He Is (Hilary Weeks)
The nature of God:
"How do you view God? As a vengeful God or as a kind and loving Father in Heaven? This is how I choose to view Him. I guess it helped me to have a kind and loving earthly father that was a good example for me to look up to. When I was about 12 or 13 years old I began to question whether there even was a God. I remember taking a long walk and pondering this question. I remember looking around me at the beautiful world in which I lived and I felt an overwhelming assurance that it could not have happened by accident, and that there had to be a God who created all of the beautiful things that I saw around me. How or why would a vengeful and angry God create such a beautiful place for us to live? Why would he even care about us and what we did if He was always angry and just waiting to pounce on us any time we did something wrong? My own experiences with God have taught me that he is kind, merciful and loving. Heavenly Father tells us that it is his work and his glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. This is his primary purpose in our even having this earth on which we live. Why would a vengeful and angry God even care? Sometimes it seems that we tend to put our own understanding of mortal men into the personality of God, but he is so much better and so much more than what we see manifest around us on a regular basis.
Our relationship to Jesus Christ:
Yes, we do worship Jesus Christ, but as our Savior and Redeemer and co-creator of our world. He is our loving and kind older brother, and our friend. He is also a son of our Heavenly Father, who- because he loved us - chose to take upon Him our sins and our trials and our cares in order to be able to teach us, help us and guide us as we go through our own mortal experience. He showed us the way, and he is the example we can choose to follow that will help us navigate the storms of mortality. I never forget that he is part immortal, and that is what made such a difference in his being able to withstand the challenges and temptations of mortality. However, he too, had to call upon our Father in Heaven for help in his time of need. But, because he was both mortal and immortal, he is the only candidate to show us how to live in order to return home to our kind, loving Heavenly Father.
Obedience brings blessings:
Sometimes we just expect Heavenly Father to give us answers to our prayers without any effort expended on our own part. Obedience brings blessings. When we are obeying God's commandments he is going to bless us with the knowledge and the understanding for which we are seeking. Just like how we learn in school, there is usually an expectation that we will do some searching, pondering and praying to find the answers. Often it is through this effort and the search that we find the answers and then the answers "stick", because we have put in the consistent effort to find them. What we do then, after we know the truth, is to act upon that knowledge and to live in accordance with what we know to be true. Just like with any subject, we need to look to the "experts" to find the most valid truth and information. If we want to find the answers regarding God and Christ and our purpose in life, we need to look at the source, i.e. the scriptures, as they are the Word of God to man on earth. Have you read the Bible, Book of Mormon and Pearl of Great Price lately? This is the best resource to look to to find your answers. These are the truths that have been written by the experts who have had personal experiences with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and they know them and their teachings and expectations.
What about organized religion? Why do we need it?
Now, regarding organized religion, per se. One of the things that makes a difference between the various religious sects is that those who are preaching, teaching, expounding and exhorting need to have the authority to do so. This authority must come from God himself, not be determined by some man-made source - like a seminary or theological institution or their own decision to start their own church. That is what the Priesthood of God is - the power given to man from God to act in His name. Frankly, our church and it's leaders is the only church that had been authorized by God himself, through the Prophet Joseph Smith, to be able to do His work here on this earth. You wouldn't go to a dentist to have them do an appendectomy on you! You go to someone who has learned the skills and knows what they are doing. Such are the leaders who have been called by God to lead and direct our church. These men have had experiences and tests and trials that have proved them to see if they would do all things which our Heavenly Father asks of them. They have not been found wanting, and that is why they are called, sustained and set apart to lead in our church. They are mortal, just like us, but they have chosen to follow the teachings of God and Christ to the best of their knowledge and ability, and God has chosen them to help lead others back to him. They are special witnesses of God and his son, Jesus Christ, because they know them - intimately. Because of this knowledge I know I can trust what they teach and how they lead. I have also had this confirmed to me many times as I have prayed about and followed their counsel and direction."
These are a few of the truths that I have come to know and understand throughout my life. I, too, have had questions and times when I sought the answers to "the big questions". I want to share the answers that I have found with you here to be sure that you know that I know. Now it's your turn to find the answers for yourself, because each of us must have a testimony of our own of the truthfulness of these things. Search, ponder and pray and the answers will come, but until they do and you have a firm testimony of your own, you can borrow mine....
Origin (MormonMessagesYouth)
No comments:
Post a Comment