"Our twelfth article of faith
states our belief in being subject to civil authority and “in obeying,
honoring, and sustaining the law.” But man’s laws cannot make moral what
God has declared immoral. Commitment to our highest priority—to love
and serve God—requires that we look to His law for our standard of
behavior. For example, we remain under divine command not to commit
adultery or fornication even when those acts are no longer crimes under
the laws of the states or countries where we reside. Similarly, laws
legalizing so-called “same-sex marriage” do not change God’s law of
marriage or His commandments and our standards concerning it. We remain
under covenant to love God and keep His commandments and to refrain from
serving other gods and priorities—even those becoming popular in our
particular time and place." - Elder Dallin H. Oaks, Sunday Morning Session, October 2013 General Conference.
This is my favorite quote from all of conference. As we look around us and see that laws of men changing due to social pressure from various forces, this quote reinforces that God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. It reaffirms that the Gospel of Jesus Christ follows Heavenly Father's plan and not mortal man's. No matter what man with his agency decides to do, it will NOT change the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
"Surely the Lord God will do nothing, abut he brevealeth his csecret unto his servants the dprophets." - Amos 3:7
This scripture from the bible lets us know that the Plan of Heavenly Father is revealed through his chosen prophet and not through just any man, woman, or child in the world. Today that means revelation for the Plan comes to Thomas S. Monson. He is the one chosen by the Lord to lead this church and receive revelation. So has it been since Adam, so it will be after President Monson passes.
We have the agency to ask for ourselves if the words of the prophets are true. Anyone who feels that the words spoken in conference are in error have every right to get confirmation from the Holy Ghost. That is how I go about it. Normally however the Holy Ghost tells me in the very moment I hear the words that they are true and not contrary to the Plan.
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Monday, July 22, 2013
Obeying, Honoring and Sustaining the Law
While preparing for my lesson this week I ran into the following from Doctrine and Covenants 98:4-6:
4 And now, verily I say unto you concerning the laws of the land, it is my will that my people should observe to do all things whatsoever I command them.
5 And that law of the land which is constitutional, supporting that principle of freedom in maintaining rights and privileges, belongs to all mankind, and is justifiable before me.
6 Therefore, I, the Lord, justify you, and your brethren of my church, in befriending that law which is the constitutional law of the land;
The context of these three verses is around the time when the Saints where in Jackson County Missouri. There was at this time negative sentiment towards the Saints by the people and leaders in that county. Mobs had formed and were threatening the Saints. The Saints were told that they could pursue the legal course as setup by the law. In this case the law did not help the Saints and they were driven from Jackson County.
Today, however, I feel that these verses apply to us. Especially verse 5 discussing supporting the freedom of maintaining rights and privileges. The Lord tells us that these laws belong to mankind and are therefore correct in front of Him.
This means that we should follow the 12th Article of Faith:
We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.
Our Constitution contains laws that maintain the rights and privileges of men in supporting principles of freedom. During this July where we celebrate the birth of this great country, we need to remember this and be grateful we have such laws.
4 And now, verily I say unto you concerning the laws of the land, it is my will that my people should observe to do all things whatsoever I command them.
5 And that law of the land which is constitutional, supporting that principle of freedom in maintaining rights and privileges, belongs to all mankind, and is justifiable before me.
6 Therefore, I, the Lord, justify you, and your brethren of my church, in befriending that law which is the constitutional law of the land;
The context of these three verses is around the time when the Saints where in Jackson County Missouri. There was at this time negative sentiment towards the Saints by the people and leaders in that county. Mobs had formed and were threatening the Saints. The Saints were told that they could pursue the legal course as setup by the law. In this case the law did not help the Saints and they were driven from Jackson County.
Today, however, I feel that these verses apply to us. Especially verse 5 discussing supporting the freedom of maintaining rights and privileges. The Lord tells us that these laws belong to mankind and are therefore correct in front of Him.
This means that we should follow the 12th Article of Faith:
We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.
Our Constitution contains laws that maintain the rights and privileges of men in supporting principles of freedom. During this July where we celebrate the birth of this great country, we need to remember this and be grateful we have such laws.
Monday, June 24, 2013
A Vision of Heaven
It's been a while since I've posted in here. Apologies for those who read the only 2 posts I've done so far. After an inspirational meeting yesterday, I've decided to post in here again. Since my last post, I've been called to teach the CTR 10 class. These are children who start the year at 9 years of age and will turn 10 during the year. The lessons this year are on Church History and this week was on the vision that Joseph Smith and Sydney Rigdon of Heaven.
So in order to start off I had the boys (our class is all boys by the way) close their eyes. I asked them how much they could see. They answered very little. I then had them imagine that they had the stars at night to guide them and they said they could see a little better. We did the same with the moon and sun and each time they could "see" better than the last. Of course this also led to a discussion of pupils dilating and showing how that occurs. Did I mention that 9-10 year old boys are easily distracted?
Anyways, once we got back on track we started to discuss the vision of Heaven. It was received in 1832 after Joseph and Sydney were pondering on John 5:29. This verse discusses the resurrection of people who have done good versus those who have done evil. This led to a discussion on being rewarded for what you have done in this life and that there must be multiple places, or kingdoms, in Heaven.
Joseph and Sydney were in the home of John Johnson in Hiram, Ohio. Joseph's family was staying with the Johnson family. There were twelve other men in the room, but only Joseph and Sydney were allowed to behold the vision. The others received commentary of what they were seeing and recorded what took place.
At the end of the vision Joseph looked firm and calm, Sydney sat limp and pale (worn out). Joseph quipped that Sydney wasn't as used to visions as he was and that was why he looked the way he did.
After relating the story we discussed the three kingdoms that were seen in vision. The three are:
The boys got excited about learning what it would take to get into the topmost kingdom. It was good to see that enthusiasm. Of course, now with the change in missionary age for Young Men I made sure they understood that they would be teaching this on their missions. This made some of them more excited.
All in all a good week in the class. I think the boys enjoyed the account of this vision and understood the basic concepts of the 3 kingdoms of Heaven.
So in order to start off I had the boys (our class is all boys by the way) close their eyes. I asked them how much they could see. They answered very little. I then had them imagine that they had the stars at night to guide them and they said they could see a little better. We did the same with the moon and sun and each time they could "see" better than the last. Of course this also led to a discussion of pupils dilating and showing how that occurs. Did I mention that 9-10 year old boys are easily distracted?
Anyways, once we got back on track we started to discuss the vision of Heaven. It was received in 1832 after Joseph and Sydney were pondering on John 5:29. This verse discusses the resurrection of people who have done good versus those who have done evil. This led to a discussion on being rewarded for what you have done in this life and that there must be multiple places, or kingdoms, in Heaven.
Joseph and Sydney were in the home of John Johnson in Hiram, Ohio. Joseph's family was staying with the Johnson family. There were twelve other men in the room, but only Joseph and Sydney were allowed to behold the vision. The others received commentary of what they were seeing and recorded what took place.
At the end of the vision Joseph looked firm and calm, Sydney sat limp and pale (worn out). Joseph quipped that Sydney wasn't as used to visions as he was and that was why he looked the way he did.
After relating the story we discussed the three kingdoms that were seen in vision. The three are:
- Celestial - the topmost kingdom where God reigns
- Terrestrial - The second highest kingdom where Christ will visit, but God will not
- Telestial - The "lowest" kingdom where the Holy Ghost will visit, but God and Christ will not
The boys got excited about learning what it would take to get into the topmost kingdom. It was good to see that enthusiasm. Of course, now with the change in missionary age for Young Men I made sure they understood that they would be teaching this on their missions. This made some of them more excited.
All in all a good week in the class. I think the boys enjoyed the account of this vision and understood the basic concepts of the 3 kingdoms of Heaven.
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