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.

FDRL 212 Week 3 Unit 2: Live as Saints Should Live

Romans 13:11 "And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed."

It's very easy to fall into a mindset of procrastination when it comes to thinking of salvation:"Oh I have plenty of time--I'll worry about that later".  But we're told in this verse in Romans that we should avoid that way of thinking because we don't have as much time as we think that we do. Ezekial 3:20 warns us against living righteous lives the majority of time, but sinning a little here and there. God WILL remember our sins. D&C 14:7 tells us that in order to qualify for eternal life, we have to keep the commandments and endure the end. It is a constant way of life, rather than checking off a checklist for a 1 time activity.

In Romans chapters 12-13, we are given a list of activities from Paul that he believes will help us achieve eternal life. They are:

• Give our bodies as a holy sacrifice to the Lord
• Do not conform to the world
• Renew your mind (learn a lot!) and constantly look for the things which are good
• Abhor evil things
• Cleave to things that are good
• Be hospitable; help those that are in need
• Overcome evil with good
• Subject your soul to the higher powers of God
• Do good things
• Love one another
• Keep the commandments

In chapter 14, Paul warns against judging another person. At the end of our lives, we will have to account for our actions and our lives to God--so who are we to judge how another person will live their life? That business is between the individual person and the Lord. Paul says that our responsibility is to make sure that we are not putting stumblingblocks in the way of another person. We should not be making life any harder for those around us. We should work to please those around us. Christ was very selfless and we should be equally selfless. D&C 38:25-27 give us an excellent parable about not judging others. God is no respecter of persons and therefore will not favor one person above another. Just as a parent wouldn't give one child everything while leaving the other child out in the cold, God will not treat us unfairly. If we feel that someone else is being treated either better or worse by the Lord than we are, then we obviously do not have the whole story and should not be passing judgment on the other person.

In his day, Paul frequently referred to members of the church as "saints".

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.

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 Unit 2 Choice 5: Counsel for Missionaries

This week, I chose to do option #5 for my first student assignment. For this choice, I had to read selected verses out of 1st and 2nd Thessalonians and pull out different concepts that would relate to specific actions missionaries should do in order to strengthen their message. These are some of the actions that Paul mentions:

• Be grateful and always give thanks to God
• Pray always--specifically pray for those you're serving for
• Remember that it is a labor of love and have patience of hope
• Teach by the Holy Ghost and be gentle
• Be bold in your God: speak to please God rather than men
• Don't use flattering words and don't seek for your own glory
• Let your investigators and those you serve/teach become dear to you
• Be holy, just, and unblameable 
• Realize it is the word of God you are teaching rather than the word of man
• Behave in a way so that your investigators, converts, and new members can follow your example.

I think for me, one of the most emphasized points that Paul makes is that missionaries need to behave in a way that sets a good example for those they teach. Missionaries are introducing people to the gospel for the very first time. Meeting those elders (or sisters) could be the first interaction with a member of the church that an investigator has. Missionaries have a solemn responsibility. If they do not behave appropriately, the Spirit will not be able to teach the investigators as effectively as He otherwise might be able to do. I've never had the opportunity to serve a mission and even with the change in age for sisters, I do not feel like I have been called to serve in that capacity at this time. But I have many friends who have served and as I write them letters, it has been interesting to see which of my friends have followed the rules set for a missionary with exactness...and which of my friends haven't quite hit the mark yet. Paul emphasizes over and over again the need for the missionaries to really LOVE those whom they serve.

"So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us" 1 Thessalonians 1:8

It would be one thing for Paul to just write "love those you serve", but he doesn't. He exhorts them to "impart [their] own souls". There should be a deeper and more lasting love between missionaries and those that they teach. This love should be more than compassion and service. It should be Christlike love. While I'm not called to serve in this official capacity, this is something I would like to strive for in my own missionary efforts. When I share the gospel with those I am close with, I want to have more than just compassion for them. I really would like to impart my own soul to them.

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! :)