::: readings

The Sermon on the Mount is perhaps the best know single sermon ever given. Its timeless lessons are more pertinent now than ever before. Below are a few of the practical implications of the nearly 2,000-year-old book.

“the memory of the gift”

Practical Advice:

• If you hear the words of chosen disciples, give head
• If you are poor in spirit, turn to Christ
• If you mourn, allow yourself to be comforted
• If you hunger or thirst, hunger and thirst after righteousness
• If you need mercy, give mercy
• If you are pure in heart, you will see God (in others, in beauty)

D&C 88:47-49

• “I give unto you to be…”

here is a list of scriptures that Ani and I gathered on the topic of “running faster than you have strength”, or in other words, the balance between complacency and contentment.

it seems as though the only real answer is (as i often seem to conclude, and which conclusion i have to reference to a conversation of yesteryear with on ben brinton) the perpetuation of the question.

Scripture Chain:

“Run Faster Than You Have Strength”

Keywords: faster then you have strength, steadfast, giving, time, chance

Mosiah 4: 27

• See that all these things are done in wisdom and order
• Not requisite that a man should run faster than he hath strength

Ecclesiastes 9:11-18

• The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong….
• Time and chance happeneth to them all.

Alma 1:26-27

• Not esteeming himself above his hearers
• All labored according to his own strength
• Impart according to that which they had

Mosiah 4:24

• Not give because ye have not, but say in your hearts, would give if could give

2 Nephi 31:19-20

• press forward with a steadfastness in Christ

I’ve included some excerpts below from an interview on same-gender attraction. Below is a link to the full text.

http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/public-issues/same-gender-attraction

PUBLIC AFFAIRS: At the outset, can you explain why this whole issue of homosexuality and same-gender marriage is important to the Church?

ELDER OAKS: This is much bigger than just a question of whether or not society should be more tolerant of the homosexual lifestyle. Over past years we have seen unrelenting pressure from advocates of that lifestyle to accept as normal what is not normal, and to characterize those who disagree as narrow-minded, bigoted and unreasonable. Such advocates are quick to demand freedom of speech and thought for themselves, but equally quick to criticize those with a different view and, if possible, to silence them by applying labels like “homophobic.” In at least one country where homosexual activists have won major concessions, we have even seen a church pastor threatened with prison for preaching from the pulpit that homosexual behavior is sinful. Given these trends, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints must take a stand on doctrine and principle. This is more than a social issue — ultimately it may be a test of our most basic religious freedoms to teach what we know our Father in Heaven wants us to teach.

…

ELDER OAKS: I think it is an accurate statement to say that some people consider feelings of same-gender attraction to be the defining fact of their existence. There are also people who consider the defining fact of their existence that they are from Texas or that they were in the United States Marines. Or they are red-headed, or they are the best basketball player that ever played for such-and-such a high school. People can adopt a characteristic as the defining example of their existence and often those characteristics are physical.

We have the agency to choose which characteristics will define us; those choices are not thrust upon us.

The ultimate defining fact for all of us is that we are children of Heavenly Parents, born on this earth for a purpose, and born with a divine destiny. Whenever any of those other notions, whatever they may be, gets in the way of that ultimate defining fact, then it is destructive and it leads us down the wrong path.

…

ELDER WICKMAN: [M]arriage is neither a matter of politics, nor is it a matter of social policy. Marriage is defined by the Lord Himself. It’s the one institution that is ceremoniously performed by priesthood authority in the temple [and] transcends this world. It is of such profound importance… such a core doctrine of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, of the very purpose of the creation of this earth. One hardly can get past the first page of Genesis without seeing that very clearly. It is not an institution to be tampered with by mankind, and certainly not to be tampered with by those who are doing so simply for their own purposes. There is no such thing in the Lord’s eyes as something called same-gender marriage. Homosexual behavior is and will always remain before the Lord an abominable sin. Calling it something else by virtue of some political definition does not change that reality.

…

PUBLIC AFFAIRS: If you had to describe this enormously complex question in a couple of basic principles, what would that be?

ELDER OAKS: God loves all of His children. He has provided a plan for His children to enjoy the choicest blessings that He has to offer in eternity. Those choicest blessings are associated with marriage between a man and a woman by appropriate priesthood authority to bring together a family unit for creation and happiness in this life and in the life to come.

We urge persons with same-gender attractions to control those and to refrain from acting upon them, which is a sin, just as we urge persons with heterosexual attractions to refrain from acting upon them until they have the opportunity for a marriage recognized by God as well as by the law of the land. That is the way to happiness and eternal life. God has given us no commandment that He will not give us the strength and power to observe. That is the Plan of Salvation for His children, and it is our duty to proclaim that plan, to teach its truth, and to praise God for the mission of His Son Jesus Christ. It is Christ’s atonement that makes it possible for us to be forgiven of our sins and His resurrection that gives us the assurance of immortality and the life to come. It is that life to come that orients our views in mortality and reinforces our determination to live the laws of God so that we can qualify for His blessings in immortality.

Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith. “Chapter 19: Stand Fast through the Storms of Life.”

How true it is that when life becomes difficult, sometimes approaching a point of being unbearably so, that we can find solace in only one place, in our relationship with God. It is so important, therefore, to develop and deepen that relationship in times of plenty so as to not find, in our moment of need, that we have nothing to draw on and that we have abandoned He who never abandons us, and in whom we can find peace and solace, a balm for the broken in heart and body.

Reading this chapter, I reflected on the experiences of the past few weeks and thought of the ways in which I found myself turning to God in moments of need and how a willingness to carry on, desiring after faith, and even “hoping against hope” as it were, that in those moments I was carried on eagles’ wings. There were, of course, moments where I simply slept, trying to forget everything, but those moments were overcome.

Quotes from the Text:

“Stand fast, ye Saints of God, hold on a little while longer, and the storm of life will be past, and you will be rewarded by that God whose servants you are” (227).

Wilford Woodruff, the fourth President of the Church, said: “the Lord told Joseph that He would prove him, whether he would abide in His covenant or not, even unto death. He did prove him; and although [Joseph] had the whole world to contend agains and the treachery of false friends to withstand, although his whole life was a scent of trouble and anxiety and care, yet in all his afflictions, his imprisonments, the mobbings and ill treatment he pased through, he was ever true to his God” (229).

John Taylor, the third President of the Church, said: “I heard the Prophet Joseph say, in speaking to the Twelve on one occasion: ‘You will have all kinds of trials to pass throgh. And it is quite as necessary for you to be tried as it was for Abraham and other ment of God, and (said he) God will feel after you, and He will take hold of you and wrench your very hearstrings, and if you cannot stand it you will not be fit for an inheritance in the Celestial Kingdom of God.’” (231)

“My only hip and confidence is in that God who gave me being, in whom there is all power, who now is presently before me, and my heart is naked before his eyes continually. He is my comforter, and he forsaketh me not” (231).

“I know in whom I trust; I stand upon the rock; the floods cannot, no, they shall not, overthrow me” (231).

“And as for the perils which I am called to pass through, they seem but a small thing to me, as the envy and wrath of man have been my common lot all the days of my life; and for what cause it seems mysterious, unless I was ordained from before the foundation of the world for some good end, or bad, as you may choose to call it. Judge ye for yourselves. God knoweth all these things, whether it be good or bad. But nevertheless, deep water is what I am wont to swim in. It all has become a second nature to me; and I feel, like Paul, to glory in tribulation; for to this day has the God of my fathers delivered me out of them all, and will deliver me from henceforth; for behold, and lo, I shall triumph over all my enemies, for the Lord God hath spoken it” [Doctrine and Covenants 127:2] (232).

“About his recovery from an illness in June 1837, the Prophet said: “This is one of the may instances in which I have suddenly been brough from a state of health, to the borders of the grave, and as suddenly restored, for which my heart swells with gratitude to my heavenly Father, and I fell renewedly to dedicate myself and all my powers to His service” (233).

“All difficulties which might and would cross our way must be surmounted. though the sould be tried, the heart faint, and the hands hang down, we must not retrace our steps; there must be decision of character” (234).