by byustudent | Apr 24, 2013 | Mormon Reflections
Many times, and more so now in college than in any other time of my life, the people around me are constantly inviting me to YOLO or live according to the motto “You Only Live Once”. They, and often I too, think that happiness can be found in a brief moment of thrill or excitement.This instantaneous rush leads them to act on impaired judgment and sudden impulses. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but often leads to pursuing the “lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16).
John teaches in his first epistle that these things are “of the world.” He goes on to teach that we must “love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him… And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever” (1 John 2:15). My New Testament teacher had us think back on a time when our parents left us at home for a while with a list of chores to do, and more specifically, of a time when we didn’t obey. Try it. Remember how it felt? What did you do when you heard the garage door open when they got home? Run and hide? Now, compare that with a time when you did do all the chores, and maybe you even surprised them and did extra. How did you feel when you heard that garage door open this time? Even so will it be when we are brought back to the presence of our Heavenly Father. (more…)
by byustudent | Apr 24, 2013 | About Mormons
This is part of an email I wrote to my brother who, as far as I know, has not read the scriptures in a pretty long time.
I have been taking a New Testament class, and today we read and talked about the book of James. As you probably know, this is the book that has the famous verses that Joseph Smith Jr. looked at which brought about the restoration of the gospel and the organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When we talked about the book of James as a whole, my professor mentioned how many good little pieces of advice can be found there. And this is true; there are dozens and dozens.
However, after we talked about that, I thought about how all scripture can have just as many good bits of advice as the book of James has, even if it is not as obvious. We can all have experiences like Joseph Smith’s where we come across a piece of scripture, and it changes our lives. Of course, it probably will not be as dramatic as having Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ themselves come down to talk with us, as they did with Joseph Smith. Even in the war chapters of the Book of Mormon, or the really confusing verses of Isaiah, we can find ways to relate something to our lives and have it teach us something important. (more…)
![Earth Day: Celebrating God’s Creation]()
by Keith L. Brown | Apr 22, 2013 | About Mormons
Each year, 22 April is set aside as the day for the observance of Earth Day, a day on which people around the world through different events and venues demonstarte their support for environmental protection. Earth Day is celebrated in more than 192 countries, and is coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network. Individuals view the significance of this day, and celebrate the day in various ways. For members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (inadvertently referred to by the media and others as the Mormon Church), Earth day becomes another day to celebrate God’s magnificent creation.
History of Earth Day
The following information was obtained from Wikipedia.
The date of 22 April was officially designated as International Mother Earth Day by a consensus resolution in 2009 which was adopted by the United Nations.
The name and concept of Earth Day, however, is credited to John McConnell who pioneered the idea in 1969 at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco, California. He proposed that the 21 March 1970, the first day of Spring in the northern hemisphere that year, to be designated as Earth Day. A month later another Earth Day, first held on 22 April 1970, was founded as an environmental teach-in by United States Senator Gaylord Nelson. Although the United States was the focus of this 22 April Earth Day, Denis Hayes, the original national coordinator in 1970, took it to an entirely different level. In 1990 the observance of Earth became an international event in 141 nations. (more…)
by byustudent | Apr 9, 2013 | Mormon Reflections
BYU Students Share Letters & Reflections on Scripture
BYU (Brigham Young University) is operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often mistakenly called the “Mormon Church.” As part of their undergraduate coursework, BYU students take multiple semesters of spiritually uplifting, stimulating religion classes.
In this series (see below), students enrolled in scripture study classes have shared their thoughts, insights, and reflections on the Book of Mormon in the form of letters to someone they know. We invite you to take a look at their epiphanies and discoveries as they delve into the scriptures.
In publishing these, we fulfill their desire to speak to all of us of the relevance, power and beauty of the Book of Mormon, a second witness of Jesus Christ and complement to the Bible. The Book of Mormon includes the religious history of a group of Israelites who settled in ancient America. (The names they use are those of prophets who taught the Book of Mormon peoples to look forward to the coming of Christ—Nephi, Lehi, Alma, Helaman, and other unfamiliar names. We hope those names will become more familiar to you as you read their inspiring words and feel the relevance and divinity of their messages through these letters.) (more…)
by byustudent | Apr 9, 2013 | Mormon Reflections
BYU Students Share Letters & Reflections on Scripture
BYU (Brigham Young University) is operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often mistakenly called the “Mormon Church.” As part of their undergraduate coursework, BYU students take multiple semesters of spiritually uplifting, stimulating religion classes.
In this series (see below), students enrolled in scripture study classes have shared their thoughts, insights, and reflections on the Book of Mormon in the form of letters to someone they know. We invite you to take a look at their epiphanies and discoveries as they delve into the scriptures. (more…)
