Things Have Been Worse And They Will Always Get Better

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Finrock
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Things Have Been Worse And They Will Always Get Better

Post by Finrock »

Howard W. Hunter wrote:In my lifetime I have seen two world wars plus Korea plus Vietnam and all that you are currently witnessing. I have worked my way through the depression and managed to go to law school while starting a young family at the same time. I have seen stock markets and world economics go crazy and have seen a few despots and tyrants go crazy, all of which causes quite a bit of trouble around the world in the process.

So I am frank to say tonight that I hope you won’t believe all the world’s difficulties have been wedged into your decade, or that things have never been worse than they are for you personally, or that they will never get better. I reassure you that things have been worse and they will always get better. They always do— especially when we live and love the gospel of Jesus Christ and give it a chance to flourish in our lives.

Here are some actual comments that have been made and passed on to me in recent months. This comes from a fine returned missionary:

"Why should I date and get serious with a girl? I am not sure I even want to marry and bring a family into this kind of a world. I am not very sure about my own future. How can I take the responsibility for the future of others whom I would love and care about and want to be happy?"

Here’s another from a high school student:

"I hope I die before all these terrible things happen that people are talking about. I don’t want to be on the earth when there is so much trouble."

And this from a recent college graduate:

"I am doing the best I can, but I wonder if there is much reason to even plan for the future, let alone retirement. The world probably won’t last that long anyway."

Well, isn’t that a fine view of things? Sounds like we all ought to go and eat a big plate of worms. I want to say to all within the sound of my voice tonight that you have every reason in this world to be happy and to be optimistic and to be confident. Every generation since time began has had some things to overcome and some problems to work out. Furthermore, every individual person has a particular set of challenges that sometimes seem to be earmarked for us individually. We understood that in our premortal existence.

Prophets and apostles of the Church have faced some of those personal difficulties. I acknowledge that I have faced a few, and you will undoubtedly face some of your own now and later in your life. When these experiences humble us and refine us and teach us and bless us, they can be powerful instruments in the hands of God to make us better people, to make us more grateful and more loving, to make us more considerate of other people in their own times of difficulty. Yes, we all have difficult moments individually and collectively, but even in the most severe of times, anciently or modern, those problems and prophecies were never intended to do anything but bless the righteous and help those who are less righteous move toward repentance. ("Anchor to the Souls of Men", BYU Fireside, 7 February 1993)
-Finrock

Tree
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Posts: 164

Re: Things Have Been Worse And They Will Always Get Better

Post by Tree »

Yes plan, we have at least another 100 years before things wrap up.

eddie
captain of 1,000
Posts: 2405

Re: Things Have Been Worse And They Will Always Get Better

Post by eddie »

I will never realize my dreams. ( My 4 year old granddaughter said that, haha, she got it off the movie Frozen.)

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Arenera
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Re: Things Have Been Worse And They Will Always Get Better

Post by Arenera »

If this is as bad as it gets, then ok.

Hivetyrant36
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Posts: 154

Re: Things Have Been Worse And They Will Always Get Better

Post by Hivetyrant36 »

We may not be in the end times, but the same catastrophe that killed the Vikings is upon us. The Grand Solar Minimum. Crop losses everywhere, and with each previous minimum, Chinese emperors fell, civilizations were destroyed. We may not yet see the Son of Man, but the USA is in for a ride.

GloryDays
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Re: Things Have Been Worse And They Will Always Get Better

Post by GloryDays »

Hivetyrant36 wrote: October 17th, 2017, 6:04 pm We may not be in the end times, but the same catastrophe that killed the Vikings is upon us. The Grand Solar Minimum. Crop losses everywhere, and with each previous minimum, Chinese emperors fell, civilizations were destroyed. We may not yet see the Son of Man, but the USA is in for a ride.
Absolutely agree. With literal cooling will come economic cooling, which will ultimately bring an end to all of the manipulation we see.

That together with the Kondratieff Wave (80 year cycles marking patterns in human activity), I believe that at some point within the next decade, we will see monumental changes in our nation.

Dave62
destroyer of hopes & dreams
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Location: Rural Australia

Re: Things Have Been Worse And They Will Always Get Better

Post by Dave62 »

We are in the end times.

brianj
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Posts: 4066
Location: Vineyard, Utah

Re: Things Have Been Worse And They Will Always Get Better

Post by brianj »

I recently read the book of Ether. I've read it three times in the last 12 months. And isn't it wonderful how things got better for the Jaredites in the last chapter? Or how things got better for the Nephites in Mormon?

Yes, things will get better for our civilization. But one day it's going to get a whole lot worse. We have ample prophecies of things getting much worse. Things will get unimaginably better after they get much worse, improving to and through the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ.

Hivetyrant36
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Posts: 154

Re: Things Have Been Worse And They Will Always Get Better

Post by Hivetyrant36 »

We DO know that things MUST get far worse before the Son of Man can return. Death, destruction, tectonic shifting, one man standing in the field is taken/killed and the other stands. Random selection. Lightning strikes. Turmoil. THE HEARTS OF MEN SHALL FAIL THEM. If the entire Earth was undergoing the destruction as was happening in Zerahemla in their 3 days of darkness, the hearts of men shall indeed fail them. The USA is not immune. We are not immune. We suffer from normalcy bias born out of a fairly boring last 70 years. People have become complacent, more willing to sin, more willing to be slothful. Things may get better, but that doesn't mean that the jaws of hell cannot reach up from the earth and consume every living human before relief.

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oxbloodangel
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Posts: 240

Re: Things Have Been Worse And They Will Always Get Better

Post by oxbloodangel »

Finrock wrote: October 17th, 2017, 3:33 pm
Howard W. Hunter wrote:In my lifetime I have seen two world wars plus Korea plus Vietnam and all that you are currently witnessing. I have worked my way through the depression and managed to go to law school while starting a young family at the same time. I have seen stock markets and world economics go crazy and have seen a few despots and tyrants go crazy, all of which causes quite a bit of trouble around the world in the process.

So I am frank to say tonight that I hope you won’t believe all the world’s difficulties have been wedged into your decade, or that things have never been worse than they are for you personally, or that they will never get better. I reassure you that things have been worse and they will always get better. They always do— especially when we live and love the gospel of Jesus Christ and give it a chance to flourish in our lives.

Here are some actual comments that have been made and passed on to me in recent months. This comes from a fine returned missionary:

"Why should I date and get serious with a girl? I am not sure I even want to marry and bring a family into this kind of a world. I am not very sure about my own future. How can I take the responsibility for the future of others whom I would love and care about and want to be happy?"

Here’s another from a high school student:

"I hope I die before all these terrible things happen that people are talking about. I don’t want to be on the earth when there is so much trouble."

And this from a recent college graduate:

"I am doing the best I can, but I wonder if there is much reason to even plan for the future, let alone retirement. The world probably won’t last that long anyway."

Well, isn’t that a fine view of things? Sounds like we all ought to go and eat a big plate of worms. I want to say to all within the sound of my voice tonight that you have every reason in this world to be happy and to be optimistic and to be confident. Every generation since time began has had some things to overcome and some problems to work out. Furthermore, every individual person has a particular set of challenges that sometimes seem to be earmarked for us individually. We understood that in our premortal existence.

Prophets and apostles of the Church have faced some of those personal difficulties. I acknowledge that I have faced a few, and you will undoubtedly face some of your own now and later in your life. When these experiences humble us and refine us and teach us and bless us, they can be powerful instruments in the hands of God to make us better people, to make us more grateful and more loving, to make us more considerate of other people in their own times of difficulty. Yes, we all have difficult moments individually and collectively, but even in the most severe of times, anciently or modern, those problems and prophecies were never intended to do anything but bless the righteous and help those who are less righteous move toward repentance. ("Anchor to the Souls of Men", BYU Fireside, 7 February 1993)
-Finrock
Helaman 7:

4 And seeing the people in a state of such awful wickedness, and those Gadianton robbers filling the judgment-seats—having usurped the power and authority of the land; laying aside the commandments of God, and not in the least aright before him; doing no justice unto the children of men;
5 Condemning the righteous because of their righteousness; letting the guilty and the wicked go unpunished because of their money; and moreover to be held in office at the head of government, to rule and do according to their wills, that they might get gain and glory of the world, and, moreover, that they might the more easily commit adultery, and steal, and kill, and do according to their own wills—
6 Now this great iniquity had come upon the Nephites, in the space of not many years; and when Nephi saw it, his heart was swollen with sorrow within his breast; and he did exclaim in the agony of his soul:

7 Oh, that I could have had my days in the days when my father Nephi first came out of the land of Jerusalem, that I could have joyed with him in the promised land; then were his people easy to be entreated, firm to keep the commandments of God, and slow to be led to do iniquity; and they were quick to hearken unto the words of the Lord—
8 Yea, if my days could have been in those days, then would my soul have had joy in the righteousness of my brethren.
9 But behold, I am consigned that these are my days, and that my soul shall be filled with sorrow because of this the wickedness of my brethren.

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LatterDayLizard
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Posts: 241
Location: Kansas City MO

Re: Things Have Been Worse And They Will Always Get Better

Post by LatterDayLizard »

oxbloodangel wrote: October 29th, 2017, 10:15 pm
Finrock wrote: October 17th, 2017, 3:33 pm
Howard W. Hunter wrote:In my lifetime I have seen two world wars plus Korea plus Vietnam and all that you are currently witnessing. I have worked my way through the depression and managed to go to law school while starting a young family at the same time. I have seen stock markets and world economics go crazy and have seen a few despots and tyrants go crazy, all of which causes quite a bit of trouble around the world in the process.

So I am frank to say tonight that I hope you won’t believe all the world’s difficulties have been wedged into your decade, or that things have never been worse than they are for you personally, or that they will never get better. I reassure you that things have been worse and they will always get better. They always do— especially when we live and love the gospel of Jesus Christ and give it a chance to flourish in our lives.

Here are some actual comments that have been made and passed on to me in recent months. This comes from a fine returned missionary:

"Why should I date and get serious with a girl? I am not sure I even want to marry and bring a family into this kind of a world. I am not very sure about my own future. How can I take the responsibility for the future of others whom I would love and care about and want to be happy?"

Here’s another from a high school student:

"I hope I die before all these terrible things happen that people are talking about. I don’t want to be on the earth when there is so much trouble."

And this from a recent college graduate:

"I am doing the best I can, but I wonder if there is much reason to even plan for the future, let alone retirement. The world probably won’t last that long anyway."

Well, isn’t that a fine view of things? Sounds like we all ought to go and eat a big plate of worms. I want to say to all within the sound of my voice tonight that you have every reason in this world to be happy and to be optimistic and to be confident. Every generation since time began has had some things to overcome and some problems to work out. Furthermore, every individual person has a particular set of challenges that sometimes seem to be earmarked for us individually. We understood that in our premortal existence.

Prophets and apostles of the Church have faced some of those personal difficulties. I acknowledge that I have faced a few, and you will undoubtedly face some of your own now and later in your life. When these experiences humble us and refine us and teach us and bless us, they can be powerful instruments in the hands of God to make us better people, to make us more grateful and more loving, to make us more considerate of other people in their own times of difficulty. Yes, we all have difficult moments individually and collectively, but even in the most severe of times, anciently or modern, those problems and prophecies were never intended to do anything but bless the righteous and help those who are less righteous move toward repentance. ("Anchor to the Souls of Men", BYU Fireside, 7 February 1993)
-Finrock
Helaman 7:

4 And seeing the people in a state of such awful wickedness, and those Gadianton robbers filling the judgment-seats—having usurped the power and authority of the land; laying aside the commandments of God, and not in the least aright before him; doing no justice unto the children of men;
5 Condemning the righteous because of their righteousness; letting the guilty and the wicked go unpunished because of their money; and moreover to be held in office at the head of government, to rule and do according to their wills, that they might get gain and glory of the world, and, moreover, that they might the more easily commit adultery, and steal, and kill, and do according to their own wills—
6 Now this great iniquity had come upon the Nephites, in the space of not many years; and when Nephi saw it, his heart was swollen with sorrow within his breast; and he did exclaim in the agony of his soul:

7 Oh, that I could have had my days in the days when my father Nephi first came out of the land of Jerusalem, that I could have joyed with him in the promised land; then were his people easy to be entreated, firm to keep the commandments of God, and slow to be led to do iniquity; and they were quick to hearken unto the words of the Lord—
8 Yea, if my days could have been in those days, then would my soul have had joy in the righteousness of my brethren.
9 But behold, I am consigned that these are my days, and that my soul shall be filled with sorrow because of this the wickedness of my brethren.
Our own experience may at times resemble Nephi's in Helaman 7. Some wards/stakes/areas are more righteous than others, but this does not mean the progress of the restoration is halted, or that Nephi would say the same today when there are MANY faithful saints around the globe. I think oxbloodangel makes a great point. We have a lot to be thankful for. We are living in a unique time, when the tares of the world are growing as well as the Lord's wheat. The church IS growing stronger, despite those who stray or who attack it's members and doctrines.
The prophets looked to OUR day and longed for it! How amazing is that!
Last point: we've all got a work to do here, now. Pining for a happier time will not get us there faster. Alma had this to say about wishing ourselves into different circumstances:

"O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!
Yea, I would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and come unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth.
But behold, I am a man, and do sin in my wish; for I ought to be content with the things which the Lord hath allotted unto me.
I ought not to harrow up in my desires the firm decree of a just God, for I know that he granteth unto men according to their desire, whether it be unto death or unto life; yea, I know that he allotteth unto men, yea, decreeth unto them decrees which are unalterable, according to their wills, whether they be unto salvation or unto destruction.
Yea, and I know that good and evil have come before all men; he that knoweth not good from evil is blameless; but he that knoweth good and evil, to him it is given according to his desires, whether he desireth good or evil, life or death, joy or remorse of conscience.
Now, seeing that I know these things, why should I desire more than to perform the work to which I have been called?
Why should I desire that I were an angel, that I could speak unto all the ends of the earth?

For behold, the Lord doth grant unto all nations, of their own nation and tongue, to teach his word, yea, in wisdom, all that he seeth fit that they should have; therefore we see that the Lord doth counsel in wisdom, according to that which is just and true."

- Alma 29

gungadin500
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Posts: 57

Re: Things Have Been Worse And They Will Always Get Better

Post by gungadin500 »

I appreciate Pres. Hunter's comments. It is great counsel. To the extent that it is offered to convince people that the end isn't quite so near as many of us think it is, I think it is misapplied. We still have a ways to go, certainly years, not just months. But I agree with the scriptural analogies from Ether and 3 Nephi. In our family we are currently reading in Helaman, which I think is a great parallel to our time. Problems in the government, conspiracies, murders, issues in the church flaring up and then sputtering out, periods of mass conversion followed by prideful contingencies balanced out by more humble and faithful church members (Helaman 3), sporadic wars and border skirmishes. But ultimately, inevitably for societies that spurn God, things accelerate. It only took about 40 years for the Nephite civilization to go from fairly stable until the Gadiantons had infiltrated and corrupted almost the entire society against a small group of faithful believers. We are well into our own similar "arc."

Take a look everything that has happened in the past 12 months on a worldwide basis and I think you'll be astounded at the sheer volume of catastrophes, both natural or man-made. No, these aren't the desolations spoken of in the scriptures that will cleanse this nation or precede the Second Coming, but they should serve as signs to the watchful that we are in the last days, and they also serve the dual purpose of waking up and bringing back into the Lord's fold many of His children . Even in the wake of so much destruction, you can't put a price tag on the value of the goodwill that the Church has generated around the world in responding to these crises. The time when it will be "cashed in" so-to-speak is still ahead of us.

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skmo
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Re: Things Have Been Worse And They Will Always Get Better

Post by skmo »

I have to disagree. World Wars, Depression, Korea, Vietnam. These are big outer threats to the safety of the world. When WWI and WWII as well as the Great Depression occurred, they were symptoms of an old order dying and a new order beginning. Wars were old country power jealousies. Depression was a growing pain. Both of those are examples of an outside threat we could come together as a people to face and fight together. Korea and Vietnam were Communism threatening to roll over the world in a giant bowling ball before anyone could do anything about it. Our people, our society, and our government knew we couldn't let Communism go unchecked. We won all of those battles.

Yes, we won them all. We didn't lose the Vietnam War, we lost the Vietnam peace. Vietnam would have remained as Korea did, a South that would have prospered under freedom and a North that would have withered, but the North had China continuing their promised support while the South lost the support from our miserable congress. When one broke team faces another, both sides will struggle equally. When one is being subsidized with coaches, equipment, training staff, medics, and top of the line nutrition while the other has to resort to their original status of having rocks and sticks to fight with, guess which side will win.

However, those outer forces can be fought against as a team of compatriots. Like a group of people stranded, people with different knowledge can band together to build shelter, gather food, and make defenses against the pack of wolves circling the group. There's strength in a team.

Today, We're losing sight of what team we play with. It's like the wolves learned to talk and offered some of the people they'd be left alone if they'd provide the pack with knowledge of how to pick off stragglers. I guess a better analogy would be like a disease. We can fight off any outer threat when we're healthy, but today we're facing threats from cancer, addiction, and AIDS. It doesn't matter how strong a person is, fighting AIDS won't end well.

Our society is becoming a cancer. Rights activists are trying to divide our people. Race activists are dividing our people. The media and entertainment industry is dividing people into Left and Right, and they're demonizing one side or the other. Our religious principles are increasingly coming under fire. In the lifetime of today's missionaries I can see the country turning against the church saying "If you're LDS you hold views of gender and sexual exclusion that are antithetical to humanity, so unless you repudiate your views publically you can't be a part of our group." That could be a company, a club, a school, any kind of good job or prospect.

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