FDRL212 Week 5: The Trial of Our Faith is More Precious Than Gold

"Life isn't fair. Why do I have to have so many trials? I'm tired of being ridiculed by those who do not keep the commandments".

When my Dad was serving his mission in Uruguay, he served in an area where he was robbed, beaten up, and/or held at gunpoint on several different occasions. He went through many trials and never wrote home to his family about them to keep them from worrying. At the end of the transfer, he met with his mission president and discussed everything that happened. At the end of the interview, President Ayala smiled and said: "Isn't it wonderful to see how much the Lord trusts Elder Black". It caused my dad to look at trials in a completely different light--and it's a perspective he's shared many times with my sisters and I as we were growing up. The Lord allows us to go through trials in order to cause us to grow. Parents and teachers challenge their children and students in order to see them grow into their own potential. The Lord tests us because He loves us. We allow our own children to suffer for a short time in order to teach them valuable lessons and to refine their character. The Lord does the same things with us. He's promised us that with Christ, we can overcome all things. Trials are often painful and uncomfortable--but they ARE bearable with Christ. The Lord has almost guaranteed our success if we will just humble ourselves and turn to Christ.

Christ was perfect. The literal example of perfection. But He suffered much more than any one of us could ever imagine. What gives us the right to think that we should be spared from suffering when we are so flawed and full of sin and mistakes? If the one perfect person to ever walk the earth was given trials, than we most definitely will be.

"But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye; and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled;" 1 Peter 3:14

As we do the right thing and as we follow Christ, we will probably make a few enemies along the way. Christ's way is not the way of the world, and the world enjoys mocking those who try to do what Christ would have them do. It's not easy. But when we are persecuted, we should remember the REASONS behind our persecution and find joy. Salvation was never intended to be easy. And our reward will be that much greater if we can bear it well.

FDRL213 Week 5: Works of Righteousness (Hebrews 13)

In chapter 13 in the book of Hebrews, Paul strongly encourages the continuation of brotherly love towards all. We should work to be kind towards strangers, because in doing so we are being kind to the angels--we're just unaware of it. As we find people who are suffering, we should respond with empathy and act as if we were the ones who were suffering. Marriage is honorable. We need to be content with the things that we have, and not have conversations full of covetousness. Christ is the same "yesterday, today, and forever". We are sanctified through Christ. We should humbly submit ourselves to those that rule over us and pray for them.

FDL212 Week 4 Unit 2: Jesus Christ is Greater Thean Angels

According to the 'Analysis of Hebrews' in the Bible Dictionary under 'Epistle to the Hebrews', these are those points emphasizing Christ's superiority:

• Christ is greater than the angels: more excellent name and inheritance, as well as a higher calling; they are servants but he is the Son
• The word of angels' are important, but Christ's words are the most important
• Christ is greater than Moses; Moses was a faithful servant but Christ was a faithful son
• Christ's word is superior
• Christ is a high priest of Melchizedek and is superior to the high priests of the Law of Moses

In the first chapter of Hebrews, Paul teaches about Christ. The 3 main points he makes are: Christ is in the image of the Father, Christ is the Only Begotten Son of the Father, and that Christ is above even the angels.

Christ came to earth to suffer for the sins of all and redeem mankind. He came to gain perfect understanding of what we go through. "For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted" (Hebrews 2:18). When He was on the earth, Christ endured temptations. He knows what it feels like and with this perfect empathy of our trials He is the perfect one to be able to save us from our sins. Christ is the perfect example of how we should live our lives. "The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?" (D&C 122:8)

FDRL213 Week 4 Unit 1: Be Thou An Example of the Believers

"In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;" "But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works."--1 Timothy 2:9-10

Paul's emphasis on dress standards are much different than the standards that are popular in today's world. He emphasizes modesty and sobriety, not going too extravagantly fancy or worldly. Our good works help us profess our true godliness and Paul advises us to focus more on our deeds than our appearance. While in these verses he is speaking directly to women, his words apply to all members of the church. As we learn in both verse 18 as well as verse 36 in section 61 of Doctrine and Covenants, "what I [the Lord] say unto one I say unto all". Men should take Paul's counsel on dress standards.

We learn in the church that are bodies are sacred and place a lot of emphasis on respecting our bodies. As we read in Moses 6:9, we have been created in the literal image of God--our bodies were created to look like He does. In Mosiah 2:37, King Benjamin warns his people about disobeying the Spirit. The Spirit of the Lord does not dwell in unclean or unholy temples. So if we are choosing to do evil rather than doing what we know to be right, we cannot have the Spirit with us because we are ourselves. Our bodies are the temple for the Spirit to reside in. In Alma 41:2, we come to understand that when we are resurrected, we believe our soul will be restored to our bodies. From these three verses, we understand more about why we need to respect our bodies: we're created in the image of God, our bodies are temples for the Spirit to reside in, and at the Resurrection we will need our bodies to be reunited with our souls. Once we understand why we believe our bodies are so important, we don't want to exploit them or dress in ways that showcases our bodies to be less than holy. Alma 1:32 lists 'wearing costly apparel' as one key indicator that separated those who didn't belong to the church from those that did. If we believe in Christ, our actions and all that we do in our lives should reflect that belief. That includes the way that we dress.

Later on in 1 Timothy, Paul is discussing the apostasy that will happen in the latter-day times. Some of the evidences of this apostasy that he mentions are:

• Listening to 'seducing spirits'
• Listening to the 'doctrine of the devil'
• Being hypocritical 
• Spreading lies
• Very intense feelings of guilt
• Choosing not to get married

"Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity."--1 Timothy 4:12

The above verse was used to as a theme for the youth of the church when I was a laurel and has been one of my favorite verses ever since. Paul is very clear: no one should scoff at your beliefs because of your age. I know several close friends who have felt very inadequate as they have gone to serve their missions. If we have strong faith in Christ at a young age, that is all the more reason to be joyful and is nothing to feel ashamed about. We should be proud of our beliefs and feel confident as we live a life that others can see and follow our example.

Paul is very blunt when it comes to money and the love of money. Many people have fallen away from the truth because they have been too distracted and preoccupied trying to get more money. We are born with no money to our name and we will have no money when we die. The love of money can be very dangerous to our eternal salvation. We must be careful to be moderate and strive more for the things of the Lord rather than for financial gain. Paul gives good guidelines that we can check to see where we stand when it comes to the desire for money. We must trust more in God than we do in money and we must be willing to help those in need as often as we are able. Good works will do more good for us in the eternal scheme of things than a fat wallet will.

FDRL212 Week 3 Unit 1: Baptism

According to chapter 6 in the book of Romans, before we are baptized we must become dead to sin. Baptism is to symbolize Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. Sprinkling does not fulfill that because there is very little action involved. Baptism by immersion involves the person being baptized being lowered into the Christ and figuratively dying in our sin, and gaining new life as they are raised up to Christ in righteous obedience. We can keep this 'newness of life' by using our body as an instrument of righteous rather than that of an instrument of sin. Our bodies are gifts from God. In order to keep living a righteous life, we must dedicate our lives to living in a way that the Lord can use us as a tool to bring about his righteousness.

Mosiah 3:19 states: "For 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, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father".

According to this verse in Mosiah, ideally our natural man would die at baptisms. We would no longer want to do the things of the world and would, instead, want to do what Christ would have us do.

Romans 6 discusses knowing whose servant we are. We are given two choices: become a servant of sin or a servant of obedience. Servants of obedience are righteous and will be blessed, whereas servants of sin will find only death. It is very black and white--no grey area. Those things that we do out of faithful of obedience will cause us to be servants of obedience and righteousness. Things that detract from the Spirit and lead us farther away from Christ will leave us a servant of sin.

True freedom comes when we give up our sin, and turn to Christ as we lead lives of righteous obedience.

FDRL 212 Unit 3 Choice #7--Gifts of the Spirit

In 1 Corinthians 12 and in D&C 84, we are given instruction intended to strengthen members who might be inadequate when called to serve in certain capacities. It is given as an analogy: each member of the church is like a different body part all working in different ways with the same goal of creating a functioning body. Some members are the eyes, some are the ears, some are the head, and some are the feet. Each member of the church has a specific role to play and the Lord gives callings because He has arranged for us to help and strengthen each other. There is a "...need [for] every member, that all may be edified, that the system may be kept perfect".

Paul says that it's good to desire spiritual gifts, but the "more excellent way" is to have charity first. He provides a list of attributes that come with charity, as well as a list of characteristics that are not charitable.

Charity is NOT:

• Envying
• Vaunteth itself
• Not puffed up
• Behaves unseemly
• Easily provoked
• Seeketh her own
• Thinketh evily
• Rejoices in iniquity

Charity IS

• Long-suffering
•  Kind
• Rejoices in truth
• Bears all things
• Believes all things
• Hopes all things
• Endures all things
• Comes with faith and hope
• Never fails

I feel the area that I could work to improve falls under the description of "behaves unseemly". While I don't think that my behaviors are necessarily immoral, sometimes goofyness and peer pressure causes me to behave in ways that might be considered unseemly. I would like to be able to smooth out some of these rough edges in order to have the Spirit more prominently in my life and have my behavior a more consistent example that reflects what I believe.

FDRL 212 Unit 3 Choice #1: The Impact of Example

According to 1 Corinthians 4:2, the servants of the Lord are required to be found faithful. The apostles were the group specifically named to be examples in 1 Corinthians 4:9-17. In the early days of the church, the members were still new and unsure how to act. They looked to the apostles to see how they should live their lives because the church was still so new and there was no precedent of behavior to follow at that time. The apostles were CONSTANTLY being looked at so the early members could follow their example. But we do not have that problem now. The church has been restored for over 190 years and the expectations for behavior has been set. Now, we the members are expected to live in a way that our behavior will be a good reflection of our beliefs and of the church so that we can set an example for non-members. In Alma 39, Alma is talking with his son about his behavior. Alma makes it very clear: his son's behavior has caused many good people to go astray from the church and that his son will have to be held accountable for that. We cannot ever be sure of who is watching our behavior or how our behavior might cause another person to justify their own sins. Personally, I would not want to be accountable for another person's sins because they fell away because of my poor example.

When we live what we truly know, people will be able to better trust our word. In the first verse of 3 Nephi chapter 8, the people know that their records are accurate because the man who was in charge of keeping them was a just man. The people all had faith and trust in him because this man was known for using his faith in Christ for completing many miracles. This man (whose name is never given) had such a reputation of faith and good deeds that people had no doubts of his integrity in keeping the records.

FDRL212 Unit 2 Choice #6: Counsel for Members

For my second Student Choice Assignment, I decided to choose option #6 which gave me a list of verses to read in 1st and 2nd Thessalonians and go over what Paul counsels the members to do. I previously had read what Paul counseled missionaries to do for my first Student Choice Assignment this week and, since I'm not a full-time missionary, I decided to take this opportunity to look at where I stand in relation to what Paul says members of the church should be doing. I made a list of the attributes Paul mentions that member should be improving upon and here is my list:

• Increase love for all men--both in and outside of the church
• Do what you know to be right
• Abstain from fornication
• Life a life of sanctity and honor
• Do not defraud your brother
• Study to be quiet
• Do your own business
• Work with your own hands
• Be honest
• Be holy
• Be a child of the light: watch and be sober
• Comfort & edify each other
• Be at peace together
• Follow that which is good
• Pray unceasingly and with gratitude
• Do not despise prophesies or prophets
• Put on the breastplate of faith & love, and the helmet of salvation
• Warn those saints who are unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak
• Be patient with all men
• Rejoice! Be happy! :) 
• Abstain from the appearance of evil

 One of the principles that most stuck out to me was "study to be quiet". The other attributes I was expecting to be on a list of things that members of the church should be doing, but that one really caught me off-guard. We're often told to lead lives that will invite the Spirit to influence and guide us, but I've never really heard anyone be told to study to be quiet. It's an interesting concept and I'm sure that I don't understand all of the full meanings of it now. But it's one that has definitely stuck out to me. As I've worked on homework today, I've tried to create an environment where the Spirit could speak to my heart and help teach me. I think that's the beginning of studying to be quiet. But there's so much more to it... It's a fascinating concept and one that I really would like to study more about.

The other principle that really stuck out to me was Paul's emphasis on rejoicing. A whole verse was dedicated to it. As members of the church, we really have so much to be happy about. But are we really happy? I know that in my case, I don't think I am. There are always little things that I let effect my mood: I don't have a date this week, my roommates haven't done their dishes yet, my sister posted a picture on Facebook showing her using the purse I left at home and I just hate it when she steals my stuff----the list can go on and on. I feel like this concept of rejoicing goes hand in hand with Paul's urge to be patient with everyone. We know the truth. There is no reason why we should not be happy. But likewise, we're all still human. So we need to be patient with those around us. When I journal every night, I want to start journaling the GOOD things that happen in my day and the blessings that I receive rather than the things that are troubling me. Likewise, I want to be better about increasing my patience by serving those who I find myself becoming impatient with. 

FDRL 212: Introduction Week--Acts 7 The Martyrdom of Stephen

Martyrdom of Stephen

Foundations Religion 212-11
Intro Week Acts 1-15
Choice #4 "The Martyrdom of Stephen" (Acts 7)

This is my first post for my online New Testament class and this week we were studying in the book of Acts. For my student choice assignment, I chose to read more in chapter 7 concerning the martyrdom of Stephen.

In chapter 6 in the book of Acts, we read about Stephen being called. He is said to be "full of faith and power, [and] did great wonders and miracles among the people" (Acts 6:8). In chapter 8, Stephen accuses the people of being stiffnecked and resisting the Holy Ghost just as their fathers did before them. He says that many prophets who testified of Christ were killed by their fathers. Stephen's words hurt the people and they felt guilty. One of the footnotes for this verse led me to 1 Nephi 15:2 in the Book of Mormon where Nephi has been talking with his brothers Laman and Lemuel.

"And I knew that I said unto them that I knew that I had spoken hard things against the wicked, according to the truth...wherefore the guilty taketh the truth to be hard, for it cutteth them to the very center." (1 Nephi 15:2).

In the middle of all of this, Stephen looks up to see God the Father and his son Jesus Christ standing on his right hand. In my scriptures, I had this verse marked as one of the scripture mastery verses I studied in seminary. The LDS church is one that is unique in our belief in the Godhead rather than the Trinity. We believe that God, Christ, and the Holy Ghost are 3 individual beings. Stephen's vision is a confirmation of that belief. Joseph Smith saw two personages--Heavenly Father and Christ--and Stephen saw them as two different individuals as well.

After Stephen says he sees Heavenly Father and Christ, the people throw him outside of the city and stone him to death. I knew that when Christ was hanging on the cross, He plead with the Father saying "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do". Reading Acts 7:60 was just an amazing testimony to me of how Christlike this man truly was.

"And he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep" (Acts 7:60).

All of the references and footnotes in this scripture led to verses in which Christ is counseling his disciples to be Christlike towards their enemies. "Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you" (Luke 6:28). Stephen's prayer is along those exact same lines---in his final moments, he asks the Lord to forgive the men who are killing him.

In this same assignment, I'm asked to turn to the book of Mosiah in the Book of Mormon to compare Stephen's death with Abinadi's. Abinadi's final words are perhaps less Christlike, but equally powerful in testimony. Stephen was an apostle and Abinadi was a prophet. Both men sealed their testimonies with their lives because they would not deny the words they had said. The testimonies of both men later led to the conversion of two highly influential men in the gospel--Saul/Paul in the New Testament and Alma in the Book of Mormon.

Stephen's testimony has an impact on me because, to me, it is the perfect example of pure Christlike love. His very last words were pleading with the Father on the behalf of his murderers. Abinadi, to me, is perhaps the most inspiring missionary in the scriptures. He gave his life for his faith and would not renounce his God---even though there appeared to be no one that was affected by his mission and his message. He was not counting his success by the number of baptisms he got--Abinadi was preaching the gospel because he loved the Lord. There's no record of Abinadi performing any baptisms---but that's not to say that he didn't. What we DO know is that because of his testimony, 450 people are later baptized with Alma. And that to me is pretty powerful.

Why I'm Blogging

So...this is blogging, huh? Interesting...very interesting... We'll see how this works out. I'm still trying to figure out how this whole set-up works, so be patient with me for a little bit :)

But I'm starting an online New Testament class this week and when I was reading through the syllabus, I saw that my professor is giving us options as to the format of how we'll do the assignments for his class. Kudos to him--I like having options! :) I could talk with a friend every week on the subject...or write an essay every week...or make a blog post every week. And so, here I am :) I have no idea how much 'actual blogging' I'll get done--it very well might be all focused on Acts through Revelations. I'll either procrastinate and never post anything other than homework on this blog OR I'll procrastinate those nitty-gritty "real life" things (aka homework) by blogging a lot of excess life ramblings.

Naming things is HARD. I didn't realize this, but there are actually quite a lot of articles published on Google about how to name your blog. I don't know how well I adhered to their 'rules' of naming a blog, but they had interesting concepts. Facebook friends were a lot of help with some pretty pun-y naming suggestions (thanks guys!). Having the last name Black opens a lot of doors for some pretty creative blog names. But I wanted a name that meant something, so I started with Pinterest and looked at all of the 'inspirational' quotes I've pinned recently. Turns out, I have a lot of things with the theme of light and sunshine spread throughout. After Googling for a bit, I found a quote on sunshine that I really just fell in love with.

"Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine" Anthony J. D'Angelo

I'm not a constantly happy ball of sunshine. My family and close friends can attest to that. But you know what: I want to try.

So this is my blog. Happy reading, folks! :)