This is my Capstone Practicum Blog Project.
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~Linds
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Family
Position Statement:
Happiness within our family will most likely be achieved
when it’s founded on the teachings of Jesus. That means being unselfish,
honest, loyal, loving and a whole host of other virtues, not to mention a lot
of effort. A loving and happy family doesn’t happen by accident. It's no stretch to say that a person has a
serious advantage in life if they come from a loving, supportive home. No matter how hard we try, our marriage and
home won’t be perfect. But if we build them around Christ’s principles
including faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion,
work and wholesome fun, home can be a place of refuge, peace and immense joy.
Living
Prophets & Apostles:
1. “The doctrine of the family begins with heavenly parents.
Our highest aspiration is to be like them.”
2. “…An eternal bond doesn’t just happen as a result of
sealing covenants we make in the temple. How we conduct ourselves in this life
will determine what we will be in all the eternities to come. To receive the
blessings of the sealing that our Heavenly Father has given to us, we have to
keep the commandments and conduct ourselves in such a way that our families
will want to live with us in the eternities.”
3. “Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved
when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages
and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer,
repentance, forgiveness,
respect, love, [and] compassion”
4. The 2,000 stripling warriors in the army of Helaman
testified that their righteous mothers had powerfully taught gospel principles
to them (see Alma 56:47–48).
5. The key to strengthening our families is having the
Spirit of the Lord come into our homes. The goal of our families is to be on
the strait and narrow path.
6. The full burden of planning and preparing for family home
evenings should not be left to parents alone. The most successful ones I have
witnessed are when the youth of the family take an active part.
Reference: L. Tom Perry-
Therefore I was Taught- April 1994
Any
Prophet, Apostle, or General Conference Address:
7. Church buildings and facilities should be closed on
Monday evenings. No ward or stake activities
should be planned, and other interruptions to family home evenings should be
avoided.
Reference: First Presidency Letter- October 4, 1999
8. It is important to establish patterns of righteousness in
your own life, which will enable you to set a good example for your family,
whatever form your family may take.
9. Seeking the help of the Lord daily through prayer will
bring great blessings to your family. Ask yourself: “Who in my family could
benefit from my personal prayers?” “What could I do to support and encourage
family prayer?”
10. So crucial in strengthening
families is the realization that strong family relationships don’t
just happen. It takes time. It takes commitment, it takes prayer, and it takes
work. Parents must realize their responsibility and willingly assume it. The
joy and happiness that will result is indescribable.
Atonement
Position Statement:
From before the Creation of the earth, the Savior has been
our only hope for “peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come”
(D&C 59:23). I’m so grateful for my
Savior, and even more so after studying his life and love for me. Jesus Christ redeems all people from the
effects of the Fall. All people who have ever lived on the earth and who ever will
live on the earth will be resurrected and brought back into the presence of God
to be judged. Through the Savior's gift
of mercy and redeeming grace, we will all receive the gift of immortality and
live forever in glorified, resurrected bodies.
Living
Prophets & Apostles:
1. Before we can comprehend the Atonement of Christ,
however, we must first understand the Fall of Adam. And before we can
understand the Fall of Adam, we must first understand the Creation. These three
crucial components of the plan of salvation relate to each other.
2. Paul said, “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall
all be made alive.” 14 The
Atonement of Jesus Christ became the immortal
creation. He volunteered to answer the ends of a law previously transgressed.
15 And by the shedding
of His blood, His 16 and
our physical bodies could become perfected. They could again function without
blood, just as Adam’s and Eve’s did in their paradisiacal form. Paul taught
that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; … this mortal must put
on immortality.”
3. Atonement is really three words: At-one-ment, meaning to
set at one, one with God; to reconcile, to conciliate, to expiate.
4. The Atonement was absolutely essential for men to cleanse
themselves from sin and overcome the second death, which is the spiritual
death, which is separation from our Father in Heaven. For the scriptures tell
us, seven times they tell us, that no unclean thing may enter the presence of
God.
5. Yet, in the eyes of the Lord, there may be only one size
of audience that is of lasting importance—and that is just one, each one, you
and me, and each one of the children of God. The irony of the Atonement is that
it is infinite and eternal, yet it is applied individually, one person at a
time.
6. There is no greater expression of love than the heroic
Atonement performed by the Son of God.
Were it not for the plan of our Heavenly Father, established before the world
began, in a very real sense, all mankind—past, present, and future—would have
been left without the hope of eternal progression.
Any
Prophet, Apostle, or General Conference Address:
7. We, with you, bear witness of the Atonement of our
Savior, Jesus Christ. Our testimonies, like yours, have been written in our
hearts as we have faced assorted soul-stretching challenges and adversities.
Without an understanding of Heavenly Father’s perfect plan of happiness and the
Savior’s Atonement as the central feature of that plan, these challenges could
seem unfair. We all share in the trials of life together. But in faithful
hearts is written, “All that is unfair about life can be made right through the
Atonement of Jesus Christ.”
Reference: LINDA K. BURTON- Is Faith in the Atonement of Jesus Christ Written in Our Hearts?- October 2012
8. How can we expect to strengthen families or help others
unless we first have written in our own hearts a deep and abiding faith in
Jesus Christ and His infinite Atonement?
Making, keeping, and rejoicing in our covenants will be the evidence
that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is truly written in our hearts.
Reference: LINDA K.
BURTON- Is Faith in the Atonement of Jesus Christ Written in Our Hearts?- October 2012
9. Jesus Christ lives. He is our Savior, our Redeemer. He is
a glorious, resurrected being. He has the capacity to communicate love that is
so powerful, so overwhelming as to surpass the capacity of the human tongue to
express adequately. He gave His life to break the bonds of death. His Atonement
made fully active the plan of happiness of His Father in Heaven.
10. Jesus administers the balance between
justice and mercy conditioned upon our obedience to His gospel. He is the light
for all mankind. He is the fountain of all truth. He fulfills all of His
promises. All who obey His commandments will earn the most glorious blessings
imaginable. Without the Atonement, Father in Heaven’s plan of happiness could
not have been placed fully into effect. The Atonement gives all the opportunity
to overcome the consequences of mistakes made in life.
Agency
Position Statement:
Agency is the ability and privilege God gives us to choose
and to act for ourselves. But is that really so important? Yes. Agency is
essential in the plan of salvation. Without agency, we would not be able to
learn or progress or follow the Savior. With it, we are “free to choose liberty
and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity
and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil” (2 Nephi 2:27). I
know with all my heart that I am here because I chose God’s perfect plan of
happiness. And I know that that includes
pain and suffering and trials, but all for our benefit, learning and growth.
Living
Prophets & Apostles:
1. You and I were among those who used
their agency to accept Heavenly Father’s plan to come to earth, to have a
mortal life, to progress. “We shouted for joy … to have the opportunity of
coming to the earth to receive bodies [for we knew] that we might become,
through faithfulness, like unto our Father, God.” Now we are here on earth, where
opportunities to use our agency abound; for here “there is an opposition in all
things.”
This opposition is essential to the purpose of our lives.
2. Agency used righteously allows light to dispel the
darkness and enables us to live with joy and happiness.
3. Our agency is essential to the plan of salvation. With it
we are “free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of
all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power
of the devil.”
4. Our agency—our ability to choose and
act for ourselves—was an essential element of this plan. Without agency we
would be unable to make right choices and progress. Yet with agency we could
make wrong choices, commit sin, and lose the opportunity to be with Heavenly
Father again. For this reason a Savior would be provided to suffer for our sins
and redeem us if we would repent. By His infinite Atonement, He brought about
“the plan of mercy, to appease the demands of justice.”
5. Some who do not understand the doctrinal part do not
readily see the relationship between obedience and agency. And they miss one
vital connection and see obedience only as restraint. They then resist the very
thing that will give them true freedom. There is no true freedom without
responsibility, and there is no enduring freedom without a knowledge of the
truth. The Lord said, “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples
indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:31–32.)
6. Latter-day Saints are not obedient
because they are compelled to be obedient. They are obedient because they know
certain spiritual truths and have decided, as an expression of their own
individual agency, to obey the commandments of God. We are the sons and daughters of God, willing
followers, disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and “under this head are [we] made free.” (Mosiah 5:8.)
Any
Prophet, Apostle, or General Conference Address:
7. “…one of God’s most precious gifts to man is the
principle of free agency—the privilege of choice which was introduced by God
the Eternal Father to all of his spirit children in the premortal state. This
occurred in the great council in heaven before the peopling of this earth. The
children of God were endowed with freedom of choice while yet but spirit
beings.”
8. “Four great principles must be in
force if there is to be agency: 1. Laws must exist, laws ordained by an
Omnipotent power, laws which can be obeyed or disobeyed; 2. Opposites must
exist—good and evil, virtue and vice, right and wrong—that is, there must be an
opposition, one force pulling … the other. 3. A knowledge of good and evil must
be had by those who are to enjoy the agency, that is, they must know the
difference between the opposites; and 4. An unfettered power of choice must
prevail. Agency is given to man as an
essential part of the great plan of redemption.”
9. Men and women receive their agency as a gift from God,
but their liberty and, in turn, their eternal happiness come from obedience to
His laws. As Alma counseled his errant son Corianton, “Wickedness never was
happiness” (Alma 41:10).
10. “Next to life itself, free agency is God’s greatest gift
to mankind.”3 Then it was no small thing
for Satan to disregard man’s agency. In fact, it became the principal issue
over which the War in Heaven was fought. Victory in the War in Heaven was a
victory for man’s agency.
Pornography
Position Statement:
The Lord Jesus Christ makes it possible for us to overcome
all things. No matter our circumstances, He asks us to trust that He is the
way. Pornography is a silent evil
spiritual-killer. It destroys families
and loved ones and takes you furthest from where we need to be as a
person. I know that Satan works hard to
make pornography available at the touch of a button, or even in advertisements
around our surroundings. It’s a
difficult time to live in with the media in our pocket and the world upside
down. I think avoiding pornography
starts in the home by avoiding it, but talking about it.
Living
Prophets & Apostles:
1. Pornography, the carrier, is big
business. It is Mafia-spawned. It is contagious. It is addicting. In a study
last year, the FBI estimated that Americans spent 2.4 billion dollars on
hard-core pornography. Other estimates reach as high as 4 billion—a fortune
siphoned away from noble use and diverted to a devilish purpose!
2. “Pornographic or erotic stories and pictures are worse
than filthy or polluted food. The body has defenses to rid itself of
unwholesome food. With a few fatal exceptions, bad food will only make you sick
but do no permanent harm. In contrast, a person who feasts upon filthy stories
or pornographic or erotic pictures and literature records them in this
marvelous retrieval system we call a brain. The brain won’t vomit back filth.
Once recorded, it will always remain subject to recall, flashing its perverted
images across your mind and drawing you away from the wholesome things in
life.”
Reference: Dallin H. Oaks- Pornography- April 2005
3. Those who seek out and use pornography forfeit the power
of their priesthood. The Lord declares: “When we undertake to cover our sins, …
behold, the heavens withdraw themselves; the Spirit of the Lord is grieved; and
when it is withdrawn, Amen to the priesthood or the authority of that man” (D&C
121:37).
Reference: Dallin H. Oaks- Pornography- April 2005
4. Participation in pornography in any of its lurid forms is
a manifestation of unbridled selfishness. How can a man, particularly a
priesthood bearer, not think of the emotional and spiritual damage caused to
women, especially his wife, by such abhorrent activity?
5. Parents, be aware that the addiction
of pornography can begin with youth at a very early age. Take preventative
action to avoid that tragedy. Stake presidents and bishops, warn of this evil.
Invite anyone you consider captured by it to come to you for help. An individual with foundation standards and
an enduring commitment to obey them is not easily led astray. Someone who is
increasingly repulsed by grievous sin and who exercises self-restraint outside
human influence has character.
6. Pornography will always repel the
Spirit of Christ and will interrupt the communications between our Heavenly
Father and His children and disrupt the tender relationship between husband and
wife. The priesthood holds consummate power. It can protect you from the plague
of pornography—and it is a plague—if you are succumbing to its influence. If
one is obedient, the priesthood can show how to break a habit and even erase an
addiction. Holders of the priesthood have that authority and should employ it
to combat evil influences.
Any
Prophet, Apostle, or General Conference Address:
7. We as parents and leaders need to counsel with our
children and youth on an ongoing basis, listening with love and understanding.
They need to know the dangers of
pornography and how it overtakes lives, causing loss of the Spirit,
distorted feelings, deceit, damaged relationships, loss of self-control, and
nearly total consumption of time, thought, and energy.
8. Priesthood holders carry with them the antidote to remove
the terrible images of pornography and to wash away guilt. The priesthood has
the power to unlock the influence of our habits, even to unchain from
addiction, however tight the grip. It can heal over the scars of past mistakes.
9. My beloved friends, under no
circumstances allow yourselves to become trapped in the viewing of pornography,
one of the most effective of Satan’s enticements. And if you have allowed
yourself to become involved in this behavior, cease now. Seek the help you need
to overcome and to change the direction of your life. Take the steps necessary
to get back on the strait and narrow, and then stay there. May we say, with Joshua of old, “Choose you
this day whom ye will serve; … but as for me and my house, we will serve the
Lord.”
10. There’s a spiritual snare today called pornography,
and many, allured by its provocative messages, enter this deadly trap. Like any
trap, it is easy to enter but difficult to escape. Some rationalize that they
can casually view pornography without suffering its adverse effects. They say
initially, “This isn’t so bad,” or, “Who cares? It won’t make any difference,”
or, “I’m just curious.” But they are mistaken. The Lord has warned, “And he
that looketh upon a woman to lust after her shall deny the faith, and shall not
have the Spirit; and if he repents not he shall be cast out” (D&C 42:23).
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