Doctrinal Essays

In my profession as a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) scientist, much of my time is spent in the observation of locations and events, and their spatial relationships, trends, and patterns. Understanding these conditions always paints a clearer picture and leads to truer understanding of the big picture. This 'nerdy' type of analysis has extended into my personal spiritual life. I have observed the inevitable trend of spiritual location and movement in my own life, and in the spiritual lives of others. Understanding these patterns, relationships, and more importantly, the causes of spiritual movement can aid in the goal of a spiritually constant life, and ultimate confident reunion with God. Position is an intrinsic component of movement. Two positions become manifest when movement occurs; the position before, and the position following the movement. The second position is always higher or lower, ahead or behind, or better or worse than the first position - never the...

There is a noteworthy scriptural concept related to movement, which involves no movement at all. It is the exact opposite of movement. Where one has no spiritual movement, one is still, or in other scriptural synonyms, set, fixed, unwavering, firm, steadfast, and immovable . The last three words appear often together and have become to me the triad of spiritual steadiness. Lehi understood the power of steadiness and wanted it for his disobedient spiritually wavering son Lemuel. He expressed his desire in these words: "O that thou mightest be like unto this valley, firm and steadfast, and immovable in keeping the commandments of the Lord!" (See 1 Ne. 2:10) [1] . Lehi was apparently moved by the silent and steady power of the Valley of Lemuel, and saw it as a fitting spiritual analogy for his spiritually wavering son. When my wife and I were first married, we went on the famous Table Rock hike in the Grand Teton mountain range. A deep feeling of reverence and awe overt...

The phrase 'spiritual movement' includes a number of components that are dynamically related. Movement can occur by choice, or involuntarily. It can transpire in positive and uplifting directions or in negative and spiritually diminishing ways. And the source of the moving power can be manifest outwardly or inwardly. Alma's mission to reclaim the apostate Zoramites illustrates many of these movements and their relationships. When preaching among the Zoramites, Alma discovered the poor and cast out condition among a certain group of the Zoramites, who had experienced the involuntary spiritual movement. He described their movement as those who were "brought to a lowliness of heart" (Alma 32:12), and also used the term compelled. He then said: "And now, as I said unto you, that because ye were compelled to be humble ye were blessed, do ye not suppose that they are more blessed who truly humble themselves because of the word?" (Alma 32:14). "Yea,...

The word incline is a Middle English word meaning to 'bend the head, body, or oneself to something'. It is used in a number of scriptures, such as Proverbs 2:2, which reads "So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding." The positions involved in this case are the ear in its un-inclined state, and the movement of the ear to an inclined state.  The implication is that when the ear is inclined in just the right way, wisdom at its source will more readily flow into the ear.  Joshua 24:23 reads "Now therefore put away, said he , the strange gods which are among you, and incline your heart unto the LORD God of Israel." The original position presented here is the un-inclined hearts of the Israelite s to the true and living God. The Israelite s apparently wanted to serve the true God, but the false gods among them had caused their hearts to be inclined in many directions, except for the correct one. In the natural world, ...

As I look back along life's path through a casual lens I observe the occasional change in my own attitudes and behaviors. Some changes have been for the better, and some for the worse. Some have lead me closer to God, others have lead away from him. But as I examine those pivotal moments of change through a magnifying glass, I observe that they were always brought about by my own choice and were always accompanied by a subtle shifting of my heart. As I magnify my lens one more time and began to analyze this shifting of my heart, what I found there has changed the way I think, live, and behave.  The observation and explanation for change is based on the words  resist  and  yield.  These dichotomous words (or their synonyms) appear frequently in the scriptures and have a unique and powerful relationship. They function much like a magnet, where negative will never attract negative, nor positive to positive, but positive and negati...