Of the Book of Mormon

If you participated in the Book of Mormon reading challenge, you finished The Book of Mormon yesterday with me! I'm amazed at how many times I have read it, and I still get SO much out of it. There are advantages to each way of reading it, but I've found that when I read it in a short amount of time, I understand the flow of it better - the stories behind the doctrine.

No matter how you read The Book of Mormon, the truth of it will always be felt. I know that The Book of Mormon is true. Without a doubt. I know that the men who wrote it were called of God. I know that Joseph Smith was called to translate it into English. I am so grateful for his righteousness in doing so.

Thanks to those who took on this challenge with me. I know it wasn't easy, but I know you were blessed for it. I'd love to hear your testimonies, as well. Feel free to comment, even if you weren't able to do this reading challenge. I love hearing people's testimonies of The Book of Mormon!

Gratitude Shows Our Faith

I love this passage of scripture:

12 And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off:
13 And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.
14 And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.
15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,
16 And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.
17 And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?
18 There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.
19 And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

All ten were healed of their leprosy, but only the one was made whole. To me, this means he was physically and spiritually cleansed. It's interesting to me that Jesus said, "thy faith hath made thee whole." He didn't say his gratitude had made him whole, or his willingness to come back had made him whole. However, these things showed his faith. He believed in Christ, and he came back to make it known by giving Him thanks.

As we express our gratitude to our Heavenly Father, our faith in Him is also expressed. "Coincidence" or "luck" turn into faith as we acknowledge God's hand in all things. They become tender mercies of the Lord. When we give prayers of thanksgiving, we let Heavenly Father know that we know of His love and guidance in our lives. We show Him our faith.

Elder Bednar's Talk is Now Available

I thought I'd write a quick note, letting you know that Elder Bednar's CES talk is now available as text, mp3, and video form. Here's the link to the CES Fireside site.

This is a really great talk. I think anybody who uses the Internet should read it. Enjoy!

Grateful

I just want to say how grateful I am for the Gospel. There are people in my life who are going through a very difficult time right now, and I can't help but think that it would be SO much easier on them (and their kids!) if they only had the Gospel in their lives. If only they knew Who they could go to.

I'm so grateful that I know Who to turn to when times are tough. I know He will always be there, waiting to hear my worries and my concerns. I'm so grateful for that knowledge.

Things As They Really Are

If you didn't catch the CES Broadcast tonight with Elder Bednar, I would definitely watch it or read it, as soon as it's up on the Church Institute website! It was a very interesting talk, based on Jacob 4:13, specifically the line, "things as they really are." Go back and read his talk when it's available, because my notes do not do it justice! However, here are some of the things I wrote down as he was speaking:

~The devil only has power over us if we permit him to.
~Lucifer = confusion and unhappiness
~Satan can't progress, so he seeks to frustrate our progression by enticing us to use our bodies improperly.
~The adversary has us minimize the importance of our bodies.
~We shouldn't put our bodies (gifts from God) at risk just to experience a thrill or to boost our ego. It truly minimizes the importance of our bodies.
~If the adversary cannot entice us to misuse our physical bodies, he can employ some aspects of modern technology to achieve his purpose.
~We should seek things with high fidelity and good purposes. (Fidelity = accurate to real life)
~We need to experience REAL LIFE - not a high fidelity fantasy life (specifically those with bad purposes). They disconnect things from how they really are.
~We also need to have personal fidelity. We need to be the same person online as we are in person.
~Don't destroy real relationships by having fake relationships on the computer.
~You can be anonymous on the Internet, but deceitful acts are always deceitful. The Lord knows who we really are, what we really do.
~Apostasy is apostasy, whether it's in real life or on a computer.
~Study more diligently the doctrines of the gospel.
~Ask ourselves: Does my use of the Internet invite or impede the Holy Ghost? Does my time spent on the computer enlarge or restrict my capacity to live and love?

Again, his actual words are MUCH more powerful than my meager notes. The basic theme I got from it is that we need to focus on living real, fulfilling lives, rather than attempting to simulate sincere relationships through modern technology. He specifically mentioned video games and online gaming, naming Second Life as an example. (I don't even know what that is, but it sounds awful...)

When a prophet of God asks us to do something, we need to do it. Hopefully, you're all living your own lives - not trying to imitate real life and real relationships through video games or the Internet. :)