Monday, September 24, 2018

The Proclamation to the Family

  • Why is it significant that the document starts with the fact that it is the First Presidency and the Twelve that are speaking?
  • It is important that it starts by saying it is these men because they are the ones who are representatives of the Lord for the whole earth. That is why it is a proclamation to the world not just the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 
  • In your view, why did they use the word "solemnly" in front of "proclaim"? They could have just said, "WE, THE FIRST PRESIDENCY and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, proclaim..."
  • The word solemnly is defined as "with deep sincerity" and "in a formal and dignified manner" the first presidency wants the world to know that this is not something to take lightly but it is through much anticipation and sacrifice that they are sincerely telling the world of the message of the family. 
  • Look up the word "ordain." What does that add to your understanding?
  • The definition that was intriguing to me was the one that said, "order or decree (something) officially" because I think of something that is ordained of God is now meaning decreed by God. That is so powerful to me and makes me feel like not only is God ordaining men but He is declaring that they are able to use His power. 
  • In May of 1831, Joseph Smith received a revelation that said, "marriage is ordained of God unto man." What is the difference in the wording between the revelation received in 1831, and the sentence in the Proclamation of 1995? Why do you think the Lord added words in the Proclamation?
    • I think the Lord through prophets added wording to be clearer in this day, what we didn't know in 1995 was the harsh reality of the world we live in today. The fact that we would be dealing so heavily with Gay marriage and the issues of family values being so heavily disputed in the world. 

  • Please share why you think that the family is central to God's plan?
    • The family is something that is truly eternal, it was in place prior to this earth life and will be there for the next life as well. God's family is his plan he wanted his children to learn and be better so he placed choices before us so that we might be able to be worth to live in his presence again. 

  • What is God's plan for the eternal destiny of his children?
    • God's plan is for us to return to him and be apart of his eternal family and to find out exactly how we can be like him in every way. 






Friday, September 21, 2018

Technology is Truly a Blessing, and a Curse

This week I studied a few talks one that caught my attention was  "Sharing the Gospel Using the Internet" by By Elder M. Russell Ballard it was written over a decade ago. I was drawn to it because of the age of the talk as well as the fact that it was given at a devotional at Brigham Young University of Hawaii, which I attended previously to my attendance at Brigham Young University of Idaho. Honestly the thing that caught my attention was when Elder Ballard was speaking about the fact that technology can be used for good and bad, as much as the same technology can be used by the devil to share pornagraph images we can use it to share uplifting messages with those around us. 

Something interesting that I received was the simplicity of texting someone. I had so many thoughts to text people in my life as I was reading the chapters. The technology we have in our day is amazing. I also thought about an experience I had in the temple this week as we were doing sealings and the sealer stopped the session and proclaimed to the company that it is thanks to modern day technology that we are able to do so much temple work. The church and its members are able to clearly see what work needs to be done and other people whose lives we can bless by performing their temple work for them on the earth. It was a humbling experience as we learned that some of the work had been done for these ancestors over a hundred years ago. And it was because of lack of organization and record keeping that this name had got lost and the work wasn't finished.

It is such a blessing to have this but on the other side, there are many problems with abuse of technology in our day, as time goes on and technology is becoming more advanced the evils of it are as well, it is easier to become addicted to pornography more now than ever. This just proves that Satan takes all of God's creations and makes them his own by dementing them. We need to do all that we can to protect ourselves from the evils of the devil, and find ways to thank God for his creations and use them all while keeping away from those evils which can often be hard. 

Tuesday, September 18, 2018

What does Family Mean?

When creating this blog I thought of the song "What Does Family Mean?" and the amount of time I spend with my family. I love them and I am thankful for all that they do.