Capstone Project Paragraph 5

Paragraph 5 of "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" says, Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. "Children are an heritage of the Lord" (Psalms 127:3). Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and serve one another, to observe the commandments of God and to be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives-mothers and fathers-will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations."
 For me this was one of the most straight forward and self explanatory paragraphs in the document. We are expected to live a righteous life, love our spouses and out children and do what we can to make sure we are able to return to live with our father in heaven. If you watch the news, you will always be able to find a story of some parent that neglects and abuses their children. They put them in harms way and only seem to care for themselves. As tragic as this is, what we don't see on the news are all the parents that are struggling on a daily basis to provide a good and loving home for their children. We don't see the happiness of the children that have a loving mother and father, and are headed for an eternal life with loving heavenly parents.

Capstone project Paragraph 4

Paragraph 4 of "The Family: A proclamation to the World" says, "The first commandment that God gave to Adam and Eve pertained to their potential for parenthood as husband and wife.We declare that Gods commandment for his children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force. We further declare that God has commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife. We declare the means by which mortal life is created to be divinely appointed. We affirm the sanctity of life and its importance in Gods plan."

 I think we spent a lot of time n this section discussing sex and the role it plays in the world and we seen to miss the importance of the sanctity of life part of the paragraph. I am keenly aware that Satan's plan is to do all he can to wrap us up in his snare and that human lusts are the key to our demise. But we are living in a time that the sanctity of life is diminished. People kill and throw each other away like yesterdays news paper and we as a people need to focus on having more respect for each other and for the plan God has provided for us. I think if we focused on life itself we might not have an abortion crisis in this country.

Capstone Project Paragraph 3

Paragraph 3 of "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" says "In the premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshiped God as their Eternal Father and accepted his plan by which his children could obtain a physical bode and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize his or her divine destiny as heirs of eternal life. The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave. Sacred ordinances and covenants available in the holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally."
What i like most about this section is the reassurance that before we came to the earth to take a body and join an earthly family, we lived with and knew our heavenly parents. We had a family relationship, and were promised if we were successful in our mortal probation we could live with our heavenly parents once again. We are also given the promise that we will be able to have a continued relationship after this live with those we got to know and love in mortality. This is one of the most important things we believe in this church and it is one of the biggest reasons i joined the church. I deeply love my wife and children. and having the promise that i will get to spend eternity with them is really what makes the concept of death seam insignificant. So long as i live righteously my earthy family will continue into eternity.

Capstone project paragraph 2

Paragraph two of "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" states "All human beings-male and female-are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny, Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premarital, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose."
This units paragraph speaks about the fact that we were all created, and lived with our heavenly parents as sons and daughters before we came to this earth. Thus proving that sexuality is not created by the environment we are raised in on this earth. This is extremely important in our current time as we fight with the gender issues of our day. It gives us a light and hope that as we stay strong in our beliefs, our heavenly father will continue to bless us and help us as we struggle in our cause. I love the fact that we have a loving Father and Mother that gave us an example to follow and that we can one day go "Home" to be with our parents just as before we came to this earth.

Capstone Project Paragraph 1

In our religions class this semester, we have a capstone project to create and maintain a family and marriage blog. Each Unit of the class focuses on a different paragraph of the "The Family: A Proclamation to the World." As you can tell by the dates on the post, i have not done very good about keeping up with this assignment. In all honesty, i had completely forgot about it. When i did remember i said i will sit down this Sunday and get caught up, then promptly proceeded to forget again.  This time i am not going to forget.
The first paragraph of the proclamation says ""We, the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny if his children."
What i found interesting about this section is that the leadership of the church got behind a concept that was not even in question when the proclamation came to be. Yet here we are 20 plus years after the document was released and our court system has now challenged what we once believed was the way of life. a man and a woman fall in love get married have children and live happily ever after. Not so in the the 2000 teens we now have legalized same sex marriage.This leads me to wonder, how do we fulfill God's plan for eternal families with same sex marriages? I know i sound a bit old fashioned, but God created Adam and Eve, NOT Adam and Steve. I am sorry if i offend, but i am entitled to my opinion just the same as others are entitled to theirs. And i truly believe that children do much better when raised in a home with a loving father and mother.

Chastizment

As we are reading about the brother of Jared and their group, they spent 4 years in one place. At the end of that time the Lord comes to the brother of Jared and spend three hours with him. It says he was chastised, but it does not say if the entire three hours was one long chastisement or if it was short and he and the Lord discussed other items. In my mind the lord took a significant amount of time to rebuke the brother of Jared for not communicating. I can not even imagine what it would be like to have a verbal admonishment from the Lord for 3 hours. I get a small amount from my boss and i feel like the day is shot. As i thought about this, i tried to relate it to my life. How often do i speak with my earthly parents? a couple times a month at best sometimes i may go a couple months. We all live busy lives and get caught up in the cares and worries of the world i can imagine the brother of Jared and his group were very busy trying to find food to eat and trying to stay safe. But even as busy as that I have a hard time understanding how you cold "forget" to speak to Heavenly Father for such a long time.

Churches

In our reading this week it stuck out that Jesus told the Nephites that they must name his church after him. If you name a church after a man it is the mans church so if it is named after Christ it belongs to Christ. It got me thinking about some of the names i have heard of churches. "The church of the Vine". does it belong to a grape vine or an ivy? The vineyard church. What vineyard? I know it sounds funny, but really? think of some of the crazy things we have heard churches called. I am very thankfull I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints.

Can't Imagine

During our reading this week we read of the Saviors visit to the Nephites after his crucifixion. It is amazing to "listen" to the things he has to say to the people. How he tells them of the hope and the love he has for them. It is just as awesome to imagine being there and being able to study at the feet of the Master. During our reading, my wife asked if i could imagine being at the feet of the Lord and feeling the love he had for those around him. To my surprise, my answer was i could not. I could not imagine what it would be like to be there. i would love to know how it feels to enjoy the warmth and the love that being with Christ in person would be like, but for the life of me i can not get my head around how wonderful that would be. I grew up in a home where we were supposed to know that our parents loved us because they said so. And to give credit to them, my mother did show affection, but my dad really did not know how. He was never taught how to so he did the best he could and that was by providing for his family. Please don't get me wrong, i love my dad, but i don't have a first hand experience of what its like to have a close loving relationship with a father figure, so how could i possibly imagine what it would be like to sit a the feet of the savior, the one that loved us so much he agreed to die for us. believe my dad would have put his life on e the line for his children, but he never showed it, and therefore i never learned what it felt like. The only thing i can do is keep trying to get closer to the Lord so that when the time comes for me to go home, i will be able to feel the love he has for me.

Could I??

As we read about Samuel the Laminite this week i thought about how the Nephite people must have felt. I know they were at a time when they had chosen to accept and participate in great iniquity. But all their lives they had been told they were the chosen people, they were loved of God and were better than everyone else. They were a prosperous people. Then out of nowhere, a man gets on the city wall and says you are evil, you need to repent and stop what you are doing. From the outside looking back I can see why the Lord would do this, but if i were in that time, could i have been one of the ones that took his sermon to heart and sought Nephi to ask for forgiveness and baptism? I like to think I am close enough to the spirit to be able to know when i am off course and need to take heed of what i am being prompted to do, but could i have done that then? If you grow up being told by your parents, friends, and family that you are righteous, good, and chosen, would you be able to humble yourself when an "Enemy of the State", a "Laminite" chastises you to repentance? I know most people will say absolutely, but really? Please. Put yourself in the shoes of the wicked Nephites and dig deep, then ask yourself the same question. I want to believe i would, but i just don't know. So now i will sit and wonder, if I have doubts, how can i judge the reactions of those people?

Wars

For this week our reading assignment was in the chapters of Alma that talk about the wars the Nephites had with the Laminites. One of the most interesting things that stood out  was the amount of trust their military leaders put in the Lord. If you study military history, you will find most armies operate on cunning and strategy. Almost never do you find a leader that says, i need to seek the lords council before we make a plan to invade. I can't help but wonder how history may have been changed if all our leaders would have had the faith Moroni had when he put all his trust in our Heavenly Father. How peaceful would the world be today if every time we felt like fighting or getting belligerent we fell to our knees and asked God to guide us in a more perfect path. What a great example Moroni is to all of us today.

Pride and Humility

As we were reading in our assigned chapters this week (Alma 30-35), It struck me as more than prideful when the Zoramites got on their Rameumptom to tell the Lord that they know they were better than everyone else and they were the only ones that were going to be saved. Now I have at times felt like we as members of the church have a kind of prideful declaration when we say we have the only true church. but to tell God that you are all that, WOW. I have read this story a bunch of times and I keep waiting for the lightning bolt to come out of the sky and strike them all dead.
 On of the things that stood out to me this time reading these chapters was the distinction of the different kinds of humility. I had not thought about that before. To humble yourself naturally or to be forced into humility. It seems to me we would all want to do the first because it seems to have no consequences, but when you stop and think about it, it really is easier to be forced into humility. There are normally unfavorable circumstances that make us humble, but i believe we usually learn far greater lessons by going through the refiners fire so to speak.

Alma

In the book of Alma it talks about Alma seeing the evil ways of his people and him wanting to do something about it. That sounds like a lot of what we hear now a days. Many of us see the bad things going on in the world and make comments like, I wish I could do something to help, or, if that we my kid I would...., But think about that for a moment. we can do something. We just chose not to because it puts us out of our comfort zone.
Now take the example of Alma. Not only did he say something, he did something. What common man in a position of authority, would give up the office of head of state to try and help people they don't know save their souls. I can not think of one person aside from the Apostles.
I wish I could say I would give it all up to help others, but I don't know if I have the kind of dedication that would require. I know I posses the love in my heart to help others and often do on a small scale, but we are talking about giving up a power that is unimaginable to most people. I hope to someday be able to say I would give up everything I have and am to be the kind of leader Alma was.

Debt

One of my favorite scriptures is Mosiah 2:22 "And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if you keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you" I love the promise the Lord gives to all people in this verse. It is simple keep my commandments and i will bless you and prosper you. I know for a fact that he keeps his promise. In the next couple verses it talks about the debt we owe to him. He gave his life so we could live and all he asks in return is obedience to a few commandments, which when we are obedient he immediately blesses our lives so we are again in his debt. I don't know about anybody else, but if i had to have any debt, I would not want any other debtor that the Lord. When was the last time you took out a debt and the lender continued to give before the debt was paid. That is what the Lord does for us. He keeps giving even when we have not been able to pay.

Verbal vs. Written

In the very beginning of 2 Nephi chapter 33 Nephi writes "And now I, Nephi, cannot write all the things which were taught among my people; neither am I mighty in writing, like unto speaking; for when a man speaketh by the power of the Holy Ghost the power of the Holy Ghost carrieth it unto the hearts of the children  of men." I got to thinking about this a lot. How many times are we (those in school) asked to write things weather it is about a personal experience, about the gospel , or about a school subject? I can't speak for anybody else, but i feel the same way Nephi did. I am not a strong writer and would much rather have a verbal conversation were i can pass ideas back and forth with someone than to try and write things on a piece of paper. When you are speaking to someone it is much easier to keep your thoughts together and stay on track. Especially when discussing the gospel. When you are writing things down it is super easy to get things out of order and get them all jumbled up. So we do our best and keep plugging along, but i prefer to have a one on one. It has way more feeling and you can get a much deeper connection.

Isaiah

So this week we are in the Isaiah chapters in the Book of Mormon. In the study help it talks about the difficulty of understanding Isaiah and if you don't get just keep reading and it will come. Well i keep reading and it's not happening for me. About the only thing that happened for me this week was one question. Isaiah talks about Angels in the constant act of praising God. How admirable. Please don't get me wrong, i think it is awesome. But as a human, and one in a leadership position I get people brown nosing me all the time and it drives me nuts.So i wonder how God sees this act? is it viewed with a great appreciation? Does he get tired of hearing the same thing all the time? How is this received? Thoughts?

Nephi

I was reflecting on my many experiences reading the Book of Mormon and started to think about Nephi and the way he reacts to his family while in the wilderness. They go through a lot of trials and tribulations, and no matter what the circumstance he still treats them with love and kindness. They murmur and he rebukes them, but he does it with love. They try to kill him and he rebukes them with love. His father the prophet starts to murmur against his god and Nephi finds a way to set him back on the right path with the love of god. I don't think i could have the patience Nephi had. The first time someone tried to kill me would be their last breath if they did not succeed. What a great way to look at life. I hope and pray that one day my friends and family will be able to say that I was able to show the love to them that Nephi did to his family.

The mist of Darkness

In reading about Lehi's vision on the Tree of Life, Patty and i had a really good discussion about the mist of darkness. It speaks of falling away and repentance being the way back to the rod. But how do you find your way back? When you repent, does the mist lift long enough for you to see your way back. My theory is that when we repent, God is able to see the Godly sorrow we have in our hearts and it is at that point that he sends Jesus to  us to be our savior. Jesus is the light that can help us see through the mist and is then able to grab hold of us and guide us back to the rod. Which brings everything full circle for me because as we repent and show godly sorrow we are grabbing hold of the atonement god has provided for us in his son.

Strength from Faith

Strength from Faith

As a family we have read the Book of Mormon multiple times. The problem is that we have always read it to get it done. I know my wife has asked countless times to slow down and try to absorb what we are reading, and my only thought has been to get finished and move on to the next book of scriptures so we can say we have read all the scriptures. So to Patty and our daughter Aimee, I am deeply sorry. We have never sat down and studied like we have been asked to do in the first couple weeks of class.  I now realize how much we have missed. Not only do I feel like I have shorted them in their desire to gain insight into the scriptures, I also feel as thought I have robbed myself of the opportunity to grow closer to my heavenly father.

The first week of reading in the Book of Mormon, and I have discovered what great strength we can gain from simple faith. I had never thought about Nephi's desire to obtain the plates as he was commanded, as a partnership between himself and the Lord. I had always thought it was just something he was told to do and he obeyed. It seems to me that he had a simple faith. God said do this and you will be blessed, and Nephi did the task, short, sweet, and to the point. As a former soldier I learned quickly how to obey orders so it never dawned on me that there was more to it than that. This week i realized that Nephi loved the Lord so much that he would endure anything and everything to please his God.  His simple faith gave him the strength to endured long travel with whinny brothers, rejection when he believed he was doing what God had commanded and even being beaten. It was not until after he endured so many trials that the Lord delivered Laban into Nephi's hands. I can only imagine the happiness Nephi felt when he accomplished his task. I know when I embark on a long journey, a difficult task and things seem impossible, I am apt to give up, but when the Lord steps in and gives me the courage and strength to get those things done, I feel overwhelmed with his love. When I stop, step back, and rely on the Lord, exercise my simple faith, he gives me the strength and courage to accomplish all things through him.