Array

Link to Array

Out of the scriptures listed, the one that spoke the most to me was Revelations 7:13-17 which reads:

 13 And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
 14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
 15 Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
 16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.
 17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

What makes people turn to God?  What makes people seek out religion in the first place?  Some people might say a weakness of character, that they don't have the internal strength to motivate themselves to be good so they need an outer source.  I would argue that those who seek out religion are looking for hope.  They are looking for confirmation that their life matters, that sorrow is only temporary, and that a better world is possible.  This is not weakness, this is having the strength to reject the status quo and go in search of truth.  It is to fight within yourself for a better you by finding something true, external and unchanging to align with.  A hope, a goal, a vision - and then a plan to get there.  This is why people seek out religion.

Sure there may be some people that have other reasons and goals, but this is my idealized view of it.  At some point in people's lives, something clicks and they start to look for answers or a connection to something greater that they know deep down is out there.  It isn't motivated by an outside source, it is something that comes from within.

I'm going through something of a transformation right now.  For the past several years I have been having trouble motivating myself (my extreme lack of progress on this blog being a clear manifestation of this) and have mostly just gone through the motions.  I would long for the days when I was driven to achieve and had so much hope in the promises of the future.  Then my future turned fuzzy - and I lost my motivation.  School, marriage, personal goals and resolutions - nothing really seemed to get me to care enough to find the energy.  Was I a slacker?  Maybe, but I think my biggest problem was that the drive just wasn't there.

Then exactly two weeks ago my entire life changed.  My son was born.  I survived labor, and was given a little person to hold in my arms.  He was perfect, and helpless, and all he wanted to do was snuggle up to me.

Over the past two weeks something inside of me has changed.  I want to be better.  I want to make myself into everything I can be.  And the drive is there again.

This wasn't inspired by the fear of my son judging me, or from the fear that I need to make sure I'm "good enough" to be his mom.  It is like my heart changed - because he has rekindled the hope in the future I had been missing.  He has pointed me inwards and forwards, instead of always looking back at what might have been.  That doesn't matter to him because before his birth as far as he is concerned nothing else existed - and I have been caught up in that wave too.  Starting from when he was born, my entire world was reborn as well.

This is why scriptures like the ones I listed matter.  This is why people caring about religion and God and progression matters.  Because hope isn't something that you just decide to have happen, it is a condition of your heart.

Army

Link to Topical Guide "Army" (blogger isn't giving me an option any more to embedded it straight into the post title).

For the record, I am 36 weeks pregnant and the doctor said I could pop any day now.  That isn't really a good excuses for my ridiculous lack of posting, but for all of you who read this know that this blog isn't the most reliable weekly reading material anyways.

There were lots of good scriptures this topic, including a great one from Ezekiel about God breathing life into dried bones to create an army (Ezekiel 37:10), but I would like to talk about a scripture that isn't actually listed.  I found it while reading the chapter for the Doctrine & Covenants 105:26 reference.  It is Doctrine & Covenants 105:14:

14 For behold, I do not require at their hands to fight the battles of Zion; for, as I said in a former commandment, even so will I fulfil—I will fight your battles.

These past few months, especially these past few weeks, have been more than a little stressful for me.  Not so much in stuff that has been going on, but in anticipation of giving birth and suddenly becoming responsible for a baby.  Fortunately my fears of my son's future choices and experience when he's a teenager have taken a back row seat to more immediate concerns (like going through labor), but the height of worrying has not decreased.

I was discussing this with a friend the other day and they pointed out that what I'm really afraid of is losing control of the situation.  In labor there are things you can do, but you really have no control over your body.  Once you have the baby, you can only do so much, but whether or not the baby will respond to the methods and ideas you've been reading about for the past couple of months is completely out of your control.  Sure it is meant to be humbling, but it is also terrifying.

I guess this is why this scripture jumped off the page at me when I read it.  That even though I might have no control, God is still in control.  From reading through my past posts, letting go seems to be something in this life I really have to work on.

Armor

Topics without scriptures: Armageddon.

A tenant of the Christian faith that isn't very appealing to most people is the idea of long-suffering. That bad things happen and that we are just suppose to live through them without cursing God or loosing hope. This would seem a near impossible task, and it has indeed felt impossible on may occasions, except for the fact that God, as always, has provided a way for us to do it. 1 Nephi 3:7 comes to mind:

7 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.

The way that God has prepared for us to handle this whole long-suffering thing is by building up our ability to take whatever life throws at us. In other words, He gave us armor.

The urgency for putting on God's armor is nicely said in Ephesians 6:11:

11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Satan is real, and he is constantly attacking our spirits. He does not play fair simply by definition of who he is, and we need to be a prepared as we can be.

But this armor isn't just something that we're suppose to put on and then hid in a corner and hope we don't get hit. God doesn't give us something unless he expects us to use it. He has given us armor to go out and do His work, like it says in 2 Nephi 1:23:

23 Awake, my sons; put on the armor of righteousness. Shake off the chains with which ye are bound, and come forth out of obscurity, and arise from the dust.

Fear and laziness can bind us down, while God's armor can lift us up.

But what exactly is God's armor? It isn't something you can buy at a store and it isn't something they hand out at church. A listing of the armor of God can be found in 1 Thessalonians 5:8 and in Doctrine and Covenants 27:15-18:

8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

15 Wherefore, life up your hearts and rejoice, and gird up your loins, and take upon you my whole armor, that ye may be able to withstand the evil day, having done all, that ye may be able to stand.

16 Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, which I have sent mine angels to commit unto you;

17 Taking the shield of faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked;

18 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of my Spirit, which I will pour out upon you, and my word which I reveal unto you, and be agreed as touching all things whatsoever ye ask of me, and be faithful until I come, and ye shall be caught up, that where I am ye shall be also. Amen.

The armor of God is everything we have been learning about since we were kids. It is faith, and hope and living according to God's commandments. It is love and service and all the other things that you get simply by trying to follow Christ. But it is one thing more. You might have noticed that in the last verse above it mentions a weapon, something that isn't just defensive. That is the Spirit and the word of God. That doesn't mean that we could go around smashing people, Christ was pretty clear about how he felt about doing that in 3 Nephi 11:29, but we can use it to cut through doubt, fear, and those who would try and teach us fault doctrine. We will be able to recognize truth.

Arm

I have been having trouble falling asleep lately. I lay down, and as I fall asleep my mind starts wandering places that aren't the most restful. I start thinking about everything that is wrong with this world, and I sink into this hopelessness and panic that there are so many awful things out there and that there really is only a realitivly thin wall between it and my family. I've heard that this is just another one of those things that goes with being pregnant, but I honestly have to read a book for an hour or so after my mind starts in this direction just to be able to fall asleep.

Statistically, nothing is going to happen to us after we go to bed. But I can pretty much guarentee that my son is going to have a hard life. Not working out in the fields hard, but once he hits elementary school he's going to be teased, maybe even bullied, and somehow as his mother I have to cram enough self-confidence into him and magically know the right words to say that will make it so he can get through it. And then the real hard stuff is going to happen, where his heart will probably get broken once or twice, he'll make some bad friends who'll enjoy pointing out that he doesn't really count as a human, and he'll make some mistakes that could lead to some serious scarring. And those are just the things that he has some slight control over! My baby is still five months from even being born, how does any mother get any sleep!

With this in mind, I'm approching this topic by simply pointing out the scriptures that stood out to me and what I felt like they were saying. The end result - hopefully I'll be able to sleep tonight.

Mark 10:16

16 And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.

Jesus loves little children. He will love and watch over my children. Bad things will still happen to them, maybe even horrific things, but he cares. He will care about my son, more than I will be able to. When it comes to capacity to love, he wins. That means that I need to trust him. Everything bad that happens will be 100% necessary - otherwise I doubt he would let it happen.

Psalms 44:3 & 2 Nephi 4:34

3 For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them.

34 O Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever. I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh; for I know that cursed is he that putteth his trust in the arm of flesh. Yea, cursed is he that putteth his trust in man or maketh flesh his arm.

I can't do very much. I can't control people or the weather - and I certainly won't be able to control my kids. God's the only one who is in control, and when he goes out at night like he will someday, God will go with him even if I'm stuck at home wondering what he's doing. The nice thing is that God is the supreme ruler of the universe with complete knowledge, wisdom and love - I can trust Him.

2 Nephi 1:15

15 But behold, the Lord hath redeemed my soul from hell; I have beheld his glory, and I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love.

I am never alone. I may feel alone, and sometimes that may be necessary to teach me endurance, but he will never leave me to face a trial or hardship alone. With him I'm able to survive anything. I have so far, being able to turn to him for strength may be one of the most important things I could have learned from everything I've been through so far because as soon as this baby is born it is no long just me on the line, it is my son too. I'm grateful for the knowledge that Christ is there.

Doctrine & Covenants 1:19

19 The weak things of the world shall come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones, that man should not counsel his fellow man, neither trust in the arm of flesh—

I am weak. I am so scared to be a mom, I feel so inadequate. I am not a child care professional. But with God's help and guidance, I can do this.

Finally, there is a reason why God has made it so we can only live moment by moment, day by day. If we had to act on 20 years worth of worrying we would go crazy, so we only have to deal with the worries of right now. As my mom keeps telling me, I need to be focused on diaper changing and teething right now, not on teenage problems he'll have later. I just feel blessed that every morning I'll be able to pray this last scripture in my heart.

Isaiah 33:2

2 O Lord, be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee: be thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble.

Ark of the Covenant

Lots of people know about the Ark of the Covenant. I mean, Indiana Jones basically summarized everything people need to know. It was the container that the ancient Israelites put the tablets containing the ten commandment into and was considered it's holiest relic. Anyone who touched it who wasn't suppose to died, but I don't know about weird ghost things and people's faces turning into mayonnaise. For more information you can look at the Bible Dictionary page.

Not many of the Old Testament scriptures jumped out to me this time around, but what really stuck out to me was 1 Chronicles 22:19:

19 Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God; arise therefore, and build ye the sanctuary of the Lord God, to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and the holy vessels of God, into the house that is to be built to the name of theLord.

When you walk into a Mormon church, you'll notice that it has some nice art on the walls, but no real relics for worshiping. During the service the bread and water are blessed at a table set aside for that purpose, but there isn't anything amazing about the table. The sacrament trays aren't fancy or expensive, and the blessed water is served in miniature plastic or paper cups that are thrown away afterward. The left over bread it's self loses it's specialness once the sacrament is over and is thrown away or left out for the birds to eat. Because of the simplicity of our ceremony some people may say that Mormons can't relate to the sacred, but that isn't true.

We don't have objects that we believe were blessed by God, but we do have temples. And in those temples there is a sacred atmosphere where everything inside is treated with respect because it is God's House. Our weekly service is done so simply that it can be held anywhere in the world under almost any circumstance, but the temple is where the sacred reverence mirrored in how the Israelites treated the Ark of the Covenant comes to mind. Though we aren't doing the same ceremonies as thousands of years ago, the ceremonies that are performed there have the same purpose of learning, growing closer to God and securing our place in His eternal family.

Ark

These scriptures are about Noah's Ark, as in the Bible story of the big boat and all the animals and it raining for forty days and forty nights. You know, that story. What was interesting for me was how many times the Noah story is referenced in the scriptures. This scriptures list has seven scriptural references - I did not know that this story was so referenced!

The scripture that really stuck out to me is from Hebrews 11:7:

7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

I love this chapter in any case because of the great insights it give me to faith, but I thought it was very interesting that the story of Noah was used as an example of faith.

When you hear the story as a kid, it sounds a lot like a boss/employ relationship between God and Noah - God gave him a job and Noah went off and did it. I've heard modern comedians and commentators try and put a more human element into it of Noah being skeptical, but they always made it so humorous that I guess what they were trying to say was lost on me.

I think I've said in the past that I see faith as a mental decision to choose to believe when you really have nothing to convince you. With this definition in mind, I wonder what Noah's experience actually was like. Was it really a voice from the sky, or was it more of a quite inspiration that lead him sometimes to wonder if he was just crazy - but he chose to move forward anyways.

Noah is remembered at being obedient and a great builder, but I would also like to remember him as a man of faith. That even on days that he might not have felt anything, he chose to keep on building.

Arise, Arose

Topics without scriptures: Arimathaea.

These scripture have three main topics that I could take a post writing about for each. One for our rising up and doing God's work, the next about the resurrection and the dead rising up, and the last is about the miracles of Christ in healing the sick and raising the dead.

What I found interesting reading these topics is what I had always hoped I would notice when I started this scripture reading project. As I was reading through the scripture list, I was reading about the resurrection and contemplating it's significance, when I continued down the list and read about the man with palsy. I stopped in my tracks as I realized something I hadn't before. Here is a scripture about the resurrection from Isaiah 26:19:

19 Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.

And here is the scripture about the man with palsy in Matthew 9:6:

6 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.

What if the stories of Christ healing the sick is not just stories portraying his power and compassion, what if they were meant as types of Christ bringing about our resurrection? That we were dead, but then Christ will call us to life?

When I was very sick a couple of years ago and couldn't leave my bed very often, I use to look at the picture of "Jesus Raising Jairus's Daughter" by Greg K. Olsen. I'm a little fuzzy about the copyright laws, so just go to the link to see it. I remember looking at it and seeing the trust and the knowledge in the girl's eyes, that she had heard Christ call her back and that she knew who he was. And then the look in Christ's eyes, that he knew her and loved her - and that he had the power to call her back from the dead. Look at these two scriptures first from Ephesians 5:14, and then from Mark 5:41:

14 Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

41 And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.

I use to look at that picture and imagine Christ raising me up off my bed like her, knowing that it probably would not happen in that way, but also knowing that the truth's reflected in the eyes of the painting where truths that did apply to my life.

Is this how it is going to be at the resurrection? Will I be there, looking steadfastly towards Christ to call me? I don't know the details of how exactly the resurrection is going to happen, but from these stories of healing I can begin to understand what I might be feeling when it does happen.