From Abinadi's Sermon

At least half of the Book of Mormon is filled with sermons given by prophets, or sermons are quoted from prior prophets, or perhaps a mixture of both. Among my favorites is Abinadi’s sermon to King Noah.

King Noah is not to be confused with the Noah who built the ark. King Noah was a wicked man ruled by his appetites and passions, who advertised and encouraged his subjects to follow him in his debaucheries. His priests were all corrupt and had twisted the scriptures so much as to have no understanding about what the Law of Moses taught or what prophets like Isaiah were teaching about the coming of Christ.

Abinadi was commanded by God to preach the gospel one last time to King Noah and his priests and warn them that if they didn’t repent, destruction was coming. And because I believe in spoilers, I’ll let you know now that after he finished his sermon, all but one of Noah’s priests pressed the king to kill Abinadi, and so Abinadi was burned to death—and much unhappiness followed these wicked people.

Abinadi’s full available sermon can be found in Mosiah 12-16. In it, he discusses the Ten Commandments, the mission of Christ, explains the prophecies of Isaiah, salvation of little children, and the effect the resurrection has on mankind. Most of it fairly straightforward stuff.

But there’s been one section of the sermon that has confused me for years, ever since I was in high school seminary. It is in the beginning of Mosiah 15, where it talks about how Christ is both the Father and the Son:

“I would that ye should understand that God himself shall come down among the children of men, and shall redeem his people. And because he dwelleth in flesh he shall be called the Son of God, and having subjected the flesh to the will of the Father, being the Father and the Son—The Father, because he was conceived by the power of God; and the Son, because of the flesh; thus becoming the Father and the Son—And they are one God, yea, the very Eternal Father of heaven and of earth. And thus the flesh becoming subject to the Spirit, or the Son to the Father, being one God, suffereth temptation, and yieldeth not to the temptation, but suffereth himself to be mocked, and scourged, and cast out, and disowned by his people…even so he shall be led, crucified, and slain, the flesh becoming subject even unto death, the will of the Son being swallowed up in the will of the Father.” (Mosiah 15:1-5, 7; emphasis added)

This business of Christbeing and becoming the Father and the Son was very troubling to me in light of the Latter-day Saint view of the Godhead. We don’t believe in one God that has three different personalities or phases; our belief is in three distinct persons who are one God in purpose. In Joseph Smith’s First Vision, he was visited by “two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!” (Joseph Smith—History 1:17; italics in the original document) Just from that, we already believe that God the Father and God the Son, Jesus Christ, are two distinct beings.

We learn about the Godhead’s state of existence in later revelation, and learn that “The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit. Were it not so, the holy Ghost could not dwell in us.” (D&C 130:22)

They have their own individual functions in our salvation, which Paul beautifully describes in closing his epistle, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.” (2 Cor. 13:14; emphasis added) I could go into how each function is important, but that is better saved for another time.

The point I’m trying to make is that even though they are separate beings does not contradict them being one. Christ’s intercessory prayer made that very clear to me; as he prays for the Twelve and the saints, he prays, “…for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us…that they may be one, even as we are one; I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one…” (John 17: 20-23)

Christ prayed that the Twelve and the saints would be one in the same way that he and our Heavenly Father were one; not in becoming the same being, but rather being one in purpose, or being agreed or unified in the mission to bear witness and to help bring about the salvation of mankind.

It was a very clear doctrine to me. But now I read Abinadi’s sermon, and now Christ is being called both the Father and the Son. Something was not making sense with my own doctrine.

Fortunately, I came across a statement from the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve made in 1916. This was reprinted in the April 2002 Ensign, under “The Father and the Son.” Actually, the best thing I could suggest is to read this article, as it answers this question better than I could. It’s pretty easy to find on www.lds.org.

The summary is that while God the Father is the literal father of our spirits and the Father of both Christ’s spirit and physical body, Christ also bears the title of Father as well as Son. And in Abinadi’s sermon, the important thing to remember is that when he talks about God, he is referring strictly to Christ.

Let’s look at verse 2 in Mosiah 15: “…because he dwelleth in flesh he shall be called the Son of God…” Okay, that one is self-explanatory. God conceived Christ, therefore he must be the Son. Here’s where it gets fun: “…having subjected the flesh to the will of the Father, being the Father and the Son—”

In the 1916 statement, a term is introduced called “divine investiture.” The example used in the statement is the angel from Revelations. When the holy messenger appears, the Apostle John bows and begins to worship, but the angel forbids him to do so as he is merely his fellow-servant. But then the angel speaks to John as if he were Christ, telling John, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.” (Rev. 22:13)

The angel was divinely invested, or given the right, to represent Christ before John. In much the same way, Christ has been given his own divine investiture, or right, to represent our Heavenly Father and speak in the Father’s own words. It’s yet another way showing how they are one, or unified, in all that they do.

(Of course, because I can’t leave any stone unturned, I have to take a small tangent in what this verse teaches about Christ. Christ has subjected the flesh to the Father’s will. The easy explanation is that he was obedient entirely to his Father, which is true enough. But remember, every reference Abinadi makes about God is specifically referring to Christ, and this one can teach us much about ourselves.

The “flesh” is also referred to as the “natural man,” or our mortal desires and appetites. In King Benjamin’s sermon, he says, “…the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord…” (Mosiah 3:19)

Our fleshly or natural desires are to feed the physical, mental, and emotional appetites that the body hungers for. We are born in a fallen condition and so was Christ. The condescension of God was that Christ was born into a fallen state, with a mortal body that was subject to death and the same appetites that we deal with. If it weren’t, I can’t imagine that Satan would have even bothered to tempt him on those several occasions. A great difference between us and Christ is that where we have to put off the natural man and become a saint through the Atonement, Christ needed no atonement. If you replace one word in the Abinadi verse, it can read like so,“having subjected the flesh to the will of [Christ], being the Father and the Son.”

Christ used his own agency to command, like the God he is. He was not mastered by the flesh as we so often are; he was the master.)

Moving onto verse 3, we see that Christ is “The Father, because he was conceived by the power of God…”

What is the power of God? The Priesthood. Latter-day Saints make a large deal about priesthood, because it is only by God’s power that anything has any eternal permanence or force. We call it the Melchizedek priesthood because Melchizedek was such a righteous high priest within the priesthood order, but we know that “before his day it was called the Holy Priesthood, after the Order of the Son of God.” (D&C 107:3; italics in original)

The Priesthood belongs to Christ, and it was by his Priesthood that he was conceived. Christ can rightfully be called the Father because it was and is his power for all eternity.

“…and the Son, because of the flesh; thus becoming the Father and the Son—”

Because he was born, he had to be the Son. This does not require great explanation. However, I hope this helps make clear how where before, Abinadi talked of Christ being the Father and the Son, in this verse, it’s shown how the priesthood also let Christ become the Father and the Son.

Or maybe I irreparably confused you. That does happen a bit.

The point is, it should be clear that “they are one God” because Abinadi has been talking about the same person the entire time; he’s just been referring to Christ by two distinct titles. It also should make clear how in verse 7, “the will of the Son being swallowed up in the will of the Father”shows how the flesh of Christ was completely swallowed by his undeviating purpose to save all mankind. Christ, as always, is the master.

Another way that Christ is the Father is shown in verse 4, that Christ is “the very Eternal Father of heaven and of earth.” Jesus Christ is Jehovah, who created heaven and earth in the Genesis account and the other revealed scriptures we have of the Creation. He is the Father of the world in which we live and the one in which we will go to after this life.

This wraps up the doctrine that confused me. My trouble had been in understanding how Christ could be both Father and Son, and these little discoveries helped me understand and draw a little closer to him.

But there is always one more thing to learn. In this case, it’s another way that Christ claims the title of Father, and is frankly, the most marvelous to me. Abinadi explains this a little later in his sermon:

“And now I say unto you, who shall declare his generation? Behold, I say unto you, that when his soul has been made an offering for sin he shall see his seed. And now what say ye? And who shall be his seed? Behold I say unto you, that whosoever has heard the words of the prophets, yea, all the holy prophets who have prophesied concerning the coming of the Lord—I say unto you, that all those who have hearkened unto their words, and believed that the Lord would redeem his people, and have looked forward to that day for a remission of their sins, I say unto you, that these are his seed, or they are the heirs of the kingdom of God.” (Mosiah 15:10-11)

Those who accept the Atonement of Christ, they who have faith in him and repent, become his seed. In short, Christ is the Father of the righteous.

There’s an interesting principle of adoption that seems to be in place here and it only seems fair. As our Heavenly Father is the father of our spirits, and our mortal fathers would be the fathers of our physical bodies, those who reach out for the Atonement accept Christ as their father as well. Just thinking of our baptismal covenants, one of the promises we make is to take Christ’s name upon ourselves; yet another way that we become one with him. Certainly binding ourselves to Christ through this covenant would mean entering his family of the righteous.

Christ himself said,“In me shall all mankind have life, and that eternally, even they who shall believe in my name; and they shall become my sons and my daughters.” (Ether 3:14; emphasis added.)

Lehi's Vision

One of the Book of Mormon’s most famous passages is the Vision of the Tree of Life, found near the beginning of the book.  The prophet Lehi gathers his family together to tell them of a dream he had had, and in this meeting, he says:

“…methought I saw in my dream, a dark and dreary wilderness.  And it came to pass that I saw a man, and he was dressed in a white robe; and he came and stood before me.  And it came to pass that he spake unto me, and bade me follow him.  And it came to pass that as I followed him I beheld myself that I was in a dark and dreary waste.  And after I had traveled for the space of many hours in darkness, I began to pray unto the Lord that he would have mercy on me, according to the multitude of his tender mercies.  And it came to pass after I had prayed unto the Lord I beheld a large and spacious field.  And it came to pass that I beheld a tree, whose fruit was desirable to make one happy.   And it came to pass that I did go forth and partake of the fruit thereof; and I beheld that it was most sweet, above all that I ever before tasted.  Yea, and I beheld that the fruit thereof was white, to exceed all the whiteness that I had ever seen.  And as I partook of that fruit thereof it filled my sour with exceedingly great joy…

“…and I beheld a rod of iron, and it…led to the tree by which I stood.  And I also beheld a strait and narrow path, which came along by the rod of iron, even to the tree by which I stood…and I saw numberless concourses of people, many of whom were pressing forward, that they might obtain the path which led unto the tree by which I stood…and it came to pass that there arose a mist of darkness; yea even an exceedingly great mist of darkness, insomuch that they who had commenced in the path did lose their way, that they wandered off and were lost.  And it came to pass that I beheld others pressing forward, and they came forth and caught hold of the rod of iron; and the did press forward through the mist of darkness, clinging to the rod of iron, even until they did come forth and partake of the fruit of the tree…and I also cast my eyes round about, and beheld… and great and spacious building; and it stood as it were in the air, high above the earth.  And it was filled with people, both old and young, both male and female; and their manner of dress was exceedingly fine; and they were in the attitude of mocking and pointing their fingers towards those who had come at and were partaking of the fruit.  And after they had tasted of the fruit they were ashamed, because of those that were scoffing at them; and they fell away into forbidden paths and were lost.” (1 Ne. 8:4-28)

I’ve grown up with this story.  I used to watch a short animated movie about this vision.  As I grew older, I would get to read further ahead in the story where Lehi’s son, Nephi, would pray for an interpretation of the dream and he would receive his own vision that among other things, included that interpretation.

This story is often used to descride our journey through life and the need to stick with our values, but I believe that there is more to it than that.  I believe that Lehi's dream can teach us much about the temples and the plan of salvation that is taught therein.  Let's focus on the plan of salvation first.

Going back to the creation, when God created Adam and Eve, he planted a garden in Eden for them to live.  “And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” (Gen. 2:9; italics added)

At the time, Adam and Eve were given a commandment not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  They could have any other fruit in the garden, but that tree they were warned that if they ate, they would die.  Satan, who “sought to destroy the world,” (Moses 4:6) would speak by the mouth of the serpent to tempt Adam and Eve into partaking the fruit.  They did and as a result, were subject to death and cast out from the Garden of Eden.  And here’s the interesting part, God “placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” (Gen. 3:24; italics added)

It’s fascinating to me how before the Fall, Adam and Eve were only forbidden the tree of knowledge of good and evil, but after the Fall, on top of being cast out, there was an especial emphasis not just forbidding but barring them from the tree of life.  They couldn’t partake of that fruit if they tried.  I won’t go into why this happened, at least not today, but suffice it to say that “as they were cut off from the tree of life they should be cut off from the face of the earth—and man became lost forever, yea, they became fallen man.  And now, ye see by this that our first parents were cut off both temporally and spiritually from the presence of the Lord;” (Alma 42:6-7)

Looking at Lehi’s vision, there was a great concourse of people making their way to the tree of life, all of them undoubtedly the posterity of Adam and Eve.  There was a path to the tree but because of the mists of darkness, they lost the path and were lost.  This represents our own fallen state.  In our mortal life, the way to the tree of life is barred from us and despite our own best judgments and wandering, we are still subject to death, both physical and spiritual.

Thus enters the rod of iron.  The rod leads along the path to the tree of life, and even though the people could not see the rod, if they held onto it the whole way, they would arrive.  And what does the rod of iron represent?  In Nephi’s vision, he said, “…I looked, and I beheld the Son of God going forth among the children of men; and I saw many fall down at his feet and worship him.  And it came to pass that I beheld that the rod of iron, which my father had seen, was the word of God…” (1 Ne. 11:24-25)

Holding onto the word of God is what leads us through the mists of darkness and to the tree of life.  But what is the word of God?  Usually, when this subject comes up in Sunday school, the answers run the gamut from whisperings of the Holy Ghost to scriptures, but I was convinced there was a deeper meaning to this, and I found it in these here:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1)

“I saw his glory, that he was in the beginning, before the world was; therefore, in the beginning the Word was, for he was the Word, even the messenger of salvation—the light and the Redeemer of the world;” (D&C 93:7-9)

Taking these scriptures and Nephi seeing the Son of God before finding the interpretation, I believe there is a case for the rod of iron being a symbol of the Savior.  If Lehi’s vision can be viewed as a representation of the plan of salvation, the rod of iron couldn’t be anything else.  The Fall is upon all mankind and the only way out of it is the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive.” (1 Cor. 15:22)

Holding onto the rod of iron then means holding onto Christ during this mortal probation.  This plays well into the vision; after all, the scripture never says that the people ever saw the rod while they were traveling, just that by holding it, it guided them to where they were supposed to go.  So, too, with rare exceptions does anybody ever get to see Christ in mortality, and even for those who do, it’s merely temporary and they must continue their journey by faith.  The obvious question then should be: how do we hold onto Christ while we live?

It took me a little while to see the connection, although the Fourth Article of Faith helped to clear it: “We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

I added the italics above because this was the crucial connection.  Baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost are the two ordinances, or sacred ceremonies, members of the Church take part of.  These ordinances are covenants, or contracts, that we make with God.

Baptism is essential to returning to live with God.  In it, we covenant and promise that we will take Christ’s name upon us, always remember him, and keep his commandments.  In return, God promises to bless us with his Spirit, which will bind us to him.  Binding ourselves to the Lord by being baptized is how we hold onto the iron rod and that will put us on our way to the tree of life.

Is that all that required?  No!  While I can’t emphasize the importance of baptism by water and the Spirit enough, it is not an end in itself but the start of the journey.  The Fourth Article states that these are the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel.  By saying they are the first, there leaves an implication that there must be second—or perhaps I should say further—principles and ordinances of the Gospel.

Where are these to be found?  In the temples.

The temple has many sacred ordinances and ceremonies, among them washings and anointings, an endowment, and sealings.  These are all ordinances of salvation.  They are not things we talk about outside of the temple, or we do so with great reverence and care, for these covenants are matters of heaven and not for the world.  There are things we are obligated not to discuss outside of temple walls.  However, this talk is about what Lehi’s vision teaches us about the temple, and in particular, the endowment ceremony.  From here on, though, I rely entirely on scripture, as I have before.

What is the endowment ceremony?  It is a dramatic instruction of the plan of salvation, teaching us about where we came from, why we’re here, and where we’re going after this.  It’s a journey from Creation until we return to our Heavenly Father in his celestial glory.  As Gordon B. Hinckley, the fifteenth president of our Church said, “[The temples] are houses of instruction.  They are places of covenants and promises.  At their altars we kneel before our God, our Creator, and are given promise of His everlasting blessings.”

Brigham Young, the second president of the Church, would say of them, “Then go on and build the temples of the Lord, that you may receive the endowments in store for you, and possess the keys of the eternal Priesthood, that you may receive every word, sign, and token, and be made acquainted with the laws of angels, and of the kingdom of our Father and our God, and know how to pass from one degree to another, and enter fully into the joy of your Lord.” (Discourses of Brigham Young, pp. 395-396)

The endowment, I believe, is a gift of knowledge that binds us even more to Jesus Christ, who is “the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me,” (John 14:6) just as the rod of iron is the only way that leads to the tree of life.

Christ’s Atonement, or his sufferings in the Garden of Gethsemane and the Crucifixion, pay for our sins and make us clean and able to return to God.  The covenants we make, and this includes our endowments, bring us to him so that we can have the Atonement work in our lives.  As Alma said, “Therefore they were called after this holy order, and were sanctified, and their garments were washed white through the blood of the Lamb.” (Alma 13:11)

There’s a fascinating symbol at play here, in that the righteous’ garments were washed white because of Jesus’ sacrifice.  I didn’t know this, but “endow” comes from the Middle English word “endouen.”  Another word that stems from “endouen” is “endue,” which means literally “to put on (a garment) (Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4^th Edition)

From the garments we promise to wear throughout our lives as a reminder of our temple covenants, to putting off our worldly attire and dressing all in white while in the temple, the clothes we wear is a symbol of Christ’s Atonement for us.

When the prophet Jacob spoke about what happens after the resurrection, he said, “Wherefore, we shall have a perfect knowledge of all our guilt, and our uncleanness, and our nakedness; and the righteous shall have a perfect knowledge of their enjoyment, and their righteousness, being clothed with purity, yea, even with the robe of righteousness.” (2 Ne. 9:14)

To me, the clothing we wear in the temple has always borne a weight of glory and majesty, and or pureness and equality.  I now contrast this with the apparel of those who were in the great and spacious building of Lehi’s dreams.  It is written that their clothing was exceedingly fine, which when I read carries a feeling of wealth and prestige, but also haughtiness and vanity.  All these things are short-lived and benefit none, least of all themselves.

In Nephi’s vision, he first sees Christ slain because the people of the world took him and judged him, and they killed him on the cross.  And after Christ is gone, the world gathers to fight against his twelve apostles.  And after Nephi witnesses this, the multitude of the earth are in a great and spacious building, and the angel who is with Nephi in the vision says, “Behold the world and the wisdom thereof;” and Nephi says, “And it came to pass that I saw and bear record, that the great and spacious building was the pride of the world;” (1 Ne. 11:35-36)

The great and spacious building is set up opposite to the tree of life, just as the world is set up against the Savior.  Part of life’s test is in deciding which group we will be party to, and we can only choose one.  Jesus himself said, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.  Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”  (Matt. 6:24)  (Mammon is a word meaning riches, which is certainly what the world continually strives for.)

The world mocks the saints as those in the great and spacious building mocked those eating the fruit of the tree.  It’s important to note those who cast their eyes about as if they were ashamed.  These are not weak people.  They held onto the rod and made their way through the mists of darkness.  In the plan of salvation, these are those who made their covenants with Christ, who had their endowments and learned how to attain celestial glory.  The fruit of their labors was in their grasp.  But because they could not endure the mocking of the world, they cast it aside and wandered into strange paths and were lost.

This is a clear warning to us who have had these ordinances given to us.  Is all accomplished because we made it to the tree of life?  No.  This scripture is telling us that if we do not live up to the covenants which we have made before God, we are in Satan’s power.

The choice is before us as the prophet Joshua put it before the children of Israel: “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” (Josh. 24:15)

I know whom I wish to serve.  Because I know what the tree of life is.  In Nephi’s vision, he witnessed the virgin birth of Jesus Christ, and the angel asked him if he knew what the tree meant.  Nephi answered, “Yea, it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore, it is the most desirable above all things.” (1 Ne. 11:22)

We can go further than that.  What is the love of God?  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

“…for God is love.” (1 John 4:8)

The tree of life represents God, as much of the iron rod does, for Christ and his Atonement saves us from the Fall to live with him in eternal celestial glory.  That is the reward of the righteous.

And what is the reward of the wicked?  There is a symbol that is often overlooked by almost all in the great and spacious building, and if it hadn’t been my obsession with the works of Hugh Nibley, it would have been lost on me.  Lehi saw the great and spacious building as if it was built high in the air.

In Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians, we read, “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:” (Eph. 2:2, italics added)

Satan’s power is considered to be that of the air.  The air is formless, empty, and holds nothing.  In its full power, it tears and rends.  This is in stark contrast to Christ, who in Ephesians is referred to as the chief corner stone of the foundation of the church.  As the prophet Helaman said to his sons, “…remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his might winds, (please note Satan’s symbol being the air) yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.” (Hel. 5:12)

Because Christ is our rock, he will always support us.  But Satan does not support his own, and as Nephi saw, the great and spacious building, that which stood high in the air “fell, and the fall thereof was exceedingly great.” (1 Ne. 11:36)

There is so much more that could be said.  As I said before, I didn’t include all of the details of Lehi’s dream nor what they meant.  I’ve some inkling as to how they fit into the plan of salvation and what the temples teach us, but because my time is short and this is long enough, I’d encourage you to read 1 Ne. 8 and 11 yourselves and ask the Spirit to reveal to you what these scriptures teach.  The more I go over them, the more depth and beauty that I find in these passages.

October Conference 2012

This is the first time in years that I haven't seen all five sessions of Conference.  I'd be disappointed except that Saturday was the first time I got to spend a day with my family in a long while.  It ended up taking the entire morning and a good chunk of the early afternoon.  When I got home for the day, my roommates informed my immediately about the change happening to missionary service: men leaving at age 18 and women at 19.

I'm honestly really excited about this change and I sure do see the inspiration behind it.

But a lot is already going to be said about that for several years to come I'm sure, and nobody's interested in my opinion on that.

The thing that mattered most to me was the one talk I caught at the Saturday afternoon session: Elder Oaks sermon on the children of the world.  Of all the talks given that day and all Sunday, this was the one that touched my heart the most.

He used example after example of all the trials and sufferings that children go through everyday in our world.  And so many of the trials are because of the things that the grownups, we who have an obligations to protect and care for them, are hurting them.  It brought a whole new meaning to the scripture for those who offend these little ones, that it would be better to have a millstone tied about their neck.

It's reminded me that every decision I make that will affect the society I live in, the question I should always ask is, "Will this help or hurt the children?"  I feel that of all our duties, this will always come first and fulfilling that obligation, we'll be able to meet all our other requirements.

Current Status

I have another blog where I discuss most things serious, not-serious, but nearly always about entertainment.  I've wanted to have a place set apart for strictly my views on God, what I've learned and am now learning, and hopefully do good to somebody out there in need.

For the record, I am a Latter-day Saint and have been all my life.  I was asked to serve in two different teaching callings several months back: the first as a Gospel Doctrine teacher and the second as an Elder's Quorum instructor.  The Gospel Doctrine class is a Sunday School based on scriptures, and this year, the subject is the Book of Mormon (in which we are currently halfway through Helaman.)  Elder's Quorum is the men's group in which I teach one lesson per month, in which my job this year is to teach from selected sermons given by George Albert Smith, one of the past presidents of my church.

I love my callings.  I can honestly say that I'll be sad when I'm finally released from them (as such will be inevitable) but for now, I'm happy for the privilege to teach.

In the future, I hope to post my observations on Latter-day Saint life and why it matters to me.  Moreover, I hope this will help to explain why I believe in God.