Sorry, my post last Sunday didn't publish like I thought it did, so to make up for that here's two.
This Saturday I was at a speech and debate tournament in a little town near my hometown. Since all I do is extemporaneous, and I didn't break into the semis, I had nothing to do.
There was a basketball game in the gym next to their cafeteria where all our events were sprawled. So, I decided to go over and listen to their pep band. I came in on a song that I couldn't quite recognize, and stood over the railing right above their trombone section.
They finished their song and I complemented the bone player right below me on how well they had played. He said thanks and asked if I played. I told him that I played the base clarinet. He and several others in his section invited me to hang out with him, and we talked for a good portion of the first half of the pep band. They even offered to try and get me a bass clarinet or a Bb clarinet so I could play with them. Their band director and I decided it was a bad Idea since I am on the tail end of a fight with bronchitis, and I didn't have my own reed.
I found out that a good friend of mine, Marissa, who plays in our band, was playing her saxophone for them. Her boyfriend lives in the small town, and had invited her to play with them. I was able to talk to her, and meet a number of her friends in the band, and her boyfriend who I had up until then only heard about. They were all very neat people and I'm glad I was able to meet them
I had a lot of fun that I didn't know I was going to have and met so many new friends. I learned two things from the experience.
1. I have friends everywhere, I just don't know them yet.
2. Always keep a reed in your suit coat pocket.
I had a blast watching a basketball game with people I had only known for a few minutes, and just listening to them play music. They are a tight knit band that was willing to let an outsider in. Of course it probably helps that all of them were very nice.
In my church we have thirteen articles of faith. The end of the thirteenth states "If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report, or praise worthy, we seek after these things." These members of a small band in the state of Wyoming fit into all these categories.
I am glad that I was able to meet these band members. They are all very fun people, all very bright, and all very willing to accept others into their close group. There are always, wherever you are, friends to meet and stand beside.
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Sunday, February 16, 2014
I knew it, and I knew that God knew it
I would like to talk about the keystone of our religion, The Book of Mormon. However I would like to focus on the translator of that book, Joseph Smith Jr. I can’t think of anyone better to explain it than Elder Jeffrey R. Holland in his talk Safety for the soul:
May I refer to a modern “last days” testimony? When Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum started for Carthage to face what they knew would be an imminent martyrdom, Hyrum read these words to comfort the heart of his brother:
“Thou hast been faithful; wherefore … thou shalt be made strong, even unto the sitting down in the place which I have prepared in the mansions of my Father.
A few short verses from the 12th chapter of Ether in the Book of Mormon. Before closing the book, Hyrum turned down the corner of the page from which he had read, marking it as part of the everlasting testimony for which these two brothers were about to die. I hold in my hand that book, the very copy from which Hyrum read, the same corner of the page turned down, still visible. Later, when actually incarcerated in the jail, Joseph the Prophet turned to the guards who held him captive and bore a powerful testimony of the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon. Shortly thereafter pistol and ball would take the lives of these two testator.
As one of a thousand elements of my own testimony of the divinity of the Book of Mormon, I submit this as yet one more evidence of its truthfulness. In this their greatest—and last—hour of need, I ask you: would these men blaspheme before God by continuing to fix their lives, their honor, and their own search for eternal salvation on a book (and by implication a church and a ministry) they had fictitiously created out of whole cloth?Never mind that their wives are about to be widows and their children fatherless. Never mind that their little band of followers will yet be “houseless, friendless and homeless” and that their children will leave footprints of blood across frozen rivers and an untamed prairie floor. 9
Never mind that legions will die and other legions live declaring in the four quarters of this earth that they know the Book of Mormon and the Church which espouses it to be true. Disregard all of that, and tell me whether in this hour of death these two men would enter the presence of their Eternal Judge quoting from and finding solace in a book which, if not the very word of God, would brand them as imposters and charlatans until the end of time? They would not do that! They were willing to die rather than deny the divine origin and the eternal truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.
For 179 years this book has been examined and attacked, denied and deconstructed, targeted and torn apart like perhaps no other book in modern religious history—perhaps like no other book in any religious history. And still it stands. Failed theories about its origins have been born and parroted and have died—from Ethan Smith to Solomon Spaulding to deranged paranoid to cunning genius. None of these frankly pathetic answers for this book has ever withstood examination because there is no other answer than the one Joseph gave as its young unlearned translator. In this I stand with my own great-grandfather, who said simply enough, “No wicked man could write such a book as this; and no good man would write it, unless it were true and he were commanded of God to do so.” 10
Joseph Smith was tarred and feathered, lost several children, mocked, jailed, and eventually martyred. Why would he go through all of this? I think its like he said in Joseph Smith History 1:25:
So it was with me. I had actually seen a light, and in the midst of that light I saw two Personages, and they did in reality speak to me; and though I was hated and persecuted for saying that I had seen a vision, yet it was true; and while they were persecuting me, reviling me, and speaking all manner of evil against me falsely for so saying, I was led to say in my heart: Why persecute me for telling the truth? I have actually seen a vision; and who am I that I can withstand God, or why does the world think to make me deny what I have actually seen? For I had seen a vision; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not edeny it, neither dared I do it; at least I knew that by so doing I would offend God, and come under condemnation.
I can think of no logical reason why a man would go through so many trials for a BOOK. The only reason that makes sense is that he really did see God the Father and his only begotten son Jesus Christ.
I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. I know that he saw God the Father and his son Jesus Christ. He would not go through that much pain if it were not true. I will not deny my testimony of The Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. I do not want to get to the judgement seat and be denied my eternal salvation. I believe Joseph Smith. I am eternally grateful for what he did. Like Jeffrey R. Holland “[I] give [my name] unto the world, to witness unto the world that which [I] have seen.” And like them, “[I] lie not, God bearing witness of it.”
Sources:
http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2009/10/safety-for-the-soul?lang=eng#watch=video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHY-Y9yraR8
http://classic.scriptures.lds.org/en/js_h/1/25d
We're All Talented
Walking through the halls of my school I see all sorts of people. Both genders, all shapes and sizes, They all have something about them that's special. Some are brilliant artists, or a virtuoso with music, my point is that they all have talents that they exercise in one way or another.
We all have something that we're skilled at, we might have been born with it or earned it with hard practice. It might be a sport like football or soccer, you might be musically inclined, or great at talking to people. We're all given gifts great and small.
What happens if we don't use those talents? if the star football player stopped going to his practices, the master pianist didn't practice her concert music before the big concert? Their skills would dull and tarnish.
This is why if we want to be great at something we practice, because the more we do it the better we are. Malcolm Gladwell wrote in his book the "Outliers" that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at anything and someone said that it takes one million bad words to write one good one.
This goes for any craft and as we practice at it our talents become better and better and we grow in our skill. In my Church we are given a commandment to work hard at whatever we do.
In Matthew 25: 14-30 Christ gives the parable of talents.
14 For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.
15 And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.
16 Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents.
The two who had received both 5 and 2 talents traded and used their talents to double their talents but the third servant hid his talent in the earth and did nothing with it.
And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.
21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
22 He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.
23 His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
24 Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:
26 His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:
27 Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.
29 For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.
The two who had increased upon the talents gained a great reward but the servant who had hid his talent and hadn't even tried to increase it was punished.
The way I see it the servants who had increased their talents had practiced and practiced their abilities until by the time the master had come back they were twice as good as they were. The servant who hid his talent, expected that if he practice once a week and stayed just as good as he was his master would reward him.
We can't hide our talents and expect to get better, we need to put the time in to get better. everyone has their talents and if they put in the effort they can get better.
Saturday, February 15, 2014
Come Unto Christ
Nobody is perfect. Nobody can go through life without hypocrisy. So as children of God when we are asked to be perfect many of us ask “how could we possibly fulfill this impossible task?” Well, the way we get everything done. It is always the first step in everything spiritually related. I think our Savior, Jesus Christ, says it best in Matthew 11:28-30:
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
The only way for us to return to our Heavenly Father is through Christ. We are all hypocrites, but through Christ we can be forgiven for our mistakes. I love the scripture Hebrews 8:12:
"For I will be merciful to their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more."
Some may say “How can you tell me not to do something that you did before?” The answer is because we have repented and we know better now. Who better to teach people than someone who has actually gone through that difficulty? It's difficult when we are being told not to do something to say how can you tell me not to if you did it , but we need to try our hardest not to judge them we are not the judge. The only one who can judge is Christ. And he says John 8:16:
I love how Christ handles this situation when the Pharisees tried to catch him making a mistake he said in John 8:2-12:
2 And early in the morning he came again into the a temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.
3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a a woman taken in b adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,
6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger a wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.
7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without a sin among you, let him b first cast a c stone at her.
9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own a conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I a condemn thee: go, and b sin no c more.
12 ¶Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the a light of the world: he that followeth me shall not b walk in c darkness, but shall have the light of life.
I know that through the power of the atonement we can return to our heavenly father. I know I am a hypocrite, but through Christ I hope I won't be. In the name of Jesus Christ amen.
Sources:
http://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/john/8.1-11?lang=enghttp://www.ldsliberty.org/so-what-if-were-wrong/christ-2/
Sunday, February 9, 2014
I Don't Know, But I Can Find Out
I would like to tell you about my friend Harvey. Harvey was a LDS boy who was enthusiastic about missionary work. He would constantly stop and talk to others about the gospel of Jesus Christ. However occasionally Harvey would get stumped on a question. He just didn’t know the answer. Well the people asking the question would then use that to prove that he didn’t know about his own religion. Like Harvey, often while going through my daily life I am questioned on my religion. Often I do not know how to answer their questions. Many other people, who aren’t LDS, go through this same thing. I am happy to answer anyone’s questions, but sometimes you can tell that they aren’t really interested in the gospel. Those people are just trying to get at you. Sometimes it just gets old or you just don’t know the answer to their question. Why does all this pressure from the world fall upon us? Well the answer is simple, Satan knows that we know the truth. He knows that we are on the straight and narrow path and he will do anything to get us to get off the straight and narrow path. One of his techniques is to try to get others to make us feel inadequate by having them dog pile us with questions we don’t know. How do we get past these questions without being told we don’t know the gospel of Jesus Christ? My Teachers quorum leader Michael Doyle told me something, which has made the most dramatic change at the way I answer people’s questions of the gospel. He said this:
“If you do not know the answer to their question don’t be afraid to say ‘I don’t know…,but I can find out.’ Then go home and read your scriptures, pray, and ask you parents,leaders and teachers until you do know. Then go back and tell them what you have learned.”
Who knows where that may lead? Maybe they will feel that you cared for them so much that you answered their question out of the many questions you get every day. One example I love of how to answer someone who is trying to get at you is from Elder Boyd K. Packers talk called The Candle of the Lord. Here is a section from it.
I will tell you of an experience I had before I was a General Authority which affected me profoundly. I sat on a plane next to a professed atheist who pressed his disbelief in God so urgently that I bore my testimony to him. “You are wrong,” I said, “there is a God. I know He lives!”
He protested, “You don’t know. Nobody knows that! You can’t know it!” When I would not yield, the atheist, who was an attorney, asked perhaps the ultimate question on the subject of testimony. “All right,” he said in a sneering, condescending way, “you say you know. Tell me how you know.”
When I attempted to answer, even though I held advanced academic degrees, I was helpless to communicate.
Sometimes in your youth, you young missionaries are embarrassed when the cynic, the skeptic, treat you with contempt because you do not have ready answers for everything. Before such ridicule, some turn away in shame. (Remember the iron rod, the spacious building, and the mocking? See 1 Ne. 8:28.)
When I used the words Spirit and witness, the atheist responded, “I don’t know what you are talking about.” The words prayer, discernment, and faith, were equally meaningless to him. “You see,” he said, “you don’t really know. If you did, you would be able to tell me how you know.”
I felt, perhaps, that I had borne my testimony to him unwisely and was at a loss as to what to do. Then came the experience! Something came into my mind. And I mention here a statement of the Prophet Joseph Smith: “A person may profit by noticing the first intimation of the spirit of revelation; for instance, when you feel pure intelligence flowing into you, it may give you sudden strokes of ideas … and thus by learning the Spirit of God and understanding it, you may grow into the principle of revelation, until you become perfect in Christ Jesus.” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, comp. Joseph Fielding Smith, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1977, p. 151.)
Such an idea came into my mind and I said to the atheist, “Let me ask if you know what salt tastes like.”
“Of course I do,” was his reply.
“When did you taste salt last?”
“I just had dinner on the plane.”
“You just think you know what salt tastes like,” I said.
He insisted, “I know what salt tastes like as well as I know anything.”
“If I gave you a cup of salt and a cup of sugar and let you taste them both, could you tell the salt from the sugar?”
“Now you are getting juvenile,” was his reply. “Of course I could tell the difference. I know what salt tastes like. It is an everyday experience—I know it as well as I know anything.”
“Then,” I said, “assuming that I have never tasted salt, explain to me just what it tastes like.”
After some thought, he ventured, “Well-I-uh, it is not sweet and it is not sour.”
“You’ve told me what it isn’t, not what it is.”
After several attempts, of course, he could not do it. He could not convey, in words alone, so ordinary an experience as tasting salt. I bore testimony to him once again and said, “I know there is a God. You ridiculed that testimony and said that if I did know, I would be able to tell you exactly how I know. My friend, spiritually speaking, I have tasted salt. I am no more able to convey to you in words how this knowledge has come than you are to tell me what salt tastes like. But I say to you again, there is a God! He does live! And just because you don’t know, don’t try to tell me that I don’t know, for I do!”
As we parted, I heard him mutter, “I don’t need your religion for a crutch! I don’t need it.”
From that experience forward, I have never been embarrassed or ashamed that I could not explain in words alone everything I know spiritually. The Apostle Paul said it this way:
“We speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.”
“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Cor. 2:13–14.)
One place in the scripture that shows someone who couldn’t speak is Jeremiah 1:4-10:
4The LORD spoke his word to me, saying:
5 "Before I made you in your mother’s womb, I chose you.
Before you were born, I set you apart for a special work.
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."
6 Then I said, “But Lord GOD, I don’t know how to speak. I am only a boy.”
7 But the Lord said to me, “Don’t say, ‘I am only a boy.’ You must go everywhere I send you, and you must say everything I tell you to say. 8 Don’t be afraid of anyone, because I am with you to protect you,” says the LORD.
9 Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth. He said to me, "See, I am putting my words in your mouth.
10 Today I have put you in charge of nations and kingdoms. You will pull up and tear down, destroy and overthrow, build up and plant."
I would like to bear my testimony I know that when faced with a question we don’t know the Lord will help us to find the truth. I know that if we are bold enough to stand up for what we believe in we the Lord will help us to understand and deliver that message to the people who need to hear it. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ amen.
Sources
http://www.collegebaseballtoday.com/2010/06/13/five-more-teams-scan-their-tickets-for-omaha/
https://www.lds.org/ensign/1983/01/the-candle-of-the-lord?lang=eng
https://www.lds.org/ensign/1983/01/the-candle-of-the-lord?lang=eng
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