Hi, everyone! It is midterm time for our class. I hope you have not been too stressed about it. Your midterm this time around will be fairly straight forward and simple. Here is all you need to do:
Review your notes from General Conference, and then review the readings from the Title Page of the Book of Mormon through Jacob 7.
- Find three principles from your review that you have found in both places and write a short paper about it. To be clear, I really mean a SHORT paper, i.e., your paper may not exceed one page! That is one paragraph for each principle. So you may want to put your name in the header of the paper rather than the body, that will save you space to amplify your principles.
- Email me your paper by October 14.
Too easy, right? Okay, some of you might struggle a bit with what a principle is..., no problem, Elder Richard G. Scott from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will help, he said: “Principles are concentrated truth, packaged for application to
a wide variety of circumstances. A true principle makes decisions clear even
under the most confusing and compelling circumstances” (“Acquiring Spiritual
Knowledge,” Ensign, Nov. 1993).
I doubt any of you are, but for you who might still be perplexed, here is an example:
Principle One: The Lord expects me to be proactive in having and maintaining my testimony. Elder Richard J. Maynes taught that our testimonies get into shape by doing the things that help them to be in shape, not just by watching those with strong testimonies. This brought to my attention the example of Nephi when he and his brothers had either broken their bows or their bows had lost their springs. Rather than sitting around murmuring about it, Nephi made a bow and an arrow, and went to his father and asked where he should go to find food for his family. The Lord expects me to care for my testimony and seek His help to maintain it just as He expected Lehi, Nephi and his brethren to take care of their physical needs in the wilderness, notwithstanding their afflictions.
I hope that helps! Now get to work and enjoy your midterm, hopefully you enjoy it and it helps you solidify your understanding of principles you heard in General Conference as well as things you have been reading in the Book of Mormon.
I like what I learned in Jacob 4. In the beginning of the chapter Jacob talks about how the people had grown in faith inasmuch that they could "command in the name of Jesus and the very trees obey [them]" Then in verse 7 he says, "Nevertheless, the Lord God showeth us our weakness that we may know that it is by his grace, and his great condescensions unto the children of men, that we have power to do these things." It is only through the power of God that they could do these things.
ReplyDeleteIn a way this scripture makes me grateful for my weaknesses. I am not happy for the times that I have sinned because of my weakness, but I am happy for the things that I have learned from it. I have learned that I have to trust in the Lord in all that I do. I have learned that I am no greater than anyone else, but that all men struggle in life. I have learned that the Lord provides the strength and the cleansing that we need to overcome those weakness, so that we can grow in faith. Because of the Atonement of Christ, we can all overcome the fall, and return to live with God.