Week 6

10 Things Sections 30-40 have in common.:

1. The thing that I notice first is simple and it is something that 98% the sections in the D&C have, but the first part is in the introduction and summaries of the sections. They are all revelations given through the prophet Joseph. This may seem trivial because it is something shared by most of the sections in the D&C, but I think this is a significant thing. If it weren’t significant, why would the prophet put it in every time that it was a revelation from Joseph? The other important aspect is that Joseph wasn’t just a prophet of the modern days; he is our dispensation head. He is our restorer.

2. The next thing I noticed was how all of these revelations are directly for someone or about someone. I think this would have been such a wonderful thing to be able to take part of. While these are different than patriarchal blessings, it would be incredible to have the prophet receive a revelation just for you.

3. In most of these sections, the Lord asks those reading/listening to go out and preach the gospel. We can learn how important missionary work is to the Lord by reading the D&C. He wants us to share with those around us that which is most important to him and us. The Lord wants the Gospel shared as much as possible and with as many of His children as possible.

4. A theme that is slightly less common theme is the fact that the Lord wants us (and those that are mentioned specifically) to have faith in him, in the plan and in our Leaders (or in the case of these sections in Joseph). As I mentioned before in one of my journals, the set up of the Church is perfect, the church leaders are called under perfect revelation that however, does NOT mean that the leaders that are called are perfect, but we have to exercise faith that they will make the best decision possible based on the revelation they are given.

5. Another one of the themes I noticed was baptism. So many of the revelations given are to those that are on the edge of joining the church or to those that are about to go serve a mission. Much like Point #4, the Lord wants the Gospel shared and his children brought to the gates of baptism where they can be washed clean of their sins and start making covenants with their heavenly Father.

6. Repentance. This is funny; I hadn’t realized that the last three sound a lot like the 4^th article of faith. The Lord does want us to repent of our sins, trespasses and shortcomings. The other thing is I think its important for Church leaders to hear from the Lord occasionally that they aren’t perfect and that they need to repent of their sins as well.

7. A few of these sections are related to location. At this time the Lord needed his Saints together (safety and strength in numbers). The Church was establishing Zion where the Saints were. While there was a lot of persecution at the time, the Saints needed to help each other using their specific skills. Location was more important then. Back then in order for a leader to communicate with all of those he lead, it would take longer to communicate with 500 people in his city than it takes for me to communicate with thousands of people that live on the other side of the world.

8. Chastening is a common theme in these sections. I kind of danced around this one a little bit in the other parts of this, but the D&C seems to have a lot of sections devoted to the Lord Chastening his disciples.

9. Many of these sections are also dedicated or partially dedicated to testifying of the divine calling of Joseph. This was specifically important back in the early days of the Church. Joseph had so many people that seemed to be skeptical of his divine calling and the Lord often needed to assure his children and followers of the diving calling of their leader. This wasn’t an easy time for the saints for the saints or for Joseph.

10. The other thing that these sections have in common and teaches me is that they testify as to how personally the Lord knows his children. The fact that the Lord can teach each of us so personally and know us on such a manner that makes us trust him more than anyone else in the world shows me how much he loves us.

Student Choice #3 Week 5

Creation:

29:25: And not one hair, neither mote, shall be lost, for it is the workmanship of mine hand.

The connection here to this is at the very root of the creation. It isn’t just the creation of the world but the creation (physical and spiritual) of us, His children. We are known to him and as this scripture says, not one part of our body shall pass without him knowing. I think this scripture also applies to the atonement.

29:31: For by the power of my Spirit created I them; yea, all things both spiritual and temporal-

This lets us know of our divine origin and how we were created by our Heavenly Father both spiritually and temporally. We are his Children. I know a little better than I did 6 weeks ago the love our Heavenly Father has for us. He wants us to succeed.

Fall:

29:35: Behold, I gave unto him that he should be an agent unto himself; and I gave unto him commandment, but no temporal commandment gave I unto him, for my commandments are spiritual; they are not natural nor temporal, neither carnal nor sensual.

This verse is talking about the first doctrine of the gospel. It refers how the Lord gave Adam (and all men) agency. Agency brought the fall and because of the fall we have the ability to be here. Before agency and the fall we weren’t here.

29:43: And thus did I, the Lord God, appoint unto man the days of his probation—that by his natural death he might be raised in immortality unto eternal life, even as many as would believe;

This gives us more information as to what our goal is here on earth (through the fall). It is a time for us to learn, grow and to enjoy immortality as we do what we need to, to make it back to heaven with our Heavenly Father

Atonement:

29:47 Wherefore, they cannot sin, for power is not given unto Satan to tempt little children, until they begin to become accountable before me;

This is one of my very favorite scriptures. This doctrine makes differentiates our church from many others and I think it is one of the sweetest, most tender scriptures in the entire standard works. The fact of the matter is the Lord loves all of his children and that includes babies that haven’t reached the age of accountability.

29:49:

And, again, I say unto you, that whoso having knowledge, have I not commanded to repent?

This is how the atonement works. The Lord provided us away to make it back to the Celestial Kingdom provided we do our part. We need to live the best way we can and then repent when we fall short of perfection (every time…)

Week 4

Clark Stanfill

Student Choice Assignment #2

D&C 21:4–7: When we are given inspiration from the prophet, it is the same as receiving the same inspiration from our Heavenly Father. It is the same. When we receive this inspiration, and receive it properly, we are shutting down the power of the gates of hell in our lives.

Mosiah 8:16-18: I think this scripture is really important for a couple of reasons. At the beginning of this section we learn that a seer is a prophet as well as a revelator. We also learn that the power a Prophet has is given him from God, and that there is no greater power on earth than this power.

Amos 3:7: This scripture shows us the importance of our modern day prophets. The fact of the matter is the Lord isn’t going to do anything big/church wide without telling the Prophet and his councilors first. This also sets the precedent for how the Lord reveals important inspiration for the Church.

2 Samuel 24:11: Much like the scripture in Amos, this shows that the Lord reveals things to his prophets. The fact is, the Lord has a set-up system of hierarchy of communication. It is the most effective and powerful way to communicate in the world. We talk to the Lord through prayer, and he then responds through his prophets, who can communicate to the Quorum of the 12, to the 70, to local leadership back down to us. It’s a perfect.

Alma 13:26: This scripture gives a few of the qualifications the Lord has for the Church Leadership: They are to be just, holy, people that have the power of the tongue of angels (Aaronic Priesthood) and they are to have the spirit of prophecy.

D&C 21:1: We learn in this scripture a few more of the responsibilities of a prophet; He is to be a Prophet, a Seer, a Translator, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, an Elder of the Church. These things among others are all responsibilities of the Prophet.

1 Corinthians 13:2: While some may view this as a minor thing I think it is hugely pertinent to the requirements of a Prophet. This verse lists a few things that a prophet who is worthy of the spirit will have (understanding of all mysteries, all knowledge, all faith even to moving mountains), if he doesn’t have charity he is nothing. The fact is the Prophet must be the most charitable person in the world. They are basically giving their total will to the Father for the rest of their lives. They travel, work every day, and are about the busiest people in the world all for the sake of everyone else.

How has the Prophet blessed my life?

I remember when the Boston Temple was dedicated. My family lived there for many years, and the temple was dedicated on my 16^th birthday. Not only did I have the opportunity to work ‘booty duty’ during the temple open house, but I was also blessed to sing in the temple choir. We sang for President and Sister Hinckley when he came to dedicate that beautiful building. I gained a very important piece of my testimony then that I knew he was a Prophet, I knew he was called of God, and I knew that his Priesthood power was real.

I know that the Lord is mindful of me in a very personal way. I know that He loves me and wants me to be happy. I also know and understand that if I understand his gospel that there must always be a Prophet on the earth. This knowledge alone has blessed my life so much. I understand that the Lord gives me us a Prophet, because He loves us.

Choice #3

“The worth of a soul is its capacity to become as God.” (President Thomas S. Monson, “The Service That Counts,” Ensign, November 1989, 45)

What do you learn in these revelations that helps you better understand the worth of a soul in the eyes of the Lord? Please describe five meaningful scriptures in these revelations that increase your understanding of the worth of a soul.

Verse 11: I think reading President Monson’s quote about the worth of souls really changed the way I view this verse. The fact is we know that Christ atoned for our sins. We know that he went on the cross for us and in a very individual manner, but something I don’t think I’ve really thought about is what he bought with his blood and life. He bought us opportunity. He bought us the opportunity to repent and change so that we could realize the full capacity of our souls.

Verse 15: This scripture brings me a lot of hope. I served in the Croatia-Slovenia mission, which has long been thought of as a ‘non-baptizing’ mission. While this isn’t altogether true, my brother, who served in Mexico City, baptized more people by himself in two years than my entire mission did in the year 2005., in fact the highest baptizing missionary I can think of baptized 5 people, and about 60% of them were inactive by the time he had been home for one year. My point here is some missionaries don’t have the opportunity to baptize hundreds of people and are able to write home every week about how their group baptism of 20 converts went, but hard work on behalf of your fellow brothers and sisters will always pay off. I also understand that this verse isn’t just directed towards the missionaries that wear a tag. We can do so much in our daily lives to be missionaries to those that we work with, associate with or just spend an airplane ride next to.

Verse 13: I have decided that I love this verse. It helps me understand how much our Heavenly Father loves us. I am a classically trained cellist. I have played the cello since I was 3.5 years old. I have also been in the elite choir of BYU-Idaho, and enjoyed a lot of musical success in my life. During my first semester in the Collegiate Singers a far more experienced singer than myself (as well as a dear friend) once helped me get over some pretty bad stage fright I was dealing with. He told me that, ‘the audience wants you to do well. They would not come here hoping that you were going to fail or sound terrible or anything like that. They want you to do well more than you do.’ I believe this is the same perspective our Heavenly Father has with us. Why would a loving, caring and concerned Father in Heaven send us here hoping or expecting us to fail? He wouldn’t.

Verse 12: I love how straight-forward this verse it. There is no beating around the bush with this one. It teaches three very important pieces of pure doctrine. First of all the verse teaches that Christ did die for us, and he broke the bands of death through his resurrection. Secondly, it teaches that He intends to save as many of us as He possibly can (our agency being the key factor there). Thirdly, we can learn that there is only one way that we can get achieve the lofty goal of eternal life and salvation and that is through repentance. The Lord has set conditions of entry for the Kingdom of Heaven. They aren’t secret conditions or require anything beyond our current capability; he spells them out for us. The Lord wants us to repent, and if we do fully, he will allow us to enter his Kingdom.

Verse 14: I love this verse. This verse hearkens back to some of the prior sections that we have gone over already but, again, I love the simplicity involved here. The Lord has a church-wide calling given to every member of the Church and that is to cry repentance to our generation. I also like the word ‘cry’ here. I don’t think the Lord means the way my two year old niece cries (for attention and honestly is faking it 99% of the time) but the way my two week old daughter does it. My daughter cries with her entire body and it is usually over something as important as something that will sustain her life better than the love and affection of her parents; food. She doesn’t just screaming either, she starts off with a face of intense emotion, letting us know that there is something highly important to her that I am neglecting to see, if her need is ignored further this face of emotion becomes far more intense and she will start to squirm and wiggle further trying to get my attention to the ever-pressing matter. Eventually, if she is ignored further, she will start to cry loudly letting us know that she means business.