He Lives: Modern Day Testimonies of Jesus Christ

A Holy Week - What We Can Learn From Other Religions

I have recently subscribed to The Mormon Times which Deseret News now sends out along with The Church News.  A feature from this weeks edition highlighted how different religions celebrate the week of Easter as well as other traditions and ceremonies throughout the year.  As we strive to be missionaries throughout the world I think it not only important to understand and embrace the good from these cultures but to also avoid the embarrassment of ignorance.  For example, this past Ash Wednesday in February a BBC reporter covering a news conference of Joe Bidens kept reffering to a bruise on his forehead that he must have recieved while attending the Olympics (dont believe me? watch here). 

In one of the articles it quotes Marvin Goldstein, who was born a Jew, but baptized into the church in 1985 at the age of 35. "There is a total disconnect," said Goldstein, an accomplished pianist. "Mormons profess to believe all of these (principles of the holidays) yet know nothing about the holidays that even Christ would have celebrated."

Below are links to each of the features dedicated to learning more about about a sampling of these traditions:

Palm Sunday

Good Friday

Passover

Shavuot

Pentecost

Ramadan

Rosh Hashanah

All Hallows' Eve

Yom Kippur

Advent

Hanukkah

Lent

How to Protect your Personal Integrity

"Your personal integrity will be protected by prior commitments. Job secured his commitment to integrity before facing a challenge. He wrote, "All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils; My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit. . . . till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me" (Job 27:3­5). Job knew he would face his Maker one day in judgment. He recorded this hope: "Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity" (Job 31:6). Shakespeare gives reason for a strong prior commitment to integrity in lines he penned for his character Tarquinius in the poem The Rape of Lucrece. As Tarquinius contemplates the conquest of a woman in lust, he argues against himself:

What win I if I gain the thing I seek?

A dream, a breath, a froth of fleeting joy.

Who buys a minute's mirth to wail a week?

Or sells eternity to get a toy?

For one sweet grape who will the vine destroy?

[The Rape of Lucrece (1594), lines 211­15]

Commitments to integrity are learned from parents. The Lord said to Solomon, "Walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and. . . keep my statutes and my judgments" (1 Kings 9:4)."

Russell M. Nelson - Integrity of the Heart - BYU Speeches

Whoever said that sin was not fun?

“Whoever said that sin was not fun? Whoever claimed that Lucifer was not handsome, persuasive, easy, friendly? Sin is attractive and desirable. Transgression wears elegant gowns and sparkling apparel. It is highly perfumed; it has attractive features, a soft voice. It is found in educated circles and sophisticated groups. It provides sweet and comfortable luxuries. Sin is easy and has a big company of companions. It promises temporary freedoms. It can momentarily satisfy hunger, thirst, desire, urges, passions, and wants without immediately paying the price. But, it begins tiny and grows to monumental proportions – drop by drop, inch by inch.”

--Spencer W. Kimball (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball)

The Strait and Narrow Path

"...the strait and narrow path, though clearly marked, is a path, not a freeway nor an escalator. Indeed, there are times when the only way the strait and narrow path can be followed is on one's knees!"

--Neal A. Maxwell, "A Brother Offended," Ensign, May 1982, 37

A second quote on the power of teaching the doctrine

"Well-taught doctrines and principles have a more powerful influence on behavior than rules."

--Elder Dallin H. Oaks, Ensign, Nov. 1999, 79

True Doctrine Understood

True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior. The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior. Preoccupation with unworthy behavior can lead to unworthy behavior. That is why we stress so forcefully the study of the doctrines of the gospel.

Boyd K. Packer, Conference Report, October 1986

Digital Detachment and Personal Revelation

There is a wonderful article in this months Ensign by Elder Scott D. Whiting that I felt spoke right to me who sometimes gets carried away with technology as the source of all things that need to be known and done. Regardless of whether or not you own an iPhone, Blackberry or plug into the internet on a daily basis there are a few warnings to consider as laid out by Elder Whiting:

"We carry wireless telephones that can store hundreds of numbers, are able to take both moving and still pictures, and can access never-ending streams of information from an unseen source. We can play thousands of songs from a device no larger than a credit card. We can surf the Internet at any time of the day or night and quickly move across the intellectual and physical globe in images and information.

Out of such technological advancement come both good and bad. Modern technology, when purely and judiciously used, can help us hasten the work of the Lord and spread the gospel.1 But an overreliance on technology can also create boredom with lower-tech activities, an attitude that may extend to how we worship God, our Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ. We cannot simply point and click on or download a personal, revelatory relationship with our Heavenly Father.2 This kind of relationship is built on quiet principles of faith, repentance, and obedience.

For this reason it is vitally important to recognize the risks of digital attachment. Being constantly “plugged in” can drown out the quiet whisperings and subtle impressions of the Holy Spirit, breaking our personal connection with God and making it difficult, if not impossible, to receive personal revelation."

"While modern technological advancements can enhance the work of the Lord and bless us and our families, we must be careful not to fall victim to their destructive side. We must not only avoid the base and degrading content some sources contain, but we must also recognize when electronic distractions keep us from quieter, more significant uses of our time. We must guard against becoming so attached to digital devices that we become detached from God.

Sometimes the most productive “point and click” application is that of pointing our finger at the power button and clicking our digital devices off."

Digital Distraction & Personal Revelation - Ensign March 2010 link

Anger, Negativity and the Spirit

"Whenever you get red in the face, whenever you raise your voice, whenever you get 'hot under the collar' or angry, rebellious, or negative in spirit, then know that the Spirit of God is leaving you and the spirit of Satan is beginning to take over."

--Theodore Burton

(Conference Report, Oct. 1974 p.77) or Ensign Nov. 1974 pg.