27 February 2014

The Brazen Serpent


Read Numbers 21:4-9 and the Institute Student Manual Points to Ponder section (pg. 212). Then answer the following questions in writing:

What did the children of Israel do that resulted in the curse of the “fiery serpents”?
They spoke against God and Moses.
In what ways are people today sometimes like unto the children of Israel anciently? (See also 1 Nephi 17:45.)
We are swift to do iniquity and slow to remember the Lord. We have the opportunity to hear the Holy Ghost but cannot because we are past feeling.
According to Alma 33:18-22, what did the brazen serpent symbolize?
It symbolized the Atonement of Christ.
How does one “look to” Jesus Christ for healing?
They come to Him in humility with a broken heart and contrite spirit and ready to repent.
Aside from physical healings, how can “looking to” the Savior heal a person in other ways?
It can heal a person in every way possible: spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. When we look to Him and are willing to do as He asks we can be healed.
Where else do people sometimes turn for healing other than the Savior?
Many people choose to look to other people of substances like: counselors, friends, family, drugs, alcohol, pornography, anything really.
What are simple things in the gospel of Jesus Christ that can heal us?
Faith, repentance, prayer, scripture, hope, love, service, and obedience.
How have you experienced the healing power of the Atonement in your life?
Whenever I feel like I did something I shouldn’t have I always try to go to the Savior and utilize the Atonement because I have faith that it’ll comfort me and give me the peace that I’m seeking. I love the verse in the Bible that says, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Because I believe this to be true I have the faith needed that my sins that were once red can become white as snow.

23 February 2014

Modest Is Not Hottest

You're probably thinking- What's with the title of this blog post?! Let me just say that it's not what you think it is.

One of my friends and I are constantly sharing links to great talks, blog posts, songs, or whatever else with each other. She shared a good one with me last night. You can read it HERE. The title of it totally deceiving... Because I think we all know that I believe in being modest and I find joy in being modest. 

I do hope that you took the time to read through that blog post. She has some great points that she shares. I promise that it won't be a waste of your time. 

I would like to add a short definition of what modesty means to us "Mormons" and remember that it's not just how we dress. I found this information HERE.

"Modesty is an attitude of propriety and decency in dress, grooming, language, and behavior. If we are modest, we do not draw undue attention to ourselves. Instead, we seek to “glorify God in [our] body, and in [our] spirit”."


Leah Darrow puts it beautifully when she said, "Modesty is more than just a hemline, it is an interior disposition that influences not only our dress, but our thoughts and our actions."




 

20 February 2014

The Day of Atonement

Leviticus 16
Leviticus 16 explains the details of what is referred to as the Day of Atonement (see Leviticus 23:27-28). Write a definition for the primary purpose of this special day.

The primary purpose of this special day is to offer and offering to the Lord for that it was the only fast ordered by the law. It was a day to come to the Lord in humility asking for forgiveness. 

 Read Leviticus 16:1-28 as well as the Institute Student Manual commentary for Leviticus 16, “The Day of Atonement and Israel’s Forgiveness” (pgs. 176-77; see also Bible Dictionary, “Fasts,” 671, which describes the Day of Atonement). Then answer the following questions:

Why do you think Aaron needed to make atonement for himself before making atonement for the people?
So that he could be clean to make an atonement for the people.
Why did Aaron need two goats?
He needs one for a sin offering and one for a burnt offering.
How could both goats represent Jesus Christ and His Atonement?
Sin offering was for him and the burnt offering was for the people. For Jesus Christ, He took upon himself our sins and suffered because of that and He bled out of every poor.
What do Aaron’s responsibilities and the responsibilities of the man who led the scapegoat into the wilderness symbolize?
They symbolize forgiveness and guidance of the Lord, getting rid of the sins of the mortal man.

Read the Institute Student Manual commentary by Elder James E. Talmage (1862-1933), a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (pg. 177). Define the word vicarious as it applied to the ancient Day of Atonement. Include in your statement the personal factor necessary for an individual’s sins to be forgiven. Explain in writing how the Savior’s work of the Atonement was a vicarious work.

Vicarious: to experience similar feelings indirectly through the imagination. By giving an offering to the Lord they were vicariously being forgiven of their sins. We are vicariously being forgiven of our sins when we come to the Lord in complete humility willing to do whatever He asks of us to be clean again. The Savior’s work of the Atonement was vicarious because the sins of men were forgiven when He performed the Atonement.

12 February 2014

The Ten Commandments


Read Exodus 20:3-17 and make a list of the Ten Commandments. Read Matthew 22:36-40, and identify what the Lord said were the two “great” commandments. Verse 40 states that “all” other commandments are part of these two great commandments. Place each of the Ten Commandments within one of these two great commandments by writing “love God” or “love neighbor” next to each of the commandments on your list.

 3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
 4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
 5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
 6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
 7 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
 8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
 9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
 10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
 12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
 13 Thou shalt not kill.
 14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.
 15 Thou shalt not steal.
 16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
 17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.

Ten Commandments:
Thou shalt have no other gods before me. (Love God)
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. (Love God)
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. (Love God)
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. (Love God)
Honour they father and thy mother. (Love neighbor)
Thou shalt not kill. (Love neighbor)
Thou shalt not commit adultery. (Love neighbor)
Thou shalt not steal. (Love neighbor)
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. (Love neighbor)
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor. (Love neighbor)

Two Great Commandments:
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

List three of the commandments from Exodus 20:3-17 that you feel are most commonly neglected by the world. Read the Institute Student Manual commentary for those three commandments (pgs. 127-34). Write a paragraph about what a difference it would make in the world if all of God’s children kept these commandments.

Thou shalt not commit adultery:
If everyone kept this commandment there would be a lot less heartache in the world. So many people would have marriages that would last. God has given us the power of procreation that we can bring His children to this mortal life and He has asked that we do so within the bonds of matrimony. So many people fall into temptation to use those procreative powers outside the bonds of marriage and there is so much heartache because of it.

Honour they father and thy mother:
So many people do not honor their mother and father. We have been given the great gift of having an earthly mother and father and so many people choose to live in accordance in the things contrary to what they teach them. When people righteously follow and honor their mother and father they will be blessed. 


Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain:
I know so many people who do not even realize they’re using the Lord’s name in vain! Sometimes it’s scary to think that they don’t realize what they’re saying. Something that I learned is that even when you choose not to live by the covenants you’ve made at baptism you’re in fact taking the Lord’s name in vain. What I’m saying is is that you don’t have to speak to take the Lord’s name in vain, it also includes our actions which is huge!