

Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecterof persons." Acts 10:34
It's not that God respects no one, it's that Ge loves and respects all His children equally.
And we are taught by scripture to emulate that philosophy and behavior. But as is the case with loving our enemies many seem to find endless reasons to invent exceptions to that teaching.
In other cultures respect is an imperative rather than a choice.
In Hawaii for example I spent 4 years adjusting to a completely different culture. One in which respect was crucial.
I have been asked by Hawaiians how I survived in the rough neighborhood I lived in. And my answer was that I showed respect to everyone I met even when I was being disrespected. I avoided many conflicts by simply showing respect. I could have been beaten several times but I was respectful and it saved me many times over and endeared me to plenty of folks as well.
Respect is what makes a stranger feel welcomed. It's what allows people to feel understood. Respect can be a key building block in building bridges.
Jesus showed respect to the adulteress whose life He saved, He did not mistreat or disrespect a woman who was treated like trash by her neighbors.
Respect also displays value for those to whom respect is shown. And Jesus made an adulteress feel valued, and feel worthy of love and respect when no one else did.
Showing respect also commands respect. In our culture and especially on social media respect is sorely lacking and the more disrespectful people and their words are the more attention they get.
Respect shows class I think. And the more respect we show even when we may have cause to lose our cool, the higher the road we take.
Maybe our claims to being Christ's disciples would be taken more seriously if we showed the same love and respect to all of Gods children as we do to the select few we feel have earned our respect. We would do well to show the same love and respect to all God's children as a reflection of our love of God.

Be The Miracle

Christ performed many miracles but the greatest miracle He performed was His life and ministry.
He taught us to love God as much as we love ourselves and all His children, even our enemies.
Gandhi said "If you don't find God in the next person you meet, it is a waste of time looking for him further."
And Saint John Chrysostom said: "If you do not find Christ in the beggar at the church door, neither will you find Him in the chalice."
Seeing God in the eyes of everyone of His children will awaken all of us. Seeing people in that light is miracle enough. I feel that that is how Christ viewed each person He met in this life.
If we can see the light of God in the eyes of each person we meet, even our enemies who despise us. Doing so makes it easier to respond compassionately in the face of contempt and hate. It may even move us to forgive those who murder us by saying something like "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.
We often pray or ask, even beg for miracles but rather than pray for them it is more beneficial to be the miracle.
We can see people in the ways that Christ saw those He met. That's what Yogananda called Christconsciousness. And that is the biggest miracle we can be a part of because seeing others in that light then results in further miracles. 
That consciousness results in miracles of compassion, understanding, forgiveness and unconditional love.
We can work miracles in the lives of many by seeking after Christconsciousness. We can free others but first we must free ourselves. 
I believe religion is about controlling yourself not controlling the lives of others. Forcing others to live your religion won't free them unless what you offer is compassion and insight, kindness and generosity but above all offering love without limits or conditions. Those things will result in a change of heart and spiritual insights and depth.
True miracles soften and change hearts and open minds. Be the miracle that offers spiritual fruits not religious nuts. We can choose to be the miracle that Christ guided us to in all His teachings. The alternative is to wish for miracles that may only result in fleeting blessings.
But in being the miracle, developing Christconsciousness will start a domino effect of blessings in our lives and in the lives of those around us.
We may not be able to walk on water but that doesn't mean we can't offer forgiveness rather than condemnation to an adulteress. Or offer understanding where others know all they need to know. We can feed the hungry. We can offer love to the hateful who have likely never known real love. We can help others get back on their feet after a calamity.
We can offer friendship to a stranger and make them feel welcome. We can clothe the naked. We can visit those in prison and in hospitals. 
We can do and say and especially see and feel the way that Jesus did. That is the biggest miracle that we could ever work; to spread the light of Christ.

How To Keep Christ In Christmas

On and around Christmas Day in 1914 the soldiers of all sides declared a truce and played soccer or poker as well as exchanging gifts. They prayed together, they embraced each other. They were true to the Prince of Peace on the celebration marking His birth.
The sounds of war fell quiet and the sounds of celebration and goodwill toward men rose higher and higher.
No one died that day but many truly lived if only for one day.
If it can be done on one special day can't it be done everyday. If soldiers can bring the gears of war to a grinding halt for a single day can't our current wars be stopped just as effectively?
A young man wanted to see how a homeless man would spend $100.00 so he gave a homeless man $100.00 and followed him around.
His first stop was to a liquor store. And just as the young man thought the homeless man was about to get drunk he found him handing out food he'd bought at that liquor store to people he didn't even know. When poor people have the ability to help others they tend to.
When Jesus said that we will always have the poor among us, I wonder if He meant that our place as His disciples, is to live among the poor and minister to them. Just as He did throughout His life and ministry.
We can put the Christ back in Christmas by creating cease fires and making peace in the name of the Prince of Peace. We can serve others when the opportunity presents itself or we can seek out opportunity and make the most of it.
Christmas is about giving in a humble way and receiving graciously.
It's about serving others as Christ would have. It's about spreading and sharing Christlike love. It's about making sure no one feels left behind or forgotten.
Christmas is about more than our individual families, it's about all of us as the human family. We are all connected which is why we can't hurt others without hurting ourselves. And doing those things is how we can keep Christ in Christmas.

New Beginning And Painful Ends

Sometimes new beginnings are disguised as painful ends. Divorces, break ups, friends and fallouts, and even death.
New beginnings often flourish in the aftermath of emotional calamities.
The atonement and crucifixion were the painful ends to Jesus' perfect life and ministry. But out of that we had the new beginnings of the kingdom Jesus made available to us all.
Every last one of the original Apostles of Christ were martyred. Each one met a painful death before their new beginning in the Kingdom reunited with Jesus.
I lived in Hawaii, where I had been stationed in the Army, with my fiancé for four years. I tried to make it work with her but after the last meltdown I flew back to Utah. And as I dated I learned more about me and what I was and was not willing or able to do to make a relationship work.
Every break up left me distraught and I eventually felt unloveable and update able. If these relationships had not flamed out I would not have met my wife.
And if I had not broken up with my wife, twice, I would have had a better relationship with all of my stepchildren instead of 3 out of the 4.
My wife and family is the best thing to ever happen to me in my life. And I am eternally greatful for all of them.
If my prayers would have been answered in 2004 I would have a very different life and would not have been blessed with what I have now. I have a good idea of what my life with my ex fiancé would have been like but all that I treasure is what grew out of the wreckage of relationships that ended.
In the Army I was in the Infantry and my job was to fight in combat. I joined in 2002 and we went to war in 2003 one year to the day after I joined. But after a suicide attempt in October of 2002 I was processed out of the Army.
I lost friends in Iraq and Afghanistan but I lived because I was sent home early. I feel responsible for not being there with my friends but my wife and kids are greatful that I did not serve in the wars. They feel I would have been killed because I would have risked my life to save others.
My wife has said I would have jumped on a grenade to save everyone else. It feels good to have my wife think so highly of me.
Though the end of my military career was hard it allowed my life to blossom in ways it would not have other wise. And I try to make the most of life knowing that I'm lucky to still be alive when some of my friends died in their early 20's.
My dad lost his wife to his best "friend" as well as losing his mind and military career as well. He still wears his Air Force uniform top and he still bemoans losing my mom. He could have moved on with his life and made it worth living but he chose not to. He has always been miserable as long as I can remember.
He had the opportunity to flourish in life and move on but he never did because misery is too comfortable to him. He treats misery as an excuse to treat himself so badly. He rarely eats and weighs 130 at 6'4. He drinks too much and smokes too much and his health is awful.
So we each have a choice as to what to do when something ends in our life. We can move on or we can hold on to what's gone. 
Just because our past is ugly doesn't mean our future can't be beautiful.

What We Look For, We See

I've always wondered about people who insist Harry Potter books are Satanic or Lord of the Rings for example. Some people see things that aren't there because they're looking for them so naturally that's what they see.
I wrote a post called Hate is too great a burden to bear based on the Dr.King quote about how hate is a negative burden whereas love is positive and truly freeing. 
I shared this in a LGTB Mormon facebook group and was called a racist for it. I have no idea where the offense derived from even after rereading it half a dozen times upset that I may have written something offensive but I couldn't see how a post that basically said hate is bad and love is good was so wildly offensive.
People were looking to be offended and so they were. People fear Satan and see his influence even in places it is not.
What if we instead of looking for Satan everywhere and declaring the world as evil and sinful began looking for Christ in everyone we meet, in the words and actions of others? Wouldn't out eyes then see Christ more often and as more influential than Satan?
Would we be more upbeat and charitable? Would we see that all people are Children of God rather than seeing our enemies as children of Satan? And wouldn't it be easier to love our enemies if we see them as children of God?
Gandhi said "“If you don’t find God in the next person you meet don’t waste time looking for him further."
When we see someone as evil or Satanic most grant themselves an exception the the love your enemies teaching. There is no exception. And those who are under Satans influence need love the most. Love is what can free them from their bonds.
Buddha said our thoughts create our lives. So if we chose to see more good than bad that's the life we create for ourselves and everyone who is a part of our world. There is evil in the world but I believe there is more good than evil just as I believe good is more powerful than evil. Good will triumph.

What's Holding Us Back

Jesus taught that the two greatest commandments were essentially to love God and all His children. And the reason so many find these two commandments so hard to follow is that they have cherished beliefs that contradict those two commandments. Cherished beliefs that must be discarded to be free enough to be truly like Christ.
Like the teaching to love our enemies rather than despise them and retaliate, much of the teachings of Jesus come with a laundry list of exceptions that Jesus never taught.
Jesus never taught that if you love your enemy in your heart then it's ok to kill them. But many continue to argue that.
There is a natural struggle within us when we let go of long cherished beliefs that are harmful to us or others. So the idea is not to choose the path of least resistance, it's to let go of the things that hold us back. Both spiritually and temporally. 
When we let go then we free ourselves of the burdens that impede our growth personally and spiritually.
We must let go of unhealthy or negative mindsets and bad habits that hold us back in life.
Holding on to grudges and denying others our forgiveness cripples us not just those with whom we hold grudges for.
Dr.King said that hate is too great a burden to bear but choosing love over hate, forgiveness over grudges, mercy over cruelty allows us to be free not merely allowing a foe off the hook. Forgiveness frees the victim as well as the victimizer.
Jesus had the option of cursing His crucifiers to damnation but He instead chose to pray to God for their forgiveness.
Jesus was sinless but He was also free in all the ways that we are not. He was free of hate, He was free of vindictiveness, He was free of negativity, He was free of vengeance, He was free of holding grudges. He was truly free.
The idea is to free ourselves of all the negativity that gets in the way of us being like Christ. In this sense holding on holds us back but letting go sets us free.
There are things in life that just don't work for us and by giving up on what doesn't work we may find what does work for us.
Even whith an adulteress that was caught in the act Jesus chose understanding and compassion instead of condemnation which by rights only He could have done. But He chose not to. Because compassion is better, because love is a better answer than hate or condemnation.
Jesus is the judge of us all, our job is to forgive and love God and all His children.
Whatever the sin against us is, murder of a family member, theft, infidelity responding with love, understanding and forgiveness frees us from the burdens of hate, vengeance and fear. It's not just about the forgiveness of those who sin against us, it's also about us being free of those unhealthy emotions and mindsets. Forgiveness is permission to move on from the pain into a brighter future.
So the question is what is holding us back? And but by bit as we discover what those things are we slowly free ourselves and we allow ourselves and each other to truly grow.

Scars And Strength

I've heard that we should never be ashamed of our scars, they serve as a reminder that we were stronger than whatever tried to hurt us.
They show others that we are survivors. They always have a story but not all scars are visible. Physical wounds are finite in the sense that the damage has limits. Emotional and mental wounds can last a life time on the other hand.
Every scar tells a tale. Some good, some bad, some entertaining and others that are terrifying. 
The stories of our lives are often told by our scars. When Jesus was resurrected He was not fully healed, He had the wounds of His crucifixion still. Maybe He still had scars as a way of telling the story of His crucifixion that could in no way be more potent than through displaying those scars.
Job was covered in boils after he lost his family, his property and his wealth. The scars from the boils would have reminded him that he persevered through his trials and did not merely survive but he prevailed and did so with his faith intact. Still, not all his scars would be visible, some of the most painful would be mental and emotional scars.
Sometimes our scars, visible and not, remind us how far we've come, how much we've grown, how strong we are and how strong we were.
Each one of us has a unique story that is often told through our scars visible or not. But our scars don't define us, we define our scars.

The Church Essay's

I wrote about the priesthood ban long long ago. And I raised most every point the church did in their award winning essay. 
But the church did raise the issues surrounding why the ban was put in place, the history of the curse of Cain theology so it's good that so many of these issues were dealt with.
However, stopping short of an apology was not. Nor was running from the issue that every church leader said, and in general conference no less, that the ban was God's law. But the church's essay says it was merely the opinions of church leaders and not God's law. This discrepancy has yet to be dealt with.
The essay on polygamy is just as dicey because while an Angel with a flaming sword may have commanded polygamy I have yet to see any scripture making marrying other men's wives (polyandry)acceptable in the sight of men or God. This discrepancy also has yet to be addressed by the church.
I like and applaud the move that the church is making in attempting to address many hard issues in what seems to be an effort in transparency but after many of these essays it seems that they merely placate the public without addressing obvious problems or make an apology for any previous wrong doings.
Not addressing obvious problems is the result of a very common problem of providing milk instead of meat rather than simply providing milk before meat.
But then what else can you expect from leaders who say that the biggest threats to our church are Intellectualls, homosexuals and feminists? 
Those groups arent threats in my view, they are assets in the sense that the issues all those groups raise merely provide new and unique opportunities to be more loving, more understanding and more forgiving than we have been in the past. Then we can walk the walk instead of just talking to make ourselves feel better.
And that may be the intent of these essays, to make uncomfortable issues of the past more acceptable and easier to understand and thus make ourselves feel better about said issues.
But to apologize for past wrongs would go further than explaining that no wrong was done.

Making Peace

Peace between foes cannot be made without forgiveness on both sides. It is all to common for people to seek vengeance and when retaliated against that retaliation becomes the justification for another attack and the cycle of war continues. But what about the cycle of peace?

14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:

15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Matthew 6:14-15

But what are the limits of forgiveness? How much must we forgive and how many times? Jesus said this; Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?

Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven. Matthew 18:21-22

70 times 7 represents infinity in 2nd Temple Jewish culture. So Christ is saying our forgiveness not just our love ought to be infinite.

How can we love our enemies if we continue to kill and torture them?

To have peace we must be at peace, to be forgiven we must forgive, to be respected one must be respectful and to recieve mercy one must be merciful.

The biggest step in ending war is to stop the killing. Giving food and medical care may win hearts and minds but it is crucial in moving away from war and toward peace.

Another step is trade for as shallow as that sounds. Doing business with a former enemy results in an exchange of culture and ideas. And learning about the people that were once our enemies helps humanize them which is crucial because the easiest way to turn people into your enemy is to dehumanize them.

So by putting a name and face to old foes helps us to see them as people and as equals.

Every enemy we have ever had is first and foremost a child of God. And it is important to move from the hurt, the pain and the struggles involved and let the past be past and move toward peace step by step. It's never easy especially the more seriously we've been hurt. But as disciples of Christ we would do well to implement the teachings of love and forgiveness.

Coming out of The Storm

Many feel that God is a bully responsible for every wrong, for every killing, murder and death. And many say he is at fault for not intervening and preventing all things bad.
But the suffering we go through in this life serves a greater purpose during and after this life. A soul cannot be destroyed so one cannot die in the sense of ceasing to be but only in the mortal sense.
And more often than not the suffering we go through is due to either our own actions or that of others. It is the cost of having agency.
I was in an abusive and manipulative relationship for four years. It was hell but I stated because I kept thinking, despite all evidence, that things would change. But it never did.
Because of that train wreck of a relationship and others I learned about what was unhealthy and I persevered through my current marriage and learned how to maintain a healthy relationship that I otherwise would have bailed on or would not have appreciated as I do now.
I became a much different man once that  abusive relationship ended. I was ready and able to handle what I have now. It was a stormy relationship and I am a better and stronger man for having weathered that storm.
Every struggle we face in this life shapes us into a better and stronger person if we let it. We can sink or swim but the outcome is largely up to us and even when it's not our attitude and reaction to it is up to us.
Peace is not being free from struggles, pain and chaos; it's being at peace in the midst of the storm. We don't need a life free of pain. We only need to let our pain make us stronger because a life without pain is a life like what Buddha had until he was in his 30's. 
Buddha was a prince who was groomed to be a great military leader. His life included everything a man could want, he was lavished with women, alcohol and riches.
Then he finally wanted to see what life was like outside of the palace walls. What he encountered changed his life forever and his realizations changed history as well.
He saw the poor, the sick and even the dying. And his response was to leave his old life and begin a new one as a traveling monk.
He taught the path he followed that lead him to enlightenment in the hopes he may free others as he was free.
Smart people learn from their mistakes but wise people learn from the mistakes of others. Buddha was enlightened at the suffering of others since he knew no suffering himself.
But we can all learn from our suffering and that of others. We will be all the better for it.