The Resurrected Jesus Christ Taught the Nephites in the Western Hemisphere and through their Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ, also taught Those of us in our Day and Time; Many Important Things, They and We, Should Do and be:PHOTO: HYUN
-GYU LEE - PHOTO TO THE RIGHT: - IRI
One of the first things Jesus taught the Nephites to do was to be baptized by His authorized authorities. He taught them that this is always something members of His Church must do no matter when or where they live. Thus, this applies to us in our day. Baptism is then followed by the laying on of the hands for the Gift of the Holy Ghost.
D&C 39:3 Nephi 11:
23 Verily I say unto you, that whoso repenteth of his sins through your words, and desireth to be baptized in my name, on this wise shall ye baptize them—Behold, ye shall go down and stand in the water, and in my name shall ye baptize them.
24 And now behold, these are the words which ye shall say, calling them by name, saying:
25 Having authority given me of Jesus Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
26 And then shall ye immerse them in the water, and come forth again out of the water.Photo: IRI
6 And this is my gospel—repentance and baptism by water, and
then cometh the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost, even the Comforter, which showeth all things, and teacheth the peaceable things of the kingdom.
One of the other things Jesus taught the Nephites, was the importance of the Sacrament. He taught them the sacramental prayers and commanded them to partake of the sacrament regularly. Here are the words one of His Nephite prophets, Moroni taught that He gave them:
MORONI 4:1 THE manner of their elders and priests administering the flesh and blood of Christ unto the church; and they administered it according to the commandments of Christ; wherefore we know the manner to be true; and the elder or priest did minister it—
2 And they did kneel down with the church, and pray to the Father in the name of Christ, saying:
3 O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this bread to the souls of all those who partake of it; that they may eat in remembrance of the body of thy Son, and witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son, and always remember him, and keep his commandments which he hath given them, that they may always have his Spirit to be with them. Amen.MORONI 5
1 THE manner of administering the wine (water in our day)—Behold, they took the cup, and said:
2 O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee, in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this wine to the souls of all those who drink of it, that they may do it in remembrance of the blood of thy Son, which was shed for them; that they may witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they do always remember him, that they may have his Spirit to be with them. Amen. (Clarification Added)
The partaking of the Sacrament by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is done every Sunday at what is called: Sacrament Meeting. Only on occasions where something like a Church General Conference meeting is being held is the Sacrament service not available. The Sacrament is definitely a key thing that makes a baptized member a Latter-day Saint.
Photo: IRI
John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.1 John 4:11
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
Official LDS Temple Photo
San Diego California Temple
Another very important way in which Latter-day Saints serve is by attending regularly the Temple (The House of the Lord) to do soul saving priesthood ordinances (ie. baptisms, confirmations, for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and the Holy Priesthood (for the men, ) etc., for their and others' ancestors (the dead) and family members who have more recently passed from life into the World of the Spirits. Faithful Mormon couples marry and raise children, not just for this life, but for all eternity.
Photo: IRI
Family Home Evenings, held once a week in every LDS home, is the ideal way for keeping family members close to one another and for teaching the children the true value of their membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It then becomes something each child will hopefully do when they grow up and establish their own families.
Two Photos: IRI
As explained in my just previous post, the tithing of one-tenth of each members's annual interest is expected by the LDS Church. No other budget funds are asked for by Church Headquarters from individual members. Tithing is all that members pay for Headquarter's expenses. Headquarters expenses include building and maintanence of chapels throughout the world. Members of each church unit world-wide pay for their own activities. That which Church Headquarters owns is uninsured.
Repairs and rebuilding is done from Tithing funds.
This photo is of Utahn, Josh Romney and his wife and children. Josh is a son of Mitt Romney, a former governor of the state of Massachusetts. Mitt's father, George Romney, Josh's grandfather, was a governor of the state of Michigan. Both Mitt and his father served as stake presidents in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Recent news has it that Josh presently may have political ambitions for a Utah state office.
Latter-day Saints are taught by one of their scriptures, the Doctrine and Covenants, and by their church leaders, to be involved loyal citizens in whatever nation they may live in. I chose this picture of Josh and his young family as an example of that.
I end this blog post by sharing with you something that I found on the Internet as I was just searching for nothing in particular. I just happened to find the following somewhere on the Internet. I wouldn't identify who wrote this letter even if I knew who they are. (I did not write it. A young non-Mormon family did.)
I find that which they propose to do, very interesting. I appreciate them for seeing the great good that can be found in an active (in their church) LDS family. Here is their letter. I will respond to it after you have read it.
I can't respond to the couple that wrote it directly because I don't know their names nor their address, but sharing such with you may help you with some important insights that tie into what has been written in this blog post you have been reading. Maybe that family may possibly come across this blog post of mine and read it too!
Posted 6/19/09
Hi! My husband and I aren't LDS (or religious at all), but we've been really impressed by all of the LDS folks we've met both in undergrad and law school. We particularly like how the LDS families we have met seem to be strongly characterized by respect between all of the family members and a real sense of togetherness. We're expecting twins in the fall, and would like our new family to have some of those characteristics. So... if you could give someone a few specific tips on how to start living an "LDS lifestyle", what would they be? The tips don't have to be big, grand lifestyle changes - but maybe just small ways in which we could try to be more family oriented?
Wow! What a lead-in to what I would like to tell them if they had directed that question to me personally! I would write them a letter much like this:
Dear Couple desiring to live an LDS Family Lifestyle,
I appreciate your wanting to be like those LDS families you have come to know. I'm sure it would be a great blessing to you if you could emulate their LDS Lifestyle. I'm sure you would also bring with you some unique and special lifestyle features of your own that you shouldn't overlook.
You may not altogether appreciate my suggestions. I don't think you are expecting a response like mine. However, I am very sure that my answer is the one you need to hear.
I am positive that the LDS families whose lifestyles you'd like to emulate, didn't start out by just effectively emulating other successful LDS families they knew. They surely may have emulated the LDS families they were a part of when they were growing up. It is almost certain, however that they became the kind of families they are now because each of these sets of parents had, as individuals, become spiritually enriched by living the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ which are taught to the young and old in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on a regular basis.
If I may so suggest: it's not so much what they do that you should desire to emulate, but, I suggest, it has more to do with what they have individually and together become, because of their living faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and in His restored Gospel.
There is so much that makes up the goodness of active-in-the-faith LDS husbands and wives that it would take some serious studying on your part with, may I suggest, the young LDS missionaries who give freely, two years of their lives to teach good people like you that which you would need to come to know and do, to "come unto Christ" and feel His redeeming love and be baptized in His one and only true church.
In fairly short order the LDS missionaries would teach you what God has required of your LDS friends to help them become what they are inside. It is really what they are inside that makes them the kind of parents they are.
I suggest that as you analyze what I have just written, you'll begin to agree that it really is what they are spiritually, that makes them the kind of parents they have become. They are faithful members of a Church led by living prophets and inspired local church leaders who regularly help and urge them to be guided by the Spirit of the Holy Ghost which is gifted to all who wholeheartedly accept baptism into the Lord's only true Church on the earth today. A key thing about them surely is, that they are led through the great trials and tribulations that they confront by the Gift of the Holy Ghost, a priceless gift!
Above, in the main body of this post I used pictures and explanations which demonstrate the great faith that underlies your LDS friends' ways of raising their families. I would perhaps emphasize what I have written above under the photo of an LDS Temple, which indicates that faithful Mormon couples marry and are raising their children, not just for this life, but for all enternity.
A Seventy seven year old Mormon who sincerely admires your desire of having a Truly Happy Family. May the Lord bless you!
J. Neil Birch
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If you have any questions about what you have read or viewed in this post or in any previous posts of mine, or if you even have a curiosity about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and or its teachings, please e-mail me. I'm Neil and my e-mail address is: jneilmelva@gmail.com. If you contact me I'll get back to you just as soon as possible.
I invite you to let your friends and relatives know about this blog if you think they would be interested. Please be advised that I also have two additional blogs. One is in Spanish: http://varsinaisella.blogspot.com/ and one is in Finnish: http://varsinaisesti.blogspot.com/ The content of each is translated from the English in this blog.
Neil Birch
