Christlike Attributes

 Hey everyone!

I am almost done with the New Testament. This has been a great semester filled with lots of learning experiences and newfound love for the Holy Bible.

This week I was reading in 2 Peter about some of the Christlike Attributes that we should have. In Chapter 1 verses 5-7 it lists attributes that we should add to our lives beginning with faith and ending with charity.

Faith is the first attribute on this list. Faith is the desire to follow Jesus Christ even though we can't see Him. Faith is an active word. If we do not act on our faith, then it is good for nothing. I don't think it is a coincidence that faith is the first attribute because it leads us to action. It leads us to follow the rest of the attributes.

The next one on the list is virtue. Virtue is a higher, holier way of living. It includes keeping your thoughts, words, and actions clean. We are meant to think clean, speak clean, and act clean. When we put our faith in Jesus Christ, we want to be cleaner than we are now. Virtue helps us out with that.

Knowledge is next. When we are faithful and we are clean, we are open to learning and receiving the things that the Lord will have us learn. When our minds are not filled with unclean thoughts we have the potential to learn and grow in our knowledge.

Next is temperance. Some of the things that we will learn may be hard for us to understand and sometimes the way that we learn is through trials and hard times. When we are temperate, we are slow to anger, slow to question why things in our life are happening the way that they are. We are calm, peaceful and understanding that sometimes, the lessons we are to learn take time.

After temperance is patience. Temperance and patience are similar but are not exactly the same. Temperance means one is slow to anger but patience means you submit willingly to whatever the Lord asks you to do. Patience means being able to kind, calm and unaffected by the hard things that go on in your life. Patience is key for learning.

Godliness comes after patience. Godliness means having the ability to put off the natural man and become more like God. Godliness means not reverting back to our old habits and regressing back to where we began. It means moving forward and continually trying to be the best versions of ourselves. It, like virtue, is a higher way of living. It means being more than who we are naturally.

Brotherly kindness is the next one. When we have reached the point where we are faithful, virtuous, knowledgeable, temperate, patient and godly, our entire outlook changes. Suddenly we are more kind to those around us. We have new eyes, a new way of looking at the world and we are more kind to those around us. Brotherly kindness goes beyond just being kind to those we like; it extends to being kind to our enemies or those that we do not like.

Finally the last attribute is charity. Charity is the pure love of Christ. It is unconditional, never-ending, and constant. After passing through the rest of these attributes, we arrive at charity. Like brotherly kindness, charity extends to everyone. We love everyone that we meet as God loves them. We see them the way that God sees them. And we become like God eventually.

Of course, there are other attributes that are not mentioned that are important as well such as hope and diligence that are just as important. Another thing to keep in mind is that we are not perfect. All of us are at different points in our lives. One person may be very good at faith, but struggles with temperance. Or one person may be very good at charity, but struggles with knowledge. All of us are different and we all have different trials in our lives.

The point is that God wants us to return to live with Him. This, tied together with the Gospel of Jesus Christ can set us in the right direction to eventually become like He is. As we are faithful and diligent in our journey, we can have the hope to return to live with Heavenly Father again.

Faith throughout the Holy Bible

 This week I was reading in the New Testament again and I was in the Book of Hebrews. I have grown to love the Bible and especially the New Testament in the past couple of years and Hebrews did not disappoint. One of the scriptures that stood out to me this week was in Hebrews Chapter 11 verse 1. It reads: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

In one of our other Books of Scripture in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, called the Book of Mormon, another prophet, named Alma, explains this in a little bit more depth. He says, "And now as I said concerning faith— faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true." (Alma 32:21).

Another Book of Mormon prophet named Moroni also said, "And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith." (Ether 12:6).

In Chapter 11 of Hebrews, Paul goes on to talk about Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Sara just to name a few. He shares with us the ways that their faith was tested and tried. This is a repeating theme in the scriptures and it reminds me that faith is key in the Gospel.

Upon further study of faith, we learn that we don't need to have a perfect knowledge of everything in order to have it. Faith is the desire to believe in things which we cannot see. Faith is putting trust in a divine being that will help us when we need him. Faith leads us to become better. Faith leads to action.

Whenever things get hard in our lives, it may be easy to just give up on everything. Especially now where the future seems so bleak. Even though life can get hard sometimes, faith helps us have hope for a brighter future. Faith helps us through those hard times. We just have to put our trust in God and know that He know better than we do and that He is in control.

The Mediator

 Hey Everyone!

This week I wanted to post about something that I read about in the New Testament. It's found in 1 Timothy 2:5 and it says, "5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;"

Jesus Christ has many names. One of my favorites is "Mediator" because He paid the price for our sins. We have the ability to repent and return to live with Heavenly Father because of Him.

This also reminds me of a story. There was a certain man who borrowed a large sum from another man with the agreement that it would be paid in full at a later date. However, when the date did come around the first man (the debtor) couldn't pay back the money that he borrowed from the second man (the creditor) in full. And so, the debtor was to be put in prison because of what happened. The creditor wanted justice to be satisfied while the debtor wanted mercy shown. The demands of justice and mercy cannot be satisfied in this situation without a third party: a mediator.

The debtor had a friend that offered to help him out. He offered to pay back the creditor in full and have the debtor work for him in order to back his debt completely. In this way, the creditor was able to receive justice and receive his money and the debtor was able pay back the money he owed at a later date.

This story is a parable of how our lives are. Heavenly Father is the creditor in this story and we are all the debtors. Heavenly Father has given us everything that we could ever want in our lives. There is no possible way that we could ever pay him back for all of the things that He has done for us. One of the things that He asks us to do us is to keep the commandments and to be perfect eventually. Well, as humans, none of us are perfect and some of us have a long way to go in order to reach perfection. 

We are going to make mistakes in our lives and the only way that we have even a small chance to be with Him again is through a third party: a mediator. The Mediator is Jesus Christ. Because of all of the sins that we have committed, we cannot possibly suffer for all of them. We're not capable of taking that much pain upon ourselves. That is why Heavenly Father prepared the Savior for us. Without the power of the Atonement and without the Mediator, there would be no point to our lives. We wouldn't have the opportunity to grow or to learn from our mistakes. We wouldn't be able to be forgiven. We would have to suffer the penalty of our sins.

Righteousness and Obedience

 Hey Everyone!

One of the scriptures that I came across in my New Testament study this week is found in the Book of Romans Chapter 5 verse 19. The scripture says, "For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." 

I really like this scripture. This makes me think about about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how it has helped me become more righteous in my life. As natural humans, we all sin. We all have the ability to choose between right and wrong. Heavenly Father has made it so that we can decide whether we want to be obedient and keep his commandments or whether we want to sin and be disobedient.

Because we all sin, we distance ourselves away from God and this makes it hard for the Spirit to be with us and for us to receive revelation for ourselves. It also makes us unhappy. It may bring temporary happiness for a little while and may even be pleasurable. But, even with keeping that in mind, it doesn't bring eternal happiness.

A lot of things that are temporal or things of the earth, are not lasting. We need to eat to keep ourselves from starving; we need to drink water to keep ourselves hydrated; we need sleep to rest and recover and so on. Things that are spiritual, however, have an eternal effect on us. For example, reading our scriptures every day will help us to resist temptation, getting sealed in the temple will help us to have an eternal family. These things that are righteous have lasting effects on us.

I enjoyed this scripture a lot. It helped me to remember why we are obedient and why we need the Gospel in our lives.

Baptisms for the Dead and the Temple

 Hey everyone!

I wanted to talk about something that has been on my mind for this week.

For the majority of my life, I haven't lived particularly close to the temple. For those of you who don't know, a temple is kind of like a church except more special. It is literally the House of God. There aren't as many temples in the world as churches which makes them even more special.

Growing up in New Jersey, we lived about 4 hours away from the closest temple, which is in Washington D.C. Then we got moved to the Manhattan New York Temple District, and finally ended up in the Philadelphia Pennsylvania Temple District when I went on my mission. Going to Saint George was amazing; we had 2 temples in our mission along with a 3rd one being built while I was serving there and a 4th temple that was announced after I got home. The temple is such a special place for me and I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to be around them for the majority of my mission.

One of the things that we preform in the temple is baptisms for the dead. Heavenly Father wants all of His children to return to him. So, he gives all of His children the opportunity to hear His Word whether it be in this life or the next. If somebody accepts the Gospel after they die, they still need to be baptized in order to return to live with God again. So, our job is to be baptized on behalf of that person.

Now, not everyone will accept the Gospel when they die. We don't force people to be baptized; we are baptized for them and they can either accept or reject the baptism or the Gospel. This is why the Gospel is so important to me and why I love this Gospel.

The Importance of Baptism and the Gift of the Holy Ghost

     Hey Everyone!

    I wanted to share some things that I have studied this week in one of my classes.

    So, I am still going to school here in good old Rexburg, Idaho! I'm taking a New Testament class this semester and so far it's been pretty incredible. I studied the Old Testament over the year in 2020 and I decided to continue my gospel study with the New Testament going into 2021. I have grown to love the Bible and the things that it teaches.

    One of the things that stood out to me this week in my gospel studies is baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. In Acts 19, Paul teaches some new converts about receiving the Holy Ghost after baptism. This has also made me reflect on the things that I learned on my mission.

    I've been home from my mission in Saint George, Utah for a little over 3 years now. As a missionary, our purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ by teaching them the restored gospel and eventually leading them to the ordinance of baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. Even though that is our purpose as missionaries, we weren't always successful at it.

    For the majority of my mission, I did not see the fruits of my labors. I would serve in different cities across Southern Utah and many of the people that I visited and taught did not accept what was taught to them. Not only that, but if they did get baptized, I wasn't able to attend. This was very hard because it happened for almost the entirety of my mission.

    Even though this happened, I still felt like I did my best to touch their lives, even if it was only planting seeds and making small impressions. I still felt like what I was doing was super important even if people were not getting baptized. So, my message today is don't overlook the small things in life. Baptism and the Holy Ghost are super important but every little step taken towards that is just as important.

Conversion

This has been a topic that's been on my mind for a long time now.

What is conversion? Why is it important?

I grew up as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I remember that I lived off of my parents testimony as a child and well into my adolescent years. Life was good.

Well, mostly good.

Around the age of 14, I remember that I struggled with a lot of things. One of them was my own testimony. I began to have many questions about the Church and the truthfulness of it. One question I had was, "Well, what makes the LDS Church correct and the Catholic Church good but incorrect? Isn't every church good?" 

This went on for quite a while. I remember going to my bishop with some of these questions that I had and complaining about how I was struggling. He only gave me one piece of advice. Read the Book of Mormon.

Up to this point, I had participated in family scripture study and read from the Book of Mormon before, but I struggled with reading it on my own. I was committed. This time I was going to read it all the way through.

When I reached the end with the promise that Moroni gives to "ask if these things are not true," I decided to put it to the test. I got down on my knees and asked Heavenly Father whether or not the Book of Mormon was true. And guess what?

Nothing happened.

I wish I could tell you that I had this incredible and powerful experience where the Holy Ghost testified to me that the scriptures were true and that I received my testimony right then and there, but that's not what happened. Instead, I felt that I needed to press forward in faith.

That mostly happened.

I still went to church with my family, I still partook of the Sacrament each Sunday, and I still did the things that I felt like were right. This continued up until I was about 18 and my parents began discussing a mission for me. Outwardly, I told my parents exactly what they wanted to hear. I would on a mission and serve the Lord for 2 years. Inwardly, I secretly did not want to go. I was content with the way that things were and I didn't want to have make a huge lifestyle change.

That's not what God had planned for me.

In 2014-2015 I had a huge trial come up in my life. The biggest one in my life thus far. I was scared of the outcome and was worried, probably for selfish reasons. I remember kneeling down one day and praying to God more desperately than I have ever in my life. I told him that if he would help me through this trial, I would do whatever he wanted me to do. THIS TIME I know I got a distinct answer. I knew that God wanted me to prepare to serve a mission. I committed myself to do everything in my power to do just that.

This trial started in October of 2014 shortly after I graduated high school. I am happy to say that through a lot of help from my parents, working, and hard spiritual preparation, I was able to leave a year later to the best mission in the world: The Utah St. George Mission.

While on my mission, I still struggled with my testimony sometimes and had some unanswered questions about the Gospel. But in time, as I studied the Gospel and learned more about what we teach in the Church, it helped me to gain my own testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel.

Because of all of these experiences that I've had, I know without a doubt that this is the true Gospel. I have become completely converted through the help of my own experiences and the promptings of the Holy Ghost. If you are struggling with your testimony, and maybe feel like the heavens are closed or silent, remember that God loves you. He doesn't want you to be unhappy or confused but He does test you to make sure that you are faithful and will put your trust in Him. He wants what is best for you. So, keep pushing forward with faith!