I Took the Path: September 2015

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.

I Took the Path

Saturday, September 26, 2015

Lesson 1 - FDREL 121: Putting It All Together

Beginnings