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 Gale | Apr 16, 2013 | About Mormons
Many people think of sacrifice as an old-fashioned thing. In the Bible it seems to be something confined to the Old Testament, done away with in Christ’s “new law.” When the ancient Israelites failed to qualify to “enter into God’s rest,” He gave them a “schoolmaster law,” which was a law of outward ordinances. Rituals, and practices, and patterns of religious behavior were all symbolic of the Christ, a preparation for the higher law to come. When Jesus was offered up, He became the great and last sacrifice by the shedding of blood, and asked us to come unto Him with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, and to place our sins upon the altar. As we progress, we are also able to place our will upon the altar, and to surrender our lives to His service.
What then of sacrifice? Sacrifice means giving up something for a higher good. When one considers the two levels of priesthood, the Aaronic or lower priesthood, and the Melchizedek, or higher priesthood, sacrifice couples with repentance as Aaronic principles. They are foundational—the floor of the eternal, precious edifice that is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Upon them, we build on a sure foundation, adding the Gift of the Holy Ghost, our desires to reconcile with God, and our surrender to His will.
In Mormonism, which is the Church of Jesus Christ restored in it’s fullness in these last days before His Second Coming, Latter-day Saints exercise the principle of sacrifice in many ways.
Tithing
Tithing is by definition one tenth of one’s increase, and has always been a law of the gospel. A person who pays tithing in the proper spirit realizes that all he or she has comes from God, and that all He requests is one tenth in return as an offering. By living this law, followers of the Savior reap the blessings He has promised to the obedient. In fact, He blesses us so much, that we are again in His debt. The paying of tithing is ennobling. Tithe payers increase in humility, sensitivity to the Spirit, faith, and patience, even as they are blessed line upon line with the doctrines of the kingdom, and even with worldly sustenance. This is not a prosperity gospel, but a sustenance promise. Those full-tithe-payers who have faced financial emergencies have been rescued time after time by miraculous means. (more…)
by byustudent | Apr 11, 2013 | About Mormons
As school comes to an end, I really feel like the messages that I continue to learn through my study of the Book of Mormon become stronger and stronger. I can tell that the Lord wants me to prepare for what life has ahead of me.
This week, I was pondering the question, “Why does the Book of Mormon contain so much war and fighting?” Specifically, I wanted to know how do these stories of battle apply to us. It was this thinking that brought me to an answer found in Ether 8. In verse 26, Moroni (whom after studying so much I have found to be a great writer and very influential on me) states,”… am commanded to write these things that evil may be done away, and that the time may come that Satan may have no power upon the hearts of the children of men…” Once again, Moroni makes no doubt in his words. He has been commanded by the Lord to tell us about these wars for our own recognition of evil. The Lord wants us to be able to know the difference between right and wrong and this is one way in which he can reinforce it. (more…)
