Aladdin's Genie & God, Difference #2-4

Question: Who is God? What is He like and what are some of His characteristics?

• How is God different then Genie?

2) He Knows What Is Best For Us And, Despite Our Wishes, Can Say "No"

There's a talk that I listen to quite frequently by a man named Larry Chesley. He's a Latter-Day Saint who grew up in Idaho and fought in the Vietnam War. During that time, he was captured by the Vietnamese and spent seven years as a POW. He speaks a lot on how prayer got him through the whole ordeal but he also jokingly makes reference to a saying he had heard some years back.

"If God really wanted to punish His people, all He would have to do is answer their prayers" (unknown).

I find a lot of truth in that statement. By no means am I saying that God does not answer our prayers, but sometimes He doesn't always give us what we ask for. God loves us enough that despite our wishes, he can say "No".

As long as Aladdin kept his wishes within the guidelines of the rules given to him by Genie, Genie was obligated to grant them. Whether it would ultimately benefit him in the long run mattered not - Genie was bound to grant whatever his master wished for, again, so long as they remained within the set guidelines.

We know that God sets guidelines also that we must follow - you can see that similarity here in a previous post. Although, we also know that God does not restrict how many wishes we can make. There is no "3-Wish Limit Rule" when it comes to asking God for anything. With that said, that does not mean He will grant us everything we ask for.

One might respond, saying this,

"Even if I am keeping the commandments, or the guidlines that God has set down, He can still say 'No'?"

Yes, He can. We must remember why we are here. We are here to grow and learn about God. We are to follow the example that His Son, Jesus Christ, set for us. Within this scope of life, we make mistakes and though our prayers might be well intended, whatever if may be for, God knows what is best for us in the long run. This life is not the end is very short compared to what's ahead of us in the eternities.
Ever seen this symbol before? ∞ That symbol means "infinity" and most of you have probably seen it in math class some where through the years. Infitity is the best thing I can relate "eternity" to for you - its a very long time and never ending. This life is very short in regards to that time that we are meant to spend with God. God realizes this and wants us to return to Him. 

He will not do anything that would harm us or detract us from this long-term goal. Because we are not perfect, we sometimes ask for the wrong things. How terrible would that be to receive something from God that would actually injure out long-term progression!

However, that is not how God operates.  The following scripture illuminates that concept.

"All things which are good cometh of God ... that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God"(Moroni 7:12-13)

Thus God can say "No" to our prayers if it hurts our eternal salvation.  As we have read, God will only do that which will bring us closer to Him.  That course, one that I am doing my best to follow, will lead us to never-ending happiness with our Heavenly Father. 

To finish it up, the last two differences are summed up into single phrases:


3) God's Work Does Not Begin When The Lamp Is Rubbed, Its Only Manifested.


4) There Are None Greater Then God. He Is Not In Chains, We Are.



Aladdin's Genie & God, Difference #1

Question: Who is God? What is He like and what are some of His characteristics?

• How is God different then Genie?

1) God Is In The Form of Man.


"Say, you're a lot smaller than my last master. Either that, or I'm getting bigger. Look at me from the side. Do I look different to you?" - Genie

When Genie emerged from the lamp after a long time of waiting, Aladdin found something completely new.  It may seem that we discover something new when we find God but actually we really are just becoming reacquainted with Him and His plan.  A part of God's plan for us is to know who He is and what He looks like.

Aladdin's Genie & God, Similarities #2-3

Question: Who is God? What is He like and what are some of His characteristics?

• What similarities do Genie and God have?

2) They Abide By Rules And Laws

After Genie displayed his power and showed off everything he could do, Aladdin then asks him, "You're gonna grant me any 3 wishes I want, right?" to which then Genie responds, in a more hesitant voice, "Uh, ah, almost. There are a few, uh, provisos. Ah, a couple of quid pro quo."  Genie then gives Aladdin three rules that he must abide by when it comes to granting wishes.

Aladdin's Genie & God, Similarity #1

Question: Who is God? What is He like and what are some of His characteristics?

• What similarities do Genie and God have?

1) They Expect Us To Act

"Merchant: Do not be fooled by [the lamp's] commonplace appearance. Like so many things, it is not what outside, but what is inside that counts. This is no ordinary lamp. It once changed the course of a young man's life. A young man, who, like this lamp, was more than what he seemed. A diamond in the rough."

Once Aladdin retrieved the lamp that he was sent in to recover for Jafar, it seemed like any other lamp until he rubbed it and out came Genie who offered him three wishes. Had Aladdin, or anyone that came across it, never rubbed the lamp, they never would access that wonderful power and intrigue of having three wishes granted. For Aladdin, rubbing the lamp saved his life as Genie helped him escape from the Cave of Wonders that had caved in.

In the same way that Aladdin approached Genie we too must approach God. It requires action! For Aladdin to find Genie, he had to rub his lamp. For us to find God, we too must do the things that will lead us to God like praying, reading the scriptures, going to church, serving other people, and following the commandments.  When we begin doing these things that God institued, our faith begins to increase because we begin to feel and know that we are doing what's right.  It will change the course of our lives forever  when we discover our need for God.  In so doing, He will help us realize, depsite what we've done in the past, that we are all a diamond in the rough.

A good saying to live by is this:

“When our wagon gets stuck in the mud, God is much more likely to assist the man who gets out to push than the man who merely raises his voice in prayer—no matter how eloquent the oration." - Dieter F. Uctdorf

Aladdin's Genie & God, Introduction

Question: Who is God?  What is He like and what are some of His characteristics?

“It is true intelligence for a man to take a subject that is mysterious and great in itself, and to unfold and simplify it so that a child can understand it.” - John Taylor

God truly is great and loving but at certain times, He can be quite mysterious.  What I want to do is to unfold the "mystery of God and His greatness" so that even a child can understand it and remember it.  To help me in this task, I am going to borrow Genie from the Disney movie Aladdin.

Yall remember him, right?

Of course!  How could we forget when Aladdin was sent down into the Cave of Wonders by Jafar to retrieve a mysterious lamp?  Then, after being whirled away to safety by a magic carpet once finding it, Aladdin rubbed the lamp and out emerged a big blue Genie.  As he would do for Aladdin, and anyone who rubbed his lamp, he would grant them three wishes of their choice.

"Oi! Ten thousand years will give you such a crick in the neck." - Genie

Though you may not have known it, Genie can actually teach us a lot about the characteristics of God through a comparison of how he is like God and how he isn't - simply, their similarities and differences.  So just sit back and enjoy the ride to a whole new world as you develop stronger faith in who God is.

"Aladdin: Provisos? You mean limitations? On wishes? Huh. Some all-powerful Genie. Can't even bring people back from the dead. I don't know, Abu. He probably can't even get us out of this cave. Looks like we're gonna have to find a way outta here.

"Genie: Excuse me? Are you lookin' at me? Did you rub my lamp? Did you wake me up? Did you bring me here? And all of a sudden you're walking out on me? I don't think so, not right now. You're getting your wishes, so SIT DOWN!" 

Aladdin's Genie & God, Similarity #1


Aladdin's Genie & God, Similarities #2-3


Aladdin's Genie & God, Difference #1


Aladdin's Genie & God, Difference #2-4

What Is Truth? And Who Decides It?

Recently I asked a question to a number of individuals about who they thought was the best player in a few popular sports.  The question was worded as this:

"Who is the best player ever (past or present) in the sports of basketball, baseball, and football?"

While thinking about their answers some stated, prior to answering, "that their choices were based on their opinion", while others just simply stated their answers. 

Here are some of the responses I received: