The Kobayashi Maru Test

The infamous Kobayashi Maru test, introduced in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. It's the unbeatable, no-win scenario meant to test the character of starship commanders in training. As Admiral Kirk put it, a no-win situation is a possibility every comander might face. How we deal with death is as important as how we deal with life, he explained. When Kirk was in the academy, however, he managed to become the only cadet to ever win the test. He did so by changing the conditions of the test so that it was possible to win. In short, he cheated death.

In real life though, we will all face our own Kobayashi Maru test at one time or another. Chronic and long-term illness, divorce, the loss of a loved one, or ultimately our own impending death are some of the no-win scenarios we may have to encounter. Unlike Kirk though, we can't change the conditions of the test in order to escape the outcome. On the other hand, we can learn how to deal with the inevitable no-win situations that come into our lives.

I believe the key to enduring our Kobayashi Maru-like trials is to have faith in Jesus Christ. Because of His atonement, the Lord knows our pains and our sufferings and so can give us the power and ability to endure them.

"But blessed are they who are faithful and endure, whether in life or in death, for they shall inherit eternal life." (D&C 50:5)

"My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes."(D&C 121:7-8)

“Be patient in afflictions, for thou shalt have many; but endure them, for, lo, I am with thee, even unto the end of thy days.” (D&C 24:8)

“Behold, we count them happy which endure.” (James 5:11).

Elder Robert D. Hales Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles once counseled:

"The basic requirements for enduring to the end include knowing who we are, children of God with a desire to return to His presence after mortality; understanding the purpose of life, to endure to the end and obtain eternal life; and living obediently with a desire and a determination to endure all things, having eternal vision. Eternal vision allows us to overcome opposition in our temporal state and, ultimately, achieve the promised rewards and blessings of eternal life. 

If we are patient in our afflictions, endure them well, and wait upon the Lord to learn the lessons of mortality, the Lord will be with us to strengthen us unto the end of our days." (General Conference, April 1998, “Behold, We Count Them Happy Which Endure”)

My mother was a great example of enduring to the end. Even during her final year of mortal life, unable to move or speak, she smiled at those who came to visit. She even made sure to renew her temple recommend even though she would never again be able to attend. Her love of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ never failed. She met her Kobayashi Maru test with great faith and character. I hope and pray I can do the same.

No Answer to Prayer?

There are people who say they have prayed about God, the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, the restored Gospel or any other aspect of the church, but who never received an answer. And so, since they didn't receive an answer as promised they argue that it can't be true and that there is no God. What they don't understand is that there are prerequisites to receiving answers from heaven. We can turn to the admonition given to Oliver Cowdery when he was seeking divine guidance:

"Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me." (D&C 9:7)

What then are the prerequisites to receiving answers to our prayers? The counsel given to Oliver continues in this manner:

"But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right." (D&C 9:8)

In the New Testament, the apostle James also teaches us a principle about prayer:

"But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord." (James 1:6-7)

In the Book Mormon, the prophet Alma defines what it means to have faith:

"And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true." (Alma 32:21)

In some cases, having faith in something unseen and unproven can seem to be an almost impossible task. Alma, however, further explains that our fledgling faith can begin with simply a desire to believe which he describes as "a particle of faith."

"But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words." (Alma 32:27)

And, what is it that we should believe, or at the very least, desire to believe as the case may be? Here is an example of where we can begin:

"Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend." (Mosiah 4:9)

Some critics may counter that to exercise belief is merely setting oneself up to create false feelings from within our own minds simply because we expect them. On the other hand, those of us who have received a confirmation from the Holy Ghost in answer to prayer can testify that the feelings and sensations are, in most cases, quite different than what we anticipated. In some instances the confirmation has come not when we were praying but at a later time when we least expected it.

Such was the case with Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles. As a teenager he desired to receive a testimony of the gospel. One summer while participating in the Hill Cumorah Pageant near Palmyra, New York, he decided this was the time and place to ask in prayer.

“One night after the performance, I went to the Sacred Grove alone,” he remembers. “It was a beautiful summer evening. I entered the grove, and began to pray. I prayed very diligently for an hour, maybe more—and nothing happened.”

Nothing happened. He left disappointed at not having received the confirmation he was hoping for.

A month later though, as he was reading the Book of Mormon, this is what he experienced:

“Without my asking for it, the witness came,” he recalls. “It came without words, actually stronger than words, and I received a very powerful spiritual confirmation—the kind that leaves no doubt—about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith."

He further explained:

“Looking back on that experience, I realize that we can’t dictate to God when, where, or how He will speak to us. We just have to be open to receive what He disposes, when He disposes it. It comes according to His will, and it can come to us wherever we are.”

I recall a scene from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade when Dr. Jones has to exercise incredible faith in order to cross a great chasm and save his father's life. The clue read, "Only in the leap from the lion's head will he prove his worth." There was nothing to suggest that there was anything to prevent him from falling into the abyss. But believing, he took a step into the air and found that there was indeed an unseen support and a way to get across safely.

To anyone who still doubts or has not yet received an answer to prayer, may I share the words of Elder Jeffery R. Holland:

"What was once a tiny seed of belief for me has grown into the tree of life, so if your faith is a little tested in this or any season, I invite you to lean on mine. I know this work is God’s very truth..."

He, I and countless others have conducted the experiment of faith and traversed the seemingly uncrossable chasm and shown that there really is a God in heaven and truth in the gospel. A loving Heavenly Father is ready and waiting to answer our prayers. The important thing is to believe in the unseen and pray with faith in those things of which we have received a confirmation from our Heavenly Father.

The Borg are at Sector 001

For anyone familiar with the Star Trek universe, the Borg are a well-known fearsome alien adversary. They are a race of cybernetic beings, half-machine and half-biological.  They are actually more machine than creature. Their primary objective is to conquer and assimilate entire worlds. There is no individuality, each unit is a member of the Borg collective. They have no personal will, desires, or identity. Their weaponry is formidable, powerful, and adapts quickly to any defenses.

While the Borg are fictional alien villains in a popular science fiction series, a Borg-like threat is right here at sector 001, in our world. They are Satan and his followers who were cast out of the presence of Heavenly Father and cast down to the earth.

"And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." (Revelations 12:9)

"...behold, the devil was before Adam, for he rebelled against me, saying, Give me thine honor, which is my power; and also a third part of the hosts of heaven turned he away from me because of their agency; And they were thrust down, and thus came the devil and his angels." (D&C 29:36-37)

Each of us has been given the great gift of agency, that is, the ability to freely choose our actions according to our desires and wishes. Heavenly Father gave us this gift to enable us to make good and wise choices that will lead us back into His presence and glory in the eternities while bringing us joy and peace in this mortal life.

On the other hand, the adversary and his cohorts are actively working to take down our defenses and to lead us away from the safety of God's safe haven. Temptations are all around us in the media, at school, at work, in diverse places where ever we may be. He also uses otherwise good people to deceive us and try to convince us that the things we hold to be true are false and foolish. The devil wants to trap us and make us believe that "resistance is futile."

"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; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself." (2 Nephi 2:27)

Succumbing to the temptations and deceptions of the adversary invariably lead to addictions, sufferings, or misery of one kind or another. We must resist! We have to keep our defenses up at all times and in all places. It's important that we turn away from temptations and use our agency to choose righteousness and the way of the Savior. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way to eternal life and never-ending joy in the presence of our Heavenly Father.

"I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness." (Mosiah 2:41)

With God all things are possible, including safe passage around treacherous Borg territory.

Truth and Falsehood on the Internet

The internet has become a fantastic resource for discovering and researching important gospel principles and topics. On the other hand, it can also lead to questionable material that claims to reveal hidden truths about the church, its leaders, and its history. In the October 2012 General Conference, Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles lamented about this unfortunate situation:

Some have immersed themselves in Internet materials that magnify, exaggerate, and, in some cases, invent shortcomings of early Church leaders. Then they draw incorrect conclusions that can affect testimony.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, also of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles offered this wise counsel to those who have been exposed to this type of material:

Brothers and sisters, this is a divine work in process, with the manifestations and blessings of it abounding in every direction, so please don’t hyperventilate if from time to time issues arise that need to be examined, understood, and resolved. They do and they will. In this Church, what we know will always trump what we do not know. And remember, in this world, everyone is to walk by faith. (General Conference April 2013)

At the end of his comments, he shared his reassurance and a powerful testimony of the work and its divinity:

I declare some things I now know. I know that God is at all times and in all ways and in all circumstances our loving, forgiving Father in Heaven. I know Jesus was His only perfect child, whose life was given lovingly by the will of both the Father and the Son for the redemption of all the rest of us who are not perfect. I know He rose from that death to live again, and because He did, you and I will also. I know that Joseph Smith, who acknowledged that he wasn’t perfect, was nevertheless the chosen instrument in God’s hand to restore the everlasting gospel to the earth. I also know that in doing so—particularly through translating the Book of Mormon—he has taught me more of God’s love, of Christ’s divinity, and of priesthood power than any other prophet of whom I have ever read, known, or heard in a lifetime of seeking. I know that President Thomas S. Monson, who moves devotedly and buoyantly toward the 50th anniversary of his ordination as an Apostle, is the rightful successor to that prophetic mantle today. We have seen that mantle upon him again in this conference. I know that 14 other men whom you sustain as prophets, seers, and revelators sustain him with their hands, their hearts, and their own apostolic keys. These things I declare to you with the conviction Peter called the “more sure word of prophecy.” What was once a tiny seed of belief for me has grown into the tree of life, so if your faith is a little tested in this or any season, I invite you to lean on mine. I know this work is God’s very truth, and I know that only at our peril would we allow doubt or devils to sway us from its path. Hope on. Journey on. Honestly acknowledge your questions and your concerns, but first and forever fan the flame of your faith, because all things are possible to them that believe.

I am familiar with just about every claim, every argument, every alleged historical fact that has been proposed to try to prove that Joseph Smith was a fake and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a man-made false religion. I still believe and hold fast to my testimony to the calling of Joseph Smith as a prophet of God, to the restoration of eternal gospel truths, and to the Book of Mormon as a divine translation of ancient records. To those who have questions and doubts, I reassure you that there are answers and the answers make sense. Think about the thousands upon thousands of intelligent and highly educated individuals in science, education, law, and other professional fields who exercise faith as members of the church. If faith requires ignorance then you wouldn't find those kind of people in the church, and yet they are there.

And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true. (Alma 32:21)

I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith. (Ether 12:6)

Pray, read the scriptures, be humble, and believe.

But verily, verily, I say unto you, that as many as receive me, to them will I give power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on my name. Amen. (D&C 11:30)

She has gone to Paradise

My dear mother passed away on March 3rd. I miss her.

An ancient American prophet named Alma taught about what happens after we die. His words assure me that I haven't really lost my mother. Our separation is only temporary.

"Therefore, there is a time appointed unto men that they shall rise from the dead; and there is a space between the time of death and the resurrection. And now, concerning this space of time, what becometh of the souls of men is the thing which I have inquired diligently of the Lord to know; and this is the thing of which I do know....
"Now, concerning the state of the soul between death and the resurrection—Behold, it has been made known unto me by an angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life." (Book of Mormon, Alma 40:9,11)

I'm certain that my mother's spirit is now alive and in that world of spirits rejoicing with family, relatives, and friends who preceded her in passing through the door of death. Then there will come a time when all things will be restored.

"The soul shall be restored to the body, and the body to the soul; yea, and every limb and joint shall be restored to its body; yea, even a hair of the head shall not be lost; but all things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame." (Book of Mormon, Alma 40:23)

While I don't really care for poetry, a few years ago I wrote some lines as I thought about my mother. I knew her condition would get worse as time passed. I guess this was a way to deal with how I felt and still do feel.

If the day comes when you can longer speak to me,
I will look at your face and read the words in your eyes.

If the day comes when you can no longer see me,
I will hold your hand and feel the words in our touch.

If the day comes when your journey here ends,
Stay near my spirit and I will hear your words in my heart.

I'm thankful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ that gives me hope in the face of death and light in days of darkness. I know my Savior lives, and because He lives, all of us including my Mom, will live again.
Gospel Topics: Physical Death