Temple and Cosmos pt. 1

I have been reading the book "Temple and Cosmos" by Hugh Nibley. I am only in chapter two, but have learned quite a bit.

In one spot Nibley talks about the Ancient Egyptians and their belief that their mental exertion had an effect on the world around them. It was strenuous and took a lot of focus. They needed something to excite their mind and give them the energy to continue upholding their way of life through thought day to day.

The symbolism of the temple was supposed to do this for them. The things they learned through those symbols excited their minds. It gave them power, or light, or truth, or the word of God to their minds and their hearts to be able to uphold those things around them by mental exertion.

In the Lectures on Faith, it is explained that,

"when a man works by faith he works by mental exertion instead of physical force: it is by words instead of exerting his physical powers, with which every being works when he works by faith—God said, Let there be light, and there was light—Joshua spake and the great lights which God had created stood still — Elijah commanded and the heavens were stayed for the space of three years and six months, so that it did not rain: He again commanded, and the heavens gave forth rain,—all this was done by faith."(LoF, Lecture 7)

I have been taught that faith to move a mountain can take on many forms. Grab a shovel and start digging until it's gone, get some help from friends, use explosives, etc. But it seems that what is said in the lectures is that when we work by faith, the faith that saves anyway, it isn't by physical force. We "speak"(and I put that in quotations because if you think about the last time you "heard" God's voice, did you hear it with your ears, or with your mind and your heart?) according to that which excites our minds and then things around us are affected by our "words".

"Now Melchizedek was a man of faith, who wrought righteousness; and when a child he feared God, and stopped the mouths of lions, and quenched the violence of fire. And thus, having been approved of God, he was ordained an high priest after the order of the covenant which God made with Enoch. It being after the order of the Son of God; which order came, not by man, nor the will of man; neither by father nor mother; neither by beginning of days nor end of years; but of God; and it was delivered unto men by the calling of his own voice, according to his own will, unto as many as believed on his name.

For God having sworn unto Enoch and unto his seed with an oath by himself; that every one being ordained after this order and calling should have power, by faith, to break mountains, to divide the seas, to dry up waters, to turn them out of their course; to put at defiance the armies of nations, to divide the earth, to break every band, to stand in the presence of God; to do all things according to his will, according to his command, subdue principalities and powers; and this by the will of the Son of God which was from before the foundation of the world. And men having this faith, coming up unto this order of God, were translated and taken up into heaven." (Joseph Smith Translation, Gen. 14) 

It was said of Enoch that,

"so great was the faith of Enoch that he led the people of God, and their enemies came to battle against them; and he spake the word of the Lord, and the earth trembled, and the mountains fled, even according to his command; and the rivers of water were turned out of their course; and the roar of the lions was heard out of the wilderness; and all nations feared greatly, so powerful was the word of Enoch, and so great was the power of the language which God had given him."(Moses 7:13)

Something that I think is important to consider is that "he spake the word of the Lord" and "so great was the power of the language which God had given him."

These people have power, by faith, to do things NOT according to God's will. They COULD freelance. But they only do what the Lord tells them. Moses did not follow exactly as the Lord commanded when quenching the thirst of the children is Israel, and he was not allowed to enter into the promised land with his people.(Numbers 20: 7-12) It is no minor thing to do things against the will of God. Especially when He has tutored you into this kind of power. A power where, if given to the wrong kind of person can divide the earth to get gain, may put at defiance the armies of nations for his pleasure, can persuade the hearts of men to do wickedly.  These are sons of perdition and to these comes no forgiveness in this world nor the world to come. 

But if a person attains to these things and does the will of the Lord, then they can have eternal life.

Interesting book anyways.