Gospel Principles Chapter 6

"The Fall of Adam and Eve"

The Fall. This one is always a little tricky. There's so many different views on what actually took place and if it was symbolism or not. The way I like to look at it is that this record is an account, or in other words, what actually took place; also that everything can be taken as a symbol--especially for our day. So we can take out of this event is both literally what happened and that there is going to be some application for our day. So back to what happened. In a nutshell, God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and gave them two commandments. One, multiply and replenish the earth aka have kids, and two, don't eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They knew the consequence of eating the fruit and that was if they ate they would die, and be cast out of the garden. One day a serpent, Satan, came and tempted Adam and Eve to eat of the fruit. He told them that if they ate they would "be as gods, knowing good and evil," and that they wouldn't die, which is where the lie came in because God said that they would and he doesn't go against his word. Anyway, they decided to eat of the fruit and they were both cast out. This brought in two types of death, physical and spiritual. Physical is pretty self-explanatory, and spiritual death is the separation of us and God. Many people think that this was a bad thing, that they transgressed the law and partook of the fruit, but like all things great things happen when we make mistakes. And this mistake was needed for all of us to be able to come here to the earth. The prophet Lehi explains in 2 Nephi 2:22-25,
             "And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the Garden of Eden. And all thigs which were created must have remained in the same state in which they were after they were created. ...
             "And they would have had no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin.
           " But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things.
       "Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy."
I love this explanation of why it was necessary for the Fall. So many other great blessings have happened because of this one act. It was truly a great blessing.

Gospel Principles Chapter 5

"Creation"

Many of us, if not all of us, in the world love to create. I personally love it; whether it is something that I can actually make or something in my head. I know that eventually I will be able to see that come to pass. Today we have all kinds of technology to help us create, but we still can't be as great as the Master Creator: Jesus Christ. We know that Jesus Christ under the direction of Heavenly Father created the earth and all of its inhabitants and everything else on and in it. If we look around, there has to be a reason as to how this all got here. One of my favorite analogies is about this. Someone once said that without God it's like having a tornado go through a junk yard and end up with a Boeing 747 as the outcome. It's just not possible, but if there is someone directing this tornado, it might just actually work. I love being able to enjoy the warm summer nights. Now that I'm home and summer is fast approaching I will be able to do that once again. I remember one evening with Elder Parr in Bozeman. We went out into the courtyard after we got our planning done and we laid on the tables and looked at the stars and just talked about how great it is to be able to know the things we know and have the assurance of things to come. Just remember that this was created for you, and for me. This world is given especially to us and we need to make the best of it. Jesus love you. He loves everyone of us and if he had to suffer for only one person, He would. That is what makes all of this so great.

**The picture of the airplane is of a Boeing 747. Just to show how complicated it is.

It seems like life revolves around sports...

Today's world seems to always have some connection to sports. People just seem to want to give their money away to these sports teams. On a personal note, my favorite sport is volleyball, as a lot of you know. I've been thinking of ways to try to associate the gospel to the game of volleyball. The most obvious way is kind of the same with any team sport: the team is your family, and just like on earth where your family is the most important support system that we have; the team is just as vital to your success on the court. Teamwork. Without everyone working together it is impossible to win. For example: the other day we had a couple of volleyball games. There was only four of us that showed up to play and we were playing against teams of 6. We won 2 out of the 3 matches that we played. I accredit the wins to team work and some skill. My friends and I knew how each other played and it helped us work together. The team that we lost to was just a little bit more tight knit and had a little bit better players, but overall it was a great day. Remember that we all need to work together in order to succeed. I love you all. Jesus loves you.

Apology

So, this is a formal apology to all those who follow my blog on a regular basis. Sorry that I have slacked off on my blogging since I have been home from my mission. I am going to try to be better at making an effort to blog at least once a week. Things have been pretty crazy since returning home from Montana. Here's just a little update about me:

• Now attending Brigham Young University-Idaho, studying Mechanical Engineering
• Working for Weed Man Lawn Care
• Before I made it up to school I was working 2 jobs, one at a law office and the other at a clothing store
• Now that Christmas and all of the holidays are past, I should be a little less busy and be able to keep everyone posted. :)

Thank you all for your support. It is greatly appreciated. I love you all.

Gospel Prinicples Chapter 4

"Freedom to Choose"

 Our freedom to choose is so important. We are told through the scriptures that Agency has been given to us from the very beginning. We were able to choose to come down to earth and to get a body or to follow the plan that Satan had proposed in our pre-earth life. Agency was the principle issue that we fought over in our pre-earth life. Satan's plan was to take away our agency from the beginning and to force us to return to live with God again. Agency is the thing that makes this life a time of testing. It is what allows us to make choices and to either follow what Christ would have us do or to follow what Satan would have us do. An analogy that I really like comes from the manual, it says, "When we follow the temptations of Satan, we limit our choices. The following example suggests how this works. Imagine seeing a sign on the seashore that reads: 'Danger—whirlpool. No swimming allowed here.' We might think that is a restriction. But is it? We still have many choices. We are free to swim somewhere else. We are free to walk along the beach and pick up seashells. We are free to watch the sunset. We are free to go home. We are also free to ignore the sign and swim in the dangerous place. But once the whirlpool has us in its grasp and we are pulled under, we have very few choices. We can try to escape, or we can call for help, but we may drown." We are told how to escape the grasp of Satan many times in the scriptures. We are told to "watch and pray continually," as we do that we will be able to overcome the temptations of Satan and be able to make correct choices.

Gospel Principles Chapter 3

"Jesus Christ, Our Chosen Leader and Savior"

Why was the need for a Savior so important? The answer: Because our Heavenly Father knew that we would all come here and make mistakes, and that we would need help along our way. "We needed a Savior to pay for our sins and teach us how to return to our Heavenly Father" (Gospel Principles, 13). The scriptures teach us that Jesus Christ was foreordained and chosen to be our Savior. In the Book of Mormon, there is an account of the Savior appearing to a man named the Brother of Jared and Christ tells him, "Behold, I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people. Behold, I am Jesus Christ. … In me shall all mankind have life, and that eternally, even they who shall believe on my name" (Ether 3:14) Even though Jesus Christ was chosen to be our Savior, Lucifer stepped up and said, "Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor" (Moses 4:1). Satan wanted to take away some vital things from us and Heavenly Father. The first thing he wanted was to take away our agency, or our right to chose, which we will discuss more in Chapter 4, and the second thing is he wanted Heavenly Father's glory. After hearing this he said, "I will send the first" (Abraham 3:27). Because Heavenly Father chose Jesus Christ, Lucifer got angry and rebelled against God. In his rebellion, Satan managed to convince one third of the hosts of heaven to come with him, and in doing so, they were also cast out of heaven along with Satan. We know that we made the right choice because we are here today. "By following [Christ's] teachings, we can inherit a place in the celestial kingdom. He did His part to help us return to our heavenly home. It is now up to each of us to do our part and become worthy of exaltation" (Gospel Principles, 16).

Gospel Principles Chapter 2

Chapter 2 is entitled, "Our Heavenly Family." Family is such a basic unit of society. Joseph F. Smith teaches us, "Man, as a spirit, was begotten and born of heavenly parents, and reared to maturity in the eternal mansions of the Father, prior to coming upon the earth in a temporal [physical] body”(Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph F. Smith [1998], 335). That makes us all brothers and sisters, spiritually anyway. Just like on Earth, we were all different in our pre-earth state. "A veil covers our memories of our premortal life, but our Father in Heaven knows who we are and what we did before we came here. He has chosen the time and place for each of us to be born so we can learn the lessons we personally need and do the most good with our individual talents and personalities" (Gospel Principles, 10). While we were in our premortal life, we sat down with Heavenly Father and we talked about what was going to happen to us. He told us that we would leave his presence, and we would come to this earth. We were also told that we would have to do some things in our lives to show our Heavenly Father that we really wanted to come back to live with him once more. We learned that we would go through trials, and if we allowed them to they would purify us rather than defeat us. "They would teach us to have endurance, patience, and charity" (Gospel Principles, 11). And finally, that last thing we learned is that we were all going to make mistakes by our nature, and that a Savior was going to be provided for us. He would overcome all things that needed to be overcome, namely death and sin. Jesus Christ was chosen at that time to be our Savior and Redeemer.