Choose Ye Today

Over the weekend, I went and visited the Museum of Art and was able to see all 42 paintings on the Book of Mormon by Teichert. I was grateful for this opportunity to see the paintings. I saw them just a short time ago, but didn’t have the time for in-depth analysis at that point. Teichert was born in 1888 in Ogden, as the granddaughter of pioneers. She enjoyed art and studied it her whole life. Over the course of just 2 years, Teichert was able to paint 42 murals on the Book of Mormon, later donating them to BYU, which is how they were obtained. One of the paintings I chose was the painting of Abinadi standing before King Noah. This reminds me of an important theme from the Book of Mormon. The painting shows the upright stature of Abinadi, his unfearing demeanor. The theme in the Book of Mormon related to this picture is standing as a witness of God at all times. If there is one example that truly exemplifies standing as a witness of God, it is Abinadi. Abinadi was not fearful of w...

I had to write a report on Religion in our Government today and thought I would share a few thoughts from that report. Essential in each of our lives’ today is a form of belief. This can be based upon any certain principles, and mustn’t be the same as a neighbor, brother, parent, or friend. This can come as well in the form of unbelief. But the desire of the human heart is to have something to turn to, and what better than a set of beliefs? How then, do we as people, use those beliefs in the way we govern ourselves? Is it fair to use those beliefs against others, because they aren’t the same views? How does one come to a compromise? In agreement with Hatzenbuehler and the ideas of Jefferson and Lincoln, religion should play a personal role in each of our lives and is for each of us to decide personally between us and God, leaving it as an unnecessary evil for a government to take a role in personal beliefs, choosing a set of beliefs at the expense of others. Religion should not play...

"Perhaps the greatest charity comes when we are kind to each other, when we don't judge or categorize someone else, when we simply give each other the benefit of the doubt or remain quiet. Charity is accepting someone's differences, weaknesses, and shortcomings; having patience with someone who has let us down; or resisting the impulse to become offended when someone doesn't handle something the way we might have hoped. Charity is refusing to take advantage of another's weakness and being willing to forgive someone who has hurt us. Charity is expecting the best of each other. None of us need one more person bashing or pointing out where we have failed or fallen short. Most of us are already well aware of the areas in which we are weak. What each of us does need is family, friends, employers, and brothers and sisters who support us, who have the patience to teach us, who believe in us, and who believe we're trying to do the best we can, in spite of our weakne...

As used in the scriptures, the word Atonement is defined as “the reconciliation of one’s self to God.” (Bible Dictionary, Atonement ).  The Atonement was the single greatest act in human history, but not only was it an act in history performed by the Savior, it is an act that will exist and extend to all human history, in all different worlds. He was foreordained as the Savior of the world to perform the Atonement to save all mankind. I have chosen to examine His foreordination and His sinless life He led leading up to the Atonement. I hope to share some of my feelings and do this sweet topic justice, as it means so much to me. The Guide to the Scriptures defines foreordination as, “ God’s premortal ordination of his valiant spirit children to fulfill certain missions during their mortal lives.” Christ was foreordained as the Savior of the world in the great council of heaven. In Abraham 3, we learn of the foreordination. The idea of God was that we would each come to earth to b...

I will probably repeat a few concepts that I make in this post on my post about the Atonement, but I believe strongly that the more I write them, the more they become a part of me. The past few weeks, I have truly been struggling. Struggling with the stresses of life, struggling with moving on from my mission, struggling with my health, and frankly, just struggling with just about everything. I am grateful for the opportunity to study the Atonement and remind me of past experiences and important doctrinal points to help me make it through this tough time. When I was serving in Switzerland, we had a primary age girl in the ward who was 11. She thought up questions that were very deep into the gospel, things that I never would have thought out at that age. One day, over Sunday dinner, she asked my companion and I why the Savior had to be Jesus Christ. We mulled over what kind of answer she was looking for and tried several times  to give her an answer, but it was never quite the ...

From the scriptures, we learn that the two biggest events in our modern history are the Atonement and the Fall of Adam. The Atonement comes as a byproduct of the fall. The fall was completely necessary for our progression and ability to be born, to learn and progress, and moreover to be saved. We learn from the scriptures about the circumstances surrounding the fall. Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden and were commanded to not partake of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The byproduct of the breaking of this commandment was that they would die the spiritual death, or be cast out from God’s presence. They broke this commandment after being tempted by Satan, and were indeed cast out from the presence of God, out of the Garden which was left to their care. They became mortal, being subject to physical death, pain, sin, and all the other human emotions that we experience. This is the definition of the common term that we use, The Fall. So how does this affect u...

Essential to our society in today’s world is the attribute of virtue. Virtue is defined in Preach My Gospel as ‘a pattern of thought and behavior based on high moral standards’. It is the adherence to a code of ethics that puts the welfare of others above our own. Virtue is a necessity in the way a country runs, and can be broken down to an individual level. Each of us needs that attribute to contribute to the overall bettering of our neighborhoods, communities, cities, and ultimately, our nation. Observing a person’s behavior is an indication of how virtuous they are. Citizenship is obviously defined as the inhabitant of a country. Therefore, virtuous citizenry can be defined as the responsibility for each citizen to live after high moral standards resulting in an individual contribution of a stronger nation. Government has played a role in virtuous citizenry, but there remains an undefined line left for interpretation. What role should government play in nurturing that virtuous citi...