Sunday, November 26, 2017

Doctrine & Covenants Lesson # 43 “Take upon You My Whole Armor”

Doctrine & Covenants Lesson # 43
“Take upon You My Whole Armor”

Introduction
One of the things we talked about in our last lesson was the flood of modern revelation, and one of those currents was For the Strength of Youth. And also going along with ongoing revelation, the website devoted to this pamphlet contains many more articles than were originally printed. The lesson manual suggests referring to this if we are teaching the youth, but basically these principles apply to us all, no matter how old or young.[1] Some that are particularly relevant to the Whole Armor of God are


Now the women of the Church are not, thankfully Stepford Wives, nor do we conform to a particular hairstyle or mode of dress. We have our agency. But we can see from the Book of Mormon how well the Lamanites fared with their scant loincloths against the well-armored Nephites. So maybe pushing up against the boundaries on any or each of these areas is dangerous. And during this coming week, I will commit to looking at my life and see if I am starting to flirt with danger.

Elder Maxwell said:

“Quite frankly, brothers and sisters, we should be preparing now to live in a better world. This life is so vital, but it is such a small moment. And if we are too quick to adapt to the ways of this fleeting and flawed world, that very adjustment will maladjust us for our life in the next—a life that will last forever! No wonder those who break this commandment ‘lacketh understanding.’ By denying ourselves some appetites altogether, by governing other appetites, and by losing ourselves in service—we find ourselves (see Alma 39:9; 3 Ne. 12:30). We simply cannot make a difference in the world if we are just like the lost people of the world. Remember, if the salt loses its savor … (see Matt. 5:13)! We must resist the wrong fashions of the world. The thirteenth article of faith does not say that we believe in all things that are popular, fashionable, ugly, and sensual, and that we seek after these things! Rather, “We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men” (A of F 1:13). And these attributes depend on each other.”[2]

Regarding Honesty, Elder Bednar explains:

“Honesty is the quality or condition of being truthful, sincere, candid, and worthy of honor. The word honesty is related to other words with the same root such as honor and honorable These expressions share the notion of being genuine, trustworthy, upright, respectable, and decent. As President James E. Faust, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, has taught: “We all need to know what it means to be honest. Honesty is more than not lying. It is truth telling, truth speaking, truth living, and truth loving.”[3]

Language is a hard one, not necessarily for us, but in coping with the world around us. Profanities we would never utter, divine names that we hold sacred, are commonly used all around us. How do we armor ourselves against that? I don’t have the answer, and that is something I am going to ponder this week. We must be in the world, mustn’t we? We inevitably will hear things that hurt our ears, heart, and soul. It isn’t a new problem. Pres. Kimball tells us:

George Washington … set us a good example in this regard. When he learned that some of his officers were given to profanity, he sent a letter to them on July 1, 1776, from which we quote: “The General is sorry to be informed that the foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing, a vice heretofore little known in our American army, is growing into fashion. He hopes the officers will, by example as well as influence, endeavor to check it and that both they and the men will reflect that we can have little hope of the blessing of heaven on our arms if we insult it by our impropriety and folly. Added to this, it is a vice so mean and low, without any temptation, that every man of sense and character detests and despises it.
He goes on to warn us
Let us rededicate ourselves to reverential attitudes, toward an expression of gratitude to our Lord for his incomparable sacrifice. Let us remember the modern command, “Wherefore, let all man beware how they take my name in their lips” (D&C 63:61) .[4]

Thanks for reading. I know Kara will lead us in some wonderful discussions about all this next Sunday.


Additional resources for this lesson



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Sunday, November 19, 2017

Doctrine & Covenants Lesson # 42 “Continuing Revelation to Latter-day Prophets”

Doctrine & Covenants Lesson # 42
“Continuing Revelation to Latter-day Prophets”

Introduction

OK, so I got a bit sidetracked last week on the whole tesseract thing. And then in Teachers’ Council, I mentioned the ad with the lost panda, but it really is a modern metaphor. There are so many people who are lost, and we have the means not only to find them, but to bring them to safety in this unsafe world. So here is the ad with the lost panda

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-evd9B-ZKg

And here is an explanation about a tesseract

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesseract

which actually showed up in a Wrinkle in Time. And also has to do with being lost.

However, this week’s lesson, which Kara will teach, is about continuing revelation and, as you can imagine, there is so much material that one lesson cannot begin to cover it.

I started investigating the Church in 1979, just a year after what is now known as Official Declaration 2 was given—the revelation on the Priesthood. So its import was fairly well lost on me, and now that we are nearly 40 years later, which, in terms of how long the Church has been restored, is a long time, it is only by reading the additional material on the impact in the lives of faithful Church members that I can begin to understand what it meant. The other major revelation highlighted in this lesson is Correlation. I must admit I was puzzled by this. Why would correlation be considered ground-breaking? But when you consider that each of us in our Church meetings, in our homes as we study, or as we ask Alexis or Siri or Cortana to play a conference talk, the blogposts from General Authorities on social media—are basically all listening to the teachings the Lord would have us hear—that is crucial.

Regarding D&C 68:4, Sis. Carol F. McConkie said:
We . . . sustain President Monson’s counselors and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as prophets, seers, and revelators. “They have the right, the power, and authority to declare the mind and will of [the Lord] … , subject to … the President of the Church.” They speak in the name of Christ. They prophesy in the name of Christ. They do all things in the name of Jesus Christ. In their words we hear the voice of the Lord and we feel the Savior’s love. “And whatsoever they shall speak when moved upon by the Holy Ghost shall be scripture … and the power of God unto salvation.” The Lord Himself has spoken: “Whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.”[1]

Part of the establishing the correlation effort was the creation of Family Home Evening. I will confess that I had never thought of that as having anything to do with Priesthood correlation, but it makes a lot of sense. And I am sure that family councils came out of that same initiative.

Other wonderful programs that have come as a result of modern revelation include Home and Visiting Teaching. Since the manual was written, even, several revelations have changed the way we live. For instance, Preach My Gospel, missionary age for men and women, service missions, Helping Hands, the recent changes in our third hour lessons to be implemented this coming January. Before next Sunday perhaps you can think of other things that have had an impact on your life and have come as a direct result of revelation from our prophets seers and revelators.




Additional resources for this lesson

Postscript

Since I wrote this, Kara has developed strep throat so is unable to teach today (Sunday). Here are the additional quotes I plan on using 


President Kimball “We testify to the world that revelation continues and that the vaults and files of the Church contain these revelations which come month to month and day to day. We testify also that there is, since 1830 when The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized, and will continue to be, so long as time shall last, a prophet, recognized of God and his people, who will continue to interpret the mind and will of the Lord. …Expecting the spectacular, one may not be fully alerted to the constant flow of revealed communication. I say, in the deepest of humility, but also by the power and force of a burning testimony in my soul, that from the prophet of the Restoration to the prophet of our own year, the communication line is unbroken, the authority is continuous, a light, brilliant and penetrating, continues to shine. The sound of the voice of the Lord is a continuous melody and a thunderous appeal. For nearly a century and a half there has been no interruption” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1977, 115; or Ensign, May 1977, 78).


 From My Heritage “As a result of the Church’s dramatic growth during the 1950s, President McKay announced the priesthood correlation program. A committee, chaired by Elder Harold B. Lee of the Quorum of the Twelve, was assigned to conduct a thorough, prayerful study of all Church programs to see how well they met the Church’s most important objectives. In 1961, with First Presidency approval, Elder Lee announced that policies would be developed to govern the planning, writing, and implementation of all Church curriculum materials. Many of these materials had previously been developed by the Church’s auxiliary organizations. This new direction would avoid unnecessary duplication of programs and lesson materials so that the gospel could be more effectively taught to members of all ages and languages in a worldwide Church.”



Elder Ballard: “We must keep the doctrine and gospel of Jesus Christ at the center of our goals and plans. Without Him, no eternal goal is possible, and our plans to achieve our eternal goals will surely fail. One additional help is “The Living Christ: The Testimony of the Apostles,”12 which was presented to the Church on January 1, 2000. Place a copy where you can see it, and take time to review each of the statements found in this inspired testimony of Christ by His special witnesses who signed it. I would urge you to study it along with “The Family: A Proclamation to the World.” We speak often about the family proclamation, but please remember to read it in light of the saving power of the living Christ. Without the living Christ, our fondest expectations will be unfulfilled. As the family proclamation states: “The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave. Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally.”


Elder Oaks: The inspiration identifying the need for a proclamation on the family came to the leadership of the Church over 23 years ago. It was a surprise to some who thought the doctrinal truths about marriage and the family were well understood without restatement.8 Nevertheless, we felt the confirmation and we went to work. Subjects were identified and discussed by members of the Quorum of the Twelve for nearly a year. Language was proposed, reviewed, and revised. Prayerfully we continually pleaded with the Lord for His inspiration on what we should say and how we should say it. We all learned “line upon line, precept upon precept,” as the Lord has promised (D&C 98:12).




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