--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - George H. Brimhall collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 24 number: 5 published: 1921-03 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'George H. Brimhall, "Vital Problems of Life," *Improvement Era* 24, no. 5 (March 1921): 411–419.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2405unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera2405unse start_page: 411 end_page: 419 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1921-03) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2405unse publication_year: 1921 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1921, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Vital Problems of Life Vital Problems of Life A Study for the Advanced Senior Classes of the M. I. A., 1920-21 Part II By Dr. George H. Brimhall Lesson XIX. — Why Be Religions? — Introduction. From among many reasons, seven are selected for this lesson. One is religious just to the extent that he believes in and yields joyous obedience to his God, the Superhuman, the Divine, the Omnipresent; i. e., everywhere present by person or agent or influence: the Omniscient; i. e., the alwise or possessed of intelligence to know what is best in being or doing: the Omnipotent; i. e., possessed of power to do or bring to pass that which he desires to execute. The most perfect religious state consists in an assurance that God is; that he will reward good and punish evil; that my course of life or conduct is in keeping with his mind and will. Pure and undefiled religion has been defined as visiting the widow and the fatherless, and keeping oneself unspotted from the sins of the world; but it must be remembered that one of the spots of worldliness is that egotism which prompts man to say there is no God. James 1:27. /. One should be religious because humanity has a spiritual capacity which can be developed through religious or spiritual activities only. Without religion we may have prognostications, but no prophecy; there may be petitions, but no prayer; there may be reasonings, but no revelation; there may be service, but no worship; there may be conviction, but no conversion. *We are not only physical, intellectual and moral in capacity, we are spiritual also. Through our physical we gratify our appetites, or bodily cravings, take exercise, and do our work. Through our intellectual capacity, we gratify our longings for truth, accumulate knowledge, acquire wisdom, and enjoy the process and possession of learning. Through *Note: From an extended list of reasons these have been chosen for this lesson. 412 , IMPROVEMENT ERA our moral, or ethical capacity, wc gratify our yearning for the good, the just, and the right; we do our duty and enjoy the strength of being clean. Through our spiritual capacity we gratify our yearning for power with God, and are filled with ecstasy in the presence of divine influence, whether it be in a secret prayer closet or in a multitude conference. There is indescribable satisfaction in the possession of physical vigor, as when we eat, drink, walk, work, climb, etc.; there is boundless happiness in the presence of intellectual ability, as when we perceive, remember, comprehend, and think clearly; there is perfect satisfaction in the enjoyment of moral vigor, when we dare to do what is right, letting the consequence follow; there is ecstasy, known only to those who experience it, in the presence of spiritual vigor, as we reach the divine in communion and co-operation of action, in resisting evil from without, controling not destroying passions within, comforting the mourner, healing the sick, and in officially linking heaven and earth. Joseph of Egypt, with physical attractions that placed him at a premium in the slave market, with business capacity that made him successful as a manager of Potiphar's wealth, with an ethical strength that caused him to choose the prison cell in preference to a seared conscience, and with spiritual vigor through which he reached God as an interpreter of dreams, in the jail, and made him a prophet before a perplexed king, in the words: "God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace." Genesis 41:15-16. This man Joseph was the embodiment of an all-round character; his was a personality of progressive — completeness a harp of life with no slack strings, and there was another Joseph like unto him. II Nephi 3:14, 15. //. One should be religious because religion has survived in the race for good, and whatever has survived in the race for good should be found in the individual. A perfectly normal person would be a perfect type of the race. A person who cannot love can scarcely be called normal; and one who can love and yet is incapable of extending that love, in keeping with the love extension of the race may not have claim to being perfectly natural. The race has loved not only humanity but it has loved God; it has trusted not only in itself and in nature, but it has trusted in the Divine it has been not only physical, intellectual ; and moral, it has also been religious. The French sage, Voltaire, said: "If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him"; and the Latin poet, Ovid, said, "It is expedient that there should be Gods, and as it is expedient, let us believe that they exist." / VITAL PROBLEMS OF LIFE 413 ///. One should be religious because the concensus of te timony of persons who have been non-religious, irreligious, and religious is to the effect that the religious state is incomparably the most desirable state. Count Lyoff N. Tolstoy, the great Russian philosopher, after he had failed to find happiness in all the skeptical and selfish avenues of life, turned to religion, and afterwards wrote: "I began to understand that in the answers given by faith were to be found the deepest source of human wisdom, that I have no reasonable right to reject them, and that they alone solve the problem of life." Dr. Maeser said in substance: "I thought I enjoyed life when I believed that I would be snuffed out like a candle; but I did not know what life was until I found out, through the gospel and its gifts, that I was to live forever." Religious fervor has no substitute, when we come to consider the acceleration of human activity; for, as a sustainin force, faith in the Divine is without a parallel; and, as a power of restraint against rushing into error, loyalty to God holds first place. IV. One should be religious because religion makes easy and enjoyable the doing of duties which in a non-religious state would be either impossible or burdensome. Dr. William James, philosopher and psychologist, says in his book called The Varieties of Religious Experiences: For when all is said and done, we are in the end absolutely dependent on the universe; and into sacrifices and surrenders of some sort, deliberately looked at and accepted, we are drawn and pressed as into our only permanent positions of repose. Now in those states of mind which fall short of religion, the surrender is submitted to as an imposition of necessity, and the sacrifice is undergone at the very best without complaint. In the religious life, on the contrary, surrender and sacrifice are positively espoused: even unnecessary givings up are added in order that the happiness may increase. Religion thus makes easy and felicitous what in any case is necessary; and if it be the only agency that can accomplish this result, its vital importance as a human faculty stands vindicated beyond dispute. It becomes an essential organ of our life, performing a function which no other portion of our nature can so successfully fulfill. The greatest call to action is "God wills it." It is more than a command, it is the call of highest love; it gives courage to the warrior, a sweet patience to the suffering, gladness to the heart of the persecuted, and brings joy into the midst of sorrow. In reason, we yield uncomplainingly to fate; in religion we, surrender joyously to God. In the one case we comply, in the other we acquiesce: "A mighty fortress is our God, A bulwark never failing, —— A —— — 414 IMPROVEMENT FR Our helper He amid the flood Of mortal ills prevailing." Ger- This quotation comes to us from the greatest of all man hymns, written by Martin Luther. "Passive to His holy will, Trust I in my Maker still, Even though He slay me."— John G. Whittier. V. One should be religious because the highest form of development comes through giving, and the religious state is pre- eminently one of giving. Gratitude is the forerunner of sympathy. The religious person has behind his sentiment of freely give the recognition of having freely received, and the latter intensifies the former. VI. One should be religious because there is neither time nor opportunity in this life for virtue to become its own full reward. Religion provides for the extension of personal existence and responsibility beyond this life. Life is not long enough for the execution of the law of compensation. Oh, if there were not better hopes than these Were there no balm beyond a feverish frame— If the proud wealth flung back upon the heart Must canker in the coffers; if the links Falsehood hath broken will undo no more, If the deep-yearning love, that hath not found Its like in the cold world, must waste in tears If truth, and fervor, and devotedness, Finding no worthy altar must return And die of their own fulness If beyond the grave there is no heaven in whose wide air The spirit may find room, and in the love Of whose bright habitants the lavish heart may spend itself, What thrice-mocked fools are we. N. P. Willis. VII. One should be religious because it gives to one the advantage of shaping his life by the word of the Lord, which carries over where worldly wisdom fails. Prophecy, though it be God's truth, is of no more value to the skeptic than is music to the deaf or light to the blind; but, to the believer, it is an evidence that God lives; that humanity is an object of his benevolent interest, and that adherence to the word of God is the ladder by which one may climb beyond the power of all his enemies, and that is salvation. Humanity has reason to sing, "We thank thee, O God, for a Prophet." See Compendium, "Gems," p. 276. "The prophet's mantel ere his flight, Dropped on the world a sacred gift to man." Campbell. VITAL PROBLEMS OF LIFE 415 — References: Varieties of Religious Experience, Wm. James. Liffi, Death, and Immortality, Wm. Hanna Thompson. The Prophecies of Joseph Smith and their Fulfilment, Nephi L. Morris. The Other Side of Evolution, Alex. Patterson. Religion and Life, Elwood Worcester. The Productive Beliefs, Lynn Harold Hough. Problems and Questions 1. Discuss this problem: One who declares that he can not be religious confesses that he is not a type of the race, and therefore is, in one sense, sub-normal. 2. What should we say of a person who could not believe in the unseen, as it relates to disease germs, undiscovered places, unreached possibilities? Should we consider such a person normal or subnormal? 3. Illustrate the difference between yielding to fate and surrendering to God. 4. Connect up stanza two in, "Wje thank thee, God, for a Prophet" with the fourth reason for being religious. 5. Discuss the problem: The higher the gratitude, the deeper the sympathy. 6. Mention seven prophecies which have been unerringly fulfilled by the Latter-day Saints? From the Bible, two; from the Book of Mormon, two; from Church history, three. 7. Discuss this statement, as a reason for being religious: The greatest civilization of the ages is founded on religion. 8. What does it mean to be spiritually dead? 9. In what sense is this true: The teacher of atheism is a slayer of deities. 10. Make a list of what you could not do or enjoy, that you do now enjoy, if you should cease to be religious. 11. Discuss the value of being religious, because in our religious activitiesour better natures are brought to the front, and our baser natures are held in the background. Lesson XX. — Why Believe in a Personal God? I. Believe in a personal God because the organized is always superior to the unorganized. Man is an organized intelligence, and for him to worship the unorganized would be to worship something less than himself. //.. Believe in a personal God because gratitude is one of the elements of worship, and we cannot be grateful to the unconscious. The mind is forced to the position of limiting its gratitude to the conscious. One can not be grateful to food, but he can be grateful for food. We may be grateful for the sunlight, but not grateful to the sunlight; unless we are so primitive that we put consciousness into the sun. 7/7. Believe in a personal God because consciousness has never been found separate and apart from organism, and to put directive consciousness where there is no organism is, at best, to enter upon the field of unsafe speculation. Il<. IMPROVEMENT ERA It seems clear that for man to believe in or have a wor- -lipful attitude to other than a personal deity would be to i pay homage to something less than one's self. Man is a spirit, but he is more than a spirit, he is a soul composed of spirit and matter. He is more than an influence, he is a personality with an influence, and if he worshiped anything less than a combination of personality and influence, he would worship something less than himself. Man is personality possessed of ideality, and if he becomes a worshiper of ideality alone, he worships something less than himself. Life does not exist in the abstract; its home is with the concrete, the individual, and if one shall worship the abstract, goodness, virtue, power, or beauty, he worships something less than himself, because he is the possible living embodiment of all the virtues, none of which have any possibilities in the abstract. If the personal, concrete individual man trusts in the abstract, subordinates himself to the abstract, it is a case of the living subordinating itself to the non-living. IV. Believe in a personal God, because it is the only way to establish a consistent idea of the parenthood of God. Parenthood means progenitorship, in form and attribute. The idea of parenthood necessitates the idea of individuality, differentiated parts and passions, as well as the idea of a united whole. Parenthood without love is unthinkable. Desirable parenthood without power, justice, and mercy is unthinkable; and an undesirable parenthood could not be God. V. Believe in a personal God because, through the parenthood of God, we get the highest brotherhood of man. Kinship, affinity, and ethical obligation, are three great forces by which society is created and held intact; and when we add to these forces the responsibility of rendering an account of conduct to a common parent of society, of the individuals composing society, the bonds of kinship become stronger and the moral obligation is mightily re-enforced. The highest type of brotherhood is obtainable through the triple consciousness of having to render an account of our treatment to our fellowmen; first, to one's self; second, to society; and, third, to God; a conscious, living, personal self; a conscious, living, personal society; a conscious, living, personal God. The Greeks gave evidence of the personal element in their doctrines of Godhead when they arrived at the conclusion that the perfect life consisted in being in harmony with the self with society, and with God. VITAL PROBLEMS OF LIFE 417 VI. Believe in a personal God because such a belief has persisted in the life-loving people of the earth. The Japanese and the Chinese, who constitute one-third of the earth's population, look to the personal influence of their dead ancestors for salvation. The Mohammedan has faith in Allah, the personal instructor of Mohammed ; the American Indian believes in the Great Spirit, orsuper-human being who will welcome every good Indian to the happy hunting ground. The Jew worships Jehovah, by whose finger their decalogue was written; and the Christian worships the Father of the immaculately conceived Christ. It remanis for the Hindu, with his belief that consciousness is the source of all evil, that individual annihilation is heaven, and therefore that life is the great error of the universe, to cherish a philosophic disbelief in a personal God. VII. Believe in a personal God because of scriptural evidences: a. Old Testament evidence. God declares himself the physical progenitor of the race. Genesis 1:26, 27.* Time 4004 B. C. God tries and passes sentence on Cain. Genesis 4:6-15. God gives Noah personal directions in shipbuilding. Genesis 6:14-16. Time 2340, B. C. God personally instructs the prophet Moses. Exodus 33:11. Time 1492, B. C. God writes to his people, Israel. Deut. 9:10. b.New Testament evidences: Jesus plainly indicated the personality of God his Father when twelve years of age, "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" Luke 2:49. Jesus declared the personality of his Father to Philip. John 14:9. Jesus declared his personal training by his Father. John 5:19. Jesus unmistakably pointed to the conscious individuality of his Father in all his prayers, e. g., at the raising of Lazarus. John 11:41, 42. The prayer in Gethsemane, also the prayer recorded in John 17; Matt. 26:39. His words on the cross, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." Luke 23:46. Jesus emphatically declared the personality of God his Father to Mary, at the tomb after his perfection through the *Note: In presenting scriptural proof, the evidence is illustrative but not exhaustive. 418 IMPROVEMENT ERA resurrection: "Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father." John 20:15, 16, 17. c. Modern revelation. "So the Gods went down to organize man in their own image, in the image of the Gods to form thev him, male and female to form they them." Pearl of Great Price, "Book of Abraham," Chap. 4:27. The personality of God is undoubtedly pointed out in the following: "I, Abraham, talked with the Lord, face to face, as one man talkcth with another; and he said, 'My son, my son,' and his hand was stretched out" * * * "and he put his hand upon my eyes." Pearl of Great Price, "Book of Abraham," chap. 3. "And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them * * * "for he stood among those that were spirits," ibid, chap. 3:11, 12, 23. The dispensation of the fulness of times was ushered in by the personal appearance of God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. "I saw two personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me calling me by name and said, pointing to the other, 'This is my beloved Son, hear him.' Joseph '' Smith, History of the Church, Vol. I, page 5. After his resurrection, Christ proclaimed to the Nephites, on the American continent, the quorum unity of the Godhead, and also the distinct personality of the members of that quorum. "The Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost are one." * * * "I bear record of the Father, and the Father beareth record of me, and the Holy Ghost beareth record of the Father and me." Book of Mormon, III Nephi, 11:23-27. - Problems and Questions 1. piscnat the problem: The organized is always superior to the unorganized. 2. Discuss this question: One can not conceive of the unconscious bring interested in him, and therefore one cannot be grateful to the elements or an idea. 3. Illustrate the following: Before one can sincerely worship an idol the imagination must vest it with consciousness. 4. Show how the idea of the parenthood of God is based upon the belief of a personal God. 5. How does belief in a personal God contribute greatly to the safet> and happiness of society? 6. Contrast Christianity and Buddhism, i. e., show where they are diametrically different. 7. Quote what you consider to be the strongest passage from the4 Old Testament in proof of the personality of God. 8. Give from memory the most definite passage in the New Testament proving the personality of God. VITAL PROBLEMS OF LIFE 419 9. Quote from the Pearl of Great Price a passage that bears testimony of the personality of God. 10. Give from the Book of Mormon a statement concerning the quorum unity of the Godhead, and the individuality of each member of that quorum. 11. Discuss the first vision of the prophet Joseph Smith as the foundation of a new dispensation. 12. Wherein does the Lord's prayer teach the doctrine of the personality of God? 13. Quote, as a memory gem, on the personality of God, John 17:3. Silver Star Star of the silvery night, Star of the dreaming time, Gleaming your beacon light What longed-for goal is thine, Far o'er the silence, In yonder sky? Twinkle your merry smile, Your light though true, yet fades Be thou a guide the while Oft into outer shades, LTnto my soul. 'Mong millions more. Star of the silvery night, Yet you shine bravely on. Light winged and golden bright, Ah, star, you little one. Calm and serene; Patient you are. Where is the path you go; Oft in this world of men. How can you twinkle so, My dearest wish has been In the great void? Crushed in struggle. Star of the silvery night, Yours is the welcome light That bids me rise. If you can shine so true Amid the host that's hiding you, I, too, can rise again, And struggle in the realm of men. —Ezra J. Poulsen.