Little Insights

You may or may not know that I am a little bit of a bookworm.  I love to read!  I love science fiction, fantasy, young adult, self help books, mystery, classics, and so much more!  Recently, I've noticed that books that I read often help me understand the gospel better.  I don't know if books always have that in them, or it's just been the books I've been reading recently, but I've found things that give me that "a-ha" moment.  They may not seem like such great insights to you, but I liked them.  Here are a few from the book I just finished, "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown.

Dan Brown does bring in a lot of religion in his books, so it's no wonder that he happens to mention Christianity in this one.  One passage is talking about the entanglement theory, the theory that says particles behave in such a way that they appear to be connected to each other.  That idea of being connected with other beings in the universe is at the core of many religions.  A quote from the book says "man's oldest spiritual quest was to perceive his own entanglement, to sense his own interconnection with all things.  He has always wanted to become 'one' with the universe...to achieve the state of 'at-one-ment.'"  I've never thought about the Atonement like that.  The Atonement is a chance for us to become one with God, to want the peace and love that He wants for all His children.  It helps me realize what we are doing here one earth.

Another quote from the book breaks down the word sacrifice.  It's origin is from the words "sacra" which means sacred and "face" with mean make.  To make something sacred.  I didn't find that those words were the origin of the word sacrifice in my short search, but it does make you look at sacrifice differently.  We talk about sacrifice when we say we sacrifice our time or our money or countless other things.  To me, thinking that I am making myself more sacred and closer to God is a much better way to think of sacrifice than to think that I'm merely giving up what I want.  It helps me to have a better attitude about what I am doing.

The last insight I have to share is about something that scares many people: the apocalypse.  We all think of it as some great battle where the world will be torn apart and we'll have to make our final choice between good and evil.  But the meaning of the word "apocalypse" is very different.  It's Greek for a disclosure of knowledge or a lifting of the veil or a revelation.  A quote from the book says "The Apocalypse is literally a reveal-ation.  The Book of Reveal-ation in the Bible predicts an unveiling of great truth and unimaginable wisdom."  To think that I have thought about that completely wrong all these years!  There will be a lot of destruction, I'm sure, but that isn't what we should focus on.  I think of it like a house.  If you have a house that is broken down, the best thing to do is to tear it apart, spread a little destruction, and then you can build something infinitely better in it's place.  That's what Christ will do.  He will give us many great truths that will change everything.  It comforts me to think of it like that instead of a horrible battle.

Those are the main insights I gained from that book.  These are some personal insights that I gained that may be a little off or not strike a chord with you, but they helped me understand some things in the gospel just a little bit better.  I have another book I'd like to share some other insights from, but that will have to be for next time!  Hopefully this helped you, even if it just got you thinking about the gospel a little bit more. :)