oneClimbs is about learning as you go and sharing what you learn. The content here mostly revolves around exploring life through the lens of theology, scripture, symbolism, and ideas that uplift the mind.
There are no ads here and no secret or paywalled content. Everything here is free to use by anyone. For this site, I am completely uninterested in profit, traffic, followers, amassing readers, or influence; I only care about sharing ideas.
I’m mortal, thus prone to error, and continually evolving in my thoughts, opinions, etc. as I learn new things.
Though I may speak passionately or convincingly in some of this content, PLEASE don’t simply take my word alone on anything. Always seek the truth of all things through study and prayer in the name of Jesus Christ.
There is no posting schedule because that would require me to rush ideas or post useless content just for the sake of maintaining consistency. Sometimes I’ll post multiple times per week for long stretches or I’ll go months without sharing anything, it all depends on if something worth sharing happens to come my way.
The bulk of the content here consists of unique, reflective, commentary on scripture and theology. I will also occasionally post about any useful things I find along the way from other sources.
I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and sustain its mission, purpose, and representatives in accordance with correct doctrine and principles.
The origin of oneClimbs
I started oneClimbs July 1, 2010, and here’s how it all began.
For years, I had email exchanges with family and friends about different theological ideas. I found myself writing long emails to different people and going back to dig up the same information again and again.
I had the idea of collecting my thoughts and research into a more structured form that would make it easier to share. Over the years, I put the information together in essay form in files on my computer and organized them into categories.
I came across a talk that M. Russell Ballard gave on December 15, 2007, while speaking at a graduation ceremony at BYU Hawaii and read this portion:
Now, to…all other faithful members of the Church, …may I ask that you join the conversation by participating on the Internet, particularly the New Media, to share the gospel and to explain in simple, clear terms the message of the Restoration. Most of you already know that if you have access to the Internet you can start a blog in minutes and begin sharing what you know to be true. You can download videos from Church and other appropriate sites, including Newsroom at LDS.org, and send them to your friends. You can write to media sites on the Internet that report on the Church, and voice your views as to the accuracy of the reports. This, of course, requires that you, all members of the Church, understand the basic, fundamental principles of the gospel.
We are living in a world saturated with all kinds of voices. Perhaps now, more than ever, we have a major responsibility as Latter-day Saints to define ourselves, instead of letting others define us.
As one who works in the tech industry and creates websites and blogs all the time, I decided to start my own.
I find the blogging space quieter than social media; there’s less noise here. While I do allow comments on my posts, I find most of them to be incredibly thoughtful and some have profoundly blessed my life.
I am a big advocate of journaling, and consider this website to be a special part of my journaling initiative. My greatest hope is that my work here will be a blessing to my children who I love with all my heart and their posterity that follows.
Why “oneClimbs?”
I became familiar with a particular quote that was shared frequently by an Institute teacher who was a big influence in my life after returning from full-time missionary service.
The quote has been a favorite of mine since and I thought that a key portion of the quote perfectly represented my intent in creating the website.
You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place? Just this: What is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above.
One climbs, one sees.
One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one saw higher up. When one can no longer see, one can at least still know. ~ Rene Daumal
I like the metaphor of “climbing” as it relates to the pursuit of learning. Climbing involves effort, patience, danger, along with rewards such as experience, strength, perspective, and vision.
There are hundreds of posts on oneClimbs and I will often correct errors or update information. Truth is what I am searching for and if I come to discover that something on my site is in error, I’ll make any necessary edits.
As for any errors due to me being a flawed mortal, scholar Hugh Nibley once wrote:
“I refuse to be held responsible for anything I wrote more than three years ago.”
Hugh W. Nibley, “The Facsimiles of the Book of Abraham: A Response by H. W. Nibley to E. H. Ashment,” Sunstone, December 1979, 49.
I’m appropriating that for my own purposes here at oneClimbs.
Things change, people change, minds change, and paradigms shift and I reserve the right to change, clarify, or stand by any content that I have produced.
Disclaimer
oneClimbs.com is not owned, controlled, or affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. All views and opinions are of the authors here who are solely responsible for their content and should not be interpreted as official statements of Church doctrine, belief, or practice, unless specifically stated and correctly referenced.
Official statements from the Church should be sought for at ChurchofJesusChrist.org or ComeUntoChrist.org.