Putting It All Together

Hello again!

This week I have been studying Alma 30-35 in the Book of Mormon.  It has been a great experience to reread about Alma the Younger's experiences with Korihor and the Zoramites.  I love how Alma is so very dedicated to his efforts to share the light of the gospel.  He teaches some amazing concepts as you read along.  I love, for example, his testimony to Korihor (who teaches that there is no God or that Christ would not come).  He teaches Korihor that everything in the universe shows that God exists.  Korihor could not prove that there is not a God beyond his alleging that no one can know such things.  Clearly, he was not feeling the Spirit or capable of doing so.  It is really hard for someone who hasn't felt the Spirit to understand that such a feeling can be had.  I think about Korihor and I wonder if he had ever felt the Spirit or if he had just been going through the motions because that was the acceptable thing to do in his family or community?  Was he even involved in religion prior to his efforts to tear it down?
Moving on, I really find the situation with the Zoramites to be an interesting one.  Within the LDS religion there have been groups of dissenters who have left the church for various reasons, sometimes forming their own religious organizations upon their excommunication.  I have some relations who were part of one of those groups in Southern Utah.  I wonder if there was a mass exodus of these "Zoramites" to a common area to practice their new religion or if they were just a community of people who were gradually persuaded to change their habits.  It is clear that they had developed a strange idea of how to worship God as opposed to what they had been taught as part of the church in the ancient Americas.  They had decided that they were a special group that God loved better than anyone else and they were going to be saved and everyone else were going to be damned.  They met weekly at their synagogue and offered a prayer on what they called a "holy stand."  They only offered one prayer and only one person offered it at a time from this stand.  That was the extent of their worship.  They then dispersed and nothing was said about religion or God from that point until the next week's service.
My concept of how religion should be is very different from what the Zoramites decided.  I believe a lot like Alma, that we should be involving God in our every day lives.  Alma took a group of missionaries to the Zoramites to try to help them improve their lives and return to the proper form of worshiping God.  What he found was that the rich or more well-to-do Zoramites didn't care what he had to say.  They were comfortable and needed nothing.  Or so they thought.  The poor Zoramites had a different experience.  They were treated badly by the more wealthy and were not allowed to worship in the synagogue that they built.  They were humbled by the experiences they had in their community, so they were willing to listen to the teachings of Alma.
One of the great sermons to be found in the Book of Mormon is taught by Alma to the Zoramite poor.  He teaches them about how to obtain faith and how to grow it inside of ourselves.  He compares the Word of God to a seed and allowing it to have a place in our hearts and nourishing it is developing our faith in the word.  I love how this makes sense.  When we allow ourselves to listen to the prophet or read the scriptures and then make a place for what we learn in our hearts, trying to do as we are taught or looking for opportunities to expand on what we have learned, we will find out for ourselves if the word is true.  Alma described the experience as a swelling within our hearts.
I had the experience of having the swelling feeling within my heart this week.  As I read the end of Alma chapter 33, the Spirit bore a strong witness of the truth of verses 21-23 to my heart.  Alma was teaching the Zoramites about how the Israelites failed to look at the bronze serpent to be healed from the poison serpent bites.  He explains as follows:

21 O my brethren, if ye could be healed by merely casting about your eyes that ye might be healed, would ye not behold quickly, or would ye rather harden your hearts in unbelief, and be slothful, that ye would not cast about your eyes, that ye might perish?

22 If so, wo shall come upon you; but if not so, then cast about your eyes and begin to believe in the Son of God, that he will come to redeem his people, and that he shall suffer and die to atone for their sins; and that he shall rise again from the dead, which shall bring to pass the resurrection, that all men shall stand before him, to be judged at the last and judgment day, according to their works.

23 And now, my brethren, I desire that ye shall plant this word in your hearts, and as it beginneth to swell even so nourish it by your faith. And behold, it will become a tree, springing up in you unto everlasting life. And then may God grant unto you that your burdens may be light, through the joy of his Son. And even all this can ye do if ye will. Amen

Alma 33:21-23

I love how he says that he desires that we plant the word in our hearts...that our Savior came to redeem his people, that he suffered and died to atone for our sins and that he rose from the dead, bringing to pass the resurrection that all of us will stand before him to be judged according to our works.  This is the key thing that we are to learn, have faith in and work toward knowing perfectly.  I know that this is true.  I know that Christ came to the earth to show us how to live and then perform the perfect atonement so we can all have the opporunity to return to our God.  I know He loves us perfectly.  I share this, my testimony, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Lesson 3: 1 Nephi 15-22

Hello All!

I have returned this week to share again the lessons that I have learned this week while studying for my religion course through the Pathway Program.  This week I was studying the last chapters of 1 Nephi.

Study Skill

This week, my focus was on the study skill of symbolism.  I looked at the scriptural text and searched for symbols and tried to understand them better.  This particular section of scripture does not seem to contain as many symbols as the previous section with relation to Lehi's dream.  We have now moved on to more practical events, like Nephi and his brothers returning to Jerusalem one more time to retrieve a family with daughters that they can marry.  Then the journey into the wilderness begins and the trials associated with travel and obtaining food on the go.  Unfortunately, in their day there was not a McDonald's on every corner.  Once they reach the sea shore, Nephi builds a boat with the reluctant help of his older brothers.  They then sail to the "promised land" that we know as the Americas.
In all this story, I found a repetitive symbolic phrase used to describe Laman and Lemuel - hardhearted.  I decided that was about as symbolic as I could get, so I studied hardheartedness in the scriptures.  I first went to the Topical Guide to review the scriptures and terms associated with hardheartedness.  The See also section states synonyms that include doubt, hate, pride, rebellion, resist, stiffnecked, stubborness, wickedness.  This list was perfect as it made me realize how much this applies to my becoming project that focuses on humilty.  Hardheartedness is the opposite of what I am trying to become.  So, I read through the scriptures and learned about how Israel was hardhearted in the wilderness as Moses tried to lead them to their promised land.  I learned about how the hardhearted remove their heart from the Lord in spite of how they may choose to praise Him with their words.  I wonder how often I am guilty of being willing to just say the right things and appear to men to do the right things when, in reality, I'm not willing to give my all to God.
I spent some time also reflecting on the symbol of the heart.  I know that in our current culture, the heart is the symbolic center of where we feel emotions.  In this context, hardheartedness makes me think about refusing to feel the emotions that are brought on by the Spirit...emotions like guilt or remorse when we do the wrong things.  I know that I have been trying to avoid going through the pain of grief that has been brought on by my dad's passing in January.  I am doing better, but it still applies in a small way.  Refusing to feel is to rebel, be prideful and stubborn.  It is also caused by fear.  I was afraid of the depth of pain that I was feeling, so I pushed it aside.  I no longer feel that way and know that the only way to survive and not become bitter is to allow myself to go through the pain.  It is all a part of God's plan and how can we become as He is without being able to feel?

Becoming Project

This week, I realized that I was struggling to even make things happen on my goals in the becoming project, so I decided I needed to set specific times for when I would accomplish my goals.  For example, I decided that the bus ride home from work would be the perfect time to spend on addressing the topic of humility in scripture study and review of the words of the prophets.  I have, unfortunately, taken a few days off of work, so it has been hard to accomplish the goal, but I did spend some time yesterday in studying the topic of humility by reviewing the word "Abase" in the topical guide.  I plan to study further today as well.  It is strange to study humility.  I find myself feeling more broken and yet I am more able to see the times when I am beginning to exhibit pride.  That is probably due to the fact that God is answering my prayers that I will be better able to detect symptoms of the problem of pride in my life.  It has not been easy seeing the ugliness of pride as it pops it's head up into my day-to-day life on a regular, if not hourly basis.
General Conference was an excellent experience this last weekend.  I loved hearing the words of the prophet, the apostles and members of the auxiliary presidencies and the seventies.  One talk was particularly meaningful to me and that was by Larry Lawrence.  I loved his suggestion to pray to know what particularly I need to do to have the Spirit as a more constant companion.  I have tried to incorporate that request into my prayers so that I may be more in tune with the Holy Ghost.  I really want to go back and read and listen to the talks over and over again because there was a lot that hit me while I listened.  If I had been smart, I would have kept a journal of my impressions.  I guess there is always next General Conference for me to improve my skills on, but this year was a very tender year as I found myself in tears during several of the talks. Everyone seemed so tender over the losses we experienced.  I am grateful that we are blessed to have Elders Rasband, Stevenson and Renlund who will prove in time to be among my favorite speakers, I am certain.  I couldn't help but think all during last week how humbling an experience it must have been to be called as an apostle.  I am grateful, in that sense, to be female!

In Conclusion

This week was an excellent week.  I have been getting better about keeping my goals.  General Conference lifted me to new heights and has helped me to establish new goals (ponderize!).  I have also loved the scriptures and learning from them about how to face life's adversity.  We are all on a journey in life and the section of scripture that we studied this week was symbolic of that journey. If we look to God and count our blessings, the journey will be a beautiful thing.

Lesson 1 - FDREL 121: Putting It All Together

Hello!

So today I am working on an assignment in my religion course that focuses on the study of the Book of Mormon, the first half of the book, ending at the Book of Alma, chapter 29.  This week our studies commenced in the Book of First Nephi, chapters 1-5.  Furthermore, we discussed how to study and apply what we learn in this course in order to become more like our Savior, Jesus Christ.  The major project in this course is to select one of the attributes that Jesus has and try to develop the attribute inside ourselves.  Naturally, this is not an easy task, but the idea is to set goals and to measure our progress according to those goals and to specifically look in the scriptures we study for examples of how others display those attributes as well.

The idea behind the course is that we not only learn by studying the scriptures, but we do something about it.  Our actions will then help us to become something better than what we were before.

Study Skills

This week has been an experience.  I am still getting my bearings as to the course expectations, so as I studied the scriptures this week, I took copious amounts of notes and really focused on trying to understand the people and their backgrounds while applying the things they experienced to my experiences.  For example, in the first few chapters of First Nephi, Lehi, the father of the family, feels the need to pray for his friends and neighbors in Jerusalem because there have been several prophets telling the people to repent.  While praying, Lehi has a vision and is called to do as the other prophets are doing.  He begins to preach repentance and manages to anger the people.  Lehi is then warned in a dream to flee Jerusalem with his family as there are people who want to kill him.  I have not had an experience where people want to kill me, but I have moved more than once because my dad felt impressed upon by the Holy Ghost to do so.  So when I read about Lehi, I think about my dad and I think about what kind of dad Lehi must have been and wonder about their similarities.

I also did a lot of cross-referencing during my studies.  I used my LDS Gospel Library application on my phone to study, so highlighted words, I could click on and select different scriptures to read that involved the same topic.  For example, in 1 Nephi 3-4 Nephi has to return with his brothers to Jerusalem after his family just left, fleeing for their lives.  They need to get the Plates of Brass...essentially their scriptures and genealogy...which is held by a distant relation of theirs.  This relation is not happy that they want the plates and sends the oldest brother away.  Nephi and his brothers then return with lots of their property that had been left behind to try to buy the plates from this relation.  He refuses to sell and then sends his servants after the brothers to attempt to kill them so this relation could claim their property for himself.  Nephi alone returns to Jerusalem to try to figure out how to get the plates.  He states he was led by the Spirit, not knowing what he was going to do or where he should go.  When he got there, he observed his relation laying in the street, drunk.  The Spirit tells Nephi to kill Laban.

What?  Why would the Holy Ghost tell someone to disobey one of the ten commandments?  I came across this issue on my mission.  My companion and I shared a Book of Mormon with a woman who then read the first few chapters.  Once she came across 1 Nephi 4:10 she stopped reading and decided that the book could not be true like the Bible because the story included killing another person.  I was perplexed at the time and now I wish I had read the footnote.  The footnote states 1 Samuel 15:3 (3-33).  Opening that scripture we come to the story of Saul who is visited by the prophet Samuel.  Samuel tells Saul that it is his job to wipe out an entire city!  Not one can be spared...not even the cattle and other animals that could be beneficial to his people.  Cross-referencing these scriptures helped me to gain a better understanding of how it all works.  The reason that Nephi was told to slay Laban (his relation) was because the Lord has a higher law that he would rather that one wicked man be slain than that a whole people should perish because they did not know Him.

Becoming Project

There are a lot of things that I have thought about this week in my scripture study.  Now how does this apply to my becoming project?  I was asked to select an attribute, so I picked humility.  What a hard subject!  In my scripture study this week, I saw examples of humility and also pride.  Nephi chose to be humble by turning to the Lord to ask Him about why his father had said what he had said.  Laman and Lemuel, Nephi's older brothers, did not choose to be humble, but continued on in their own opinions and were essentially too prideful to accept that there could be a different answer than what they saw and, I am guessing, the friends they left behind saw.  Lehi, the father of these boys, was clearly a humble individual.  He prayed for his friends and neighbors and then when the Lord told him to do something, he did it.  He even left his home and wealth to be obedient.

The difficulty with the attribute of humility is that it seems to include a lot of other attributes in it's practice.  For example, the opposite of humility is pride.  President Ezra T. Benson gave a talk called "Beware of Pride" in 1989 that has taught me a lot.  He defines pride's central feature as "enmity toward God and enmity toward our fellowmen.  Enmity means "hatred toward, hostility to, or a state of opposition." ... Pride is essentially competitive in nature." (Beware of Pride, source: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1989/04/beware-of-pride?lang=eng)
Since reading that talk, I have understood humility to mean willingness to submit to God's will and to treat our fellowmen as equals.  The kinds of things that relate to humility include obedience, charity (as in the pure love of Christ), patience, gentleness, meekness, repentance.  When in existence, humility will lead to other fruits of the Spirit being present in our lives, such as faith, hope, virtue.

In Conclusion

I expect that this semester will be challenging.  I have expectations to accomplish school work on top of the other things that I have to do.  I know that reading the Book of Mormon and applying it to my life in changing my actions and trying to become more humble will bless me to be a better person.  I am grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the Pathway Program and know that it is inspired.  I love my Savior, Jesus Christ, and I want to be as close to Him as possible.  I know that learning to be humble by accepting His will in my life and being more kind and thoughtful towards others can help me do so. In Jesus' name, amen.

Beginnings

Hi Friends!

I am your blot host, Marinda.  The purpose of this blog is to share my experiences and complete assignments as I participate in the Pathway Program provided through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
What is the Pathway Program?
I suggest you visit pathway.lds.org to learn more about it.  It is for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and has many benefits with regards to furthering education.  I am taking the Pathway Program because I want to finish my Bachelor's Degree that I started working on in September 2002.  Clearly, it has taken a long time and I have not been in school since 2009.

Thank you for visiting my blog and I hope you come away enlightened.