Wednesday, March 26, 2008

These Are They Who Died Without the Law

Here's another one to get some discussion going.

Doctrine and Covenants 76:72-75
72 Behold, these are they who died awithout blaw;
73 And also they who are the aspirits of men kept in bprison, whom the Son visited, and cpreached the dgospel unto them, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh;
74 Who areceived not the btestimony of Jesus in the flesh, but afterwards received it.
75 These are they who are ahonorable men of the earth, who were bblinded by the craftiness of men.

Does this mean they never heard the Gospel (the law) OR that they never made covenants to accept the law?

Elder Joseph Fielding Smith Of the Council of the Twelve Apostles in his April 1942 Conference talk - The Necessity of Working on Our Own Lineage stated:
"They who enter into the terrestrial kingdom, the one higher than the telestial, are the honorable men — the honest, the virtuous, those who have been clean, and yet would not receive the gospel. There will be some others also who will go into that kingdom, but in a general sense these people will be the honest and honorable, who could not or would not see or receive the gospel of Jesus Christ, therefore they are assigned to the terrestrial kingdom."

Sunday, March 09, 2008

Love is What You Go Through Together

I was listening to the last Worldwide Leadership Training meeting on the way to work a few weeks ago and heard Elder Jeffery R. Holland talking about the reasons that people put off getting married (schooling, finances, and so forth). He then quoted James Thurber, "Love is what you go through together." (See “Thurber,” Life, Mar. 14, 1960, 108.).

As I heard that I thought of another facet of people making decisions to get married. Sometimes the opposite is true. People jump into bad relationship because they don't think logically enough and get God involved in the decision making process. At times people get caught up in feelings about how handsome the other person is or that they enjoy being touched by them or that it is so exciting to see them in some activity they do whether it be driving a fast car or playing a sport and they label that as love.

As I reflected on my own experience and on the quote that Elder Holland gave, I wondered if love doesn't happen until one has been married for some period of time. It also reminded me of the Michael McLean song It Wasn't Love Before.

It appears to me that love comes through going through experiences together. One should perhaps look more at if this is a person who they could successfully go through trials with.

Saturday, March 01, 2008

An Example of the Believers

In studying in Preach My Gospel this morning I found this:
"Along with your authority comes a responsibility to live worthy of your calling. As the
Lord’s representative, you are to be “an example of the believers” (1 Timothy 4:12). Strive
to live according to God’s commandments and keep the covenants you made in the temple;
know the scriptures; be courteous, on time, and dependable; follow missionary standards
of conduct, dress, and grooming; love the people with whom you serve and work. Honor
Christ’s name by your actions."

I think that this applies to not just missionaries, but all members of the Church. Too often members of the Church have language, dress, conduct, and personal standards which do not give a good example of being a believer and does not honor Christ.

We all represent the Lord by virtue of being members of the Church.