This missionary experience recently occurred to three Elders serving in my city. I learned of this experience through my bishop and it has been posted on our mission’s blog. The original was a letter from one missionary to President Albright. I have copied it as I received it. The bolding is mine for emphasis.

Dear President Albright,

Elder Davie, Elder Harper, and I were at church on Sunday two weeks ago. As we prepared to walk into the Mt. Vernon Ward sacrament meeting, a recent convert named Patrick Onoche, a Ghanaian, approached us with another man, also from Ghana. Patrick introduced us to the man as his uncle. As we discussed the gospel with this visitor, we discovered that he is actually a Prince from Ghana’s Ashanti Tribe. His name is Oheneba [Prince] Osa Kyme. Here are the interesting facts about this prince: The Ashanti Tribe, with over 3 million members, is the largest and most powerful tribe in Ghana. He and his family are the actual caretakers for the numerous idols and shrines owned by the King of the Ashanti. He was born into royalty and it has been his life-long duty to protect the King’s shrines and idols. He is now about 75 years old. He showed us photos of the idols and the King with his family. His passport also confirmed that he was a tribal leader.

Last month he was asked by the King of the Ashanti to come to America to purchase a new idol from the gold dealers and craftsmen in New York City. As he arrived at the meeting in New York to acquire the new items, he heard a voice tell him that “you will not find salvation by worshipping [sic] these idols.”

As he pondered on the words that had come into his mind, he remembered the warm and sacred feelings he had experienced when he had driven past the LDS Temple in Accra, Ghana. He recalled feeling that our Temple was a sacred and a holy place. He then remembered that his nephew Patrick Onoche had joined the LDS Church in Virginia last year (baptized by Elder Doman) so rather than continuing on with his meetings with the gold dealers, he felt a strong desire to fly to Virginia where he met with Patrick. Patrick immediately taught his uncle about the restoration of the gospel and brought him to attend Sacrament meeting the next day where we met him. After he came to church and learned more about the gospel he told us that he wanted to be baptized and that he would not return to Ghana until he was a member of the true Church.

We met with him every day last week to make sure he fully understood the covenants he will be making with God before he returns to his homeland. After he attended church for two weeks we held a special baptism for him on Jan. 9, 2011, just three days before he flew home to Ghana. He delayed his flight for several days to accommodate the instructions you provided that he attend church for at least two weeks before his baptism. Oheneba intends on resigning from his royal position as caretaker of the King’s idols upon returning home, so he can spread the Gospel among his people. We tried to persuade him that maybe he should just care for the idols as a custodian but not worship them. However, he was adamant that he wants to spread the gospel and give up his leadership position with the Ashanti Tribe. He said he was willing to give up all his possessions to become a member of Christ’s true church because he is more worried about his family’s salvation than property.

President, it has truly been a blessing to meet Oheneba and teach him the gospel with the help of Elder Davie and Elder Harper. Thank you for coming to help teach him and baptize him. We have already heard from Oheneba that the elders in Ghana have made contact with him.

Ofa atu,

Elder Ta’ufo’ou

What a remarkable story. It reminds me of King Lamoni’s father from the Book of Mormon – who was willing to give up his entire (and probably lengthy) previous life just for the truthfulness of the Gospel when he heard it preached from Aaron:

Behold, said he, I will give up all that I possess, yea, I will forsake my kingdom, that I may receive this great joy (See Alma Chapter 22).

Ladies and gentlemen, the fullness of Christ’s gospel, including the priesthood power, temple blessings, and all the rites and ordinances necessary for salvation, has been restored to the earth in these latter-days. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only church on the face of the earth that embodies the fullness of these blessings. That I know for certain. It is very heartwarming to see the message of the Restoration spread throughout the entire world – even among the nobles in foreign countries.

If you or someone you know has questions regarding the LDS church, feel free to ask representatives who will be more than happy to answer any questions you may have.

In the book of Mormon sometime between the years of A.D. 401-421 Moroni, the son of Mormon (for whom the entire volume of sacred writ was named), wrote:

And now, behold, we have written this record according to our knowledge, in the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech. Mormon 9:32

One of the extremely popular criticisms relating to this verse is that “there is no evidence in Egyptology of something called ‘Reformed Egyptian,’ and that the Book of Mormon’s claim to have been written in this language is therefore suspect.”

When I was a freshman in college I took a linguistics class and got interested in dead languages, an interest that has always culminated around Egyptology. Though I have not ever given serious focus on this fascination of mine, I do enjoy nuggets of historical information relating to Egyptian script and how it relates to the Book of Mormon. I will discuss just one of the many examples of “reformed Egyptian” that scholars may not refer to as being “reformed,” yet it is as reformed as reformed gets.

WHAT IS REFORMED EGYPTIAN?

In the preceding verse Moroni is clear as day when he says “the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian”. Of course, Moroni did not write or speak in English so the actual term that was translated by Joseph Smith into the English phrase ‘reformed Egyptian,’ whatever it was called, was only known to the Nephites. I don’t understand this argument because obviously the Egyptians never called some version of their writing ‘reformed Egyptian.” (In fact, the Egyptians called it sš n š?.t).

Side note: I presume the Lamanites didn’t use the term as it was most likely a priestly (religious) script and not used in every day writings. Verse 33 actually eludes to the idea that every day writing among the people was done in a form of, shall I be bold as to call it, “reformed Hebrew:”

And if our plates had been sufficiently large we should have written in Hebrew; but the Hebrew hath been altered by us also… Mormon 9:33

Over the years secular egyptologists and linguists have discovered that Egyptian hieroglyphic writing underwent three different changes since its creation somewhere near 3000-4000 BC. The word hieroglyphic is a Greek word (hieroglyphikos) meaning ‘sacred writing or carving.’ The first of these transformations among the Egyptian priests occurred during the Protodynastic Period of Egypt (ca. 3200 BC to 3000 BC). Hieratic derives from the Greek phrase grammata hieratika, which literally means “priestly writing.” This first example of reformed Egyptian was developed so the scribes were able to take notes or write laws, decrees, or religious texts with a reed brush on papyrus, and allowed them to write quicker than the time it took them to engrave glyphs.

After centuries of using hieratic to write their religious texts, the Egyptians developed the demotic script, which was coined by the Greek historian Herodutus demotikós, a Greek word meaning popular. This popular script was called by the Egyptians sš n š?.t (“document writing”) and was a highly cursive script, used for everyday writing, not strictly for religious practices or just by the priests or the ruling class. It is presumed that eventually many of the common Egyptians used this form of writing. This is the script that is found in the middle section of the famous Rosetta Stone (pictured at right), which resides in the British Museum. Demotic emerged on the scene roughly around the later part of the 25th Dynasty (760 BC to 656 BC). This is extremely important because, according to the Book of Mormon, Nephi begins his summary on the plates with “I make a record in the language of my father, which consists of the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians.” Further on he states that his father, Lehi, began prophesying “in the commencement of the first year of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah” (ca. 597 BC), meanwhile demotic was already in use by the Egyptians 60 years prior to Lehi’s prophetic call.

With the arrival of the Greeks in the 1st century, Egyptian writing underwent it’s final “reformation,” into what scholars call Coptic. However, for our time frame with the Book of Mormon I’m going to focus on demotic.

It’s been shown the demotic, a cursive and highly popular form of “reformed Egyptian” was in use by as early as the 8th century BC, and Nephi tells us himself in the very first chapter of the Book of Mormon that he was writing in the language of the Egyptians. So then, if demotic existed circa 600 BC, and if Moroni claimed that the Book of Mormon was written in (what the Nephites termed ‘reformed Egyptian’ – using a Nephite word for it, of course), there must be some evidence of correlation between the characters that were engraved onto the gold plates (from which the Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power of God through Joseph Smith) and published demotic script in the secular world, right?

Wouldn’t you know it, there are!

THE ANTHON TRANSCRIPT CHARACTERS

The Anthon Transcript was a sheet of paper upon which Joseph Smith copied a few of the “reformed Egyptian” characters from the plates of the Book of Mormon. In the winter of 1828, Martin Harris showed these characters to Dr. Charles Anthon of Columbia College (now Columbia University), and hence the name (Encyclopedia of Mormonism).

Fast forward to the 20th century…

Between 1897 and 1970 the official magazine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was entitled “The Improvement Era.” In 1942 Ariel L. Crowley (1905-2005) was a contributor to The Era and wrote an excellent three-piece series comparing characters from the Anthon transcript to well-documented Egyptian demotic characters in other publications. I have listed direct links to the PDFs below. Part II is where the fun stuff is!

• Part I: Introduction
• Part II: The Identification of the Characters as Egyptian
• Part III: The Corroborative Evidences of the Serabit Inscriptions, the Plates of Darius, and the Inscriptions of Byblos

Beginning on page 4 of Part II Crowley lists characters from the Anthon transcript in the left column and an extremely similar, if not identical, Egyptian demotic character in the right column, complete with source. The two main sources that Crowley cites and wherein he located demotic characters that matched up with characters found on the gold plates are:

• Wilhelm Spiegelberg’s Demotische Grammatik (1925)
• Heinrich Karl Brugsch’s Hieroglyphisch-Demotisches (1868)

I listed the printing of both books for those critics who love to claim that somehow an uneducated farm boy with no more than a third grade education must have done a ton of research to come up with the story of the Book of Mormon. Notice that both of these German (Joseph didn’t speak or read German) titles were printed after Joseph Smith died in 1844.

Update (1/6/2011): I have actually been to the Library of Congress and searched through the book by Spiegelberg and have seen with my own eyes the demotic characters in that book that correlate to the characters on the Anthon Transcript.

I don’t know how much more similar the proof of the evidence of “reformed Egyptian” characters individuals need, but I do know that if it was part of the LDS gospel that 2+2=4, there would always be those who tried to say that is a lie and any who believed that, despite evidence to the contrary, were doomed to hell.

For centuries critics have come up with all kinds of calumny and aspersion against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Book of Mormon, and the prophet Joseph Smith. All kinds of falsehoods, lies, and deceptions have been perpetrated with regards to the truthfulness of the Restored Gospel, but if one will sincerely show an interest in learning more and do so with an open heart, without preconceived notions, sincerely desiring to know if it is true or not, as Moroni says in his epilogue, God “will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things. (Moroni 10:4-5)”

I know that the Book of Mormon is sacred writ, painstakingly engraved upon gold plates by ancient prophets on the American continent for us in these the latter-days, and that is was translated by a poor, uneducated New York farm boy only by the gift and power of God. I have discovered far too many evidences of its truthfulness to discount (and all but ignored by LDS critics), but none greater than the personal revelation I have received from the Holy Ghost that it is a second testament of our Savior Jesus Christ.

The Standard of Truth has been erected. No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing. Persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, and calamy may defame. But the Truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent till it has penetrated every continent, visited every climb, swept every country and sounded in every ear. Till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say, “The work is done.”

In undertaking this task I will be referring heavily on the standard works of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which include: the Holy Bible (KJV), the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. In an instance where a discrepancy may exist with regards to the timeline, I will favor the LDS standard works over others, such as we will see with the lifespan of Enoch, and the age of Noah at the birth of his three sons.

It’s not that I hold any disregard for the Bible itself, but with the blessing of modern-day continuing revelation:

“We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.” (Articles of Faith 1:8)

The same goes for the remainder of our LDS canon.

When undertaking an arduous task such as this, the following scriptural timelines can be resourced:

• The Holy Bible (we’ll use the King James Version) [KJV]
  • The Old Testament
  • The New Testament
• The Pearl of Great Price / the Book of Moses [PoGP]
• The Book of Jasher [Ja]
• The Septuagint (PDF) [S]
• Josephus [Jo]
  

I will also be referencing several Web sites and other attempts at this issue of chronology. Discrepancies in dates and various gaps in my timeline have been carefully considered; however, I am human and mistakes may have slipped in.

I make no promises that this serial will settle all disputes regarding the chronology. This is not a perfected science, but I currently feel that the pieces fit together when viewed on this timeline.

Corrections with reason and discussions are always welcome.

The serial will cover the following time periods. Each will attempt to give the genealogy, along with years of critical information (such as births and deaths).

1. Adam – Noah & the flood [0 - 1656 AM*]
2. Noah & the flood – Abraham [1656 - 1948 AM]
3. Abraham – Moses [1948 - 2588 AM]
4. Moses – Divided Kingdom [2588 - 3184 AM]
5. Divided Kingdom – capture of Jerusalem (incl. Lehi’s departure to the promised land) [3184 AM / 932 BC - 587 BC]

One final word of caution: This is NOT DOCTRINE, the points I make are mine or quoted from other LDS sources. It is important to remember that having an exact chronological timeline of Biblical and religious events is NOT the purpose for God giving man scriptures and commanding him to read and study them.

—

* [AM stands for Anno Mundi, meaning "in the year of the world"]

Respect Others

I was cooking dinner the other night, and I decided to listen to the Mormon Channel to try and recoup the spirit in our house. At the time, it was a talk portion called “Standing Up” and this episode was on “civility”. As the show progressed, I thought it might make for a good Topical Guide installment. While I didn’t find “civility” in the topical guide, I did fine the next best thing, “respect”.

I didn’t get to catch the entire show, but it started out by talking about what things have gone missing [in some] in our daily lives. Specifically speaking about what “reality tv” shows are presenting to those watching. They spoke about the anger and backbiting, and other awful behavior they present as everyday life.

Recently, we’ve had to move to the Salt Lake valley – in that move we picked up a broader cable package because there was a deal – but it’s been less then a blessing. There’s too many channels and a lot of them are just garbage, at any rate it’s left me with a lot of flipping around and no shortage of reality shows on. The promotion of disrespect is painfully oblivious, and makes me sick. They group people who will have issues, and then pray on these issues to create the conflict. I’m not actually sure why people need to watch others conflict when I’m sure they have their own, or is there something deeper that needs to be quenched by all the fighting and disrespect? Alright, enough of that diatribe – let’s move on…

I am in love with using an online edition of a very specific dictionary, it puts things in better perspective when it comes to the scriptures, and this countries greatest document the Constitution. It is the 1828 Noah Websters dictionary. But I wanted to look up both words, civility and respect to see what they mean at that time period.

CIVILITY, n.

1. The state of being civilized; refinement of manners; applied to nations; as distinguished from the rudeness of barbarous nations.

2. Good breeding; politeness; complaisance; courtesy; decorum of behavior in the treatment of others, accompanied with kind offices, and attention to their wants and desires. Civility respects manners or external deportment, and in the plural, civilities denote acts of politeness.

RESPECT’, v.t. [L. respecto, or respectus, from respicio; re and specio, to view.]

1. To regard; to have regard to in design or purpose.

In orchards and gardens, we do not so much respect beauty, as variety of ground for fruits, trees and herbs.

2. To have regard to, in relation or connection; to relate to. The treaty particularly respects our commerce.

3. To view or consider with some degree of reverence; to esteem as possessed of real worth.

I always loved and respected Sir William.

4. To look towards.

Palladius adviseth the front of his house should so respect the south. [Not in use.]

To respect the person, to suffer the opinion or judgment to be influenced or biased by a regard to the outward circumstances of a person, to the prejudice of right and equity.

Thou shalt not respect the person of the poor. Lev. 19.

Neither doth God respect any person. 2Sam. 14.

I also want to mention another aspect of respect, this is personal respect. The trend, and this goes beyond my meager  life – but it seems progressionary. People have been loosing respect for themselves and it’s getting worse every year.

I have to say, my kids are pretty neat – at their ages they already understand modesty. So it’s rather annoying when we go out shopping all the filth they are witness too. The half naked women, the swearing, etc that people are so proudly displaying as if a badge of honor. We try to teach our kids that going outside the house we are to look respectable and that we use proper language. Now I don’t know everyone’s circumstances but in my mind it’s merely a choice, nothing else on how they behave, or dress. Skimpy clothes do not cost less then modest clothes and choosing what to say is free.

I guess my question, or better yet my reasoning behind talking about respect and civility is that I’ve noticed a big lack of it, and yes Im guilty of it too – but I want to be better then that. I believe to some degree, some of our current social ailments are attributable to the definite lack of respect and civility.

So let’s see what kind of difference we can make by adding some extra respect and civility to our lives.

The Eternal Family Through Christ by Judith Mehr

I know, I know – it’s been awhile. I have no excuses really – though I have been busy, though lately I’ve been the opposite of busy – I’ve actually had nothing to do since the end of May (workforce reduction).

This past Sunday, my wife had the opportunity to speak being part of a newly installed Primary Presidency, and her topic was the Eternal Family. I thought, what better way to get back in the saddle then with that topic. I mean, I have a family and we’re sealed together and I never really thought much past the topical notion of being sealed for all time and eternity. But what does it mean beyond that?

I’m sure some of us have had that thought, so if I’m sealed to my family and to my parents and so on, in theory isn’t everyone sealed to someone? I know it might be a bit juvinile, and I know that a lot of it gets worked out on the other side of the veil, but it’s been one of those nigglers in the back of mind since I was a kid and I really haven’t found much of an answer for it – but I digress, let’s get back on topic.

So looking up Family, Eternal in the topical guide yeilds a list of scriptures to reference. The one that cought my attention (well really because I had read in it another article) is D&C 138:48.

Foreshadowing the great work to be done in the ^atemples of the Lord in the ^bdispensation of the fulness of times, for the redemption of the dead, and the ^csealing of the children to their parents, lest the whole earth be smitten with a curse and utterly wasted at his coming.

Which got me wondering about this “earth be smitter with a curse and utterly wasted at his coming”. What exactly is going on here? I don’t remember (and it might be I wasn’t paying attention that day) ever learning about it. But I need to find some answers.

While I don’t have a direct answer, after reading “The Sealing and Binding” [When A Child Wonders by Robert L. Millet] I did start to get an idea of what’s so important here. We’ve all heard the message of Elija concerning “the hearts of the children should turn to their fathers” and vice-a-versa, right – well the curse also comes from Elija. Basically, and please correct me if I’m wrong but I think it’s that these eternal familia bonds are a representation of how a spiritual family works. The plan was laid out, and given to Joseph Smith – explained if you will, and he understood it to mean that if this isn’t done then what was the point and we on earth fail. Did that make sense?

Let me break it down with a little example.

You are stranded on a desert island, all you have with you is the plans to build a house. If you follow the plans and build the house you will have a warm, safe shelter to live in. If you don’t, well you’ll end up dying a horrible death.

So in this example, the plan is the sealing powers. To be an eternal family we have to be sealed, which require those keys and ordinances which enable us to become an eternal family  The house is the eternal family. So if we build a strong home, it will shelter us through thick and thin, keep us warm in our hearts with the love of Christ. And well dying a horrible death is the curse.

Something else to think about,

Every person married in the temple for time and for all eternity has sealed upon him, conditioned upon his faithfulness, all of the blessings of the ancient patriarchs, including the crowning promise and assurance of eternal increase, which means, literally, a posterity as numerous as the dust particles of the earth” (Millennial Messiah, 264).

Granted I haven’t covered all the aspects of the Eternal Family – but I hope I have shed a little light on the subject. I emplore you to study more on the subject by reading some of the pertinant articles found from  searching on LDS.org. There’s always so much to learn, or relearn, or update…

Inside the Temple

Last week, I came across an article in the Salt Lake Tribune about Temple Worship. While the article was fine, the comment section was full of vile, bitter, sacrilegious offenses. I mean it seriously made me ill reading over it. There were things I hold sacred, written across the internet for all to see. Needless to say, it prompted me to my current topic this week, Sacred.

12 And it was because of the ^apride of their hearts, because of their exceeding ^briches, yea, it was because of their oppression to the ^cpoor, withholding their food from the hungry, withholding their clothing from the naked, and smiting their humble brethren upon the cheek, making a ^dmock of that which was sacred, denying the spirit of prophecy and of revelation, murdering, plundering, lying, stealing, committing adultery, rising up in great contentions, and deserting away into the land of Nephi, among the Lamanites- [Hel 4:12]

And what happened after that? One only needs to read verse 13 to see,

13 And because of this their great wickedness, and their ^aboastings in their own strength, they were left in their own strength; therefore they did not prosper, but were afflicted and smitten, and driven before the Lamanites, until they had lost possession of almost all their lands. [Hel 4:13]

The often quoted, “is nothing sacred” seems to be a common mantra these days. TV, Movies, the written word – all seem to try their best at pushing the envelope of what they can get away with. We are bombarded with Satan’s corruption of what was once holy. Everything is fair game it seems, including what goes on in our Temples. It saddens me that people that knew better at one point in their lives, find it necessary to throw pearls before swine. Where is the respect, the courtesy?

My challenge for this week, and really it’s for the month – because I know how busy things can get during the week, is to add one extra temple session to your normal month’s routine. Use the opportunity to remove yourself from the world, and feel the love of Christ. Nothing is as refreshing as a visit to the Temple, for me.

Constitutional Convention

Alright, so I’m going to cheat a little bit here, some may have noticed that “Constitutional” doesn’t exist in the Topical Guide. It’s really more of a stretch verses a cheat. If you look up  the word Constitution in the Topical Guide, you’ll get referred to “Citizenship; Governments”, I chose Governments and ended up with a list of scriptures, one of which used the word constitutional. So you can see how I came to the word I am using.

Over the weekend, there was some discussion, or arguing depending on which side you were on, about what our prophets have said on the matter and what we’re suppose to be doing.

Why this topic stuck in my mind was due to a comment my father in law said that our Constitution was given to all people, not just America. That struck me, because I had never heard that nor ever really thought about it that way.

The verse that gave me constitutional also, I think answers that question. D&C 98:5 states:

5 And that ^alaw of the land which is ^bconstitutional, supporting that principle of freedom in maintaining rights and privileges, belongs to all mankind, and is justifiable before me.

It’s pretty plain, “belongs to all mankind“, but what does that mean to you or I?

I don’t want to go into a huge diatribe about all the ins and outs of this topic, it could be huge – but suffice it to say there are a number of talks given by our prophets on the subject.

But there is something more I want you to glean out of that of that verse and the one that follows it.

6 Therefore, I, the Lord, justify you, and your brethren of my church, in befriending that law which is the ^aconstitutional law of the land;

We should be trying to learn as much as we can about our Constitution, our Government and the laws that are being made daily.

When the people shall have torn to shreds the Constitution of the United States, the elders of Israel will be found holding it up to the nations of the earth and proclaiming liberty and equal rights to all men and extending the hand of fellowship to the oppressed of all nations. This is part of the program and as long as we do what is right and fear God He will help us and stand by us under all circumstances. –John Taylor, JD 21:8, August 31, 1879

We have an obligation to learn and teach, and spread the word of this great document. We have been asked by our prophets if we are ready to take up the reigns, and if we are not then we are to be held accountable.

So the question remains, are you ready?

The goals for the week, learn the Constitution, learn about current laws being enacted, learn about our (LDS members) roll in keeping this nation free and what that really means.

Contention

It’s Tuesday again, that means another exciting installment of TOPICAL GUIDE TUESDAY (say it like those monster truck announcers). This week, and maybe this is going to be a continuing thing – but I’ve been thinking about my own issues, and I suffer from this affliction, so let’s talk about it and see if we can come up with something.

Did anyone remember to try and thank the Lord for our blessings from last weeks challenge? I did, and even though I didn’t make it all week, I consciously thanked him a number of times and noticed slight changes in myself. I still need to continue with that, but let’s move on and look at another topic.

I went looking for Contention’s definition but came across a number of them that really didn’t make contention out to be so bad. It was merely arguing or debating. So I went looking for it among the teachings and writings of our modern day prophets.

Another face of pride is contention. Arguments, fights, unrighteous dominion, generation gaps, divorces, spouse abuse, riots, and disturbances all fall into this category of pride.[1. Ezra Taft Benson - Beware of Pride - Ensign May 1989 p4]

It’s funny, last night my wife and I were discussing Pride, and I had made the comment that Pride is like a root to a number of problems, and look here – I was right. But it’s no laughing matter. In this day and age, there’s a lot of contention. In my life it’s progressively grown into a problem. Concerning politics and religion I’ve gotten to where I will usually avoid the conversation entirely and talk about something else because I can get so passionate.

Elder Russell M. Nelson says this, and remember this is back in 1989,

My concern is that contention is becoming accepted as a way of life. From what we see and hear in the media, the classroom, and the workplace, all are now infected to some degree with contention. How easy it is, yet how wrong it is, to allow habits of contention to pervade matters of spiritual significance, because contention is forbidden by divine decree:

“The Lord God hath commanded that men should not murder; that they should not lie; that they should not steal; that they should not take the name of the Lord their God in vain; that they should not envy; that they should not have malice; that they should not contend one with another.” (2 Ne. 26:32.)[2. Russell M. Nelson, "The Canker of Contention," Ensign, May 1989, 68]

While this may have been written 20 years ago, I think it’s just as pertinent today, probably more so. I see it being completely true – with today’s political and religious climates.

Where is this getting us? How does one deal with what you know to be wrong, when others think something else? How do you not contend, yet still hold your moral high ground?

Luckily, in the same talk he gives an answer.

Yet, mercifully, the anointed pray for those who attack them, knowing the sad fate prophesied for their attackers. (See D&C 121:16–22.)[3. Russell M. Nelson, "The Canker of Contention," Ensign, May 1989, 68]

Alright, maybe not a specific answer, but you can read into that more. My problem is, and I know I do this often is to add that one little quip at the end, I’ll let them go with a “I understand your position” then give it that snide, contentious little “but your wrong” ending that just begs them to continue the debate.

So now comes the question, what can I (we) do about this?

The first suggestion from Elder Nelson, is to “control your tongue, pen, and word processor“, though I think you can replace or add blog, forum, twitter, etc.

Next, “Bridle the passion to speak or write contentiously for personal gain or glory“.

Then “respectfully disagree without being disagreeable“. While I need to work on all aspects of how to over come, I think here’s where I need to work the most.

And the last piece, which ties right back to pride – “Personal peace is reached when one, in humble submissiveness, truly loves God“.

So, the challenge this week, for me at least is to try and be a gracious person when it comes to disagreements, debates, or arguments when I don’t subscribe to what others think. I need to add this to my work on thanking the Lord for all my blessings and drop the pride, in all forms.

I hope you will try to make your life better by following the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the words of our Prophets and leaders.

The Opposite of Pride

Today’s Topic – Pride.

Out of the numerous verses listed, I was drawn to the following verse. I think it speaks volumes of our current situations in the world. The surrounding verses enumerate a lot of cause and effects, and “wo unto’s”.

2 Ne. 9: 28 –   “O that cunning plan of the evil one! O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And they shall perish.”

The “cunning plan”

Sometimes you have to think how easy it is for satan. I mean, he has the advantage. Not only does he know man’s weaknesses, but he knows us individually and our individual weaknesses. A whisper in the ear, a fleeting thought – how fast can one slip? I know for me it can happen in an instance. While I have been counseled in my own blessing to frequent the Temple for this very reason – it’s partly due to this reason I tend to not go as often as I should.

Quick note: I was looking for an image to add to this post, so I went to google and typed in “Pride”, it would seem now that the word pride is now synonmous with homosexuality – how ironic.

Vainness, frailities, foolishness

Why don’t people believe in God? I think you could actually answer that question with each of these words. Vanity or self-idolatry would put one’s self in the place of God – not needing anything else but yourself. Frail or weak, can lead to lead to resentments, covetous – even vanity (think of those who were shamed into going to great and spacious building). Foolishness, I think we could all agree we’ve made a foolish mistake or two – and really what is the motive behind that, could it be…..pride?

They are wise, but will perish

Of course they think they are, if you are proud and vain – you are the smartest man around. You know it all – you have all the answers. So let’s look at today’s world, what are some things that might change if people we’re so prideful?

I don’t want to act as if I’m not guilty of my own pride (whoa, wait – does that mean since I admit to it, I might not have such a problem? lol). I have my own issues with pride that I am striving to overcome. I’m fairly certain everyone does – otherwise, why would it be one of the deadliest of the 7 sins? But really I think a big key to breaking it down – the topic that ModernMolly spoke about – Humility.

So here’s the challenge – try to humble yourself. Even if it’s one little thing, saying thank you to the Lord for helping you pass a test, write a bit of challenging code, making the team, earning enough money to pay for your shoes – anything, then build on it – keep it up. With God, all things are possible – but remember to thank him for making it so!