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Amen, Let the Spirit guide your meetings. Personal testimonies should always be included as part of the lesson. It seems that when another person is baring her testimony, that is when the Spirit testifies to my Spirit. Whatever the lesson is, take a moment to bare your testimony and allow others to share theirs.
Dear Bridget, I know that we all have to deal with the “information explosion”. When I was young, we were just taught to avoid Fawn Brodie’s, No Man Knows My History and Jerald and Sandra Tanner. (Anti-Mormon literature does have a certain dark spirit to it.) Well, it was easy. Our local library didn’t even carry a copy of Brodie’s Book! I was what you could call a very naive Mormon . . . . . . then I was called to serve as a Campus Missionaries at Penn State University for 1 year. The big argument was over the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and the missionaries where not ever allowed to read the amendment. That’s right, we were not allowed to read anything other than the scriptures, certain authorized church books and our missionary discussions and pamphlets. Needless to say, we had a very difficult time relating to the students, answering their questions and even appearing to be relevant to their experiences.
Now, I read everything that is well researched and prepared. Anti-Mormon literature and blogs are generally garbage and are usually full of fallacies – waste of time. I focus on the scriptures and books that were written by those who would have lived in the time period of interest and those who may have known the Prophet(s).
I think that the Church recognizes the enormous amount of misinformation circulating on the internet and they know they can’t control it. Furthermore, many people are using LDS Church copyrights illegally to make their information appear legitimate. Honestly, some of these people put up webpages that look indistinguishable to Church sites. I think that the only safe thing to do is stick to what your Bishop said. You and I may have done enough research to know when we see false info, but many members won’t have that savvy.
Hopefully, you will have plenty of material for each lesson. The scriptures are so rich and full. Just add your personal testimony and allow others to bare their testimonies. The Spirit leaves when you start to teach any other thing and the lesson will invariably regress to football if allowed to drift.
I also want to post this address by Elder Oaks because it shows a different perspective: I’m reading The Lord’s Way by Elder Oaks right now, and on p. 110-1 he directly responds to this issue:
The Savior taught the preeminence of the spiritual over the temporal. When Mary anointed Jesus’ feet with costly ointment, Judas asked, “Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?” Jesus’ reply taught a great principle to his followers: “Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this. For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always.” Thus, while the care of the poor was important, its importance should be seen in a spiritual context. In this instances, there was something more important to do with this ointment than to give its value to the poor. The things of eternity, including what Jesus could teach his followers concern the salvation of their souls and what he could do for them by his death and resurrection, were more important than the temporal care of the poor. Indeed, one reason we have the poor “always . . . with [us]” is to give the rest of us the spiritual testing and growth that come when we minister to their needs.
The preeminence of the spiritual over the temporal, which Jesus taught, has many applications in our own day. For example, it explains why our church spends great sums preaching the restored gospel and building temples to perform the ordinances of eternity rather than (as some advocate) devoting these same resources to temporal concerns already being pursued by others, such as preserving the environment, researching cures for diseases, or administering to other physical needs that can be accomplished without priesthood power or direction.
Dear Tom, Just for a moment think about this:
THE CURE
With both Leprosy and Buruli ulcer, early diagnosis is absolutely critical.
There is no greater gift to a victim of leprosy or Buruli ulcer than telling them, “You’ve been cured!”
A life-changing gift of $300 today will completely cure one person from leprosy.
It costs an average of just $65 to diagnose and provide antibiotics to treat a child if Buruli ulcer is detected early enough. But the cost of delayed treatment rises to $647 for aggressive antibiotics, extensive surgery, skin grafts, and necessary rehabilitation — a cost too high for poverty-stricken families who typically earn just $1 or less per day.
Now, I have asked myself, what would Christ do? I have asked myself, do I spend time and money doing ordinance work for the dead, or, do I give money to help cure leprosy? There was just something about the way that Christ healed the lepers that inspired me. I just need to do what is in my heart. Perhaps it is different for others.
Ok, my grandkids are finally asleep and I am going to relate a personal story. I have epilepsy (grand mal seizures). Most of the time, I’m ok, just fine. Sometimes, I’m not. I fell once and I couldn’t breath for about 4 1/2 minutes because I fell face down into a laundry basket and my face was covered in clothes. What I felt is a little hard to describe. I couldn’t see a single thing. Everything was in total and complete darkness. I couldn’t hear a sound. I was totally enveloped in silence. I felt no pain, no sensation of any kind. I then began to feel a warmth, a comfort, a peace which grew closer and closer. I felt this overwhelming feeling of love and joy envelope my soul. I felt the sweetest feeling. I knew He was there. I could feel the Savior’s presence. I called for Him. He answered that He was right there beside me and assured me that He would not leave me. I rested, He told me to rest and that I would be ok.
As I laid there, I suddenly felt the presence of another Spirit. I felt a Spirit of a young women who was also dying. She was so terribly frightened. I could feel her anguish as it emanated from her spirit. I called out to her to comfort her. I told her that the Savior was right there with us, that He was holding out His arms to her to comfort her and protect her. Her spirit cried out that she was alone and could not feel Him. She didn’t know He was there. She couldn’t feel Him. No, no, when you don’t have a mortal body, you can’t “feel” Christ, not physically. You can’t see Him or hear him because you no longer have eyes or ears. What you have is your faith. I told her to pray, pray to Him. She did not know how.
I called out to the Lord as to why this young women was so fearful and would He not comfort her as I could not. He spoke to me, “she would denies me in life, will deny me in death”. “She who knew me not in life, will know me not in death”. The Savior was standing right there with her, and she didn’t even know it.
I called to her once more. I told her to believe, to have faith and to know that He was there and that if she would do that, she would feel His presence and be comforted. She called back to me. “Why did you know teach me in life”? I saw you every day in life and yet you never talked to me.
I lived. We both did. She recovered from a near-fatal drug overdose (she had tried to take her own life). I recovered from my seizure.
Why hadn’t I taught her while she was living. Heck, I saw her almost every morning in the gym. We worked out together. Why didn’t I take the time to talk to her. I didn’t know that she had been so depressed. I didn’t know. The Savior was trying to tell me that I needed to reach out to the living. I needed to teach the living.
When I die, and I will be dead one day, that is the time to reach out and teach those who have died. I can teach the dead at that time. There is no such thing as damnation as long as we can still believe in Christ. Faith is alive. It lives!!! He lives!!! That is what He means by putting our faith in living works, not dead works. I have a new interpretation of Christ’s admonition of “let the dead bury the dead”. It is that we should let the dead minister unto the dead. In other words, let those that have died in Christ teach those that have dead without Him. This experience changed my priorities forever.
As I read the King James Version of the Bible, Matthew, Chapter 8, it is clear that Christ set His priorities on administering to the living. He healed those with leprosy, cerebral palsy and cast out evil spirits. He rebuked on of His followers who asked it he could first go and bury his deceased father. Christ said, “no”, let the dead bury the dead. Missionary work to those living was to be the first priority. Now, that sounds harsh, doesn’t it, the “let the dead bury the dead” comment. But, this young man had been called on a mission by Christ Himself. Missionaries are often not released to go home and attend family funerals. We should follow Christ’s example and make sure that our own priorities are those that Christ set.
THE BOOK OF MORONI CHAPTER 8
Infant baptism is an evil abomination—Little children are alive in Christ because of the atonement—Faith, repentance, meekness and lowliness of heart, receiving the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end lead to salvation. Between A.D. 400 and 421
1 An epistle of my afather Mormon, written to me, Moroni; and it was written unto me soon after my calling to the ministry. And on this wise did he write unto me, saying:
2 My beloved son, Moroni, I rejoice exceedingly that your Lord Jesus Christ hath been mindful of you, and hath called you to his ministry, and to his holy work.
3 I am mindful of you always in my prayers, continually praying unto God the Father in the name of his Holy Child, Jesus, that he, through his infinite goodness grace, will keep you through the endurance of faith on his name to the end.
4 And now, my son, I speak unto you concerning that which grieveth me exceedingly; for it grieveth me that there should disputations rise among you.
5 For, if I have learned the truth, there have been disputations among you concerning the baptism of your little children.
6 And now, my son, I desire that ye should labor diligently, that this gross error should be removed from among you; for, for this intent I have written this epistle.
7 For immediately after I had learned these things of you I inquired of the Lord concerning the matter. And the word of the Lord came to me by the power of the Holy Ghost, saying:
8 Listen to the words of Christ, your Redeemer, your Lord and your God. Behold, I came into the world not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance; the whole need no physician, but they that are sick; wherefore, little children are whole, for they are not capable of committing sin; wherefore the curse of Adam is taken from them in me, that it hath no power over them; and the law of circumcision is done away in me.
9 And after this manner did the Holy Ghost manifest the word of God unto me; wherefore, my beloved son, I know that it is solemn mockery before God, that ye should baptize little children.
10 Behold I say unto you that this thing shall ye teach—repentance and baptism unto those who are accountable and capable of committing sin; yea, teach parents that they must repent and be baptized, and humble themselves as their little children, and they shall all be saved with their little children.
11 And their little children need no repentance, neither baptism. Behold, baptism is unto repentance to the fulfilling the commandments unto the remission of sins.
12 But little achildren are alive in Christ, even from the foundation of the world; if not so, God is a partial God, and also a changeable God, and a respecter to persons; for how many little children have died without baptism!
13 Wherefore, if little children could not be saved without baptism, these must have gone to an endless hell.
14 Behold I say unto you, that he that supposeth that little children need baptism is in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity; for he hath neither afaith, hope, nor charity; wherefore, should he be cut off while in the thought, he must go down to hell.
15 For awful is the wickedness to suppose that God saveth one child because of baptism, and the other must perish because he hath no baptism.
16 Wo be unto them that shall pervert the ways of the Lord after this manner, for they shall perish except they repent. Behold, I speak with boldness, having authority from God; and I fear not what man can do; for perfect love casteth out all fear.
17 And I am filled with charity, which is everlasting love; wherefore, all children are alike unto me; wherefore, I love little children with a perfect love; and they are all alike and partakers of salvation.
18 For I know that God is not a partial God, neither a changeable being; but he is unchangeable from ball eternity to all eternity.
19 Little children cannot repent; wherefore, it is awful wickedness to deny the pure mercies of God unto them, for they are all alive in him because of his mercy.
20 And he that saith that little children need baptism denieth the mercies of Christ, and setteth at naught the aatonement of him and the power of his redemption.
21 Wo unto such, for they are in danger of death, hell, and an endless torment. I speak it boldly; God hath commanded me. Listen unto them and give heed, or they stand against you at the judgment-seat of Christ.
22 For behold that all little children arealive in Christ, and also all they that are without the law. For the power of redemption cometh on all them that have no law; wherefore, he that is not condemned, or he that is under no condemnation, cannot repent; and unto such baptism availeth nothing—
23 But it is mockery before God, denying the mercies of Christ, and the power of his Holy Spirit, and putting trust in dead works.
24 Behold, my son, this thing ought not to be; for arepentance is unto them that are under condemnation and under the curse of a broken law.
25 And the first fruits of repentance is baptism; and baptism cometh by faith unto the fulfilling the commandments; and the fulfilling the commandments bringeth remission of sins;
26 And the remission of sins bringeth meekness, and lowliness of heart; and because of meekness and lowliness of heart cometh the visitation of the bHoly Ghost, which Comforter filleth with hope and perfect love, which love endureth by diligence unto prayer, until the end shall come, when all the saints shall dwell with God.
27 Behold, my son, I will write unto you again if I go not out soon against the Lamanites. Behold, the apride of this nation, or the people of the Nephites, hath proven their destruction except they should repent.
28 Pray for them, my son, that repentance may come unto them. But behold, I fear lest the Spirit hath ceased striving with them; and in this part of the land they are also seeking to put down all power and authority which cometh from God; and they are denying the Holy Ghost.
29 And after rejecting so great a knowledge, my son, they must perish soon, unto the fulfilling of the prophecies which were spoken by the prophets, as well as the words of our Savior himself.
30 Farewell, my son, until I shall write unto you, or shall meet you again. Amen.
End of Copy and Paste:
I actually adhere to these teachings, particularly verses 22 and 23. I believe that Christ is the “God of the Living” and not the God of the dead. I do not want to put my faith in “dead works” and I do not wish to deny the justice, grace and mercy of Christ.
That is a fascinating post. Thanks for sharing it. I can’t say that I can yet understand it and perhaps I never will. I have been pondering buying the book: “Born on a Blue Day”. This is the story of the “Human Rosetta Stone”, a young man with Asberger’s Syndrome (high functioning Autism). Daniel Tammet can recite the numbers in Pi and has an unusual gift for language and geometry.
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/387151/daniel_tammet_born_on_a_blue_day/ I do believe that these are true “gifts of the Spirit” and that JS and others have possessed them. It is very interesting to ponder their meanings. Perhaps we were all born with these gifts, but the natural inhibitory neurotransmitters in our brain suppress them.
This issue on redemption of the dead has puzzled me and troubled me. Please take a moment to review this link: http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2008/05/08/catholic-mormon-tension-over-lds-baptism-of-the-dead/ The above link discusses the controversy that is caused when the LDS Church uses Catholic Parish records (and record of other churches) to perform proxy baptisms. Some of the deceased Catholic Priests who took vows of celibacy during their lives have even been sealed to wives.
My feelings on this is that we should reverence and respect the dead as we would the living. We should uphold the choices that they made and the faith that they developed and maintained whilst on this earth. Many faithful Christians lived and died as members of the Catholic Church. Their names appeared on Parish Records. They were Christened and blessed as Catholics. Prior to their death, they received their “last rites” and anointing by a Catholic Priest.
Now how do we honor and respect the dead? The Catholic Church does not object to us doing family history (genealogy) for their deceased members. They do object to temple ordinance work being done on behalf of their deceased. This is just one of my dilemmas with proxy work. Please feel free to explain this to me.
See: he Midnight Disease: The Drive to Write, Writer’s Block, and the Creative Brain
By Alice W. Flaherty, Page 260
Flaherty does not write about Mormonism or JS in these references. She is referring to other religious leaders and prophets, but I think that the same concept applies.
I don’t doubt the concept of JS peering into a hat to translate because many religious writers have used womb-like sensory deprivation to tune into the spiritual realm. I think that JS had Geshwind Syndrome and therefore most likely used this technique: http://books.google.com/books?id=LLl1OFkIWoIC&pg=PA260&lpg=PA260&dq=geschwind+syndrome+sensory+de I know that film producer, Reed Cowan deliberately cast the most radical, right-wing, extremists hate groups (who just happen to be Mormon) for this film. He totally ignores the thousands of moderate, fair-minded, gentle, kind, considerate, compassionate and reasonable LDS people. Those of you who read my posts know that I have repeated called for the LDS Church to formally distance itself from the radical, right-wing, extremist hate groups featured in Reed Cowan’s film by simply refusing to let them use the official name of the church or any church copyrighted materials. I don’t know what more can be done.
Dear Ray, I have been thinking and praying a lot lately about redemption of the dead. I prayed so long and hard for peace on this issue. My feelings were about “the Spirit of Elijah” who would turn the hearts of the children to the fathers and the hearts of the fathers to the children before the great and terrible day of the Lord. If this did not happen, the earth would be totally wasted at His coming.
My own personal interpretation of that is that I should turn my own heart to my living children and grandchildren and to those little spirits yet unborn because they will turn to me. They all depend on me to protect and preserve this earth upon which they will reside. If I pollute and destroy this earth and I don’t think of all of those little unborn children who will have to live on this earth once I leave it, the earth will be “totally wasted” at His coming. |It will be a wasteland of trash, radioactive waste, and deforested, bare land. My own ancestors protect and preserved the land. The irrigated, planted forests and tended to the earth. |I need to turn my heart toward them for their example.
That is my “Spirit of Elijah”.
I completely accept the doctrine of the Atonement as taught in the Book of Mormon. I do also add one teaching from Lucretia Mott, whom I believe was also inspired from God. As most of you know, Lucretia Mott was the founder of the women’s suffrage movement and the teacher of Elizabeth Caddy Staton and a role model for Susan B. Anthony. She has also been considered one of the leaders in the anti-slavery movement. Why? “The doctrine of vicarious atonement does not change ignorance; herein lies its great harm.” Mott taught that the Atonement would not save us from ignorance and that salvation in Christ required knowledge and moral progress toward righteousness. As a school teacher, Mott believed that women and African American Slaves were being deprived of education and therefore salvation.
The B of M repeatedly stressed that man cannot be saved in ignorance, but JS lacked the vision and drive that Mott had to fully rid our country of slavery (keeping slaves in ignorance). JS gave the revelation, but Mott helped provide the means wherein it could be accomplished, IMO. JS was a Prophet of God, Mott was a Prophetess, IMO and taught me that women need to implement the Will of God in our homes and in society. Therein lies our salvation.
T
