College Life

Another poem: Apparently I like writing longer poems. This one was also written the same as "This Path of Life" for an investigator on my mission who liked poetry:

A mother's love
For her child
Is unlike any other
Or so I've been told

Once I knew a story
Of a Father wise and pure
They say He loves His children
More perfect that a mother (Isaiah 49:15-16)

As we all know, children grow
And oft times go astray
But whenever they wish to come back
We always help them find their way

This Father that I spoke of before
Is mine and yours in heav'n above
But where is He? And why are we
Here on this Earth with pain and grief?

Well here is where the story continues
Our Father raised us, til our spirits grew
But still we lacked a few things
A body like His and our "Master's Degree"

Here on this Earth is college life
Where we have to learn all on our own
A place to learn to be
All that we can and learn to grow

But we haven't been left
With nothing to help
He's given us a few
Very special tools

A Bible and a Book of Mormon
Serve together as textbooks
And prophets today that know
Our needs are our professors.

But this is not all
We have been given
We have two more tools
More special than these


Any time we need to call
And ask for help or guidance
All we have to really do is
Get on our knees and pray

The Holy Ghost He's sent
To answer us, and act
As a tutor in anything
That we might need.

And with all these tools
We cannot fail for One
Has come before us
Christ our Savior.

He's taken all our courses
Knows the answers all by heart
And when we need that extra help
He's always there to guide us.

Now sometimes, by chance or fault
We may hurt another
We aim to please but sometimes fail
To show others how much we really care

But even as a mother
When once child hurts another
You may feel sad, to see one hurt
But still you love them both

And so it is with our Father above
When we by chance mess up and fail
His love is still there, perfect and pure
And to those we may hurt He cares for them
Just as He does for you and me.

While on this path of college life
We make mistakes to learn and grow
But when we pass, no matter how long
He's waiting for you with arms open wide

This Path of Life

A poem I found that I had written on my mission, we had an investigator who liked poetry so we wrote poems to put together for her:

This path of life
Is full of strife
Dark clouds can blind
And confuse our mind

Over rocks and boulders
We may stumble
"Oh why this heavy burden on my shoulders?"
I oft times hear myself mumble

Oh why can't I
Find peace? I cry
I can't go on anymore
This life has made me much too sore

And just when life seems at its blackest
Something registers within my soul
"Come unto me and I'll give you rest"
If only rest could be my goal

I fall to my knees
And then I see
This path I've led
Is paved ahead

Someone must have walked before
I look around to see behind me
My Savior stood there and here He bore
Me up and carried me from hence to thee

In all my times of darkest trial
My Savior walked the extra mile
He waited to rejoice in all I could do
Before He picked me up and made me like new

So do I regret these times of affliction?
And why He waited so long to come save me?
Not at all, for my life is not fiction
I learned and I grew to be all I can be

Aaronic Priesthood

I used to used "Mormon Doctrine" by Bruce R. McConkie as doctrine. Then later I realized some discrepancies between it and other writings of other apostles. To start off, the publisher's note at the very beginning says of the book, "It is a valuable tool but should not be considered an official statement of doctrine." Nowhere does it have any seal of the First Presidency, declaring it as doctrine. In Bruce R. McConkie's own words in the Preface, "For the work itself, I assume sole and full responsibility."

With that, I decided I would slowly, gradually start studying Mormon Doctrine, maybe not on a regular basis, but trying to compare it to the scriptures and other things that have been declared as doctrine.

When it describes the Aaronic Priesthood it talks about how the Aaronical or Levitical Priesthood was conferred by lineage, solely by lineage within the tribe of Levi. In my New Testament class last week someone actually asked then why do all boys receive the Aaronic Priesthood at the age of 12 in the Church? I guess before I address that question I'll tell you what McConkie thinks, "Few members of the tribe of Levi gathered with the fold of Israel in the meridian of time; few have come back to the fold of their fathers in this dispensation; and there were none among the Nephites to whom our Lord ministered. Consequently, beginning in the day of the primitive Church the lesser priesthood was spread out among the body of the people and was no longer confined exclusively to the chosen lineage."

The Bible Dictionary says, "As part of his rationale that the law of Moses was fulfilled, Paul makes a point of the contrast between the lineal requirement of the lesser priesthood and the nonlineal Melchizedek Priesthood, which was not confined to those of one tribe (see JST Heb. 7:1-3; Heb 7:11-14) The lineal restrictions of that Aaronic (Levitical) Priesthood were lifted when the law of Moses was fulfilled, and thereafter the offices of the priesthood were conferred upon worthy men without limitation to the tribe of Levi."

In class my teacher brought up that there was no Aaronic Priesthood before Moses, not as was restricted to only the Levites. The restriction came after that because the people as a whole were not ready for the fulness of the gospel, so they were given lesser laws, and a lesser Priesthood. So if Adam and Noah and Abraham had the gospel then isn't it possible that there was a form of Aaronic Priesthood before that wasn't restricted to lineage? And with the scattering of Israel, isn't it possible that even if the lineal restrictions weren't lifted when the law of Moses was fulfilled that the Levites have intermixed with the other tribes?

The last paragraph in the Bible Dictionary continues though and correlates with two scriptures in the Doctrine and Covenants. "Although the Aaronic Priesthood is conferred in the Church today without restriction to the lineage of Aaron, the keys of this priesthood rightly belong to the firstborn of the seed of Aaron, and in the restoration of all things the office of bishop (president of the priests) will once again be conferred on one of that lineage, as it is designated by revelation to the president of the Church (D&C 84:14-21; 107:13-17"

D&C 107:13-17, "The second priesthood is called the Priesthood of Aaron, because it was conferred upon Aaron and his seed, through all their generations... The bishopric is the presidency of this priesthood, and holds the keys or authority of the same. No man has a legal right to this office, to hold the keys of this priesthood, except he be a literal descendant of Aaron. But as a high priest of the Melchizedek Priesthood has authority to officiate in all the lesser offices, he may officiate in all the lesser offices, he may officiate in the office of bishop when no literal descendant of Aaron can be found, provided he is called and set apart and ordained unto this power by the hands of the Presidency of the Melchizedek Priesthood."

So the rights belonging to the tribe of Levi and also Aaron have not been done away with, the keys rightfully belong to them, but unless one is found, a member of the Melchizedek Priesthood is allowed to officiate in the offices of Bishop- an office belonging rightfully to Aaron and his descendants.

Boyd K. Packer's talk October 2010 General Conference

Alright, so there has been a lot of controversy concerning Boyd K Packer's recent talk. I want to start out by saying the Gospel of Jesus Christ is simple. Let's review some basics. God is our Heavenly Father. He loves us. He wants us to be happy and wants what is best for us. Because of that He calls Prophets. We'll expound on this later. But the fact is, God is unchangeable. He is the same yesterday, today and forever- that seems to be a widely accepted Christian doctrine, and I think Jewish people also believe that. I know that they still have a lot of their traditions (and I think that's great but I think that shows that they also believe God is unchanging). So, God calls prophets to be His mouthpiece on the Earth, and throughout time we see (especially in the Old Testament) times where the people stop listening to their prophets and for awhile there is chaos and no prophetic records of anything. And then another prophet is called- surprise surprise- God STILL cares and STILL calls prophets. As members of the Church we believe in a Great Apostasy. That after Jesus Christ truths were lost because people stopped listening to what the Apostles had to say and decided THEY knew best. In Acts chapter 20 Paul is talking to a group of Elders (in the church) in Ephesus and in verse 30 tells them, "Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them." Men in the church were going to speak perverse things or false doctrine and lead others away too. And as members of the Church we believe that all the MANY different sects of Christianity are a result of this. I mean we see that there was the Catholic Church, then comes Martin Luther, he comes up with his points that he feels aren't consistent with the scriptures- inspired yes. But God didn't call him to be a prophet. And Martin Luther wasn't trying to set up a church- a group of others convinced him he was their leader and then formed a church. Then there were other churches and other break offs, people deciding things should be a certain way- some of them may have even been right, I'm not the judge. BUT then we have Joseph Smith. What makes our Church different from other Christian churches is we believe God called a Prophet in the latter-days to guide us, just like He called prophets in times of old and that a Prophet leads and guides us today. That is what makes us different- we believe we are following a Prophet of God who speaks DIRECTLY FOR God and that the doctrines are His and NOT ours or what we want them to be.

So now back to prophets. What and who are they? For Bible scholars there is Amos 3:7, "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." Joseph Smith Translation, which I believe is safe to say all members of the Church at least believe in clarifies and says that it would be "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, UNTIL he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." The Lord uses prophets to guide us. He did not flood the Earth until he warned the people of a flood and gave them a chance to escape. He did not even free his chosen House of Israel from bondage in Egypt UNTIL he had warned the Pharoah. All the Old Testament stories would follow this pattern and we believe it is still the same today.

Brigham Young quote

I do not, at this time, have enough time to devote to the whole discussion of Boyd K Packer's talk this past General Conference but I do want to address a quote that has been circulating. The quote is as follows, "If there ever comes a day when the Saints interfere with the rights of others to live as they see fit, you can know with assurance that the Church is no longer led by a Prophet, but a mere man." and is referenced to Brigham Young. I found a group on facebook that loves this quote and has been re-posting it to further their cause in not liking President Packer's talk. Some people on the page have asked for the citation. Only one response followed and it led to this SITE.

I tried looking for any other websites that would have the quote and found nothing. So as far as the web is concerned I believe it is only from this one page. And so on THAT site some people were asking for the source. After reading through it I realized something and I will share it with you, and if you wish to check for yourself, go to the page for yourself. On the right hand side you will notice it says that it is a blog roll, so a blog- posted by an average person. It also has the ability to subscribe to the RSS feed. It also has a place where it says "Email Brother Brigham" Email ME. This blogger's pen name IS Brother Brigham, and dedicates most of his posts to quotes Brigham Young DID say. I haven't read through them, so I don't know that I agree with how he interprets those quotes, but my guess is I don't.

The fact is, the quote people are saying is so contradictory is NOT actually from the Prophet Brigham Young but this blogger. His own comments which you can find on THIS PAGE, but you'll have to expand the comments to read it, says the following:

Brothers and Sisters, Good Evening,

I’m pleased the Sprit has directed you to my site.

To answer your questions, the above information is merely words that sum up my doctrine and my teachings. While I never said these exact words (and they do not appear in any of my published works) they express my personal religious convictions and a life time of teachings.

God Bless,

Brother Brigham.

PS (From Brother Brigham’s secretary: Brother Brigham wishes more to express his sorrow that this page of his website has been misunderstood. He wants you to know that all of his real quotes that appear on his website are set off by quotation marks and a citation. Brother Brigham is pained that the words that appear under the “ABOUT” tab of his website have caused confusion.)

(emphasis added)

So in essence, this is someone's OPINION about what THEY feel Brigham Young believed. Brigham Young was headstrong, and may not have been perfect, but his quotes that are doctrine ARE doctrine, and as we can see here, NONE of them actually say what is being posted on the web that condemn the Church's current stance on Prop 8, homosexuality or Boyd K. Packer's talk.

Misconceptions about Satan's Plan

Tonight this topic came up briefly in Institute, and from my studies, what was said is NOT doctrine. I am going to explain, what I feel the doctrine of the matter is, and the scriptures and quotes that have led me to this belief. (At this point of time, I don't even know that I have quotes, I think it is mainly scripture and reasoning, but I will share whatever led me to this belief.)

Tonight we were talking about the Garden of Eden. How if we had followed Satan's plan, they would've been forced to partake of the fruit. This implies that Satan's plan involves forcing people to do right. Let's first take a look as to where this conception starts.

Moses 4:1-3, "And I, the Lord God, spake unto Moses, saying: That Satan, whom thou hast commanded in the name of mine Only Begotten, is the same which was from the beginning, and he came before me, saying- Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor. But, behold my Beloved Son, which was my Beloved and Chosen from the beginning, said unto me- Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thing forever. Wherefore, because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him, and also, that I should give unto him mine own power; by the power of mine Only Begotten, I caused that he should be cast down;"

So this talks about how Satan and Jesus Christ both stepped forward to set the Father's plan in motion but Jesus Christ was chosen because Satan sought to destroy the agency of man. So, it's pretty clear- destroying agency- without agency you then, must, of necessity, be forced right? If we are not free to choose then it's because we're being forced. So this was Satan's plan? To force us all to do right and then it would be all his glory?

On lds.org there is a definition of agency given. (Click HERE if you want to see the source.) It tells us, "Agency is the ability and privilege God gives us to choose and to act for ourselves. Agency is essential in the plan of salvation. Without it, we would not be able to learn or progress or follow the Savior. With it, we 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)."

Can you not also destroy agency by taking away accountability? If no matter what we choose, liberty and eternal life was still granted, then wouldn't that ALSO defeat agency? We could no longer choose captivity and death- even IF we wanted it. Thereby thwarting our ability to really choose. Satan sought to let us do whatever we wanted with no consequences, no accountability, instead of seeking to force us to do right. I will cite another example as to why I think THIS is Satan's plan.

In the Bible Dictionary we read, under the section of the "War in Heaven". This section makes everything clearer to me, so I'm just going to copy the whole section and italicize the most important parts, in my opinion.

This term arises out of Rev. 12:7 and refers to the conflict that took place in the premortal existence among the spirit children of God. The war was primarily over how and in what manner the plan of salvation would be administered to the forthcoming human family upon the earth. The issues involved such things as agency, how to gain salvation, and who should be the Redeemer. The war broke out because one-third of the spirits refused to accept the appointment of Jesus Christ as the Savior. Such a refusal was a rebellion against the Father's plan of redemption. It was evident that if given agency, some persons would fall short of complete salvation; Lucifer and his followers wanted salvation to come automatically to all who passed through mortality, without regard to individual preference, agency, or voluntary dedication(see Isa. 14:12-20; Luke 10:18; Rev. 12:4-13; D&C 29:36-38; Moses 4:1-4). The spirits who thust rebelled and persisted were thrust out of heaven and cast down to the earth without mortal bodies, "and thus came the devil and his angels" (D&C 29:37; see also Rev. 12: 9; Abr. 3:24-28).

The warfare is continued in mortality in the conflict between right and wrong; between the gospel and false principles, etc. The same contestants and the same issues are doing battle, and the same salvation is at stake.

Although one-third of the spirits became devils, the remaining two-thirds were not equally valiant, there being every degree of devotion to Christ and the Father among them. The most diligent were chosen to be rulers in the kingdom (Abr. 3:22-23). The nature of the conflict however, is such that there could be no neutrals, then or now (Matt. 12:30; 1 Ne. 14:10; Alma 5:38-40).

When you think about how the SAME war that was being fought then is being fought NOW, it helps you realize a few things. Does Satan try and FORCE us to do right? No, he usually tries to get us to do wrong. How? By making us rationalize that the consequences aren't what they're hyped up to be, or it doesn't matter, or it's just one time, or no one will know... the list goes on. Satan would have us do whatever we wish with no consequences. To me, understanding this principle of what we REALLY stood for, not just the right to choose, but the right to choose and be accountable, so we can choose an OUTCOME through our little actions helps me understand other principles. For example, abortion. Some people think the church's standpoint is somewhat contradictory, and I think that is because they misunderstand. They say we believe that thou shalt not murder, nor do anything like unto it. So people say, abortion is "like unto it". So it must be murder. But if it's wrong, then it's wrong. Right? Well, if we were going by that standard, yes. But the Church has exceptions. If the woman was raped for example, the Church feels the girl has the choice to keep or abort the baby. How is this right and not abortion in all circumstances? I think it leads back to what Satan's plan is. Our GOAL in life is win the war against Satan. And what in essence is he trying to destroy? Accountability. Why should a girl be forced to live with the results of being pregnant if she didn't have a choice in the first place? I think THIS is how the defining line of where the exceptions are drawn and where they aren't. Does it encourage Satan's plan? If a girl were to CHOOSE to have sex, KNOWING pregnancy is a possibility, does she get to ALSO choose whether or not she gets caught? To put it maybe a bit more extreme but within the same concept- do we get to do things that qualify us for captivity and death and then get to choose eternal life? No, our goal in life is to bring our actions in line with the outcome we want- not just decide we want something we haven't worked for. To do so would destroy Christ's plan and choose that indeed we do believe Satan's plan. For it would be easier to just be granted eternal life, automatically, regardless of agency, but we wouldn't have really learned anything, or grown or be worthy of the gift or eternal life.

"We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression." (2nd Article of Faith) We believe in choice and accountability, as the Young Women's values taught me and we hold to it.