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.

February 19, 2009 Blessings from the Atonement

D&C 18: 11-12
The Lord suffered pain of all mankind. This translates to, in my opinion, He suffered all the pain that is suffered at any time by anyone including the pain of death. He did this so we could repent.

This brings me to a question. I know that it is emotional and spiritual agony to go through repentance especially for something serious. If it weren't for Christ's atonement would this agony have been physical pain as well had we been required to atone for our own sins? And would we have been strong enough to do so? I think not. The natural man is weak and it is so much easier now to do something wrong and brush it aside than it is to go through the embarrasment, fess up, make things right, apologize and change our being in order to fully repent. But the rewards of doing so are incredible and wonderful and liberating. Would we have learned that and known it well enough to go through a physical pain of atoning for our own sins?

He was resurrected from the dead so that He could bring us to Him as long as we repent.

D&C 19: 16-17 & 20

This seems to answer my question above:

16 For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;
17 But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I;

It seems also that if we don't use the gift Christ has given us, that is the atonement, then we will end up suffering anyway.

Verse 20 says that we may have felt that suffering in the smallest degree if there was a time that He withdrew Himself from us. This also hints that the suffering is more of a spiritual anguish which in my opinion does affect the physical body as well. Anyone who anguishes over something long enough does indeed get physically sick. So if we are suffering in the smallest degree, even enough to make us ill, imagine if we were suffering in the greatest degree - even as Christ had suffered. I believe that would cause both tremendous spiritual and physical pain.

Christ really has done a wonderful thing for us in atoning for our sins and taking that great degree of pain from us, as long as we repent.

D&C 58:42
If we repent we will be forgiven. But that isn't all, the Lord will forget it. It won't ever be an issue again.

This also means we need to forgive ourselves. Trust Christ's words here. If he can "remember them no more" then we must also put them aside and not ever let their memory bring us down.

D&C 76: 62-70

Other blessings of repentance:
We will dwell with God and Jesus Christ for ever
We will be in attendance with Christ on His second coming.
We will have part in the first resurrection and come forth in the resurrection of the just
Our names will be written in Heaven
Just men (and women) are made perfect through Christ

And others are contained in this section.

Febraury 17, 2009 Ressurection

What can we learn about the ressurection?

D&C 88: 14-18

• Christ's redemption brought about the ability for all to be resurrected from the dead.
• A soul is the joining of both spirit and body. Unless both are together we are not a soul. Only a spirit without our body.
• The ressurection redeems the soul. Brings spirit and body back together.
• Ressurection is only through Jesus Christ who redeemed us.
• The earth will be sanctified for the righteous to inherit after the resurrection.

D&C 93:33

• man is spirit. elements (the things that make up our physical bodies) are eternal. spirit and element joined inseperably (a soul) bring fulness of joy.

We are not entirely happy as only a spirit without a body. It's like reaching an unstable state of being. We need our physical bodies to feel full joy. This is why ressurection is so important. What would be the purpose of coming to earth to recieve a body, feel a temporary joy in having our bodies and spirits joined together only to have them eternally separated again when we die? I think that the joy we have now with our mortal bodies is only a part of the full joy we will experience when our bodies are made perfect as our imfirmities, illnesses, handicaps are removed in the resurrection. (See passage below)

Alma 11:42-44

• The death that we are familiar with (there is another spiritual death) is a temporal death when our bodies and our spirits are separated. Christ has overcome this death for us.
• The spirit and body shall be reunited in its perfect form: no hair lost, all limbs in their proper frame.
• All will be restored to their perfect form: man, woman, bond and free, righteous and wicked. Ressurection is a gift given to all.
• After ressurection we will be brought to stand before God and have a perfect knowledge of all our guilt and we will be judged according to our works, good or evil.

February 16, 2009 Lesson 2

Well, this morning is a little difficult to do this. It's President's Day and all 3 girls are home and I'm getting interrupted quite a bit. Maybe I'll try a little more later. But I have gotten a short passage read.

D&C 19:16-19 speaks about the Savior's suffering for us. He implores us to repent because He has already done the hard work for us. He has already done the suffering that is required to remove our sins. If we would repent we would not have to suffer but if we don't then He cannot help us and we will have to suffer ourselves. This suffering is so tremendous that even He who is Diety could not take it without help. What a wonderful thing He has done for us and how ungrateful we can be sometimes when we ignore that or forget it. Compared to what He accomplished in the garden, our job of coming to the Lord with our guilty consciences and seeking forgiveness is extremely small. If we could wrap our minds around that we would do it.

Christ suffered great pain for us because He was doing the will of our Father who loves us and also because He, our Savior, loves us. What great love that is for someone to suffer great agony on our behalf. He says Come unto me and I will give you rest. He has given us a chance for our souls to be at rest, to lay down our troublesome storms and calm our seas. We just have to accept His help and show our love for Him by coming unto Him and applying the atonement in our lives.

February 14, 2009 The Lord's Protection

I was brought breakfast in bed this morning. So nice! So I took the time to read a talk from a book of discourses by Henry B. Eyring called "Because He First Loved Us". The talk is chapter 7 and called Finding Safety in Counsel. (I found the talk on the lds.org website too).

Elder Eyring speaks of the Lord's warnings. He says the Lord has called out to us many times and in many ways. Those who listen to His counsel - through the prophets and church leaders - are protected unlike those who do not.

Warnings are often recognized because they are repeated. Often in general conference a prophet will quote an earlier prophet and be a second or third witness.

Quote: The Apostle Paul wrote that “in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established” (2 Cor. 13:1). One of the ways we may know that the warning is from the Lord is that the law of witnesses, authorized witnesses, has been invoked. When the words of prophets seem repetitive, that should rivet our attention and fill our hearts with gratitude to live in such a blessed time.

What are some things that are always repeated to us? This is when the "law of witnesses" is being invoked. Obviously they're important. It would do us good to take heed to these repetitions and see if we are following the counsel contained in them.

Another Quote: Looking for the path to safety in the counsel of prophets makes sense to those with strong faith. When a prophet speaks, those with little faith may think that they hear only a wise man giving good advice. Then if his counsel seems comfortable and reasonable, squaring with what they want to do, they take it. If it does not, they consider it either faulty advice or they see their circumstances as justifying their being an exception to the counsel.

(I have seen extremely educated and intellectual men do this too. Be careful of too much intellectualism.)

And then: Another fallacy is to believe that the choice to accept or not accept the counsel of prophets is no more than deciding whether to accept good advice and gain its benefits or to stay where we are. But the choice not to take prophetic counsel changes the very ground upon which we stand. It becomes more dangerous. The failure to take prophetic counsel lessens our power to take inspired counsel in the future. The best time to have decided to help Noah build the ark was the first time he asked. Each time he asked after that, each failure to respond would have lessened sensitivity to the Spirit. And so each time his request would have seemed more foolish, until the rain came. And then it was too late.

How many times do we take counsel and doubt it's true importance? Or take it with a grain of salt because we think we understand where they're getting their influence from but it doesn't really pertain to us? How many times do we treat counsel simply as good advice and we'll get to it when we want to if we want to?

I think we all do this from time to time. Sometimes it takes a few more repeptitions before something sinks in and we do listen.

I like the last quote and that it speaks of Noah. He warned many times of the destruction that was to come and the people mocked him. In the end they were destroyed. I think a specific Noah warning today has been repeated many, many times and has been on my mind for a while now to follow - as soon as we can. That is to gather a food storage and be prepared for emergencies. Times are getting pretty bad economically. There are wars. There are food recalls. There are job losses. There are many reasons abounding now for us to keep a store of food in case of an emergency.

Today our family will be taking heed of one of those warnings in which the "law of witnesses" has been invoked many. many times. We will be buying a freezer for our food storage.

• Update Febraury 19, 2009: I couldn't find a good sale for freezers on Saturday. Nothing priced well enough. For good reason too. On Monday I decided to take a look at craigslist again and there was one which we were able to aquire, just in time too as there was another buyer before us trying to negotiate with the seller. Yay! We now have a freezer and instead of paying $600 for one we only had to pay $275 (of which $200 is a gift from Alan's parents! Thank you!) and it is only a few years old and a great brand - Frigidaire. I think the Lord blesses us when we try to follow the counsel given us by His oracles. This definintely felt like His hand was in this one and I am grateful for that.

Thoughts and goals

I was thinking about the article I read for my last post and pondering on some of my own "idols" that get in the way of my being happy and serving my family better. I think that my own personal idols are mostly my television shows and idleness. I'm hoping the utter lack of motivation is mostly pregnancy related and will go away once we've established our lives with a new baby. But lately I will have one good day and then a whole string of really bad do nothing days. This bothers me a lot. I think that these two things - lack of motivation and my television watching are linked. If I can change my behavior and stop watching so much afternoon television and get past the "If I have to do anything productive right now I'm going to cry" hump I might do better.

Some things that have been hurting with my lack of motivation and extraneous television viewing:

• Chores are not getting done like they should be. My house is a mess.
• I get irritable with the kids.
• I'm not preschooling Samantha like I'd planned.
• I'm not getting the exercise I was hoping to.
• My head hurts most days and always starts with tension in my shoulders - probably due to my stressing out about the things I'm not getting done.
• There are house projects that I can get going but I don't have the time because I am always trying to catch up on chores that weren't getting done.
• I get irritable with Alan when he is too busy to help out too.
• Visiting teaching isn't getting done.
• I'm not serving my family like I should be.

Yeah, um, I am not doing well. I have been feeling lately like I've been drifting and not really getting anywhere. This is the reason why I started this blog in the first place.

So, some goals. If my morning is filled with things other than chores I really need to use my afternoon for chores. I need to pay attention to visiting teaching and most importantly to my family and how I can better serve them.

So I will NOT watch telelvision in the afternoon. That is the main thing. TV goes off for me between lunch and kids bedtime. (And I am not going to fill that time with a nap unless it is desperately needed.)
Instead :

• I'll do unfinished chores
• read to my girls
• do some preschooling
• work on other personal things that I want to do that are productive i.e. blog entries, finances, learning the guitar, craft/sewing projects etc.
• I'll make an effort to pick up some of the slack for Alan so he can spend time with us or help with a house project when he is home.
• I'll look for more ways to serve my family and not be so irritable with them.
• I'll find ways to work through my unmotivation and find something good to do.

One last thing. I think the thing that will help me the most is if I ask myself this question each day:

What can I do today that will best serve my family?

And then follow through with the answer.

february 12, 2009 Idols

Focusing on the warning in section 1 verse 16:

16 They seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol...

I found an article that talks about that:
Dennis Largey, “Refusing to Worship Today’s Graven Images,” Ensign, Feb 1994, 9

Some quotes:

"In the commandment 'Thou shalt have no other God before me' The phrase 'before me' is the Hebrew phrase ‘al-panai, which means ‘in front of’—either to the exclusion of another or ‘in preference,’ or ‘in addition to.’ The meaning is clear: those who worship the Lord should not make or adopt any other object to worship."

"There are 'golden calves' all around today—tangible images like cars, and others that are more intangible. When anything wastefully dominates our time, compromises our loyalty, or confuses our priorities so that God and his work become second, we are flirting with idolatry. "

He goes on to say that God is happy to bless us with material things but we are not to put them above Him.

From President Spencer W. Kimball “There are unfortunately millions today who prostrate themselves before images of gold and silver and wood and stone and clay. But the idolatry we are most concerned with here is the conscious worshipping of still other gods. Some are of metal and plush and chrome, of wood and stone and fabrics. They are not in the image of God or of man, but are developed to give man comfort and enjoyment, to satisfy his wants, ambitions, passions and desires. Some are in no physical form at all, but are intangible.”

What are our "graven images"?

• clothing
• cars
• ourselves
• homes
• landscapes
• money
• hobbies and recreation
• celebrities/heroes
• our time
• idleness
• popularity
• body image
• intelligence/intellectualism
• careers/jobs

Idols are lifeless. They don't give life. They may help to enrich and make life enjoyable but if these things are put before God they become idols. We cannot allow them to exclude, be preferable to, or added to God. We must always remember to serve God first and continually. Then some of these things can have a place in our lives as long as they enrich and uplift us.

Some things should be avoided as they have no value and would do the opposite of enriching our lives and so therefore would waste our time. Seeking to be popular with others, worrying about our body image when we are otherwise healthy, being idle. These things would only bring us down and have no place in our lives.

Anything we do, we must determine if it turns our attention away from God or brings us closer to Him. Does it give purpose and direction in our life and help us to be what God would have us be? Or does it turn us away?

"Anything can become a 'golden calf.' When activities or material blessings become so important that by turning to them we turn from God, we are breaking the second commandment. We are walking 'in [our] own way, and after the image of [our] own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol, which waxeth old and shall perish.'

How do we avoid worship of our "idols"?

"Key to countering the influence of modern images is keeping our hearts centered on God. If we do, we will live our lives in harmony with life’s real purposes. "

Things to do to keep our hearts centered on God:

• pray - in your homes, over your stewardships, always have a prayer in your heart
• study the Gospel - scriptures, conference talks, gospel doctrine books, attend church meetings
• don't go against the counsel of the prophets and apostles - seek confirmation of the truth of their words
• continually seek for ways to grow your testimony
• keep the commandments
• serve your families
• seek opportunities to serve others - When you serve others you are serving God
• remember to seek God's counsel in your decisions, pray for help when you need it
• remember God's hand in your life and acknowledge it.
• be grateful for the things you have been blessed with, being sure to thank Him for it.
• faithfully hold and fill a church calling - this is an opportunity to serve
• do your best in all that you have been asked to do, "just enough" is not enough unless it is your best.
• Go to the temple
• pay your tithes
• honor the priesthood
• seek for blessings
• do your visiting/home teaching faithfully - this is another opportunity to serve

Doing these things will keep your mind in tune with God and will have you walking in His paths. All else should be second to these things.

Remember God wants to bless you with the material things that make life fun but never let them come between Him and you.

February 11, 2009

Scripture chain:

D&C 1: 37-39

Search these commandments for they are true. What the Lord has spoken, He has spoken and his words shall not pass but will be fulfilled.

D&C 18: 33-36

These words are not mans words but the Lord's words and we should testify of them.

36 Wherefore, you can testify that you have heard my voice, and know my words.

I am reminded of the Explanatory Introduction to the D&C. In my first post I outlined some of the things contained in it. The piece that comes to mind here is #4. That the Lord's voice is heard in these pages of the D&C. You don't literally have to hear His voice to know His voice and "hear" it in your hearts and mind when you read His words. You don't have to be a prophet who speaks to the Lord to be able to testify that you have heard His voice. You can feel it. I know this because I have felt it to the point that I feel that I would recognize the Lord's voice if He actually spoke to me.

Also, hearing His voice means paying head to His words, taking them within, pondering and following them. If you do so you can and will testify that you have "heard my voice, and know my words."

D&C 84:60
Blessed are those who hear His words for they ARE His voice.

He has spoken these words, they have come from Him. If we hear them i.e. listen, take head, apply them, we should know that they are His voice for He has spoken them.

D&C 88:66

His voice is like one crying in the wilderness - you can't see Him. But it is truth and if it is in us it will abound.


Q's and Thoughts From the Teacher's Manual:

Attention is brought to the 6th paragraph in the Explanatory Introduction. I didn't mention it before because I had skimmed over it but it is worth mentioning.

The revelations in the D&C came as answers to prayers. They were during times of need and came from real life situations involving real people. The Prophet had sought guidance from the Lord and these revelations are proof that he received that guidance.

All of us can seek guidance from the Lord. If we pray with sincerity and are willing to follow His guidance we will receive it. We don't have authority like the prophet to receive guidance for the church but we can be guided by the Lord in our own lives and for our own stewardships: our families, ourselves and our callings. This guidance we receive we also call personal revelation. It's personal and only pertains to our own personal needs. No-one can receive personal revelation for someone else although we can receive guidance in how we may help and serve someone else.

February 10, 2009

D&C 1: This is the Lord's preface to the D&C.

Some of the warnings:
We need to prepare ourselves for the coming of the Lord and for His judgement. Those who will not hear the words of the Lord and His servants i.e. through church leaders: both general authorities and local leaders, missionaries, scripture, prayer and personal revelation, those who do not hear and heed His words will be cut off in the last days.

Be careful when choosing your paths that you walk in the Lord's path because there are many who ""walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol" Are you walking after idols or trying to follow the Savior? That can be a tricky question sometimes and it pertains to members of the church every bit as much as it pertains to those who are not. What are some of our idols? The desire to be successful in life to the point that it takes you away from home and church callings? Distractions like television and video games when you're not reading your scriptures? Keeping yourself so busy or too distracted that your Sunday's have to be treated like another Saturday instead of the Sabbath? Worrying too much what other people think of you or trying to keep up with the Jones' that you forget there are other people less fortunate and in need of your help or compassion. Sometimes we distract ourselves too much with the things of this world and forget where we are supposed to be.

Those who repent will be forgiven but those who don't will be cut off from the light of the Lord. Everyone, whether they are believers or not have the light of the Lord in them. We are all given the ability to know whether we've done right or wrong. That's a given for every person who has lived. I know what it feels like to have the light of the Lord missing. It's not fun and life feels dark and dreary. Repentance and making better choices brings that light back and peace back to our souls. The light is a warmth and happiness. It is peacefulness and calm even when a storm is raging. It is encouragment and the ability to see things more clearly. It is an assurance that we are headed in the right way. Sometimes it can be felt brighter when we are doing those things we ought to be like praying and scripture study, being with our families and filling our callings. It is the love of our Savior. The Savior's love is always there but our ability to recognize it as light in our lives is affected by the choices we make. Sometimes when we are doing wrong we don't want to feel it. We are ashamed and turn ourselves away from that light. But it is always there when we are ready to turn around again and seek it.

Puposes of the revelations in the D&C:
That the words might be proclaimed to the world
That all may speak in the name of the Lord - I see this to mean that we may act in His name, representing Him in all that we do and say.
That faith will increase in the world
His covenant will be established
That the fullness of the gospel may be proclaimed to all the world including to kings and rulers
That we may have understanding
That we may know where we are erring
For our instruction
To chasten so that we may repent
If we are humble we are made strong and recieve knowledge from time to time. I also read this as "further instruction" from time to time.What comes to mind here is the revelation allowing all worthy male members to have the priesthood. I think it fits in this category.

February 9, 2009

I have been needing to study my scriptures and haven't been. And I've been feeling that missing. I used to get out my laptop and sit and read and write my thoughts. That was at least a couple years ago. I'd like to do that again.

I remember the Ensign article in the July 2008 issue (Sharing The Gospel Using The Internet) encouraging members to post their thoughts online. Although most scripture study thoughts are private you can't really know if your experiences might help someone else who stumbles on your words. Plus writing my thoughts down will help me to think through them and provide a way for me to go back and relearn from time to time as I re-read them. For those reasons I decided to create a blog from my own scripture study. I will also include thoughts from other gospel sources. Such as from Ensign articles or General Conference talks or books I might read.

So where do I start? I sometimes can't bring myself to start 1 Nephi only because I've read it so many times. Right now is one of those times. I'll get to it later though. I'll start with the Sunday School lessons. I am in Primary and don't get to go to Sunday School. But the manual is online so I can still get something from it. Since I haven't read any yet, while they are into their 6th or 7th week, I'm going to just start from the first lesson.

Lesson 1: Intro to D&C and Church History

Some things about the Doctrine and Covenants: from the Explanatory Introduction
1: It is a collection of modern revelation to establish and regulate the workings of the church
2: messages directed mainly to the members of the Church but also serves as warning, exhortation and invitation to all mankind, speaking for our temporal and eternal well-being.
3: It is a standard work along with the Book of Mormon, Bible and Pearl of Great Price but it differs from these because it is not translated from ancient documents. It is direct revelation in our days.
4: You can hear or sense the tender but firm voice of the Lord in these revelations.
5: These revelations have begun a work that is preparatory to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and are in harmony with the words of all the ancient prophets.
6: The revelations contain such things as the nature of the Godhead, origin of man, nature of Satan, purpose of mortality, necessity for obedience and repentance and many more fundamental principles.
7: In new editions of the D&C, the church may add pertinent new revelation according to their inspiration and approval of conferences of the church. One well known instance of this is the addition of Official Declaration 2 "announcing that all worthy male members of the Church may be ordained to the priesthood without regard for race or color".

I've never read the Explanatory Intro before. I think I knew all these things but it's nice to see it outlined and be reminded of the purpose and importance of the Doctrine and Covenants. There really are a lot of very important things in the D&C but I have never actually taken the time to read through it. One thing above that really touched me is #4. As I typed that out I thought back to times I have read from the D&C. I feel that this statement is true and the firmness of the Lord's voice is very tender and loving and definitely comes out in the words. I can almost hear it in my mind as I think of it. I do hope to feel that more as I read through the D&C.