Study Recap: My Guilt Was Swept Away by George D. Durrant

Title: My Guilt Was Swept Away
Author: George D. Durrant
Source: January 2009 Ensign
Link: https://www.lds.org/ensign/2009/01/my-guilt-was-swept-away?lang=eng
Summary: I left the family history class upset. I felt I had done enough, yet a stirring within my soul told me there was something more I could do.
Rating: 1.5/5

Favorite Points

•  I knew I could not rationalize away my guilt. I was not at peace.

Missionary Story Monday: Rope a Dope Prayer

One day as my companion and I were walking a woman stepped out of her house and called us in so we could speak with her son. She thought he needed some help from hearing the good word of God. We said, sure, we loved to help and share a message with him. She declined to join us.

So we go in and see her son who is about 25-30 years old. He was polite and willing to listen to us. We began to teach the first discussion and everything was going very well. He was listening attentively and responding to questions in just the right ways. We talked about Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and the atonement, Joseph Smith with the Book of Mormon, and even baptism. The guy seemed very open to everything.

As many RM's will recall, what was the 6 discussions at the time included covering the topic of prayer during the first discussion. We reviewed this with the brother and showed him the flip-chart outlining the steps*. He said he would love to say the prayer but declined to use the flip-charts. He said he knew what he was doing.

So this guy starts praying and begins things correctly by addressing Heavenly Father and expressing gratitude. In fact, he did all the steps perfectly. But what he said during each of the steps is not what we expected. He thanked God that he was better and smarter than use and not fooled by stupid beliefs. He asked God to make sure we never came back again to darken his doorstep. After saying amen he looked up at us with a polite but condescending smile and pointed to the door for us to leave.

Needless to say, both my companion and I were a little shocked. The lesson was going so well and then the guy didn't just ask us to leave, he prayed for us to leave with us right there. He reeled us in and then got us with a sucker punch when we least expected it. Silver lining: he still helped us reach our target goal for number of lessons taught that week.

Scripture Insight: Alma 33: 19-22

Alma 33: 19-22
19 Behold, he was spoken of by Moses; yea, and behold a type was raised up in the wilderness, that whosoever would look upon it might live. And many did look and live.

20 But few understood the meaning of those things, and this because of the hardness of their hearts. But there were many who were so hardened that they would not look, therefore they perished. Now the reason they would not look is because they did not believe that it would heal them.

Discussion
I've always been familiar with this scripture and the story behind it. I understand its significance and the application it has. But what I just picked up on was what is being mentioned at the beginning of 20, "but few understood the meaning of those things."

Now this refers back to the previous verse where Moses was using the brass serpent as a "type" or similitude of the atonement. So it wasn't just that they didn't believe because of the easiness of the way (which was the main part), but ALSO because they didn't understand the symbolism behind it either. The hardness of their hearts preventing them from seeing the WHY of the matter. What seemed too simple to them had a purpose with a deeper meaning that they completely missed because they were too prideful and stubborn.

Now I recognize I'm judging them using 20/20 hindsight provided by the restoration of the gospel with more knowledge given to us than any other prior dispensation. Its easier for me to see the connection from the brass serpent to the atonement because both events have happened. They had to look forward with more faith in their time and trust in the prophet (Moses). I have just have to trust and have faith that what was written is true (which it is).

But is does make me think about the prophet we have today and the things he warns us about and the counsel he provides. How many of us are hardening out hearts today because of the "easiness of the way" and not understanding any deeper meaning? We don't have hindsight for the future. That's where faith comes in. Unfortunately it doesn't look like everyone is exercising that faith...

Study Recap: "Remember Lot's Wife" by Jeffrey R. Holland

Title: "Remember Lot's Wife"
Author: Jeffrey R. Holland
Source: devotional address given at BYU on 13 January 2009
Link: http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=1819&tid=7
Rating: 4.5/5
Favorite Points

• Apparently what was wrong with Lot’s wife was that she wasn’t just looking back; in her heart she wanted to go back.
• As Elder Maxwell once said, such people know they should have their primary residence in Zion, but they still hope to keep a summer cottage in Babylon.
• So it isn’t just that she looked back; she looked back longingly. In short, her attachment to the past outweighed her confidence in the future.
• The past is to be learned from but not lived in. We look back to claim the embers from glowing experiences but not the ashes. And when we have learned what we need to learn and have brought with us the best that we have experienced, then we look ahead, we remember that faith is always pointed toward the future.
• So a more theological way to talk about Lot’s wife is to say that she did not have faith. She doubted the Lord’s ability to give her something better than she already had. Apparently she thought—fatally, as it turned out—that nothing that lay ahead could possibly be as good as those moments she was leaving behind.
• I can’t tell you the number of couples I have counseled who, when they are deeply hurt or even just deeply stressed, reach farther and farther into the past to find yet a bigger brick to throw through the window “pain” of their marriage. When something is over and done with, when it has been repented of as fully as it can be repented of, when life has moved on as it should and a lot of other wonderfully good things have happened since then, it is not right to go back and open up some ancient wound that the Son of God Himself died trying to heal.

Study Recap: Overcoming Addiction through the Atonement by Benjamin R. Erwin

Title: Overcoming Addiction through the Atonement
Author: Benjamin R. Erwin, LDS Family Services
Source: September 2012 Ensign
Link: https://www.lds.org/ensign/2012/09/overcoming-addiction-through-the-atonement?lang=eng
Summary: To those who despair of healing and peace, there is hope in Christ.
Rating: 3/5

Favorite Points

• Most of us are aware of the sad consequences of addictive behavior, so instead of focusing on the dangers of pornography and the pain associated with addiction, I would like to share a message of hope.
• Consider the details Alma shared as he recounted this story. He focused his comments on the Savior and the healing power of His Atonement. He did not even mention the fiery serpents!
• What Alma chose to tell—and what he chose to leave out—teaches one key to overcoming pornography addiction (or any challenge we may have in this life): to “cast about [our] eyes and begin to believe in the Son of God” (verse 22).
• ...when we spend so much time describing the attacking “serpent” that we fail to see the source of healing, we’re not much different than the Israelites. The children of Israel did not have to focus on the serpents or the pain of their venomous bites or their fear of death in order to be healed. They simply had to look to the source of healing: their Savior, Jesus Christ.
• Those who struggle with sin sometimes lie and rationalize in an attempt to minimize the consequences of their behavior. But somewhere inside themselves, they are aware of what they have done and know they are accountable for it.
• Usually I find that those who struggle with addictions are warriors with tenacity, courage, and a strong desire to be clean. They win far more battles than they lose as they march toward recovery.
• This may be hard for some to comprehend—if people are so strong, why is overcoming addiction so difficult? Addiction is often misunderstood, and some believe that if a person would simply choose to recover or work harder at stopping, he or she would be able to. But the nature of addiction—and all sin, for that matter—is such that we cannot heal ourselves from it. The children of Israel could not heal themselves from the bites of the fiery serpents, and we cannot simply wish or even work addiction away. We must find our hope of healing in Christ.
• Addiction brings heavy burdens of secrets and pain. It usually doesn’t take people long to want to stop. They tell themselves “never again,” yet time after time, they fall. Such succumbing can bring with it a “hardness of heart,” a refusal to believe that anything can help them.
• Repentance may involve an emotional and physical process. … Both repentance and recovery may take time. … Even though a person may have some initial success, further emotional healing may be necessary to completely repent and recover.

Missionary Story Monday: Being Cursed in My Sleep

So I've decided to start a new weekly series here at the #twitterstake Ward Council site which will feature a missionary story either from myself or one that someone sends in. All RM's have a ton of stories to share so this is good way to see which ones are worth reading about and sharing with others.

I was speaking to my Bishop yesterday in the hallway and for whatever reason we started talking about camping. He shared that he and his wife actually busted out their sleeping bags a few years back during a snow storm when the power went out. They didn't have any way to heat the home so they slept in the sleeping bags in the bed for more comfort and warmth.

This reminded me of one of my mission experiences which I shared with him and he enjoyed. I served in Mexico and while it didn't really get cold was I was at, during the winter it could get down to the 20's or 30's. Now the thing to know is that we lived in a cement floor and wall apartment with no insulation or heating/AC. So it got pretty cold at night in there. I also had the bed right next to these huge windows which didn't help.

Anyway, my first companion there was from just outside Mexico City and was one of the best comps I had. But I did annoy him to no end each night while we were sleeping. What would happen is that I would go to bed with my pajama pants, a long sleeve shirt,a pair of socks, my sheets, and one blanket. HE would go to bed with a pair of pajama pants and sweats pants, a t-shirt, a long-sleeve shirt, and a hoodie. Then he would have his sheets and an average of 3-4 blankets.

He told me one morning that he would always wake up in the middle of the night shivering because he was so cold. He was hard for him to sleep like that. What made it worse was when he looked over and saw me because not only was I dead to world, but I had actually kicked off my blankets and sheets and most of the time my socks were gone too. So here he is suffering in the cold and I am sleeping like a baby as if nothing is wrong. He told me he would curse me in my sleep every time. Good times. :)

My Sunday So Far - 4/21/13

So far today, the following stand-out events have occurred:

• Got up at 5:30am to ready for 6:45am meetings :(
• Bishop over-shared some pretty significant info during PEC (2nd Counselor in the Stake Presidency was present so we'll see if anything happens there).
• Said member of the Stake Presidency sat next to me during Ward Council so I felt like I had to be on my best behavior.
• The experience though did allow me to notice that he wears a woman's watch...don't know what to make of that (granted, he is pretty small guy).
• This same Stake Presidency member also gave me the second half of my temple recommend interview, pausing after each of my answers so he could stare me down as if he was weighing my answer for truthfulness.
• Missed half of Sacrament meeting trying to put my son down for his morning nap.
• Sunday School was uneventful but I was finally there long enough to know which lesson we're on.
• Now priesthood was interesting because I usually watch my son during the first two hours so I can be freer while my wife watches him during the third hour when EQ happens...BUUUUT my wife decided today she couldn't handle him that third hour (he's been super cranky lately) so I had him then too. We almost made it to the beginning of opening exercises before he became too much of a distraction and we had to leave. So the EQ was without its fearless leader today.
• I enjoyed that time with my restless toddler though as we walked outside the building and next to the temple. We also ran into the bishop out in the hallway at one and chatted with him for a few minutes.
• Now we're home, lunch has been eaten, and the kids are down for their naps. Of course now my wife and I don't feel like napping anymore which sucks because we're both tired, but my lovely wife did make some homelands chocolate chip cookies that are currently being digested in my stomach.

Lets see what the rest of the day holds...

Scripture Insight: 2 Nephi 4: 27-28

2 Nephi 4:27-28
27 And why should I yield to sin, because of my flesh? Yea, why should I give way to temptations, that the evil one have place in my heart to destroy my peace and afflict my soul? Why am I angry because of mine enemy?

28 Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin. Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for the enemy of my soul.

Discussion
I originally came across verse 28 and was intrigued by the phrase "no longer droop in sin." The initial thought was the fact that sin does bring us down, makes us feel lower and less of a person. Too often it seems that we develop a negative life view because of our sins and it creates this downward spiral that can lead to more sin and more feelings of sadness and "drooping."

It doesn't have to be that way of course. It's not what Heavenly Father wants for us. The only lowliness he wants for us is lowliness of heart because that leads to repentance. The first part of 28 is key here: Awake, my soul! Sometimes we need that jump start to our motivation to begin that process of seeking forgiveness and working ourselves back up that downward spiral we slid down.

What was really interesting to me though was looking back over verse 27. The first line refers to yielding to sin because of the flesh. Now we all know that there is a duality of man with his spirit and body. In order to truly progress in life, we have to subject the natural man (aka "flesh") so the spirit is in control. It's way we fast so we can learn to rely on that spirit.

Knowing that about sin and the "flesh," we can understand verse 28 better. Again, the first line there is "awake, my soul!" He said soul. Not spirit. Not Flesh. Soul. Which is the spirit and the body (flesh). The sentence is also written as a command and given that the next line is too, one can assume that he is also referring to the soul when he says "no longer droop."

So what I find interesting about this is that as we struggle with things of the flesh, it brings our soul down (drooping) which by the nature of cause and effect, means our spirits are being brought down too. This reinforces the notion that we are limited in our spiritual abilities as we sin and procrastinate our repentance.

Study Recap: Decisions for Which I've Been Grateful by Clayton Christensen

Title: Decisions for Which I've Been Grateful
Author: Clayton M. Christensen
Source: Devotional at BYU-I on 08 June 2004
Link: http://www2.byui.edu/Presentations/Transcripts/Devotionals/2004_06_08_Christensen.htm
Rating: 4.5/5

Favorite Parts

• I had prepared a talk, which I thought was going to be a good talk for you. Then yesterday, as I flew out and tried to prayerfully think through how to deliver that talk, it became apparent that I had prepared the wrong talk. So I have put something together, and I hope that whoever you are, for whom this talk was intended, that I can do a good job for you.
• ...I use my knowledge that the Book of Mormon is the word of God many times every day of my life. In all of the education that I have pursued, that is the single most useful piece of knowledge that I ever gained.
• I love to return to Oxford. Most of the people there are either students or they’re tourists who have come to look at a beautiful university. But I love to return there because it’s a sacred place, and I can look at the windows of that room where I lived, and I think that that’s the place that I learned that Jesus is the Christ, that he is my living Redeemer, and that Joseph Smith was the prophet of the restoration for the true church.
• ...I even had less time to try to finish a very ambitious degree, and I thought to myself, ‘Maybe I’d better ask the bishop to release me because it would just take too much time away from my study.’ But then I thought, ‘No, if I know the Book of Mormon is true, then I better do what it says,’ and it had told me in 3 Nephi 13:33 that I should seek first the kingdom of God in His righteousness and all these things would be added unto me.
• ...I knew that if I had gone and done the things that the Lord commanded that he would open a way for me...
• And the lesson that I learned from this is that when Heavenly Father invited us to seek first the kingdom of God, and promises us that all these other things will be added to us that He was dead serious. That is a promise that we can bank on. And I incite you, my brothers and sisters, that when you find yourself confronted with a conflict between the pursuit of a career and the pursuit of magnifying your calling in the kingdom of God, that if you will believe God, and trust in Him, He will bless you in ways that are beyond your comprehension.
• So I went back into my hotel room after that game and knelt down and asked Heavenly Father if it would be all right, just this once, if I played that game on Sunday. As I started my prayer, really before I could even utter a word, Heavenly Father put a full-sentence answer in my mind, and it was “Clayton, what are you even asking me for? You know the answer.”
• But you know, as time has passed, and that was a decision I made now almost 30 years ago, it looms as one of the most important decisions I have ever made because it would have been very easy to say, in general, keeping the Sabbath day holy is the right commandment, but in my particular extenuating circumstances, it’s okay, just this once, if I don’t do it. And the reason that decision has proven so important to me is that my whole life has turned out to be an un-ending stream of extenuating circumstances, and had I crossed that line just that once, then the next time something came up that was so demanding and critical, it would have been so much easier to cross the line again.
• The lesson is it really is easier to keep the commandments 100 percent of the time than it is 98 percent of the time.
• The next year, 1984, I was listening to General Conference, and Elder M. Russell Ballard gave a talk at that time where he invited us as members of the church to set a date, a point in the future, as a commitment to our Heavenly Father. He invited us-don’t pick a person that we were going to share the gospel with but to set a date. He promised us that if we would do all that we could to engage in conversations about the gospel, with as many people as we could, that God would bless us by that date, that we would intersect with somebody who would accept our invitation to meet with the missionaries.
• And I told my students, “You know, now you are graduating from the Harvard Business School. And a lot of you in your personal lives are going to do the same thing.” I told them that “none of you have a strategy to leave here and go get divorced, and raise children who are alienated from you and become unhappy people, but that is actually the strategy that many of you are going to implement, because as you have opportunities to spend your time and energy, your very likely to spend them in pursuit of career success because it offers them most immediate and tangible evidence of achievement.” And I invite them not to do that, but I tell them, “but in order for you to figure out how you’ve got to spend your time and your energy, you need to figure out what the purpose of your life is.” Then this year I told them about the experience that I had had dedicating an hour everyday when I was a student at Oxford to figuring out what the purpose of my life was. And I invited them to do the same thing.
•      

Study Recap: Place No More for the Enemy of My Soul by Jeffrey R. Holland

Title: Place No More for the Enemy of My Soul
Author: Jeffrey R. Holland
Source: April 2010 General Conference
Link: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2010/04/place-no-more-for-the-enemy-of-my-soul?lang=eng
Summary: May the joy of our fidelity to the highest and best within us be ours as we keep our love and our marriages, our society and our souls, as pure as they were meant to be.
Rating: 5/5

Favorite Points

• Why is there so much moral decay around us, and why are so many individuals and families, including some in the Church, falling victim to it, being tragically scarred by it?
• The compromise available at the click of a mouse—including what can happen in a chat room’s virtual encounter—is no respecter of persons, male or female, young or old, married or single.
• And just to make sure that temptation is ever more accessible, the adversary is busy extending his coverage, as they say in the industry, to cell phones, video games, and MP3 players.
• Above all, start by separating yourself from people, materials, and circumstances that will harm you. As those battling something like alcoholism know, the pull of proximity can be fatal. So too in moral matters.
• Acknowledge that people bound by the chains of true addictions often need more help than self-help, and that may include you. Seek that help and welcome it. Talk to your bishop. Follow his counsel. Ask for a priesthood blessing. Use the Church’s Family Services offerings or seek other suitable professional help. Pray without ceasing. Ask for angels to help you. (emphasis added)
• Along with filters on computers and a lock on affections, remember that the only real control in life is self-control. Exercise more control over even the marginal moments that confront you. If a TV show is indecent, turn it off. If a movie is crude, walk out.
• Many of these influences, at least initially, may not technically be evil, but they can blunt our judgment, dull our spirituality, and lead to something that could be evil. An old proverb says that a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step, so watch your step.
• Like thieves in the night, unwelcome thoughts can and do seek entrance to our minds. But we don’t have to throw open the door, serve them tea and crumpets, and then tell them where the silverware is kept! (You shouldn’t be serving tea anyway.)
• Most people in trouble end up crying, “What was I thinking?” Well, whatever they were thinking, they weren’t thinking of Christ. Yet, as members of His Church, we pledge every Sunday of our lives to take upon ourselves His name and promise to “always remember him.” So let us work a little harder at remembering Him—especially that He has “borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows … , [that] he was bruised for our iniquities … ; and with his stripes we are healed."
• When confronting our transgressions and our souls are harrowed up with true pain, may we all echo the repentant Alma and utter his life-changing cry: “O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me.”
•  

Study Recap: Why Do We Continue to Tolerate Sin? by Spencer W. Kimball

Title: Why Do We Continue to Tolerate Sin?
Author: Spencer W. Kimball
Source: April 1975 General Conference
Link: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1975/04/why-do-we-continue-to-tolerate-sin?lang=eng
Rating: 2.5/5

Favorite Points

• I read of the common practice of the associations of men and women not marriage partners; and they are claiming long and loudly that marriage is no longer necessary. And apparently almost without shame do they live together in a sexual partnership without marriage. Has God changed his laws? Or has puny, irresponsible, presumptuous man dared to change the laws of God?
• Again we see history repeating itself. When we see the pornography, the adulterous practices, homosexuality gone rampant, the looseness and permissiveness of an apparently increasing proportion of the people, we say the days of Satan have returned and history seems to repeat itself.
•  When we see the depravity of numerous people of our own society in their determination to force upon people vulgar presentations, filthy communications, unnatural practices, we wonder, has Satan reached forth with his wicked, evil hand to pull into his forces the people of this earth? Do we not have enough good people left to stamp out the evil which threatens our world? Why do we continue to compromise with evil and why do we continue to tolerate sin?
• We do not believe in situation-itis; we do not go with the people who think that this is a different age, this is a different time, these people are more enlightened, that was for the old times. Always the Lord will hold to his statements that he has given through the ages, and he will expect men to respect themselves, to respect their wives, and the wives to respect their husbands, and to respect their families, and to live righteously, as he has repeated thousands of times through the ages.
•  

#ldsconf memes, Part 3

Scripture Insight: Alma 34: 34-35

34 Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world.

35 For behold, if ye have procrastinated the day of your repentance even until death, behold, ye have become subjected to the spirit of the devil, and he doth seal you his; therefore, the Spirit of the Lord hath withdrawn from you, and hath no place in you, and the devil hath all power over you; and this is the final state of the wicked.

Discussion
I came across this scripture reference while reading a devotional given by Clayton M. Christensen (will be posted later) and this particular passage hit home with me. The whole talk resonated with me, but this particular scripture highlighted a key part of it for me given some of the things going in my life at this time. Funny how the Lord always knows what to place before us to help when He knows we're willing to study the matter out.

What I like about this scripture is how is stresses the importance of always living the gospel 100% of the time. We have to ensure our bodies are always possessed with the true spirit of righteousness, and not that of the devil. Eternal consequences hang in the balance.

But I think what most stood out to me is the beginning of verse 35 when it addresses procrastination, because hey, that's me. In school I always waited til the last minute to study or finish writing that paper. Sure, some work was done along the way, but the bulk was done in the last 24-48 hours. Things always seemed to work out though. And work out well I might add.

I remember when I had my comprehensive finals to study for in graduate school but I waited until the last minute. I put less than 10 total hours into it (maybe 5 or less). At the end of the test it asks you to indicate how much you studied and the lowest option was 25 hours or less. I didn't even come close to that! When I got the scores a few weeks later they included the stats for your testing group. Not only did I far exceed my expectations, I had the highest score in the group.

Instead of filling elated (which I did to a certain extent of course), I felt guilty. I felt like I didn't deserve that score when so many other people put more time and effort forth than I did. I recognized that being rewarded for procrastinating my studying was not healthy.

This scripture highlights that there is no "cramming" for repentance. Forgiveness of our sins doesn't work like that. The time to act is now and not tomorrow. Recently someone at church said that the Savior has promised forgiveness to those who repent but has NOT promised tomorrow for procrastination.

#ldsconf memes, Part 2

#ldsconf Memes, Part 1