What I learned at church today!
Today at church was ward conference. It was excellent! Pres Richard Robbins spoke in RS. He had so many great analogies! So I thought I would pass some of it on to you. Or maybe I will just put it on the blog. Or both!
We have all heard about likening the scriptures unto ourselves. Only he took it a step farther. He gave us each a bookmark that had pictures of 4 prophets on it. He asked us who they were. We identified them as Nephi, Abinadi, Helaman, and Mormon. He went on to say, that the Book of Mormon was never read by the people in the days in which it was written. It was written for us, specifically. Many prophet writers of the B of M said that they saw our day: some of them said that they had seen us. Mormon said that he could only put 1% of what records he had access to into the B of M, and so he had to choose very carefully that which he would write. He saw us, he saw our circumstances, he analyzed specifically what we needed to hear for our situations. Then Pres Robbin s asked again, so WHO are the people on the bookmark? The answer was, “YOU<>
Our lives now are the lives that those prophets lived then. Take Abinadi> What did he do? He testified of the truth to a people who didn't want to hear it. He did it with boldness and courage, and it didn't cause him to flinch from his mission even though he knew it would likely cause his death. He went forth boldly preaching that which he knew to be true. Look at Breanna. She is going forth to preach the truth, to a people who mostly won't want to hear what she has to say. And there are lots of other missionaries in our family who have taught the same thing. While our missionaries haven't had to die for the cause of truth, you have gone forth to deliver the word of God, none-the-less.
Take the sons of Helaman. If you asked them, what would they tell you protected then when thousands around them perished in battle?. Because their mothers taught them that if they were obedient and had faith they would be delivered and they were. So why did their dad's not teach them? Because they had buried their swords deep in the earth because they didn't want to break the covenant they had made with the Lord, so when the Lamanites came to kill them 1005 of them had perished rather than break the covenant. So, if you have fathers who would choose death over breaking their covenants, and mothers who taught the gospel diligently, then you would have children who are like the sons of Helaman. And who do you think those children were who were on the lap of Jesus when he came? The sons and grand daughters of those sons of Helaman, JUST as it will be your sons and grand daughters who will also have that glorious experience if you teach as diligently as did the mothers of the 2000 stripling warriors. THEY SAW OUR DAY! This is US people...our experiences now.
Lastly, I will talk about what he said about Mormon. He quoted several scriptures that talked about how evil and despicably low in total corruption the people where in Mormons time. So evil in fact that he was no longer allowed to preach to them anymore. And yet, it the midst of all of this evil surrounded him, what was happening to Mormon? He was having amazing spiritual experiences that gave him direction, purpose and peace and joy. So what do we learn? That even in the midst of what will be for us, JUST as evil as Mormons day was, that WE can also be having amazing spiritual experiences that Mormon and Moroni had, that gave them understanding, joy, peace and a sense of purpose even in the total decay around us. It can't suck us in, unless we let it. But as long as we focus on our Saviour and try to make our lives one like His, we will be spiritually protected from the storms around us.
Well, I thought they were great insights. And instead of just trying to see how scriptures relate to us, if we put ourselves as those people and prophets there and see our our lives ARE the same, the scriptures will come alive for us!
One last thing he said that is an interesting little exercise. He says, go and look at conditions before the 1st coming of the Saviour. Find the time zone that goes along with ours as far as our conditions now vs theirs then. And then look at the bottom of the page and see how many years till Christ's coming was. He said it would give you a sense of how long we have before the 2nd coming of the Saviour .
He also had a great we are Nephi example...but I think you get the picture!
I LOVE CHURCH! I love being edified the way I am! I know that it is much harder to come home feeling that way when you feel like you just did your best the whole meeting, to keep a toddler quiet. But, even in that circumstance one is keeping the commandment to keep the Sabbath day holy and partake of the Sacrament, which of course qualifies us to have the Holy Ghost with us until we chase him off with our own disobedience. So you are where you need to be, establishing habits with your children that need to be set young. You are doing the Lord's will just to show up! So way to go!
Well. That is about it. More than you wanted to read I am sure (if anyone made it this far!). I won't be surprised at no comments, but I just wanted to share it anyway. Who knows, maybe one day, someone will read the Groneman Family Blog History that Kim prints off, and have it be just the thing that they needed to read. Maybe not. But we are told we are supposed to record those experiences that impact our lives. So it is done!
Thanks for making it this far! Love ya!
Comments