Blogging Through the Book of Mormon

In the next few verses, Paul does a run down of the exact characteristics of charity, and one of the articles that I read noted that these features not only are the ways in which we are supposed to exhibit charity, but also the ways in which the Lord has been merciful to us. I think that I will first go through the attributes and how they apply to us, and then I will go through them again with how the Savior has demonstrated them to us. Suffereth long  – The IM points out, “when we have charity, we patiently endure offense or hardship.” It seems to me that this is more about attitude than anything else. Recently, since I’ve been hurt, I’ve kind of adopted a “don’t make me live a long time” attitude and while it does have to do a little bit with the fact that I’m physically uncomfortable, the attitude has persisted and even gotten worse as I’ve recovered. I might “endure” my situation, but I do so kicking and screaming. I might make it work, but if I’m not completely satisfied wi...

Giving an overview of the spiritual gifts that he was just talking about, Paul says, “though I speak with the tongue of men and of angels, and have no charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.” The surprise “more excellent way” from yesterday is… charity. This can be a difficult concept because in our society, charity is considered something that we give to organizations. That is pretty far from the definition of the “pure love of Christ.” Paul continues that even possessing the gift of prophecy, knowledge, “and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.” The IM quotes Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin as teaching, “Paul’s message to (the Corinthian Saints) was simple and direct: nothing you do makes much of a difference if you do not have charity… Love is the beginning, the middle, and the end of the pathway of discipleship.” Again, “love” is a difficult concept to understand because it is so abstract, especially in my ...

Even though all members are a part of the “body of Christ” and we all serve an important function in our own way, Paul points out that there are those who are called to serve in different leadership capacities. He says, “God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.” I don’t really understand why Paul put this statement here, in the middle of talking about spiritual gifts, but the IM makes a really interesting point, saying, “in Paul’s list of Church officers, he mentioned teachers immediately after apostles and prophets, which underscores the importance of effective teachers in the Church.” The IM continues, quoting Elder Jeffrey R. Holland as teaching, “In this Church it is virtually impossible to find anyone who is not a guide of one kind or another to his or her fellow members of the flock…We must revitalize and reenthrone superior teaching in the Chur...

Even though the gifts of the Spirit are varied and diverse, Paul further illustrates the point that they all come from the same God by giving an analogy of the human body. His point is that the body has many different parts that aren't similar at all but works together to make a fully functioning, amazing human body, "for the body is not one member, but many." He notes, "if the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?" Is it true that because the foot is not the hand, it isn't part of the body? Of course not, and when we look at it in terms of the body, the answer is obvious, but when we look at it in terms of members, sometimes we falter on it. In Paul's time it was a matter of "Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free," but in our time it can be more about our opinions, where we are from, sometimes, our race, how we speak, what music we listen to. If we ask ourselves, "do ...

Working of Miracles  – Miracles have always been an interesting topic to me because I’ve always been able to recognize small thing as miracles and it baffled me that some people could not. I’ve also always wondered why people could see and recognize miracles but then lose their testimony anyway, like when Laman and Lemuel saw an angel, but turned wicked again like 10 seconds later. Over the years of study, I’ve learned that miracles don’t convert, people who are not ready or willing to believe will dismiss miracles as coincidences or happenstance. But miracles are sent by God to strengthen already existing testimony. Like I’m listening to the second volume of the Saints series that the Church put out and there was a time in Winter Quarters where the people were almost starving and then hundreds of quails came and landed in their camp and didn’t fly away so they were caught and eaten. That is a miracle, and was a sign to those who believed of God’s goodness, power, and investment i...

The only way that someone can know if Jesus is truly the Christ is through the confirmation of the Holy Spirit. This knowledge, testimony and confirmation is a spiritual gift, but there are many others. Paul lists several of the Gifts of the Spirit, such as:  Differences of administration – The IM defines this as, “Leadership or ‘administrative ability,’ which is ‘used in administering and regulating the church.’ The ability to discern correctly how the Lord governs His Church through councils, quorums, auxiliaries, and so on.” Effective and motivational leadership truly is a gift because most people aren’t born with those abilities, it must be trained into someone. Understanding the structure of the Church and everyone’s responsibilities is also a gift because the way that the Church is organized is pretty unique, there are not many organizations that are structured in this way and it can be confusing and frustrating to those who are unfamiliar with it. Diversities of operati...

One of the aspects of converting to Christianity that might be more difficult for the gentiles than it was for the Jews would be recognizing and valuing the actual power of God. The Jews had the law of Moses and I would imagine with that came some spiritual relationship with God, and they had the concept of monotheism, which I think was relatively uncommon in the ancient world. The gentiles on the other hand wouldn’t have been invested in monotheism, and as Paul points out, they were “carried away unto these dumb idols.” In this sense I think that “dumb” means impotent, not stupid. The pagan religions were not supported by the power of God, so those who practiced those religions would not have really known what it was like to believe and have faith in and worship a being who could actually do something.  That begs the question, if they weren’t familiar with spiritual power, then how did they ever come to believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior? Paul tells them “that no man ca...

When I first started reading verse 16 for today’s study, the first part says, “But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God.” This was really a punch in the gut to me because I have been pretty irritable and contentious lately. I got hurt pretty badly while on vacation last month and I’ve been experiencing a range of emotions that are not necessarily new to me, but have been extreme in their intensity. First, I’ve been in excruciating pain, and I haven’t had significant pain since I gave birth to my children, which was different because with that I knew what to expect as far as recovery. With this I have had no idea when things will get better, and the unknown has really plagued me. I have relied heavily on a blessing that I got from my brother, which promised no permanent injury and an expedited recovery. And while it seems to have taken forever, it’s only been a month and I’m almost back to everything normal. The other thing that I was...