"Cursed Is He That Putteth His Trust In Man"
"Cursed Is He That Putteth His Trust In Man"
2 Nephi 28:31
According to LDS scripture, we are not to put our trust in mankind, but in God. The reason we should trust in God more than man is simple. Our own understanding is limited, but God's understanding is unlimited.
Who created Nature?
Nature has been around a lot longer than mankind. If you take away mankind, nature would still get by without us. Nature doesn't rely on mankind at all; in fact, I think nature would be in better shape without us. Nature is not man-made, God created nature.
Who created Words?
Words have not been around longer than mankind. If you take away mankind, words would not exist and even if they did, they would have no bearing on nature. Words are man-made. Words have been invented by men. Even if God instructed Adam and Eve in a pure and Godly language, words have been shaped, developed, altered and tailored to suit man's interests.
Words have had a reputation to deceive millions. That isn't to say that every word shaped by every human is deceptive. However, if one was to compare written words with nature, since words are man-made and nature is created by God, to me that means nature carries more weight. I am not trying to convince anyone that my point of view with my words. I want people to do their own research, look at the natural world and let everyone know what you have discovered. As I said, not all words are bad.
I see God in nature. I think God has the greatest understanding and a perfect knowledge about science and the laws that govern our universe. When we learn about the laws of physics or study different aspects of nature, we are able to see little glimpses of God's understanding.
Is Nature Deceptive?
One can not just look at nature and take everything they see at face value. From our perspective, the Earth is flat and the Sun revolves around the Earth. The way we perceive nature is very important. 
A telescope is a perfect example. Our eyes alone are very limiting and without special instruments, we would only see things from our own perspective. A telescope is one way to open up to a much greater understanding of the Universe. Since the Universe is so much bigger than us, in order to understand it, we have to see it on a much grander scale than just our natural eyes. A telescope is one way we can break out of our physical limitations of our natural eyes and see things in the universe beyond our own physical limitations.
Our natural eyes are limiting. We can look through telescopes to see things much bigger or look through microscopes to see things much smaller. These instruments are ways to see beyond our limitations and give us a greater understanding of the scale of the universe.
Of course our instruments are also created by men. All I can say is that they magnify our natural abilities to see, feel, touch, smell and hear. As man-made objects, these instruments still limit our ability to see an even greater vastness to the universe than we could possibly imagine. Maybe there are tiny particles so small that no instrument or device we could ever construct could see it. Perhaps we are somewhere within the much greater scale of the universe and our entire understanding of the scale of the universe is only a tiny portion of an even greater scale.
Regardless of our limitations, we are able to broaden our perspectives and see things as they are by looking, measuring, studying, weighing and carefully examining aspects that we see in the natural world. Nature is very large and we are very small. A telescope is a way for us to see things much bigger than ourselves. Nature is also very small and we are very large. Microscopes help enable us to see things much smaller than ourselves as well. I don't think nature is deceptive, it just exists. It is our limited perceptions that see things in an incorrect manner.
Our perception of nature is also limited and hindered by time. The time we have on this Earth is just as limiting as our ability to see the scale of the universe without any special instruments. Looking at fossil records and archaeological research is one way for us to see nature beyond our own physical limitations of time on this Earth.
If we could live out our lives for millions of years, then we could rely on our own perspective of nature, since it is also millions of years old. However, since our time on here is short, we can't really rely on our own perspective when studying nature. From our limited perspective, the earth is flat, the sun revolves around the Earth and animals don't evolve or change species.
Words Vs. Nature
I believe in God. I believe there has to be a creator. Why is nature so beautiful? Would nature still thrive if it were ugly? I believe it makes sense for God to create beings that can adapt to the ever-changing environment on this earth. I also believe as stated at the beginning of my post that looking at nature carries more weight than written text. Words are man-made and nature is God-made. That doesn't mean every word written or spoken is void, however, it does mean we should scrutinize everything that people say, including this blog you are reading.
I am not saying we shouldn't listen to people, or that we shouldn't read books. I am simply saying that if someone tells me that the earth is flat, but if the natural world is telling me something else, guess which one holds more weight in that argument? Someone else could also be using words to tell me the earth is round, but I could look at nature and see some evidence to support those claims.
Galileo, a devout Catholic, was persecuted and put under house arrest by the church for spreading the false doctrine that the moon had craters. It was believed and taught by the Catholic Church that everything in the sky was perfect and without blemish. Galileo still wanted to maintain his Catholic ties, but maintained that if you just look through his telescope, you can see that the moon has LOTS of craters, big ones too. There are many words in both the Bible and the Book of Mormon that are easily disproved by just looking at the natural world. Some examples that come to mind are DNA proving that Native Americans are not Israelites as the Book of Mormon claims.Other examples from the Bible are evolution, which is also supported by DNA, and the literal story of a global flood of Noah’s
Skeptical Mormon
4 comments:
Nature is not man-made, but if it weren't for men such as Galileo, what would nature appear to us to be? It would appear as it did to the Romans and other ancient peoples, full of wonders and beauty but not having the fascinating properties that we know it has.
There is no unmediated experience of the world, either of the world of nature or the world of culture.
Creation is a fantasy, not a fact. You see a god in nature only because you have made a blind leap of faith that a god exists: but of course there is no objective evidence at all for a god, and science hasnt found any.
Beauty and laws of nature are man made inventions: meanings in our minds created to explain, describe or appreciate nature as we observe it.
We use words to assign meaning to what we observe. Unfortuately, because words are abstract and arbitrary, flawed and misleading and incorrect words about supernatural entities can also be invented and misused. We delude ourselves with false words and concepts.
Indeed nature does give the illusion of intelligent design.
"Why are we able to perceive beauty?"
Hmm u have to go back to basics, look deep deep inside yourself. You will find, not jesus or god, but ur animal instinicts!
Tell me, would animals, including humans, find a luscious forrest full of life more attractive then a barren wasteland? Yes of course, lots more creatures live in forrest then barren wastelands because they have a better chance of surviving in there. Thus our perception of beauty helps support the golden rule, and that is the right to live!
People who deny the power of words, deny the creator of the universe. People who deny the Creator deny science and it's evidence of God. And it will always be this way.
Even a scientist has a greater relationship with God than an unbeliever. The scientist is research God's creation, even if in ignorance of Him and His word.
For it was the Creator who first taught us words. Without words we could never have learned to identify. Or to lie. Words just are.
Once said words bring beauty, joy, education, and truth, even to the revelation of the secrets of God or they bring shame, guilt, rejection, fear, anger, repression, censorship and lies.
None of this can be done without words. It there can be truth in a word, then what about a word makes it true? Well aside from God, people!
For example I when I first met my wife, being the stumbling bumbling dumb man I was, let her corner me with a question.
The question was, ( how do you like your women) meaning fat or skinny. Now my wife is 5'2" tall. She was a very nice looking 130 pounds when I met her. She didn't look fat to me.
But when I answered truthfully with the word skinny, she was so hurt I've not heard the last of it! And perhaps never will. She inside herself, felt inferior to other women. Something she admits now to me. However then it was a huge wound for her.
My word did something inside her soul that wounded her. And left a scar. If she were just a body, would the scar heal and be forgotten?
If God does not exist, then it also could be said man does not have a soul. If man does not have a soul, it could be said man does not really have a heart, that the feelings men and women experience are a mixture of a bunch of chemicals and plasma in our bodies, and after we die, we're dead, gone into the black oblivion.
To never live again?
If this were so then God is a lie and man would not exist. Yet we do exist, therefore I submit to you God too exists.
Could this be true?
What about men and women who've lost a limb who claim their non existent limb itches? Or people who can still feel a leg that is not longer there by all physical indications.
Kirlian Photography has long proved there is something more to human beings than mere matter and chemicals.
In 1901 A New York Times article was written about Henry Price wanting to photograph the human soul in death as it leaves the body.
In 1939 an Soviet electrician named Semyon Kirlian ( Kirlian Photography ) observed electrical discharges in the human body being emitted where apparently they should not be. He also proved the same with animals as well
I would tell you I've seen the photographs of existing Human Aura Limbs photographed. Have you? It's very convicting.
I would submit to you as a man and as a priest, that there is a God. Not based upon just scriptural teaching but upon scientific fact.
Facts the Internet is loaded with if one cares to be educated. And the media for that matter if one cares to notice.
Not long ago our " evil liberal" radio media, National Public Radio release a piece about gray matter. The scientist likened gray matter as a energy that is in a through all things. It binds it, and holds it in place, keeping all of this world together and what it is.
It should be noted this man of science likened this gray matter to God. Even saying the word God.
I also go to another source of reputable inquiry. Remember the movie Star Wars, and Master Yoda
talks about the force that moves in and through all things.
A force that if you learn about it, and serve it, you can become strong in it for good. This force that allowed you to sometimes sense things before they happened.
This mastery of this force made these students Jedi. Or in our language, prophets, priesthood, etc.
Now perhaps you think I'm being silly! But then again I'm part Indian. I can tell you for a fact my personal testimony of earth, and it's creator. I can tell you Jesus Christ is real!
Not because I've read some book and watched a movie. I talk with Him, I've been commanded by Him who is the Son of God, Even God Himself.
He has lead me on a life long walk of repentance, He's broke me, spiritually, then raised me up, and gave me my wife and a lovely daughter.
I've stood in a testimony service and had God Himself put words into my mouth to speak. He has used me as a mouth piece to speak to men. Just as scripture tells us He will if we will let Him!
I've been convicted to repent numerous times by His Holy Spirit.
When I doubted there was a God, it was not because I didn't know or not. It was because I didn't want to have a relationship with Him.
So I made excuses and told lies.
This was the way it was for me.
I have learned this lesson.
Don't tell a lie, or even make an unwitting uneducated statement.
God exists. It's been proven even of late His is real.
But scripture also tells us if we deny Him or His power, He will forsake us, and allow us to wonder to our destruction. Unless we repent and come unto Him.
Honestly folks, God's does not kiss peoples butts for attention. He did that once and we all killed Him for it.
The shoe is on the other foot. The suffering servant has come. The conquering King is next to come. He comes swiftly, prepare, make ready, Start your relationship today with Him.
Joseph Smith love him or hate him, is the prophet spoken of in biblical texts to bring forth a book to warn and prepare the world for the coming of Christ.
This is not a game.
Sincerely
James Brian Marsahll
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