Life is Like an Old Time Rail Journey

"Look to God and LIVE!"

SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY:
Alma 37:45-47 

"And now I say, is there not a type in this thing? For just as surely as this director did bring our fathers, by following its course, to the promised land, shall the words of Christ, if we follow their course, carry us beyond this vale of sorrow into a far better land of promise. . . . yea, see that ye look to God and live."

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
Thomas S. Monson 

"Looking heavenward should be our lifelong endeavor. Some foolish persons turn their backs on the wisdom of God and follow the allurement of fickle fashion, the attraction of false popularity, and the thrill of the moment. Their course of conduct resembles the disastrous experience of Esau, who exchanged his birthright for a mess of pottage.

"And what are the results of such action? I testify to you today that turning away from God brings broken covenants, shattered dreams, and crushed hopes. Such a quagmire of quicksand I plead with you to avoid. You are of a noble birthright. Eternal life in the kingdom of our Father is your goal" ("Guideposts for Life's Journey," BYU Devotional, November 13, 2007).

We are a "Favored" People

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
Howard W. Hunter 

"The ancients whom we love and read and quote so much-Adam and Abraham, Joshua and Joseph, Isaiah and Ezekiel and Ezra, Nephi and Alma, and Mormon and Moroni-all of these ancient prophets, priests, and kings focused their prophetic vision 'with peculiar delight' on our day, on our time. It is this hour to which they have looked forward 'with joyful anticipation,' and 'fired with heavenly and joyful anticipation they have sung and written and prophesied of this our day.'

"They saw us as 'the favored people' upon whom God would shower his full and complete latter-day glory, and I testify that is our destiny. What a privilege! What an honor! What a responsibility! And what joy! We have every reason in time and eternity to rejoice and give thanks for the quality of our lives and the promises we have been given. That we may do so, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen" ("An Anchor to the Souls of Men," BYU Devotional, February 7, 1993).

God Intended for Humans to be FREE

THIS ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN BY A NON-MEMBER

I’m inspired by this Mormon theological idea: God intended for humans to be free to make our own choices and live with the consequences of those choices.

Smart Mormons

- Mike Jensen   Tuesday, January 22, 2013

During the 2012 presidential campaign, that awesomely deep well of perpetual wisdom, Alec Baldwin, proclaimed that if Barack Obama were not black, his vote total would have been 20 percent higher.
People of real intelligence realize that the opposite was probably true: if he had been white, his vote total would have been 20 percent lower.  The African-American voting bloc combined with enough whites suffering from liberal guilt guaranteed a higher vote total for Obama.

The truth of the matter is, if Mitt Romney had not been a Mormon, his vote total might very well have been significantly higher.

In fact, according to a Galup poll released in June of last year, while 4 percent of people said they would not vote for a black president, a full 22 percent said they would not vote for a Mormon.  In fact, only atheists and gays ranked higher. So Baldwin probably had it backwards, which he usually does, so that comes as no surprise.
What did come as a surprise to me is why people would have such negative views of Mormons.  I have known lots of them in my life, and in most cases they have been hard-working, kind, generous, family-oriented people—just the kind of people this country used to value (and maybe that’s the problem right there.)

Mormons have intrigued me ever since Mike Huckabee back in 2007 claimed that Mormons believe that Jesus and Satan are brothers.  With the recent election over, I decided to check out Mormons a bit more.
My hope in doing this was to explain to readers who Mormons are and whether or not 22 percent of the people were justified in opposing having a Mormon president.

But instead I’m going to share an intriguing bit of Mormon theology I learned that I think makes them perhaps the most politically wise human beings on the planet.  Ironically, this story stems from that Huckabee quote about the relationship between Jesus and the devil, but the lesson to be learned is one that, regardless of our political or religious views, we would all be wise to consider.

So here’s what I learned: Mormons, unlike most other Christian sects, believe that all humans lived a life before mortality.  They call this the pre-existence or pre-earth life.  At birth a veil is placed over our minds so that we don’t remember it (you’ll see why in a minute).

In this pre-earth life, we were all in the presence of God as His spirit children.  Jesus was there—the first-born of God’s spirit children, and a leader in the councils in Heaven.  Lucifer was also there, and was another leader among the children of God.  He was called a “son of the morning.”

At some point in this existence, the Father called all of His children together to explain how things worked.  All of His children would have to leave His presence and come to earth for a period of testing.  The goal was to see if we would live a righteous life even when we had to live by faith, as we would no longer be able to remember God or heaven (that’s the reason for the veil).

If we would live a righteous life, we would be given the opportunity to return and live with God forever.  Otherwise we would forfeit that chance, because no unclean thing can live in God’s presence.  However, God knew that we would all make mistakes, so he would provide a Savior for the world.  This Savior would live a sinless life, and because of that, he would qualify to pay for the sins of the world through what would be called the “Atonement.”  If people would sincerely repent of their sins, then the Atonement would essentially erase their sins, and they could still return and live with God.  The Father called for volunteers to be this savior, and two stepped forward: Jesus and Lucifer.
Lucifer said that he would be the savior and he would force everybody to live righteously, thus guaranteeing that all of God’s spirit children would return to Him in heaven.  Jesus said that He would follow the Father’s plan and allow God’s children their free agency.  They could choose for themselves whether to live righteously and take advantage of the Atonement or whether to live in sin and forfeit the opportunity to return and live with God.
God rejected Lucifer’s plan, causing Lucifer to rebel and declare war on God.  One-third of God’s spirit children joined Lucifer in this rebellion.  In the end, the rebellion failed and Lucifer and his followers were cast out of heaven.  They came to earth without bodies and now, continuing the war they started in heaven, they tempt men to do evil to one another and lose out on the chance to return to God.

PAY ATTENTION HERE; THIS IS THE GOOD PART
Now, any traditional Christians reading this will see similarities to their own belief system.  Most traditional Christians believe that Lucifer lived in heaven as an angel, but then declared war on God and was cast out.  However, the causes for that war are not necessarily clear in traditional Christian theology.
That is where Mormon theology is so intriguing.  For Mormons, the greatest of all battles, the war in heaven, was fought over LIBERTY—or as they call it, “free agency.”  Lucifer wanted to take it away, while God demanded that humans have it.
Although a Mormon might balk at my making comparisons between their religious beliefs and modern politics (and as I said earlier, every Mormon I’ve ever known was a very good person, so I apologize to any I offend), I see a direct correlation here.  For a Mormon, the battle for liberty is not unique to this life; it is the core battle of the ages.  Lucifer lost the war in heaven (he really thought he could beat God?), but the war continues on earth.  So seeing the government become more and more tyrannical is not just a political concern; it’s a fundamental, eternal concern.
I’m inspired by this Mormon theological idea: God intended for humans to be free to make our own choices and live with the consequences of those choices.  The Founding Fathers of this country said essentially the same thing in the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

My study of Mormonism has not only given me newfound respect for this people and their religion; it has also made me evaluate my own attitude towards the liberty that seems to be slipping through all of our fingers.  Is this just something that is nice to have, and for which I thank the Founding Fathers?  Or is it really something that is endowed by God, and that He expects me to fight for.  According to Mormon theology, I already fought for this once.  The fact that I’m here says that I was on God’s side in the war in heaven, and fought for liberty.

A Mormon might ask, why should any of us be less willing to fight for it here than we were there?

Mike Jensen is a freelance writer living in Colorado.  He received his M.A. in Professional Writing from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where he wrote his first book, Alaska’s Wilderness Highway.  He has since published Skier’s Guide to Utah along with humor, travel, and political articles for various magazines and newspapers.  He is married with five sons, and spends his free time at a remote cabin in the Colorado Rockies.

Celebrate this NEW YEAR...by...

Dear Sisters:

I just watched this video, today...Wish I had at the beginning

of this NEW YEAR...However, it is still JANUARY...

and this video was too lovely NOT

to post...

May the sentiments of its message...

wrap you up...as you

"SEEK FIRST the KINGDOM OF GOD"

LOVE NEW BEGINNINGS!

(smile)

 

Relief Society Dinner

Our THEME for our Relief Society this year is:

"Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God"

(Matthew 6:33)

Journals - Entitled:
"What have I done...today...
to Seek the Kingdom of God"

 Diane Groves made a cake representing
the "3" degrees of Glory - each
level representing one of the
glories...She MADE the "Idaho Falls" TEMPLE
out of sugar cubes - (smile)

Each table had a scripture emphasizing our theme:
"Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God" (Matthew 6:33)
"Choose You this day whom ye shall serve..." (Joshua 24:15)
"Love One Another" (John 13:34)
"But Whom Say Ye that I Am" "Thou are the Christ, the Son
of the living God." (Matthew 16:15-16)
"I Will Go and Do" (1 Nephi 3:7)
"If Ye have experienced a change of heart...can Ye feel so now?" (Alma 5:26)
"Look to God and Live" (Alma 37:47)
"For I am NOT ashamed of the gospel of Christ!" (Romans 1:16)

Brenda Hardy holding one of the "Cisnaros" twins

 The Relief Society Board members made the 
dinner - lasagna was the main course

Got to spend some time talking
with one another 

Social time
 

 Decorations were done by Heidi Stott

I was trying to avoid the camera
Julie Denney and Susan Robison laughing at me...
 

Susan and I

WINTER GARDENING

In our effort be SELF SUFFICIENT...learning how to grow FOOD in the WINTER months...especially HERE, would be extremely VALUABLE...Please watch this video, that is very exciting...IT CAN BE DONE!

The ROME TEMPLE and the Christus

"Back to Basics" Class - Using Wood Stoves

Last night's class on our "Back to Basic" series...was TERRIFIC!

We learned the art of cooking on different types of 

"wood stoves"...

We met in Honey's home...and with Mary Christensen as a

co-instructor...they showed us how to use the stoves

and made a FEAST for all of us who attended.

As soon as I get the email file, I will

send to those of you who were not in attendance

a copy of what we did learn last night.

Here are the pictures that were taken:

  Our incredible instructors:

Mary and Honey

Two different types of wood stoves

The top one was a "cooking wood stove" and in the lower picture - 

the type of stove many of us have in

our homes... 

"SOUP" was heating up on this lower stove and, also,

keeping "warm" was... I think...the corn muffins.

 Mary whipping up dough to make biscuits

 

 Mary Lou Hartman...stopped making faces

so I could take this one...(smile)

 Honey giving instructions on using this 

type of stove

Anna showing the use of wood

for this cooking stove...

Debbie Perrone wanting to feel the HEAT off the

cooking stove... 

 Honey explaining how the 

"cooking stove worked

This actually was Mary's stove when she lived

in this house...raising up her large family.

Pat Turner was feeling the WARMTH

of the "warming" part of the 

"cooking" stove...

Diane Groves helped cook up the 

"apple fritters"

 Linda Doty helping to cook up the "potatoes"

Even, I, tried my hand at cooking the "potatoes"

This would make Garvin "proud"...

(smile)

 Honey retriving the "corn muffins"

 FABULOUS results

 Whole wheat breads

Great tasting soup - that needs to cook

ALL DAY...

 Apple fritters

Fried up potatoes!

YUM!

 LOVE IT! 

Diane Denney!

(smile)

 We all got to enjoy

the FEAST!

 Honey and her daughter

For all you who painfully submit to my

picture taking...Patty Holcomb grabbed my 

camera...and started shooting

ones of me...

Ha...Ha...fun part is...I get to choose

which pictures to post...or NOT...

(smile)