Renewal

Wow - I forgot I had this blog. It is time to revive it. There was some good stuff there. I am back to feeling a little low on the spiritual side and looking for a way to study that is meaningful for me. I want to use this again. I liked that my previous study method was to read from the Sunday School study guides. I am going to try that again. We are also going to be challenged this summer to read through the Preach My Gospel manual. Plus we have a Relief society manual and the History of Relief Society manual and the Ensign. Oh, and the recent conference talks. There is plenty to read and study and it counts as gospel study. I don't have to just pick up the Book of Mormon and just read chapter by chapter. This is what I needed to see. Looking forward to some good growth over the coming months.

Famine

I like the analogy in Amos 8:11-12 that essentially the apostasy started a famine: a famine from hearing the Lord's words.

What occured to me from this is that famines eventually end and then much better, even wonderful and prosperous times follow it.

This is true of the famine the Lord sent. There was a famine of His words for a season where people were lost and confused about the truth and many walked their own ways.

Then, with Joseph Smith and the restoration of the church, that famine ended. (See D&C 128:20-21 to get a sense of how exciting the end of this famine is.) And there have been many great and wonderful things that followed. Most notably, all the keys of the dispensations have been restored such as the power to seal families together for eternity and the priesthood which allows for many personal blessings and special ordinances like baptism and the sacrament.

But also, the fact that the famine is over means that the Lord once again has his hand in the things of the world. He once again is directing His church and He again speaks to us and works miracles among us. He is not gone from us anymore.

Apostasy

When Christ left the earth the adversary really stepped in. Christ's apostles held the reigns of the church for as long as they could but eventually they were taken away because there were many false teachings and much adversity against Christ's church. The people were no longer listening to the truth and instead would hear only what they chose to hear if at all. The loss of the apostles caused a loss in the important and whole truths of the church and resulted in an apostasy. The truths were broken up to pieces and translated into what people wanted them them to be.

Because people weren't listening Christ withdrew Himself from the world for a while. Which can be why religious leaders held on to a belief and strongly taught their congregations that God no longer works miracles and there can be no more visions and no more direction. Also that what is in the bible is all we get.

But that just isn't true. The world fell into the dark ages for a time and then emerged with a flurry of people seeking truth. It wasn't until people were ready to receive the truth and truly wanted it that Christ could again put His hand in and direct His church on the Earth and work miracles and visions again. He's always been there. The world just hasn't always wanted to hear from Him because they're too busy walking in their own ways.

(I should say also that we believe that Christ is doing God's work, in other words, He is under the direction of God the Father. So when I refer to Christ I am referring to God as well.)

Why would He not continue to work miracles and direct His church if they were willing to listen? The reasoning that Christ or God no longer does anything is confusing to me. And I wonder why people would actually believe that except that they have some really persuasive church leaders and haven't thought and prayed about it for themselves. It's kind of a sad belief.

Of course the adversary took advantage of the flurry of religious activity that emerged in Joseph Smith's day. It was easy for him to cause a lot of confusion and contention among the different religions. Religious leaders were given to flattery and telling the people what they wanted to hear rather than just encouraging belief no matter what sect you chose.

This confusion and "pretended good feelings" as Joseph Smith called them is what caused him to be confused and worried about the choice he had to make. He clearly loved God and wanted to do what's right but he was at a loss as to whom to believe.

I think that we still have this confusion today. Christ's church has been re-established but it is still in the background behind all the noise and confusion of the world today - whether it be religous or not. I think religion seeking is not as it was back then. There are many people seeking religion but I think there are many more distractions today aside from "what is the true religion". There's a long list of things that keep people from religion, or from seeking and finding the truth. The adversary knows the Lord is wrapping things up and he is working really hard to distract the world from His truth.

Lesson 3 First Vision

I have always heard the account of the First Vision. It's refered to many times at church. But what I hadn't read in a long time, if ever, was the account of Joseph's persecution when he mentioned it to some of the people in the different religious sects of his day. He was just a boy - 14/15 - and his account of His vision received great attention from some of the most learned and high up members of the different religions and great religious scholars. They could have brushed him off as just a boy, "what does he know after all, he's just a kid" but instead there was great excitement over his vision and none of it good. Even the sects that couldn't agree with eachother previously, would unite themselves against a 14/15 year old kid.

But the other remarkable thing is that this kid, who was at an impressionable and tender age, did not begin to doubt himself even though the persecution likely brought him to tears. He did not begin to think that maybe he'd just had a dream and it wasn't real after all. He kept true to the things he saw and was not swayed by the pressure that was suddenly cast on him.

This was a wondrously strong and determined kid who grew into a great and brave man. It is no wonder that this was the one the Lord trusted to bring about the restoration of the Gospel.

Lesson 2 scripture chain

I like marking these scripture chains in my scriptures. It gives me something to read and follow should I need a short and meaningful study time.

This chain talks about the nature of Jesus Christ - who He is, His Divinity and what He did for us as well as a bit about His Second Coming. It also touches on what we need to do to follow Him.

Anytime in the D&C when we see a blessing addressed to someone specific it helps to put our own name in place of the other person and see if that scripture applies to us as well. An example is in the first passage of this scripture chain. I think that if these particular blessings in the D&C didn't apply to all of us in some way they would not have need to be included in the scripture.

Creation

Sis. Poaletti gave sharing time on the Creation yesterday. She broke down the days and what blessings we got from each day of creation based on the blessings listed in D&C 59: 18-19. A couple things I found interesting - one is blessings were added as new things were made. The other is that the creation of vegetation alone fulfilled every one of the blessings outlined:

18 Yea, all things which come of the earth, in the season thereof, are made for the benefit and the use of man, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart;

19 Yea, for food and for raiment, for taste and for smell, to strengthen the body and to enliven the soul.

Another thing I remembered that I'd learned at the temple before is that the creation had a very specific order. For instance - there had to be water and land and there had to be light before there could be plant life. There had to be seasons for the different harvests. There had to be plant life before there could be sea and bird life and these were needed before animal life and all before human life. But something else I got out of this that I hadn't realized before - according to genesis, I haven't studied the account in the Pearl of Great Price yet, is that first there was sea life. Then the next day was animal life - could be that animals originated from the sea as in Evolution? But also that animals and humans were created in the same day.

On a different note in the same topic of Creation, we believe we had a part in the Creation. That we were allowed to help and even required to help as these things were being created. By doing so we were taught how things work and given the knowledge we would need to make our earthly life better. Of course we forget these things when we are born but we "remember" them again as we study and learn. Which could be why when we discover something new, or learn something new to us, we are excited. The excitement is our spirits remembering something we learned in the pre-existence and it feels right to us.

But anyway, Alan says that maybe we were divided into groups and each group had a different aspect of creation that they were to do. His idea is "this group handles this prototype and the next group over here is the great meteor group to clean the slate for the next group" and so on.

Maybe so, but I had a distinct thought that whatever part we played in the Creation had to do with the specific talents that we had in the pre-existence and that we still have now. For instance, a physicist today might have participated in the first day and helped to organize the matter into a world or helped to separate day and night. A botanist would have worked on plant life. A zoologist, animal life. A mechanical engineer - the workings of the bodies of plant, animal and human. An electrical engineer - the process and need for lightening storms as well as nervous systems. A people engineer i.e. manager skills might have been over their own little group and helped to keep them organized. An artist - the colors and shapes of plants and animals, ground and sea, and sky. A musician - the sounds of waves crashing and wind blowing, songs of birds, and sounds of other animal life and even the way our ears interpret these sounds. A teacher - organized the ways certain animals taught their young to survive. A mother - the mechanics of family groups in the animal kingdom.

If we think of what talents we have, we might have an idea of some of the roles we played in the Creation and that's pretty enlightening.

Gratitude for the Atonement

From the study guide:

"How can you show the Savior your gratitude for His Atonement?"

I was thinking yesterday about how the passages clearly stated that without Christ's atonement we would have to suffer for our own sins even as He suffered. We do suffer already but in the smallest degree and only if we put off repentance. Our Savior has removed the need for us to have to suffer. All we have have to do is realize our own guilt and come to Him and repent.

It is a tremendous thing He has done for us. I know a little bit of the agony of sin and the pain it can cause. That is I know the smallest degree and I think everyone has felt it at one time or another. I can't imagine if we had to suffer in the greatest degree - which is what Christ suffered.

How can I show gratitude?

I think that the first thing is to always remember to give thanks in prayer. But also more importantly is to not take the atonement for granted and forget that it is there for us. Christ suffered for us and it would be in vain if we do not repent. The very act of repentance is the best way of showing gratitude to our Savior.

Also remembering Him each week when we take the sacrament and again thanking Him in prayer. Teaching our children about the atonement. Fogiving others as He has asked us to do. And forgiving ourselves. Changing our lives so they are more in accordance with His teachings.

All these things show that we have gratitude for the Lord and His sacrifice for us. But not only that but it brings our focus to Him and in turn keeps us in the right path that will lead us back to Him and our Father in Heaven.