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One of the most prevelant gifts of the Spirit is that of speaking in tongues. In the LDS Topical Guide under the topic “Holy Ghost, Gifts of,” one of the most, if not the most prevelant gift of the Spirit discussed is that of speaking in tongues. I counted seven scriptures in the Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price that talk about speaking in tongues in the Topical Guide.
Reading these scriptures (especially the one in 2 Nephi 31:13 that talks about speaking with the “tongue of angels”) reminded me of a talk given in General Conference last year by Jeffery Holland called “The Tongue of Angels.” I love this talk and I recommend reading it. As I read it again today, this small section of his talk impressed me:
“In all of this, I suppose it goes without saying that negative speaking so often flows from negative thinking, including negative thinking about ourselves. We see our own faults, we speak—or at least think—critically of ourselves, and before long that is how we see everyone and everything. No sunshine, no roses, no promise of hope or happiness. Before long we and everybody around us are miserable.”
I have struggled at times in my life with negative thinking about myself and have found that when I have negative thoughts about myself it trickles into other areas of my life such as negative thoughts about others, society, God, my family, the church, other churches, work, God, etc…and pretty soon I’m looking at everything in a negative and depressed state. I want to share with anyone who may be able to benefit from this and may be struggling with negativity in their lives. The following things have helped me (and continue to help me) overcome negativity:
1. Remember what it felt like when I was positive.
For me, this is the first step…much like Alma’s talk in Alma 32 about having a desire to believe. I must have a desire to become more positive and remembering what it felt like being positive helps me.
2. Trace my thoughts back to where I first started thinking negatively.
Most of us have heard the Proverb “as he (or she) thinketh so is he (or she)”. I’ve found that many of my problems can be traced back to negative thoughts about myself and others. Thoughts (negative and positive) are like seeds and they’ll grow. This can be good if it is a positive thought, but if it’s a negative thought we’ll want to catch them before they grow too big. If I think a negative thought about something or someone long enough eventually I’ll act on it either by something I’ll say or do. If I feel down or if I’m saying things or doing things in a negative way, I’ve found that most of the time I can trace my actions back to a negative thought.
3. Once I’ve identified the negative thought, replace it with a positive thought or something else uplifting
About a year ago, I was having some problems with negative thoughts. One of my friends suggested some cds by James Cox called “Becoming Spiritually Centered.” I HIGHLY recommend these to anyone who may be struggling with depressive or negative thoughts. Listening to these and applying the lessons has greatly helped me. I found that when I traced my thoughts back to an original negative thought and then identified something to replace it with when it popped in my head again, I was able to gradually over time become a more positive thinker.
4. Keep a journal
This is kind of in conjunction with number 2, but for me, it is very helpful to get all the negative thoughts out into a journal. Once they’re all out there I can then identify ways to combat the negative thoughts.
5. Pray for strength
I want you to know that God will answer your prayers and help you. I’m very grateful for this in my life.
6. Talk with good friends, family, and spouse
If I’m struggling, I’ve found that talking with friends, family and spouse is very helpful. Rather than hiding things and trying to cover them up. If they (family and friends) know you struggle with negativity I’ve found they’re more likely to help and it’s good to have support.
7. Avoid Comparing myself to others
When I’m feeling down if I compare myself to other people who seem to never be down, I get even more frustrated and hard on myself. Comparing myself to myself and my own personal goals are essential to progressing in a more positive course.
8. Always keep trying
Overcoming negativity/depressive thoughts can be a difficult thing. It takes time and effort. I’ve found that patience and practice makes perfect…well, I’m not perfect, but you get the idea : )
It has been my experience that as I’ve learned to control my negative thoughts I become more receptive to the Holy Ghost. As I open myself up to more positive thinking and the Gifts of the Holy Ghost, I find my words and thoughts about myself, others, and the world around me are closer to what Elder Holland and other prophets are referring to by “speaking with the tongue of angels.”
I know this is somewhat of a personal topic, but if you feel comfortable sharing your thoughts on what has helped you overcome negativity and be able to have better dialogue with yourself and others, I think there are many people who could benefit from this. If you don’t feel comfortable sharing, I hope this helps you and you can share this with others.
I’ve been reading Echoes and Evidences of the Book of Mormon most recently. Today I read in the “Hebraisms and other Peculiarities” chapter a section on a poetic form called “climax” (which means “ladder” in Greek), which was discovered in 1898 by a biblical scholar. The definition of this poetic form is described as follows: “Climax occurs when the same word or words found at the end of one clause are repeated at or near the beginning of the next clause.” (Echoes, pg 166)
The book then shares some examples of climaxes found in the Bible as well as the Book of Mormon. I thought the one found in Moroni 8:25-26 was beautiful and wanted to share it. I will break it down as it is broken down in the book to emphasize the use of climax:
And the first fruits of repentance is
baptism; and
baptism cometh by faith unto
the fulfilling the commandments; and
the fulfilling the commandments bringeth
remission of sins; And the
remission of sins bringeth
meekness, and lowliness of heart; and because of
meekness and lowliness of heart cometh the visitation of the
Holy Ghost, which
Comforter filleth with hope and perfect
love, which
love endureth by diligence unto prayer,
until the end shall come, when all Saints shall well with God.
If I hadn’t read about this poetic form, I would have read right over it and missed great symbolic purpose. I think it’s awesome to see how this is like a ladder, or climax in that each step builds on the other and at the top of the ladder is love, which is the greatest commandment. Even better, it doesn’t just stop there. The verses tell us how we can maintain our love and the result (dwelling with God) if we are diligent in keeping love in our hearts.
What are your thoughts as you read this? Also, do you know of any other examples in the scriptures where this poetic form is used?
03-07-08 Recently this post was posted on the postmormon.com website and I have received many comments from former members who are eager to debate doctrine. My intention with this post was not to debate whether Joseph Smith was a prophet or the LDS church is true/false, etc. Any comments made that are not uplifting or off-topic will be deleted. If your intentions lead to off-topic discussions you are invited to go to another forum. Here is the original post:
I was on vacation a couple years ago in Hawaii and there was an interesting lesson on how to strengthen against apostasy. I jotted down the 9 steps to strenthen against apostasy and put them in my scriptures. This morning I came across them again and thought I’d share.
Personally, I feel apostasy is distancing myself from the Lord and His teachings and truths that he has revealed to me about His gospel and teachings. Each one of us have had different things revealed to us and it is up to us to keep searching and growing in light and truth. When we stop searching by praying, studying scriptures, serving, etc. we are taking steps towards apostasy. Following these suggestions can help us maintain the Holy Ghost and help us endure to the end.
Strengthening Against Apostasy
1.) Avoid those who would tear down your faith
2.) Keep the commandments
3.) Follow the living prophets
4.) Don’t debate points of doctrine (3Nephi 11:28)
5.) Search the scriptures
6.) Don’t be swayed from the mission of the church
7.) Pray for enemies
8.) Practice pure religion (James 1:27)
9.) Remember not everything has an immediate answer
As I look over these steps, I see things I can definitely improve on. Questions to consider are: how do I react when someone from another faith comes on my blog and shares their experiences and even attacks me? Do I pray for them or do I try to argue points of doctrine with them? How am I doing with studying the scriptures? Am I practicing pure religion as James describes it by visiting the homeless and the widows? Am I impatient when I pray and demand an immediate answer? Do I follow our modern day prophets or do I scoff at them?
These are important things to consider. I know the closer I am to the Lord and His Spirit, the happier I feel. I hope we can all ponder these questions and be thankful if we’re on the right track and if we’re not, make some changes to get back on track.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints boldy declares itself as the only true and living church. Furthermore, Joseph Smith boldly states that God the Father and Jesus Christ declared that the christian churches only had a portion of the truth and that he should join none of them. Therefore, The Church of Jesus Christ (Mormon) declares that it’s baptism and confirmation is the only valid one in order to receive exhaltation.
Obviously, a member of the LDS church isn’t following their religion if they judge someone for joining another religion as it states in the Articles of Faith to let everyone worship whatever or whoever they want to.
However, in this article it discusses the droves of people that join other churches and many other churches and faiths claim the Holy Spirit told them to start their specific denomonation or join their religion.
As stated in Bruce Nielson’s blog, some may argue about the definition of what a “church” really is. However, I think whether a church is a congregation, or an actual building it is irrelevant.
I believe that God answers prayers of people of all faiths and leads them closer to Him if they ask in faith. However, if they are recieving answers to their prayers and feel led by God to join a certain faith, how is it that God can lead someone to something that he told Joseph Smith was wrong?
My theory is that God loves all truth no matter where it is and will lead all of us according to what we are willing to receive and that God has revealed much truth in forms of religion, science, and other means as well. I also believe He has much more to reveal as soon as we are ready to receive it. What are your thoughts?
In a recent post, entitled “Making our Hearts a Manger,” one of my friends, Brad Trnavsky, shared an interesting insight. He commented that “when we were children all of our hearts were like that (a place for the Savior)… As you get older it’s harder to see past our own bias and prejudice.” Later that day when I was speaking with him he further shared insight on how his own daughter has no biases and that she “would share her lollipop with anyone.”
In the Bible, Paul shares a similar insight in 1 Corinthians 13:11-12: “when I was a child I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things…now we see through a glass, darkly…”
I thought about my life and how various experiences have led me to “see through dark glass,” as Paul describes. I then asked myelf what “childish things” have I put away? I don’t remember a whole lot about myself as a child and my perspective is different than someone from the outside looking in. I wanted to get some insight on how I was as a child and thought my parents would be the best people to consult. I emailed them and here is the feedback I received from my father:
“As a very young child, you were pretty inquisitive. You were always getting in to things, and making messes in the process. I remember that one time you got into the diaper pail and had dirty diapers scattered all over the house. You were just sitting in the middle of it all having a blast. You were always asking questions. If we went to the movies, you were quite a pain to have there because we couldn’t watch a movie for you asking questions. We’d always say, “Just watch the movie and listen and you’ll find the answer. You were also pretty tender hearted, and felt bad for things that were hurt. You loved us to read books to you. It didn’t matter what kind of books they were. You were also reading by the time you went to kindergarten. One thing that you loved was horses. You would always just make your way over the their corral and just watch them. You loved to ride them. Another thing that you liked was being outdoors. It didn’t matter what the weather was like, you wanted to be out. We put the fence up in the back for that purpose. If I was mowing the lawn, or driving the tractor, you had to be on their riding with me. We mowed lots of grass together, and cleaned lots of stalls riding on the tractor together…One thing that you really didn’t like was contention…Your were also very bright and loved to watch the stars, and play with the cats that we had. The main thing I remember about you during those years and beyond was you felt responsible to be a good example and to try to be a problem solver…”
As I read this, it brought back memories and humbled me. First, I thought of how inquisitive children are and as a child I wasn’t scared or inhibited in searching for new knowledge no matter where it was. In the early years learning and growing are all children are doing and the world is like water and kids are like sponges soaking it all in. I asked myself how do I view the world today? Am I still searching for knowledge and learning and growing or do I think I have it all figured out. Worse, have I allowed the “dark glass” of prejudice or things other people have said or done to me to hinder me from progressing? As a child, I wanted to learn, grow, and find answers. I didn’t care what people thought even if it was in a movie theater!
Next, being tender hearted is a good quality of most children. How am I doing in that category now? Do I know how my friends and family are doing/feeling? Do I care about their needs above my own or am I too wrapped up in my work or what I think is important to me to stop and make a phone call, or pause while my wife or friends are talking to me in the middle of doing something, etc.? How about the people I help at church? Do I really care about how they’re doing? What about the world? Do I pray for and care about people in other nations or communities that do not have as much as I do or am I too busy with other things?
I’ll have to admit I love the smell of fresh grass to this day and perhaps the reason is because of the many rides my father and I took on the lawn mower. Something I’ve also learned from my mother is to appreciate nature. She’ll call me and tell me about a neat view of Mt Rainier or when a full moon is out or she sees a blue heron flying (this is her favorite bird). Children are the same way as I was as a kid. They appreciate and love playing outside. They love God’s creations as I loved horses, cats, and the outdoors. I feel maintaining this simple awe for nature and respect is a very important characteristic to maintain in order to fully appreciate God.
Finally, my father says as a kid I wanted to be a problem solver. Being the oldest, I do remember feeling a sense of responsibility. I ask myself this question now. If something is wrong do I take initiative to fix the problem or do I wait for someone else to fix it?
This excersize was very good for me because it allowed me to reflect and remember that I am essentially still a child and don’t know as much as I usually think I do. Even though I’m older, I’m still a child learning and growing. The more I remember this and internalize this, the better off I’ll be.
In addition to these practical implications, the Savior shares spiritual and eternal implications of being as a child. The scriptures share some great insights, which I will share.
1. (Mosiah 3:19) As a natural man, I am an enemy to God unless I become like a child: humble, meek, patient, full of love, and willing to submit to everything the Lord asks me to do.
2. (Luke 9:48) If I receive the Lord like a child I will be “great in the kingdom of God.” For me this is basically the same concept of being humble and submissive to the Lord.
3. (Mark 10: 13-16) In this verse, Jesus’ disciples “rebuke” those who brought children with them to see Jesus. Jesus reprimands His disciples and says “suffer the children to come unto me for of such is the kingdom of God.” He further goes on to say that unless they receive the kingdom as a little child they can not enter into His kingdom and he blesses them.
3 Nephi 9:22 is very similar to the verses in Mark as well. In 3 Nephi, Jesus tells the people on the American continent that unless they repent and become as a child they won’t inheret the kingdom of God. Notice that He adds that repentance is necessary for us to become as a child and therefore inherit God’s kingdom.
4. (3 Nephi 11:37-40) In this scripture Jesus informs the people that not only humbling oneself as a child and repentance are necessary, but baptism is also necessary to inherit the kingdom of God. Verse 39 also states that this is Christ’s doctrine and whosoever builds on this doctrine is built on a rock (i.e. a solid foundation).
5. (3 Nephi 17:21-25) In my opinion, these scriptures are some of the most touching scriptures we have. Here, Jesus prays and blesses the peoples’ children one by one and weeps because of the love and joy he has for them. It shows how much love Jesus has for children and it sheds some further light on the joy he must feel when we decide to humble ourselves like a child and submit to Him so he can bless us. This is probably why the prophet Moroni stated that “children are alive in Christ.” I can’t think of anything more fulfilling than being able to say that I am alive in Christ with confidence. When I focus on becoming as a child I am progressing towards this goal.
In conclusion, I invite you to either reflect on your childhood or ask your parents to provide you some insight on what you were like as a child. Or if you have children look to them as an example. Consider some of the “childish things you’ve put away” and pray and reflect on what you can do to incorporate them back into your life. The promises are great if we can remember to become as a child by removing the dark glasses we see through and learn to see as a child.
I came across a pretty cool blog the other day. It is someone who writes reviews about books on Spirituality. I noticed they didn’t have anything on Mormons so the other day I left a post asking if they’d ever looked into any books on Mormonism. The next day they posted the Book of Mormon with a review along with “Mormons for Dummies” and a couple other ones.
I know many of you probably know of a lot of cool LDS books to recommend this person. I think it would be cool if we all visited the blog and left some recommendations for books under the “Mormon” section of the blog.
If you aren’t LDS but want to leave a recommendation of another book, they have many categories from Christianity to Hinduism…
Here’s the website: http://agamabooks.wordpress.com/
“The concept of a restoration is biblical and is frequently spoken of in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Peter spoke of the anticipated ‘times of of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken of by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.’ (Acts 3:21). Latter-Day Saints understand this as a prophetic anticipation of a full and final restoration of the gospel in the development and fulfillment of the purposes of God in these last days.” (Encyclopedia of Mormonism)
As a Latter-Day Saint, or Mormon, I believe this to mean that in the beginning, God revealed all truth to his prophets. Throughout time, His truths became corropted. Through divine revelations from God, Joseph Smith received a full restitution of all truths. It is my personal belief that elements of these truths can be found in virtualy every religion though.
It seems that the past few days I’ve had experiences causing me to reflect on the truths that can be found in other religions. I’ll share some of my experiences.
During a recent business meeting a colleague and I started talking religion. She knew I was LDS and I knew she was Christian. One thing that has baffled me about most Christians is the fact that it appears to me they limit the abilities of God to just communicating to one people through one book (the Bible). I told my friend in our conversation that I believe in the Bible and am grateful for the inspired book, but what I love about the Restored Gospel (the LDS faith) is that we believe in a God that is all-encompassing and who is the Father of all people and who loves us all equally. We believe that God has revealed more truth to us in addition to the Bible and that he can reveal more truth in the future to us should he choose. (see Article of Faith 9) To my suprise she agreed with me and called herself a “liberal christian” in that she believed that there is a lot of truth in the Bible as well as in other sources outside of the Bible and that God couldn’t and shouldn’t be limited to one book. It was a very refreshing conversation for me.
My wife is on a recruiting trip in the Middle East for business. She called me today and as she was describing the culture and the way the people would pray and how nice some of the people were she said “It’s amazing to see how many of the truths taught in Mormonism are found in other religions that aren’t even Christian.” I agreed with her.
Finally, I was reading an article posted on the Temple Study Blog about the “scattered fragments” of the ancient temple rites of the
Egyptians and how they correlate with those of the Jews and essentially with those taught in Mormon temples. I recommend reading the article for more specific information.
These three examples are ones of recent, but I’ve had experiences in the past with people from all faiths and even those without any religion who practice the principles of love, faith, charity, prayer, kindness, repentance, etc. All of which, are truths that are universal and come from God.
To answer the question “Does Mormonism Cover truths from all Religions?” I would personally have to say it does cover a good portion of truth, including truths found in other religions, but there is still more truth that will be revealed. Even if the religion is slightly warped or even largely warped it all stems from an original religion that Heavenly Father taught Adam. I’m grateful that Mormonism teaches that there is a way for those who don’t have a chance to hear about Jesus in this life to be saved; that God is all-loving and just and doesn’t limit Himself to answering and blessing the lives of all nations; that families and marriages are an eternal principle and not “til death do you part”; that Jesus is our personal Savior and the Savior of mankind; that God has revealed himself in the past and that he can and will continue to reveal himself in the future.
I don’t claim to be a religious expert, but I have experienced first hand Budhist and Daoist temples in Asia, the wide variety of Christian denominations throughout America and Europe, Jewish temples and people, Muslims, and even though some of the religions are pretty far from the actual truth, one can see a semblance of original truth that it came from.
So the questions I ask are: Do you agree with me that Mormonism covers truth from all Religions? If so, what other truths or concepts in other religions can you think of that Mormonism covers?
If you don’t think it covers all truth, why don’t you think it does?
(02-21-08) It’s about a week after I wrote this post, but I just read an interesting blog on how Muslim’s believe that there is part of a Book of Abraham that was lost and it could be similar to the Book of Abraham that Joseph Smith translated that is found in the Pearl of Great Price. Check out the post here: http://www.mormonheretic.org/2008/02/16/is-the-book-of-abraham-related-to-muslim-texts/
What is Christianity? In my opinion, it is living and adhering to the truths that Jesus taught. We all know the truths. Even those who aren’t Christian can’t deny their truth and goodness. Love your neighbor as yourself; love your enemies, love God, the fruits of the Spirit; the virtues taught by Paul (belief, hope, charity, faith); repentance…the list goes on and on, but you get the idea.
Some of you may have seen the recent not-so-Christian-comments on my blog from some of my friends from other “christian” faiths. I know some of you have read them and one of you has commented on how un-christlike many of the comments seem to be. It caused me to reflect and was brought to my attention again today as I was reading an article entitled “Mitt Romney’s Evangelical Problem.”
In this article the author discusses her up-bringing in a christian denomonation of another faith. She said her church would show videos on how Mormonism was akin to devil worshipping and how anyone who affiliates with a Mormon or supports one will bring down the wrath of God so to speak.
If this is what’s being taught in Christian churches and schools it’s no wonder I receive comments of hatred against my beliefs. They’ve all been conditioned to react in this way.
On the flip side being raised a Mormon I was conditioned to believe in “the one true church.” I know that in the past I’ve offended many Christians due to my arrogance and assumptions that what I believe is the only way to Heaven as well. I apologize to my Christian friends for this.
My call is to all athiests, agnostics, Jews, Budhists, Christians…everyone. Let’s open our eyes and start at the basics. If we believe in something higher than ourselves, let’s start acting like it. If someone believes/looks like/behaves/ or is something differently than us; responding with hate will not solve anything. Hate breeds hate.
I used to listen to the rock group, Creed back in the day. They have a line from their song “What’s this Life For?” that goes “…we all live under the reign of one King.”
Whatever we believe this “King” is, let’s join together and shed our prejudices and our labels we’ve put on others. Let’s all take steps towards loving and living “Christian” virtues. Whether you proclaim yourself to be a Christian or athiest, you can’t deny that the virtues taught by Christ are essential to humanity.
Will you join me in this endeavor?
After we finished excersizing today I collapsed to the floor by our bookshelves in the living room and said “Whew! I’m going to sleep right here!” I turned my head to the side and was about to close my eyes when I noticed one of my old German poetry books from college. I hadn’t looked in it probably since college and so I picked it up and it opened to the following short poem by Angelus Silesius .
It Depends on You (by Angelus Silesius)
Oh, if only your heart could become a manger, God would once again become a child on earth.
The imagery and words immediately brought varying thoughts to my mind.
First, the image of a manger. When we read in Luke chapter 2, we read of Joseph and Mary trying to find room in the busy inns. In contrast, they find a humble location and a place in a manger. In addition, I looked up words similar to “manger” in the thesarus and words such as “bassinet” and “cradle” are synonomous to manger. I asked myself, is my heart like the inn or like the manger? What can I do to clear it out and make it a place that God can rest?
The next thing I thought of was the part stating that “God would become once again as a child on earth.” I thought of the numerous scriptures that Jesus spoke of us becoming like a child. My favorite scripture is in Mosiah 3:19 when it talks about putting away our natural man and becoming patient, meek, humble, and willing to accept everything God gives us…the good and the not-so-good.
I’d like to hear what you thought of as you read the poem or my comments.
How can we make room in our hearts for the Savior?
What can we do to become humble and meek like a child?
Why is it important, or is it even important to do these things?
Those of us in the Northwest get the benefit of some very beautiful days, and yesterday was one of them. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the sun reflected off the crystals in the 10 degree weather. My wife (Becca), my friend Jeremy, and I decided we would go skiing and it was a good decision!
Becca hadn’t been skiing before so the first part of the day Jeremy hit some runs on his own as I stayed with Becca and helped her out. She was great! I was very impressed at how well she picked it up and that even though she was a little nervous, she stuck with it. I’d given her instructions to keep her skis in a “pizza wedge”, slowly turn back and forth down the hill, and if she felt out of control to push on the ski facing down-hill and that she would stop. While I watched her I noticed that if she stayed focused on the instructions she did great! However if a skier, snow-boarder, or a tree would come into view she had the tendency at first to loose concentration and focus on the other object. Pretty soon she would head straight for the object and she would freak out a little and fall down. However, by the end of the day she had learned to steadily make it down the mountain and avoid the obstacles. I was very impressed with how well she’d done at learning.
As I watched her, I thought of how this relates to our relationship with God. God has given us instructions and a way to make it down this mountain of life and back to Him. Sometimes there are obstacles such as sickness, death, loss of a job…and a million other things throughout any given day that we can focus on and many times we fall. Luckily for us, we have instructions through the scriptures. The following scripture shows us how we can “make it down the mountain.”
“Look unto me, and endure to the end, and ye shall live; for unto him that endureth to the end will I give eternal life.” (3 Ne. 15:9.) There are many other scriptures in the Bible, Book of Mormon, and Doctrine and Covenants that refer to this promise as well. You can visit them here.
I would like to hear some experiences and thoughts from you…
How do you “look unto the Savior”?
What is “enduring to the end”? (for some good clues click here.)
What are ways you’ve used to endure?
Grace for Grace 
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