Spiritual Fatherhood

There is one aspect of fatherhood found in the scriptures that I call “spiritual fatherhood.” This concept is essential because it is how we are connected to God. I will enlarge the definition of “father” to mean any man I follow, who helps me to grow up by engendering new life.

Choosing Fathers

In many religions throughout history, terms for “father," such as "Padre," and "Pope,” are used to recognize those who assist in spiritual growth, or bring one to God.  They teach spiritual lessons: to see what cannot be seen with the eyes, to hear what cannot be heard with the ears, to feel what cannot be touched, and to understand the mysteries of eternal life. They teach faith, hope, and charity, helping to grow to spiritual maturity. But these are not fathers in the physical sense, they are chosen by their acolytes.  

Everyone has both a mother and a father of the flesh to thank for their mortal life on Earth, but the physical father of our bodies is not the same as our spiritual fathers. Spiritual fatherhood is more of the child choosing whom they will follow, as Jesus insinuated, when the Pharisees said, “Abraham is our father.  Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham.”  (John 8:39) He went on to say, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.” (John 8:44) They had a physical heritage from Abraham, but he was not their spiritual father. They had chosen wickedness so Jesus said Satan was their father.

There is also a choice to follow the father of my body -- or not. In fact, within the choice to follow Jesus Christ, one must at least be willing to leave earthly fathers. For example, when the Lamanites were converted to the Lord, their king said, “I thank my God, my beloved people, that our great God has in goodness sent these our brethren, the Nephites, unto us to preach unto us, and to convince us of the traditions of our wicked fathers.” (Alma 24:7) They chose not to follow their fathers when they chose Christ, even changing their name from “Lamanites, Lemuelites, and Ishmaelites” to Anti-Nephi Lehis. They wanted to be known as children of Lehi (a righteous father) who were not Nephites, rejecting their fathers Laman, Lemuel, and Ishmael. 

It is the children, then, in the process of growing up, who choose their spiritual fathers by choosing whom they will follow. So, those fathers who engender mortal bodies are in a tenuous position. If they teach  wicked traditions, they will be rejected. It is always a choice as to who will be a spiritual father, thus it is essential for all who would be fathers to live an exemplary life. 

Multiple Fathers

One can choose any man, living or dead, to be a spiritual father.  As a young man in college, I chose Benjamin Franklin.  After reading his autobiography, which is his instruction to his own son, I decided I would do as he did to become mature, trying to improve myself every day. Ben Franklin didn’t choose to be my father, and I wasn’t born into his family, but I certainly owe him a debt of gratitude for nurturing my growth. I adopted him. Likewise, I have chosen Abraham to be my father. Abraham wanted greater knowledge, and desired the priesthood. I want what he had, to inherit his fortune, which is treasures in heaven. Mormon is my father. He had charity for all, and I desire his inheritance. Isaiah is my father. He knew the heart of God, and I want his heritage. I also have many literal ancestors whom I have chosen, including the father of my body, who heeded the call of Zion, and sacrificed all for it. I choose their legacy. They are both physical and spiritual fathers, by choice. 

The Apostle Paul beseeched the Corinthians to choose him to be their father by following him:

For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me. (1 Corinthians 4:15-16)

A father is not just an instructor, but one I follow. The father does not choose his children, rather the children choose their father. I chose Paul to be my father by following him to Jesus Christ, which means I choose the Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  

The Father of our Salvation

Everyone ever born on the Earth has chosen Jesus Christ to be their Father. The gospel isn’t new to any spirit because the requirement for coming to earth to receive a body was a promise of obedience and sacrifice, much like the covenant of baptism. Those who would not agree to follow Christ were cast out, and are never born on the earth. Those who did, were promised a body -- forever. It is the promise of resurrection given to every person who is ever born on the earth. 

He lives. The tomb was empty because He is alive. They went to “seek the living among the dead,” (Luke 24:5) but He wasn’t there. And, because He was resurrected, we shall all likewise live again, our souls are saved from death forever. In the resurrection, He is the Father of our souls, EVERY SOUL, no matter what. This is no longer a choice because the choice was made before we were ever born.

However, now I can choose Christ to be my spiritual Father, so I can become His son in the spirit. I do this by following Him. King Benjamin explains this after his people made a covenant to follow Christ: 

And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters. (Mosiah 5:7)

Being “born again” means being born into His family taking upon myself His name, as He is the Father of the family, akin to me having the name “Saunders” because I was born into the family of Frank Christofferson Saunders, my dad. 

After explaining that Christ is both the Father and the Son, Abinadi further explains how one can choose to become a child of God.  

Behold I say unto you, that whosoever has heard the words of the prophets, yea... all those who have hearkened unto their words, and believed that the Lord would redeem his people, and have looked forward to that day for a remission of their sins, I say unto you, that these are his seed, or they are the heirs of the kingdom of God.  For these are they whose sins he has borne; these are they for whom he has died, to redeem them from their transgressions. And now, are they not his seed? (Mosiah 15:11-12)  

Those who believe in Christ and are saved by Him are His “seed,” or children, and He is their spiritual Father, who brings them to God, the Eternal Father.

God, the Eternal Father

While all, even Satan and all his followers, are spirit children of God the Father, those born in mortality are children of Adam and Eve, who were created from the dust of the Earth. Our flesh is of the earth so our natural being is an enemy to God. Only by choosing to follow Christ can a soul become a child of God. He is the “Only-Begotten of the Father in the flesh,” the ONLY One! There is no other option for becoming children of God except through Him. No matter what we do, we are outside the family of God unless we take upon ourselves the name of Christ. Jesus tells us how this relationship works, He said:

And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. (Matthew 23:9-10)

Christ is my master, or the One I obey in all things, He is the Lord, and His Father, God the Eternal Father, is my Father. The choice to follow Christ gives me only one Father, even God, the Father. Paul says to go “boldly unto the throne if grace.” When I pray, I speak with my Father in Heaven, and nobody else, always in the name of Jesus Christ.

All the fathers of the world help me to grow up, and when I do, they become my peers, just like my grown children are my peers. Even Jesus Christ becomes a peer as Paul says: “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.” (Romans 8:17) Jesus Himself defined this relationship when He told Mary upon meeting her after His resurrection, to “go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father;” (John 20:17) putting Himself, a perfect being, in a peer relationship with mere mortals. Ultimately, we all become siblings in eternity, and our Father is God - by choice!

So, eternally, there are only two fathers to choose from: God, the Father, and Satan, which is why Lucifer chose to be Satan, to make himself equal to the Father, being the only other father in eternity. 

God has given us the gift of agency, or the ability to choose between Him and Satan. He wants everyone to choose Him and be happy, not to choose Satan and be miserable. When Enoch saw God crying over the wickedness in the world he wondered -- 

How is it that thou canst weep, seeing thou art holy, and from all eternity to all eternity? And were it possible that man could number the particles of the earth, yea, millions of earths like this, it would not be a beginning to the number of thy creations... and naught but peace, justice, and truth is the habitation of thy throne; and mercy shall go before thy face and have no end; how is it thou canst weep?

The Lord said unto Enoch: Behold these thy brethren; they are the workmanship of mine own hands, and I gave unto them their knowledge in the day I created them; and in the Garden of Eden, gave I unto man his agency... And unto thy brethren have I said, and also given commandment, that they should love one another, and that they should choose me, their Father; but behold, they are without affection, and they hate their own blood... Satan shall be their father, and misery shall be their doom; and the whole heavens shall weep over them, even all the workmanship of mine hands; wherefore should not the heavens weep, seeing these shall suffer? (Moses 7:29-37)

Enoch is amazed at how God can weep over a bunch of fools who refuse Him, because He is the Man who has everything -- literally! "Why cry over them when you have so much!?" Then, in the most tender moment in all scripture, God, the greatest of all, explains His love for each of His creations (they are not His children, because they have not chosen Him). “I created them. I love them so I don’t want them to suffer. I have given them knowledge and agency. I have prepared a way for them to be my children, and be saved, but they choose evil, and choose to suffer, choosing Satan to be their father instead of Me!” The heavens weep over every single soul that does not choose God to be their Father. 

Love is the Choice

In these verses God also told Enoch how to choose Him when He said: “[I have] also given commandment that they should love one another, and that they should choose me, their Father...” Anyone can choose to become a child of God by loving others. Jesus explains further, saying, 

Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven:  (Matthew 5:44-45)

Love is the answer. Choosing to love makes one a child of God. Loving everyone is the key. I can know that I am a child of God if I love my enemies, doing good to those who hurt me, and blessing those who hate me. Did not Jesus do this when He said of those who crucified Him, “Father forgive them...?” As Karen Lynn Davidson tells us in the greatest verse ever written, 

No creature is so lowly,
No sinner so depraved,
But feels thy presence holy
And thru thy love is saved.
Tho craven friends betray thee,
They feel thy love’s embrace;
The very foes who slay thee
Have access to thy grace.

(O Savior Thou Who Wearest a Crown)

On this Father’s Day I would commend everyone to seek Father in Heaven, to worship the one God, and choose to come “boldly unto the throne of grace” by following Jesus Christ. He shows us how to choose God to be our Eternal Father, saying, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”  (John 14:6)

The Physics of Being

I wanna live

I wanna give

I've been a miner for a heart of gold

It's these expressions

I never give

That keep me searchin’ for a heart of gold

And I'm gettin’ old

     (Neil Young, 1972)

 

Neil Young wants to find life in a heart of gold.

I also feel like I’ve been searching for a heart of gold.

I want someone to see me.

I want someone to know me.

I want someone to love me.

Where is that heart of gold?

I’ve been a miner for a heart of gold -- and I’m getting old.

 

Quantum physics tells us that observation creates things in the physical world.

I must be created by being seen by another consciousness.

When I am seen, I become connected with another.

Being connected to others happens with observation.

People become real when I see them as they are.

"A heart of gold" can see others as they are. 

I need someone with "a heart of gold" to see me.

 

CREATION

I don’t exist until I am known by another.

I don’t exist unless I am observed.

I’m not real until I’m known.

The consciousness of another brings me into existence.

I’m Schroedinger’s cat -- both dead and alive -- both but neither.

I am in a state of “superposition” neither dead nor alive until somebody sees me, hears me, experiences me.

In the superposition, there is no existence in the physical world.

 

Observation is to see others as they really are, and not as reflections of myself.

Observation is to open the box to see the particle and fix it in a position, making it real, bringing it into my physical world of time and space.

Bringing others into my time and space, becoming one with them, creates entanglement.

Entanglement with another changes me.

 

I become me in another when I am observed by them.

As I am observed by others, I come into existence in different ways, depending on the view of the other.

Each is a unique entanglement.

Each brings out a different part of me.

Each enlarges me.

Growth requires entanglement of consciousness -- to see and be seen.

When I see another, the entanglement increases me.

I gain new understanding, new experience, and new life.

 

Infinite creations are possible, as each observes others.

Every individual could observe every other individual.

Since people are complex, multiple connections can be made between any two people.

The connections are endless.

Creation of new creatures is endless.

Consciousness is creating new entanglements forever as we observe, and know, others.

 

God is creating by observation.

God observes us.

God knows us.

 

DARKNESS

 

Some say they want to hide, so they seek darkness.

Some make a façade to show the world.

Some have a mask.

Some avoid others.

Some people are hopeless, and in despair.

Those who hide are a caricature to all around them.

In the darkness, people can think that nobody knows them.

 

Even those who want to hide, secretly want to be known.

They want to be understood.

They want to be seen, but they are afraid.

They desperately need to be seen behind the mask.

Everyone wants to be known.

Everyone wants to exist. 

 

MARRIAGE

 

Marriage is the expectation of a new creature, a birth.

The intimate attachment is another level of creation.

The couple is a new birth.

They know each other.

They see each other.

 

The children are the manifestation of the creation of a new creature.

“Adam knew his wife, Eve, and she bore a son.”

 

A couple is a new creature created by knowing one another.

They see each other.

They feel each other.

They observe the real partner.

They become one in knowing each other.

Each observes the other without judgment. 

True intimacy: “into-me-see”

 

Each is an infinite being.

Every person has multiple sides.

People change and grow, being ever variable.

As they grow, the couple sees one another in a new light, creating a new entanglement.

Marriage intimacy is forever young because it constantly renews the connection.

Intimacy is never boring.

 

NARCISSUS

 

See me!

Look at me!

I need to be known.

I need to be understood.

I need entanglement.

I need true connection.

I need to be.

I don’t exist to anyone.

I’m not there.

I’m a different tool to each person who knows me.

Nobody knows me.

Nobody knows who I am.

I’m not real.

I’m not myself.

I’m an actor, playing roles in other people’s lives.

 

I’m not looking at others.

I’m not seeing others.

I’m just like Narcissus, looking in mirrors at myself.

Everyone I see only reflects me to me.

I see only my own reflection in others.

I don’t know anyone as they are, only as I am.

I know nothing outside myself.

I try to be seen, but I don’t see.

I wonder if anyone really sees anyone.

I wonder if a heart of gold exists.

 

SAMENESS

False unity is sameness.

It seems like we think the same.

It appears like we act the same.

“We can finish each other’s... sandwiches.”

We seem to be well-matched because we are the same.

People gather together based on their similarities.

We are compatible because we think alike, we act alike, and we feel the same. 

This “sameness” is fake entanglement because it is narcissistic.

It’s not possible to be compatible based on sameness, because no two people are alike.

 

SEX

Selfishness in any form is a fake connection.

A sexual relationship seems like it could create an intimate relationship.

I need to touch, and be touched.

I need to feel, and be felt. 

It's all about me. 

Sex is a fake entanglement.

Sex without knowing is narcissistic.

A purely sexual relationship is just mutual masturbation. 

Any fetish is a fake entanglement. 

False entanglements exist in the mind of one because it doesn’t know the other.

It is not real observation of the other so there is no entanglement.

There is no connection in taking from another.

Others are just extensions of themselves.

 

CHARITY

 

I cannot observe another if I’m narcissistic.

Entanglement requires me to see the heart, especially the uniqueness of the other.

Real connection requires observation of the unique existence of the other.

New life is created by observation, and entanglement.

My needs will prevent the creation of another creature.

As long as I only see sameness, I am not connected.

I must see them as they are.

 

See Me

Feel Me

Touch Me

Heal Me

 

Listening to you, I get the music

Gazing at you, I get the heat

Following you, I climb the mountain

I get excitement at your feet

 

Right behind you, I see the millions

On you, I see the glory

From you, I get opinion

From you, I get the story

                        (Pete Townshend)

 

The only way out of narcissism is charity.

Those without charity only see themselves in another.

Without charity I cannot know anyone.

Without charity I cannot observe God as His is.

Without charity I have no real connections.

Without charity I have no entanglements.

Without charity I am nothing.

 

Charity is not to be seen, but to see.

The gift of charity is rare.

A “heart of gold” is charity.

As gold is rare, and precious, so is charity.

The greatest gift in the world is charity because it allows entanglement.

 

When I was a child,

I spake as a child,

I understood as a child,

I thought as a child:

but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

 

For now we see through a glass, darkly;

but then face to face:

now I know in part;

but then shall I know even as also I am known.

            (1 Corinthians 13:11-12)

 

Charity is growing up.

Charity is knowing others.

Charity is freedom.

Charity is observing others.

Charity is true love.

Charity is observation, becoming entangled with others.

Charity makes others real.

Charity sees without judgment.

Charity creates new creatures.

 

The primary “Other” that must be known is God.

The first commandment is to love God.

To know Him is to love Him.

He sees me as I am.

I am observed as I really am.

I shall see Him as He is.

I enlarge Him.

He enlarges me.

 

Charity allows me to see Him as He is.

When I see Him, I know Him.

When I observe Him, He becomes real to me.

Creation is in my consciousness is awareness.

When I become conscious of God, I create Him.

My conscious observance of God allows me to become entangled with Him.

When I see Him, I become a new creature in Christ.

We remain separate, but entangled.

My connection with God creates a new creature.

 

UNITY

 

Unity is observation -- it is knowing.

Unity is entanglement.

Unity is understanding the hearts of one another.

Unity is knowing their uniqueness.

Becoming one is understanding, or seeing.

People cannot understand what we have not experienced.

Unity is experiencing others as they are.

Unity knows others without judgment. 

Unity is continually creating more connections.

Connections are created by entanglements.

Entanglements come from observation.

Conscious observation, to see and be seen, is creation.

Creation of new creatures brings unity.

God’s Dilemma

Have you ever been in a room with a powerful person, and a crowd around him? He laughs, and everyone else laughs. Everyone in the room mirrors his thoughts and emotions. Everyone says “yes.” Nobody would dare contradict him. The president of the company meets with workers and tells them to be honest -- but none of them can be. He has too much power so they will tell him what he wants to hear. 

Before coming to earth, in the presence of the most powerful being in the Universe, we were all sitting around being yes-men. We did everything to please Him. We wanted to please Him. We could not be ourselves. We could not express any thought contrary to His. Those who did were cast out of heaven. So, all that are left are the yes-men. Now, what can God do? All He has are these stupid people who have no balls, and will only echo His will. Nobody will think for themselves. What good is a yes-man? No good at all. They do not contribute to the Corpus, they only take. 

So, God has a dilemma. He has to cast out all those who oppose Him, because they are like a cancer in the body, being in opposition. They will take away from the function of the group creating war within. They will not submit, or take orders. They will not join or be part of growth, but will stunt growth and kill the body. So, they must be removed, surgically excised, and cast out. So, none are left but those who will say “yes” to everything. They say things they don’t mean. They don’t have an opinion, they don’t use their talents, they don’t build, they are almost like a tumor that doesn’t kill, but neither does it contribute -- though they don’t oppose and try to take over, neither do they promote growth, they just sit around and take nutrients from the body. They are all dependent children. Yes-men are useless!

Every body has these. The physical body has cells that just fill space and perform no useful function. Ideally, these become senescent, and the immune system takes them out. Corporations have many employees who show up, fill space, take a paycheck, but don’t add to the growth of the company. Politics are filled with these -- Poly-, meaning “many” and -tics, which are “tiny, blood-sucking creatures.” Clubs, churches and all organizations have the same issue, many people who are not useful, but are like the dogs that take food from the children. 

God’s dilemma, then, is to have a body with a large number of people, and find a way to organize them into appropriate groups, allowing each to be themselves. Inviting them to His house where they are star-struck is not the way. It is the opposite. The best way to allow them to act for themselves is to put them on a planet where they can just be together, without Him. This is “Lord of the Flies” on steroids! Here we are, a bunch of four-year-olds playing in a big sandbox without any adult supervision. Some are going to take over control. Others are going to throw sand in their eyes - and get beaten. Some are going to copy what they see, while others sit back and watch. There would be a lot of crying, whining, complaining, accusing, “She destroyed my sand castle! WAAAAA!”

When the famous atheist, Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, was asked what he would say if he died and found himself in front of God he replied, “Why did you hide so well?” God is certainly well-hidden in plain sight. But the question is valid, why does He hide so well? Part of that answer is to allow us to be who we are. The hidden God allowed Mr. Dawkins to be atheist. This could not have happened in His presence. Everyone is afforded the opportunity to become who they really are only outside of the presence of God. 

Studies of children left in classrooms for a long time without a teacher show that personalities come out. While the teacher is there, all the children are “Yes, Miss Jordan!” But, as soon as she is gone for a little while -- the usurpers take power, the abusers abuse, the abused are abused, and the fearful ones remain quiet. 

Likewise, we must leave the presence of God to find out what we really are. Once we come to ourselves and discover our likes, dislikes, needs and desires, we can put ourselves into the proper place in the kingdom of God, as Alma says, “thus they stand or fall; for behold, they are their own judges.” (Alma 41:7) We do what we want outside the presence of God. We choose. He gave us choice so we could choose to be ourselves, and not live forever being a yes-man. God does not like yes-men. He wants us to be happy, having our own desires, fulfilling our own destiny, and living according to our own talents and abilities. Happiness is making a contribution. We become a contributing partner only as we have responsibility and ability to do our own work. 

The dilemma is solved by hiding -- putting everyone on a planet outside of His kingdom and letting them choose. It’s easy to be atheist when God is not present. I can be who and what I want because it feels like I can hide. Nobody knows who I am. Nobody knows what I’m thinking. I can do what I want, think what I want, and be who I really am. I am making thousands of choices every day to become myself because I only see myself. I have no supervision by God. God is like the teacher behind the one-way mirror in the classroom who can see everything that goes on, but allows the children, like Mr. Dawkins, to believe that there is no oversight.

Then, when it is time to go back to my heavenly home, I stand before God with the myriad decisions I made in life. I cannot hide any one. I am what I have become by the choices I made outside His presence. I get to say, “this is me,” and find that God loves me for me. He never wanted me to just be an ignorant slave. He wanted me to find my own talents and develop them. He wanted me to add something to His kingdom. He doesn’t want to have to command in all things. God is not a dictator! He says, “For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward.” (Doctrine and Covenants 58:26) 

Also, in the New Testament, “the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.” (Luke 16:8) Among the more relevant tasks of life is to experience all I can, to try everything, as the Apostle Paul said, “Prove all things;” (1 Thessalonians 5:21) meaning “test all things.” 

Jesus commands me to “do the works of Abraham.” (John 8:39) Abraham was NOT a yes-man. When God told him that He was going to destroy Sodom, where Lot, Abraham’s nephew, lived, Abraham started bargaining with God to spare the city. Moses was also bold in front of God, convincing Him to spare the children of Israel. These two are great examples of what Paul recommends, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace...” (Hebrews 4:16) 

Humility isn’t cow-towing to everything, but rather knowing where I stand in the Universe, it is knowing who I am. I am a child of God. When I grow up, I will be as He is, just as my earthly father is now my peer because I have grown up. My grown children are my peers (sort of). As I play in the sandbox, away from God, I learn about me, discovering who I am, what I like, what I want, what I need. I am growing up only because I make choices, I make my own choices because I am away from the Light, and the Truth. I only see me. I only know me. I am only me. I want. I need. I desire. I see. I hear. I feel. I like. I have. I think. It’s all about me. 

At some point, I begin to see that there are others in the sandbox, who are different than me. They don’t feel the same way I do. They don’t like the same things. We don’t think alike. At first I ridicule, reject, or hate them. However, as I get to know them, I see that they are children of God, and their uniqueness is good. I learn to love them. I realize that together we have much more than if everyone thought the same. God is in our differences. He loves our uniqueness. He doesn’t want yes-men to be automatons, only carrying out His righteous will. He wants me to be able to solve my own problems, and use my unique talents to perform tasks, and to love others. He only wants my differences, not my sameness. 

In the world people love sameness. I fall in love and believe that my significant other is just the same as me. She is “perfect” because we fit together so well because we’re just the same. We can finish each other’s... sandwiches. God, however, is just the opposite. Throw out the sameness -- more of the same is useless! He wants the differences in everyone, because it is the differences that add to Him. He is increased not because people who come to Him are all the same, but because they are so different. He loves our diversity. 

Coming to earth and playing in the sandbox with all the other children of God sets me on my course be what I am. I can become exactly what God wants me to be -- ME! If I listen to the “Pharisees,” or religionists of my day, I should think God wants a bunch of robots to sit around and echo everything He says, imitating His every gesture, worshipping Him, so He can say we have all grown up to be “just like our Father!” That’s a world thing, not a God thing. 

God has solved His dilemma by pushing everyone out of the house, to live on our own. He is present in spirit, but we don’t see Him. He is hiding. We do what we want, and make lots of mistakes. We can learn from our mistakes, but we must pay the price for them as justice requires. God solved this dilemma by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to atone for all the mistakes of mankind. I can make mistakes, and put my trust in Him, which allows me plenty of room to be myself. It’s the Lord, Jesus Christ, that allows me to be myself with no worry of reprisal for not being the same as everyone else. I don’t have to be a yes-man because of Him. I can be me. I can become exactly what I am, making choices according to my own desires. I don't have to be under obligation to anyone -- not even God! As I choose daily according to my desires, I become me, and Jesus covers my mistakes, if I repent when I find out it was a mistake.  The plan is perfect! I’m going to become who I really am, I’m not going to have to suffer the consequences of my errors, and God gets all His children back happy, grown-up, peers, with maximal diversity -- no yes-men. How great is that!?!