Archive for the 'Faith Promoting' Category
Posted on 5/30/2010 at 9:02:27 AM
The New Testament tells us that there were three Apostles named James. The first of these was James, the son of Zebedee; the second was James the Less, the son of Alphaeus; and the last – and most controversial of these – was James the Just, who the scriptures tell us was “the Lord’s brother.”
The first mention of this James is in the book of Matthew, in which those in the synagogue, who were dismissive of Jesus’ divine origins and mission, asked:
“Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And his sisters, are they not with us?”
Here we discover that Jesus had at least four brothers: James, which would be better translated Jacob;1 Joses (or Joseph), named after his father;2 Judas, also known as Jude or Judah;3 and Simon. He had sisters also, but sadly it does not mention their names.
From this simple passage has since arisen a great deal of speculation. Later Catholic scholars, who considered even married intimacy sinful and believed that Mary had always remained a virgin4, have argued that these brothers of Jesus must have been step-brothers from a previous marriage, cousins, or only brothers in the Gospel. This verse does not lend itself to such an interpretation though. They are spoken of as both the sons of Joseph the carpenter, and of Mary.5 The Greek word used for brothers here literally means “out of the same womb”,6 and is never applied to cousins.
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Posted on 2/7/2010 at 5:45:13 PM
The Spirit sometimes comes in a whisper
Sometimes it comes as a feeling of peace
at other times it comes like crashing thunder
Sometimes it comes like a wave of relief
We feel it through the burning of our heart
through the promptings for us to do right
It enters into our bodies – into every part
and it brightens our own internal light
Sometimes it tells us to cast our mind back
to the answer we already had before
It is there to help keep us on the right track
to open our minds, to reveal to us more
Sometimes it works within us silently
even when we are busy or in slumber rest
Its calm influence working on us slowly
bringing about in us all that is for our best
However it comes, in whatever form
whether by peace or joy, dreams or visions
Whether we seek it for emotional comfort
or to help us make difficult decisions …
It is a divine gift from a loving God
It is our companion and our close friend
It is there to help us hold to the rod
and it will be there beside us to the very end
Posted on 2/7/2010 at 5:38:05 PM
No more I trust myself in life’s dim maze;
Sufficient to myself in all its ways,
I trust no more, but humbly at Thy throne
Pray, “Lead me, for I cannot go alone.”
Out of myself, dear Lord, O lift me up!
I faint, the road winds upward all the way
Each night but ends another weary day.
Give me Thy strength, and may I be so blest
As on “the heights” to find the longed for rest?
Out of my weary self, O lift me up!
Though other hearts with love are running o’er;
Though dear ones fill my lonely home no more;
Though every day I miss the fine caress;
Help me to join in other’s happiness.
Out of my lonely self, O lift me up!
Help me to feel that Thou are always near;
E’en though ‘tis night and all around seems drear,
Help me to know that, though I cannot see,
It is my Father’s hand that leadeth me!
Out of my doubting self, O lift me up!
Joseph F. Smith
Posted on 10/13/2009 at 10:57:04 AM
Two spirits in Celestial world
Stood apart from the heavenly throng;
A mighty love shone on each face,
In each heart was a heavenly song,
“Sister,” he said with a look of love,
“The hour at last has come,
That I may take the glorious step,
And have a mortal home.
Our love and association here,
Will bind our hearts below,
And, Darling, when I meet you there,
I’m sure our hearts will know.” Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on 10/13/2009 at 8:11:25 AM
33 year old Moses Mendelssohn, the grandfather of the well-known German composer, was far from being handsome. Along with a rather short stature, he had a grotesque hunchback. In 1762 he visited a merchant in Hamburg who had a lovely daughter named Fromet Guggenheim. Moses fell hopelessly in love with her. But Fromet was repulsed by his misshapen appearance.
When it came time for him to leave, Moses gathered his courage and climbed the stairs to her room to take one last opportunity to speak with her. Upon seeing him she burst into tears.
“Is it my hump?” he asked.
“Yes.” she hesitantly replied.
She was a vision of Heavenly beauty, but he felt deep sadness by her refusal to look at him. After several attempts at conversation, Moses shyly asked, “Do you believe marriages are made in Heaven?”
“Yes,” she answered, still looking at the floor. “And do you?”
“Yes I do,” he replied. “You see, in Heaven at the birth of each boy, the Lord announces which girl he will marry. When I was born, my future bride was pointed out to me. Then the Lord added,” “But your wife will be humpbacked.”
“Right then and there I called out, ‘Oh Lord, a humpbacked woman would be a tragedy. Please, Lord, give me the hump and let her be fair and beautiful.’”
Then Fromet looked up into his eyes and was stirred by some deep memory. She reached out and gave Mendelssohn her hand and later became his devoted wife. They had six remarkable children together.
“When love has blended and molded two beings
in an angelic and sacred union,
they have found the secret of life;
henceforth they are only the two terms of the same destiny,
the two wings of one mind.”
(Victor Hugo)
Posted on 9/17/2008 at 3:23:52 PM
A new century dawns upon the world today. The hundred years just completed were the most momentous in the history of man upon this planet. It would be impossible in a hundred days to make even a brief summary of the notable events, the marvelous developments, the grand achievements, and the beneficial inventions and discoveries, which mark the progress of the ten decades now left behind in the ceaseless march of humanity. The very mention of the nineteenth century suggests advancement, improvement, liberty, and light. Happy are we to have lived amidst its wonders and shared in the riches of its treasures of intelligence!
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Posted on 9/8/2007 at 7:33:14 AM
For at least some period of a young child’s life anything is conceivable in their imaginations and seems achievable in reality. Thus it was with me when at a young age a friend and I were convinced we could fly. We fashioned wings out of cardboard, and I was the first elected to test them out by climbing on the top of some bails of hay next to my friend’s house.
It seemed to me that my launching point was as high as his roof, and when I had reached the top and put on my wings I launched myself without hesitation into the air, only to find myself falling rather than sailing. The ground, which I wasn’t expecting to see, hurt both my pride and my backside. I wondered after the event what went wrong: should I have jumped from a greater height? Should my wings have been longer? Did I need to flap them vigorously?
On that maiden flight I didn’t lack any confidence in the outcome before I jumped. There were no doubts in my mind, and I had the expectation of me soaring through the skies. I lacked no faith in God either: If the birds could fly why couldn’t I? Yet gravity and God had other plans that involved me crashing rather than sailing with the wind.
When I grew to be a young man I came upon scriptures which stated that “with God all things are possible”, and the saying of Jesus that “if you have faith as much as a mustard seed we could move mountains.” I thought back to my attempts at being a human airplane and wondered why God hadn’t granted my vertical desires at that time.
I have since considered that many might read the same passages and apply them to their business endeavors. Entrepreneurs selling worthy products with the intent of helping their fellow men, and with the hope of supporting their families might indeed find encouragement in such passages. They may hope to lay hold upon their seeming promises. But they too might find themselves disappointed after their maiden voyages, or even after longer journeys of self-sacrifice and dedication.
Was it that they didn’t have enough faith, or because they doubted, that their business failed? Was there some great secret they didn’t understand and implement?
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Posted on 6/17/2006 at 4:36:14 PM
Hast thou not been unwisely bold,
Man’s destiny to thus unfold?
To raise, promote such high desire,
Such vast ambition thus inspire?
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Posted on 7/21/2005 at 7:33:42 AM
Given by president Waird MacDonald, at the Northern California Mission Conference, 9th February 1950
I would like to talk to you this morning about the Book of Mormon, because I believe all our missionary work stems from it. Very few people have ever come into this Church except they have read this book, and it seems that this book is the thing that converts them. We have many learned men and almost all of them have written a book to explain our gospel, and they have written about the Book of Mormon, and, yet, with all these books together, they do not convert the people, they may interest them, but they do not get into the waters of baptism until they have gone into this book.
What is the Book of Mormon? The greatest student of the Book of Mormon that this Church has ever had, and the man who studied it the most, and became the most profound in it, was Orson Pratt. I would like to read what he said about this book in 1851 while in England – nearly a hundred years ago:
- “The Book of Mormon claims to be the sacred history of ancient America, written by a succession of ancient prophets, who inhabited this vast continent. The plates of gold, containing this history were discovered by a young man named Joseph Smith, through the ministery of a holy angel, on the evening and morning of the 21st and 22nd of September 1823. Four years after their discovery, on the morning of the 22nd of September 1827. The angel of the Lord permitted Mr. Smith to take these sacred records from the place of their deposit. The hill in which they were found buried is situated near the town of Manchester, Ontario county, New York with the plates were also found a Urim and Thummim. Each plate was not far from seven by eight inches in width and length, being not quite as thick as common tin. Each was filled on both sides with engraven Egyptian characters; and the whole were bound together in a volume, as the leaves of a book. And fastened on one edge with three rings running through each. This volume was something near six inches in thickness, a part of which was sealed. The characters or letters upon the unsealed part were small and beautifully engraved. Mr. Smith, through the Urim and Thummim, and by the power and gift of God, translated this re cord into the English language. This translation contains about the same amount of reading. As the Old Testament. A large edition of this wonderful book was first published early in 1830.”
This is the most comprehensive statement about the Book of Mormon I have ever read. Nothing essential is left out in this first paragraph in a series of tracts which he wrote on his first mission.
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Posted on 5/17/2005 at 1:05:11 PM
To The Latter-day Saints -
The experience of mankind has shown that the people of communities and nations among whom wealth is the most equally distributed, enjoy the largest degree of liberty, are the least exposed to tyranny and oppression and suffer the least from luxurious habits which beget vice.
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