on Blessings

[creekster]

Originally Posted by ute4ever

Re: my take on blessings from paying tithing

Suppose the average breakdown of one's household income is as follows:
30% taxes
30% mortgage
10% cars (gas, maintenance, insurance)
10% utilities & insurance

That leaves 20% for tithing and personal spending. How many people pay their 10% tithing, but proceed to spend more than 10% on personal, and then cry about not being blessed in their rising debts, and cry about non-tithe payers having twice as much to spend? The key is to not expect "in faith" for God to magically cram your 110% into 100%, but to do your own shifting from 100% down to 90%. Trim the mortgage from 30 to 25%. Trim the cars from 10 to 8%. Trim the personal spending from 20 to 17%. It may mean having to suffer through life without as big of a house as the Joneses and having to drive a car without a nice shiny L in a circle on the grill.

Exactly, and that self-control, orgqnization, prioritization of values and managing skill is the direct natural consequence of the behavior. Those are some of the key blessings from paying tithing, IMO.

[RockyBalboa]

Another example would be Prop 8.

I know some who don't care if gays want to get married, but they feel like they've been asked by their Church leaders, whether that be from The Office of The First Presidency or their local leaders to vote for it.

They feel that by following this based on just faith alone, that they'll be blessed for it.

Keep in mind these are individuals who aren't comfortable with the Proposition.

I would venture to guess that at one time or another most of us have followed counsel or commandment based purely on faith, even though it goes against our natural tendency to do otherwise...and I would venture to further guess that at one time or another most of us have been blessed for it in some form or another.

Faith is a powerful tool, and I guess I'm just not a fan of those who mock others for relying on this powerful prinicple at certain times in their lives.

I can tell with the trials in my life, that were it not for Faith and Resolution there's no way I'd still be a member of the church.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Originally Posted by creekster

I frequently see arguments in this forum that involve directly or tangentially the notion that it is inconceivable that God would bless you for some behavior or another. For example, some express skepticism that God would bless us for following a leader even if he is wrong. This makes me wonder what we think a blessing is.

The premise for some of these types of comments seem to be that as we perform some act or another God will endow us with some attribute or perhaps some advantage. IOW, it is a supernatural occurrence. I don't think blessings are typically given to us in that manner.

In my mind, God prescribes many rules of conduct. We are told to be charitable, loving, patient, kind, to be concerned about our fellow person and so forth. These are intrinsically good acts and positive communal behaviors. Blessings flow necessarily from such actions, not by means of a supernatural endowment, but as a natural consequence of the positive act. If we are patient with someone in our lives, we develop patience and learn self control. If we act charitably we develop a charitable nature which improves lives around us and makes us happier. The blessings are inherent in the positive act. This is why anyone can obtain blessings from God, if you will, because these acts naturally lead to positive benefits.

This is not to suggest that blessings are only given to us as a natural consequence of our actions. IMO, God can and does strengthen us and assists us in pursuing these positive actions. Moreover, at times God can perform miracles both with or without humans as instruments of action. Even so, many times we are promised blessings through obedience and I think this means that the positive acts themselves lead to positive effects on us and others around us which we will recognize as blessings.

Makes sense to me.

[smokymountainrain]

Originally Posted by RockyBalboa

Another example would be Prop 8.

I know some who don't care if gays want to get married, but they feel like they've been asked by their Church leaders, whether that be from The Office of The First Presidency or their local leaders to vote for it.

They feel that by following this based on just faith alone, that they'll be blessed for it.

Keep in mind these are individuals who aren't comfortable with the Proposition.

I would venture to guess that at one time or another most of us have followed counsel or commandment based purely on faith, even though it goes against our natural tendency to do otherwise...and I would venture to further guess that at one time or another most of us have been blessed for it in some form or another.

Faith is a powerful tool, and I guess I'm just not a fan of those who mock others for relying on this powerful prinicple at certain times in their lives.

I can tell with the trials in my life, that were it not for Faith and Resolution there's no way I'd still be a member of the church.

Agreed. I know I've obeyed the counsel of my church leaders in situations where I disagreed with their counsel and I've never regretted it.

If I'm going to err, I hope it will be on the side of obeying the counsel of church leaders, based on past experience.

[ERCougar]

Originally Posted by RockyBalboa

Another example would be Prop 8.

I know some who don't care if gays want to get married, but they feel like they've been asked by their Church leaders, whether that be from The Office of The First Presidency or their local leaders to vote for it.

They feel that by following this based on just faith alone, that they'll be blessed for it.

Keep in mind these are individuals who aren't comfortable with the Proposition.

I would venture to guess that at one time or another most of us have followed counsel or commandment based purely on faith, even though it goes against our natural tendency to do otherwise...and I would venture to further guess that at one time or another most of us have been blessed for it in some form or another.

Faith is a powerful tool, and I guess I'm just not a fan of those who mock others for relying on this powerful prinicple at certain times in their lives.

I can tell with the trials in my life, that were it not for Faith and Resolution there's no way I'd still be a member of the church.

I agree in that we are asked to obey things we may not understand. However, we are promised that it will be confirmed in our heart and mind before doing so, and in my opinion, while understanding often increases after following the counsel, we get some inkling in both heart and mind before. If we don't expect this, we are nothing more than a cult.

[exUte]

Originally Posted by ERCougar

Didn't I just make the point that people can certainly be blessed for following the prophet's counsel on this, even though I may disagree with them?

What I instead see on here is a whole lot of exUte-style pissing on those who are following their convictions. Who are they to piss on that?

and his relationship to God, why would you want to disagree with him?

[ERCougar]

Originally Posted by exUte

and his relationship to God, why would you want to disagree with him?

Because the prophet is not God and may be wrong (as he has been in the past). Do we really have to go through this again? You keep asking the same questions and getting the same answers. I would think you would get bored.