Life in Prison

I truly am interested in life in prison after attending last week's class discussion about the time spent in prison by Joseph Smith, the prophet-leader of the newly organized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. After so many years of unjust and unwarranted persecution and unrest directed towards him and the other members of the church, Joseph finally had a chance to sit still and ponder for a while--for 5 months, in fact, while locked in a miserable dungeon-of-a-jail.
During this time Joseph's demeanor and very nature changed; he leaves his incarceration with a fresh understanding of God's will for him and the Church. In a recent lecture to a group of young adults, a man named Jeffrey R. Holland, one of 12 current, living apostles, spoke of Joseph's experience in prison, referring to it as a temple-prison because of the many revelations he received during his time there. See the following link for more the words of that amazing and powerful address; http://lds.org/library/display/0,4945,538-1-4543-1,00.html
I won't attempt to provide insights such as those given by Elder Holland, but hope you will take the opportunity to read his words.
I would like to talk about my own experiences with time to think and the revelations and guidance that God has given me in my great times of need and trial, as he did to Joseph Smith. Now, there are some fundamental differences; 1) I don't proclaim to have come anywhere near experiencing the same degree of trial and hardship that the prophet Joseph did while in prison 2) I've never been in physical prison nor had any trouble with the law and 3) The understanding and revelation which I have received have been for just myself, and not for a whole body of people such as Joseph Smith as the prophet of God's church.
I am grateful that in our day, and in my current situation (studying, going to school, having enough for my needs) I am able to spend time pondering and thinking. Because my life isn't overly burdened with physical labor or chaotic occurrences, I often have moments, such as this, where I can exercise my mental muscles, if you will. I know, by experience, that our mental capacities are limited and that it can be exhausting and unhealthy if we think too much. But I have come to learn and understand so many aspects of human nature and humans' relationship to God because I have been able to sit still, think, talk with a good friend, and write my thoughts down. I am also grateful that it doesn't require an extended stay at the nearest prison to have such time and occassion to think deeply about things.
I am Christian because I believe that Jesus Christ has made our eternal happiness possible by dying for our sins and being resurrected, and because I believe that He makes possible answers to so many of life's most pressing and crucial questions; questions that, if left unanswered, can leave us feeling stuck, trapped, imprisoned. Perhaps I we can consider Joseph's 5-month stint in Liberty Jail in Missouri as a sort of allagory or metaphor for our mortal lives here on earth; though an imperfect comparison, there are a few important similarities that we can learn from. First, we are here but for a short time, relatively speaking (Joseph's 5 month stay was roughly 1/100 of his whole mortal life) And during this relatively short time, we have occassion to learn many things and be taught many important lessons by God and by our trials and difficulties. And as God says to Joseph in response to his desperate pleadings for God to reach out to his people and help them, "My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; and then, if thou shall endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high;" (If you'd like to read Joseph's words which he wrote and some of the revelations God gave to him while in Liberty Jail, please see http://scriptures.lds.org/en/dc/121
If we trust in God during this time on earth, which is extremely short relatively speaking, I have faith that God will truly bless us.

Let him warn his neighbor

This is heavier subject to take on in a theoritically fully-public forum (though I'm not sure if anyone else has ready any of my blogs yet...), but I wanted to discuss a principle of the Christ's teachings that has a great deal to do with those around us, and not just ourselves. In other words, a lot of Christ's teachings are things that we can do within our own personal realm of influence, which tends to be ourselves and perhaps children if we have them. But according to Ezekiel 33 (beginning in verse 1) as we touched on it in my doctrine and covenants class lecture last week, every man who has been granted knowledge of God's plan and of the trials which will come as a result of sin and wickedness on the earth has the personal responsibility to warn others of these consequences and to invite them to follow Christ's teachings, which are taught (and I believe) to be the only means of escaping the dreadful effects of sin and mistakes. He that has been spared any grief, heartache or trouble because of his knowledge of Jesus Christ and his Gospel of Peace is commanded to extend to others the same privilege. By so doing, he frees himself from responsibility for their actions. Failure to do so means that God, the Heavenly Father of all human beings, will hold him accountable for that pain and sin which could have been spared had the gospel message been shared.
While on one hand, encouragement to keep this commandment to warn others might seem as if it might be purely for selfish motives, but I feel that to be effective in such a difficult task, one can has to be motivated at least in part by a love of his neighbor and a love of God and also a trust in God's plan of happiness for his children; for if I don't trust in His plan for me, what are the chances that I'll step out of my comfort zone to invite others to learn and follow it too? Pretty slim. Please let me know if you notice anything in my behaviour or thought pattern that might be contrary to Christ's teachings that I might be spared additional pain and sorrow, I hope to do the same for you!