Reflection 3
While reading the book of Mormon I realized there are a lot of principles applicable to my everyday life. Even though the book of Mormon was written during ancient times, gospel principles have remained with us through the work of the prophets and God’s guidance. We have also being able to see how contention between brethren has stop us from following God’s plan, but we also learn through their mistakes how to create a better future and avoid vicious cycles. It is true that, sometimes, our pride blinds us by creating a fog around our friends and family. We are not able to take the right decisions, at least not by our own. That is why we always rely in the light or spirit of Christ to guide us towards finding salvation. During Helaman’s speech I remember having read how he exhorted his people to repent of their sins. We may need to take that first step towards repentance, which is not always easy. Our prayers may not be responded immediately and most likely if we don’t pray about what the Father wants us we won’t ever receive an answer. We must ponder the changes our lif...
“To many of us, our beliefs are of fundamental importance. For me the teaching of Christ and my own personal accountability before God provide a framework in which I try to lead my life, I like so many of you, have drawn great comfort in difficult times from Christ’s words and example.”
Recognizing God is a part of our vocation within community can be confusing for us, how can we serve God in the different venues of our life when the world teaches such differing views? We are encouraged to share our witness, testimony, and service within our families, workplace, and our social settings. Family includes the household within our life touching upon each role parent, child, and spouse. It becomes acceptable to compartmentalize the areas of our life and serve in comfortable areas. Consumerism and societal pressures challenge us to withdraw from the Spirit when we feel intimidated, out of place, or even unworthy of God’s involvement in our life. We are called to be “the salt of the earth”, accepting the challenge to unite God’s calling upon our whole-life. According to Migliore, “United in Christ by the power of the Spirit we are one community; we are members of one body and mutually dependent on one another. Recognizing God works with all areas of community unites families, workplace, and social settings together.
The book of Matthew chapter 5 through 7 was known as, “The Sermon on the Mount”. Which were words spoken by Jesus Christ. The purpose of this Sermon was to show representation of the normative foundation of Christian Morality. For instance, this passage was more so fixated on whole hearted benevolence towards others around you and genuine devotion to God.
...stood and from our perspective, we clearly see the goals and the reasons behind it. We know what is correct and desirable in Hashem’s eyes and our job is to follow the correct path. Let us not be discouraged, but used it as a motivation to serve and pray our God wholeheartedly.
In The DNA of Relationships, there were two things that made me aware of what I had not thought of doing. First, I was aware that I shouldn’t give others the power to control my feelings. The statement stood out to me about how I can focus on the person and take the right steps of personal responsibility to refuse attention of what the person has done. The “not giving anyone the power to control my feelings” statement interacted me that I should give care to those who the person is, rather than what the person had done, that would build up our relationships. From here, I see the concept fitting me into my understanding of my faith and the Gospel in daily living. When I will be open to people that would have problems, I will help the person, but not the problem. Second, I was aware that I couldn’t force the other person to change. The statement stood out to me about how I cannot change people or even their personalities because they are not me
The church is a hierarchy that is lead by the priesthood. In order to receive the priesthood, one must be male. In The Proclamation, it says about men “By divine design fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families” (lds.org). The word preside means to have authority over something, in this case the family. Since the church is a similitude of the family, almost all the leaders are men. The only general leadership positions held by women are in the individual youth and children organization, and Relief Society, the leading women’s organization in the church. When The Proclamation talks about mothers its say “Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children” (lds.org).To many, this is a negative claim and sits as a point of opposition from feminist groups. Till this day, the gender roles of men and women continue to be debated in the Mormons church, and society.
Overall, the real question in the end after reflection, inquiry, and acknowledgement is whether I, or any other, can choose to trust in God. Will we choose to rise above our insecurities and habits, and do what promotes justice? Will we have the “courage to be” during this difficult realization, and the courage to choose God over ourselves? If, and when we do, we will realize the only thing more important than our insecurities are the people God tells us to call our brothers, and sisters in our greater community.
It was 1820 when Mormonism was born. Joseph Smith, Jr. was a religion man who founded the Mormon Church. Born on December 23, 1805 to Joseph Smith, Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith who were poor and uneducated farmers. Many Americans persecuted Smith, Jr. but he was also accepted by many as well. Smith has been regarded as one of the most controversial men of our time because of his different way of teaching. Joseph Smith and his followers were driven out of numerous states because of the persecution they received from their fellow Americans. Joseph Smith had a successor who led the church after the death of Smith, Brigham Young. Young led the Mormons to Utah where they have been settled ever since.
A ‘new religion’ is hard to define because scholars have not come up with a true definition of what a religion is. There are many different definitions of religion and what elements a practice must have in order to be defined as a religion. Along with new religions come sects and cults. Sects are movements where the people strayed away from the primary religion in order to create a new form that was seen to be “purer form of the faith,” according to A Concise Introduction to World Religion (Oxtoby Segal 573) These sects would normally be stricter than the primary religion and try to set themselves apart. These sects do not normally last long and they end up dying out and turning into the primary religion again. A cult was just another word for “worship” or at times “religion,” however today the term is normally always viewed in a negative manner. Today a cult is viewed as a group that attempts to brainwash its believers, which is not the case. It is no longer easy to differentiate the different between cults and sects. According to the textbook cults share many traits, like “Cults typically claim to have some special knowledge or insight, or revealed through contact with spirits. Their practice often includes rituals designed to promote ecstatic experiences, and they tend to focus more on individual spiritual experience than institutional organization.” (Oxtoby Segal 573) The most common attribute of different cults would be the leader that is a very powerful person to its followers. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as Mormonism is a popular ‘new religion.’
...mately takes our lives.” She is consistently but subtly challenging the orthodoxy of Mormonism. (http://www.insideoutsidemag.com/archives/articles/2001/09/terry_tempest_williams.asp)
I am a Christian. I have always wondered and been curious about other religions, especially Mormonism, scince they also call themselves "Christians". If you just stop and think for a minute and see that there are more are about 33% Christians (Banks), and about 15,000,000 people who are Mormon around the world ("Facts"). That is a lot of people that are Christian and Mormon or maybe they just talk the talk and don't walk the walk. Wouldn't you want to know more about these two religions and why so many people are involved with them? Mitt Romney was running for President a couple of years ago, and he was even Mormon! It is all very interesting to learn more about these religions. There is a ton of controversy between Mormonism and Christianity. Some questions are... Who is Joseph Smith? How did Mormonism and Christianity start? How is God real? Are all the stories in the Bible true? And many more. Some say Christianity and Mormonism is a cult, but with the Book of Mormon, and the Holy Bible, the truth can be revealed.
The Confessions of Saint Augustine tells of the events and life choices that Saint Augustine made through his life which eventually led him to converting to Christianity. This was not an easy or quick process for Saint Augustine, just as many members of the LDS church spend a great deal of time truly converting to the gospel. Saint Augustine’s conversion and also LDS members’ process of becoming truly converted, shares many similarities. Both involve trials, growing from those trials, an ongoing process, and a significant change. In order to understand the importance of what becoming truly converted means to a Mormon, there must be distinguishing factors between this and just being a convert to the Mormon Church.
“Salvation is evident in the human response in faith, love, and a certain gallantry to the challenges of the world – discrimination, death, poverty, disease, handicaps. It is the unexpected response, unexplained save through the inspiration of the Spirit of God, the work of God’s grace.”(Bullock, James R. Whatever Became of Salvation? Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1979. Print.) I really like this short statement, it explains how salvation is a way to deal with the evil of the world, by simply recognizing that God is truly the only way to live a fulfill life, with a sense of purpose. But the first question we ask ourselves when we decide to get saved is, how, the correct question we should be asking is “what does it mean to get saved? Too often we describe being saved as “getting” or “having” Jesus Christ as our “personal” Lord and Savior. I am part of that population who thought that “getting” or “having” Jesus Christ as our “personal” Lord and Savior was giving you the authority to say “I am saved” or “I am a believer/ Christian.” But like the saying goes “Actions speak louder than words”, to truly be a believer of Jesus Christ, it is not only accepting Him as your Lord and Savior but to also show His love through you. “Salvation is...
God and the Bible’s teachings are used as a framework to find meaning in life and purpose of human presence. Purpose resides in every human’s potential to strive for peace, seek equality, nurture relationships and the environment to achieve harmony with the earth (Valk, 2012). “Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my savior and my hope is in you all day long” (Ps 25:5). The Holy Spirit, known as God’s active force and His power in action (Lk 1:35), is used as a guide by Christians to ascertain and determine what is right. “We choose to act based on good thinking, scripture and prayer, and the Holy Spirit helps us discern the right alternatives” (Shelly & Miller, 2006, p. 89). In seeing others as the image of God, choosing what is right from wrong is influenced by beliefs cultural background and respect for one another. In this religious culture, the tendency to do wrong is seen as sinfulness. However, it is the admission of sin that leads Christians to Jesus Christ to find and experience God’s forgiveness (Shelly & Miller, 2006). The recognition of sin and eventual redemption strengthens the relationship with God which directs a life of service to humanity (Shelly & Miller,
Repentance is essential when it comes to salvation. One must repent of his or her sins to truly believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. As it has been correctly stated, “Repentance and faith are two sides of the same coin.” One cannot repent unless he or she believes in Jesus Christ. Paul said in 2 Timothy 2:25, “God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth.” This sums up the relationship between saving faith and repentance.