Baptism

The power of the priesthood

1 Corinthians 1-11
The Jews and Gentiles were both being taught the gospel at the same time by Paul and the other apostles, yet  there was some conflict about the power of the priesthood to baptize. Some people felt like if they were baptized by Paul then it was not truly being baptized through Jesus Christ. What the people had to come to understand was that no matter if you were baptized by the Savior himself or if you were baptized by one of his apostles on the earth, the priesthood is the same for whoever bears it as a worthy member of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Paul baptized many people in the name of Jesus Christ through the power of the priesthood and this is equally as good as any other apostle or prophet. I was baptized when I was eight years old by my father through the power of the priesthood. I remember feeling so happy and warm for choosing to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was my choice and I felt very happy when I chose it. The water was very warm and  my father's arms were so comforting as they held me and baptized me.
The blessings I made at baptism have stuck with me throughout my life and they have helped me to be a better me.
There are three promises we make when we take the sacrament every Sunday and these help us to remember the covenants we made at baptism. They are a willingness to take Christ's name upon us, to always remember him, and to always keep him commandments.

Paul is lead by the spirit

Paul is led by the spirit

Lead, Kindly Light is one of my favorite hymns and this week in class we sang it and it was one of the most powerful renditions of that song that I have ever heard. The spirit was so strongly in that room that is greatly touched me. I was impressed that Brother Griffin felt the same way and had us sing the third voice just so that we could continue to feel that sweet spirit. After singing that song, Brother Griffin proceeded to give the class some very wise council. He asked the question "When you are praying or reading your scriptures does your mind sometimes wander off and you don't remember anything that you read?"
We all sheepishly nodded our heads and looked around. He then said when your mind wanders off, take a second to pause and think about what your mind wandered off to. More often than not our minds wander to something of great importance and that is of concern in our lives. Focus on that thought and then go back into your scripture reading or prayers and ask the Lord to direct you to inspiration or an answer to the problem plaguing your life.
I think this principle applies to everybody in their lives, but especially it should have applied to the Jews and Gentiles who were being taught at the time of the apostle, Paul. In 1 Corinthians 7:22, the Jews make it clear that they only care about seeing signs before they are willing to believe. The thing we have to realize is that hardly anybody sees huge miracles, has a vision, or has a thunderbolt strike them as a sign that the gospel is true. More often than not, we receive answers through prayer and scripture study and those answers are often very soft and simple.
It is apparent in the scriptures that the spirit speaks through the "still, small voice" and he will not speak loudly  if we are in tune to the spirit and being quiet in our hearts. It is a shame that the Jews were so caught up in the signs and that they couldn't feel the truth with their hearts and minds.

2/3/13 Neat Facts from Acts

February 3, 2013

I am taking the Second half of the New Testament and I have learned some extremely neat things that have helped me to better understand the scriptures and Jesus Christ. It is truly amazing to me that the Lord has planned for every insignificant detail and it will all be taken care in the end. The Bible is true as far as it is translated correctly, so on occasion you have to dig a little deeper in different verses of scripture to completely understand what is being said. I learned of one such occasion in the scriptures in Acts 17:24 which says, "God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temple made with hands." This scripture is often used again the LDS church  as trying to prove that God says himself he cannot dwell in a temple made with human hands on the earth when the Church has built temples all over the earth in this dispensation. The answer to this question is with the word temple. 

The problem is with the English word, temple. It is an incorrect translation of the Greek word that was used before the Bible was translated into English. The word that was actually used in the Greek translation is "naos" which means idol, shrine, or small structure. God actually dwells in our body or shrine; he is part of us and if we allow him he will dwell in our "temple" or our naos. Another scripture where naos was used is the phrase "I will destroy and raise the temple in three days." This scripture does not refer to the griheeron, the large temple, but it refers to Christ as a person. Jesus Christ died and was resurrected three days later.  

The world that actually means "large temple" in Greek is griheeron. The griheeron is the large temple in Jerusalem and was the temple cleansed by Jesus Christ.

The neat part of learning this is realizing that for Christ to dwell with me I have to choose to let him in. I have to allow the light of Christ to be apart of me and abide in my life.