Book # 17

20 Compelling Evidences That God Exists

By Kenneth D. Boa & Robert M Bowman Jr.

Okay, Okay .... so I am behind. I should be on book 20. But May has been a tough month. I got out of jail and then had to go back in after 2 weeks. It was just so depressing. Ha Ha! But seriously, I just got to go outside and work in the garden for 2 weeks and then it started to rain again! I am so sick of gray days!!! I am also behind because I picked another dumb book. Just kidding, it wasn't dumb. I liked this book for the first half, it was interesting, challenging, mind stretching. But then it got to where I was thinking "you've got to be kidding me!" and "is it over yet?" And I didn't read it because I doubt the existence of God, I was just interested in what someone had to say about it. I liked the scientific evidence that they presented in the first few chapters the best. The other thing I liked about it was that they also presented the opposite views to their own; what atheists might argue against the evidence of God and Jesus Christ's divinity.

I will make this a brief post. Just so you know, if anyone is interested in reading these books I am writing about, I would be glad to lend them out.

Chapter 1

The Evidence of Reality

If a belief system doesn't claim to correspond to reality, head for the nearest exit.

Chapter 2

The Evidence of Knowledge

You can know the truth--and still not be an arrogant pain in the neck!

Chapter 3

The Evidence of Existence

The most elementary question: Why is there something rather than nothing?

Chapter 4

The Evidence of the Universe's Beginnings

The Universe hasn't always been here, and it's a good thing, too.

Chapter 5

The Evidence of the Universe's Fitness for life

Somebody went to a lot of trouble to make it possible for us to be here.

Chapter 6

The Evidence of Life's Origin

The more we learn about the origin of life, the more of a puzzle it becomes.

Chapter 7

The Evidence of Life's Intelligent Design

The closer we look, the clearer it is that life was intelligently designed.

Chapter 8

The Evidence of a Fallen World

As wonderful as it can be, it's obvious that not all is right with the world.

Chapter 9

The Evidence of the Bible's Reliability

The general reliability of the Bible's text and major "story line" is not in question.

Chapter 10

The Evidence of the Bible's Accuracy

Where we can test the Bible's accuracy in matters of fact, it holds up remarkably well.

Chapter 11

The Evidence of the Bible's Fulfilled Prophesy

The Bible contains remarkable predictions of events occurring centuries later.

Chapter 12

The Evidence of the Bible's Profound Wisdom

Despite all criticism, the Bible contains the wisest counsel ever written.

Chapter 13

The Evidence of Jesus' Life

No one can afford to ignore Jesus, the most compelling person in history.

Chapter 14

The Evidence of Jesus' Claims

By claiming to be God, Jesus left us no room to view Him as just a great teacher.

Chapter 15

The Evidence of Jesus' Death

The death of Jesus holds the key to His identity and to the nature and love of God.

Chapter 16

The Evidence of Jesus' Empty Tomb

The empty tomb of Jesus is a cold, hard fact that even early critics couldn't deny.

Chapter 17

The Evidence of Jesus' Resurrection Appearances

The accounts of Jesus' appearances cannot be reasonably explained away.

Chapter 18

The Evidence of Those Who Lived For Christ

The realty of Jesus' resurrection is evident in those who have lived for Him.

Chapter 19

The Evidence of Those Who Died For Christ

Only Christ has inspired so many to die so nobly as martyrs for their faith.

Chapter 20

The Evidence of the Uniqueness of Christ

The world's religions have no one and nothing to compare with Jesus Christ.

Sorry. Not too much information shared. But the sun is shining today!!! 

So I'm done with this book.

Until next time ;o)

Book # 16

Hellen Keller: A Photographic Biography

By Leslie Garrett

This is a biography published by DK Books. If you aren't familiar with DK it is basically an children's educational publisher. I have been mildly interested in Hellen Keller and bought this book some years ago for my sons so that they could read about someone who achieved success against great odds. I liked the book because it had pictures and facts about the subject, and when they used a word that a young reader would probably not be familiar with, they would have the definition in a little box on the same page. There were also small by-lines about historical facts and people that would help the reader understand the life of the subject better.

Things I learned about Helen Keller, and about her teacher Annie Sullivan.

Annie Sullivan was born in Massachusetts on April 14, 1866. She contracted Tracoma, an eye infection  when she was 3 years old. Her family didn't have money for treatment and so her eyes became very weak. Her mother died of Tuberculosis when Annie was about 10 and her father was an alcoholic and so Annie and her 5 year old brother went to live in the poorhouse, where they were the only children, except for the newborns in the orphans ward.  Her brother passed away there. Annie eye sight was so poor that eventually she received admission to Perkins Institution for the Blind when she was 14. Annie had a terrible temper and was almost sent away from the school but a teacher took her under her wing and taught her manners and how to control herself. She became one of the best students and graduated as class valedictorian. The summer after graduation, she was asked to become the teacher for a Hellen Keller. She spent many months studying how to teach a blind, deaf and mute child, before she accepted the position. On March 3, 1887 she arrived in Tuscumbia, Alabama to teach Hellen Keller. She was 20 years old. She remained as Hellen's teacher, friend and companion for the rest of her life. She died on October 20, 1936 at the age of 70. She was totally blind by then.

Helen Keller was born June 27, 1880 in Alabama. When she was 3 years old, she developed a high fever and as a consequence lost her hearing and sight. She became a wild, uncontrollable child. When Helen was about 5 or 6, her mother read a book by Charles Dickens called "American Notes." He spoke about meeting a blind and deaf woman who lived at the Perkins Institute for the blind and noted that she had learned to communicate. Kate Keller hoped that the same could be accomplished for Hellen. They took Hellen to a noted eye doctor, who admitted that nothing could be done for Helen's eyesight or hearing, but that she was obviously intelligent and could be educated. He recommended that they meet with Dr. Alexander Graham Bell who (among other things) was an expert on teaching speech to the deaf. Dr. Bell recommended that ask the Perkins Institute for a recommendation of a teacher for Hellen. Annie arrived about 7 months later.

Other notable facts:

• Helen was taught to speak but she was difficult to understand by most people.

• Helen learned to lip read by placing one hand on the speakers throat and the other on their lips.

• Helen was a Socialist, but received much financial support from several notable, wealthy capitalists.

• Helen was once charged with Plagiarism.

• Helen graduated cum laude from Radcliffe College when she was 24 years old. 

• Annie Sullivan married a man 11 years her junior and he lived with both women for many years, until he and Annie separated.

• Helen was courted by a man named Peter Fagan. Her mother disapproved, and so they made secret plans to elope. Peter never showed up. Helen was disappointed but decided that it was for the best. She referred to that time when love entered her life as her "little island of joy."

• Helen supported suffragists and workers striving to create unions.

• A silent picture called "Deliverance" was made of Helen's life in 1918. It was not very successful.

• Helen and Annie created a Vaudeville act which was highly successful.

• Helen became quite religious and followed the teachings of Religious philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg. She especially likes his idea of heaven. She came to believe that "death is no more than passing from one room to another." She said that for her though, "In that other room I shall be able to see."

• Helen wrote 2 autobiographies, "The Story of my life" and "Midstream: My Later Life". 

• Helen lectured all over the country for the American Foundation for the Blind.

• In 1954 a documentary was made about Helen, featuring Helen and was called "Helen Keller in Her Story."

• Helen traveled extensively and met many famous and powerful people. She was a very famous person in her time.

• Helen visited the wounded during WWII. 

• In 1959 a play called "the Miracle Worked" was presented on Broadway. It was very successful and was later made into a movie and tells the story of Helen when Annie first came to be her teacher.

• Helen died of a heart attack in June 1, 1968 in Westport, Connecticut.

Book # 15

"Satan's War On Free Agency"

By Greg Wright

I saw this book in our local drug store which is owned by our recently released Stake president. It caught my eye and I wondered what else could be said about Satan and his war on our agency. It was surprising and I thoroughly appreciated this book.

The author is or was a Seminary teacher. This is an object lesson he used with his students to demonstrate the difference between choice, freedom and agency. 

He would put a penny in one of his hands, close his hand into a fist and then hold it out in front of him. Then he would ask a student to pick a hand. The student would momentarily be confused and then would pick the hand with the coin in it because it was the only one offered. They then would discuss that choice means that you have a minimum of 2 options. 2 options = Choice

Then he puts a penny in each hand and offers both fists to a student and asks them to choose. Now, the student has 2 options, but the result of both choices is the same. So they talk about how that in order to have freedom there needs to be different results in your different options. "In Nephi 2:11 we read that there must be opposition in all things, so we need not only opposite choices, but also opposite, or at least different results." 

2 options + different results = Freedom.

So then he puts a penny in only one hand and offers two closed fists to a student and tells them that they now have two options and opposite results, and the empty hand means that they go to hell and the hand with the penny means that they go to heaven. If the student picks the empty hand he tells them "sorry, you are going to hell." He then asks if this person had agency. Then they discuss how in order to have agency, one needs knowledge of the results. 

2 options + different results + knowledge of the results = Agency

He then discusses how political freedom differs from spiritual freedom. He noted that political freedom means choice without penalty. But spiritual freedom means choice without compulsion. He says, "This is a key concept that many of our youth do not understand. Some of them think that when their parents impose penalties for making bad choices, that their free agency has been taken away. What is worse is that some parents believe this as well......The philosophies of the world today fuel this falsehood by promoting the notion that freedom always means choice without penalty. Such false doctrine insists that no penalty should be administered for so-called wrong choices simply because people have the right to make choices. They believe that if anyone, (including God) threatens to impose a penalty for their choices, their rights have been violated. The truth is that the "free" in "Free agency" is not without penalty and never has been--but it is without compulsion."

He talks about how we simplify the word "agency" a lot to mean freedom to choose, when it really means so much more. The word agency is derived from the word "agent" and to be an agent means to be a steward, to be responsible for something, and in the religious sense we are agents for ourselves, for our souls. "The 1928 (Webster's dictionary) definition of the word agent is: a substitute, or deputy, one entrusted with the business of another. This refers to someone who is assigned to and responsible for certain duties...In other words, an agent is a steward, someone who is accountable to someone else for the choices he makes." We are accountable to God for our own souls. In Moses 1:39 it tells us that God's purpose is to "bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man". But he doesn't force us to obtain it. We are our own agents in making this happen. So the formula is 2 options (choice) + different results (freedom) + knowledge of results = agency, which also means accountability. 

I love this. I'm going to give a family home evening lesson using this object lesson.

Then he talks about how Lucifer, "a son of the morning"  became Satan. How we mistakenly think that Satan's plan was to force us to be good so we could qualify for heaven. How do you force someone to be good? This is something I have often wondered. You might be able to compel someone to do the right actions but how can you control their mind? The author talks about 3 plans and compares them to attending a university.

The first university is Force College "At force college, no one ever has, or ever will get into trouble on campus. No one ever breaks any rules. No one needs to worry about their safety or well being. There are security guards every where who do not allow anyone to break any rules or harm anyone else in any way. All students are forced to live the school's standards. Personal tutors force students to study and learn. As a result, everyone gets straight A's. Graduation and straight A's are absolutely guaranteed to every single person enrolled in force college."

The second university is University of Freedom. "Do as you please is the school motto. The only requirement is attendance on campus, though not necessarily in class. You may read, study, sleep, play, dance, talk, wander around, or just sit and listen to your music. There are absolutely no rules or restrictions. There are no standards of dress or conduct....If you wish to educate yourself, you are free to do so. Teachers are available if and when you need them. Books are also available in the library should you want to study. The campus entertainment center is always open, complete with everything you can imagine. The cafeteria is always open and the food is free...You are totally free to do as you please. They also guarantee you will receive straight A's, and every single student will graduate regardless of what you have or have not done."

The third university is Law School. Law School is "a place where facilities and teachers are available only at certain times, and a strict schedule of classes is maintained. There are many rules of conduct which provide a safe and orderly environment to protect the rights of everyone. Obedience to the standards is expected and disobedience is punished. Learning is the purpose of this school and efforts toward learning are expected of all. No one will be compelled in any way either to study or to attend classes, but hard work and dependability will be rewarded while laziness will not. Generally, only a few excel, though all are free to do so. You are graded against certain standards and criteria but not against other students. You are free to succeed, fail or be average. While straight A's and graduation are possible for every student, they are only given to those who meet the requirements."

He then quotes general authorities and the scriptures to persuade the reader why Satan's plan was the University of Freedom and Not Force College. First of all, Satan persuaded a third part of Heavenly Father's children to rebel. Who in their right mind would vote for going to Force College? He believes that Satan wanted to save us in our sins, not from our sins. In Moses 4:1, Lucifer says, "I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost." If he imposed the force plan and we were all sinless, then he wouldn't need to redeem us. The force plan is not logical. But allowing us to sin and then redeeming us without any effort on our part, is something that many of us would want. It is the philosophy of many in the world now. A free ride. No responsibility or accountability for our actions. I can see how Lucifer could have led away so many of God's children with that idea.

With this in mind, the reason why we say that Satan wanted to rob us of our agency, isn't because he wanted to take away our choices. He wants to take away our accountability. We would no longer be agents for ourselves. If he redeemed us of all sin, then we have no reason to repent or to modify our behavior in anyway. But the sneaky part of his plan was that when there aren't different results, then we have less freedom, not more. Pretty deep, huh?

Then he talks about modern day secret combinations and how Satan uses them to corrupt people. He said that they have many methods of operation, but he only focused on two. He said that the government convinces us to trade our freedom for security, and also through Hollywood corrupting our morals. 

The last part of the book focuses on us as parents, especially those in the gospel, who mistakenly believe that when we impose consequences for our children's bad choices, then we are stealing their agency. I have to admit I am sort of one of those parents. He talks about the different parenting methods, and then he gives several examples of good parents and bad parenting. I KNOW that I need to have consequences but I have difficulty following through. My trouble is, I have been blessed with really good children. Why get upset when they are only 5 minutes late for curfew? My son's best friend just got his cell phone taken away for 5 days for being 5 minutes late. And I know that his being late isn't a common occurrence. So why make a big deal of it? I tried to explain to my son why they might have done it and how we as parents do the best we can, but he wasn't buying it. I guess I fear causing my children to rebel if I am too strict. But the author definitely gave me some things to think about. 

I highly recommend this book.

Until next time ;o)