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Spiritual Knowledge

October 11, 2009 in Education by Greg | No comments

In 1993, Richard G. Scott spoke about acquiring spiritual knowledge at BYU’s Campus Education Week. In beginning his talk, Elder Scott asked, “Why center on spiritual knowledge?” to which he responded by quoting Spencer W. Kimball:

Olive_Tree Spiritual learning takes precedence. The secular without the foundation of the spiritual is but like the foam upon the milk, the fleeting shadow.

Do not be deceived! One need not choose between the two . . . for there is opportunity to get both simultaneously; . . .

Secular knowledge, important as it may be, can never save a soul nor open the celestial kingdom nor create a world nor make a man a god, but it can be most helpful to that man who, placing first things first, has found the way to eternal life and who can now bring into play all knowledge to be his tool and servant. (Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, p. 390.)

He also quoted others:

President J. Reuben Clark observed:

There is spiritual learning just as there is material learning, and the one without the other is not complete; yet, speaking for myself, if I could have only one sort of learning, that which I would take would be the learning of the spirit, because in the hereafter I shall have opportunity in the eternities which are to come to get the other, and without spiritual learning here my handicaps in the hereafter would be all but overwhelming. (CR, April 1934, p. 94.)

President Gordon B. Hinckley stated:

This restored gospel brings not only spiritual strength, but also intellectual curiosity and growth. Truth is truth. There is no clearly defined line of demarcation between the spiritual and the intellectual when the intellectual is cultivated and pursued in balance with the pursuit of spiritual knowledge and strength.

The Lord Almighty, through revelation, has laid a mandate upon this people in these words:

“Seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith” (D&C 88:118). (CR, April 1986, p. 63; also, “Come and Partake,” Ensign, May 1986, p. 48.) . . .

As knowledge unfolds it must be understood, valued, used, remembered, and expanded.

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Ann Madsen – Leading Our Children to the Temple

August 17, 2009 in Temple by Greg | 1 comment

Dr. Ann Madsen, a senior lecturer in Ancient Scripture at Brigham Young University, gave a talk entitled “Come Ye, and Let Us Walk in the Light of the Lord – Leading Our Children to the Temple” at the 2004 BYU Family Expo Conference. The following is a synopsis of her talk:

Ann Madsen I asked our grown married children, “Why do you love the temple? How did we prepare you to do that?” Their answers could be summed up, “You would come home from the temple all aglow, and we could feel it.”

Orson Pratt gives us a wonderful vision of the light we bring home from the temple: “In the latter days there will be a people so pure in Mount Zion . . . that God will manifest himself, not only in their Temple . . . but when they retire to their [homes], behold each [home] will be lighted up by the glory of God, a pillar of flaming fire by night.”1

I heard Elder Russell M. Nelson say recently, “Children understand that they have a Heavenly Father. They need to be taught that the temple is the way to return to Him.”

In 1893, at the time of the dedication of the Salt Lake Temple, Elder Franklin D. Richards said: “The Temple is full of Divine telegrams. The blessings of heaven are treasured up there, and these temples are the great repositories of eternal life, glory, honor and immortality, waiting for the children of God to come up and bring their offerings of broken hearts and contrite spirits, and draw upon those treasures.”2

Ann Madsen - Leading Our Children to the Temple »»

  1. Journal of Discourses. 16:36.↩
  2. Richards, Franklin D. Collected Discourses. 1893. Vol. 3.↩

Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner Testimony

February 18, 2009 in Religion by Greg | 5 comments

Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner bore a powerful testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith to a group of young men at Brigham Young University on April 14, 1905. Mary was born on April 9, 1818 in Lima, Livingston, New York to Keziah Keturah Van Benthuysen and John D. Rollins. According to her autobiography:

Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner When I was ten years old, we moved to Kirtland, Ohio, and lived in a house belonging to Algernon Sidney Gilbert, mother’s sister’s husband. We remained there two years, when we heard of the plates of the Book of Mormon, being found by Joseph Smith. Soon the news was confirmed by the appearance of Oliver Cowdery, Peter Whitmer, and Ziba Peterson, with the glorious news of the restoration of the Gospel through the Prophet Joseph Smith. They bore a powerful testimony, by the Holy Spirit, of the truth of the great work they were engaged in; and which they were commissioned by the Father to present to all the world.

Quite a number of the residents of Kirtland accepted baptism. Mother and myself also, in the month of October, 1830. A branch of the Church was organized, and Father Morley was ordained an elder to preside over it. He owned a large farm, about a mile from Kirtland, and some three or four families went there to live, and meetings were held there. A good spirit and one of union prevailed among the brethren for some time. After Oliver Cowdery and his brethren left there for Missouri on their mission to the Lamanites, a wrong spirit crept into our midst, and a few were led away by it. About this time, John Whitmer came and brought a Book of Mormon. There was a meeting that evening, and we learned that Brother Morley had the Book in his possession the only one in that part of the country. I went to his house just before the meeting was to commence, and asked to see the book; Brother Morley put it in my hand, as I looked at it, I felt such a desire to read it, that I could not refrain from asking him to let me take it home and read it, while he attended meeting. He said it would be too late for me to take it back after meeting, and another thing, he had hardly had time to read a chapter in it himself, and but few of the brethren had even seen it, but I pled so earnestly for it, he finally said, “Child, if you will bring this book home before breakfast tomorrow morning, you may take it.” He admonished me to be very careful, and see that no harm came to it.

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Good Vibrations

September 7, 2008 in Religion by Greg | No comments

Visual Spectrum Suzanne Freeman suggested that thoughts of heavenly things produce what could be called “good vibrations.”

In August 1999, Suzanne had an ectopic pregnancy and nearly died. She later recounted her story in hope that it would help others learn of the Savior’s love and concern for each individual. Concerning good vibrations, she wrote:

In basic physics, you learn about molecular vibration. All energy has a vibrational level, and some things vibrate faster than others, sort of like varying wavelengths of different colors of light. If you’re thinking more of earthly things than heavenly things, it keeps your vibrations lower and you’re not on a heavenly plane.1

Sources:

  1. Freeman, Suzanne and Shirley Bahlmann. Led by the Hand of Christ – A Woman’s Journey to Paradise and Back. Provo, Utah: Spring Creek Book Company, 2004. 135.↩

Man was Made From Different and Opposite Substances

September 3, 2008 in Religion by Greg | No comments

The idea that man was made from different and opposite substances which contend against each other was a teaching of Lactantius, an early Christian author. He wrote:

LactantiusMan . . . was made from different and opposite substances [i.e., dust and spirit] . . . [and] these two things contend against each other in man; so that if the [spirit of man], which has its origin from God, gains the mastery, it is immortal, and lives in perpetual light; if, on the other hand, the body shall overpower the [spirit], and subject it to its dominion, it is in everlasting darkness and death . . . [and will subject] them to everlasting punishment.1

 

Sources:

  1. Lactantius, “The Divine Institutes”. 2:13. as cited in Roberts, Alexander, and James Donaldson, eds. Ante-Nicene Fathers. Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 1994. 7:61.↩

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