The Glory of God is Intelligence

I was asked to speak at our adult session of stake conference this last week.  Since I received a few request for copies of it I figured i'd just post it here. This isn't exactly what I said but they are my notes and it comes pretty close. 

The Glory of God is Intelligence

Bio Med was the First class I ever had with both a lecture and a lab.

            Lecture mostly asked of us to listen, take notes and remember what we were taught.  Wrote and rewrote notes, got together with friends and quizzed one another endlessly on all the different names of the body parts, digestive system and circulatory system, and all of their corresponding locations and functions. The test would come and even though I was a good student and put forth much effort, I didn’t get A’s.  It was just too much information for me to process.

            The lab was the hands-on portion of the class.  We were put in groups and given a dead cat that smelled horribly of formaldehyde and was as stiff as a board.  My best friend named our cat Turbo and gave him a mohawk. We spent lots of time with him.  We were asked to look inside the cat and find the body parts, organs of the digestive system and how they interconnected.  It was a much different process of learning.  And I enjoyed it much more than sitting and being lectured to.   And what I found was that.. the process of learning by doing was much more effective for me.  It increased my understanding exponentially.   I got A’s without having to study as many hours.  In many ways the lab was easier, more fun, and exciting and I got so much more from it.

D&C 88:118  Seek Learning even by study and also by faith.

Chalkboard:

Study                                                                                    Faith

Lecture                                                                        lab

Taking notes                                                            hands on

Learn by trying to remember                                    learn by doing/experience           

“Faith is the principle of action in all intelligent beings.”

Have you ever asked yourself, why does Heavenly Father want us to seek so much learning all the time? 

Seeking learning is different then just a seeking for knowledge.

Elder Bednar said, “as we look to the future and anticipate the ever more confused and turbulent world in which we will live, I believe it will be essential for all of us to increase our capacity to seek learning by faith.

We get more Learning by doing!

Elder Bednar said that when he learned how to learn, he became a better student of the Gospel.

Two of My kids go to BYU Idaho and have both had to declare their majors and take classes and labs to gain the necessary intelligence needed to receive their diplomas

Lets say as members of the church we are on a quest to receive our diploma and were MUST DECLARE OUR MAJOR in Celestial Glory.

(In D&C 93:36 we learn the definition of “the Glory of God is Intelligence or in other words light and truth”. so let’s call it the Celestial intelligence major and we need to obtain all the necessary intelligence needed in order to get that diploma.

Chalkboard:

Celestial Intelligence Major

University of Life

Grad plan:

Classes

Lecture:  receive instruction/try to remember                  Lab: Doing                                                                       

Relief Society                                                                 visiting teaching

Elders Quorum                                                                home teaching            

High Priest Group                                                           home teaching

Young men                                                            scouting/duty to God/ (at mutual)

Young women                                                        personal progress (at mutual)

This act of home and visiting teaching is essential to our learning, understanding and progression in this life.

 In the process of, “the doing” of, the lab of home and visiting teaching, we discover more about how to be like Jesus than studying Jesus’ life.

Same is true for scouting, duty to god, and personal progress. 

But do we ever think of it that way?  Often it becomes a checklist and just a duty we feel obligated to complete. 

When we seek learning by doing however, we are acquiring the same characteristics of Jesus Christ.

And by allowing others to home and visit teach us we are seeing the characteristics of Jesus Christ in action.  It is a much more alive and active way of learning and understanding the gospel.

So like my biomed lab, it helps me remember what I am learning.  And it increases my understanding exponentially!!  so I have much greater success!

So Why do so many of us struggle with doing our home and visiting teaching?

Why do we have such a hard time committing to completing our duty to God and personal progress

I asked 40 men 40 women to answer something for me so in true family feud form …(ask 2 families ahead of time to help during meeting)

Chalkboard:

Top three answers are on the board. Here is the question…

What are the top 3 reasons for not doing our home teaching or visiting teaching?

1.  I run out of time, I don’t have enough time, I am too busy

2.  I found the time but the people I visit ran out of time

3.  Afraid I might be bothering those I am called to visit

 I think as a visiting teacher myself I already knew the answer to this question but it was good to hear that I wasn’t the only one feeling that way and wasn’t the only one having that experience.

So now what?  As members of the church we are very busy. And often with many good things.

I’d like to suggest that for many of us we have not declared our major. 

We have not decided that we choose to get our degree in Celestial Intelligence

and we are getting distracted by all the other fun and maybe even, not so fun, and interesting classes there are being offering at the university of Life. 

And don’t get me wrong; there are many noble and great degrees that do much good, however,

 If celestial intelligence is our ultimate goal in life then, it must be our first priority

And we can minor in other things.

There is a scripture that I have come to love for the blessing it promises. I will interchange the word glory and light with intelligence as I read it.  Because of the definition we read earlier of the glory of God is intelligence or in other words light and truth. 

D&C 88 67

“if your eye be single to (obtaining my intelligence), your whole bodies shall be filled with (intelligence) and there shall be no darkness in you, and that body which is filled with (intelligence) comprehendeth all things.

Put obtaining God’s intelligence first in your life.  Be willing to learn by faith.  Be willing to do the hands on activity of the Gospel.

It goes on to say…

:"Therefore sanctify yourselves that your minds become single to God, and the day will come that you shall see him; for he will unveil his face unto you.”

And, I testify that when God unveils his face to us we will see Him and his intelligence in everything.  He is in the sun and the sunset, he is the beauty of the earth and in beautiful music, his intelligence inspires invention and progress, he is in the laughter of children and the wonders of space. Everything in this life testifies of Him.

and…  He is teaching us in every act of service and every sacrifice of self; 

Through every act of parenting and

every act of strengthening our marriage,

in ever trip to the temple

and every home visit.

in every action we make to love one another

and serve our fellow man.

Its my hope that we don’t forget why we are here at the University of Life.

Lets declare BOLDY or majors

and SEEK continually from the laboratory of the Gospel by putting our desire to learn Gods ways first.

I testify that even if we don’t think we can ever be good at loving, serving, and sheparding someone, His intelligence can change us in miraculous ways.  Jesus Christ proves to us over and over in the scriptures that he can do miraculous things.  He can change water to wine.  He can make a blind man see.  He can make a deaf man hear.  He can make a lame man walk.  He even has the power to raise the dead.   

I believe he showed us all of these miracles to prove to us what happens to us when we seek learning by faith.  He can do all these things for us spiritually and intellectually.

He can change man.  In the topical guide under man new, spiritually reborn,

it lists scripture after scripture saying…

God gave him another heart

I will give him a heart to know me

I will put a new spirit within you

Make you a new heart and a new spirit

Help you walk in newness of life

Renew your mind

In Christ you are a new creature

Thy faith(doing) hath made thee whole

Hearts had been changed and

He was born of the spirit and became quickened.

Id like to suggest that the miracle we will love most is the one he will perform on us.

 

And it wont happen unless we seek learning by doing!