Disease

I just graduated with a B.S. in microbiology and have been involved in a couple of discussions that prompted me to consider the following topic:

There has been the exchange of opinions concerning human suffering and disease and the station people have in life. Did they do something in the pre-mortal life that put them where they are today? Of course we believe that our life before this one influences us and who we are, but we don’t know the extent of that influence and certainly do not believe that because someone is some place that they are less faithful than others.

Just the other day my roommate asked me why God causes people to get sick. Why is there disease at all? He told me that he understands that God made the world so that animals have to eat other animals, but what about disease. Being a student of microbiology, I told him that disease caused by microbes is the same concept as animals eating other animals, just on a microscopic scale. It’s the microbes’ effort to survive. Of course, this is sort of a lame and superficial answer to his question. There are plenty of holes in this argument. What about genetic diseases, my roommate wondered? What about cancer? What good do these bring? I am of the opinion that these things and other physical human frailties are what we inherit by becoming human. They are part of the consequences of the fall of Adam and part of the test mortality. Prior to the fall there was no pain, suffering, death, or sickness. Christ’s infinite atonement redeems us from the fall, and the effects thereof.

The second article of faith states, “We believe that men will be punished for their own sins and not for Adam’s transgression.” In other words, we are not blame for Adam’s spiritual or physical fall. The spiritual fall results in being cut off from God’s immediate presence, which is universally overcome via the atonement. We will all return to God’s presence, not necessarily for eternal life, but to be judged. This is an unconditional aspect of the atonement. “For behold, he surely must die that salvation may come; yea, It behooveth him and becometh expedient that he dieth, to bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, that thereby men may be brought into the presence of the Lord. Yea, behold, this death bringeth to pass the resurrection, and redeemeth all mankind from the first death –that spiritual death; for all mankind, by the fall of Adam being cut off from the presence of Lord, are considered as dead, both as to things temporal and to things spiritual.” Though we may suffer a bit from the separation from God caused by the fall, all mankind universally redeemed from that spiritual death. The conditional aspect of the atonement is that we have to repent of our own sins that we commit every day.

Being mortal and living in a fallen world exposes us to disease, death, and other physical troubles. Like spiritual pain resulting from the fall, we may also suffer due to our mortality brought on by the fall. We are, however, universally resurrected and can access the atonement to gain comfort from our physical pains.

But what does the knowledge of these things mean for me? The covenant of baptism comes to mind. “Willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things and in all places…” (Mosiah 18:9). Despite the atonement’s availability to everyone, and the comfort that derives there from, this baptismal covenant affects all who are baptized into the church. I have a responsibility to fulfill this covenant as a card-carrying member of the church and as part of the society of eternal souls. I’m going into medicine, and my ability to comfort those suffering from physical maladies should be relatively extensive. I’ll be able to help others professionally, but hopefully in everyday life I’ll recognize the chances to do the same. Those chances are out there.

Living by Faith not Fear

I gave a talk in church a while ago and the assigned topic was "Living by Faith not by Fear," the topic was taken from a talk given by newly called apostle Elder Cook. I hope to show that some of my beliefs as a mormon coincide with belief others have who are not of my faith, especially concerning our Savior Jesus Christ. When I was first assigned the topic, I was intrigued that these two words were combined as a topic. I hadn't thought through exactly why faith and fear were opposites. Reading again the talk given by Elder Cook was helpful and I also decided to examine the ideas one at a time. Fear After reading the talk the first thing I did was make a list of fears, it won't be exhaustive of course and any additional fears you would like to mention would be appreciated in the comments. You can fear: Rejection Embarrassment Not reaching your potential/failure Death, of yourself or a loved one Injury or disease Hell Murderers Rapists No one will read or like your blog Your house will fall down if your magazines aren't straight on the coffee table Stepping on a crack and breaking your mother's back Police (I've found this to be more common in law breakers) Heights Salmonella/E. coli Snakes, Spiders, Sharks, Lions, Tigers, Bears Bees - this was a big one for me due to an experience when I was camping at four years old. I came out of a building and there was a bee flying around in front of me, it looked to me like it was trying to sting me so I tried to swat at it but I couldn't hit it. I couldn't fight so I tried to run and as soon as I thought I was safe, I got a sting right on the back of my neck. For a long time after that I thought there was no way to defend against a bee attack. At least with a cougar you can fight back so for me it was the feeling of being helpless that I was afraid of. Everyone has their own reasons to fear something. Some specific fears are particular to callings in the church: Priesthood leaders can fear that no one fulfills their assignments, like hometeaching. Activity planners can fear that no one will come to their activities Some fears are specific to sharing the gospel: Friends could take religion as just something to disagree about Maybe you are appearing to act "holier than thou" You could fear that your testimony is insufficient or hypocritical When I finished this list, one theme that stood out to me was that fears are preventative motivational influences. Some fears motivate you not to do bad things, which is good. For instance, a fear of injury or disease can motivate you to wear your seatbelt or put on sunblock, wash your hands and keep things clean so you don't have cockroaches. A fear of Hell can make us keep the commandments. However, many fears prevent us from doing things that we would enjoy or that would benefit ourselves or others. A over perceptive fear of embarrassment can lead us to not talk to that cute girl from class, or not take up dancing, singing, or woodcarving which we otherwise might have enjoyed. A fear of not reaching our potential could mean that we mask talents so no one knows we have them. We try to trick ourselves into thinking that we never had the potential in the first place. Faith In the same way that fear motivates us not to do something, faith motivates us to do something. I made a similar list of things that we could have faith in: Sun coming up every day Police Brakes, Seat belts, Climbing ropes, helmets Municipal utilities Military protection Laws - civil, physical, spiritual Our own abilities to learn, forgive, study ---> pass, Other people's abilities Medicine/Doctors Teammate Many of the things we have faith in, we don't even think about. Faith can be a motivating factor that counteracts fear. A fear of heights can be assuaged by having faith in your equipment. A fear of a disastrous car accident can be overcome by faith in traffic laws and in the driver's ability to drive. Faith can motivate us to do the same things that fear would do. Faith in God and fear of hell will motivate a person to do similar things such as keep the commandments. One important point that I have felt strongly as I have studied this topic is that it is better to do something because of faith rather than due to a fear. Jesus Christ Up to this point in the blog, I have said much that non-Christians can take and use. Faith doesn't have to be limited to a definition of religion. However, I have also learned that the greatest motivating influence we can have in this life is a faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement. I learned this long ago when my dad told me that one of the general authorities in the church had said that the first principle of the gospel was not faith. I was confused because Joseph Smith wrote some Articles of Faith and the fourth one says "We believe the first principles and ordinances of the gospel are: first, Faith..." I had the articles memorized and so I knew this part. That day however, the general authority had taught us that the important part of the principle of the gospel comes where I wrote those three dots. "first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ." Faith is useless as far as salvation goes unless it is in Jesus Christ.