0:00:00 - 0:00:18 All right. I think we're going here. It's funny, I was testing my microphone for this and I was like, why isn't it working? And it turns out I had a power cord plugged in instead of like a phone charger. So that's what kind of day it's gonna be. I'm sure there's a metaphor in that. Um Look, I just wanna 0:00:17 - 0:00:48 make a quick, quick video and watch it'll be like three hours. Uh I really don't have time for that so hopefully I can uh tamp this rent down. But um the fact is that um you know, I have something like 7000 pages of draft books written and not published. And um when I make these videos, what I'm trying 0:00:47 - 0:01:08 to do is pull out a piece of that. If there's some kind of a chunk that I think I can give in some way that's helpful early, I'm doing that. It's like a free sample at Costco or at the mall. If those are still around where, you know, the the person from, the Chinese place is sitting there with a platter 0:01:07 - 0:01:28 with the toothpicks and that's what we're doing here. Um You may find that there's tremendous value in some of these tidbits and you may find that there's no value at all, whatever. Um Obviously, I think there's value, uh which is why I'm pausing all the other things I'm doing, which I find very valuable 0:01:28 - 0:01:56 to sneak on and make these videos when I can. Um when the benefit seems to overwhelm the the cost of doing. So now there's a whole lot of things in here that uh I would love to lay out right now. But I can't. Uh one of them is this idea that with modern technology um and modern prosperity, neither of 0:01:56 - 0:02:21 which are connected to the merits of the user, which is very important. We have the ability to broadcast information far and wide and that's a two way street. So I want you to think about for a second uh whoever your dream team is of. I used to think as a missionary. I, I read about how Alma took um 0:02:21 - 0:02:47 Aye and Zias RM and uh some of his kids and they hit the road. Um and some of his friends, they hit the road and, and went on a mission and having worked with different missionaries. Um some of whom I got along with quite well and some who I didn't get along with at all. Um I always dreamed about what 0:02:47 - 0:03:11 that would be like and how, how amazing that would be. So if you think through the scriptures and assemble your dream team of uh people from the scriptures that, that uh you know, you'd like to meet and then think about that diversity of quality in people and then think about um what it would be like 0:03:11 - 0:03:34 to be alive at the same time and know someone like Moses or someone like Enoch or someone like uh King Benjamin or King Mosiah or, or Jesus, which is the most important one to think through. And I hope you've done this, I hope you return to that process, that experiment uh often to think about what to 0:03:34 - 0:03:56 apply, to apply the circumstances of his life into yours. And imagine what it would be like today if you were to meet someone like Jesus that came, um a lot could be said about that. But, but anyway, just, just sort of bundling this up. What do you think that would be like? Because I think we get a really 0:03:56 - 0:04:20 wrong impression of what that would be like. What you have is a tremendous amount of light and truth and intelligence in a person in their spirit while they are sitting in front of you in a mortal body. And it creates a situation where at least initially, faith can be exercised to obtain greater light 0:04:19 - 0:04:46 and truth in the way that best facilitates the greatest joy for the greatest number of people in the sit that situation changes over time. But just as it did with all of those people, um the time for grace comes to an end and then God starts changing the, uh, the layout of the table, so to speak. Um 0:04:45 - 0:05:10 , and then all of a sudden Moses needs to start wearing a veil because otherwise people get a little freaked out because they start to see on the outside, some of the light that's on the inside. Um, all right. So if that were to happen today, um, these people would certainly use avenues such as the internet 0:05:09 - 0:05:48 to try to get their message out or a cross and they'd write books. Um So what we have in the modern state of affairs is we have this special blessing where you don't have to be in Egypt as a slave in order to hear a Moses. Now, I'm not saying I'm like Moses. Um but everybody is different, right? And 0:05:48 - 0:06:16 all of these things happen on a cascade, there's a slider of light and everyone's in a different place. But um what I'm saying is even in that sort of picturesque ideal situation, you would have a person, you know, you'd have Moses or Jesus, you'd have Jesus saying the things he said in the New Testament 0:06:15 - 0:06:46 , but in modern language, in modern circumstances, modern analogies in parables. And right by his side, there would be people who have no idea about anything who are just as free to make comments, to make videos, to make websites too, whatever they wanna do, write books and uh maybe you see the point 0:06:46 - 0:07:20 I'm getting at here in Jesus time, there was a concerted effort by his apostles which Jesus himself instructed them to do. They didn't make up this idea of gatekeeping. The gate kept for Jesus at his command and they pushed people away and this behavior accelerated through the three year ministry. So 0:07:20 - 0:07:45 if you want to go hit the New Testament, you'll see evidence for what I'm saying. Why did they do that? Why did people have to push through or um why'd they have to bust out a roof and drop a an invalid right in front of him. Well, he had to filter people because his time was not best used on people 0:07:44 - 0:08:14 who could receive the same benefit they were willing to receive from him through other people. He had to focus on the greatest good that he could do. And he learned through experience, faith that became experience just like we do. And uh in this facet, he learned why it's unwise to give open access to 0:08:14 - 0:08:38 himself, how that does more harm than good for people. So Moses also walked through these same lessons over time. It took him many more years to figure it out and the intervention of others like his father-in-law Jethro. But he also set up a system where he removed himself from open access by the people 0:08:38 - 0:09:07 we know from uh both people's lives and others. Besides that, these actions were not always understood. Uh by the people who they were designed to filter out and there are reasons for this. So you can look at, for instance, the Dunning Kruger effect are fantastic. Social scientists have uh given names 0:09:07 - 0:09:30 to these properties in modern times. But the fact is that just because someone thinks that they have something worth saying and just because someone thinks that they have rational basis for what they're saying and that they're justified in what they say, it doesn't mean they are. And while it's nice 0:09:29 - 0:10:03 when there's opportunity to lay out a careful precise uh abundant case against those positions, it's not always possible in the same venues where they are made. Now, that isn't a problem that's particular to the internet in modern times, ask yourself why Jesus didn't always answer questions. So for example 0:10:02 - 0:10:31 , in his judgment, uh the judgment against him, he didn't answer everything that the high priests asked him. He also didn't answer everything the pilot asked him and he didn't answer anything that Herod asked him. So the question is why now I've asked the Lord this and he told me and what he explained 0:10:30 - 0:11:00 to me is that when you're in a situation where you cannot give a sufficient counter argument, you should withhold any attempt at giving any counter argument because it's better to be silent and to overtly omit um the impression of a counter argument than it is to give an insufficient one that will be 0:11:00 - 0:11:33 used to presume that the person is correct if that makes sense. So there you go. Um, cross that one off your mysteries list. Um So, uh when it comes to my blog many years ago, I turned off comments there. And the reason was I have a duty just like every person does, who has a, a venue, I have a duty 0:11:32 - 0:11:58 to curate what is said in that venue to the extent that I'm able, you know, with a reasonable effort. And the reason for that is because I'm responsible for whether this is used for good or evil to the extent of my ability to affect that. And so, for example, when I, um when someone pointed out to me 0:11:58 - 0:12:22 two particular posts, this is just a for example, um that they thought would convey perspectives that they also thought I would not want uh people to take away from that. Um I agreed with them, they actually showed me three or four and I disagreed with the others. I said, no, those are fine, but the 0:12:22 - 0:12:49 two I agreed with uh were such a surprise to me that I pulled a whole bunch of posts down because I, I didn't have time to look through and reread and curate what I had said to bring it into uh alignment with what uh how I would say it now. So, so the best of my current abilities or perspective, sometimes 0:12:48 - 0:13:12 , you know, it's good you, you change your mind about things, your, your ideas about things improve over time. That's, that's a, a good thing. Um This is getting longer than I wanted it to be. But um the point is I take it seriously and the world is already a total mess in terms of the platforms that 0:13:12 - 0:13:35 we give to people who don't have things worth saying. Historically, there were a lot of controls on this just built into the pie. So for example, in 1750 in the United States, um you could have a brilliant thing to say, but unless you could persuade someone with means that it was worth saying you wouldn't 0:13:35 - 0:13:58 be able to print it and distribute it. So if you were a printer that made it easy, but you would have had to have had some success, uh considerable success in life in other ways to get to that point. Or if you were to be able to persuade someone who, who had been successful in some other way or a printer 0:13:57 - 0:14:27 or a newspaper editor or whatever the point is that there was some vetting that happened and that's a good thing, right? Um So, right. So uh in the modern world, we all have the ability to hop on the internet and produce things till we get canceled. Um And we can, we can uh do that uh in a way where 0:14:26 - 0:14:55 we make it like a public conversation and it's like a social club and that's definitely not what's going on here. And so uh I turned comments off of my blog a long time ago because I didn't have time to curate those comments and they were coming in a volume that exceeded my time. And also there was an 0:14:55 - 0:15:19 abundance of people who were really unreasonable. And so um what do you do when people keep coming and saying things and you, you know, on the one hand, you want something to be out in the open so that you're not restraining people that the Lord, you know, you're making more windows for the Lord to use 0:15:18 - 0:15:43 to draw people to truth that they might need and maybe they can't find anywhere else. But on the other hand, you get, uh you tend to, to uh attract people that have an awful lot that they feel that they need to say that may or may not be of uh value matching that volume. And um it is 100% your place 0:15:42 - 0:16:07 to make that judgment. It's your venue, right? So, um so these things are, are a little tricky and uh I'd probably put everything I just said into the category of things that shouldn't need to be said. But um they've been said and there's at least three people who need to hear them. Uh One person who's 0:16:07 - 0:16:32 made specific comments, another two who keep liking what he says. Um But yeah, I mean, uh that's how I see it now, uh that being said, I, I think that I've, I've, um, I don't know, I think I've, I've dealt with a lot of latitude here in giving people an opportunity to say things that I don't agree with 0:16:32 - 0:16:57 and, uh, you know, making counterarguments against that for the most part, things that I've removed comments I've removed from this. Um, I'm going through examples that I could have but didn't, um, it's been obstinate people in my perspective. Of course, that's fair enough, that's gonna be taken as a 0:16:57 - 0:17:21 subjective statement, but obstinate people who um I think are being really unreasonable. Now, uh If, if one of those people uh as they have keeps coming back and saying, well, you know, you just can't take criticism, my friend, I have taken more criticism than anyone I've ever met and I have loved every 0:17:21 - 0:00:00 moment of it just because I don't find value in what you're saying doesn't mean that I don't find value in what anyone could possibly say. The, the, the most significant reason why I don't find value in what you're saying is because I have taken so much criticism from people who are better than you, 0:00:00 - 0:18:16 namely God himself because I've repented of all of my sins, something that you have not yet done. You cannot see where I am coming from and you cannot go where I have been. We try to play nice with the gospel. But at some point, you have to say things that are gonna rub people the wrong way. But they're 0:18:15 - 0:00:00 true. They're true. So, I am more than happy to hear people who are sincere and honest in whatever they have to say. There are a lot of crazy people out there. I'm not saying that this person is crazy. I, I really don't believe that at all. He's very intelligent, which makes it all the worse. Right. 0:00:00 - 0:19:01 Um, and those crazy people are never going to understand that. They're crazy, right? Uh, maybe you think I'm crazy. But if that's the case, I really hope you're not here listening to this, right? So that would be, that would make you a very, uh, strange person, very inconsistent, uh, between your actions 0:19:01 - 0:19:28 and your values. But, um, uh, besides the crazies, um, there are an awful lot of people who like to say everything that comes into their mind or whatever. I don't know, but they don't, they don't necessarily self filter and there's a time and place for that. And I tried to be, like I said, really tolerant 0:19:28 - 0:19:53 of that, but when you're saying things that obligate me to construct a reply, you're also taking me away from things that have much greater value than sorting you out on things that you're already smart enough to see yourself. And when I detect that line is being crossed, I will say something. But, you 0:19:53 - 0:20:17 know, I reserve the right to block people from my channel who aren't coloring within the lines and that certainly doesn't mean agreeing with the things I'm saying. I, it's totally your call and if you have um arguments to make against that, bring them, but please understand that I am not publishing things 0:20:16 - 0:20:42 on this channel to get public feedback on ideas that I've just spun up and whatever I'm trying my best to convey to you principles that the Lord has taught me um primarily about how he is though, that might surprise you with a number of topics I go into that might seem to have nothing to do with that 0:20:41 - 0:21:10 . I promise it's all coming together uh If I ever have enough time to tie it all up. Um So that's kind of what I wanna say on this. I appreciate the comments of people who have maintained sincere honesty. Um And II I hope that these things are valuable and for those who find value in them, uh You're 0:21:10 - 0:21:33 welcome here. These videos are all public, the comments are still active. Can't promise that will always be the case. It's just an evaluation of whether it's a greater benefit or cost. And uh yeah, so um I guess for the two or three people that I've blocked off of here, uh one who seems to have a serious 0:21:33 - 0:21:55 problem with it. Um You know, I'm sorry, but I'm not sorry. I think it was pretty clear that uh you were out of line and if you didn't see that, then that's all the more reason for me to have done it and going forward. Um Yeah, those are the rules of engagement still just make sure that what you say 0:21:55 - 0:22:18 is worth saying. Um namely that, that it's honest. And if you're, if you're gonna, you know, if you feel like you need to criticize me about something that's fine. But please uh do your homework first because I really don't have time to waste on people who, you know, have different motives than searching 0:22:17 - 0:22:40 out the truth. Whether that be feeling good about something that bothers them because they're not good in that regard or whatever. I'm slaying your sacred cows. You know, there's a lot of silly things out there like people are particularly resistant to um things that criticize the, the church they go 0:22:40 - 0:23:09 to or, you know, traditions they have about uh one big one recently is, is this idea that uh we shouldn't, we shouldn't publicly say anything that could be construed as negative in any way about any family member, especially a spouse. I'll tell you if you folks were half as serious about keeping God's 0:23:08 - 0:23:38 other commandments as you are about that tradition of man. You'd be in really good shape, you'd be in really good shape. Turns out that that is one of many traditions where you're doing more harm than good. There's some truth in it, but more often than not folks who believe that are enabling people in 0:23:37 - 0:24:06 their family to do really bad things to themselves and others, when in reality, they have the greatest ability to help those people the most by criticizing them more, not less. Right. A lot could be said about this, especially to husbands and fathers. But I guess we'll leave that for another day. Um 0:24:05 - 0:24:35 , no, I'll just go ahead and say it briefly your mission in brief as a husband and a father is to become like God and lead everyone in your family as far as they're willing to go to the same end. It's a supremely vital thing to figure out and do it is the pattern that cascades out to everything else 0:24:34 - 0:25:03 . So if you're not doing that as a husband, you're probably not doing that as a father. And if you're not doing it as a husband and father, you're probably not doing it out in the world and the, the family of God cannot be tied together or sealed up or however you want to put it, the, the events that 0:25:02 - 0:25:25 have to occur in the winding up of creation, they can't occur without you doing those things. So if you're unable or unwilling to do them in your house, how are you going to do them out in the world? And by the way, an essential piece of this is not just what you do with what you have, but what you receive 0:25:24 - 0:25:50 through others who are doing it too. So it's this network and I've given you some really important ideas there. But if you're just, if your spiritual exercise is just poking around on the internet looking for trivia and entertainment, I guess there's some value in that, but you'd be much better off looking 0:25:50 - 0:26:16 for what you lack, finding things that you find value in to call you to improvement, to show you a better way and walking in those paths, follow those filaments of light as they get brighter and brighter and pull everything you can out of everything you can find and find better and better sources. And 0:26:16 - 0:26:40 that's the way you climb the ladder. Now, it's kind of pointless having that conversation when we're talking with groups of people who haven't even repented yet. Right? And this is what winds up the ridiculousness of the whole situation and sort of exposes it for what it is. There may have been a time 0:26:39 - 0:27:05 where gospel discussions were just a bunch of people throwing out their best idea of whatever. So take your average church Sunday school, even in denominations where the church leaders are overtly described as having some special standing with God. It seems like you'll never find a situation where people 0:27:04 - 0:27:28 actually believe that that person teaching has something more to give than they would in their place. And so when that person says something that rubs people the wrong way, the immediate assumption is they must be wrong, there must be a fault with them. Well, that time is over and if the only resources 0:27:28 - 0:27:57 you can find in the gospel today are people whose opinion you don't see as any more valid, important, correct, uh expansive, whatever than yours. What do you do in listening to them? It's just a waste of your time. So just open up the scriptures and read or get on your knees and pray, open your eyes 0:27:57 - 0:28:25 and look at your own life and fix it up the best to the best level. You can uh uh imagine it being just focus on doing everything God would do in your place. And then once you're there and once you've extracted everything you can from the, the situations you're in, then you can look elsewhere to find 0:28:25 - 0:28:46 more or having been true and faithful in all the things that you've been given. You can ask God for greater light and truth and He will lead you to it. But there's no shortcut in that process. And when you jump into the deep end of the pool and you don't even know how to swim yet, you're going to drown 0:28:45 - 0:29:13 , you're going to lose out on the procession of progress that you had access to because you're focusing on what you imagine to be the faults of another person while you know, you have faults of your own. Again, historically, there was a long time where people like to say things like, well, nobody's perfect 0:29:13 - 0:29:42 . We're all trying. We're all in this together. We're all sinners that's nice. The value of the gospel is not going around saying how much of a sinner we all are. The value of the gospel is to say Jesus showed me how to be clean and he made me clean and now that my sins are forgiven and I do not repeat 0:29:42 - 0:30:09 them anymore. He's teaching me how to be holier every day and I go where he leads me no matter what, that's your goal. If you can't say that yet, you are the person Jesus was talking about when he said, why beholds thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but consider us not the being that is in thine 0:30:09 - 0:30:34 own eye. Take the moat out of your own eye before you try to call someone out for the beam they have in their eye. Again, there was a time when we all just had a bunch of splinters in our eyes and it, it was just fine to go around saying how many splinters everybody had in their eyes. The time is over 0:30:34 - 0:30:57 . And if you're around people that all have a bunch of splinters in your eyes first, take out the splinters in your own eyes and then look for brighter light than you have first cast out the beam out of thine own eye and then shalt thou clearly see to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. Don't 0:30:57 - 0:00:00 bother chucking rocks at people when you're still a sinner become beyond that surpass sin and then you will see clearly to begin to judge others as God would judge them to begin to see things more like He does. Until then you got better things to do than criticize other people. You've got to repent. 0:00:00 - 0:31:32 That's what you should be focusing on. I hope this helps.