"Fate" (Week #24)

June 3, 2019

One of the things that I have been wrestling with personally is how to help others understand the Atonement of Jesus Christ and grace. I have been studying the scriptures a lot more as a result. I have been learning quite a few different things. One of the things that I have been discovering is that many of the people that we work with have concerns iwith fate. Some people seem to think that they are consigned to a certain fate mo mattet what choices  they make. I have sometimes felt like that before, and I had kind of just shrugged off those thoughts and just kept going. Now these people are making me pause and face the concern. It's also interesting that our mission president really, really spearheads a theme of accountability, responsibility, agency, freedom, and just taking control of your life generally speaking. He often talks about taking a comfort path versus taking the pain path- meaning- the consequences of the comfort path lead to pain, and the consequences of the pain path lead to comfort, well not really comfort as in carnal security, but comfort as in maximizing growth, finding peace, reaching full potential, and having more choices. In the end, it's actually easier to take the pain path even though the comfort path appears more appealing- it seems comfortable, but the end result is pain, and the farther one progresses down that path, the harder it is to choose the right path. It also becomes more painful for one to get set on the pain path the father along the comfort path one goes. Ultimately it's like that scripture in 2Nephi:27- 27 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. Anyhow, those are some of the things that I am learning. The mission president has told me that fate is not part of the doctrine, so I am very thankful about that.