The Lord Hardened Pharaoh's Heart Exodus 4:21, Exodus 9:7

Exodus 4
21 And the Lord said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those ^awonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine ^bhand: ^cbut I will ^dharden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.

Exodus 9
7 And Pharaoh sent, and, behold, there was not one of the cattle of the Israelites dead. And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.

Does the Lord cause people to sin by hardening their hearts?

Law of Witnesses

I have thought for a while that it was weird that when someone quotes a talk by one person, the quote ends up being from someone else. Today as I was listening to the First Presidency Message in the June 2008 Ensign I found a blurb about witnesses.

"In our own time we have been warned with counsel on where to find safety from sin and from sorrow. One of the keys to recognizing those warnings is that they are repeated. For instance, more than once in general conferences, you have heard our prophet say that he would quote a preceding prophet and would therefore be a second witness and sometimes even a third. Each of us old enough to listen heard President Spencer W. Kimball (1895–1985) give counsel on the importance of a mother in the home and then heard President Ezra Taft Benson (1899–1994) quote him, and we have heard President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008) quote them both.3

The Apostle Paul wrote, “In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established” (2 Corinthians 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."

Prophets quote other prophets to give a second witness.

Being Born Again

We had a lesson in church today that I thought was worthwhile to post here for discussion.

The lesson was based on a talk from April 2008 general conference.
Elder D. Todd Chistofferson - Apostle (Audio, Video)

Born Again

The instructor cited the story that Elder Christofferson related about having a retired protestant minister come to his home because the minister was concerned about Elder Christofferson's salvation. He and the minister had talked about what it meant to be born again.

John 3:3-5

3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be ^aborn ^bagain, he cannot ^csee the kingdom of God.

4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?

5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be ^aborn of ^bwater and of the ^cSpirit, he cannot ^denter into the kingdom of God.

Unless we put off the natural man we have not come to Christ. Does this mean we are perfect and do not make mistakes, but if we have put off the natural man we constantly reach for Christ and strive to do better.

1. Mosiah 3: 19
   19 For the ^anatural ^bman is an ^cenemy to God, and has been from the ^dfall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he ^eyields to the enticings of the Holy ^fSpirit, and ^gputteth off the ^hnatural man and becometh a ⁱsaint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a ^jchild, ^ksubmissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.
2. 1 Cor. 2: 14
   14 But the ^anatural man ^breceiveth not the things of the ^cSpirit of God: for they are ^dfoolishness unto him: neither can he ^eknow them, because they are ^fspiritually ^gdiscerned.

Mosiah 5: 2

2 And they all cried with one voice, saying: Yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty ^achange in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do ^bevil, but to do good continually.

Being born again is a process and not a one time event.

Because We Want To

We had a lesson Sunday and part of it had to do with changing our hearts from being obedient out of duty and being obedient because it is who we are in our hearts (Sunday July 20, 2008 - Services Sullivan Hollow Se...).

I was listening some Ensign articles on the way into work and happened across one in the June issue (The Exquisite Joy of Repentance). There is a line in there that states, "Many years ago I paid my tithing because I felt I had to. Now I realize I can pay it with a heart full of gratitude and with the excitement that comes from knowing that the funds will help build churches and temples."

Will we be blessed for doing it out of duty? I believe we will, even if it is a little begrudgingly. But will will not have a fullness of joy that comes from putting your whole heart into it and doing it out of love for Heavenly Father and love for those we serve.

What else is missing?

From p41 of the book From Critic to Convert by Willard Morgan after referring to the doctrine taught by Jesus that Paul references in Acts (20:35):
"What else did Jesus say that is missing from modern Bibles? For forty days he remained with the apostles after his resurrection. What did he teach them then? Certainly, anything he had to say would be important. In addition to these references, the Bible refers to seventeen other books of scripture which have become lost." Footnote 4 on this chapter in the book lists several books that are referenced and not included in the Bible.

All Roads Do Not Lead to Rome

I recently started reading One Lord...One Faith by Mark E. Peterson. This will probably be the first of many gems that I find in this book.

He starts the book by saying "One of the great fallacies of the world today is found in the expression: 'All roads lead to Rome.' They do not."

He then quoted the Savior from Matthew 7:21. "Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven"

Indianapolis West Stake Boundaries

I saw a comment that someone put on one of my other blogs through firefly. They asked what the boundaries were for the Indianapolis West Stake. I asked around and am told that this information is not confidential, so I am going to put a link here to a PDF with the boundaries.

Indianapolis West Stake Boundaries