A lot of the stuff I talk about on here stems from my beliefs. One of the beliefs that is central to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is what we call the Plan of Salvation (LDS.org, Mormon.org).
The Plan of Salvation answers many questions and provides explanations to many of those answers. It will answer; where did we come from, why are we here (what is man's existence), and what happens after we die. It also provides a lot of information about how we can and why we should try to be and live our best.
Because the Plan of Salvation, also known as the Plan of Happiness and the Plan of Redemption, has so much information, I will share about it in stages. The main parts of the Plan include: the Pre-mortal life, which tells us we lived with God and he is the Father of our spirits; the Mortal or Earth life, which tells us life has purpose, that Jesus Christ is central to our lives, and that He is our Savior; and the After life, what happens after we die and that we can live with God again.
I hope that as you read these, you will take the time to think about what I share and leave any comments or ask any questions you may have.
Tuesday, May 16, 2017
Monday, May 15, 2017
Scriptures of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints recognizes a canon comprised of the Holy Bible (in the English language most members of The Church use the King James Version), the Book of Mormon (LDS.org and Mormon.org), the Pearl of Great Price, and Doctrine and Covenants. I will give a brief description of each below but for more information, use the links provided.
The Holy Bible:
Like most Christian religions, the Church recognizes and believes the Bible to be the word of God as given to prophets and apostles who lived in and around Jerusalem. The Old Testament contains the words of prophets before Jesus was born. Jesus is often referred to as Jehovah in the Old Testament. The New Testament contains the words of prophets and apostles after Jesus was born. It contains information about Jesus Christ's birth, life, teachings, death, and resurrection. It also contains the travels and teachings of his apostles after His death and resurrection.
If I remember correctly, I believe The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints adopted the King James Version for the English language as the official Bible the Church uses because King James had the Old and New Testaments translated to English directly from the original languages and there have been no additional translations since.
The Book of Mormon (information from LDS.org and from Mormon.org):
The Book of Mormon is another Testament of Jesus Christ. The book starts around the beginning of King Zedekiah's reign in Jerusalem. Prophets were being cast out and occasionally killed during this time. One of these prophets was a man named Lehi. Following a command from God, he gathered his family, another family, and scriptures referred to as The Plates of Brass, which contained the teachings found in the beginning parts of the Bible. They were guided and came to the American Continent. The Book of Mormon contains the teachings and stories of the people who lived here. There is an account of Jesus Christ visiting the people after His resurrection in Jerusalem. The book continues for around another 400 years. It provides evidence of the truthfulness of the teachings in the Bible and clarifies some of the teachings. It acts as a witness that God cares for us no matter where we live and provides additional testimony of Jesus Christ and His teachings.
The Book of Mormon was hidden and sealed by the final prophet to write in it. Many years later, the plates on which the book was original written were given to Joseph Smith to translate. He was able to translate them through the gift and power given him by God.
Doctrine and Covenants:
This is a collection of revelations and covenants given to Joseph Smith and other prophets before, during, and shortly after he helped restore The Church of Jesus Christ, which is officially called The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to distinguish it from the church during Jesus Christ's time and because we are in the latter days.
Pearl of Great Price:
Additional scriptures translated by Joseph Smith. It contains teachings from Abraham, Moses and other prophets. Added to it are a translation of certain parts of Matthew, a brief history about Joseph Smith, and Articles of Faith. The articles of faith are the teachings of the gospel outlined in 13 declarations of what we believe.
I hope this helps clarify as I talk about other things here on the blog.
The Holy Bible:
Like most Christian religions, the Church recognizes and believes the Bible to be the word of God as given to prophets and apostles who lived in and around Jerusalem. The Old Testament contains the words of prophets before Jesus was born. Jesus is often referred to as Jehovah in the Old Testament. The New Testament contains the words of prophets and apostles after Jesus was born. It contains information about Jesus Christ's birth, life, teachings, death, and resurrection. It also contains the travels and teachings of his apostles after His death and resurrection.
If I remember correctly, I believe The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints adopted the King James Version for the English language as the official Bible the Church uses because King James had the Old and New Testaments translated to English directly from the original languages and there have been no additional translations since.
The Book of Mormon (information from LDS.org and from Mormon.org):
The Book of Mormon is another Testament of Jesus Christ. The book starts around the beginning of King Zedekiah's reign in Jerusalem. Prophets were being cast out and occasionally killed during this time. One of these prophets was a man named Lehi. Following a command from God, he gathered his family, another family, and scriptures referred to as The Plates of Brass, which contained the teachings found in the beginning parts of the Bible. They were guided and came to the American Continent. The Book of Mormon contains the teachings and stories of the people who lived here. There is an account of Jesus Christ visiting the people after His resurrection in Jerusalem. The book continues for around another 400 years. It provides evidence of the truthfulness of the teachings in the Bible and clarifies some of the teachings. It acts as a witness that God cares for us no matter where we live and provides additional testimony of Jesus Christ and His teachings.
The Book of Mormon was hidden and sealed by the final prophet to write in it. Many years later, the plates on which the book was original written were given to Joseph Smith to translate. He was able to translate them through the gift and power given him by God.
Doctrine and Covenants:
This is a collection of revelations and covenants given to Joseph Smith and other prophets before, during, and shortly after he helped restore The Church of Jesus Christ, which is officially called The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to distinguish it from the church during Jesus Christ's time and because we are in the latter days.
Pearl of Great Price:
Additional scriptures translated by Joseph Smith. It contains teachings from Abraham, Moses and other prophets. Added to it are a translation of certain parts of Matthew, a brief history about Joseph Smith, and Articles of Faith. The articles of faith are the teachings of the gospel outlined in 13 declarations of what we believe.
I hope this helps clarify as I talk about other things here on the blog.
Agency is like...
Recently my husband was helping some young children understand about agency and he came up with an amazing analogy that I wanted to share.
Imagine you are given a gift, a present. This gift is a hammer. When you are given this hammer, you are given rules and hints on how best to use the hammer. You are shown that the hammer is capable of making beautiful and wonderful things. However, this hammer can also be used to break down and destroy things. How the hammer is used is up to you.
You can choose how you use your hammer. You cannot choose how others will use their hammers. You can do your best to choose good materials for your building but there may be challenges and complications; weaknesses and knots in the wood, extra careful measuring, and such. Even when you follow all the rules, creating your building will not be easy. It requires work and diligence. There may be times, no matter how careful you think you may be or how well you are following the instructions, that a nail will bend or you hit your thumb. However, you are still acting for yourself.
On the other hand, using your hammer for destruction often comes easy. There aren't any rules or guidelines. Without meaning to, you can destroy what other people have built. But you will never be able to build anything that is safe and stable without following the rules. At some point, you won't be acting for yourself but will be acted upon by the forces of nature.
This is how agency works. God gave us agency. It is a gift. God has given us commandments. These are like the rules and guidelines on how to build something. When these commandments are followed, even if we don't understand why they must be followed, we will be able to create beautiful things. We are the agents of our lives and can choose to act. When we don't follow them, we may think we are building strong, sound structures but they will be riddled with problems and we may not know how bad those problems are until we are nearing completion. Once this happens, we are not agents. Our choices will be limited and we will have become dependent of the outcomes of our previous choices.
There will be times when we have control and are able to make choices that are the best and sometimes we will have to make choices that turn rough situations into what is best available to us. I am grateful for agency. I am glad I live in a place that grants freedoms that allow me to use my agency. There may be times when I say or do things that sound like I support limiting choice or agency, I don't view it that way. When I support laws and make decisions that follow God's commandments as I understand them, that is my way of trying to help others understand the instructions given so that they may build beautiful strong structures as well.
Imagine you are given a gift, a present. This gift is a hammer. When you are given this hammer, you are given rules and hints on how best to use the hammer. You are shown that the hammer is capable of making beautiful and wonderful things. However, this hammer can also be used to break down and destroy things. How the hammer is used is up to you.
You can choose how you use your hammer. You cannot choose how others will use their hammers. You can do your best to choose good materials for your building but there may be challenges and complications; weaknesses and knots in the wood, extra careful measuring, and such. Even when you follow all the rules, creating your building will not be easy. It requires work and diligence. There may be times, no matter how careful you think you may be or how well you are following the instructions, that a nail will bend or you hit your thumb. However, you are still acting for yourself.
On the other hand, using your hammer for destruction often comes easy. There aren't any rules or guidelines. Without meaning to, you can destroy what other people have built. But you will never be able to build anything that is safe and stable without following the rules. At some point, you won't be acting for yourself but will be acted upon by the forces of nature.
This is how agency works. God gave us agency. It is a gift. God has given us commandments. These are like the rules and guidelines on how to build something. When these commandments are followed, even if we don't understand why they must be followed, we will be able to create beautiful things. We are the agents of our lives and can choose to act. When we don't follow them, we may think we are building strong, sound structures but they will be riddled with problems and we may not know how bad those problems are until we are nearing completion. Once this happens, we are not agents. Our choices will be limited and we will have become dependent of the outcomes of our previous choices.
There will be times when we have control and are able to make choices that are the best and sometimes we will have to make choices that turn rough situations into what is best available to us. I am grateful for agency. I am glad I live in a place that grants freedoms that allow me to use my agency. There may be times when I say or do things that sound like I support limiting choice or agency, I don't view it that way. When I support laws and make decisions that follow God's commandments as I understand them, that is my way of trying to help others understand the instructions given so that they may build beautiful strong structures as well.
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