Judge not?

The main theme of today's meetings was on the life of Christ. I'd like to focus on one of the talks in Sacrament meeting that claimed to be about one of the most misquoted passages from the Bible.

According to the speaker, Matt. 7:1-2, is one of most misquoted passages from the Bible--often in politics--but more often to justify sin.

1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.
2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

The speaker continued posing a question as to what this can possibly mean, given that, shortly thereafter, the Lord commands us to judge in Matt. 7:15-20:

15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

That is, in order to "beware" we must make some sort of judgment. Christ tells us that the judgment should be made according to their fruits. But what exactly is this judgment?

The speaker then brought attention to the words of one of the current General Authorities of the Church on the subject. I do not recall who it was, but the basic idea was that we should never make eternal judgments, which would be something like deciding that a certain person is surely going to go to heaven or hell. However, we must make daily temporary judgments when we decide with who we will associate, with who we want our children to associate, with who we will do business, etc.

I think this principle goes hand in hand with the commandment we have received to forgive. Matt. 18:21-22:

21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?
22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.

D&C 64:8-11:

8 My disciples, in days of old, sought occasion against one another and forgave not one another in their hearts; and for this evil they were afflicted and sorely chastened.
9 Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin.
10 I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men.
11 And ye ought to say in your hearts—let God judge between me and thee, and reward thee according to thy deeds.

How can we possibly hold malice in our hearts and yet leave it up to God as to the fate of the one that has offended us? Everyone makes mistakes. Most have no special ill will towards us. Let's just let things go and move on.

Appreciation for homes

This last Sunday we talked about homes, in particular to be thankful for our homes. We walked them through different types of homes, both throughout history, in the scriptures, and in our own times. Then I asked them about their own homes.

Hello, Shane Jordan here, and I'll be talking about what we discuss each Sunday in the Birmingham 1st Ward of the Birmingham Stake, in Birmingham, Alabama.

I'm a Sunbeam primary teacher, which is for girls and boys ages 3-4. Sunbeams is their first experience in primary (ages 3-12) classes, and is crucial to help them transition from nursery (18 months - 3 years old) where they have less structure and more free play than primary does. I enjoy teaching these children a lot, though you will see that it can be challenging to keep their focus for 2 hours each Sunday.

This last Sunday we talked about homes, in particular to be thankful for our homes. We walked them through different types of homes, both throughout history, in the scriptures, and in our own times. Then I asked them about their own homes. While most weren't able to describe much detail, they were able to tell me what colors their house had. Though one boy said he lived in a forest, most were thankful for air conditioning, running water, etc.

The sweetest part was when one of our quietest children pointed out that the church building we were in was the House of the Lord! I am always amazed by their spiritual intelligence. I believe they are closer to the Spirit than most of us.

Faithfulness, as in consistency

Today's topics seemed to center somewhat on the theme of faithfulness, as it relates to consistency, day in and day out.


During the third hour, in Elders Quorum, we covered the following General Conference talks:

• A Matter of a Few Degrees
• We Will Not Yield, We Cannot Yield
  

The first talk appeared to have two distinct topics. The first told of how a very small margin of error in course heading will lead to a large error in our final destination. Related to the gospel, our heading is the course that our lives are taking day after day, their pattern pattern if you will. Are we headed in the right direction? Are we doing the little things every day that will guide to where we want to be? All the Primary answers apply here (prayer, scripture study, family home evening, attending Church). The second topic related to correcting our course, once we realize we are in error. Minor course correction must be taken every day, for we are all imperfect. Major sin requires major course correction, and requires guidance from the control tower since we've gotten ourselves all turned around and our instruments aren't working right. The control tower would be the proper priesthood leader, be it Bishop or Stake President, etc.

The second talk dealt with our standards, the expectations we try to live by. As the world lowers its standards of honesty, morality, and personal responsibility, we must not yield. We must not lower our standards. However, as we grit our teeth and hold fast, we must not let any degree of self righteousness cloud our eyes--they must be single to the light of Christ.

Will the day come that we will have to fight the unpopular fight to uphold our standards? I think that it is happening in a more conspicuous way every year. This year, we see that fight in California regarding the sanctity of marriage between man and woman.

One of the doctrinal arguments I've often heard levied against the Church is that it teaches that we must save ourselves through our works. This is the fallacy of the grace versus works debate. Any serious reader of the Book of Mormon will know that we believe that there is no other way nor means whereby man can be saved, only in and through the atonement of Christ (Helaman 5:9). However, it is also often taught that we must do all that we can, that we must remove all ungodliness from our lives, in short, that we must strive to be perfect. Trying to be perfect in all aspects of life--having perfect patience with our disobedient children, having a perfect understanding of the scriptures, having a perfect food storage, etc., etc., etc.--inflicts an enormous amount of pressure on the individual, and subsequently, on the individual's family. Will we be perfect in this life? Of course not. But that is not the point. We are commanded to strive to be perfect, to be willing to keep all the commandments. The Good News of the Gospel of Christ is that he will make up the difference--AS LONG AS WE ARE FAITHFUL, as long as we are consistent in making our course corrections. It is when we give up, when we are unwilling to keep trying, only then are we really in trouble, for the atonement of Christ can have no claim upon such.

A Typical Sunday

Today was a fairly typical Sunday in the Pflugerville Ward of the Austin, TX Stake. I'll briefly describe the flow of events (from my perspective). I doubt we'll do this for each post, but for the reader who is unacquainted with our meetings, this should provide an idea of what's going on. Remember, our worship services are open to the public.

Before the meeting started, I tried to handle some of my calling, as a counselor in the Elders Quorum Presidency, handing out home teaching assignments (we are assigned to visit the homes of the families in our ward each month).

First meeting: Sacrament meeting, all family members together in the chapel

1. Welcome by the bishop, opening hymn and prayer.
2. Stake and Ward business. Several people were released and called to various 'callings' (service positions, remember we have no paid ministry).
3. Sacramental hymn and Administration of the Sacrament--bread and water in memory of Jesus Christ. This happens every week (except for Stake and General Conferences) and is the most important part of the meetings since we renew our baptismal covenants.
4. Speakers (previously selected from the congregation). There was a Youth Temple trip yesterday. One of the youth was asked to share a bit about the experience. Then one of the leaders present shared her experience. These first two were both women (referred to as Sisters). The final speaker was a man (referred to as Brother) who talked on the importance of temples and what "House of the Lord. Holiness to the Lord" means and how our own homes should compare with the Spirit felt at the temple.
5. Closing hymn and prayer.

After the first meeting is done, everyone splits up to various classes, separated by age. The teachers are selected from the congregation (i.e. callings). My wife took our two-year old to the nursery where she gets snacks, gets to play with toys and friends, and has a short lesson and song time.

Second meeting: Sunday School

1. Opening prayer.
2. Lesson covering the Book of Alma, chapters 40-42, in The Book of Mormon. These chapters deal mostly with a discussion of the resurrection and the concept of restoration as it relates to the resurrection and spirituality.
   
3. I ended up walking the halls a bit with our 9-month old as well as trying to go to the clerk's office to get a missing home teaching assignment printed.
4. Closing prayer.

After the second meeting is done, everyone from age 12 and above is separated by gender. The women go to Relief Society and the men go to Priesthood meeting.

Third meeting: Priesthood and Elders Quorum

1. Combined priesthood (Aaronic and Melchizedek) holders opening: welcome, song, prayer, business. We had a change in the High Priest Group leadership.
2. Priesthood quorums separate in different groups (deacons, teachers, priests, elders, and high priests).
3. Lesson in Elders Quorum from the manual Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith. The chapter covered was called "Establishing the Cause of Zion". The main message was how we need to purify our own lives, our hearts and our minds.
4. Closing prayer.

We then gathered up the family and went home. Later in the afternoon, I took part in some PPIs (Personal Priesthood Interviews) with some members of our quorum to see how they and the families they home teach are doing. After that I did a home teaching visit myself.

Wow. That went on for a bit longer than I anticipated. Again, I don't see us doing this every time, but we'll probably just pick a topic from one of the lessons or something and discuss it.

The Boring Beginning

Mormons (or members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) have seen an increased level of publicity and scrutiny in recent years. I've read plenty of articles and blog posts that are followed by malicious comments. One of the favorites is that Mormonism is a cult. Another is that Mormons aren't Christians. There seems to be a whole lot about who we are or who we aren't. What I see lacking is an appropriate coverage of what we do.

What does a Mormon do in church for THREE hours each Sunday? What is taught week in and week out? While the mainstream media likes to cover all the exciting and controversial aspects of Mormonism, this blog is here to bring you back to reality. The truth is, to the outsider, Mormonism is most likely to be described as boring! However, I hope that this blog, through the steady description of what is actually done in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, will show that the true excitement of Mormonism can only be obtained by boring deeper and deeper into it.

This blog will not attempt to establish the basic beliefs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Church). For that purpose, I redirect the reader to:

• mormon.org
• lds.org

However, the purpose of this blog is to show what is taught at the local level week in and week out, as well as what members of the Church do week in and week out. I have invited a good friend, Shane, to also contribute.

Randy Theobald