New Testament Journals

4/10/2015

One of my favorite quotes is from Elder Holland, in which he says “the future of this world has long been declared; the final outcome between good and evil is already known. There is absolutely no question as to who wins because the victory has already been posted on the scoreboard. The only really strange thing is all of this is that we are still down here on the field trying to decide which team’s jersey we want to wear!” I’ve always felt as though this is extremely powerful, especially in our time. There are so many temptations that we face each day and often times we find ourselves succumbing to these temptations. But we already know who wins. In fact, Brother Griffin said in class that the entire book of Revelation can be summed up into two words: God wins. Revelations tells the story of God’s victory. Yet, for some reason, we are all still here on earth trying to decide what side we are on. It’s a simple decision really. If we know the outcome, we want to be on the side that is most beneficial for us.

And we can do this by following God’s commandments. Yet, for some reason, though we know that it will be more beneficial for us in the long run, we still find ourselves opting towards the instant gratification of sin. We skip our scripture study because we’d rather spend that time sleeping or watching TV. We mistreat others because it’s easier to show our true feelings rather than loving them. We choose sin because it’s easier and more convenient in the moment, even though we are completely aware the avoiding sin will be more beneficial in the long run.

So I guess the key here is to choose what jersey we are going to wear and stick with it. I have often found that making a decision before we are faced with the problem allows us to face that problem with more strength and determination. If we know what we want and how we need to get there, it will be much easier to forge that path than if we are unsure of our destination. The stories and symbolism in Revelations help us to realize the most desirable destination. It is then our job to follow the right path.

4/3/2015

I don’t completely understand the doctrine of calling and election, but this week, a certain aspect of it really stuck out to me in class. In 2 Peter 1:10, we are told to “make [our] calling and election sure.” Without getting to deep into this principle itself, I would like to talk about the wording of this verse. It is entirely focused on our own actions. We are told to make our calling and election sure. It isn't made sure for us; we have to do the work. I think a lot of people get hung up on the fact that God knows us perfectly and knows the outcome of our decisions and our lives before we even complete them. They decide that since God already knows what is going to happen, He, in some way, plays a role in it coming to pass. However, this verse refutes that idea. God does know what we are going to do, when we are going to do it, and the consequences of these actions. But that doesn't mean that we have any less agency in these situations. The way I see it, we all have the same or similar potential. It is what we do with that potential that makes the difference in our eternal progression. Our calling is an invitation to exaltation and our election is the divine selection to progress down this path. I see no reason why anyone wouldn't have this invitation or selection. We all have a calling and election, but it is what we do here on earth that will make the difference. Once again, we have to make it sure. And yes, God does know what we will do and how we will progress, but we will always have our agency. It is always our decision and we just have to make sure that we capitalize on the opportunities and potential we have been given.

3/27/2015

One of the most important things I personally learned, or was at least reminded of this week in class was the reason behind prayer. I think we all know that prayer is a privilege that we have to speak with God, but I also think that many of us, especially myself, often look at prayer as something to check off the daily list of righteous tasks. Having this tainted view for so long has really affected my relationship with God and has affected the strength and power of my prayers. Something Brother Griffin said in class really struck me. He said that we do not pray because God needs to hear from us; we pray because we need to talk to Him. God already knows us and our lives more perfectly than we do, despite the fact that we are the ones living it. He knows our thoughts and desires, so He had no need for us to report back to Him every day or at all. But He gives us the opportunity to pray so that we may have the opportunity to glimpse parts of His knowledge of us. We pray to learn about ourselves and to learn about God’s will for us. It’s something we need, not something God needs. We should never feel obligated to pray; we should feel the necessity to pray. God is willing to listen to us, if we pray for the right reasons. In James 1:6 we are told to pray with “nothing wavering.” I have taken this to mean that we need to pray in faith for the things that we believe to be right, whether they are what we want or not. We need to pray with our decisions already made, asking for confirmation rather than information. We need to pray out of love for ourselves, others, and God. And we need to pray ready to act upon whatever answer we receive. Prayer is a gift, not a burden, and I really need to do better at treating it as such.

3/20/2015

In New Testament this week, we studied 2 Timothy chapter 1. In this chapter, I found two things that really struck me. First, in verse 7, Paul discusses how “God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” Fear is one of the most natural and powerful human emotions. Fear can encourage us to take action and can hinder us from doing so. It has the power to keep us from blessings. It is important to have the perspective that God has not given us the spirit of fear. He has given us fear itself, but merely so we have the opportunity to grow from it. He gives us the spirit of power, love, and sound mind so that we may be able to overcome our natural fears. Though it is easy to blame God for the fear we feel on a daily basis, we must remember that with this fear, He has also given us the power to overcome it.

The second aspect of this chapter that I really liked this week comes just two verses later in verse 9. Paul reminds us of our “holy calling.” In class, Brother Griffin gave us the advice to pray for a reminder of what we promised we would accomplish on earth. I really liked this perspective. I feel like often times we are told that we need to pray to understand God’s will for us, which is a productive view, but I’m not sure it is complete. By praying to remember what we promised to do before we came here, we are recognizing our agency both here on earth and in the preexistence. We are acknowledging the fact that we made decisions in our pre-mortal life about our mortal existence. Though God does have a will for us, and we need to be actively seeking understanding of this will, we also have to recognize that we played a role in His will for us. We have made promises to Him before we came to earth, while we are here, and we will continue to make sacred covenants with Him. It should be our highest priority to keep all of these covenants, not just the ones we currently remember. 

3/14/2015

I think and hope it’s safe to say that most of us have times in our lives in which we wish it would just be over. That we could end our mortal existence now and continue on in the spirit world towards exaltation. I think most of us feel this way because sometimes life is just plain hard. We often get to a point it seems easier if the world would just end and we could progress past mortality. I don’t think I can put into words how excited I am for the millennium and the rest of eternity. I can’t wait to have the chance to return to the presence of God and continue on in my eternal progression. I have never felt this to the extent of Paul in Philippians 1:21-25, but I can relate to the lessons learned in these verses. Paul discusses how he would love to die and be reunited with Christ, but he also recognizes the needs of the people on earth and how he can help them. Ultimately, he decides that it is more beneficial for him to continue his life serving the Lord by serving His people. I think this is an important lesson for anyone who is struggling with meaning in their life. Life is hard and sometimes we don’t feel like we are making any significant contributions, but in these times we must remember the people around us and all we can do for them. One of the major reasons we are on this earth is to “abide with [others] for [their] furtherance and joy in faith” (Philippians 1:25). As we continue down the path of righteousness, it is our responsibility to help those around us. Brother Griffin offered a challenge to us in class this week to care more about what others are experiencing than our own experiences. I look forward to implementing this outlook and I would strongly encourage you to do so as well. When we focus our lives on others, we will experience more joy in our own lives.

3/6/2015

Agency is such a blessing. According to Heavenly Father’s plan, we are able to make important and seemingly unimportant decisions every day. We choose to get out of bed in the morning, what to eat for breakfast, whether or not we say our prayers, and so much more. We are constantly exercising the gift of agency, even when we don’t realize it. But sometimes the way we use this agency can result in it being taken away. When we make decisions we are both consciously and unconsciously choosing the consequences of those choices as well. In Acts 27, Paul advices the crew of the ship not to sail due to the danger that the trip will bring. The crew decides to disregard Paul’s warning and sail anyway due to the instruction of the captain and the owner of the ship. Because of this decision, they end up caught in an east wind that keeps them from being able to sail without destroying their ship and killing the passengers. At this point, their initial decision was made and they were unable to make proceeding decisions because of the first. Deciding to sail kept them from being able to choose their course. We can relate this to our own lives. We must make correct decisions and heed to the promptings of the Holy Ghost. We never know when a decision we make, which seems harmless in the present, may lead to severe consequences that we have no power over. This is why we must have a strong grasp on the gospel, personal revelation, and the companionship of the Holy Ghost. We must be able to use our agency in order to benefit our lives rather than trap ourselves in negative consequences.

2/27/2015

Ever since a young age, we have all been taught about faith, works, mercy, and grace. We look at faith as something we gain as we increase in knowledge. We look at works as the physical manifestation of our faith. We look at mercy and grace as things Christ will bestow upon us if we’re good enough. Essentially, we view faith and works as our part of the bargain which can lead to mercy and grace from God if our faith and works are acceptable. Our focus on our own role in the interaction between these principles is selfish. By assuming that faith and works are of our own devices, we are disregarding Christ’s essential role in our lives. It is through him that we are able to have faith and perform good works. We need to look at faith as something given to us by God as we progress in the gospel and works as opportunities given to us so that we may act upon the commandments. He provides us with everything we have. Our salvation is only possible through the “righteousness of God” (Romans 1:17, 2 Nephi 2:3).

And it is this same righteousness that allows us to be lifted up by both mercy and grace. As we are enabled to have faith and do works, we are also enabled to be affected by mercy and grace. In class we discussed how mercy can be defined as not getting what we deserve. In other words, instead of being damned due to our sins, we are able to receive exaltation by the mercy of repentance. We can also define grace as receiving what we don’t deserve. Essentially, this is receiving exaltation and eternal life even though we are sinful, rebellious, and prideful throughout our life time. This lesson gives an entirely new perspective on the nature of Christ. I have always viewed Him as an incredible and loving God, but it’s refreshing to look at His role in every aspect of my life. He has given me the blessing of faith, the opportunity of good works, and He is constantly extending both mercy and grace when I fail to utilize those blessings and opportunities. He loves us all so much that He will give us everything, as long as we are willing to give it all back to Him.

2/20/2015

This week I have been thinking a lot about the Atonement. In every aspect, it is incredible and I think sometimes, I don’t use it like I should. In 2 Corinthians 1:4, Paul writes on how God will comfort us in all our tribulation. In this verse there is a strong focus on the phrase “in all.” God won’t just comfort us after we've gotten through the trial, he comforts us during. And He won’t just comfort us in some of our trials, He will comfort us in all of them. I think sometimes we don’t take advantage of this wonderful blessing. We often sit in the midst of a trial feeling alone and bad for ourselves when we have such a strong resource at our disposal. Because of the Atonement, Christ has a perfect knowledge of everything we go through. He experienced it all so that he could be the perfect help for us during times of sorrow, weakness, and pain. And it’s important to recognize all that the Atonement applies to. It applies to sins and trials. And one of the most important aspects of the Atonement was Christ’s desire to perform it for us. He wasn't just complacent or strictly obedient. His love for us is so strong that he was willing to do whatever God directed Him to in order to fulfill the Atonement. I think we forget that sometimes as well. The Atonement was performed out of love. He loved us then in order to perform it and He loves us now whenever we are in need of its power. We shouldn't feel guilty for using it or feel guilty for our trials and sins. We should feel sorrow for our sins and repent properly, but not guilty to where we aren't able to repent. Our sins don’t define us and our trials are given to us from God so that we may learn. If we take advantage of the Atonement in our sins and trials, we are showing God and Christ that we love them enough to righteously use what they have provided for our salvation.

2/13/15

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day and due to that I’ve been thinking a lot about love. I decided recently that the love we celebrate doesn’t have to be just romantic love. It can be familial, platonic, and most importantly, self-love. In 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Paul discusses how our bodies are temples and how we can’t exactly claim them as ours because we were bought by Christ through the Atonement. Here Paul is focusing on avoiding carnal sin, such as fornication and adultery, but there is another lesson to be learned here as well. We are not our bodies. We are our spirits. Our bodies were given to us by our Heavenly Father when we came down to earth as a vessel in which our spirits are to reside. And just as we aren’t our bodies, we aren’t the characteristics or flaws of our bodies either. I think we spend a lot of time focusing on our body type, our skin color, whether or not we are pretty enough, or our mental incapacities. These aren’t characteristics that define us. They are part of our physical bodies that God has given us for a specific reason. In a way, complaining about the gifts we are given from God, whether they seem like gifts at the time, is dishonoring what we’ve been given. We may not see how these things are gifts at some times, but we are given them for a purpose. In one way or another we will be able to use our flaws to serve or connect with someone. We should recognize our bodies as gifts that we are given to do good in the world, not our defining characteristics or things designed to hold us back. We need to love ourselves and love our bodies, in a way of showing that we love God.

2/5/2015

I think we always know that we’re stronger than our temptations, but sometimes we just don’t want to be. Sometimes the things we are tempted to do, we end up doing even though we know they are wrong. And it’s not because we were too weak to overcome it or resist. It’s that we flat out choose the temptation. In 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5, Paul writes about abstaining from fornication and keeping your vessel (I will use the interpretation that vessel means body in this context) clean. Paul is not just discussing the outward actions but also inward thoughts.

In my New Testament class we discussed the metaphor of the bird. The bird is a thought that might fly over your head, but as long as you do not allow it to make a nest, it will not stay. We must first not feel guilty for having impure thoughts. It’s something that is natural. But we should start feeling guilty when we allow them to “nest.” I know that personally, it is sometimes hard for me to get rid of thoughts that I know I shouldn’t be having, but as long as I am trying to get rid of them, rather than dwelling on them, I am moving in the right direction. It is unproductive to think that if you have thoughts that you shouldn’t be having that you are not a good person. Great people can have bad thoughts. But great people are the ones who do what they can to get rid of them. So yes, we will have impure thoughts. But we are stronger than the temptation to linger on these thoughts. If we are strong and are constantly trying to think in more pure ways, we are overcoming these temptations. The easiest way to do this is to decide before we have impure thoughts to fight them away. If we know what we plan to do in these kinds of situations before they occur, we will be much stronger in facing them.

1/30/2015

Truth is such an interesting concept. I do believe there is an objective truth that God knows, but I also think that truth is different for everyone. It is theme encountered in Acts 15. The apostles are gathering together to discuss the issue of circumcision in the church. Circumcision was a part of the Law of Moses that the Jews held very dear, but wasn't necessarily a concern of Christianity. As Christians, we believe that Christ was the last sacrifice, therefore the Law of Moses was no longer necessary. But the early church had a difficult time reconciling the beliefs of the Jews and their Christian beliefs. In the apostles council they ultimately come to a conclusion that will cause a huge schism in the church. But it makes you wonder why they were not able to come to a universally accepted decision. Or even if it wasn't universally accepted, a decision that would have been more beneficial for the church. But in reading this chapter and discussing it in class, I came to a new realization. Truth isn't the same for everyone and it wasn't the same for each of the apostles. Truth is given in pieces so we never have the whole truth to ourselves. The trick to this is being able to recognize that you do not have the whole truth. Sometimes it can be really hard to accept and difficult to listen to others so that you may gain more truth that they possessed and you did not. It also is humbling to realize that even someone who has a very small portion of truth, still has important insight that you may not have considered. It really shows how important every member of the church is. No matter how small, inactive, new, or old, every person has truth that we may not have yet. So it is important to give all of these people the time of day. We never know what we may learn from them.

1/23/2015

One of the verses and lessons I found really interesting from this week can be found in Acts 13:9. In this verse Saul’s name is changed to Paul. As kind of a simpler explanation for this name change, you could say that Paul wanted to be rid of the reputation attached to the name “Saul.” He had become a new person and wanted to move on in his new and improved life. But looking a little deeper you can see that there is symbolism in this name change. Saul is a Hebrew name meaning “inquired of God.” This name is entirely fitting as we see Saul called from his time of public aggression towards the church to be converted and eventually become an apostle of God. However, it can be assumed that his name was changed before he became an apostle. In the scriptures it doesn't really explain how the name change happened, but I like to believe that in addition to wanting to be rid of the reputation of Saul, Paul was given his name for a reason. Paul is the Latin name meaning “little, small.” I think this has a very important interpretation. Saul was a giant in his time. His name was renowned and people feared him. When his name was changed to Paul, he became smaller. He was less popular and less known. He was cut down so that he could grow to be something better. Which reminds of the story of the current bush. The gardener cut down the bush so that it could grow into what the gardener knew it could become. Saul was cut down because God knew that he could become so much more as an apostle. And we are often cut down because God knows what he wants us to become. It’s sometimes hard to trust him enough to let ourselves be cut down, but it is important to remember that He has a perspective far greater than ours and He knows what we can be. If we let Him cut us down, we will grow to be much more than we could ever imagine.

1/16/2015

The verse covered in class that had the most impact on me this week was definitely Acts 5:41. In this scripture we see the apostles departing from a scene in which they had just been beaten, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Christ. I think this is an incredible perspective that I wish to adopt into my own life. Often I leave trials exhausted and disheartened. One example of this was my decision in high school to quit my club soccer team in order to keep the Sabbath day holy. It was one of the hardest and best decisions of my life. I always knew that it was the correct decision, but that didn't keep me from feeling like I was letting down my team or that I was letting go of a huge part of my life. It was easy to regret the decision even though I knew it was necessary. In a very small way though, I was suffering shame in His name. My team and coach now knew that I held Christ and the gospel to a higher importance than other things in my life, something that many of them couldn't totally understand. I had to be the girl who quit because of church, which isn't a popular way to be seen in today's society. But I was considered worthy and strong enough to be able to make the right decision in this circumstance. And I am so glad and pleased that I was able to. But back then I didn't have that perspective. I think my goal for the future will be to adapt this lesson into other aspects of my life. In times where I feel as though I am standing alone in my views and that others are looking down on me for them, I can rejoice, just as the apostles, that I am counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Christ. In times of difficulty, I can feel gratitude that I was considered strong enough to endure with the help of my Savior. In general, I can look at my experiences and be grateful that I am given the chance to experience them. We are so blessed to be living and I want to show gratitude in my actions and words for both the good and the bad in this life.

1/9/2015

I think one of my favorite things about the bible is the way it is addressed to our time. It is written for people throughout time with different levels of understanding of technology, medicine, and human nature. But most importantly it is written on a personal basis to the individuals throughout time. Both the books of Luke and Acts begin with a greeting to a man of the name Theophilus. This can be interpreted to mean that Luke is writing these books to a literal man with that name. But when the name is dissected another meaning is discovered; one that I prefer much more. Theo is derived from the Greek word meaning god and philus is derived from the Latin suffix meaning loving. Theophilus can then be translated to mean God-loving or friend of God. So essentially, Luke is directing his writings to anyone who loves God. I love God and I know you love God, which means that these writings are given specifically to us, to you and I separately, as individual friends of God. I think this is important since we can all find different meanings and interpretations of the words in the bible, but that doesn't mean that any of our interpretations are wrong. It is hard to say that there is one definite interpretation of the bible, because we all have different experiences throughout our lives which lead us to different interpretations of the word of God. Since the words are given to us individually we are able to find the meaning that sits right with us the most and confirm the meaning with God. You and I may interpret the meanings differently, but both can be right for us. This interpretation of the meaning of the name Theophilus makes the New Testament so much more personal. I can be Theophilus and so can you, and so can any person that truly loves God.