In church today one of the speakers talked about the legacy that Joseph Smith left. As he was talking about that it made me think - what kind of legacy do I want to leave behind. Here is the list that I came up with

What king of legacy do I want to leave?
-Living the Gospel
-Applying the Atonement
-Sharing the Gospel
-An eternal family
-Make the world a better place and help others make the world a better place
-Sacrifice my life (my day to day actions not my pulse) for others

    Well how do I make sure that I can leave this legacy behind? Well this speaker spoke about Benedict Arnold and talked about his legacy. Whenever people hear his name the first thing that comes to mind is traitor. It turns out that Benedict Arnold was actually a very faithful American having done many things in battle that saved many and he should have died while doing but didn’t. The speaker went on to explain that Benedict Arnold was willing to give up his life for America but was not able to give up his pride. Through politics and other things he was not given promotions he thought he deserved and was not held up to the esteem he thought he deserved. Because of this he sold out America because of his pride and was later hung as a traitor instead of dying as a hero.

    The words of a song I like ring especially true:

    I’m a man without a country
    I’m a martyr for no cause
   
    When the time comes for me to leave this world I don’t want to be without a citizenship to God’s church nor do I want to die for no cause. In order to avoid this I have to make sure that my pride doesn’t overpower my desire to do God’s will.

    I was reading the book Miracle of Forgiveness and towards the end of one section about thoughts I found a lot of really great passages that has helped me out a lot.

“As a man thinketh, so does he. The time to protect against the calamity is when the thought begins to shape itself.”

    I have found this to be true. It is a lot easier to fight the temptation of a thought than it is to fight the temptation of a fully formed thought. I have been applying this in my life by focusing on getting rid of bad thoughts as they develop and not let them grow inside of me. Before I would harbor them because I thought that they would just stay in my head but I have learned that thoughts never just stay in my head.

“Men alone, of all creatures of earth can change his thought and become the architect of his destiny.”

    I really really liked this because I want to be a better person - both spiritually and temporally. I can design my future and fulfill it but this is only through my thoughts. Whether I think I can or cannot I am right.

    “Sow a thought, reap an act;
    Sow an act, reap a habit;
    Sow a habit, reap a character;
    Sow a character, reap an eternal destiny.”

    There are many things that I want to do but that main goal is an eternal destiny. Working backwards I can see that first I need a strong character that allows me to live the Gospel and be worthy. In order to do that I need to have strong consistent habits that make me more disciplined. A habit starts out by one lone act repeated.    

The only way that I can preform an act is by having it start out as a thought.
I think that this can also be looked at at a different angle:
   
    “Sow a bad thought, reap a sin;
    Sow a sin, reap a bad habit;
    Sow a bad habit, reap an addiction;
    Sow an addiction, reap eternal misery.”

    All of this could be changed if I don’t first sow a bad though and instead sow a good thought instead.

    Stake Conference was a week ago and I had a lot of good insights from it. Instead of going into detail of each thing that I wrote down I just want to list my favorite things and write why I enjoyed them.

1. The way to live a Christ centered life is by living worthily and rendering service to others. I like this because as we strive to have a Christ centered life we may try and do so many things and in the process lose sight of our real goal. If we are living worthily and rendering service we are living a Christ centered life.
2. The best way to keep my covenants is by reviewing them and renewing them frequently. I like this because covenants are the reason why we can have eternal life. It is a promise with the Lord that if we follow his terms we will be allowed into the Celestial Kingdom. Reviewing and Renewing covenants will remind me not only what I have to do but the promise given.
3. You can’t make a difference in the world unless you are different. I have been thinking a lot about the state of the world and how I want to make this world a better place. The best way for me to start is to start being different than everyone in the world. It reminds me of what Gandhi said “be the change you want in the world.”
4. A marriage cannot fail if both parties are filled with charity. Marriage is the next step in my life. With so many divorces happening it does scare me and make me wonder if I will be able to have a successful marriage. If I and my future partner are filled with charity there is no way that that marriage won’t be successful.
5. Never make a decision that leaves you standing outside of the temple. This is a great quote especially going along with the last one. I need to make sure that everything I do is helping me stand in holy places like the temple.

So that was my favorite things from Stake Conference. I enjoyed how each of these things are very different but all were things that I had been thinking about before conference happened. This also goes to show that the Lord knows me and is aware of my situation in life.

    I have started going to institute and have enjoyed attending a lot. The class that I attend is studying the Book of Mormon. I can’t remember what scripture in the Book of Mormon prompted this but the teacher brought up an interesting point. She said that the only thing Jesus Christ ever cursed as recorded in the New Testament was a fig tree. This was because the fig tree had leaves but was not producing any fruit rendering it worthless.
    The teacher then reminded us that it was the fig tree leaves that Adam and Eve used to cover themselves up in the Garden of Eden. She then said that these fig leaves could represent things of the world being used to cover up our sins. Just like the fig tree that Jesus cursed things of this world are fruitless and are worthless. Using these things to cover up our sins is useless and pointless.
    After Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden the Lord gave them a coat of skins to cover them up. This time instead of using things of the world to cover themselves up they were using something given from the Lord - or as it could symbolize the Atonement.
    There are many things that we could try and use to cover our sins. We could use our financial standing to justify why we work on Sundays, we can follow the dog-eat-dog world mentality to justify our ethics in dealing with people, or claim that it is love why we are immoral. Whatever it is that we do - we are using things of the world to cover up our sins. The only real thing that can cover our sins is the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

    I remember a time in my life where I found it very hard to keep the commandments. I had the desire to keep them but I still found it hard to and failed occasionally. While this was happening I read this scripture in Alma 37:33 that says:
“Teach them to withstand every temptation of the devil, with their faith on the Lord Jesus Christ”
    What I liked about this is that I learned the secret of how I could keep the commandments even though I faltered - it was through my faith.
    I wrote on top of that scripture:
“Have faith that YOU can keep the commandments”
    I had never thought about faith in that way. I knew that if I had faith I should keep the commandments but I never thought that I should have faith in myself to keep the commandments. The Lord promises that we won’t ever have a temptation more than we can handle. The Lord promises us that the Atonement can work in our lives. The Lord promises that we can have a change of heart. The Lord makes all of these promises that hinge on us keeping His commandments. If that is the case and the Lord keeps His promises how is it that I can’t keep the commandments.
    I noticed that afterwards when temptation would come instead of trying my hardest to avoid it I would think about this scripture and have faith that I can keep the commandments even though it is hard. It was this faith that helped me out a lot and helped me come closer to the Savior.
    I realized that faith is action. When I had faith that I could keep my commandments what started out as a thought turned into the action of keeping the commandments.
    Next time I am ever in a situation where I feel tempted to break the commandments I will think about how I can keep the commandments and because of this faith and the power of the Atonement I will be able to keep the commandments.

During the sacrament today I was thinking about the two symbols used. The bread representing the Savior's body which he sacrificed so that we can live again and the water representing the blood He shed so that we can repent and become perfected in Him. I thought that it was interesting the symbols used in the sacrament and started writing down ideas that came to my mind when I thought of bread or water.

When I thought of bread I thought of the passover and the use of the unleavened (unrisen) bread. They wouldn't let it raise so that they could be ready to leave and have it ready to cook/eat at a moment's notice. I think that this means that I should make sure that my relationship with the Savior is to the point that I am always ready to have His help.

When I thought of water I thought of how important it is to our lives. Not only does it quench our thirst and necessary to our survival - it is also used to clean and purify everything around us. If I didn't have access to water not only would I become dehydrated but I wouldn't be able to clean or wash anything which would cause disease and bacteria to spread.  

Along with that I can survive longer with no food than I can with no water. I even know that whenever I finish fasting the first thing that I go for is water and not food.

So what can I learn from this? It seems by all accounts water is more important than food and has a greater impact on my life. This isn't to say that food isn't important, but a week without water would be worse (and not physically possible) than a week of no food.

I don't mean to read to much into symbolism but what I got out of water being used to represent the sacrament is that the sustaining of our spirits is more important than our bodies. I am not trying to say that we should binge and sit around all day. What I am saying is that the spirit lives forever whereas our bodies are only temporary (until the Resurrection) and for that reason we need to make sure that we striving to make sure it is properly sustained.

Recently the word "entitlement" has been used a lot in the political sphere. It has been used so much that I hate to use it, but...the other day I was reading a few paragraphs about entitlement and ingratitude in the Miracle of Forgiveness and had this thought:

"The sin of entitlement is very similiar to the sin of ingratitude. The next time that I think that I am entitled to something I should stop and think about all the blessings I have."

I haven't had an experience to put this into practice yet but I think that when I do it will help a lot. Entitlement is the idea that I deserve something without any actual work or ownership on my part. When we consider all the blessings we have we will realize not only how much we have been given already but how many things we have been given that we haven't deserved.

A few weeks ago I thought about what (if any) I am entitled to as a human being in this life. I thought and thought and found that there is only one thing that I am entitled to. After we die we are entitled to eternal life through the atonement of Jesus Christ but at this time I was thinking of in the present.

The one thing that all human beings are entitled to in this life is our agency to choose. Even in situations where we might think that we aren't free we still have our agency to choose. Our choices might have been reduced or limited but we always will have our freedom to choose what to do with our lives and how to react to what life presents us.  We can choose to keep the commandments or break them rebelliously - because the Lord entitled us to that.

As I thought about that though an idea came to my mind that was really interesting.

"The only thing that we are entitled to in this life is our agency and the only thing that the Lord asks of us is to give our agency back to him and submit ourselves to His will."

When we submit our will to Him then we will be entitled to:

• Exaltation
• Salvation
• Be resurrected glory
• Have all that He has

It has been a long time since I posted anything on this blog. It started out as a way to share my experiences with reading the Book of Mormon backwards. However I decided to change it to a way to organize what I learn everyday to the internet so I can search what I have written easier and maybe it just might help someone who stumbles upon this.

I feel that even though I am doing this for myself I will write in the blog style and with the intent that others will read this. This is because I when I explain topics to others I will think about the topics from all angles and figure out which way is the easiest way to explain them and at the same time convey the most amount of understanding of the topic.

I have started to take a notebook with me to church and during the sacrament I take it out and think about a specific topic and write down any notes or promptings I have related to that. In the past I thought about the word "remember" and how it shows up so much in the sacrament prayer. Another week I thought about the word partake and what that really means to partake of the sacrament. Whatever I do though I make sure that it relates to the sacrament and specifically what I can do to be perfected in Jesus Christ.

Today's idea was the importance of consistency. I thought about all the things in my life that bring me closer to the Savior that required consistency. The only things that I can think of that you don't do on a consistent basis are the ordinances of the Gospel (besides partaking of the sacrament).

The main things that I have to do to draw closer to the Savior is:

• Prayer
• Scripture Study
• Church Attendence
• Meditation (some people would also call this pondering)

I will begin this with an apology to anyone who might read this and have been wondering what happened. Hopefully I will be able to continue this daily as my scripture journal. Anyways - back on to the scriptures.

So tonight I read Ether 9-10. Basically fighting and sons taking power from their fathers. The big thing I got out of this though was that so much blood was spilled just because people became greedy and stopped following the Savior.

The solution to the problem though was an easy one: be humble.

If I stay humble I can avoid problems of greed and sin.

Sounds like a good lesson to me.

Although this was a short chapter with a lot of mention of the wars going on I was able to learn a lot from it. My favorite part was verse 8 which says, "and the people began to repent of their iniquity; and inasmuch as they did the Lord did have mercy on them."
I feel like the Lord is always extending His mercy towards us and I am constantly being reminded of it. It feels as if the Lord wants me to know that whenever I mess up I always have another chance. Jesus Christ is not one for second chances but infinite chances. We can always repent it if we repent and turn to him. To me that is a joyous truth to know that I can never mess up more than the Savior can save me.

Ether 12 is another popular chapter in the Book of Mormon and this time I wanted to learn something from what we normally learn about it from sunday school.
Moroni describes Ether as someone who could not be "restrained because of the Spirit of the Lord which was in him." When I read this I wanted to learn how I can be a man of that faith. I think though that we read things like this that are so powerful but fail to realize how simple it is for us to be like that. All it takes are simple daily choices to do what we know is true. As Richard G. Scott said,

"We become what we want to be by consistently being what we want to become each day."  


In verse 27 Moroni quotes the Savior, "...my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me." I love this because it gives me hope to know that I am included (as is everybody) in being able to receive the Saviors grace if I humble myself before him. How do we properly humble ourselves before the Savior though? That is a good question - if you know an answer leave a comment!

Finally I love how in verse 34 Moroni talks about charity again. He focuses on this topic a lot - and for good reasons. He says that if we don't have charity we won't inherit the kingdom of God.

For me I have a good example of charity in my life and oddly enough it comes from my sister and brother-in-law who are Atheists. Even though they don't believe in God the are great examples of the pure love of Christ or as they would probably call it, pure and selfless love.

My sister has been to many different countries over the past few years (mainly teaching english as a second language). It seems that wherever she goes she is volunteering and helping people out. She went to Ecuador and volunteered in orphanages there. She also worked on a dude ranch in Jackson and volunteered teaching english to hispanic immigrants. She has always been apart of different causes to help support human rights and stood up these people. It seems that these are little things, but my sister has made them all apart of her life.

Her husband (my brother-in-law) is the same way. It seems to me that his goal in life is to know every culture the best he can and share the greatness of these cultures with everybody. I love talking with him about the people of different cultures he works with and he talks about the great things about them.
I am finding it hard to put into words all the things that they do - but it is all very little things. I think that they personify what Richard G. Scott said,

"We become what we want to be by consistently being what we want to become each day."


I need to focus on being what I want to be - everyday. It is hard but with the Lord's help I can make it - day by day.

It has been a while since that I have posted and hopefully I will be able to keep posting daily. My goal is that as I post daily my scripture study will also be daily. Not only that but having this as a scripture journal I will be able to have a more in-depth scripture study.
One verse stuck out to me - a lot. It was verse 9. It says, "and there shall be a new heaven and a new earth." It made me think that even the earth shall be born again and become perfected. The Lord's goal is that all of his creations will become perfect even as He is. If I try and submit myself to His will I will be able to become new even as the Earth will.

I read these two chapters today and it was pretty depressing. It is sad to see how two groups of people who hate each other so much will go to any ends (including dying them selves in the process) to try to kill the other.


At the very end though Ether said something that I really liked. He was unsure whether or not he would be translated or walk around the earth until he died. To that he said in verse 34, "it mattereth not, if it so be that I am save in the kingdom of God. Amen"


I think that these are great words to live by. What I do in my life and how I live it doesn't matter if I am saved in God's kingdom. I could be rich or poor. I could be the most famous person in the world or no one knows who I am. None of that matters. The only thing that matters is that I am doing what is right so that I can be saved in the kingdom of God.


Does that mean I will have no ambition in life or pursue a great career? No - but what it means is that I will focus on attaining salvation before I do any of those things.

I read these chapters Saturday night - the day before taking the sacrament. I found that very fitting and it helped me focus a lot more on why we as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints partake of the sacrament every sunday.


We renew our baptismal covenants every time that we partake of the sacrament. Like every covenant there are two parts: what we promise to do and what the Lord will do.


What we promise to do is:

1. Take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ
2. Always remember Jesus Christ
3. Keep the commandments that Jesus Christ has given us

This chapter has a lot of instructions on how to properly run the Savior's church. What stuck out to me was in verse 5 where it said that the members of the church would meet and talk with each other about the welfare of their souls. I wonder why we do not do this in the church more.


I think that it would be great if when talking about a gospel principal for people to be able to stand up and say, "You know - I have a problem with this and I have tried fixing it before and nothing has worked for me. What do you guys think I could do better?" Then people would be able to give advice and help each other out. I think that we would not only be following the advice from Moroni but we would be more able to help each other out as a congregation. I also feel that there would be less judgement all around because everybody loses their "I'm not as perfect as Jesus but I am pretty close."


The next part I liked was in verse 8 when they discussed forgiving the members of the church. It is so beautiful to read that "as oft as they repented and sought forgiveness...they were forgiven." The Savior will truly forgive us 70 times 7.


A teacher of mine at BYU-Idaho helped me learn this concept. He said, "You cannot out-sin the Savior." When the Lord said that his atonement was infinite he meant it. You will never be able to sin more than what the Lord had suffered for you. You will never be lost. There is always hope where there is faith.


This makes me remember that Jesus Christ is merciful and loves each and everyone of us more than we can imagine.

1. I need to help all the members of the church be nourished by the Word of God

Moroni 7 starts with Moroni summarizing what his father Mormon wrote in the rest of the chapter. He stated simply that his father spoke about "faith, hope, and charity." This was a theme that I saw also in Moroni 8-9.


Mormon also speaks a lot about the sources of both good and evil. He gives a good analogy that "a bitter fountain cannot bring forth good water." Our outward actions of goodness can't mean anything if inwards we are not worthy. When we try to be perfected in him we need to focus on changing ourselves on the inside first because the result will be a change on the outside. 


If someone has a problem with pornography they need to focus on having pure thoughts. Just like the Doctrine and Covenants says, "Let virtue garnish thy thoughts."


If someone has a problem with Sabbath Day observance they need to focus on their love of God so that they outwardly express that love by keeping the Sabbath Day holy.


If someone breaks the Word of Wisdom they should focus on gaining a testimony that their body is a temple of God and needs to be respected.


Later on in the chapter (verse 37), Mormon talks about how miracles cease because of the lack of faith. I need many miracles in my life it seems and many times I feel like the Lord is not helping me out. Sometimes it might be because He is testing me but other times I feel like it is because I don't have enough faith in him. 


Also with faith comes hope. Hope comes to us "through the power of the atonement" so that we can "be raised unto life eternal." However all of this comes back to faith because hope comes through faith.


However if we have faith and hope but we don't have charity we are nothing. Charity is something that we need to pray for to get. It is actually something that we need to pray for with all the energy that we have.


These three things are the basics of the Gospel: Faith, Hope and Charity. Hope comes through faith and without charity we are nothing.


I feel like I need to ask myself everyday - What am I doing to develop these three?

Moroni 10 focuses a lot on faith and the power of God. In verse 7 I was able to learn how the two go together. It says that God works by power according to our faith. The power I need to overcome obstacles in life comes from the same faith that I have in the one who gives me power.


I feel like that anytime I am struggling in the Gospel or having a hard time living the standards of the Church I need to go back to square one - which is faith. I feel that as anyone develops and strengthens their faith they will then receive the power to do what they couldn't do before. Faith definitely procedes the miracle, but it also procedes following the commandments, prayer, worship, and repenting.


The last three verses in Moroni 10 are my favorite scriptures of all time. I have read them a lot of times and this time something stuck out to me. Moroni said in verse 32 - love God with all your might, mind, and strength. This is actually something that is mentioned a lot in the scriptures but this time what stuck out to me is the first part - love God. It reminded me of John 14:15, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." In my scriptures where it says "love God" I wrote "keep the commandments."Whenever I read this passage I think to my self I need to keep the commandments with all my might, mind, and strength.

1. How merciful the Lord has been with the Children of Men (aka me and you)
2. Every good gift cometh of Christ
3. The Lord is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow
4. If I die in my sins I cannot be saved in the Kingdom of God