Freedom & Faith Quotes

[Thinker]

What are some quotes that encourage you, or help you make sense of these deceptive times?

I'll start...

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt & where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. – Christ

If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living. – Seneca

[Luke]

• D&C 93
  
  1 Verily, thus saith the Lord: It shall come to pass that every soul who forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my name, and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments, shall see my face and know that I am;

[BeNotDeceived]

And the Gods watched those things which they had ordered until they obeyed.

Abraham 4:18, begins a sentence with And.

And NOW that is considered OK.

Finally we obey.

[cab]

Helaman 15
7 And behold, ye do know of yourselves, for ye have witnessed it, that as many of them as are brought to the knowledge of the truth... which leadeth them to faith on the Lord, and unto repentance, which faith and repentance bringeth a change of heart unto them—
8 Therefore, as many as have come to this, ye know of yourselves are firm and steadfast in the faith, and in the thing wherewith they have been made free.

[2ndRateMind]

XLI

In my own shire, if I was sad
Homely comforters I had:
The earth, because my heart was sore,
Sorrowed for the son she bore;
And standing hills, long to remain,
Shared their short-lived comrade's pain.
And bound for the same bourn as I,
On every road I wandered by,
Trod beside me, close and dear,
The beautiful and death-struck year:
Whether in the woodland brown
I heard the beechnut rustle down,
And saw the purple crocus pale
Flower about the autumn dale;
Or littering far the fields of May
Lady-smocks a-bleaching lay,
And like a skylit water stood
The bluebells in the azured wood.

Yonder, lightening other loads,
The seasons range the country roads,
But here in London streets I ken
No such helpmates, only men;
And these are not in plight to bear,
If they would, another's care.
They have enough as 'tis: I see
In many an eye that measures me
The mortal sickness of a mind
Too unhappy to be kind.
Undone with misery, all they can
Is to hate their fellow man;
And till they drop they needs must still
Look at you and wish you ill.

A E Housman (1896) A Shropshire Lad

Best wishes, 2RM.

[nightlight]

28Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

[BruceRGilbert]

Ether 12:
28 Behold, I will show unto the Gentiles their weakness, and I will show unto them that faith, hope and charity bringeth unto me—the fountain of all righteousness.

2 Nephi 2:
24 But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things.
25 Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.

Doctrine and Covenants 18:
10 Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God;
11 For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him.
12 And he hath arisen again from the dead, that he might bring all men unto him, on conditions of repentance.
13 And how great is his joy in the soul that repenteth!

[nightlight]

YOU CAN BIND UP MY LEG, BUT NOT EVEN ZEUS HAS THE POWER TO BREAK MY FREEDOM OF CHOICE.” - EPICTETUS.

[Luke]

• John 8
  
  31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
  32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

• John 14
  
  6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

• John 17
  
  3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

[Thinker]

I'm loving these quotes - thank you!


If you want to know who controls you, look at who you are not allowed to criticize. – Voltaire

A nation can survive its fools, even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within… for the traitor appears not to be a traitor… he rots the soul of a nation… - Cicero

The prosperous cannot easily form a right idea of misery. – Quintilian

The man enslaved to wealth can never be honest. – Democritus

No one can ever enter the celestial kingdom unless he is strictly honest. – Joseph Smith

[Luke]

No one can ever enter the celestial kingdom unless he is strictly honest. – Joseph Smith

Yet there are some who believe he practised polygamy on the sly and lied to pretty much everyone

[Thinker]

No one can ever enter the celestial kingdom unless he is strictly honest. – Joseph Smith

Yet there are some who believe he practised polygamy on the sly and lied to pretty much everyone

Maybe. But to me, that & his financial dishonesty & more - still don’t negate the fact that he was a prophet. He did indeed have visions for better & led people to that. So he screwed up - so we shouldn’t deify him, even when he suggested he’s better than Christ. He & every church leader sin & can & do lead people astray. But I see a lot of good Joseph Smith did too.

Regarding honesty - I believe Joseph Smith as right in stating that was a requirement for the celestial realm. It seems that after this life, when the coverings of mortality are lifted & all we’re left with are our thoughts, feelings and intentions - there is no hiding deception. Though, I imagine those who have deceived themselves may still hide, but in doing so, they are unable to be part of a more glorious existence.

[2ndRateMind]

Some doggerel, for your consideration.

The English philosopher, Bertrand Russell, (1872 - 1970) was once recognised by his London cabbie. The driver, (not unreasonably, in my opinion) asked him: 'So what's it all about, then, Mr Russell?' We may presume that by 'it' the taxi driver meant 'life, the universe, and everything'. History does not record Russell's response, but here is my own attempt to answer that vexed question:

Spare me please, your pious cant;
Your 'thou shalt not', your moral rant
And let me live as I am made
Wild and free and unafraid,
Dreading naught of Judgment Day,
Pilgrim on another way.
If I'm wrong I'll rot in Hell
But rotting there remember well
The span I spent as but a ploy
To spread a sweet, subversive joy,
And think my life not such a crime
If others, too, enjoyed my time.

But where I tread, at every turn
Are men of faith, set grim and stern,
Rigid in their claims to be
So righteous they know more than me.
But cowed beneath their codes and laws
They've lost the plot. The greater cause
Is not constraint by social rules
(Cages built for souls by fools),
But the sharing of an inward light,
The love of all that's good and right
And kind, and just, and true, and man
Was made for this, and this God's plan.

copyright © 2020 2ndRateMind. All rights reserved.

Best wishes, 2RM

[Thinker]

... 'So what's it all about, then, Mr Russell?' ... here is my own attempt to answer that vexed question...

2ndRateMind,
You are talented! Well done!
I can relate with not wanting to focus on judgement day, but focusing (or at lest trying to focus) on light and love (striving for the highest GOoD).

[Thinker]

RULERS' PLANS
If you only have a hammer [Fear as their only tool], you tend to see every problem as a nail. – Maslow

Science is but a perversion of itself unless it has as its ultimate goal the betterment of humanity. - Tesla

Alpha waves in the human brain are between 6 & 8 hertz. Our entire biological system – the brain & the earth itself – work on the same frequencies. If we can control that resonate system electronically, we can directly control the entire mental system of humankind. – Tesla

Compound interest is the 8th wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it… he who doesn’t… pays it. - Einstein


MEDIA:
Those who tell the stories [like Media] rule society. – Plato

There is nothing so absurd that it cannot be believed as truth if repeated often enough. – William James

Truth is so obscure in these times, & falsehood so established, that unless we love the truth, we cannot know it. – Pascal

Inability to tell good from evil is the greatest worry of man’s life. – Cicero

The devil can cite scripture for his purpose. - Shakespeare

Suffering itself does less afflict the senses than the apprehension of suffering. - Quintilian

[2ndRateMind]

... 'So what's it all about, then, Mr Russell?' ... here is my own attempt to answer that vexed question...

2ndRateMind,
... Well done!
I can relate with not wanting to focus on judgement day, but focusing (or at lest trying to focus) on light and love (striving for the highest GOoD).

And I can relate to that, also.

So Housman is perhaps my favourite poet, even if he can be a little pessimistic about the human condition. Anyway, you might like this one*:

Last poems XII

The laws of God, the laws of man,
He may keep that will and can;
Not I: let God and man decree
Laws for themselves and not for me;
And if my ways are not as theirs
Let them mind their own affairs.
Their deeds I judge and much condemn,
Yet when did I make laws for them?
Please yourselves, say I, and they
Need only look the other way.
But no, they will not; they must still
Wrest their neighbor to their will,
And make me dance as they desire
With jail and gallows and hell-fire.
And how am I to face the odds
Of man’s bedevilment, and God’s?
I, a stranger and afraid
In a world I never made.
They will be master, right or wrong;
Though both are foolish, both are strong.
And since, my soul, we cannot fly
To Saturn nor to Mercury,
Keep we must, if keep we can,
These foreign laws of God and man.

Best wishes, 2RM

*(To give some context, AE Housman was an Oxford Don, counting among his pupils the controversial MP Enoch Powell, whose 'Rivers of Blood' speech about immigration remains infamous, and it's central prediction, fortunately, unfulfilled. Housman, meanwhile, was an atheist homosexual, a combination not uncommon in those days, (1859-1936) since the Church then wanted nothing to do with those we would now call 'gay'. Nevertheless, had he never been, it would be a detrimental loss to literature, and to the students he taught. And I for one am glad he lived, just not so glad he felt pressured by society to keep his love affairs clandestine or unconsumated or both.)

[Thinker]

I’ve known about this parable for many years but am seeing new significance...

• ”Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
  And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
  They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:
  But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps...- Matthew 25

Lamps represent that which gives light - or ability to SEE clearly.
Oil is that which also aids in seeing light but it must be continually tended to.

Maybe this refers to our God-given abilities to think, study, observe, analyze & spiritually discern truth from error. The oil may especially refer to both our preparation in being able to see things as they are, not better nor worse - not in denial, but also not hopeless. That can be quite challenging! But I definitely have seen how such preparation is essential to withstand really difficult times.

What can strengthen our ability to see clearly? What can weaken it?

[2ndRateMind]

...What can strengthen our ability to see clearly? What can weaken it?

Hmmm. That's a tricky one, and I am not at all sure I have the fluency and eloquence to provide a fully satisfying discourse.

But I think, fundamentally, sin is based on our way of being, and is best expressed not as an event, action or activity, but as a stage in the journey towards sinlessness (one would hope). And our way of being tints our view of the world in the spiritual sense, in the same way as sunglasses tint our view of the world in the visible sense. So, for example, if one is avaricious one will make excuses for that avarice, and excuse it in others.

But the world is so arranged as to mirror our sins back to us, through the consequences of those sins. It is noticable, however, that whereas our own sins may have grave spiritual consequences for ourselves, the temporal consequences tend to fall on others. Hence we have the obscenity of billionaires hogging wealth while others hunger and starve. So, perhaps this is God's way of saying: 'Care for each other'.

If anyone else would like to pick up this theme, and run with it, you are quite welcome to do so.

Best wishes, 2RM.

[Thinker]

...What can strengthen our ability to see clearly? What can weaken it?

... sin... is best expressed... as a stage in the journey towards sinlessness (one would hope). And our way of being tints our view of the world in the spiritual sense, in the same way as sunglasses tint our view of the world in the visible sense. So, for example, if one is avaricious one will make excuses for that avarice, and excuse it in others.

But the world is so arranged as to mirror our sins back to us, through the consequences of those sins. It is noticable, however, that whereas our own sins may have grave spiritual consequences for ourselves, the temporal consequences tend to fall on others. Hence we have the obscenity of billionaires hogging wealth while others hunger and starve. So, perhaps this is God's way of saying: 'Care for each other'...

That’s a really interesting way of looking at sin - with a growth mindset seeing us all as works in progress. It reminds me of the scripture about being hot or cold rather than lukewarm. This is a “meatier” idea that some could misinterpret as allowing sin, but in a deeper & big-picture sense, we do tend to learn (& progress) more from mistakes. Every action involves risk - of sinning, losing etc - but the alternative is hiding our “talents” - safe & secure but defeating the purpose.

It seems you care for those in need. I do too. I’ve always been a sucker for underdogs (who are NOT popular etc), but after going to dirt-poor areas, I have expanded my understanding of “underdog.” I’ve stayed with people who didn’t have clean or hot water - so bathing was dipping a cup into cold water & pouring it over me... & even a drop of water that wasn’t boiled made me so sick. I visited people who lived in holey tin roof shacks with dirt floors. Often when I rant about how the church is mistreating the poor, many imagine by “poor,” I’m referring to some in the US who are on generational welfare hand-outs & abuse the system. Maybe they are a bit naive, as I was before I visited poverty-stricken areas where there are no welfare hand-outs etc.

Wealth discrepancies exist & ignor-ance is much of the problem. That’s why educating myself & others is a passion. But I also realize I cannot make people see through my perspective “glasses” - they will always see through their own. But we can teach each other here & there & make minor “optical” adjustments. Sin is based on ignorance & forgiving understanding comes from understanding truth (objective & another’s subjective truth). The truth is that we are all children of God connected in a spiritual web much more profound than the www, so what we do affects others & I believe does “mirror” or come back to teach us what we missed before. A person in a good state, who is in touch with who he/she really is & who others really are - doesn’t hurt others or if, in ignorance they do, they quickly correct course.

Maybe managing sin & living righteously, are complex, yet also simple. I cannot control others & try to remind myself to just “be the change you want to see.” Anything can be taken to extreme. A friend ended up divorcing because he kept giving away his paychecks to the poor, while neglecting his family. I try to keep balanced by checking in with myself in how I’m living according to physical health, relationships, emotions, finances, etc. Christ offered wisdom in the greatest commandments: love God (the highest GOoD, the Spirit), & love others as well as ourselves.

[2ndRateMind]

Thanks for that, Thinker. I couldn't agree with you more. It seems we have a lot in common.

Best wishes, 2RM

[Thinker]

HERD MENTALITY:

Nothing is more surprising than the easiness with which the many are governed by the few. – Hume

The more people who believe something, the more apt it is to be wrong. The person who’s right often has to stand alone. – Kierkegaard

The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything. - Einstein

Sound conviction should influence us rather than public opinion. - Cicero

No tempest or conflagration, however great, is harder to quell than mob carried away by the novelty of power. - Cicero

There can be no community, properly so called, unless it be regulated by a combination of rights. And by this definition it appears that a multitude of men may be just as tyrannical as a single despot & indeed this is the most odious of all tyrannies, since no monster can be more barbarous than the mob, which assumes the name & mask of the people. - Cicero

This multitude of Jews so often turbulent in the assemblies shows a singular strength of mind… they seek to stir up hatreds. - Cicero

The greatest incitement to guilt is the hope of sinning with impunity. – Cicero

What is permissible is not always honorable. - Cicero

Laws are silent in time of war. - Cicero

Diseases of the soul are more dangerous & more numerous than those of the body. - Cicero



”Behold, there are many called, but few are chosen. And why are they not chosen? Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world, & aspire to the honors of men…” - D&C 121:34-35

[Thinker]

"Those who are able to see beyond the shadows and lies of their culture will never be understood, let alone believed, by the masses." ― Plato

[Thinker]

USEFUL FOOLS:

”No power is strong enough to be lasting, if it labours under the weight of fear. - Cicero

Out of every 100 men, 10 shouldn’t even be there, 80 are just targets, 9 are the real fighters, & we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the 1, one is a warrior, & he will bring the others back. - Hereclitus

I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people. – Newton

Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices. – Voltaire



The best way to keep a prisoner from escaping is to make sure he never knows he’s in prison. – Dostoevsky

None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free. – Goethe

Do not blame Ceasar, blame the people of Rome who have so enthusiastically acclaimed & adored him & rejoiced in their loss of freedom & danced in his path & gave him triumphal processions. Blame the people who hail him when he speaks in the Forum of the ‘new, wonderful good society’ which shall be in Rome, interpreted to mean, ‘more money, more ease, more security, more living fatly at the expense of the industrious. - Cicero

[Thinker]

“When in trouble, run to God. When in pain, dwell in His presence. When you don't know what to say or do, ask God and for every moment praise God. He is always by your side! - Gugu Mona

Don’t let the enemy try to keep you bound with fear. The devil is a liar. Stay in faith and trust the process. Be still, God has a plan! - Germany Kent

Allow God to take control in your life, so the enemy will have no control over you.” - Gugu Mona

[Thinker]

I was feeling discouraged, so I prayed & tried bibliomancy with the hymn book & opened to:
Hymn #240:
Know This, That Every Soul Is Free

Know this, that ev’ry soul is free
To choose his life and what he’ll be;
For this eternal truth is giv’n:
That God will force no man to heav’n.

He’ll call, persuade, direct aright,
And bless with wisdom, love, and light,
In nameless ways be good and kind,
But never force the human mind.

Freedom and reason make us men;
Take these away, what are we then?
Mere animals, and just as well
The beasts may think of heav’n or hell.

May we no more our pow’rs abuse,
But ways of truth and goodness choose;
Our God is pleased when we improve
His grace and seek his perfect love.”