I Am Ready

I am ready.

–Paul von Hindenburg, in a telegram response to the German Emperor inquiring if he was ready for employment. This was August 22nd, 1914, and the Great War had just begun.¹

What is our response to war when it comes? For Marshal von Hindenburg it was terse and simple. Thoughtful Faith recently (as of writing) published a video entitled Stop Making The Church Boring And Shallow.² The impetus for the video, in Jacob Hansen’s words, are “So I recently saw that the Saints Unscripted podcast erased Kwaku from its thumbnails.” Later he states “My whole life almost all Latter-day Saints I have seen in the public square have been so milquetoast, so wimpy, and it was so refreshing seeing a Latter-day Saint… go on the offense and unapologetically engage in the public square.”

Again, the video continues and Jacob shares the story of Brigham Young’s conversion (which I have expanded the include the entire story considering my format):

I recollect when I was young going to hear Lorenzo Dow preach. He was esteemed a very great man by the religious folks. I, although young in years and lacking experience, had thought a great many times that I would like to hear some man who could tell me something, when he opened the Bible, about the Son of God, the will of God, what the ancients did and received, saw and heard and knew pertaining to God and heaven. So I went to hear Lorenzo Dow. He stood up some of the time, and he sat down some of the time; he was in this position and in that position, and talked two or three hours, and when he got through I asked myself, ‘What have you learned from Lorenzo Dow?’ and my answer was, ‘Nothing, nothing but morals.’ He could tell the people they should not work on the Sabbath day; they should not lie, swear, steal, commit adultery, &c., but when he came to teaching the things of God he was as dark as midnight… I would as lief go into a swamp at midnight to learn how to paint a picture and then define its colors when there is neither moon nor stars visible and profound darkness prevails, as to go to the religious world to learn about God, heaven, hell or the faith of a Christian. But they can explain our duty as rational, moral beings, and that is good, excellent as far as it goes.

–Brigham Young, in Journal of Discourses, 14:197-98

Let me reemphasize this: What have you learned from Lorenzo Dow? …Nothing, nothing but morals.

In the course of my life I have explored various religions and philosophies that have done exactly this. Morals are taught, but nothing sinks down deeper than that. Jordan Peterson, Carl Jung, Friedrich Nietzsche, et al. They speak to morals and demand more from the reader, to elevate and change. But they are not lasting. You are on your own when reading about these challenges. Sam Hyde talks to catastrophe avoidance and gives good advice for careers, but he assumes that you have the ability to change, to clean your room, then speaks to not ruining your life after that. This is much closer and seems like continued guidance.

The issues that Lorenzo Dow has, and the good philosophers and comedian I mentioned have, can not be sufficiently answered by the world or by this Earthly experience. Or rather, this life speaks to something more than what is seen and heard through our senses. Morals and doctrine can only get us so far. Even reason and rationality. There are too many shaded places in the journey of life, too many winds of change. We must be anchored to something. That something is the rock of Christ.

Jacob Hansen is broadcasting his beliefs and doing a great job at it. He does not want to be hid under a rock waiting for the end times. And I have decided that neither do I.