We had stake conference today with some lovely messages and then went old school with the old family home evening DVD with such classics as "The Pump", "The touch of the Masters Hand", and a couple others. The kids enjoyed them even though the video quality isn't quite up to snuff with today's technology.
I guess a couple things I want to remember today would start with my scripture study. I finished the
Last few chapters of Mark today in the New Testament and was really impressed with a couples of things...not necessarily that I hadn't seen or known these things before, but just that they impressed on my mind and my heart more than usual. One was how Judas started into the betrayal...he was upset by something Jesus said and that is what caused him to allow satan to enter into his heart to lead him to betray the Savior. I wondered if I ever get offended by Jesus' doctrine? How do I react to His teachings? So many are offended at the strictness of God's words today...as Elder Holland said in general conference last month, that people want, "gods who do not demand much, comfortable gods, smooth gods who not only don’t rock the boat but don’t even row it, gods who pat us on the head, make us giggle, then tell us to run along and pick marigolds."
People are offended that God really does want us to follow rules and laws...not just whatever the latest opinion poll says. Elder Holland goes on to say, "folks invoke the name of Jesus as one who was this kind of “comfortable” God. Really? He who said not only should we not break commandments, but we should not even think about breaking them. And if we do think about breaking them, we have already broken them in our heart. Does that sound like “comfortable” doctrine, easy on the ear and popular down at the village love-in?
And what of those who just want to look at sin or touch it from a distance? Jesus said with a flash, if your eye offends you, pluck it out. If your hand offends you, cut it off. 'I came not to [bring] peace, but a sword,' He warned those who thought He spoke only soothing platitudes. No wonder that, sermon after sermon, the local communities “pray[ed] him to depart out of their coasts.” No wonder, miracle after miracle, His power was attributed not to God but to the devil. It is obvious that the bumper sticker question “What would Jesus do?” will not always bring a popular response.
...Jesus clearly understood what many in our modern culture seem to forget: that there is a crucial difference between the commandment to forgive sin (which He had an infinite capacity to do) and the warning against condoning it (which He never ever did even once)." See a highlight of his talk below...
The other thing that stuck out to me is how quick the disciples were to say that they would never deny Him only to do so a few short hours later. How often are we the same? I hope I can do better with both of those things.
Another memory today was feeling the Holy Ghost testify of important gospel truths as I talked with my brother Chance. He is feeling the weight of his calling as an Elders Quorum President and it was awesome to discuss some of the things that were impacting him right now.
Finally I have to say how impressed I was with Taft and Trey tonight. They got into a spitting war where they were spitting on each other (no that is not what was impressive). They of course got caught and knew right away that they were in the wrong. As I sat them down for a time out I confirmed that they knew why they were In the time out which they did. I started to walk out of the room but felt impressed that I needed to talk about it further with them so I went back in and started asking them why it was wrong for them to spit on each other. Their first couple of answers were pretty standard about how it wasn't nice, but as I dug deeper, Trey gave a couple of extremely profound answers. He explained to me that not only was it just simply not nice, but even more specifically it was the kind of thing that wicked men did to Jesus and so was inherently wrong in that aspect. He then explained that our bodies are temples and that we wouldn't spit on a temple and so why would we spit on bodies since they are temples?
Frankly I was amazed! The fact that he could apply doctrines and principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ at such a young age and in such a specific instance was incredible to me. It testified to me of what wonderful people that these two boys are and how much they already love The Lord and are trying to do what is right. Awesome experience that I hope that me writing will help them remember. Help them to remember the influence of the gospel on their everyday life at such an early age. God truly does live, as does His Son, The Lord Jesus Christ. These things are real Nd I am so grateful for the knowledge that I have of these things!
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