Building Faith in Christ Part 1.0 to 1.1

Note: the following is a narrative based on some ongoing study of the subject "Building Faith in Christ." I have a general outline of where I want to go with this, but mostly, I want to compile my study notes into words, sentences and complete thoughts. Although I will be sharing this with whoever wants to read it, it really is for me, to organize, categorize and develop my the results of my study and reflections. So here goes

What is Faith?

Paul wrote to the Hebrews, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” The dictionary describes faith as “1) something that is believed especially with strong conviction; 2) a system of religious beliefs ; 3) firm belief in something for which there is no proof; 4) fidelity to one's promises; 5) sincerity of intentions.“ This will discss the first principal of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that of Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We will discuss what faith is, and what faith is not. We will discuss the ways and means of building faith in Christ, and what results we should look for as we seek the end of our faith. We should keep in mind that the purpose of faith is to help us 1) be happy and find joy, 2) become more confident in our future and in our relationship with God, 3) provide a standard of behavior for us to follow.

There seems to be four important concepts in the above scripture, as we discover the nature and purpose of faith. 1) faith springs from hope, 2) true faith has substance, which includes a desired pattern of behavior, 3) we may not see the object of our faith, but 4) pursuing faith will provide us with evidence that that He is real and can bless our lives.

Hope As we journey through life, we meet certain events or circumstances that provide us with the knowledge that we are imperfect. We are fallen, mortal men. We make mistakes that we cannot correct by ourselves. We will grow old, deteriorate and die. What is to become of us, if we cannot be perfect? What shall become of ourselves, our families and loved ones if we cannot find some way to improve upon our circumstances? The future looks bleak if there is no way to overcome our mistakes. Upon what basis do we have to hope for improvement?

In Alma12: 32, the prophet writes, “Therefore God gave unto them commandments, after having made known unto them the plan of redemption, that they should not do evil, the penalty thereof being a second death, which was an everlasting death as to things pertaining unto righteousness; for on such the plan of redemption could have no power, for the works of justice could not be destroyed, according to the supreme goodness of God.”

So we have been given a knowledge of good and evil. God has given us commandments. If we are disobedient, even one time, we will suffer the second death, meaning that we cannot get back into the presence of our Creator.

Now why would Father send us to earth in a lost and fallen state, if the penalty would be that we could not ever be with him again? What good parent does not like to see the success of their children? What grandparents do not delight in the development of their grandchildren? The answer. Of course, is that Father has prepared a way for us, from before the foundation of the world, that we can be free from the bondage of sin.

In 1 Peter 1:20, we read “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.”

We can develop a hope that the words in the scriptures are true, and that we can be redeemed from the penalty of our sins. We can hope in the plan of salvation that is discussed and described in the Holy Scriptures. That spark of hope gives birth to the idea of faith.

Days 5 & 6

Sunday we went to church at Lihue Ward. It was a good meeting, and afterwards the ward members sang Aloha Oe to us. It was very nice. We went for a relaxing afternoon walk along the golf course. We saw a bunch of these birds. Kayleen calls them Hawaiian Hene birds. The are like geese and the gander gets his dander up by hissing and chasing people away from the nesting females.

There is a walking path along the waterway. There are boat docks too, but no boats. We think the boating part of the Kauai Lagoons went bust, along with some of the Condos along the waterway.

On Monday, we got up early and drove to the end of the road. The bay was closed to snorkeling, so we went for a short hike. We were able to view the bay and the surf from 300 feet up.

I took a panorama shot of the bay to try to show the spectrum.

We sat on a sandy beach at Kapa'a for about 20 minutes listening to the surf pound along the shore. What a relaxing way to spend some time.
On the way back, drove to Wailea Falls.

After taking pictures that were readily available on the road, I did kind of a dumb thing. We went to the end of a fence, where the fence ended. There was a sign that said "Do not Enter - Hazardous Area." I entered.
I slid down a slope to some beautifully quiet water at the top of the falls. After taking a few pictures, I tried to climb back up. I hurt my back and my shoulder. I ended up pulling myself up by some tree roots and vines. Its a good thing the roots were there.
Kayleen has video. I will not post that here, that would be too humiliating, and condemning.

We have had a great time. We have relaxed and have seen some things we have never seen before. We didn't get in the water much, but it was rough and choppy.

We go home tomorrow. Sad to go, happy to be home.

Days 3 and 4

We started out Friday with a pleasant walk along the golf course that is attached to this place. We walkeed out to the Lighthouse. We couldn't actually get to the Lighthouse, but only close.
From the Hotel's beach, the lighthouse seems to be on far away, but we walked to it in a little less than an hour. Yes, the wind was blustery, as it has been all week, as you can see by the Palms

We t00k it easy Friday to rest up, which we would need. Saturday we got on a boat at Port Allen and headed out to the Na Pali coast. It was supposed to be a snorkling trip. We did snorkel a little, but the fishes were almost non-existant. It was good to be in the water however.

I had seen pictures of the Na Pali coast before, but pictures cannot do justice to the magnificance and majesty of the cliffs.

On the way back, we did see a pod of 5-6 humpback whales. The whales were playing around a little, and "breeched" several times - meaning that they came mostly out of the water and made some big splashes. I didn't get any decent pictures of the whales, although I did get a few of some spinner and bottle-nosed dolpins. In this picture you can see five or six Spinner Dolphins.

Day 2 -

A like along an ancient pathway on the Southern rocky shore, The path goes from Shipwreck Beach to some un-pronounceable place to the Northeast of Shipwreck.

A pleasant dinner with a view to die for

We drove out to the Northshore as well to look for whales. We saw the whales blowing into the air, but the water was too chopy for us to actually see much. So we went back on the Highway from Hell (horrible traffic AND construction every 5 miles. Why do we think Hawaii received so much Federal Funding for obscure highway projects? HUMMMM)

Anyway, we stopped at a waterfall mostly to rest from the traffic

And finally, some out-rigger teams practicing (Which I will upload when the computer is faster)

Day 1

We we woke up this morning, it was raining and overcast. We drove along the Waimea Canyon, also know as the Grand Canyon of the pacific. The wind was pretty blustery as we stood on the rim of the canyon ( behind the railings.) The scenes were amazing. Many of the shots show some haze, as it was in the morning before the humidity had burned off.

The view points had some very long drops - of 2000 ft or more in places. This canyon is 1/2 mile deep and 10 miles wide. Not as big as the real Grand Canyon, but colorful in a different way.

After wards, we went to Dukes to eat. We sat by the beach with a gentle breeze and split a cheese burger. No, we did not have Hula pie.

A video of the panorama of the canyon.