{"id":109136,"date":"2025-02-16T17:58:59","date_gmt":"2025-02-17T00:58:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=109136"},"modified":"2025-02-16T22:45:35","modified_gmt":"2025-02-17T05:45:35","slug":"earths-crammed-with-heaven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2025\/02\/earths-crammed-with-heaven.html","title":{"rendered":"“Earth’s crammed with heaven”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
In my former missionary tracting area, Lauterbrunnen in the Berner Oberland of Switzerland \u2014 perhaps, in my judgment, the most beautiful landscape on Planet Earth. I post it here as an illustration of the point of this blog entry, but for the soothing power of splendid natural beauty.
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s a cold and dreary day today in central Utah, but, for some reason, I\u2019ve been thinking about what many religious believers take to be God\u2019s self-disclosure in the beauties of nature. \u00a0So, of course, two favorite poems from Gerald Manley Hopkins (1844-1889) come to mind. \u00a0The first is \u201cGod\u2019s Grandeur\u201d:<\/p>\n

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
\nIt will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
\nIt gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
\nCrushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
\nGenerations have trod, have trod, have trod;
\nAnd all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
\nAnd wears man\u2019s smudge and shares man\u2019s smell: the soil
\nIs bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.<\/p>\n

And for all this, nature is never spent;
\nThere lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
\nAnd though the last lights off the black West went
\nOh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs \u2014
\nBecause the Holy Ghost over the bent
\nWorld broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The second is his \u201cPied Beauty\u201d:<\/p>\n

Glory be to God for dappled things\u2014
\nFor skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
\nFor rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
\nFresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches\u2019 wings;
\nLandscape plotted and pieced\u2014fold, fallow, and plough;
\nAnd all trades, their gear and tackle and trim.<\/p>\n

All things counter, original, spare, strange;
\nWhatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
\nWith swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
\nHe fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
\nPraise Him.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But I also think of this passage from Song of Myself<\/em>, 31, by Walt Whitman (1819-1892), which is a not quite explicit theistic argument from design:<\/p>\n

I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars,
\nAnd the pismire is equally perfect, and a grain of sand, and the egg of the wren,
\nAnd the tree-toad is a chef-d\u2019oeuvre for the highest,
\nAnd the running blackberry would adorn the parlors of heaven,
\nAnd the narrowest hinge in my hand puts to scorn all machinery,
\nAnd the cow crunching with depress\u2019d head surpasses any statue,
\nAnd a mouse is miracle enough to stagger sextillions of infidels.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

However, as Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) observed, not everybody perceives the divine in nature:<\/p>\n

Earth\u2019s crammed with heaven,
\nAnd every common bush afire with God,
\nBut only he who sees takes off his shoes;
\nThe rest sit round and pluck blackberries.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I\u2019m reminded of an episode in the Book of Mormon. \u00a0In Alma 44, the Nephites under Moroni have been fighting with the Lamanites, whose commander is Zerahemnah. \u00a0The Nephites are prevailing, and Moroni calls a halt to the battle in order to talk:<\/p>\n

And it came to pass that they did stop and withdrew a pace from them. And Moroni said unto Zerahemnah: Behold, Zerahemnah, that we do not desire to be men of blood. Ye know that ye are in our hands, yet we do not desire to slay you. . . .<\/p>\n

But now, ye behold that the Lord is with us; and ye behold that he has delivered you into our hands. And now I would that ye should understand that this is done unto us becauseof our religion and our faith in Christ. And now ye see that ye cannot destroy this our faith.<\/p>\n

Now ye see that this is the true faith of God; yea, ye see that God will support, and keep, and preserve us, so long as we are faithful unto him, and unto our faith, and our religion; and never will the Lord suffer that we shall be destroyed except we should fall into transgression and deny our faith. . . . \u00a0(Alma 44:1, 3-4)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To which Zerahemnah responds, in part, as follows:<\/p>\n

Behold, we are not of your faith; we do not believe that it is God that has delivered us into your hands; but we believe that it is your cunning that has preserved you from our swords. Behold, it is your breastplates and your shields that have preserved you. \u00a0(Alma 44:9)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In my opinion, both Zerahemnah\u2019s and Moroni\u2019s explanations for the Nephite military success are plausible. \u00a0Each simply reflects a different perspective. \u00a0Was the victory of the Nephites due to their superior armor? \u00a0Yes. \u00a0Very possibly. \u00a0But that superior armor existed because it was part of Moroni\u2019s divinely-inspired efforts to prepare for the conflict. \u00a0Both accounts seem to me defensible.<\/p>\n

So, too, a rainbow or a beautiful sunset \u2014 or a \u201ccommon bush\u201d or a painting or, for that matter, a human \u2014 can be described in purely physical terms. \u00a0What are the physics of rainbows? \u00a0What elements in the air give a sunset its hues? \u00a0What are the genus and species and dimensions of the bush? \u00a0What are the dimensions of the painting? \u00a0How many brushstrokes or daubs of paint per square centimeter? \u00a0How tall is the man? \u00a0How much does he weigh? \u00a0What are the colors of his skin, hair, and eyes? \u00a0And it\u2019s beyond question that such facts are important for certain purposes. \u00a0But not for all. \u00a0And they\u2019re not exhaustive. \u00a0A Rembrandt isn\u2019t valuable because of the quantity of canvas and paint of which it\u2019s composed. \u00a0A Beethoven symphony can\u2019t be meaningfully described by counting its notes. \u00a0The beauty of Switzerland\u2019s Berner Oberland can\u2019t be fully comprehended merely by a factual recitation of the relevant mineralogical, geological, and botanical data.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s absolutely nothing wrong with sitting around and plucking blackberries. \u00a0Sometimes, though, it\u2019s appropriate to see heaven, and to remove one\u2019s shoes.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\"I<\/a>
\u201cThe Empty Tomb,\u201d a stained glass window in St. Elizabeth Catholic Church, in Columbus, Ohio
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019m very pleased that this message from President Oaks is so completely consistent with what I wrote in my blog entry here on Friday<\/a>. \u00a0I\u2019m happy to confirm that the First Presidency and I are on the same page with regard to this topic (as also with respect to others!): \u00a0\u201c\u2018Greater love\u2019: Apostle says resurrection is literal and universal, calls for Easter emphasis: President Dallin H. Oaks says the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is \u2018the most glorious event in history,\u2019 challenges families to establish Easter traditions\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Fun<\/a>
After all those years, Martin Harris and Lucy Harris were finally together again, and happy, at the 2021 premiere of the \u201cWitnesses\u201d theatrical film. It\u2019s good to know that their story has a happy ending.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The answer might surprise you, given how implacably hostile she eventually was toward Joseph Smith, the translation of the Book of Mormon, and even her own husband, Martin: \u201cEpisode 25: Did Lucy Harris Support the Book of Mormon?\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Witnesses of the Book of Mormon\u2014Insights Episode 25: Early on, Lucy Harris was a supporter of the work, but later she fell out with the Smiths\u2014and with her own husband. Who was Lucy Harris? This is Episode 25 of a series compiled from the many interviews conducted during the course of the Witnesses film project. . . . These additional resources are hosted by Camrey Bagley Fox, who played Emma Smith in Witnesses<\/em>, as she introduces and visits with a variety of experts. These individuals answer questions or address accusations against the witnesses, also helping viewers understand the context of the times in which the witnesses lived. This week we feature Daniel C. Peterson, President of the Interpreter Foundation and Executive Producer of Witnesses<\/em>. For more information, go to <\/span>https:\/\/witnessesofthebookofmormon.org\/<\/a><\/span>. Learn about the documentary movie Undaunted\u2014Witnesses of the Book of Mormon<\/em> at <\/span>https:\/\/witnessesundaunted.com\/<\/a><\/span>.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And please don\u2019t forget that Undaunted<\/em> is now available for free streaming at The Witnesses Initiative<\/a>. \u00a0Also at The Witnesses Initiative<\/a>, the Witnesses<\/em> film itself is available for free streaming but only through the remainder of this month<\/em>. \u00a0Viewing these films would be an excellent way to spend part of your Sabbath. \u00a0Viewing them would also be an excellent activity for Family Home Evening on Monday. \u00a0But don\u2019t procrastinate!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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