Keeping the Little Commandments

To set the stage for this blog post, I would like to share a quote by Elder David A. Bednar:

In my office is a beautiful painting of a wheat field. The painting is a vast collection of individual brushstrokes—none of which in isolation is very interesting or impressive. In fact, if you stand close to the canvas, all you can see is a mass of seemingly unrelated and unattractive streaks of yellow and gold and brown paint. However, as you gradually move away from the canvas, all of the individual brushstrokes combine together and produce a magnificent landscape of a wheat field. Many ordinary, individual brushstrokes work together to create a captivating and beautiful painting.

Each family prayer, each episode of family scripture study, and each family home evening is a brushstroke on the canvas of our souls. No one event may appear to be very impressive or memorable. But just as the yellow and gold and brown strokes of paint complement each other and produce an impressive masterpiece, so our consistency in doing seemingly small things can lead to significant spiritual results. “Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great” (D&C 64:33) (More Diligent and Concerned at Home, October 2009 General Conference).

I've seen many who wonder if doing the little things like going to church, reading your scriptures, and saying your prayers can really have a significant impact on seemingly unrelated areas of your life. I have been there myself. Maybe you go to church week after week and feel like you don't get much out of it. Maybe you are struggling to decide whether to pay tithing or make a rent payment and are wondering if God will really pour you down a blessing from heaven so great that there will not be room enough to receive it. (See Malachi 3:10, KJV Holy Bible.) Maybe you feel like your schedule is packed, and you don't know if scripture study is really important enough to make time for. These feelings likely stem from the philosophy that unless we know how results are supposed to stem from the causes, the results probably won't come from the causes. Those of the world frequently preach this false doctrine. They say things such as:

In our scientific age, we must move past believing that something will happen just because the Bible says so. We must let go of these silly fantasies along with Zeus and all other mythologies of ages past. These ideas were for primitive, uneducated people who let their imaginations guide their beliefs.

Honestly, I find such claims to be ridiculous. A scientific view alone will not lead one to reject revealed religion. Rather, it is an atheistic or agnostic world view that will lead one to reject God's teachings. Let me say this again: By itself, scientific data will not lead ANYONE to stop believing in God. So many of the world's leading scientists and mathematicians have been, are, and will continue to be Christians. Unfortunately, many people fall for this doctrine of the Devil. Satan's lie that we must see it to believe it has led far too many good-hearted people to set aside all of the commandments that they don't understand the importance of. My heart weeps for such people, and I hope that they will repent, come unto Christ, and be perfected by His grace.

In reality, even the littlest commandments can lead to blessings so great that we cannot even begin to comprehend them. In Alma 37, Alma gives the plates of brass and the plates of Nephi to his son Helaman and commands him to protect them at all costs. Towards the beginning of his counsel to his son Helaman, Alma says:

Behold, it has been prophesied by our fathers, that [the plates of brass and the plates of Nephi] should be kept and handed down from one generation to another, and be kept and preserved by the hand of the Lord until they should go forth unto every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, that they shall know of the mysteries contained thereon.

And now behold, if they are kept they must retain their brightness; yea, and they will retain their brightness; yea, and also shall all the plates which do contain that which is holy writ.

Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.

And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls (Alma 37:4-7, Book of Mormon).

Notice how interesting these promises were. Helaman was given a very small and simple commandment. He was told to keep the records until he got old and then to give them to one of his sons. He was promised that, if he did this, the metal plates would not corrode or oxidize over time, and every family in the world would have the opportunity to read them. Someone who did not have faith in the power of God would probably be thinking that Alma was crazy if he or she had been in Helaman's place. After all, corrosion and oxidation are natural chemical processes. Furthermore, at the time of the Nephites, only a select few people ever got to read the scriptures (or any books for that matter). The claim that every family on the earth would have the opportunity to read the book would have seemed ludicrous at the time. It is no wonder why Alma said, "ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me".

After promising incredible and seemingly unrelated promises for keeping a small and simple commandment, Alma taught Helaman a profound eternal truth:

By small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise. And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls.

We now see the fulfillment of Alma's marvelous promises. The plates were preserved, Joseph Smith translated them by the gift and power of God into the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ, and the Book of Mormon is now available online at LDS.org to be read by people all over the world in their native language. A great thing was brought to pass, this great miracle does confound the wise, and the Book of Mormon has brought to pass the salvation of many souls.

The Apostle Paul taught, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him (1 Corinthians 2:9, KJV Holy Bible)." Jesus taught, "If ye love me, keep my commandments (John 14:15, KJV Holy Bible)." How is it that keeping small commandments can lead to blessings greater than anything you have ever witnessed and more marvelous than anything you have ever imagined? (See footnote 1.)

We can better understand this by turning to the work of the famous meteorologist/mathematician Edward Lorenz who founded a new branch of mathematics called "chaos theory". Most meteorologists of his day held the view that it was possible to accurately predict the weather into the future if you knew most of the large-scale weather patterns at the present moment. They applied this view to their statistical weather models. One day in 1961, Edward Lorenz was running weather forecasts on a computer. He noticed that when he entered 0.506 for one of the values, he got a completely different result than when he entered 0.506127. Edward quickly became skeptical of the common notion that little causes should have little effects.

In 1963, Edward published a paper in which he mathematically proved that even the slightest difference in initial conditions can lead to enormous differences in the future weather patterns. (See footnote 2.) In later speeches, he explained his paper's results by explaining that he had proved that a butterfly flapping its wings on one side of the world can cause a tornado to occur on the other side of the world. This is why many people now refer to his work as the "butterfly effect".

Edward Lorenz' completely unexpected results were groundbreaking. He crushed one of the false philosophies of men and proved the doctrine taught by Alma and Paul that small and simple things can and do bring great things to pass and confound the wise.

We, as mortals, have a finite understanding of the world. Because of the butterfly effect, it is impossible for us to accurately predict how our actions may shape our future. A lot of the time, we can get a good idea of how some of our actions may affect us. However, even in those circumstances, we can't know for sure how our future will play out (without the help of God, of course). However, there is One who notices even the sparrows when they fall. God has an infinite understanding of this universe. He knows and controls the motion of every atom, He hears all of your prayers, He weeps with you when you suffer, and He rejoices when you do what is right. He can and does know what will happen to you if you choose to follow His commandments. With Him on your side, you can't go wrong. In Matthew 10 we read:

Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows (Matthew 10:29-31, KJV Holy Bible).

In 2 Nephi, we read that God "doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him. Wherefore, he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation (2 Nephi 26:24, Book of Mormon)." We can thus be assured that God will not give you any commandment unless it will bless you. So, next time you are wondering whether you should keep going to church, make time to read your scriptures and say heartfelt prayers every day, pay your tithing, et cetera, remember that greater blessings than you can even begin to imagine will come to you from doing so. I testify of these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Footnote 1: When Paul said "neither have entered into the heart of man" in 1 Corinthians 2:9, he was most likely meaning that no mortal can even imagine something so great. We can come this conclusion when this scripture is combined with a knowledge of the Semitic anatomical understanding. The Hebrews (Israelites) thought that the heart performed the functions that we now understand to be performed by the brain. They thought that the heart is the place that ideas come from.

Footnote 2: Edward N. Lorenz (1963). "Deterministic Nonperiodic Flow". Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences. 20 (2): 130–141

By Small and Simple Numbers Part 2: Agency

Continued from "By Small and Simple Numbers Part 1".

Introduction

In his BYU Devotional called "Where Will It Lead?", Elder Dallin H. Oaks said the following:

The direction in which we are headed is critically important, especially at the beginning of our journey. I have a friend who concluded his career as a pilot flying long routes across the Pacific for a major airline. He told me that an error of only two degrees in the course set on the 4,500-mile, direct-line flight from Chicago to Hilo, Hawaii, would cause the plane to miss that island by more than 145 miles to the south. If it were not a clear day, the pilot could not even see the island, and there would be nothing but ocean until you got to Australia. But of course you wouldn’t get to Australia, because you wouldn’t have that much fuel. Small errors in direction can cause large tragedies in destination.

The concept that small numerical differences can lead to large differences over time can be applied to the decisions we make in this life.

The Math of Agency

Those of you who read my first post might remember a little bit about the gospel relationship I discussed. Here is what I said:

The scriptures are packed full of relationships between different things. An equation is defined as a relationship between 2 or more things. Therefore, every time a relationship is established, it can be described with a math equation. Since religion and math are being blended, these equations fall under the scope of theometry.
As a simple example, the Book of Mormon (a book of LDS scripture that goes alongside the Holy Bible) states:
"Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil (2 Nephi 2:27)."
This verse teaches that we have the freedom to make choices. If we use our freedom wisely, our freedom will increase. Otherwise, our freedom will decrease. There is a clear relationship between our choices and our freedom. Thus, there must be an equation to describe how our choices and freedom relate. (In a later post, I will discuss the actual math behind this verse, but for now I just want to demonstrate that it contains math.)

 

 

This post is the one in which I will explain the math behind the principle of moral agency. (Agency is more commonly known outside of the LDS faith as free will). First, let's consider why the quality of our decisions today determines our ability to make decisions in the future. Here is a quote from the Gospel Principles Sunday School Manual:

When we follow the temptations of Satan, we limit our choices. The following example suggests how this works. Imagine seeing a sign on the seashore that reads: “Danger—whirlpool. No swimming allowed here.” We might think that is a restriction. But is it? We still have many choices. We are free to swim somewhere else. We are free to walk along the beach and pick up seashells. We are free to watch the sunset. We are free to go home. We are also free to ignore the sign and swim in the dangerous place. But once the whirlpool has us in its grasp and we are pulled under, we have very few choices. We can try to escape, or we can call for help, but we may drown.

There are many more examples of this principle. When someone makes the decision to start using drugs, it becomes much harder for him or her to choose to not use drugs again. When a teenage pregnancy results from a couple choosing to violate the law of chastity, the possibilities for the couple's future are severely restricted. The list goes on and on.

 

The following equation can model this principle. In this equation, "A" is the amount of agency, "C" is the quality of an individual's choices, and a "d" before a variable means "a change in":

 

 

Using calculus, we can see that the above equation is equivalent to the following equation where "A₀" is the amount of agency we start out with and "e" is Euler's number (approximately 2.718):
 

 

If we make only positive choices, our agency over time will look something like the following:

 

 

If we make only negative choices, our agency over time will look something like the following. (As can be seen, we lose that which we had.):

 

 

A little difference in the quality of our choices can make an enormous difference in our future agency. Here is what a 20% difference in the quality of our choices can do:

 

 

Conclusion

 

As is clearly displayed by these visuals, "by small and simple [numbers] are great things brought to pass (Book of Mormon, Alma 37:6)." To again quote from the BYU Devotional by Elder Oaks:

All of us—and especially young people—need to be very careful about the paths we choose and the directions in which we set our lives. What seem to be only small deviations in direction or small detours from the straight and narrow path can result in huge differences in position down the road of life.

It can be hard at times to make the best decisions rather than just good decisions. I discovered this math while I was serving a full-time proselytizing mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As a missionary, I saw people trying to change their lives for the better every day. I could tell how hard it was. I want to provide people with assistance in following their Savior. When I discovered this math, any desire I had to take the easier route vanished and was replaced by a desire to take the optimum route. For me, these equations and graphs are powerful motivation to do good continually. I hope this blog post is able to do the same for you. I know that as we follow the plan the Lord has set for us, we will be eternally blessed.

 

To be continued.

By Small And Simple Numbers Part 1

Introduction

I have promised for the last couple blog posts that I would talk about the math behind some gospel relationships found in the scriptures. For those of you who have been anxiously awaiting the fulfillment of this promise, you're in luck; that's what this post is all about. However, I will first share a little background on this discovery.

One morning, I was studying the topic of knowledge and intelligence. I noticed an interesting pattern: the scriptures teach that if we increase our knowledge and intelligence, we will be able to continue to increase them at a faster rate. This can be compared to financial investment: the more money you currently have, the quicker you can gain more money.

Those of you who know me really well know that my two favorite things are the Gospel of Christ and math. Seeing a scriptural example of quantities changing in a specific way allowed me to recognize that my two favorite things can be combined. This was the birth of theometry. Within a few minutes, I was coming up with equations to model increases in knowledge and intelligence. Within a few more minutes, I was drawing graphs of the equations and showing them to my missionary companion. (I had been on a proselyting mission for the LDS Church for about six months at the time.) I was ecstatic.

Before long, I had come up with equations for knowledge and intelligence, faith and works, agency, diligence, et cetera. As I began to see the implications of these equations, the words of an ancient prophet named Alma kept coming to my mind. (I will explain why later in this blog post.)

By Small and Simple Things

Near the end of his mortal ministry, the great prophet Alma gathered together his sons Helaman, Shiblon, and Corianton to give them words of counsel. He spoke to Helaman first, and told him that he was going to entrust the spiritual and historical records of the Nephites and Jaredites into his hands. During Alma's explanation to his son of the great importance of these records, Alma said:

"behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise. And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls."

Alma's words were surely fulfilled. Some of the recorded material given to Helaman later became part of what we know today as "The Book of  Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ". This is a book of sacred scripture that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly referred to as "Mormons") read alongside the Holy Bible. From this book, millions of people around the world have gained a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and a knowledge that God still speaks to His children today through a living prophet. This small and simple book has confounded the wise and brought about the salvation of many souls.



Through small and simple miracles, records of ancient prophets were preserved and became the Book of Mormon.

The doctrine that God brings about immense results through very small means is applicable to so many aspects of Christ's gospel. I have gained a testimony of this as I have involved myself with theometry. The rest of this blog post will show a few gospel relationships that teach the impact of small and simple numbers. If you don't want to learn all the math involved, you can still learn from what I will share by reading the rest of the text and looking at the graphs.

Knowledge and Intelligence

Since I have already talked a little bit about knowledge and intelligence, we will investigate this gospel relationship first. We can easily learn how these two attributes are related by looking in a dictionary. The Google dictionary defines intelligence as "the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills." In other words, the greater your intelligence, the faster you can learn.

Intelligence = Rate at which you can increase your knowledge

We can learn even more about the relation between these attributes by reading the scriptures. Doctrine and Covenants 88:40 teaches:

"For intelligence cleaveth unto intelligence; wisdom receiveth wisdom; truth embraceth truth; virtue loveth virtue; light cleaveth unto light"

The more intelligence, wisdom, truth, or light we have, the faster we can improve at these attributes. Since we can gain knowledge faster by having more knowledge, and since intelligence is our ability to acquire knowledge, an increase in knowledge results in an increase in intelligence.

Increase in knowledge = Increase in intelligence

Now it's time for some math. I will represent knowledge with the letter "K", intelligence with the letter "I", amount of effort being put into studying with the letter "S", and time with the letter "t". For notation, I will have "∝" mean "is proportional to", and adding a "d" before a variable will mean "a change in". For example, if I said "dK ∝ 2", that would mean "a change in knowledge proportional to two".

In order for someone to have an increase in knowledge of a certain amount (dK), they need to have some level of intelligence (I), some amount of effort being put into studying (S), and some time to have elapsed (dt). A formula to model this concept is:

 

We can model the fact that an increase in knowledge naturally leads to an increase in intelligence with the equation:

 

Substituting this equation into the one preceding it, we get:

I will now use calculus to solve for "I" (It's okay if you don't know calculus. Feel free to skip down to the graph of the function I will derive.) I will assume the rate of study is constant over time and will introduce arbitrary constants (c₁, c₂, c₃, c₄, & c₅):

 

Now, since a gain in knowledge yields a gain in intelligence, we can solve for "K"

 

Shown below is a graph of how knowledge or intelligence might change over time assuming a constant rate of studying:

 

Knowledge or Intelligence as a Function of Time



Why is mathematically modeling knowledge and intelligence useful? For me at least, visually seeing the enormous difference that putting forward the effort to gain knowledge can make is motivational. Seeing this graph helps me better understand my divine nature and scriptures such as Doctrine & Covenants 130:18-19:

"Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection. And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come."

Increasing doctrinal understanding is crucial because, as Boyd K. Packer taught:

"True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior (Ensign, "Little Children")."

I can bear my testimony that God's hand is found in everything. As we seek for Him in all that we do, He will reveal Himself in ways we may not have expected. Stay tuned for my future blog posts!

"By Small and Simple Numbers" is to be continued.

Check out my other blog that gives Mormon answers for life's great questions at mormonanswersforlife.blogspot.com