FUNNELS AND CHAINS

This is my series on addiction recovery. Enjoy!

PART I
If you're LDS, and you go to High School (or went to), or have ever been to High School, you'd probably hear these words at least a hundred times:

"Man, in your church, You can't do anything!"

or this:

"I could never be Mormon, you can't enjoy life!"

Really, they're just saying that all the things that they do that they think are fun (Smoking and drinking, and doing drugs and.... well... other stuff) are strict "No-nos" in the Church and in the Kingdom of God. We know that they are, but but sometimes we don't understands why.

Well, Imagine you have two funnels. One you hold right side up in your hand, skinny part at the bottom. The other, upside down with the fat part at the bottom. Now keep that visual in your head. (Unless you are actually holding funnels, then you can keep holding on... I guess...? I don't know. I'm just words on your computer screen....)

Sometimes we think of the rules or the commandments of God as a way of God just wanting to mess with us. Sometimes we think its to deny us happiness. Sometimes we think that these "commandments" don't even come from God, that they're just some thing our parents told us to hold us back, and now that we're grown up, they shouldn't apply to us.

Well, I have news for y'all. God is OUR (yes, even YOUR) LOVING HEAVENLY FATHER. He Loves us. ALL of us. Do you think your father would ever leave you astray?

No, of course not!

Sometimes, though, we never see it as that. We see these "rules" as simply handcuffs that don't let us do anything that we want to. Their just ways our parents use to control us.

But, we never truly see the big picture.



Before we came to this life, we lived as spirits with our Father in Heaven. He presented us a plan for us to come to Earth, receive a body, learn and grow, so that we can return to live with Him and become more like our Father.  Part of the plan was something we call AGENCY, or the ability to choose between right and wrong. He KNEW that to learn and grow, we would have to make mistakes, because that's part of learning. He also knew that if we made mistakes, we would not be able to live with God again (see 1 Nephi 15:34, see also Psalms 24:3-4). He provided us a Savior, to suffer for our sins so that we will be able to live with him again. But, when Our Father in Heaven asked "Whom shall I send?" Two volunteers came forward, One presented a plan to give us freedom to choose. One presented a plan to make sure that we would ALL get back.

Believe it or not, the one who presented the plan to make sure that we all get back was not our Savior, it was Satan.  Which means that if he got his way, we would have no choice. Satan is the enemy of choice.

Addictions are just one of the tools Satan uses to destroy agency. Agency, or the freedom to choose, is a gift from our loving Heavenly Father. It is by the righteous use of this agency that we are able to return to live with our Him and our families for Eternity. And so, this is why God gives us these commandments. Not to restrict us. Actually its quite the opposite. Remember the funnels? The One that we had big side up is how we could describe Satan's temptations. We have all these things, all these different temptations, and we think that they keep us free but really... they just lead us to one place. Addictions take away our choice, and lead us away from our Heavenly Father. The other funnel, the one that starts skinny at the top, and gets bigger at the bottom we think of as the commandments. If we keep the commandments, though it may seem strict, they act as guard rails that lead us to a life full of freedom.


That's great! We should all keep the commandments then, right?


Well, yes. But there are some of us who may have slipped up. We went down the wrong funnel and now the chains of sin now drag behind us. I'm not just talking about a smoking problem. I'm not just talking about a porn addiction or drinking or drugs. Maybe our addictions are something completely different. But the principles, techniques, and mindsets are the same. Its through the Atonement and repentance that we can be free from our addictions. That includes man's addiction to sin.

If you've gone down this path, DON'T WORRY. There is hope. We'll talk over the next couple weeks about what we can do to get back on the path of righteousness and how we can be free of these addictions. There are many techniques we can use to become free of these things. Part 2 coming!

I think I'm addicted to Mac and Cheese. Maybe I should read up?

One of the few sunny days here in the Pacific Northwest

eagle cheese.(Wise words from Elder Carpenter. Check out his blog @ joshuatcarpenter.blogspot.com)