Choice 3: James 3–4. Living Our Religion

As with my last point, these are the prompts given by my professor, but you’re welcome to go through them as well and gain insights for yourselves.

The transforming power of the gospel can increase the happiness that we can gain during this life. Happiness is directly related with the way that we treat others, and we must first make sure that we are in the right mindset so that we can serve others. We aren’t going to serve someone if we are grouchy or if we don’t see any importance in the other person. We won’t see any importance in them if we are prideful, and we get rid of this pride through the actions listed on the left from James 4. We can all work on this. So pick something on the left that you think you could do better with (be patient), and apply something to it from the right. I also have experienced that it is easier to track your progression in a journal, so you could try and track your progression in this weakness. Good luck!

1. Read James 1:19; 3:1–13; 4:11; and the institute student manual commentary for James 3:8, “The Importance of Taming the Tongue” (p. 410). Using these resources, make two lists:

2. Referring to the following chart, read James 4:1–4 and identify four symptoms of people who are friends of the world. Read James 4:7–12 and write a prescription that would help people overcome the “world.” Write your responses in the appropriate column:

Hey everyone, I’ve been home from my mission for about 3 1/2 months now and I’m attending BYU-Idaho as a full-time….. student. I miss the missionary life, but I’m amazed at the opportunities that the Lord has given me to progress even after a mission. I’m taking a New Testament II course this semester and I’m amazed at the dedication that those missionaries had. We have spent quite a bit of time focusing on the journeys and preaching of Paul. We just finished reading the last of his accounts, which is written to Timothy. And the selection, specifically 2 Timothy.

Our professor gives us these prompts every week and we are responsible on how to share it with others. Usually I just teach my brother or my girlfriend about the things that I learn, but I thought this week I’d mix it up a bit and write on here. Why not? It’s been a while…

So, for those of you who are unfamiliar with the Book of Mormon, it is an account of the people who lived in ancient america at time right before, during, and right after the New Testament times. It includes the personal ministry of Christ visiting the people of ancient america, and revolves/centers on the true fact that He is our Savior and Redeemer and that He is our Eternal King. So, that being said, we were asked to compare some versus from the Book of Mormon to a few selections in the New Testament. If you’re up for it, I’ll post the activity at the bottom. But for now, I’m going to share a few of my thoughts about what I learned.

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First of all, I learned the importance of our love for others and how we view them. Whether it was Paul and his “son in the faith”, Timothy, or Mormon and his actual son Moroni we should treat everyone as family. These two relationships (Paul/Timothy and Mormon/Moroni) were so close that the successor in each of these relationships had received some sort of blessing that the Lord would help them. I think of me and my dad. Or even my and my grandfathers. They have had opportunities to bless me and help me through the power of the priesthood. They’ve helped me gain a better relationship with God.

The second thing that we were prompted about was about different principles of the gospel and how they fit together. For example, Paul uses the example of receiving the Spirit, and Mormon discusses baptism, but teaches the same principle of endurance through our obedience to God. Any principle of the gospel (faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end) can be related to or tied back to any eternal truth. Meaning that anything good can come from these things.

The last thing I’d like to share is the few verses where it mentions Timothy’s mother and grandmother. 2 Timothy 1:5 reads “When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and they mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.” I thought about the importance of not those who we come directly in contact with, but also those who have passed on. Our faith won’t die when we do. It is an eternal thing. It will remain with us, and I’m positive we will have appropriate opportunities to use our faith and show our faith in the next life. I’m grateful for those who have faith enough to be kind, to be Christlike. I pass them every day at school, and they make life better!

For more of a genealogy standpoint, if anyone who reads this is interested, check out the web address below. Just copy and paste in to your search engine. Thanks for reading everyone! I’m new at this blog thing, but hope to keep up on it. Have a great week!

http://www.familysearch.org

Read the institute student manual commentary for “The Second Letter to Timothy” (p. 374) and “Background Information” (pp. 374–75). Then read 2 Timothy 1:1–7 and Moroni 8:3; 9:6, 22, 25. Compare in writing how Paul’s feelings for Timothy were similar to those Mormon expressed to his son Moroni by answering the following questions:

o       What parallels are there in the counsel and expressions given by both Paul and Mormon? In verse  of 2 Timothy Paul urges Timothy to become his hands once he is gone. In Moroni, Mormon “recommend[s]” Moroni to the Lord.

Why do you think Paul noted Timothy’s grandmother’s and mother’s faith?

o       What assurance did Paul give Timothy about “the spirit of fear”? How can this counsel and assurance help you in your life?

.    Read 2 Timothy 1:15–18. Why did Paul love and bless the “house of Onesiphorus” with the Lord’s mercy? What did Paul bless him with? Read Matthew 25:35–40 and write a sentence describing what you could do today to receive similar blessings from the Lord. How does Matthew 11:29–30 and Jacob 1:8 help you better understand what the “chain” is (yoke or cross) that Paul spoke of in 2 Timothy 1:16?