Reality Check

I would like to type up my thoughts on the resurrection. However, I would like to start out with a little movie critique.

Most movies I watch I do not like. They are either far too cheesy, vulgar, stupid, poorly done, or just down right a waste of my time. Laura and I have watched a lot of movies recently and one that I really liked for some strange reason was The Next Three Days. I expected it, as did Laura, to be your typical prisonbreak action flick full of high-tech gadgets, etc and in the end it would be unable to pull it all together and would end up closing with a stupid scene that you could have predicted coming 10 minutes into the movie. It might very well have had several of those things however the movie was not about a husband breaking his wife out of prison. The underlying story is the power of one's self created reality.

(Don't read this paragraph if you don't want to know what happens in the movie) Russel Crowe's wife is put in jail for murder and sentenced to life in prison. Russel Crowe is convinced that she is innocent. It is important to note that he has no proof of her innocence just his gut feeling that she couldn't have killed someone and then have come home and had a create night out with him. His Lawyer tells him that she is guilty because of all of the evidence and he should move on. His parents say the same thing. Then finally days before his attempt to break her out his wife tells him that she is guilty. He doesn't believe her and ends up killing, stealing, lying, and doing things he never would have dreamed of himself doing, all because he was convinced that she was innocent. He had no proof of it he just believed it. I kind of wish they wouldn't have ended the movie the way they did, but it still was a very good movie that I really enjoyed watching and even more so thinking about afterwards.

Reality. What is it? Is it the way things really are or is it the way we choose to perceive the things around us? I think as you ponder and reflect on that question you will gain a better understanding of how two people can look at the same facts and come to very different conclusions. This is very evident in the world of politics, religion, medicine, science, etc.

So the next question to ask yourself is what is my reality? and do you get to choose it or not? Why do you behave the way you do? Why do you like the things you enjoy doing? Why do you believe what you believe? Do you have proof?

That's the thing. It seems the whole world, and I would expect probably more now than two or three hundred years ago, is convinced that we need proof or a reason to truly believe in something. Without proof you are abandoning the scientific process and embarking into a world full of fluff and bias. However, as you think about the previous questions I asked also consider which is a more powerful influence in your life: proof or your reality?

The resurrection is just this way for me. I have no idea how it works. I have zero proof of Christ's personal resurrection and if possible I have even less proof that resurrection is in my future. The only thing I have is scriptures written thousands of years ago by prophets I have never met (also prophets that I have very little if any proof of actually existing); the thoughts, feelings and testimonies of thousands of like minded people; and most importantly my own personal thoughts, feelings and experiences.

When I look at the complexity of life and death I find peace and solace in the resurrection. There are terrible ways to die and often the worst part isn't the death in and of itself but the lives of the loved ones left behind. It breaks my heart thinking about it. How can it be fair? The resurrection. Why should I give my whole life to Christ? and more specifically why should I be the best husband and father that I can be? Why should I be a good person? The resurrection. It is the answer. The doctrine fills me with peace, hope and confidence in the future. It is how I can move forward with assurance that in the end everything will work out.

Proof? Who needs it. I have my own personal happy reality.

This is one of my favorite mormon messages