He is the Light. He is the gift.

“At the focal point of all human history, a point illuminated by a new star in the heavens revealed for just such a purpose, probably no other mortal watched–none but a poor young carpenter, a beautiful virgin mother, and silent stabled animals who had not the power to utter the sacredness they had seen. Shepherds would soon arrive, and later wise men from the East. Later yet the memory of that night would bring Santa Claus and Frosty and Rudolph–and all would be welcome. But first and forever there was just a little family, without toys or trees of tinsel. With a baby–that’s how Christmas began.

It is for the baby that we should in chorus: “Hark! The herald angels sing Glory to the newborn King! … Mild he lays his glory by, born that man no more may die; Born to raise the sons of earth, Born to give them second birth.”

– Jeffery R. Holland

Mocking

Today I read in Helaman chapter four, verse 12. There’s a phrase in that verse that really stood out to me, “making a mock of that which was sacred.” The thought came to my mind that so often we think of “mocking that which is sacred” as making fun of Christ or jokes about the temple. And don’t get me wrong, these things are very sacred and should not in any way be mocked. However, often times we don’t realize other things are being mocked. Whether it be by ourself or laughing at things others say or participating in media arguments.

Some things we may not realize count as “sacred” in the sense of the verse are marriage, intimacy, bearing children, and the defamation of women and the body in general. In Howard W. Hunter’s October 1994 talk titled Being a Righteous Husband and Father he states, “With a knowledge of the plan of salvation as a foundation, a man who holds the priesthood looks upon marriage as a sacred privilege and obligation.” The definition of marriage and what is correct and incorrect is being mocked and scorned.

The same thought goes for intimacy. Casual sex is becoming more and more common. People are having affairs, getting divorced, and sleeping around. The sacredness and joy that comes from being physically intimate with your spouse is being defamed and destroyed. In accordance with casual sex, abortions are becoming greatly common and even popular. The precious life of a child is being thrown away and shamed.

Heavenly Father has warned us time and time again that he will not tolerate the destruction of His church. Now I’m not saying that anyone who gets divorced or sleeps around or has an abortion is going to Hell. Not at all. Just that we need to be away of the things we find truly sacred and stand up and not be afraid to share with the world that these things are sacred and should not be mocked.

The Correlation Is Flawless

So I am a huge fan of buzzfeed.com. I think their posts are hilarious (for the most part) and the humor of the site is spot on with mine. However, they had a post the other day called 22 Messages From Creationists To People Who Believe In Evolution . The post was 22 pictures of those who believe that a God created the earth holding up signs with different phrases. Including, “Does not the first law of thermodynamics disprove the law of evolution?” “If evolution is a theory (like creationsim or the bible) why then is evolution taight as fact?” “Can you believe in the big bang without faith?” And, “Relating to evolution… where did the explodimg star come from?”

Now these are simply some believers in a divine being voicing their opinion on the creation of the earth. It seems like a harmless enough post. But then we get to the comments. Ahh yes, internet comments. If you’ve never read comments, consider yourself lucky. It can get pretty ugly. For example, Berich writes, “Advocates of creationism who don’t know the difference between their and there shouldn’t expect to be taken seriously.” Another, ” This must be a satire; no one could really be that stupid, creationist or sensible people.” It gets better…. “This is perfect. Most of these people are tossing out old and confused information. It shows that the real root of creationism is ignorance. Most are parroting something they heard in church with no thought that it might be (is) wrong. It’s sad that people this uneducated can vote. Makes you understand why the founding fathers wanted people to be able to read to vote.” (Our beloved America was founded by those seeking freedom of religion where they could be free to believe as they choose without fear of persecution or hatred.) More? I think you get the gist of it.

Well it just so happened that I was reading in Alma 30 when I came upon a fellow by the name of Korihor. Ah yes. Good ol’ Korihor. Korihor came into the city if Zarahemla as the Anti-Christ. He waltzed on in and started preaching “unto the people against the prophecies which had been spoken by the prophets, concerning the coming of Christ (Alma 30:6).” Now there was no law against Korihor teaching false doctrine among the people. “For it was strictly contrary to the commands of God that there should be a law which should bring men on to unequal grounds. For thus saith the scripture: Choose ye this day, whom ye will serve. Now if a man desired to serve God, it was his privilege; or rather, if he believed in God it was his privilege to serve him; but if he did not believe in him there was no law to punish him. (Alma 30:7-9).” Sound familiar?

As Korihor travels throughout the land the Nephites, he picks up a few people who decide to join his ranks and live the “good life.” They were foolish, vain, and prideful, and he lead “away many women, and also men, to commit whoredoms—telling them that when a man was dead, that was the end thereof (Alma 30:18).” Korihor gets to the land of Jershon where the people of Ammom (previously the Anti-Nephi-Lehi’s) are residing, and they aren’t too enthused about Korihor, so they bind him and kick him out of Jershon. I imagine Korihor was a little upset as he headed to the land of Gideon to bring them to “the truth.” But the people of Gideon didn’t like him either so they bound Korihor as well and took him before the chief judge over the land of Gideom.

Now this is where it gets interesting. The chief judge asks Korihor why he is teaching against the ways of the Lord, and preverting the traditions of their fathers. To which Korihor says, “How do ye know of their surety? Behold, ye cannot know of things which ye do not see; therefore ye cannot know that there shall be a Christ. Ye look forward and say that ye see a remission of your sins. But behold, it is the effect of a frenzied mind; and this derangement of your minds comes because of the traditions of your fathers, which lead you away into a belief of things which are not so (Alma 30:15-16). Because I do not teach the foolish traditions of your fathers, and because I do not teach this people to bind themselves down under the foolish ordinances and performances which are laid down by ancient priests, to usurp power and authority over them, to keep them in ignorance, that they may not lift up their heads, but be brought down according to thy words. Ye say that this people is a free people. Behold, I say they are in bondage. Ye say that those ancient prophecies are true. Behold, I say that ye do not know that they are true (Alma 30:23-24).”

Or in comment form, “Seriously these people are allowed to vote? This just proves that whoever believes in creationsim can’t learn as good as everyone else. Because these guys are a bunch of morons who dont even know true science because they just listen to what they’ve been told at church. Can you prove that God exists? Didn’t think so.”

But you’re probably wondering what happened to Korihor. Well, the chief priest of Gideon sent him back to Jershon to have a trial in front of the chief judge, Alma. And what Alma says is priceless.
“Thou knowest that we do not glut ourselves upon the labors of this people; for behold I have labored even from the commencement of the reign of the judges until now, with mine own hands for my support, notwithstanding my many travels round about the land to declare the word of God unto my people.

And notwithstanding the many labors which I have performed in the church, I have never received so much as even one senine for my labor; neither has any of my brethren, save it were in the judgment-seat; and then we have received only according to law for our time.

And now, if we do not receive anything for our labors in the church, what doth it profit us to labor in the church save it were to declare the truth, that we may have rejoicings in the joy of our brethren?

Then why sayest thou that we preach unto this people to get gain, when thou, of thyself, knowest that we receive no gain? And now, believest thou that we deceive this people, that causes such joy in their hearts? (Alma 30:32-35)”

Alma asks Korihor a few more questions and then he says the most important phrase of the chapter, “And now what evidence have ye that there is no God, or that Christ cometh not? I say unto you that ye have none, save it be your word only.” Alma rebukes Korihor a little more and asks again if Korihor believes there is a God. Korihor tells Alma he’ll believe in God if God will give him a sign.

Alma says, “Thou hast had signs enough; will ye tempt your God? Will ye say, Show unto me a sign, when ye have the testimony of all these thy brethren, and also all the holy prophets?” But still Korihor wants his own sign. Alma is kind of like I’ll show you a sign and by the powernof God, Alma strikes Korihor dumb. Korihor says he was decieved by the devil and that the devil told him to say things that ” were pleasing unto the carnal mind (Alma 30:53).”

Anyway, long story short, Korhihor is cast out and becomes beggar. He goes to the Zoramites begging for food and is trampled by the people and killed. “And thus we see the end of him who perverteth the ways of the Lord; and thus we see that the devil will not support his children at the last day, but doth speedily drag them down to hell (Alma 30:60).”

I’m not trying to say that we should cast these people out and trample them and take away their stuff so they’re homeless and such. No. We need to love them and respect them all the same. All I’m saying is, can you see the similarities? The devil is grasping the hearts of so many of our fellow men and dragging them down to the gulf of misery and endless woe. He is decieving them and planting in their hearts a seed of hatred and contention. The very final verse says it all! “And thus we see the end of him who prevereth the ways of the Lord.” But guys, how cool to have someone so powerful and awesome, that loves us unconditionally, on our side?

We must remain steadfast and faithful in keeping the commandments of God at all times and in all things. Because the church is true and the book is blue. Be an Alma, not a Korihor, and life will be happy and well. Plus Alma is really cool and honestly, who is excited to meet him when we die? You can count me in on that one.

Bye for now!

P.S. sorry this is so long! I get excited.

Come With Us

https://www.lds.org/youth/video/come-with-us?lang=eng&cid=facebook-shared

I love this!! Our Savior Jesus Christ can become our best friend. “Come unto Christ and be perfected in him.” He loves you and wants you to be happy. Let him help you be your best self.

I Can Do Hard Things!

“Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity” (1 Timothy 4:12).

In the first chapter of Preach My Gospel, there is a section called “The Power and Authority of Your Calling.” In this section a quote is given to the missionaries from The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, “The setting apart may be taken literally; it is a setting apart from sin, apart from the carnal; apart from everything which is crude, low, vicious, cheap, or vulgar; set apart from the world to a higher plane of thought and activity. The blessing is conditional upon faithful performance.” Now even though this is supposed to be applied to missionaries, we can definitely apply it to ourselves in our callings in the church and throughout our daily lives and member missionaries.

We have been called. From the moment we decided that God would be part of our lives and that we would willingly follow his teachings and the teachings of his prophets, we called our selves and set ourselves apart from others of this world. We must “strive to live according to God’s commandments and keep the covenants [we] made in the temple; know the scriptures; be courteous, on time, and dependable; follow missionary standards of conduct, dress, and grooming; love the people with whom [we] serve and work. Honor Christ’s name by your actions” (Preach My Gospel, pg. 4). These are the things that make us members of this wonderful church.

We represent our Father in Heaven and his son Jesus Christ, and we can do it! I have written in one of my journals from a Sunday School lesson that was given in one of my singles wards the phrase, “I CAN DO HARD THINGS.” And we can! If we follow his teachings, anything is possible. We are different, and what a glorious thing to be.