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 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.

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