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 Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2005 11:41 pm
Mysterika There should be a section in the guild where all members are free to post talks made by the church officials, or ones they've written themselves, anything that they find may be inspiring, uplifting and positive to others. 3nodding I agree that this is a good Idea. So here is the section for these talks.
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Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2005 8:21 am
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Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2005 6:39 pm
This is only part of a talk a long time ago, I thought it was a really cool talk.
I forgot who gave it, but he walked up and started setting up random things around the microphone. He had a few pictures, a book, some clocks, ext. He spent 2 minutes just setting everything up. Well, when he was done he said that we had all just wasted 2 minutes of our lives watching him set up these useless items. He said that assuming you wasted 2 minutes daily, that would level out to be wasting months of your whole life. Then he said that the average american wasted over 2 hours (this is being rather generous) in front of the television, or playing videogames. He then elaborated this to be years of your life gone. It's pretty self explanitory from there.
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Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2005 5:10 pm
I would have to say that I found the talk President Monson gave at the last Young Women's Conference was amazing.
I don't remember it too well, but I'm going to go and look for it. It was the talk that contained the lind "You ahve a heritage, honor it," or something like that.... gah, now I have to go and find that talk.
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Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2005 11:43 pm
Here's a talk that I wrote by myself for a Sacrament meeting for Mother's Day if you couldn't already tell. I got more comments on this talk than all my other previous talks combined...:
Taylor M. Czirban Talk for the Mother's Day sacrament meeting on May 16, 2005 for the ********* 8th Ward
Good morning. My name is Taylor Czirban and I was asked to speak about mothers and their important roles in the family. I'd like to open with a quote from Thomas S. Monson of the First Presidency in the January issue of the 1974 Ensign. It reads:
"Who can probe a mother's love? Who can comprehend in its entirety the lofty role of a mother? With perfect trust in God, she walks, her hand in his, into the valley of the shadow of death that you and I might come forth unto life."
President Monson went on to quote a poem written by George Griffith Fetter. The poem is titled "The Name of Mother" and goes like this:
?The Name of Mother?
?The noblest thoughts my soul can claim.
The holiest words my tongue can frame,
Unworthy are to frame the name
More sacred than all other.
An infant when her love first came,
A man, I find it just the same:
Reverently I breathe her name?
The blessed name of mother.?
I personally believe that mothers play the key role around the home. They do this in many ways which include getting the kids off to school on time, making breakfast, lunch and dinner for everyone, cleaning up the house every single day, re-organizing everything in the house including the kitchen and everyone's rooms so they don't know where anything is anymore, picking each of the kids up from school, attending multiple recreational activites in which their children are participating, (sometimes trying to be at all of them at the same time...), giving baths to the little ones, and putting everyone to bed early enough that they can get up the next day.
In a talk given by Jeffrey R. Holland titled "Because She Is a Mother" from the May 1997 issue of the Ensign, Elder Holland stated:
"In speaking of mothers generally, I especially wish to praise and encourage young mothers. The work of a mother is hard and too often unheralded. The young years are often those when either the husband or wife--or both--may still be in school. Finances fluctuate daily between low and nonexistent. The apartment is usually decorated in one of two smart designs?Deseret Industries Provincial or early Mother Hubbard. The car, if there is one, runs on smooth tires and an empty tank. But with night feedings and night teethings, often the greatest challenge of all for a young mother is simply fatigue. Through these years, mothers go longer on less sleep and give more to others with less personal renewal for themselves than any other group I know at any other time in life. It is not surprising when the shadows under their eyes sometimes vaguely resemble the state of Rhode Island."
I have seen this personally, mostly because I've been part of the things that wear my own mother out. But I must say, I haven't done nearly as much as the other kids. Right Mom?
Elder Russel M. Nelson gave a talk named "Woman- Of Infinite Worth". His talk was put into the November edition of the 1989 Ensign:
"I have marveled at Mother?s forecast that a child would break out with measles or chicken pox well before my trained medical eye would have so predicted. I have watched the incredible calm of Mother when her child experienced a convulsive seizure.
So much is expected of a woman. Often she is a detective; she must search for lost articles and solve on a daily basis baffling ?who done it? mysteries.
Frequently, her eager audience requests her talent as a musician by calling upon her to sing?any time, any place. She is an artist, using crayons and coloring books, needles and thread, or other means to create works of art by her own hands.
During the early life of most children, a woman is the principal disciplinarian. She treads the tightrope of judgment between being too strict or too permissive.
Mother is ?secretary of labor? for her home. She teaches the work ethic with its responsibilities and rewards. Father, too, shares that duty. I remember a hot Saturday afternoon years ago when one of our little daughters heard the chimes of an approaching ice-cream wagon. She asked me for some money. A bit heartlessly, I replied, ?Sweetheart, why don?t you earn your money like everyone else does?? I?ll never forget her reply.
?But, Daddy,? she said, ?I don?t like to work!? (Things are different now with four children of her own.)
A woman is a master communicator. And she communicates best in humble prayer. How many of us first learned to pray beside the bended knees of our mothers? Surely she knows that her children can walk alone only when they have found their pathway to Father in Heaven through prayer.
Certainly, a woman is a teacher. Someone said, ?When you teach a boy, you teach an individual, but when you teach a girl, you teach a whole generation.?
I know that I have a long way to go to fulfill all my mother's expectations for me but I also know that she will be right there with me through everything that I go through to be there to help me through it and will never let me fall. I know that all mothers have a deep love for each and everyone of their children and that they strive for the best that they can get for them even if it means sacrificing their own wants.
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2005 9:43 pm
demichibibaka I would have to say that I found the talk President Monson gave at the last Young Women's Conference was amazing. I don't remember it too well, but I'm going to go and look for it. It was the talk that contained the lind "You ahve a heritage, honor it," or something like that.... gah, now I have to go and find that talk. Oh! Oh! I know that talk and I loved it to. Here is a LinkAnyway, yeah it was one of my favorites that whole conference as well. And the code of conduct was: 1.You have a heritage, honor it. 2.There is temptation, withstand it. 3.You know the truth, live it. 4.You have a testimony, share it.
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Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2006 4:46 pm
[ Message temporarily off-line ]
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Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 3:32 pm
Gwyndara" This IS what the Atonement REALLY means. The Purifying Power of Gethsemane Elder Bruce R. McConkie Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles Bruce R. McConkie, The Purifying Power of Gethsemane, Ensign, May 1985, 9 I feel, and the Spirit seems to accord, that the most important doctrine I can declare, and the most powerful testimony I can bear, is of the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. His atonement is the most transcendent event that ever has or ever will occur from Creation's dawn through all the ages of a never-ending eternity. It is the supreme act of goodness and grace that only a god could perform. Through it, all of the terms and conditions of the Father's eternal plan of salvation became operative. Through it are brought to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. Through it, all men are saved from death, hell, the devil, and endless torment. And through it, all who believe and obey the glorious gospel of God, all who are true and faithful and overcome the world, all who suffer for Christ and his word, all who are chastened and scourged in the Cause of him whose we are, all shall become as their Maker and sit with him on his throne and reign with him forever in everlasting glory. In speaking of these wondrous things I shall use my own words, though you may think they are the words of scripture, words spoken by other Apostles and prophets. True it is they were first proclaimed by others, but they are now mine, for the Holy Spirit of God has borne witness to me that they are true, and it is now as though the Lord had revealed them to me in the first instance. I have thereby heard his voice and know his word. Two thousand years ago, outside Jerusalem's walls, there was a pleasant garden spot, Gethsemane by name, where Jesus and his intimate friends were wont to retire for pondering and prayer. There Jesus taught his disciples the doctrines of the kingdom, and all of them communed with Him who is the Father of us all, in whose ministry they were engaged, and on whose errand they served. This sacred spot, like Eden where Adam dwelt, like Sinai from whence Jehovah gave his laws, like Calvary where the Son of God gave his life a ransom for many, this holy ground is where the Sinless Son of the Everlasting Father took upon himself the sins of all men on condition of repentance. We do not know, we cannot tell, no mortal mind can conceive the full import of what Christ did in Gethsemane. We know he sweat great gouts of blood from every pore as he drained the dregs of that bitter cup his Father had given him. We know he suffered, both body and spirit, more than it is possible for man to suffer, except it be unto death. We know that in some way, incomprehensible to us, his suffering satisfied the demands of justice, ransomed penitent souls from the pains and penalties of sin, and made mercy available to those who believe in his holy name. We know that he lay prostrate upon the ground as the pains and agonies of an infinite burden caused him to tremble and would that he might not drink the bitter cup. We know that an angel came from the courts of glory to strengthen him in his ordeal, and we suppose it was mighty Michael, who foremost fell that mortal man might be. As near as we can judge, these infinite agonies, this suffering beyond compare, continued for some three or four hours. After this, his body then wrenched and drained of strength, he confronted Judas and the other incarnate devils, some from the very Sanhedrin itself; and he was led away with a rope around his neck, as a common criminal, to be judged by the arch-criminals who as Jews sat in Aaron's seat and who as Romans wielded Caesar's power. They took him to Annas, to Caiaphas, to Pilate, to Herod, and back to Pilate. He was accused, cursed, and smitten. Their foul saliva ran down his face as vicious blows further weakened his pain-engulfed body. With reeds of wrath they rained blows upon his back. Blood ran down his face as a crown of thorns pierced his trembling brow. But above it all he was scourged, scourged with forty stripes save one, scourged with a multithonged whip into whose leather strands sharp bones and cutting metals were woven. Many died from scourging alone, but he rose from the sufferings of the scourge that he might die an ignominious death upon the cruel cross of Calvary. Then he carried his own cross until he collapsed from the weight and pain and mounting agony of it all. Finally, on a hill called Calvary, again, it was outside Jerusalem's walls, while helpless disciples looked on and felt the agonies of near death in their own bodies, the Roman soldiers laid him upon the cross. With great mallets they drove spikes of iron through his feet and hands and wrists. Truly he was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. Then the cross was raised that all might see and gape and curse and deride. This they did, with evil venom, for three hours from 9:00 A.M. to noon. Then the heavens grew black. Darkness covered the land for the space of three hours, as it did among the Nephites. There was a mighty storm, as though the very God of Nature was in agony. And truly he was, for while he was hanging on the cross for another three hours, from noon to 3:00 P.M., all the infinite agonies and merciless pains of Gethsemane recurred. And, finally, when the atoning agonies had taken their toll, when the victory had been won, when the Son of God had fulfilled the will of his Father in all things, then he said, "It is finished" ( John 19:30), and he voluntarily gave up the ghost. As the peace and comfort of a merciful death freed him from the pains and sorrows of mortality, he entered the paradise of God. When he had made his soul an offering for sin, he was prepared to see his seed, according to the messianic word. These, consisting of all the holy prophets and faithful Saints from ages past; these, comprising all who had taken upon them his name, and who, being spiritually begotten by him, had become his sons and his daughters, even as it is with us; all these were assembled in the spirit world, there to see his face and hear his voice. After some thirty-eight or forty hours, three days as the Jews measured time, our Blessed Lord came to the Arimathaean's tomb, where his partially embalmed body had been placed by Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathaea. Then, in a way incomprehensible to us, he took up that body which had not yet seen corruption and arose in that glorious immortality which made him like his resurrected Father. He then received all power in heaven and on earth, obtained eternal exaltation, appeared unto Mary Magdalene and many others, and ascended into heaven, there to sit down on the right hand of God the Father Almighty and to reign forever in eternal glory. His rising from death on the third day crowned the Atonement. Again, in some way incomprehensible to us, the effects of his resurrection pass upon all men so that all shall rise from the grave. As Adam brought death, so Christ brought life; as Adam is the father of mortality, so Christ is the father of immortality. And without both, mortality and immortality, man cannot work out his salvation and ascend to those heights beyond the skies where gods and angels dwell forever in eternal glory. Now, the atonement of Christ is the most basic and fundamental doctrine of the gospel, and it is the least understood of all our revealed truths. Many of us have a superficial knowledge and rely upon the Lord and his goodness to see us through the trials and perils of life. But if we are to have faith like Enoch and Elijah we must believe what they believed, know what they knew, and live as they lived. May I invite you to join with me in gaining a sound and sure knowledge of the Atonement. We must cast aside the philosophies of men and the wisdom of the wise and hearken to that Spirit which is given to us to guide us into all truth. We must search the scriptures, accepting them as the mind and will and voice of the Lord and the very power of God unto salvation. As we read, ponder, and pray, there will come into our minds a view of the three gardens of God—the Garden of Eden, the Garden of Gethsemane, and the Garden of the Empty Tomb where Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene. In Eden we will see all things created in a paradisiacal state—without death, without procreation, without probationary experiences. We will come to know that such a creation, now unknown to man, was the only way to provide for the Fall. We will then see Adam and Eve, the first man and the first woman, step down from their state of immortal and paradisiacal glory to become the first mortal flesh on earth. Mortality, including as it does procreation and death, will enter the world. And because of transgression a probationary estate of trial and testing will begin. Then in Gethsemane we will see the Son of God ransom man from the temporal and spiritual death that came to us because of the Fall. And finally, before an empty tomb, we will come to know that Christ our Lord has burst the bands of death and stands forever triumphant over the grave. Thus, Creation is father to the Fall; and by the Fall came mortality and death; and by Christ came immortality and eternal life. If there had been no fall of Adam, by which cometh death, there could have been no atonement of Christ, by which cometh life. And now, as pertaining to this perfect atonement, wrought by the shedding of the blood of God, I testify that it took place in Gethsemane and at Golgotha, and as pertaining to Jesus Christ, I testify that he is the Son of the Living God and was crucified for the sins of the world. He is our Lord, our God, and our King. This I know of myself independent of any other person. I am one of his witnesses, and in a coming day I shall feel the nail marks in his hands and in his feet and shall wet his feet with my tears. But I shall not know any better then than I know now that he is God's Almighty Son, that he is our Savior and Redeemer, and that salvation comes in and through his atoning blood and in no other way. God grant that all of us may walk in the light as God our Father is in the light so that, according to the promises, the blood of Jesus Christ his Son will cleanse us from all sin. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
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Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2006 4:50 pm
I always find missionary farewells spiritual
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Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2007 7:21 pm
(( I find this up lifting. It also teaches me an important lesson about "Agency."))
The purpose of this lesson is to help us better understand the principle of agency and to teach us the importance of making wise choices.
Introduction
Jacob, the brother of Nephi, declared in the Book of Mormon, “Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves—to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life” (2 Nephi 10:23).
What gives us the power to make decisions? Why, for example, did we decide to be baptized? Or why are we able to decide what clothes to wear, what school to attend, or what job to pursue?
The answer is that we have been given a gift from God called agency. This gift is the power to make choices. The most important choice we have to make, a choice made possible by the Savior’s Atonement, concerns eternal life. If we choose to follow the Lord, He will bless us and teach us how to use our agency to become like God and gain eternal salvation.
Lehi explained agency to his son Jacob: “Wherefore, men are free … to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil” (2 Nephi 2:27).
Agency: An Eternal Law
Agency is an eternal law. President Brigham Young, speaking of our agency, taught: “This is a law which has always existed from all eternity, and will continue to exist throughout all the eternities to come. Every intelligent being must have the power of choice” (Discourses of Brigham Young, sel. John A. Widtsoe [1954], 62).
• Have a class member read Abraham 3:22–28 and Moses 4:1–4.
Before we came to earth we met in a heavenly council. One of the great issues before us there concerned the eternal principle of agency. Lucifer, or Satan, wanted to take away our agency. Jesus Christ, however, wanted to do the will of the Father, which was to allow us to choose for ourselves.
“This agency,” said President Wilford Woodruff, “has always been the heritage of man under the rule and government of God. He possessed it in the heaven of heavens before the world was, and the Lord maintained and defended it there against the aggression of Lucifer and those that took sides with him. … By virtue of this agency you and I and all mankind are made responsible beings, responsible for the course we pursue, the lives we live, and deeds we do” (Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, sel. G. Homer Durham [1946], 8–9).
Using Our Agency
Certain things are necessary in order for us to use our agency. First, we must have a knowledge of good and evil; second, we must have the freedom to make choices; and third, after we exercise our agency, there must be consequences that follow our choices.
• As each is discussed, write on the chalkboard Knowledge of Good and Evil, Freedom to Make Choices, and Consequences of Making Choices.
Knowledge of Good and Evil
To be judged fairly when we meet our Savior, we must be able to think and reason. We must understand what we are doing, recognizing the difference between good and evil and the consequences of our actions. For this reason the Lord does not hold us responsible for our choices until we are eight years old, the age of accountability (see D&C 68:25–27; 29:46–47). Those who are younger than this cannot be responsible for their actions. Mormon explained:
“Little children are whole, for they are not capable of committing sin. …
“Little children cannot repent; wherefore, it is awful wickedness to deny the pure mercies of God unto them, for they are all alive in him because of his mercy” (Moroni 8:8, 19).
Mormon also explained that people who “are without the law” are “alive in Christ” (Moroni 8:22). This means that people who have not been taught the gospel or who are incapable of understanding it, such as those with certain developmental disabilities, are not expected to live by it. They will not be held accountable until the gospel is taught to them or until they can understand it.
Freedom to Make Choices
The greatest use of our agency is choosing between good and evil. The Lord knows that we can be influenced by both good and evil in making choices. Without the conflict between these two forces, we would not have choices to make—we would not have agency. Therefore, the Lord gives us principles, laws, and commandments to follow, and Satan tempts us to disobey them.
The Lord says, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength” (Mark 12:30). Satan essentially suggests: “Why love God? Why not disregard Him?” He might even imply there is no God!
The Lord says, “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20: cool . Satan says: “Use the Sabbath as a recreation day. What value is there in attending church and in not working on this day?”
The Lord says, “Honour thy father and thy mother” (Exodus 20:12). Satan puts into our minds the idea of disobeying our parents: “Your life is your own to choose as you wish. Take all your parents will give you. They will soon be old, and someone else can take care of them.” (Adapted from Carl W. Buehner, “Who’s on the Lord’s Side?” Improvement Era, June 1961, 402.)
• Show visual 28-a, “Danger—No Swimming.” Have the assigned class member relate the story about the sign “Danger—No Swimming” (see “Teacher Preparation”).
As the story about the “Danger—No Swimming” sign shows us, following the temptations of Satan limits our choices. Each time we choose evil we lose some freedom. Freedom is increased only when we choose the right.
President Spencer W. Kimball once wrote a letter to a young man who was struggling with a decision concerning religion. President Kimball wanted to make sure that this young man understood his choices. He wrote:
“Dear John:
“Your resistance and argument against the truths of the gospel have given me grave concern.
“I realize I cannot convince you against your will. … I would not, even if I could, force your thinking, for free agency is the basic law of God and each one must assume the responsibility for his own response; but certainly each of us must do his part in influencing for good those who might need some assistance” (“Absolute Truth,” Ensign, Sept. 1978, 3).
Consequences of Making Choices
The natural result of using our agency is experiencing the consequences of our choices. However, we must understand that while we are free to choose, we are not free to choose the consequences of our choices. Good consequences follow right choices; bad consequences follow wrong choices. The Book of Mormon prophet Samuel declared: “[God] hath given unto you that ye might know good from evil, and he hath given unto you that ye might choose life or death; and ye can do good and be restored unto that which is good, or have that which is good restored unto you; or ye can do evil, and have that which is evil restored unto you” (Helaman 14:31).
• Show visual 28-b, “The principle of agency is like the law of the harvest: whatever we sow, we shall also reap.”
The law of the harvest is that we reap what we sow (see Galatians 6:7– cool . A farmer lives by this law. The kind of seed he plants determines what he will harvest. If he plants wheat seed, he will harvest wheat, not corn. Nor can he choose to neglect his crop once he has planted the seed and have a good harvest.
The principle of agency is like the law of the harvest: when we make a choice, we must accept the results of that choice. Sometimes we will not realize the total consequences of our choices until we are judged by God. But many times our choices affect us immediately. For example, we are given the gift of the Holy Ghost following our baptism. The full benefit of having the Holy Ghost as a companion cannot be realized until after our resurrection, but if we choose to disobey the Holy Ghost and commit sin, we lose His influence in our lives. The immediate consequence of choosing to do wrong is that we no longer experience the comfort, understanding, love, and guidance the Holy Ghost provides when we do what is right.
• When a young man breaks the Word of Wisdom, what are the consequences of his actions? (He is unworthy to be advanced in the priesthood. The Spirit withdraws. He is unworthy to serve a mission. He may become addicted to substances that harm his body.)
• When a father fails to teach the gospel to his children, what are the consequences? (There may be less love in the family. Children may not know good from evil. He may lose his children in the eternities if as adults they fail to become and remain temple worthy. The children’s spiritual progress may be delayed.)
Whether consequences come immediately or in the future, our lives will reflect how we use our agency. The blessings that come from making right choices include “development, growth, and progress” (Elder James E. Faust, in Conference Report, Oct. 1984, 73; or Ensign, Nov. 1984, 59). In addition, we do not need to fear either immediate consequences or those that will follow in the future.
• Sing “Do What Is Right” (Hymns,no. 237; or Gospel Principles, 342–43).
We Are Accountable for Our Choices
We are free to act, but we will be held accountable for our actions. One day each of us will stand before God and give an accounting of how we used our agency. Then God will judge us. His judgments will be both just and merciful, based on His love and the laws of heaven.
President Joseph F. Smith said: “God has given to all men an agency and has granted to us the privilege to serve him or serve him not. … But he will hold us strictly to an account for the use that we make of this agency, and as it was said of Cain, so it will be said of us; ‘If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door’ (Gen. 4:7)” (Gospel Doctrine, 5th ed. [1939], 49). Alma said:
“It is requisite with the justice of God that men should be judged according to their works; and if their works were good in this life, and the desires of their hearts were good, that they should also, at the last day, be restored unto that which is good.
“And if their works are evil they shall be restored unto them for evil” (Alma 41:3–4).
Because our actions are a result of our choices, it is important that we make correct choices. Joseph in the Old Testament is a good example of one who made correct choices and received great blessings because of his righteous actions.
After Joseph was brought to Egypt he became a servant of Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard. Joseph was blessed because he had chosen to follow the Lord. Potiphar saw that everything Joseph did was good, so he gave Joseph responsibility over all he had. For Joseph’s sake the Lord blessed and prospered the house and fields of Potiphar.
During this time, however, Potiphar’s wife began to lust after Joseph. Her feelings grew until one day she tried to tempt Joseph to commit adultery with her.
• Show the color visual of Joseph resisting Potiphar’s wife, found in the “Picture Section” of this manual. Have a class member read Genesis 39:7–12. Did Joseph know the laws of God concerning adultery? What choices did Joseph have? What did he choose to do?
In facing this temptation, Joseph thought about the great trust Potiphar had placed in him; but more importantly, he thought about the Lord and his promise to obey Him. Joseph knew he was ultimately accountable to God. This knowledge gave him strength to resist Potiphar’s wife. He chose to obey God.
The efforts of Potiphar’s wife to tempt Joseph did not cease because he refused her once. She tempted him day after day, and he continued to resist her. Finally, in her anger and frustration, she accused Joseph of the very sin of which she was guilty. As a result, Joseph was put in prison.
“But the Lord was with Joseph” because he chose to obey. Eventually, Joseph was released from prison and became a ruler over all of Egypt. (See Genesis 39–41.)
• How can Joseph’s example help us use our agency correctly?
Conclusion
President David O. McKay stated: “Next to the bestowal of life itself, the right to direct our lives is God’s greatest gift to man. Freedom of choice is more to be treasured than any possession earth can give. It is inherent in the spirit of man. It is a divine gift to every normal being. … To man is given a special endowment, not bestowed upon any other living thing. God gave to him the power of choice. Only to the human being did the Creator say, ‘… thou mayest choose for thyself, for it is given unto thee; …” (Moses 3:17). Without this divine power to choose, humanity cannot progress” (“Man’s Free Agency—An Eternal Principle of Progress,” Improvement Era, Dec. 1965, 1073).
We must have agency to progress. But we must use our agency correctly because God will hold us responsible for our choices. We should seek to obey Heavenly Father, pray, listen to His prophets, and be worthy of the guidance of the Holy Ghost so we can one day gain eternal life.
Challenge
Select an area of your life you want to improve, and make and carry out decisions that will bring the desired result.
Additional Scriptures
• 2 Nephi 2:11 (opposition in all things)
• Doctrine and Covenants 58:26–29 (the Lord does not command in all things)
• Doctrine and Covenants 101:78 (accountability for sins)
Teacher Preparation
Before presenting this lesson:
1. Review Gospel Principles chapter 4, “Freedom to Choose.”
2. Ask a class member in advance to prepare to give the following analogy: “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—No Swimming.’] 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 [danger the sign warned us of] 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” (Gospel Principles [1997], 23).
3. Prepare to have the class sing “Do What Is Right” (Hymns,no. 237; or Gospel Principles, 342–43).
4. Assign class members to present any stories, scriptures, or quotations you wish.
[picture] 28-a, “Danger—No Swimming”
[picture] 28-b, The principle of agency is like the law of the harvest: whatever we sow, we shall also reap.
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Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 6:51 pm
Since Neal Armstrong stepped from the ladder of Intrepid II and placed his foot on the moon’s powdery surface, the human mind has turned with increasing interest and fascination to thoughts of outer space. Science fiction writers have suddenly become respectable.
Age-old questions again come to the surface: Is our earth the only world in all of space that has intelligent inhabitants? Or is there life on other worlds—perhaps intelligent beings like ourselves or maybe even more intelligent than ourselves? Might they visit us?
Understandably enough, discussions concerning these questions are highly absorbing and are popular among students of all ages, from junior high through graduate school.
One of the most exciting things for many Latter-day Saint students to learn is that the Church, through revelation from God (who—have you ever thought of it in this light?—is our contact from outer space), teaches some of the answers to these questions. And we’ve had the answers for quite some time.
Before we look at them, however, let’s take a quick look at what modern science tells us about space and man’s present ability to investigate it and travel in it.
We all know that the moon is only a few days away from us at present speeds of travel. (The speed is about 25,000 miles per hour when the astronauts leave the vicinity of the earth. Their rocket continually slows down, however; otherwise, at 25,000 mph, we could reach the moon in ten hours.)
Four hundred times as far away as the moon is our sun, the nearest star. If we could maintain the 25,000 mph speed, it would still take almost six months to reach the sun.
Between the earth and sun lie the paths of Mercury and Venus. In the other direction lies that of Mars. Life, as we understand it in mortality, is apparently impossible on any of these nearby planets except for a slim chance of very simple organisms on Mars. Mars does have an atmosphere, but it is one hundred times thinner than that of the earth, and it contains little water vapor or oxygen. Temperatures on its equator vary from a maximum of 80 degrees in daytime to a frigid 100 degrees below zero at night. On Venus and Mercury, temperature and atmospheric conditions are too extreme for any organisms whatever; Venus sits under a dense and suffocating atmosphere at a temperature 100 degrees hotter than melted lead, while Mercury, with no atmosphere to speak of, alternately brakes and freezes between temperatures as hot as those of Venus and as cold as 200 degrees below zero.
Traveling out beyond Mars to our sun’s outer planets, we would find conditions no more hospitable. The outer planets of our system are so far away from the sun that at 25,000 mph it would take us two and a half years to reach the closest one, massive Jupiter, and twenty years to reach outermost Pluto. At such distances from the sun, the warmest temperature we would find would be 200 degrees below zero on “nearby” Jupiter. It would be progressively colder on Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. 1 On distant Pluto the sun would appear only as an extra-bright star, giving off enough heat to keep Pluto at about 400 degrees below zero, a dark, cold, inhospitable place indeed!
So much for our own solar system. But what about other suns and other planets? On the vast scale of distances in space, even Pluto is practically on top of us. While it would take twenty years to reach Pluto, even at our speed of 25,000 mph it would take us 100,000 years to reach the nearest star outside of our solar system.
And there are one hundred billion such stars organized into the great system that we call our galaxy, all revolving around a common center like a giant pinwheel. Individual stars in the galaxy are so distant from each other that light itself takes several years to get from one star to the next. (Light takes only eight minutes to get to us from our sun.) To travel clear across the galaxy, light would require more than 100,000 years. Our own sun, with its attendant planets, is about halfway out from the galactic center, traveling around it in a great circle every 200 million years. To complete the trip even in that much time, it must travel at a speed between 150 and 200 miles per second (about 25 times 25,000 mph).
As vast as our own galaxy is, there are still billions of others! Galaxies continue endlessly into space as far as the largest telescopes can penetrate.
People often ask about the possibility of space travel to other planets surrounding distant stars. When we consider the staggering distances and the length of time it would take to reach even the closest star (hundreds of thousands of years), it is rather apparent that our traveling there by spaceship is an impossibility. To the very nearest stars, radio communication might be possible. However, even radio signals, traveling at the speed of light, would take several years to arrive there and several more years for an answer to come back, assuming there is someone there to send an answer!
Is there? Could there be? Planets that are inhabited by intelligent beings can exist—we live on one. And as we think of all the galaxies, it is utterly unthinkable that among the uncountable billions upon billions of stars and galaxies throughout space, intelligent beings exist on only one world in this whole vast universe. If only one star in a million should have inhabitable planets, that would still leave over 100,000 such systems in our own galaxy alone! And galaxies like ours exist by the billions!
But whether planets with conditions satisfactory for human life are a dime a dozen or extremely rare, science cannot tell us. Other stars are too far away, and our means of learning about them too meager. Even if the nearest star had such planets, we could not hope to see them with the best conceivable instruments, much less tell if they were inhabited—unless the inhabitants should just happen to be sending extremely powerful radio messages our way. The U.S. government has actually turned its radio telescopes upon a couple of nearby stars that appear to be likely prospects to see if such messages were forthcoming. They weren’t.
How, then, can we ever hope to know about people on other worlds? Considering the place and the conditions of the world upon which the Lord has placed us, and the limitations upon our scientific abilities, it seems that there is only one answer. We have no other source of knowledge than that which the Lord himself feels it is important to give to us in our earthly condition.
Walter Sullivan, science editor of the New York Times, wrote a prize-winning best seller about the possibility of contacting intelligent life on other worlds. In his book We Are Not Alone, he discusses what a tremendous impact such contact would have upon mankind should it occur, and he remarks that one group of people who would be at least partly prepared for such an event would be the Latter-day Saints.
Of course, Mr. Sullivan is correct. Not only do we know about the existence of people on other worlds; Latter-day Saints know also that people from other worlds visit the earth! Earth has been receiving visitors from outer space for years, and these visitors have been leaving highly intelligent messages for our benefit. When we put this all in perspective, it becomes very exciting: intelligent beings from a higher culture have visited earth frequently. In fact, isn’t that a large part of the gospel message? Let’s review some of the things that we as Latter-day Saints know about outer space.
People on Other Worlds
In June 1830 the Lord gave to the Prophet Joseph Smith by revelation some of the earlier writings of Moses, the man who took Israel out of Egypt fifteen hundred years before Christ, thousands of years before even Jules Verne wrote stories about outer space. Here is what Joseph Smith learned about Moses’ experiences:
“And calling upon the name of God, he [Moses] beheld his glory again, for it was upon him; and he heard a voice, saying: Blessed art thou, Moses, for I, the Almighty, have chosen thee, and thou shalt be made stronger than many waters; for they shall obey thy command as if thou wert God.
“And it came to pass, as the voice was still speaking, Moses cast his eyes and beheld the earth, yea, even all of it; …
“And he beheld also the inhabitants thereof, …
“And he beheld many lands; and each land was called earth, and there were inhabitants on the face thereof.
“And it came to pass that Moses called upon God, saying: Tell me, I pray thee, why these things are so, and by what thou madest them?
“And behold, the glory of the Lord was upon Moses, so that Moses stood in the presence of God, and talked with him face to face. And the Lord God said unto Moses: For mine own purpose have I made these things. Here is wisdom and it remaineth in me.
“And by the word of my power, have I created them, which is mine Only Begotten Son, who is full of grace and truth.
“And worlds without number have I created; and I also created them for mine own purpose. …
“But only an account of this earth, and the inhabitants thereof, give I unto you. For behold, there are many worlds that have passed away by the word of my power. And there are many that now stand, and innumerable are they unto man; but all things are numbered unto me, for they are mine and I know them.
“And the Lord God spake unto Moses, saying: The heavens, they are many, and they cannot be numbered unto man; but they are numbered unto me, for they are mine.
“And as one earth shall pass away, and the heavens thereof even so shall another come; and there is no end to my works, neither to my words.
“And now, Moses, my son, I will speak unto thee concerning this earth upon which thou standest; and thou shalt write the things which I shall speak.
“And in a day when the children of men shall esteem my words as naught and take many of them from the book which thou shall write, behold, I will raise up another like unto thee; and they shall be had again among the children of men—among as many as believe.” 2
The message of these few verses is stunning! People on many worlds! Right now! Living, working, playing, creating, doing things—right now!
Of special interest are the last two verses, wherein the Lord tells Moses about Joseph Smith’s role in giving these truths to the world again. Notice, however, that only those who believe were to know these things. That’s why the world at large doesn’t understand anything about Moses’ revelation. The world as yet hasn’t placed the Pearl of Great Price on its nightstand for its evening reading.
Of course, Moses and Joseph Smith weren’t the only ones to learn of other worlds. Enoch, a thousand years before Moses, said, “And were it possible that man could number the particles of the earth, yea, millions of earths like this, it would not be a beginning to the number of thy creations; and thy curtains are stretched out still. …” 3
The apostle Paul knew of these things also. He spoke of God’s Son, “whom he hath appointed heir of all things,” being the one “by whom also he made the worlds.” 4
Brigham Young has said, “… there never was a time when there were not Gods and worlds, and men were not passing through the same ordeals that we are now passing through. That course has been from all eternity, and it is and will be to all eternity.” 5
How Long Has This Been Going On?
This insight of the gospel into the subject of outer space is what makes the whole subject meaningful. When you look up into the heavens at night and see the countless numbers of stars, it is easy to imagine other people “out there” being tested and tried and experiencing struggles and joys somewhat similar to those we are going through. But the most exciting thing about this whole basic and fundamental concept is that it is true. Totally and completely true. People growing, developing, and finding fulfillment—out there!
The Prophet Joseph Smith taught: “God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man. … he was once a man like us … God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth. …” 6
“If Jesus Christ was the Son of God, and … God the Father of Jesus Christ had a Father, you may suppose that He had a Father also. … And where was there ever a father without first being a son? … If Jesus had a Father, can we not believe that He had a Father also? …
“He [Jesus] laid down His life, and took it up, the same as His Father had done before.” 7
Long before our God began his creations, he dwelt on a mortal world like ours, one of the creations that his Father had created for him and his brethren. He, with many of his brethren, was obedient to the principles of the eternal gospel. One among these, it is presumed, was a savior for them, and through him they obtained a resurrection and an exaltation on an eternal, celestial world. 8 Then they gained the power and godhood of their Father and were made heirs of all that he had, continuing his works and creating worlds of their own for their own posterity—the same as their Father had done before, and his Father, and his Father, and on and on. With these things in mind, W. W. Phelps, in a hymn, asks the question:
“If you could hie to Kolob
In the twinkling of an eye,
And then continue onward
With that same speed to fly,
D’ye think that you could ever,
Through all eternity,
Find out the generation
Where Gods began to be?” 9
Nothing is more basic in the restored gospel than these truths that, because of recent events of space travel, are so timely. The great hope of the gospel for us is that we may come to a oneness with our Lord and our Father and partake of this same work and glory and godhood. Being joint-heirs of all that the Father has, we may then look forward to using those powers to organize still other worlds from the unorganized matter that exists throughout boundless space. Creating other worlds, peopling them with our own eternal posterity, providing a savior for them, and making known to them the saving principles of the eternal gospel, that they may have the same experiences we are now having and be exalted with us in their turn—this is eternal life. 10 No wonder this possibility continues to fascinate and inspire Saints of all ages. This hope is what inspires members of the Church to seek eternal marriage and to seek in all things to be one with our Lord Jesus Christ, because we want to be with him and participate in all the marvelous things of which Paul the apostle said: “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” 11
Differences in Other Worlds
Another basic truth is that all of the worlds out there are not the same. Some are celestial. Some are terrestrial. Some are telestial. Some, such as ours, are in a phase of temporal existence. And there are other phases, probably some we don’t even know of.
The Lord has said that “there is no space in which there is no kingdom … either a greater or a lesser kingdom.” He has also said, “All kingdoms have a law given.” All kingdoms are not given the same laws, but “unto every law there are certain bounds. …” 12
Our earth and its inhabitants are under the laws of temporal existence. 13 We know a little about the bounds of the laws of this earth’s temporal existence. We know that our world is to undergo a major change to prepare for the Millennium. Many fascinating things are going to happen. Few other events in all scripture have been so clearly and definitively outlined as that which will happen to our world in preparation for and during a one-thousand-year period called the Millennium. But that is a subject for another article. It’s enough to point out here that our earth is now subject to one set of laws, and in the future it will be subject to another set of laws. In other words, our world already has gone through and will yet go through certain planned phases. The same thing happens to other worlds in outer space.
A vital point to remember here is that our science—our core of understanding concerning the operations of our world—is based on experience. And human experience apart from God’s revelations has been limited to a world under a temporal set of laws. We can hope to determine with some accuracy the scientific laws and principles that pertain to this order of the world. But if we assume a uniformity in space and time so complete that we picture the whole universe—past, present, and future—as being subject to the same order that God has given our temporal world, we fail to understand the potentially rich variety of other types of laws that God has given to other worlds. Many of these worlds have passed to a higher state of existence than our own.
Interestingly, the revelations from the Lord do assure us that worlds and heavens do continue one above the other. 14 As our earth’s atmosphere (“firmament” or “expanse”) in which the birds fly is sometimes referred to as a “heaven,” 15 so also our solar system of planets is referred to as the earth’s heavens. 16 Seemingly, this order of heavens is what is referred to when the Lord promised that “the heavens and the earth shall pass away” and there shall be “new heavens and a new earth.” 17
But there are heavens beyond the “heavens” for our earth. “… the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee,” wrote Solomon. 18 And Joseph Smith commented: “the heaven of heavens could not contain him [Christ]; for he took the liberty to go into other heavens.” 19
We do not know how extensive is the order of heavens that pertain to our Lord Jesus Christ and that were created by him. It may consist of the local group of stars to which our sun belongs, or of our whole galaxy, or of our cluster of galaxies, or of all of the galaxies we have so far discovered.
Abraham was shown that in our Lord’s system of heavens, one planet exists above another “until thou come nigh unto Kolob, which … is set nigh unto the throne of God, to govern all those planets which belong to the same order” as our earth. 20
As a side note, unbelievers have always found it difficult to picture the work and power of the Lord on such a vast scale. In the days of St. Augustine, 400 years after Christ, Christian scholars vigorously debated the possibility of people living on the other side of our world! Men debated whether such a land, virtually another world, actually existed, and if it did, whether it was inhabited by men of some form or other. Their speculations and questions about another “world” at the antipodes almost exactly parallel those of our own science about other worlds in space. Augustine himself came to the conclusion that if there were such a place, it could not be inhabited by men.
A similar problem to Augustine’s arose once again in the time of Copernicus and Galileo. At that time the apostate Christian church had accepted the science of Aristotle, which taught that there was but one earth, located at the very center or lowest place in the universe. When Copernicus proposed his new theory of the order of the universe, he placed the sun at the center and the earth in the heavens. It opened the door once again to the question of other worlds.
Centuries later, when Columbus and other explorers found that there truly was a “new world” in the midst of the ocean, and that it was inhabited by men, Christian missionaries lost no time in trying to convert them. Once men had crossed the “impossible” ocean barrier, the “new world” became one with the old world and the problem simply disappeared. The Book of Mormon throws a flood of light on the relationship of the gospel to the ancient inhabitants of America. The Lord could, and did, send angels and revelations of his truths to prophets in America as well as to prophets in Palestine. And though Augustine and the men of his time could not cross the oceans to America, the resurrected Christ certainly could—and did.
Certainly it is no harder for the Lord to visit other worlds than it was for him to visit the Nephites on this continent after his resurrection. When speaking of other worlds, the Lord told Joseph Smith that “all these are kingdoms,” and he likened them to a field in which different servants labored, each of which he visited in turn; “and thus they all received the light of the countenance of their Lord. … Therefore, unto this parable will I liken all these kingdoms, and the inhabitants thereof—every kingdom in its hour and in its time, and in its season, even according to the decree which God hath made.” 21
What Do People on Other Worlds Look Like?
A great many Christians today, influenced by the modern teaching of the evolutionary origin of man from lower species, have long since abandoned the doctrine that man was created in the image of God. Since before the time of Augustine, the living God of revelation and the scriptures has been replaced by the god of Greek philosophy—a being without body, parts, or passions, beyond the bounds of time and space. These Christians, as well as persons who believe in no religion whatever, expect that the chance processes of evolution on other worlds would most likely bring about intelligent beings quite different from man. All of us have been made more or less familiar with this kind of thinking on a less refined scale through the green, bug-eyed monster types of popular science fiction.
Such things make interesting reading for the unknowledgeable, but no Latter-day Saint need be left in doubt. There is nothing more fundamental in God’s revelations than the basic premise that we are of the race of Gods. We are of his species. God looks like us. We look like him. He has two arms, two legs, a head—indeed, Jesus said, “If ye have seen me, ye have seen the Father.” Obviously, God’s sons and daughters would be of his species, would resemble him. This was one of the basic truths Joseph Smith knew after his vision in 1820. Consequently, people on other worlds would be like us, because we are all his children.
The world may think of green, bug-eyed monsters, and science fiction movies may fascinate and enthrall, but they are pure fiction! People “out there” are like people here, because we are all of the race of Gods.
Visitors from Outer Space
A final note to this most brief summary of some of the things that the Lord has told us concerning outer space is concerned with the possibility of visitors from outer space. Anyone interested in intelligent beings on other worlds ponders the obvious question: Could a person from outer space ever come to earth?
Any Latter-day Saint knows the answer. Of course visitors from outer space can come to earth! They’ve been doing it for six thousand years!
God and angels visited Adam. Visitations of God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ to the earth are recorded in the Old and New Testaments, as well as visitations by angels. The Book of Mormon has numerous accounts of visitations. The Father and the Son visited Joseph Smith in 1820. Space travel seems to be quite common!
In our temporal existence, we may not be able to travel to worlds beyond our solar system, but other beings in other phases of existence are not so limited. The gospel has been taught in every dispensation by space travel. True, the visitors do not use rocket ships—they have more efficient means.
When Moroni returned to heaven after one of his visits to Joseph Smith, Joseph “saw, as it were, a conduit open right up into heaven, and he ascended till he entirely disappeared. …” 22
God continues to guide his prophets and his people by the revelations of the Spirit. That is nothing else but communication with other, more intelligent beings from another world.
Communication with other worlds is not a future possibility; it is a present fact! Through such communication we have learned much from the wisdom of superior beings—information that can solve our earthly problems, if we will listen.
What is the Millennium all about if it is not simply a period when earthly civilization will be brought under the government of superior beings from another world who will visit earth frequently to direct affairs on earth! Indeed, when looked at in perspective, the gospel becomes enormously exciting and sophisticated.
“Christ and the resurrected Saints will reign over the earth during the thousand years. They will not probably dwell upon the earth, but will visit it when they please, or when it is necessary to govern it.” 23
But these beings from outer space, or another world, will not be aliens. They will be our brethren who have lived upon this earth in mortality. All of us in the Church are expending our energies in the gospel partly because of the assignment from the Lord to inform the world of this coming visitation by him and other people from outer space, or from the heavens.
It is obvious, therefore, that if we are to help prepare the world to receive these visitors we must know something ourselves about other worlds, the people on them, why we are here, and what is yet going to happen to this world. No one on earth should know more about outer space—and talk more about it—than Latter-day Saints.
It is good that the world’s attention has been turned to the moon. If the journeys into space did nothing but turn mankind’s mind once more to the age-old questions about other worlds and life on them—if it did only this—Neal Armstrong’s footprints on the moon will have served a tremendously significant mission.
[photos] All photos © 1959 to 1965 by California Institute of Technology and Carnegie Institute of Washington
[photo] Spiral Galaxy in Pegasus, 200-inch photograph
[photo] Crab Nebula in Taurus, 200-inch photograph
[photo] Horsehead Nebula in Orion, 48-inch Schmidt photograph
((This is also one I really like.))
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Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 9:57 pm
I'll admit this was an chain type email that my friend sent me, but it is still inspiring.
A young lady named Sally, relates an experience she had in a seminary class, given by her teacher, Dr. Smith . She says that Dr. Smith was known for his elaborate object lessons.
One particular day, Sally walked into the seminary and knew they were in for a fun day.
On the wall was a big target and on a nearby table were many darts. Dr. Smith told the students to draw a picture of someone that they disliked or someone who had made them angry , and he would allow them to throw darts at the person's picture.
Sally's friend drew a picture of who had stolen her boyfriend . Another friend drew a picture of his little brother. Sally drew a picture of a former friend , putting a great deal of detail into her drawing, even drawing pimples on the face. Sally was pleased with the overall effect she had achieved.
The class lined up and began throwing darts. Some of the students threw their darts with such force that their targets were ripping apart. Sally looked forward to her turn, and was filled with disappointment when Dr. Smith, because of time limits, asked the students to return to their seats. As Sally sat thinking about how angry she was because she didn't have a chance to throw any darts at her target , Dr. Smith began removing the target from the wall.
Underneath the target was a picture of Jesus A hush fell over the room as each student viewed the mangled picture of Jesus; holes and jagged marks covered His face and His eyes were pierced.
Dr.. Smith said only these words... ' In as much as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me .
Matthew 25:40.
No other words were necessary; the tears filled eyes of the students focused only on the picture of Christ.
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