{"id":44213,"date":"2017-09-10T14:08:41","date_gmt":"2017-09-10T20:08:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=44213"},"modified":"2017-09-10T19:44:46","modified_gmt":"2017-09-11T01:44:46","slug":"good-thing-god-things-wouldnt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/09\/good-thing-god-things-wouldnt.html","title":{"rendered":"“It’s a good thing God does things I wouldn’t”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"One<\/a>
Rainbow Valley, near Victoria Falls (Wikimedia Commons)\n

<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019m just back from my home chapel, where I attended the broadcast of a conference of the Utah South Area of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was a good one.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The speakers were Elder Carl B. Cook<\/a> of the Seventy; Sister Cristina B. Franco<\/a>, second counselor in the General Primary\u00a0Presidency; Elder Juan A. Uceda<\/a> of the Presidency of the Seventy, who also conducted the conference; and Elder Gary E. Stevenson<\/a> of the Twelve.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure how many of you are aware of the \u201cFaith Counts\u201d initiative<\/a> in which the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has joined (along with other faith groups).<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a short LDS Church<\/a> video introducing it:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFaith Counts\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

It seems to me a very worthwhile undertaking, and, for those of you with certain skills (not necessarily those of Liam Neeson), it could even be financially<\/em> worthwhile<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a recent news item regarding it:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFaith Counts Announces Video Contest Winners in Nashville\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s the official website:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

faithcounts.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an \u2018ordinary day of work\u2019 for President Russell M. Nelson on his 93rd birthday\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve had some personal dealings with him over the years. \u00a0He\u2019s genuinely amazing.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Guy Briggs shared a quotation on my Facebook page a couple of hours ago that I like:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHuman DNA contains more organized information than the Encyclopaedia Britannica. If the full text of the encyclopaedia were to arrive in computer code from outer space, most people would regard this as proof of the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence. But when seen in nature, it is explained as the workings of random forces.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

George Sim Johnson, \u201cDid Darwin Get It Right?\u201d (Wall Street Journal<\/em>, 15\/10\/99)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Finally, a thought from a book for which I\u2019ve expressed my admiration<\/a> \u2014 Shalissa Lindsay, Answers Will Come: Trusting the Lord in the Meantime<\/em> (American Fork, UT: Covenant Communications, 2017), 57:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Would I really want a God whose purposes were so clear to me that I could perfectly understand them and explain them to others?<\/span><\/p>\n

No way!<\/span><\/p>\n

What a disaster that<\/em> would be. \u00a0That would make Him no smarter than I am. \u00a0I wouldn\u2019t worship that God and neither would you.<\/span><\/p>\n

I only want to worship a God if He understands everything I don\u2019t. \u00a0It\u2019s good if He does things I wouldn\u2019t think of doing. \u00a0Or does them differently than I would. \u00a0If I am on track in worshiping the real, all-knowing, all-powerful God, then I will necessarily (and happily) find times when His purposes are utterly incomprehensible to me. \u00a0He may do things I don\u2019t like at all for reasons I don\u2019t yet accept or can\u2019t begin to imagine.<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, it would be silly for me to stop following His instructions just because I don\u2019t precisely understand them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Imagine the catastrophe if I used that logic with the rest of my life. \u00a0I\u2019d have to avoid indoor plumbing until I mastered the city\u2019s chemical treatment plan. \u00a0I\u2019d have to skip using appliances until I examined every circuit. \u00a0I\u2019d have to delay medical treatment until I\u2019d read every scientific journal. \u00a0I\u2019d have to delete all software if I couldn\u2019t inspect the code.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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

\u00a0 \u00a0 I\u2019m just back from my home chapel, where I attended the broadcast of a conference of the Utah South Area of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. \u00a0 It was a good one. \u00a0 The speakers were Elder Carl B. Cook of the Seventy; Sister Cristina B. 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